your favorite songs...lyrically

[annie foalkley]

what are your favorite songs, lyrically?

 

i'm going to try to avoid generalizing into songwriters or albums here... let's try and focus on great choruses, great opening lines....etc.

 

i'll start us off with one.

 

casimir pulaski day, by sufjan stevens!

 

for these little gems..

 

"...In the morning, when you finally go

And the nurse runs in with her head hung low

And the cardinal hits the window

 

In the morning, in the winter shade

On the first of March on the holiday

I thought I saw you breathing"

[DukeOfBoom]

my own lyrics are some of the only things actually worth listening to, IMO.

 

Some of my gems include:

 

"The world needs another love song like I need a hole in my head"

 

"Not Done with Her! Not Done with Her! Not Done with Her! She's coming back for MOOOORRREEE!!!"

 

"Like I'll ever again buy another CD

Goddamnit, I download my music for free

This faggot DJ gets paid more than me

Who gives a {censored} about any live music scene"

[rsadasiv]

^^^^^

Are you that guy from Cracker?

[DukeOfBoom]

Nah man, but that was an inspiration - their "Folk Songs" lyrics. However, love songs are more unnecessary than folk songs in the grand scheme of things.

[ido1957]

Hotel California and lots of stuff by Bob Dylan

[Cliftonb]

Liquid Swords, obviously

[Stackabones]

Louie Louie by Richard Berry

 

Something Cool by Billy Barnes (famously done by June Christy)

 

Adore te devote by St Thomas Aquinas (especially the Pie pellicane verse)

 

Be Here To Love Me by Townes Van Zandt

[Chicken Monkey]

 

Louie Louie by Richard Berry

 

 

*reviews "Toaster's Too Short, Bread's Too Tall" for obscenities*

[Stackabones]

[Viktoriah]

Lola by The Kinks

I like songs, which tell easy, but very original and universal stories.

[blue2blue]

The Kinks, or Ray Davies specifically, are great story tellers. (And Dave went from being a good riff-meister to being a fine guitar player; let's have no more of those silly sibling rivalries, boys, we all have our strengths.)

 

Their stories are often rich with the human element, intelligent, and ultimately compassionate. Not to mention often quite funny.

[Lee Knight]

It's not very hip. It's not very cool... but I think the modern country pop classic "I Hope You Dance" is a fantasic lyric:

 

I hope you never lose your sense of wonder

You get your fill to eat but always keep that hunger

May you never take one single breath for granted

God forbid love ever leave you empty handed

I hope you still feel small when you stand by the ocean

Whenever one door closes, I hope one more opens

Promise me you'll give faith a fighting chance

 

And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance

I hope you dance

[blue2blue]

It's not very hip. It's not very cool... but I think the modern country pop classic "I Hope You Dance" is a fantasic lyric: I hope you never lose your sense of wonder You get your fill to eat but always keep that hunger May you never take one single breath for granted God forbid love ever leave you empty handed I hope you still feel small when you stand by the ocean Whenever one door closes, I hope one more opens Promise me you'll give faith a fighting chance And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance I hope you dance

Once you've had kids, in ruins the cynic in you...

 

 

[Cliftonb]

Jez Lowe & The Bad Pennies - "Famous Working Man"

Joe Henry - "Leaning"

16 Horsepower - "Dead Run"

Prefab Sprout - "When the Angels"

MF DOOM - "Gazillion Ear"

 

That's just off the top of my head..

[notlimah]

As far as "meaningful lyrics" for whatever that's worth. I really dig this.

 

"The Perfect Space" by the Avett Brothers.

 

I wanna have friends that I can trust,

that love me for the man I've become not the man I was.

I wanna have friends that will let me be

all alone when being alone is all that I need.

 

I wanna fit in to the perfect space,

feel natural and safe in a volatile place.

And I wanna grow old without the pain,

give my body back to the earth and not complain.

Will you understand when I am too old of a man?

And will you forget when we have paid our debt

who did we borrow from? Who did we borrow from?

 

I have some business and a promise that I have to hold to.

I do not care what you assume or what the people told you.

Will you understand, when I am too old of a man?

Will you forget when we have paid our debts,

who did we borrow from? Who did borrow from?

 

I wanna have pride like my mother has,

And not like the kind in the bible that turns you bad.

And I wanna have friends that I can trust,

that love me for the man I've become and not the man that I was

 

jeff

[MusicalSchizo]

I always liked this one (from Fountains Of Wayne):

 

And I can't dial the phone just now Even though I know your number Can't bring my broken heart to be untrue Like you did today you'll say Goodbye the same old way Ever since you hung up on me - I'm hung up on you

 

 

Brian V.

[Cliftonb]

No Jacques Brel yet? I call it then - anything by Jacques Brel!

[Lee Knight]

Once you've had kids, in ruins the cynic in you...

 

It's true

 

I still love good old angry r&r. But now... I've thrown sentimentality into the mix ever since the seed of my loins has grown fruitful in the womb of my woman. Boom shanka. Is this better?.?.?..

