Post a lyric

[zztomato]

Hey, was just thinking about lyrics and how they are not discussed here much. Personally, I can't get into a tune if the lyric doesn't do anything for me.
Post your favourite profundity from a song lyric.

Here's one from Bob Dylan that really stuck in my head for a long time;

"I'm going to teach peace to the conquered, I'm going to tame the proud"
From "Lonesome Day Blues"

A fairly timeless observation of conflict.

 

[Average Joe]

I was driving across the burning desert
When I spotted six jet planes
Leaving six white vapor trails across the bleak terrain
It was the hexagram of the heavens
it was the strings of my guitar
Amelia, it was just a false alarm

The drone of flying engines
Is a song so wild and blue
It scrambles time and seasons if it gets thru to you
Then your life becomes a travelogue
Of picture-post-card-charms
Amelia, it was just a false alarm

People will tell you where they've gone
They'll tell you where to go
But till you get there yourself you never really know
Where some have found their paradise
Other's just come to harm
Oh Amelia, it was just a false alarm

I wish that he was here tonight
It's so hard to obey
His sad request of me to kindly stay away
So this is how I hide the hurt
As the road leads cursed and charmed
I tell Amelia, it was just a false alarm

A ghost of aviation
She was swallowed by the sky
Or by the sea, like me she had a dream to fly
Like Icarus ascending
On beautiful foolish arms
Amelia, it was just a false alarm

Maybe I've never really loved
I guess that is the truth
I've spent my whole life in clouds at icy altitude
And looking down on everything
I crashed into his arms
Amelia, it was just a false alarm

I pulled into the Cactus Tree Motel
To shower off the dust
And I slept on the strange pillows of my wanderlust
I dreamed of 747s
Over geometric farms
Dreams, Amelia, dreams and false alarms

 

[travisvwright]

Interesting. Lyrics are always the very last thing I care about. But I like this bridge:

"You and I we were there to see the dawn"
"Side by side we had love to carry on and"
"I still hear guitars in the air as we sat in the sand"
"Ohh HollyAnn"

 

[Spudman]

This is just part of the song but it really makes me think hard.

Last minute on earth
what would you do, who would you call?
Your mobile is down,
who will write the history of that final day?

That last minute on earth
one minute alone, lost word or cause
for one who had everything,
now unfold this scary beautiful end

Last minute on earth
saving your last famous words
maybe just whistle a tune on a plain bird of clay

Last minute on earth
fractions of time is all that is left
You used to kill time,
now it's time who's killing you, they've closed the store

 

[Go Cat Go!!]

Lyrics are the last thing I get into. The song hast to initially have a great groove and melody. Having said that I think Operation Mindcrime was full of great lyrics:

I don't believe in love,
I never have, I never will.
I don't believe in love,
It's not worth the pain that you feel.

Obviously the author had found love and lost it. I read pain, denial, bitter loneliness and anger into those few words.

 

[zztomato]

I really like the image set up in this first verse from the Wilco song "A Shot in the Arm"

The ashtray says
You were up all night
When you went to bed
With your darkest mind
Your pillow wept
And covered your eyes
And you finally slept
While the sun caught fire

 

[Phalanx200bc]

There is unrest in the forest,
There is trouble with the trees,
For the maples want more sunlight
And the oaks ignore their pleas.

 

[TNJ]

Sunshine by tomorrow
Sunshine by today
Try to show the goodness, it's there everyday.
Dont be sad by only seeing what gets in your way.
Show the light inside you, it's there everyday.

Now you know why the joker doesnt smile.
And it shows...ah.
Now you know how he makes his life worthwhile.
On he goes...

Old folks and new folks
Nothin' in between.
Goin' here or there somewhere to settle down.
Well if the words I sing dont mean too much
It's all the same to me.
It's not that nowhere I'm at this side of town.

Now you know why the joker doesnt smile.
And it shows...
Now you know how he makes his life worthwhile.
On he goes...
On he goes...
On he goes...
On he goes...

____________________________________________________________

Sleep to the sound of music such as none before
Look to the waves of silence through an open door
Circles turn on and on, revolving around you.
You feel there is nothing you can do.
I know that I'm not alone (heard you singin')
I'm willing to take you home (i've been thinkin')
The past is already shown (got me dreamin')
I know that I'm not alone


(Written by my friend, Ray Pierle...)

