Lyrics you WISHED you'd written.

[claytonjohn18]

Ben Gibbard is correct. Also, Blessings Be Yours, Mister V by TSOAF. Also, most Bon Iver and the song Hide and Seek by Imogen Heap.

[macadood]

Ben Hurr














































































(Durr)

[ben_allison]

It's a sad communication, with little reason to believe when one isn't giving, and one pretends to receive. -Neil Young

 

 

That's great!

[companyman]

That's great!

 

 

yep...it is from Pardon My Heart, off of Zuma...my favorite Neil Young album~!

[Hiwatt Bob]

Baptisms by the fire
Through all of my trials
When the world was a hungry dog

Figures of the saints
Now they

[imbuedblue]

+1 on Jeff Tweedy's lyrics. I love the way he and Andrew Bird play with the sound of words rather than strictly writing to say something. It is music afterall.

[ben_allison]

It is music afterall.

 

 

I guess...but...the music is is the music.

[lewisb21]

Twilight fades

Through blistered avalon

The sky's cruel torch

On aching autobahn

Into the uncertain divine

We scream into the last divide

 

Sheila rides on crashing nightingale

Intake eyes leave passing vapor trails

With blushing brilliance alive

Because it's time to arrive

 

Lately I just can't seem to believe

Discard my friends to change the scenery

It meant the world to hold a bruising faith

But now it's just a matter of grace

 

A summer storm graces all of me

Highway warm sing silent poetry

I could bring you the light

And take you home into the night

[Clewsy]

Say it now 'cause John and Jane would like to know

Is it safe inside your head

Songs to serenade the dead

Midnight, Red Hot Chili Peppers

 

She bled from every {censored}ing hole

Welcome To Sludge City, Annotations Of An Autopsy

[OrangeLazarus]

Why burn poor and lonely under a bowl or under a lampshade
Or on the shelf beside the bed
Where at night you lay turning like a door on its hinges?...
First on your left side, then on your right side...then your left side again.
Why burn poor and lonely?
Tell all the stones we're gonna make a building...
We'll be cut into shape and set into place
Or if you'd rather be a window, I'll gladly be the frame,
Reflecting any kind words, we'll let in all their blame...
And ruin our reputation all the same.
So never mind our plan making, we'll start living...
Anyway, aren't you unbearably sad?
Then why burn so poor and lonely?

[lewisb21]

"Thirty-two grams raw, chop it in half, get sixteen, double it times three. We got forty-eight, which mean a whole lot of cream Divide the profit by four, subtract it by eight We back to sixteen..."

Foxy Brown ("Affirmative Action")

 

"I like them black, white, Puerto Rican, or Haitian Like Japanese, Chinese, or even Asian."

Chingy ("Balla Baby")

 

"If you don't bring back my m****f*****n money or my m***f****n dope, you can forget about Christmas n***a, cause you ain't gon even see New Years."

Master P ("Do You Know")

[imbuedblue]

I guess...but...the music is is the music.

 

 

True.

 

I guess Ian Curtis and Scott Walker are my picks for favorite lyricists whose lyrics stand alone.

 

But, my absolute favorite stuff always involves a marrying of the lyrics and the music through either lyrics that sound musical or some sort of musical prosody in which the music reflects the meaning of the lyrics in the same way that the actual words do.

 

For example, "Rated X" off of Spiritualized's Amazing Grace LP:

 

[YOUTUBE][/YOUTUBE]

 

If memory was written down

I'd cut it up and cross it out

Coz memory holds the hurt inside

all the pain and all the lies

And you might think that past is through

but the past goes right on through

and memory holds the hurt inside

Regret creeps up on you

So put your hand into my hand

And baby we'll forget that life had even started before our hands had met

 

I wish I had written this song. The music comes in soft and tentative--sounding like tuning up at points--before everything suddenly comes together in a single confident moment. The intro is the "past" with "memory [that] holds the hurt inside." The moment that everything comes together is the moment that "our hands had met." But immediately after Jason sings those words, musically we return to the introduction and "the past goes right on through" with "all the pain and all the lies" to close the song. The music and lyrics mirror each other to inform meaning. {censored}ing brilliant.

[ZeppelinPie792]

Pretty much everything from A Silver Mt. Zion

 

A few examples:

 

 

Don't tell me that I am free

Don't tell me that I am free

'Cause I have not been well, lately

 

 

We're building train wrecks

In the setting sun

 

 

When the world is sick

Can't no one be well?

