She said, "Where you been?" I said, "No place special."
She said, "You look different." I said, "Well, I guess."
She said, "You been gone." I said, "That's only natural."
She said, "You wanna stay?" I said, "If you want me to, yess."
Bob Dylan, "Isis" |
I have a couple:
"My anaconda don't want none unless you've got buns, hun"
Sir Mix-a-lot, Baby Got Back
"The next best thing to playing and winning is playing and losing"
Alison Krauss, The Lucky One
Michael |
"Well, I see you give more than I can take.
Well, I only harvest some."
Neil Young, "Harvest" (of course) |
Marilyn Scott's verion of Here's to Life where the lyric says "may all your storms be weathered and all that's good get better" Wonderful blessing.
Absolutely the best version of this song I've heard. Other songs on the cd are okay, but she knocked this one out of the park.
enjoy |
B.B. King - nobody loves me but my mama, and she could be jiving too.
blues song - woman to her best girl friend "I think your husband is cheating on us" |
I'm hovering like a fly, waiting for the windshield on the freeway." Peter Gabriel |
for melancholy:
I've been lately thinking
About my life's time
All the things I've done
And how it's been
And I can't help believing
In my own mind
I know I'm gonna hate to see it end
I've seen a lot of sunshine
Slept out in the rain
Spent a night or two all on my own
I've known my lady's pleasures
Had myself some friends
And spent a night or two in my own home
And I have to say it now
It's been a good life all in all
It's really fine
To have a chance to hang around
And lie there by the fire
And watch the evening tire
While all my friends and my old lady
Sit and pass the pipe around
And talk of poems and prayers and promises
And things that we believe in
How sweet it is to love someone
How right it is to care
How long it's been since yesterday
And what about tomorrow
And what about our dreams
And all the memories we share
The days they pass so quickly now
Nights are seldom long
And time around me whispers when it's cold
The changes somehow frighten me
Still I have to smile
It turns me on to think of growing old
For though my life's been good to me
There's still so much to do
So many things my mind has never known
I'd like to raise a family
I'd like to sail away
And dance across the mountains on the moon
I have to say it now
It's been a good life all in all
It's really fine
To have the chance to hang around
And lie there by the fire
And watch the evening tire
While all my friends and my old lady
Sit and watch the sun go down
And talk of poems and prayers and promises
And things that we believe in
How sweet it is to love someone
How right it is to care
How long it's been since yesterday
What about tomorrow
What about our dreams
And all the memories we share
John Denver
|
Hush now, baby
Soon I'll see you in my dreams
Asking nuthin'
Nuthin's ever what it seems
Baby wants the milk and honey
Ask me and you shall recieve
Never seen no devil wear his heart upon his sleeve
Down the corner-
Where the streets have turned to sand
If you-
Do unto others
You will die by your own hand
Baby pulls me even closer
Tangled like the web she weaves
Shaking off her demons
Now they're coming after me
Don't mistake me
Ain't no ordinary man
Gonna save me
From the shotgun in your hand
Covering the walls in shadow
Faster than the sound of speed
Never seen no devil
Now it's all that I can see |
Freedom's just another word for nothin' left to lose...
from Me and Bobby McGee
Don't know that I've ever heard more truth expressed in 9 words. |
....cruising and playing the radio, with no particular place to go. Chuck Berry |
"Started swearing to my God, and on my mother's grave,
that I would love you 'til the end of time, I swore I would love you 'til the end of time............
So now I'm prayin' for the end of time to hurry up and arrive,
cause if I have to spend another minute with you I don't think that I can really survive!"
Meatloaf |
"Jesus died for somebody's sins, but not mine." |
"walk around with a broken leg, and a hundred dollar bill"
Beck. No, not Jeff Beck. Just Beck. |
"You're breakin my heart, so fuck you" |
the future is bright I gotta wear shades |
Edorr, "You Don't Know What Love Is" is my favorite song. You stole my lyrics. That's OK, these are my second favorite lyrics.
