What's your favorite lyric from a song?

Try to learn
Instead of burn

Jimi Hendrix

"Tom do this
Tom do that
Tom DON'T do that..."

Can't Wait To Get Off Work - Tom Waits

"If you were a pill I'd take a handful at my will and knock you back with something sweet and strong..."

The Replacements

'I can't find words to describe this girl without being disresctful!!!!!!!!!!! the way her booty moving i can't take no more' Hilarious

"junkyard dogs guarding shotgun shacks,
Red door on a green Cadillac..."

If that don't paint a pitcher for ya I dunno what will!

DOWN TO THE WELL

Not sure of this one has been said or not but a fave:

"One good think about music, when it hits you feel no pain."

- Bob Marley- Trenchtown Rock

Her papa was a midget, her mama was a whore
Her granddad was a newsboy 'til he was eighty-four
What a slimy old bastard he was
Man don't you think I know she hates me
Man don't you think I know that she's no good
If she knew how she'd be unfaithful to me
I think she'd kill me if she could
Maybe she's crazy I don't know
But maybe that's why I love her so

Randy Newman - Wedding in Cherokee County

Here's a little bit of "Stuck" by Tonio K

Papa was a farm boy, california born
growing up in paradise until the second war
when they put him in an airplane and loaded it with bombs
sent him over there, said "don't come back until they're gone"
they dropped 'em on the cities, they dropped 'em on the towns
they were tryin' to blow up hitler, he was tryin' to shoot 'em down
now papa hated killin' just as much as you and me
but he knew he had to do it; he could tell instinctively
that he was stuck

Stuck in the middle
stuck in the middle of the beginning of the end

It's the end / of the end of the tunnel
the end of the line
it's the end of the american century
the end of the endless summertime

There will be no sorrow , let it be

I find the Eagles "Get Over It" to be pretty funny. It is about people unwilling to take responsibility for their lives, and instead, hope to cash in on whatever "victim" status they can claim. The last few lines are:

Complain about the present
Blame it on the past
I'd like to find your inner child
And kick its little ass.

That's not the electric light, my friend, it is your vision growing dim.

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

Yes, and thanks, for the trouble you took from her eyes
I thought it was there for good so I never tried.

Famous Steely Dan Haitian Divorce was holding very long time on my tongue AND on my guitar chords as well!
_____________________________________________________
Tearful reunion in the USA
Day by day those memories fade away
Some babies grow in a peculiar way
It changed, it grew, and everybody knew
Semi-mojo
Who's this kinky so-and-so?
Papa go

So glad you're gone
So glad you're gone
Please don't come back
Please don't come back

Sometimes you just have to say it...
"So Glad" from David Lynch's "Crazy Clown Time"

my current fave:
The weightlifter and a library tech you know
Made a big decision in the magazine row
I'll open my catalogue just enough to let you in
And she'll drop beers like you drop vitamins

"cathy's clown", by you am i

Ed Ames? Good lord, you really pulled that one out of the archives! Okay people, fess up, who knew Al was such a romantic?

Sometimes in the mornin' when shadows are deep
I lie here beside you just watching you sleep
And sometimes I whisper what I'm thinking of
My cup runneth over with love

Sometimes in the evening when you do not see
I study the small things you do constantly
I memorize moments that I'm fondest of
My cup runneth over with love

In only a moment we both will be old
We won't even notice the world turning cold
And so, in these moments with sunlight above
My cup runneth over with love
My cup runneth over with love, with love

"My Cup Runneth Over, from the 1966 Broadway musical "I Do! I Do!" as recorded by Ed Ames.

Regards,
-- Al

The last couplet from Bob Dylan's "Positively 4th Street":

Yes, I wish that for just one time, you could stand inside my shoes
You'd know what a drag it is to see you.

Hi Blkadr,
I do that when I find a recommendation of interest in forums that recommend particular artists or songs. I just meant that in the context of just reading lyrics without music, I don't find it very satisfying or meaningful.

"Some young lazy slut has charmed away my brains."

From Rollin' and Tumblin' off Dylan's Modern Times

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

The bluesy song "Not Sick of Love" from the album "at the feet of old bristlecone" by Joshua Lowe and the Juncos has some really great lyrics:

When I met you I was hungry
I was hungry and sleepy too
I woke one day and I realized
that I’m not sick of love
I’m just sick of you

When I fell in love I was in a hurry
and you made my heart act the fool
you filled my head full of doubt and worry
but I’m not sick of love
I’m just sick of you

I’m not tired of the stars in the night
or the sky full of blue
I’m not tired of being held close and tight
I’m just tired of you

When I said I loved you we’d been drinking
and out the window reason flew
This six month hangover’s got me thinking
That maybe I’m not sick of love
I'm just sick of you

I’m not tired of the sky at twilight
or the rising of the moon
I’m not tired of being kissed goodnight
I’m just tired of you

Hope there’s no hard feelings
we all got to do what we got to do
Maybe it was just the wrong season, I don’t know
either way I’m not sick of love
I’m just sick of you

I’m so tired of fighting all night long
I’m so tired of feeling blue
I’m so tired of singing this same damn song
But I’m not sick of love
I'm just sick of you

Roxy- with a couple of clicks you can be listening to most of these songs within seconds. Might be low fi but you can get the gist.
This forum are one of the places I find new(to me)music.