But I dreamt we was all beautiful and strong

 

 

Oh my broken lamb

I worry when you cry

Baby's gonna fetch ya

Horses in the sky

 

 

Those are just a few excerpts from a few songs, but I love them

[Hiwatt Bob]

If magic is all we've ever know
Then it's easy to miss what really goes on
But I've seen miracles in every way
And I see miracles everyday
Oceans spanning beyond my sight
And a million stars way above em at night
We don't have to be high to look in the sky
And know that's a miracle opened wide
Look at the mountains, trees, the seven seas
And everything chilling underwater, please
Hot lava, snow, rain and fog
Long neck giraffes, and pet cats and dogs
And I've seen eighty-five thousand people
All in one room, together as equals
Pure magic is the birth of my kids
I've seen {censored} that'll shock your eyelids
The sun and the moon, and even Mars
The Milky Way and {censored}ing shooting stars
UFOs, a river flows
Plant a little seed and nature grows
Niagara falls and the pyramids
Everything you believed in as kids
{censored}ing rainbows after it rains
there's enough miracles here to blow your brains
I fed a fish to a pelican at Frisco bay
It tried to eat my cell phone, he ran away
And music is magic, pure and clean
You can feel it and hear it but it can't be seen

Music is all magic
(Are you a believer in miracles)
You can't even hold it
(Do you notice and recognize miracles)
it's just there in the air
(Are you a believer in miracles)
Pure mother{censored}ing magic Right?
This {censored}'ll blow your {censored}ing mind
(Do you notice and recognize miracles)

Music is a lot like love, it's all a feeling
And it fills the room, from the floor to the ceiling
[ Find more Lyrics on http://mp3lyrics.org/RFGe ]
I see miracles all around me
Stop and look around, it's all astounding
Water, fire, air and dirt
{censored}ing magnets, how do they work?
And I don't wanna talk to a scientist
Y'all mother{censored}ers lying, and getting me pissed
Solar eclipse, and vicious weather
Fifteen thousand Juggalos together
And I love my mom for giving me this
Time on this planet, taking nothing for granted
I seen a caterpillar turn into a butterfly
Miracles ain't nothing to lie
Shaggy's little boys look just like Shaggy
And my little boy looks just like daddy
Miracles each and every where you look
And nobody has to stay where they put
This world is yours for you to explore
there's nothing but miracles beyond your door
The Dark Carnival is your invitation
To witness that without explanation
Take a look at this fine creation
And enjoy it better with appreciation
Crows, ghosts, the midnight coast
The wonders of the world, mysteries the most
Just open your mind, and it ain't no way
To ignore the miracles of every day

(Are you a believer in miracles)
Magic everywhere in this bitch
(Do you notice and recognize miracles)
it's all around you, you don't even know it
(Are you a believer in miracles) {censored}'s crazy
(Do you notice and recognize miracles,
So many miracles, the magic miracles)

Are you a believer in miracles
Do you have time for the miracles
Do you notice and recognize miracles
So many miracles, the magic miracles
Are you a believer in miracles
Do you have time for the miracles
Do you notice and recognize miracles
So many miracles, the magic miracles
Are you a believer in miracles
Do you have time for the miracles
Do you notice and recognize miracles
So many miracles, the magic miracles
Are you a believer in miracles
Do you have time for the miracles
Do you notice and recognize miracles
So many miracles, the magic miracles

[MrChrisos]

Nice thread, and I totally agree with you, there aren't enough great outstanding lyrics getting enough press.

 

Tons of Dylan, and Leonard Cohen, honourable mentions:

 

'He not busy being born is busy dying' (Dylan)

 

'I ache in the places where I used to play' (Cohen)

 

And one of my favourites:

 

I fell into the ocean,

When you became my wife.

Risked it all against the sea,

To have a better life.

 

Marie, you are the wild blue sky,

And men do foolish things.

You turn kings into beggars,

And beggars into kings.

 

(Tom Waits)

 

 

I've written a few I've been proud of over the years, but the melodies I wrote them into just don't cut it for me, so they get left behind. Here's one that started a song:

 

It's raining ash on London,

The lukewarm summer snowflakes,

Turning parks and street trees into black and white films.

[richey888]

"Above our heads in fiery red the clouds they bled like open wounds across the sky"

Panic in the World - Be BopDeluxe

They may sound dated, but some great lyrics there, check out Blazing Apostles and Fair Exchange. Stellar. Wish I had that stuff in my, my lyrics are all "Yeah it's gonna be allright baby baby baby, na-na-na-na, yeah yeah yeah yeah" trite crapola.

[erksin]

Ohio
lyrics by Neil Young

--------

Tin soldiers and Nixon coming,
We're finally on our own.
This summer I hear the drumming,
Four dead in Ohio.

Gotta get down to it
Soldiers are gunning us down
Should have been done long ago.
What if you knew her
And found her dead on the ground
How can you run when you know?

[TheGreatMouthWa]

Hendrix - Wind Cries Mary

Somewhere, a queen is weeping
Somewhere, a king has no wife

[CicadaSilence]

Pretty much any/everything Tom Waits has ever written.

[amarr1]

Justin Vernon and Joanna Newsom are two of the best songwriters of this decade.

