Favorite Song Lyrics of All Time. What Say You?


For some reason, certain arrangements of basic parts of speech attached to pitch and cadence got themselves permanently attached to my (remaining) brain cells.  

What are your favs?

Here's my Top 3.

#1:

"Her teeth were like the stars above because they come out every night." Homer and Jethro, Live at the Country Club (Side one)

#2:

"They'll never forgot you, until somebody new comes along."  (I think you know this one)

#3:

I had an internal UFC level battle going on in my head for this position, with no less than 11 contenders duking it out.  So, I just gave up, and passed the baton to you guys.

waytoomuchstuff

I don’t rank things that way. The best I can do is list some of my favorite lyric writers (in no particular order): John Prine, Robbie Robertson, Dylan, J. Mitchell, P. Townshend, Richard Thompson, J. Browne, V. Morrison, Robert Hunter, James McMurty, Lucinda Williams and Patrick Park.

Elvin Bishop,  Traveling Shoes.

Gonna take Hank Aaron’s baseball bat and tenderize her head.

Not sure why this just popped into my brain just now, but there you go.

  • The Beatles, whose lyrics are often shrouded in pun, double entendre, or controversy … The ending chant to I Am a Walrus.  I hear and like to believe it is Everybody’s Fucked Up, for it is fitting of the social state of affairs in the mid to late 60s and our current state of affairs which has made me sardonic.  Realize admitting that was the lyric would have resulted in censorship back then.  Others hear Everybody Smoke Pot another controversial lyric for the time resulting in possible censorship.  I believe in a Playboy interview, John Lennon stated the chant is Everybody’s Got One but Lennon was always the practical joker and not always believable especially when asked to comment or critique his work. I love this chant for its pitch and cadence making it stick in my mind, as is your premise, but because we will never know if it was fluke or intent to muddle the clarity to create the controversy and hide a phrase that would result in censorship.  What do you hear?   

Today's favorite song lyric of all time is from the Band.

"Then Daniel took the harp and went high on the hill
And he blew across the meadow like a whippoorwill
He played out his heart just the time to pass
But as he looked to the ground, he noticed no shadow did he cast"

Learning to Fly by Tom Petty...

And the Sun went down as I crossed the hill

And the town lit up, the world got still...

Sorry about the length of this post, but Frank had a lot to say back in 1966, with regards to the world and it is sad that so little has changed in that regard.

If you haven't heard it. Do.

Trouble Every Day

Song by Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention ‧ 1966

Well I’m about to get sick
From watchin’ my TV
Been checkin’ out the news
Until my eyeballs fail to see
I mean to say that every day
Is just another rotten mess
And when it’s gonna change, my friends
Is anybody’s guess

So I’m watchin’ and I’m waitin’
Hopin’ for the best
Even think I’ll go to prayin’
Every time I hear ’em sayin’
That there’s no way to delay
That trouble comin’ every day
No way to delay
That trouble comin’ every day

Wednesday I watched the riot...
I seen the cops out on the street
Watched ’em throwin’ rocks and stuff
And chokin’ in the heat
Listened to reports
About the whisky passin’ ’round
Seen the smoke & fire
And the market burnin’ down
Watched while everybody
On his street would take a turn
To stomp and smash and bash and crash
And slash and bust and burn

And I’m watchin’ and I’m waitin’
Hopin’ for the best
Even think I’ll go to prayin’
Every time I hear ’em sayin’
That there’s no way to delay
That trouble comin’ every day
No way to delay
That trouble comin’ every day

Well you can cool it
You can heat it...
’Cause, baby, I don’t need it...
Take your TV tube and eat it
’N all that phony stuff on sports
’N all the unconfirmed reports
You know I watched that rotten box
Until my head began to hurt
From checkin’ out the way
The newsmen say they get the dirt
Before the guys on channel so-and-so
And further they assert
That any show they’ll interrupt
To bring you news if it comes up
They say that if the place blows up
They’ll be the first to tell
Because the boys they got downtown
Are workin’ hard and doin’ swell
And if anybody gets the news
Before it hits the street
They say that no one blabs it faster
Their coverage can’t be beat

And if another woman driver
Gets machine-gunned from her seat
They’ll send some joker with a brownie
And you’ll see it all complete

So I’m watchin’ and I’m waitin’
Hopin’ for the best
Even think I’ll go to prayin’
Every time I hear ’em sayin’
That there’s no way to delay
That trouble comin’ every day
No way to delay
That trouble comin’ every day

Hey you know something people
I’m not black
But there’s a whole lots a times
I wish I could say I’m not white

Well, I seen the fires burnin’
And the local people turnin’
On the merchants and the shops
Who used to sell their brooms and mops
And every other household item
Watched the mob just turn and bite ’em
And they say it served ’em right
Because a few of them are white
And it’s the same across the nation
Black & white discrimination
They’re yellin’ "; You can’t understand me!"
And all the other crap they hand me
In the papers and TV
’N all that mass stupidity
That seems to grow more every day
Each time you hear some nitwit say
He wants to go and do you in
Because the color of your skin
Just don’t appeal to him
(No matter if it’s black or white)
Because he’s out for blood tonight

You know we gotta sit around at home
And watch this thing begin
But I bet there won’t be many left
To see it really end
’Cause the fire in the street
Ain’t like the fire in my heart
And in the eyes of all these people
Don’t you know that this could start
On any street in any town
In any state if any clown
Decides that now’s the time to fight
For some ideal he thinks is right
And if a million more agree
There ain’t no great society
As it applies to you and me
Our country isn’t free
And the law refuses to see
If all that you can ever be
Is just a lousy janitor
Unless your uncle owns a store
You know that five in every four
Just one amount and nothin’ more
Don’t watch the rats go across the floor
And make up songs about being poor
Blow you harmonica son!

Pauk Butterfield's:

 

"I'm drunk again, I've been been drinkin' Gordons gin"

 

Who doesn't like a good lawsuit  lyric?

 

DeKay

 

#1   "it’s better to burn out than it is to rust"  Neil Young

#2    "people are strange"   Doors

#3   "you can’t always get what you want but if you try real hard you get what you need"  Stones

 

 

"I’ve got nasty habits I take my tea at three" 

Gotta be a Brit to get this....lol

Live With Me, The Rolling Stones.

"But I can still paint the town
All the colour of your evening gown
While I’m waiting for your blonde hair
To turn grey"

Mick Jagger

Evening Gown

Too much Zappa to list

It's a tie between...

 

And the colored girls go
Doo, do-doo, do-doo, do-do-doo
Doo, do-doo, do-doo, do-do-doo
Doo, do-doo, do-doo, do-do-doo
Doo, do-doo, do-doo, do-do-doo

Doo, do-doo, do-doo, do-do-doo
Doo, do-doo, do-doo, do-do-doo
Doo, do-doo, do-doo, do-do-doo
Doo, do-doo, do-doo, do-do-doo
Doo

 

And...

 

Twistelettes, Twistelettes, Twistelettes, Twistelettes
Twistelettes, Twistelettes, Twistelettes, Twistelettes

 

DeKay

I wanna rock your gypsy soul
Just like way back in the days of old
And together we will float...
...Into the mystic

 

Tonight when I chase the dragon
The water may change to cherry wine
And the silver will turn to gold
Time out of mind

 

Oh, it seemed like a holy place, protected by amazing grace
And we would sing right out loud, the things we could not say
We thought we could change this world with words like love and freedom
We were part of the lonely crowd inside the Sad Café