What's your favorite lyric from a song?


Just curious what stays with people...
arthursmuck
Blind Faith - "Presence of the Lord"

I have finally found a way to live
Just like I never could before
I know that I don't have much to give
But I can open any door

Everybody knows the secret
Everybody knows the score
I have finally found a way to live
In the color of the Lord

I have finally found a place to live
Just like I never could before
And I know I don't have much to give
But soon I'll open any door

Everybody knows the secret
Everybody knows the score
I have finally found a place to live
In the presence of the Lord
In the presence of the Lord

I have finally found a way to live
Just like I never could before
And I know I don't have much to give
But I can open any door

Everybody knows the secret
I said everybody knows the score
I have finally found a way to live
In the color of the Lord
In the color of the Lord
And I only know one party and its name is freedom I am a patriot - Little Steven
"you don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows" - Bob Dylan. Heck, I have even used that lyric in legal briefs describing what I think of the other side's expert witness.
Right at this exact moment, it's

'here's a song about nothing and everything at once'

...from the new Superchunk album. It continues:

the minutes and the months
the feeling noise becomes
the oaks and the sweetgums
on the street where you are from
everything at once.
Otis Redding's "tenderness" as done by Dean Martin.
women may get weary....wearing that same old shabby dress
and when she gets weary....buy her another shabby dress....
Her name was McGill, She called herself Lil, but everyone knew her as Nancy. Rocky Racoon, Beatles White Album
"and the three men I admire most, the father, son and the holy ghost, well they caught the last train for the coast. The day the music died."
Lay your head upon my pillow.
Hold your warm and tender body close to mine.
Hear the whisper of the raindrops,
Blowin' soft against the window,
And make believe you love me one more time,
For the good times.

HELL YEAH!!!!!
Daylight loses to another evening
And still she spares me the word goodbye
Sits alone beside me fighting her feelings
Struggles to speak but in the end can only cry.

My Opening Farewell, Jackson Browne

Leaves are falling all around, It's time I was on my way.
Thanks to you, I'm much obliged for such a pleasant stay.
But now it's time for me to go. The autumn moon lights my way.
For now I smell the rain, and with it pain, and it's headed my way.
Sometimes I grow so tired, but I know I've got one thing I got to do...

Ramble On, LZ

I've been to London, seen seven wonders. I know to trip is just to fall
I used to rock it, sometimes I'd roll it. I always knew what it was for.

The Rover, LZ

Again the morningÂ’s come
Again heÂ’s on the run
Sunbeams shining through his hair
Appearing not to have a care
Well, pick up your gear and Gypsy roll on, roll on

Melissa, Allman Bros
Hendrix from Red House, "if my baby don't love me no more, I know her sister will."
"lying in bed trying to catch my breath. half ashamed, half smiling at the things we did"

Chris Isaak
Like The Way She Moves
"And the grace to accept every moment as a gift. Is a gift that is given to some."

Sally Rogers - Thanksgiving Eve(Bob Franke)
"And if the cloud bursts, thunder in your ear
You shout and no one seems to hear" - Brain Damage, Pink Floyd
"Threatened by shadows at night and exposed in the light" Shine On You Crazy Diamond, Pink Floyd
"I get paid by a five year old who says he looks up to me" - Neil Young, from Crime in the City
"Changes fill my time,baby that's all right with me. In the midst I think of you, and how it used to be."

Ten Years Gone by Led Zeppelin.
Half a mile from the county fair
And the rain keep pourin' down
Me and Billy standin' there
With a silver half a crown
Hands are full of a fishin' rod
And the tackle on our back
We just stood there gettin' wet
With our backs against the fence

Oh the water
Oh the water
Oh the water

Hope it don't rain all day

And It Stoned Me by Van Morrison
Well, it's hard to believe
So you get up to leave
And you laugh at the door
That you heard it all before
Oh it's so good to know
That it's all just a show for you.

