Your favorite lines

[Vader]

... and I'm not talking coke here.

It's not about whole lyrics. It's about a line or two, a rhyme or maybe a small verse you think that is poetry, extremely funny or in some other way exceptional ...

Now I taught the weeping willow how to cry
And I showed the clouds how to cover up a clear blue sky

And the sons of Pullman porters
And the sons of engineers
Ride their father's magic carpets made of steel

I will deny my role as a human
Holding myself hostage with no demands
It's better to burn quickly and bright
Than slowly and dull without a fight

And you run, and you run to catch up with the sun, but it's sinking
Racing around to come up behind you again
The sun is the same in a relative way, but you're older
Shorter of breath and one day closer to death

Show me how the gods kill

If he was here to tell us just what was what
He'd give his son a good kick in the butt
and we would hang on every word he say
I think Hank woulda done it this way

[Menolly]

Workings of man, crying out from the fires set aflame
By his blindness to see that the warmth of his being
Is promised for his seeing, his reaching so clearly

Master of Light, all pure chance
As exists cross divided in all encircling mode
Oh, closely guarded plan awaken in our heart

Like the time I ran away, and turned around
And you were standing close to me
Like the time I ran away, and turned around
...and you were standing close to me

The secret of your beauty
And the mystery of your soul
I've been searching for in everyone I meet
And the times I've been mistaken
It's impossible to say
And the grass is growing
Underneath our feet

Once beneath the stars
The universe was ours
Love was all we knew
And all I knew was you
I wonder if you know
I wonder if you think about it
Once upon a time
In your wildest dreams

...Yeah, I know all the lines from Yes are from the same song.

[sgt.null]

the Clash
"every cheap hood strikes a bargain with the world, ends making payments on a sofa or a girl, love and hate tattooed across the knuckles of his hands, as he slaps his kids around they don't understand - how death and glory become another story."

Husker Du
"you ask how far the farthest star is, to go by bus or to go by car is way too far, you couldn't say, you wouldn't get there anyway."

Pere Ubu
"welcome to Mars, we're open all hours..."

Mercury Rev
"what is lost can never be found, keep spinning in circles til you break new ground."

[Vader]

Don't you know there ain't no devil
It's just God when he's drunk

Oh no love! you're not alone
No matter what or who you've been
No matter when or where you've seen
All the knives seem to lacerate your brain
I've had my share, I'll help you with the pain
You're not alone

When we hit Dixie will you tell that engineer to ring his bell?
And ask everyone that ain't asleep to stand right up and yell.

All of my words are secondhand and
Useless in the face of this
Rationale and rhyme and reason
Pale beside a single kiss
And I've heard so many things I
Fail to understand at all
I'd settle anytime for
Unknown footsteps in the hall outside

Everyone loves a musical drunk, he's always full of cheer.
Everyone loves a musical drunk 'cept when he's crying in your beer.
Then it's 'take a walk, pa, we've had enough.
We like all your singing and funny stuff.
But when the teardrops start, you gotta leave
'Cause who wants to hear an old rummy grieve?'

You want a riot? You want a fight?
New York City is ours tonight

I don't wanna be burried
In a pet cemetary

Them that don't know him won't like him and them that do
sometimes won't know how to take him
He ain't wrong, he's just different but his pride won't let him
do things to make you think he's right

What is the link between these crafts?
Doctors and thieves they both wear masks

[sgt.null]

all Throwing Muses

"I found last September in a notebook
It was too much for the book to hold"

"A hole
A hole in the box
they carry
Pours sugar in the road"

"I watch the snow make slow time"

[stonemaybe]

omg I don't know where to start!

[Cambo]

Pork chop jumped off the plate, came down and started beating the shit outta my cuppa coffee...coffee just wasn't strong enough to defend itself!

There is a game I play
Try to make myself okay
Try so hard to make the pieces all fit
Smash it apart, just for the fuck of it

For threatening my baby, unborn and un-named
You ain't worth the blood that runs in your veins

Well the sword swallower comes to you, and he kneels
He crosses himself, and then he clicks his high heels
And without further notice he asks you, how it feels
And he says "here is your throat back, thanks for the loan"

And you could have it all, my empire of dirt
I will let you down, I will make you hurt

I could go on and on and on....

