still you angle for your options
You argue for your case
You wouldn't know a burning bush
If it blew up In your face
John hiatt |
2 more:
Grandpa pissed his pants again, he don't give a damn,
Brother Billy's got both guns drawn, ain't been right since Viet Nam.
"Play It All Night Long", Warren Zevon
Her lips were waiting, her eyes were sad,
The dreams of a lifetime, the year's gone bad.
"I Know I'm Not Wrong", Lindsey Buckingham |
In a previous career, I used to work for a billionaire. Some of my colleagues tried to "work" this relationship to their advantage (everything from doing personal favors to attending social events together to taking personal loans from the guy). Once he got you on that track, you were his indentured servant. So, I like this line from Kyle Davis:
"I don't want to be in service to the king, you only get to take one ride".
I also like another one from Lindsey Buckingham - presumably sung to his former "special lady", Stevie Nicks (whom he evidently doesn't like very much, anymore):
"Think of me when you don't come."
Gotta like that sentiment.
Marty |
A favorite couplet from August Darnell - AKA Kid Creole
Haiti. I love your sweaty passionate rythms
I love your twisted French neologisms
Not too many people would try to rhyme "neologisms"
Marty |
This one's from Karl Wallinger (World Party), who has a quirky sense of spirituality around some of his lyrics and generally steals his tunes from the best of the best (Dylan, Beatles, Stones) :
"Take It Up"
I got an extra glimpse
Of the truth today
Staring at my breakfast
When I thought I heard it say
Fighting is no good
Success, an empty lie
The treasure hunt is lonely
Until you realize
We came to take it up
We came to take it up, we came to take it up
We came to raise it up
We came to take it up, we came to move it up
I promise you miss
I will do my best today
But somebody keep trying to make me
Trying to make me lose my way
But I believe, oh, my darling
I believe in you
And I hope when you hear this
You'll remember what we were sent to do
We came to take it up
We came to take it up, we came to take it up
We came to move it up
We came to raise it up, we came to praise it up
Speeding out of the town
I thought I'd lost my way
'Til I saw the green and ebony
Come a-wondering about their pay
Well, I've got the money
If you've still got the friends
We can really put this world to right
Or sit and watch the end, you know
We came to take it up..... |
Don,
Good call. I've long been a Be-Bop DeLuxe fan, but never really thought much about the lyrics. I like Bill Nelson's songs and his guitar, but I've got to admit that that's a nice bit of wordsmithing you've identified.
If interesting rhyme schemes are your thing, check out Amelia Curran. The music's a very different bag, but she works the meter thing to within an inch of its life.
Marty |
I've recently grown fond of this one, "For The Love of Him" by Bobbi Martin, but I'm not sure that my wife is ready to "make me her reason for living":
When he opens the door
Says I'm home
Beware of the look in his eyes
They tell you the mood he's in
What kind of day it's been
For the love of him
Make him your reason for living
Give all the love you can give him
All the love you can
There be times when he won't say a word
And you wonder if there's something you said
The gentle touch of your hand
Tells him you understand
For the love of him
Make him your reason for living
Give all the love you can give him
All the love you can
Little things he forgets to do
Have you told him today I love you
When he reaches out be there
Show him that someone cares
He's a man and a man has to try
Let him run, let him fall, let him cry
His world won't fall apart
If you take him into your arms
For the love of him
Make him your reason for living
Give all the love you can give him
All the love you can
For the love of him
Make him your reason for living
Give all the love you can give him
All the love you can
For the love of him
Make him your reason for living
Give all the love you can give him
All the love you can |
I recently found this one, on the subject of (ruefully) growing older. Transcribed as best as I can decipher:
I'd say that time is on a rude crusade
taking all that I'm annually owed
my ration of days
grows painfully shy
the rain
cannot turn the other way
one day
turns a skip into a sway
Oh, and by the way, Happy Birthday
from "Happy Birthday, Baby" by Elbow Bones and The Racketeers (AKA Kid Creole)
Marty |
Lenny,
A great lyric but I'm pretty sure it's:
So now I'm praying for the end of time,
to hurry up and arrive.
Either way,it's a pretty funny line. |
Gz
That lyric reminded me of another good one on the same subject (falling out of love). These lyrics are from "Buried Alive" by Kyle Davis:
In the lion's den, the quiet men
Sleep next to their fears
Praying not to wake them
But morning makes them disappear
And it feels like
Something has gone wrong
And he reaches up
For what he held for so long
I will not be
Buried alive under this mountain of emotion
I will not be
Saddled by the blame
There and back again
Trying to make amends
For a feeling that I fell for left me hallow
Losing lay down your only sorrow
It's the jester and the jest
The gambler and the game
Leave it to the rest
To gather what remains
I will not be
Buried alive under this mountain of emotion
I will not be
Saddled by the blame indigent to devotion
Why must I defend the way I feel
Just to change, it's not treason
In spite of all the things that I was told
There is not always a reason |
Not sure if we've seen Richard Thompson mentioned yet, but dozens of his songs could qualify. I'll go with "Walking on a Wire":
I hand you my ball and chain
You just hand me that same old refrain
I'm walking on a wire, I'm walking on a wire
And I'm falling
I wish I could please you tonight
But my medicine just won't go down right
I'm walking on a wire, I'm walking on a wire
And I'm falling
Too many steps to take
Too many spells to break
Too many nights awake
And no one else
This grindstone's wearing me
Your claws are tearing me
Don't use me endlessly
It's too long, too long to myself
Where's the justice and where's the sense?
When all the pain is on my side of the fence
I'm walking on a wire, I'm walking on a wire
And I'm falling |
Elvis,
Are you referring to Joe Tex's
"You've Got What it Takes (To Take What I've Got)?"
That song was my first dance with my wife. Obviously a special lyric for me. |
Arcam,
A fine choice, but - I say - if you're going with Peter Green, you pretty much have to go for a sexual lyric like Long Grey Mare ("she won't let me ride her any more") or Rattlesnake Shake:
"Ain't but one thing a good man can do....the rattlesnake shake.....jerk away the blues. Now jerk it." |