The last two verses (the rest is pretty memorable too) of Randy Newman's "God's Song"

The Christians and the Jews were having a jamboree
The Buddhists and the Hindus joined on satellite tv
They picked the four greatest priests
And they becan to speak
They said, "Lord a plague is on the world
Lord, no man is free
The temples that we built for you
Now crumble into the sea.
If you won't take care of us
Won't you please, please just let us be."
And the Lord said

"I burn down your cities...how blind you must be
I take from you your children, you say 'how blessed are we'
You all must be crazy to put your faith in me.
That's why I love mankind
You really need me
That's why I love mankind."

Here's a favorite of mine that doesn't seem to require a whole lot of context, LOL ...

"Don't want your bullshit, yeah
Just want your sexuality"

Songwriter: Kate Bush
Song: The Song of Solomon
Album: The Red Shoes

This sounds like a good idea for a thread, but I have noticed that when lyrics are separated from music, a lot is lost. If I have never heard the song, it's hard to have a feel for the meaning or context, so it either reads strangely, or sometimes falls flat altogether. If I could hear it, I'm sure it would be different.
I wonder if other members have the same feelng.

"So now I'm praying for the end of time
To hurry up and arrive
'Cause if I gotta spend another minute with you
I don't think that I can really survive
I'll never break my promise or forget my vow
But God only knows what I can do right now
I'm praying for the end of time
So I can end my time with you"

Classic.

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.

Recently best opening line:
-I don't mind
if my heart don't beat and the sun don't shine.-
Brandi Carlile "Losing Heart"

-I thought I saw the devil
in the branches of a tree
It was just imagination
But he looked a lot like me
On Stormy Down
The cold moon drew strange faces
on a slowly changing cloud
It looked like God the father
and I shouted right out loud
On Stormy Down-
The Strawbs "Stormy Down"

-You can leave your troubles at the door
we have ways to make you cheer
As long as you're not sick or poor
a negro or a queer-
Pete Sinfield for PFM "Is My Face on Straight?"

Just a couple that popped into my head.
Don't get me started, there is an embarrassment of wealth in even pop lyrics.

rusty strings on my old guitar speaks volumes of who you are...

...and now I'm prayin' for the end of time
So hurry up man alive
'cause if I have to spend another minute with you
I don't know
That I could really survive.....

He hears the ticking of the clocks
And walks along with a parrot that talks
Hunts her down by the waterfront docks where the sailers all come in
Maybe she'll pick him out again how long must he wait
One more time for a simple twist of fate.

Rosie you're alright, you wear my ring
When I turn out the light, Rosie that's my thing
It's just you and me again tonight, Rosie

Baby, I think you made your move too soon. BB Check Youtube if you haven't heard it.

All you need is love.

That gotta be: "Hippy, Hippy Shake" by the Swinging Blue Jeans which truly and accurately explains the meaning of life as we know it!

Don't know karate .... But I know karayzee! James Brown. 'The Big Payback' .

"And she was smiling like the sole survivor in a lifeboat"

"She said we rolled that Camaro, like a cowboy cigarette
out on the highway in a puddle of beer"

-John Hiatt

"There's never a forever thing" by A-ha

"wave upon wave of demented avengers march cheerfully out of obscurity into the dream, dream, dream..."

"I was born with a plastic spoon in my mouth" — The Who

"When all the stars are falling down
Into the sea and on the ground,
And angry voices carry on the wind,
A beam of light will fill your head
And you'll remember what's been said
By all the good men this world's ever known.
Another man is what you'll see,
Who looks like you and looks like me,
And yet somehow he will not feel the same,
His life caught up in misery, he doesn't think like you and me,
'Cause he can't see what you and I can see."

Melancholy Man - Moody Blues

"Heaven, heaven is a place, a place where nothing, nothing ever happens"

Heaven - Talking Heads

Time to walk
Time to run
Time to aim your arrows
At the sun

The future's uncertain and the end is always near. J Morrison

Tire tracks all across your back; I can see you had your fun.
Jimi Hendrix
Crosstown Traffic

Foxy Music? You must be a big fan.

Nice call Elsiejr. I think Brian Ferry is a class act.

Roxy music (hate the auto correct on IPad....)