 

Sleeping on a planter at the Port Authority

Waiting for my bus to come

Seven scotch-and-sodas at the office party

Now I don't remember where I'm from

 

I think I had a black wallet

In my back pocket

With a bus ticket

And a picture of my baby inside

And if I make it home alive

 

I'm gonna get my {censored} together

'Cause I can't live like this forever

You know I've come too fay

And I don't want to fail

I got a new computer

And a birght future in sales

Yeah, yeah

A bright future in sales

Yeah, yeah

 

Heading for the airport on a misty morning

Gonna catch a flight to Baltimore

Try to kill an hour with a whiskey sour

If there's time I might have just one more

 

I gotta do some quick reading

For the big meeting

But my head is spinning

And I can't quite open my eyes

As long as I don't have to drive

 

I'm gonna get my {censored} together

'Cause I can't live like this forever

You know I've come too far

And I don't want to fail

I got a new computer

And a bright future in sales

Yeah, yeah

A bright future in sales

Yeah, yeah

 

I had a line on a brand new account

But now I can't semm to find

Where I wrote that number down

I try to focus, I'm staring at the screen

Pretending like I know

What all these little flashing lights mean

 

I gotta do some quick reading

For the big meeting

But my head is spinning

And I can't quite open my eyes

 

I gotta get my {censored} together

'Cause I can't live like this forever

You know I;ve come too far

And I don't want to fail

I got a new computer

And a bright future in sales

Yeah, yeah

A bright future in sales

[Viktoriah]

"No Jacques Brel yet? I call it then - anything by Jacques Brel! "

 

Jacques Brel of course. He's the best. One of David Bowie's idols. My favourite is "Au suivant", whch was translated into English by Alex Harvey (awful version) and if you like French, Gainsbourg (one of Jarvis Cocker's idols) is one of the finest lyricists you could listen to. I love his "Requiem for a jerk" - unbelievable music.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5njWAq4Qq3k

[Lee Knight]

There... I feel better

 

Once you've had kids, in ruins the cynic in you...

 

 

I love the dead before they're cold,

Their bluing flesh for me to hold.

Cadaver eyes upon me see nothing.

I love the dead before they rise,

No farewells, no goodbyes.

I never even knew your now-rotting face.

While friends and lovers mourn your silly grave.

I have other uses for you, Darling.

 

Silly, isn't it?

[Lee Knight]

And I'll dare anyone to question the maudlin qualities of the following after seeing the silliness of "cool". It's all degrees, and I wear it better than most, but I swear it's a crock of {censored}.

 

I hope you never lose your sense of wonder

You get your fill to eat but always keep that hunger

May you never take one single breath for granted

God forbid love ever leave you empty handed

I hope you still feel small when you stand by the ocean

Whenever one door closes, I hope one more opens

Promise me you'll give faith a fighting chance

 

And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance

I hope you dance

 

BTW, I'm agnostic. But heart is heart.

[MusicalSchizo]

Lee Knight:

 

You know I like that one...(the Fountains of Wayne song)

 

The other one was really good, too, if a bit overtly sappy to me, but I don't like the "give faith a fighting chance" if it's a reference to religion...but that's more of a personal issue with me, because I think too many people discount reason and rationality in service of religious faith. I just take it the other way - faith in life itself and hope.

 

(I have kids, too...and I never understood that piece of {censored} song "Butterfly Kisses" until I had my daughter and have watched her grow. I still hate it, but I'm not too proud to admit it got to me.)

 

Brian V.

[Matximus]

My Favorite Single line: "You're gonna make me give myself a good talking to" - From Bob Dylan's Lonesome When You Go. Just think it's the greatest. Don't know why.

 

Outside that I tend to gravitate toward lyrics that are either flat out stupid in a brilliant way or kinda disturbing somehow...

 

My Most Recent Favorites:

"Bebop, I love you, baby

Bebop, I don't mean maybe"

-Jimmy Bowen, I'm Sticking to you.

 

A Woman wasnt made from a man's hambone

That means she wasn't made to be beat on

- Don't Hit Me No More, Mable John - unblievable soul song from 1965 or 67...

 

So long (so long) to you (to you)

I hope I don't make you blue

But I think I'm gonna kill myself

- Buddy Knox, I think I'm Gonna Kill myself, disturbingly upbeat suicide song from the 1950s...

 

I looked at the sea and it seemed to say

I took your baby from you away.

I heard a voice cryin' in the deep

Come join me, baby, in my endless sleep.

-Endless Sleep Jody Reynolds

 

I ain't gonna cheat on you no more

baby like I, like I did before

- Sam Cooke

 

It goes

Fa Fa Fa Fa Fa Fa Fa Fa

Your turn

- Otis Redding Fa Fa Fa ...

 

They say roses are red and violets are purple

Sugar is sweet and so is maple surple

- Roger Miller, Dang Me.

 

"They Say I'm Robbing the Cradle

Because You're Only 16

But Baby I'm Just not able

to give up my Dream"

-Jody Reynolds - Robbing the Cradle... so wrong and so damn good...

[mfboom23]

any thing by billy bragg and Leonard cohen

http://candidemusic.bandcamp.com/

[eddieboston2]

Jimmy Buffett gets short shrift from self-proclaimed "serious" songwriters, but his early writing was often very poignant, and he was a genius at telling a story. I would nominate He Went to Paris with an honorable mention for A Pirate Looks at Forty just for the line, "Still can manage a smile. Just takes a while. Just takes a while."