[Fender&EHX4ever]

Lots of seriousness in here


This is one of my favorite lyrics ever

People take pictures of the Summer,
Just in case someone thought they had missed it,
And to proved that it really existed.
Fathers take pictures of the mothers,
And the sisters take pictures of brothers,
Just to show that they love one another.

You can't picture love that you took from me,
When we were young and the world was free.
Pictures of things as they used to be,
Don't show me no more, please.

People take pictures of each other,
Just to prove that they really existed,
Just to prove that they really existed.
People take pictures of each other,
And the moment to last them for ever,
Of the time when they mattered to someone.

People take pictures of the Summer,
Just in case someone thought they had missed it,
Just to proved that it really existed.
People take pictures of each other,
And the moment to last them for ever,
Of the time when they mattered to someone.
Picture of me when I was just three,
Sucking my thumb by the old oak tree.
Oh how I love things as they used to be,
Don't show me no more, please.

[adamthemute]

Too lazy to cut/paste...it's 30 C in my house with 80% humidity....

Shiny Things - Tom Waits

This Wind - Tallest Man On Earth

many more...

[companyman]

Accordingly by Chris Whitley

Business like babes, lie sleeping on the lawn.
cops are standing naked breaking into song
if I took her now, as the one for me
could effect a change, accordingly.

statesmen and salesmen bend to kiss the ground
lawyers and losers hold hands and hang around
if I took her now as the one for me
could effect a change, accordingly

what if I place my trust in you
if I had no doubt, the way I do
I could take you now as the one for me
could effect a change, accordingly

[YOUTUBE][/YOUTUBE]

[onyxrhino]

I feel like, by and large, the art of writing is absent in most modern music. The singer needs to fill the space with SOMETHING, and boom... all of the sudden, he's a writer. But if you asked him what anaphora or syllepsis or catachresis was... he'd look at you like you were speaking a different language. I care about lyrics. Words have power, and if you're going to open your mouth, you should have something to say that was thought through. What a waste to have a brilliant piece of music to serve as a stage, only to be found asleep at curtain call. Of myself, I feel like I'm an ok guitarist, a decent vocalist, and a decent songwriter. But, I feel as time goes on, I'm becoming a very good lyric writer. I feel like I'm able to make connections, paint pictures, play with words in unique ways, and create layers of meaning while remaining intelligible ; every word has a reason for being.

 

 

I understand what you're saying, but you've pretty much described my least favorite kind of musician. Someone who puts alot of emphasis on their lyrics and someone who feels like they need to make a statement about something with their songs.

 

To me, the voice is just another instrument in a composition and I care more about the sounds the voice makes. The actual words are secondary. Also, I feel like art isn't really about making a statement, but more about catching a feeling or expressing something ineffable.

 

I've met too many average musicians who think of themselves as poets because they spend so much time on their lyrics and I think it's a really strange thing. Music is not poetry. They are different disciplines. It's sort of like a filmmaker like James Ivory who tries to craft extremely faithful literary adaptations without realizing that cinema is an art of its own.

 

Don't get me wrong, there are alot of songs I love where the lyrics are very important, but usually its the context that makes them important. The lyrics don't really work when separated from the work as a whole. For instance, take something like, "All Is Full Of Love", beautiful song with beautiful words, but the words aren't really much of anything without the way Bjork sings them.

 

Anyway, that's just the way I feel about it. Of course, there are exceptions. Like the Smiths. I'd have been proud to write just about anything on the Queen Is Dead album and those lyrics seem to work on their own too.

 

Frankly, Mr. Shankly

 

Frankly, Mr. Shankly, this position I've held

It pays my way, and it corrodes my soul

I want to leave, you will not miss me

I want to go down in musical history

 

Frankly, Mr. Shankly, I'm a sickening wreck

I've got the 21st century breathing down my neck

I must move fast, you understand me

I want to go down in celluloid history, Mr. Shankly

 

Fame, Fame, fatal Fame

It can play hideous tricks on the brain

But still I'd rather be Famous

Than righteous or holy, any day

Any day, any day

 

But sometimes I'd feel more fulfilled

Making Christmas cards with the mentally ill

I want to live and I want to Love

I want to catch something that I might be ashamed of

 

Frankly, Mr. Shankly, this position I've held

It pays my way and it corrodes my soul

Oh, I didn't realise that you wrote poetry

I didn't realise you wrote such bloody awful poetry, Mr. Shankly

 

Frankly, Mr. Shankly, since you ask

You are a flatulent pain in the arse

I do not mean to be so rude

Still, I must speak frankly, Mr. Shankly

 

Oh, give us your money !

 

 

...and the second verse of Fake Plastic Trees. So good. Damn, I wish I wrote that.

 

She lives with a broken man

A cracked polystyrene man

Who just crumbles and burns

He used to do surgery

For girls in the eighties

But gravity always wins

And it wears him out, it wears him out

It wears him out, it wears...

[TheHarakiriEnd]

Basically everything Hank Williams, Sr. ever wrote.

I was ridin