S.
j.

 

[thisisajs]

It was all very painless
When you went out to receive
All that false instruction
Which we never could believe
And now the heart is filled with gold
As if it was a purse
But, oh, what kind of love is this
Which goes from bad to worse?

Richard Manuel OWNS this one..

 

[Two-Octave]

Lyrics (and music) written by Tom Waits,Mule playing the song.

 

[puckhead]

Billy Bragg has a ton of gems:

"well if there are no winners, that what is this, he thinks
as he watches her complete a lap of honour.
he sits in the stands, with his head in his hands
and he thinks of all the things he'd like to bring down upon her"
/Little time bomb

"That brutality and economy are related,
now I understand"
/Valentine's day is Over

"I hate the asshole I become, every time I'm with you .....
I know that when I leave the room they say 'what's up with him'
But love is not a game you play to win girl, Love is not a game you play to win"
/Life with the Lions

 

[mbargav]

Well it's 1969 ok
all across the usa
It's another year for me and you
Another year with nothing to do
Last year I was 21
I didn't have a lot of fun
And now I'm gonna be 22
I say oh my and a boo-hoo


​

 

[Bluzeboy]

You were 19 and perfect baby but
no one stays perfect too long.

 

[Willie Johnson]

One lyric from Jackson Browne (For a Dancer) that always strikes me as profound whenever someone close to me passes away is:

No matter how close to yours another's steps have grown
In the end there is one dance you'll do alone

 

[zztomato]

One lyric from Jackson Browne (For a Dancer) that always strikes me as profound whenever someone close to me passes away is:

No matter how close to yours another's steps have grown
In the end there is one dance you'll do alone

I was just going to post a verse from this but the entire lyric is worth a read for just the same reason you mentioned.

Dylan's "when the Deal Goes Down"

In the still of the night, in the world's ancient light
Where wisdom grows up in strife
My bewildering brain, toils in vain
Through the darkness on the pathways of life
Each invisible prayer is like a cloud in the air
Tomorrow keeps turning around
We live and we die, we know not why
But I'll be with you when the deal goes down

We eat and we drink, we feel and we think
Far down the street we stray
I laugh and I cry and I'm haunted by
Things I never meant nor wished to say
The midnight rain follows the train
We all wear the same thorny crown
Soul to soul, our shadows roll
And I'll be with you when the deal goes down

Well, the moon gives light and it shines by night
When I scarcely feel the glow
We learn to live and then we forgive
O'r the road we're bound to go
More frailer than the flowers, these precious hours
That keep us so tightly bound
You come to my eyes like a vision from the skies
And I'll be with you when the deal goes down

Well, I picked up a rose and it poked through my clothes
I followed the winding stream
I heard the deafening noise, I felt transient joys
I know they're not what they seem
In this earthly domain, full of disappointment and pain
You'll never see me frown
I owe my heart to you, and that's sayin' it true
And I'll be with you when the deal goes down

 

[harmonicator]

"That's where I found my mandarin plum
That's where you'd be if you found one"

 

[steve108819]

"Wanna kiss your lips, not the one's on your face"
from Let's Get Crazy by Quiet Riot. Dylan couldn't have said it better.

 

[Carltone]

chick-a-dee china, the chinese chicken
have another bite and your brain starts clickin'


or something like like from "One Week"

 

[LSGoCards7]

Waiting for the winds of change
To sweep the clouds away
Waiting for the rainbow's end
To cast it's gold your way
Countless ways
You pass the days

Waiting for someone to call
And turn your world around
Looking for an answer
To the question you have found
Looking for
An open door

You don't get something for nothing
You can't have freedom for free
You won't get wise
With the sleep still in your eyes
No matter what your dreams might be

What you own is your own kingdom
What you do is your own glory
What you love is your own power
What you live is your own story
In your head is the answer
Let it guide you along
Let your heart be the anchor
And the beat of your own song

You don't get something for nothing
You can't have freedom for free
You won't get wise
With the sleep still in your eyes
No matter what your dreams might be

 

[Rock Johnson]

Lyrics are the last thing I get into. The song hast to initially have a great groove and melody. Having said that I think Operation Mindcrime was full of great lyrics:

I don't believe in love,
I never have, I never will.
I don't believe in love,
It's not worth the pain that you feel.

Obviously the author had found love and lost it. I read pain, denial, bitter loneliness and anger into those few words.

From the same album, the line "I woke on impact, under surveillance from the camera's eye" presents an entire scene in my head....