[Cameraman Jenn]

It's a short song but so beautiful to me, Led Zeppelin's "Thank You":

If the sun refused to shine, I would still be loving you.
When mountains crumble to the sea, there will still be you and me.

Kind woman, I give you my all, Kind woman, nothing more.

Little drops of rain whisper of the pain, tears of loves lost in the days gone by.
My love is strong, with you there is no wrong,
together we shall go until we die. My, my, my.
An inspiration is what you are to me, inspiration, look... see.

And so today, my world it smiles, your hand in mine, we walk the miles,
Thanks to you it will be done, for you to me are the only one.

From the Grateful Dead's "Cassidy":

I have seen where the wolf has slept by the silver stream.
I can tell by the mark he left you were in his dream.
Ah child of countless trees, ah child of boundless seas.

What are you, what are you meant to be?


And pretty much anything Bruce Springsteen has ever written.

[stonemaybe]

Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band wrote:

I wake up every morning with a smile upon my face
my natural exuberance spills out all over the place

[Vader]

Pork chop jumped off the plate, came down and started beating the shit outta my cuppa coffee...coffee just wasn't strong enough to defend itself!

Really clever.

[dlbpharmd]

Pink Floyd wrote:

You have to be trusted
By the people that you lie to
So that when they turn their backs on you
You'll have the chance to put the knife in

[Fist and Faith]

So, so you think you can tell
Heaven from Hell
Blue skies from pain

When you ain't got nuthin'
You got nuthin' to lose

Every line, alone or collectively, from U2's One.

[Cail]

A man in black on a snow white horse,
A pointless life has run its course,
The red rimmed eyes, the tears still run
As he fades into the setting sun

There's an unceasing wind that blows through this night
And there's dust in my eyes, that blinds my sight
And silence that speaks so much louder than words,
Of promises broken

Encumbered forever by desire and ambition
There's a hunger still unsatisfied
Our weary eyes still stray to the horizon
Though down this road we've been so many times

Into a deep and dreamless sleep our spirits fall
And what we sow we cannot reap nor keep at all

[Vader]

My, my, hey, hey
Rock'n'Roll is here to stay

Hey, hey, my, my
Rock'n'Roll can never die

Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose

And when it rains
It pours like molten lead

[finn]

No amount of poetry can mend this broken heart,
But you can put the Hoover round if you want to make a start

[Menolly]

Yes, to dance beneath the diamond sky with one hand waving free
Silhouetted by the sea
Circled by the circus sands
With all memory and fate driven deep beneath the waves
Let me forget about today until tomorrow

Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man...

...although I prefer listening to the version by The Byrds.

[sgt.null]

rem

take a picture here, take a souvenir - cuyahoga

wrap your heels, in bones of steel - seven chinese bros.

It's crazy what you could've had - country feedback

[Krazy Kat]

I don't wanna be a guitar hero, I just wanna be a guitar zero -

Steve Hillage

[Cagliostro]

One of my favorite from REM is a bit of what I think may have been a misheard lyric from Wendell Gee

He had a dream one night
That the tree had lost its middle
So he built a trunk of chicken wire
To try to hold it up
But the wire, the wire turned to lizard skin
And when he climbed inside
There wasn't even time to say
Goodbye to Wendell Gee

The sixth line I've always interpreted as "and made a grinding sound." Which seems a bit far off from what the lyrics online say. But seems much more poetic. It's a pity when that happens.


A couple more favorites.
Bob Geldof - A Hole To Fill

I left the pub last night
And I was just in time
To see them break my windows
And slash my tyres
I'm a liberal I thought
As I felt my anger rise
I was desperately searching
For my feminine side
But my feminine side
Was on her morning coffee break
I beat the shit out of one
And boy, I felt great

Bob Walkenhorst

You can have it all, just not all in the same place.

You remind me of someone
I don't know who
maybe the ghost
of things yet to come
or the shining eyes
of my daughter dear
still waiting to be born
or the loving gaze of Mother Earth
still flirting with the universe

Sometimes the facts can make the truth disappear

[sgt.null]

cags - i always heard wendell gee as the way you have the lyrics. it is a favorite.

Husker Du -

"come away with me
we'll go to all the places
that we have never seen
and if we're together we'll
have a happy time cause
I got no reservations.."