But when the suppers are planned
And the freeways are crammed
And the mountains erupt
And the valley is sucked
Into cracks in the earth
Will I finally be heard by you
-from "L.A." Neil Young

I used to be disgusted, now I try to be amused
-from "Red Shoes" Elvis Costello
You don't know what love is
Until you learn the meaning of the blues
Until you've lost a love you had to lose
You don't know what love is

You don't know how lips hurts
Until you've kissed and had to pay the cost
Until you've flipped your heart and you have lost
You don't know what love is

Do you know how a lost hearts fears
The thought of reminiscing
And how lips that taste the tears
Lose their taste for kissing

You don't know how hearts burn
For love that cannot live yet never dies
Until you've faced each dawn with sleepless eyes
You don't know what love is

Do you know how a lost hearts fears
The thought of reminiscing
And how lips that taste of tears
Ooh, they lose their taste for kissing

You don't know how hearts burn
For love that cannot live yet never dies
Until you've faced each dawn with sleepless eyes
You don't know what love is

You don't know what love is"

Well, I asked the doctor if I could see you
It's bad for your health, he said
Yes, I disobeyed his orders
I came to see you
But I found him there instead
You know, I don't mind him cheatin' on me
But I sure wish he'd take that off his head
Your brand new leopard-skin pill-box hat.

Bob Dylan, Leopard-skin Pill-box hat
(not a favorite, tho) Rickie Lee Jones. Album: Pirates. Song: Living it up. Lyric: *unt finger Louie! I found it humorous.
From Mark Hollis hauntingly beautiful self-titled album, these are the complete lyrics from the 6'21" song, "Inside Looking Out."

Feel my skin Lord
Feel my luck tumbling down
Left no life no more

Turn my seasons turn
Lived in much younger times
Left no life no more
For me to shine


From Robert Plant's, Band of Joy, album...this was actually derived from a traditional song, but I think he's changed the lyrics a bit.

Cindy got religion
She had it once before
She spilled it on a Saturday
Upon a hardwood floor

From the dark and cynical Jim White project, Chainsaw of Life, by Hellwood (White, Dowd, & Willie B) - lyrics by Johnny Dowd, "Thank you, Lord":

Thank you Lord
Oh thank you for the hurricane
I see your boundless love
In the faces etched with pain

Thank you Lord
Oh thank you for the memories of the ark
You are the shining light we see
When weÂ’re drowning in the dark

Thank you Lord for Jesus
And the rope from which he hung
And thank you for the cross
Upon which they nailed your son

Thank you thank you for our leaders
With their blind and stupid eyes
Your mysterious wisdom
Is embedded in their lies

Thank you for the rich man
Who gets richer by the hour
For the professor of higher learning
Hidden in his ivory tower

Thank you for the earthquake
For the fire and devastation
And the suffering that results
From your inscrutable equation

And thank you Lord oh thank you
Your mercy falls like rain
That destroyed the mighty levy
That held back Lake Pontchartrain

So thank you for Katrina
And the mighty towers that fall
Thank you oh thank you
We thank you one and all
Jax, your lyrics reminded me of (one of many) priceless Randy Newman lyrics. God's song from the album sail away:

Cain slew Abel Seth knew not why
For if the children of Israel were to multiply
Why must any of the children die?
So he asked the Lord
And the Lord said:

"Man means nothing he means less to me
than the lowiliest cactus flower
or the humblest yucca tree
he chases round this desert
cause he thinks that's where i'll be
that's why i love mankind

I recoil in horror from the foulness of thee
from the squalor and the filth and the misery
How we laugh up here in heaven at the prayers you offer me
That's why i love mankind"

The Christians and the Jews were having a jamboree
The Buddhists and the Hindus joined on satellite TV
They picked their four greatest priests
And they began to speak
They said "Lord the plague is on the world
Lord no man is free
The temples that we built to you
Have tumbled into the sea
Lord, if you won't take care of us
Won't you please please let us be?"

