The best of the best of the best lines in songs, EVER

[Linkslover]

I may stupid, but I ain't dumb
and I know a lie when I hear one.
Could you run that by me one more time.

- Dolly Parton

I have no need of friendship.
Friendship causes pain.
It's laughter and it's loving I disdain.

- Simon and Garfunkel (I am a rock)

If I had a gun for every ace I've drawn,
I could arm a town the size of Abilene

- Grateful Dead (Loser)

Peace,

Linkslover

 

[Sp8ctre]

"The takers get the honey
The givers sing the blues"

 

[funkbuero]

Sheesh, 12 pages of prose and no sign of the line that began it all? Really?

A wop bop a loo bop a wop bam boom…

 

[BillZ]

My life has had it's ups and downs
The same as everyone
But this time the ups ain't comin' ‘round
And I've been waiting so long

 

[blownirocz]

"One likes to believe in the freedom of music. But glittering prizes and endless compromises, shatter the illusion of integrity, yeah"

-- The GREAT Neil Peart (may he RIP)

 

[Sp8ctre]

"Somebody loan me a dime I need to call my old time used to be."

 

[Rob Myers]

"if you listen to fools... the mob rules!" Dio

 

[Pinecliff]

Lookin’ California
Feelin’ Minnesota.

I consider this the best music forum on the internet, even if it's focus is on guitar gear. So I thought I'd pose a question and a few thoughts to get everyone started sharing their own thoughts.

It all starts with a song. And of all the zillions of songs, a few stand out because of a line. Like a great guitar tone or lick, a string of words just stabs me at my core. To say the most in the least amount of words or notes... THAT is the true gift of music.

Here's 3 off the top of my head. What lines have had an impact or haunt you?

"I need you more than want you, and I want you for all time"

"I Love you in a place where there's no space and time"

"Does anyone know where the love of God goes when the waves turn the minutes to hours"

”When I’m with you girl I get an extension
And I don’t mean Alexander Graham Bell’s invention”
Switchboard Susan (Nick Lowe)

 

[Shuster]

Oh it seems to me this whole world's gone crazy
There's too much hate and killin goin on
But when I see the bare chest of a woman
My worry's and my problems are all gone
No one thinks of fightin, when they see a topless girl
Baby if you would show yours too, we could save the world ,,, Rodney Carrington

 

[funkbuero]

The Mississippi Delta was shining like a National guitar

 

[eliot1025]

Everybody knows that the fight was fixed.
The poor stay poor. The rich get rich.
That's how it goes, and everybody knows.

That's Leonard Cohen from Everybody Knows.

 

[eliot1025]

We can dance if we want to, we can leave your friends behind
Cause your friends don't dance and if they don't dance
Well they're are no friends of mine
I say, we can go where we want to a place where they will never find
And we can act like we come from out of this world
Leave the real one far behind
And we can dance.

You like it, you just won't admit it.

I don't. I find nothing beautiful, well-crafted, soulful, innovative, insightful or interesting about those lyrics. I always thought they were shallow.

 

[eliot1025]

The best of the best of the best lines in songs, EVER

I'm curious what percentage of people pay attention to lyrics.
I personally never pay attention to the words.
The music is my focus.

I pay attention. They're half the song.

 

[Me Again]

For some reason, Southern Culture on the Skids' line
I met my baby in a used car lot
Drinkin' cheap wine and a-throwin' rocks
has always struck me as such a very evocative line, scoring absolutely zero, of course, on the Meaningful, Symbolic or Depth scales, but just aligning really well, I guess, with the band's, and the song's (Voodoo Cadillac) vibe.

Ask my wife. I'm a very simple man...

 

[Me Again]

I do, however, have a little substance.
After my divorce, the city was rebuilding a park plaza and invited people to buy bricks that can be engraved with a message of choice.

I put
"To ___ and ___ (my sons): AITE, TLYTIETTLYM."

Beatles fans will know what that means. A great, great lyric, to m

 

[eliot1025]

The women that he's taken grow old too soon
He tilts her tired faces gently to the spoon.

Edith and the Kingpin by Joni Mitchell
(about a man being cruel to an ex-lover)

 

[eliot1025]

I wish that for just one time
You could stand inside my shoes
And just for that one moment
I could be you

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

Positively 4th Street by Bob Dylan

 

[PaleFire]

I could cry salty tears
where have I been all these years
little wow, tell me now
how long has this been going on?

the Gershwins How Long Has This Been Going On

 

[samm57]

Bob Dylan:
I got no place left to turn
I got nothin' left to burn
Don't know if I saw you if I would kiss you or kill you
It probably wouldn't matter to you anyhow

 

[uebs123]

i'm lonely but i'm not that lonely yet - White Stripes
I go down to the river
Filled with regret
I go down and I wonder
If there was any reason left
I've just before my lungs could get wet
I'm lonely, but I ain't that lonely yet