Softly as in a morning sunrise
The light of love comes stealing
Into a newborn day
Flaming with all the glow of sunrise
A burning kiss is sealing
A vow that all betray
For the passions that thrill love
And take you high to heaven
Are the passions that kill love
And let it fall to hell
So ends the story, and it began, "Softly As In a Morning Sunrise". |
"Wherever you go, whatever you do, whatever you say: say, say, say.... say it with love! " |
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..... |
"I told ya I love you ya, now get out" Anita O'day |
"Wherever you go, whatever you do, whatever you say: say, say, say.... say it with love! " |
God, there are so many, and the words absent of the musical accompaniment lose a lot of their impact if the reader has never heard the song. A few that come to mind out of many for me
Jimi Hendrix- Castles Made of Sand
It's a Beautiful Day- White Bird
Jethro Tull- Look into the Sun
Jefferson Airplane- Today, Hey Fredrick, and Eskimo Blue Day
The Kinks-Big Sky
Janis Joplin with Big Brother- Blindman
The Kinks- Big Sky
Big Sky looks down on all the people looking up at the Big Sky.
Everybody pushing one another around
Big Sky feels sad when he sees the children scream and cry
But the Big Sky is too big to let it get him down.
Big Sky too big to cry
Big Sky too high to see
People like you and me
One day we'll be free, we won't care, just you see
'Til that day can be, don't let it get you down
When I feel that the world is too much for me
I think of the Big Sky, and nothing matters much to me.
Big Sky looks down on all the people who think they got problems
They get depressed and they hold their head in their hands and cry.
People lift up their hands and they look up to the Big Sky
But the Big Sky is too big to sympathize
Big Sky's too occupied
Though he would like to try
And he feels bad inside
Big Sky's too big to cry
One day we'll be free, we won't care, just you wait and see
'Til that day can be, don't let it get you down. |
I'll have a jelly donut, and a bottle of anything...to go!!! |
"I started out with nothing and I still got most of it left" Seasick Steve. Not my favourite but this line appealed to me recently. |
"Life's a counterfeit and when you look at it
Life's a laugh and death's the joke, it's true
You see, it's all a show, keep them laughing as you go
Just remember the last laugh is on you" |
And slowly turns the grinding wheel, in the Court of the Crimson King. |
"There's something we need to discuss-
Your husband's cheatin' on us"
Matraca Berg |
"give me everything tonight. We might not get tomorrow... " |
OK, I've got a few:
"He's the better of the best,
best believe he's the baddest,
Perfect timing when I'm climbing on my rhyming apparatus
Lot of guts
When he cuts, girls move their butts
His name is Jay here to play he must be nuts"
- Run DMC - "It's Tricky"
"Playing makeup, wearing guitar"
- Replacements - "Left of the Dial"
Almost any rhyme by Rakim, the lyrical master. A couple of beauties from "I Know You Got Soul":
"I start to think,
and then I sink
Into the paper,
like I was ink,
When I'm writing, I'm trapped in between the lines,
I escape when I finish the rhyme..."
"Picture a mic, the stage is empty
A beat like this might tempt me
To pose, show my rings and my fat gold chain
Grab the mic like I'm on Soul Train
But I'll wait 'cause I mastered this
Let the others go first so the brothers don't miss
Eric B. break the sticks (you got it)
Rakim will begin when you make the mix"
"Think about it -- wait -- erase your rhyme,
Forget it, and don't waste your time,
'Cause I'll be in the crowd if you ain't controlling it,
Drop the mic, you shouldn't be holding it.
This is how it should be done
This style is identical to none
Some try to make it sound like this but you're getting me
So upset that I'm wet 'cause you're sweating me"
"First of all, I'm the soloist, the soul controller
Rakim gets stronger as I get older
Constant elevation causes expansion
I write my rhyme while I cool in my mansion
Then put it on tape and in the city I test it
Then on the radio the R's requested"
A few lines from "Fell in Love With a Girl" by the White Stripes:
"she turns and says "are you alright?"
I said "I must be fine cause my heart's still beating"
"my left brain knows that
all love is fleeting
she's just looking for something new
and I said it once before
but it bears repeating" |
"so good to be alive when the eulogies are read" Phil Ochs
Crucifixon |
" the tip of my tongue is the barrel of a gun and it's loaded " The Wood Brothers |
Here's a few I keep with me all the time.