And the Lord said
And the Lord said

"I burn down your cities--how blind you must be
I take from you your children and you say how blessed are we
You must all be crazy to put your faith in me
That's why i love mankind
You really need me
That's why i love mankind"
Thanks, Edorr. Back atcha, from Tom Waits:

Well I don't go to church on Sunday
Don't get on my knees to pray
Don't memorize the books of the Bible
I got my own special way
I know Jesus loves me
Maybe just a little bit more
I fall down on my knees every Sunday
At Zerelda Lee's candy store

Well it's got to be a chocolate Jesus
Make me feel good inside
Got to be a chocolate Jesus
Keep me satisfied

Well I don't want no Anna Zabba
Don't want no Almond Joy
There ain't nothing better
Suitable for this boy
Well it's the only thing
That can pick me up
Better than a cup of gold
See only a chocolate Jesus
Can satisfy my soul

When the weather gets rough
And it's whiskey in the shade
It's best to wrap your savior
Up in cellophane
He flows like the big muddy
But that's ok
Pour him over ice cream
For a nice parfait

Well it's got to be a chocolate Jesus
Good enough for me
Got to be a chocolate Jesus
Good enough for me

Well it's got to be a chocolate Jesus
Make me feel so good inside
Got to be a chocolate Jesus
Keep me satisfied
While we are on the subject, the quintessential God lyric is of course John Lennon's "God". No cynism here, just lots of existential anxiety - very beautiful lyrics indeed:

God is a concept,
By which we can measure,
Our pain,
I'll say it again,
God is a concept,
By which we can measure,
Our pain,
I don't believe in magic,
I don't believe in I-ching,
I don't believe in bible,
I don't believe in tarot,
I don't believe in Hitler,
I don't believe in Jesus,
I don't believe in Kennedy,
I don't believe in Buddha,
I don't believe in mantra,
I don't believe in Gita,
I don't believe in yoga,
I don't believe in kings,
I don't believe in Elvis,
I don't believe in Zimmerman,
I don't believe in Beatles,
I just believe in me,
Yoko and me,
And that's reality.
The dream is over,
What can I say?
The dream is over,
Yesterday,
I was dreamweaver,
But now I'm reborn,
I was the walrus,
But now I'm John,
And so dear friends,
You just have to carry on,
The dream is over.
Lovely, indeed, Edorr.

Speaking of Zimmerman....

Oh God said to Abraham, "Kill me a son"
Abe says, "Man, you must be puttin' me on"
God say, "No." Abe say, "What ?"
God say, "You can do what you want Abe, but
The next time you see me comin' you better run"
Well Abe says, "Where do you want this killin' done ?"
God says. "Out on Highway 61".
"If I don't see you no more in this world, I'll meet you in the next one. Don't be late." Jimi Hendrix
Just heard another great one:
"We all get what we deserve/
Unfortunately" - John Doe, "Unforgiven"
For me it has to be the line from "I Wish I Were In Love Again" by Rodgers and Hart.

When love conceals it soon reveals,
The faint aroma of performing seals,
The double-crossing of a pair of heels,
I wish I were in love again.

Whenever I hear the double crossing of a pair of heels, I always think of a film noir detective story.

Sit beside the breakfast table
Think about your troubles
Pour yourself a cup of tea
And think about the bubbles
You can take your teardrops
And drop them in a teacup
Take them down to the riverside
And throw them over the side
To be swept up by a current
And taken to the ocean
To be eaten by some fishes
Who were eaten by some fishes
And swallowed by a whale
Who grew so old
He decomposed
He died and left his body
To the bottom of the ocean
Now everybody knows
That when a body decomposes
The basic elements
Are given back to the ocean
And the sea does what it oughta
And soon there's salty water
(That's not too good for drinking)
'Cause it tastes just like a teardrop
(So they run it through a filter)
And it comes out from a faucet
(And is poured into a teapot)
Which is just about to bubble
Now think about your troubles

Think About Your Troubles
- Harry Nilsson
"A natural beauty should be preserved like a monument, in nature."

Natural Beauty - Neil Young
"From the rocking of the cradle to the rolling of the Hearst. Was the going up worth the coming down?"

One of the most under rated songwriters of our time Mr. Kris Kristofferson.
"Why pamper life's complexity when the leather runs smooth on the passenger seat?"
-- from This Charming Man by The Smiths
"It'll turn your sandwich into a banquet"
"The large print giveth, the small print taketh away"
etc, etc
Tom Waits, Step Right Up
"To have ambition is my ambition" from I Love a Man in a Uniform by Gang of Four
Its hard to say only 1 fav. i have another: "sorry seems to be the hardest word" by Elton john