We sail our icecats on the frozen river
Some loser fires off a flare, amen
For seven seconds itÂ’s like Christmas day
And then itÂ’s dark again
Donald Fagen, "Snowbound"
And I'll keep on trying
Till I tie a string around that moon
And in the morning
Then it could be your balloon
Kami Lyle, "Stay with You" on Manu Katche's Third Round |
"Lord I was born a Ramblin Man..." |
"Doesn't mean that much to me, to mean that much to you" |
It's hard to kiss the lips at night that have been chewing my ass out all day long ... Vince Gill |
And all the creatures
Born of ink and rage and lies
Run from my pen
And crawl across the page to die
Fascination is the germ of their disease
Degradation is the term of their release
By Bill Nelson of Be Bop Deluxe
Note the the rhymes are internal as well as terminal.
genius |
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 |
Amelia Curran? I'm writing that down. Yes, I'm crazy about rhyme schemes and metrical language. Can't wait to check her out.
Don |
"Your mind is on vacation, but your mouth is working overtime!"
The great Mose Allison |
"And the blood of his music runs through the veins of our guitars"... But there's a banjo moon in a tie-dyed sky
Hippies dance and babies cry
Church bells ring as a silver-haired angel look down
And the blood of his music runs through the veins of our guitars
Bright Lights, Dark Star from Patchwork Quilt written by Warren Haynes about Jerry Garcia - the whole song is outstanding. |
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 |
"In a morning from a Bogart movie, in a country were they turned back time, you go strolling through the crowd like Peter Lorre contemplating a crime
She comes out of the sun with a silk dress running like a watercolor in the rain..."
Al Stewart, "Year of the Cat" |
Wish I was a Kellog's cornflake, floating in my bowl taking movies,
Relaxing a while, living in style
Talking with a raisin who occasionaly plays LA, casualy glancing at his taupee
Wish I was an English muffin, bout to make the most out of a toaster
Ease myself down, coming up brown,
I prefer the boysenberry more than any other jam, I'm a citizen for boysenberry jam fan..."
Punkey's Dilemma, from Simon and Garfunkel Bookends |
Come to think of it. Always lover this:
(Michael Franks, Antonio's Song)
Antonio lives life's frevo
Antonio prays for truth
Antonio says our friendship
Is a hundred-proof
The vulture that circles Rio
Hangs in this L.A. sky
The blankets they give the Indians
Only make them die
But sing the Song
Forgotten for so long
And let the Music flow
Like Light into the Rainbow
We know the Dance, we have
We still have the chance
To break these chains and flow
Like Light into the Rainbow
Antonio loves the desert
Antonio prays for rain
Antonio knows that Pleasure
Is the child of Pain
And lost in La Califusa
When most of my hope was gone
Antonio's samba led me
To the Amazon
We sing the Song
Forgotten for so long
And let the music flow
Like Light into the Rainbow
We know the Dance, we have
We still have the chance
To break these chains and flow
Like Light into the Rainbow. |
I really don't mind if you sit this one out.
My word's but a whisper--your deafness a SHOUT!
I may make you feel, but I can't make you think....
--opening to Jethro Tull's Thick as a Brick
One of many wonderful moments penned by Ian Anderson. Probably my favorite all time lyric, but others are in the running. |
The highway is for gamblers, you better use your sense. |
They say it costs a lot to win, even more to lose.
You and me got to spend some time, wonderin' what to choose. |
I wish I was a headlight on a northbound train.
I'd shine my light through the cool Colorado rain.
I don't know what this means, but it's like religion every time I hear it! |
Cold iron shackles and ball and chain.
Listen to the whistle of the evening train.
ok one more...
Gone are the broken eyes we saw through in dreams.
Gone both, dream and lie.
ok that's it. I promise! |
I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together.
The whole song is maybe the most psychedelic vision I've ever heard. Can you hear a vision? I guess you can if John Lennon wrote it! |
I got me a complication
and it's an only child
Talk Talk by Music machine |
