What Are Your Favourite Lyrics, Of All Time?

[Garrett Robertson]

What lyrics from an accomplished band have you related to the most? Something you really enjoy from a band of musician you like, something that got you into writing lyrics.

[Garrett Robertson]

thanks a lot tom, that's exactly what I was looking for

[Janeva]

It goes without saying that for me, as I'm from the north of England, it has to be The Beatles - but this is such a predictable (and most probably, boring and overused) statement - especially from us Brits. 

 

I have to say that I love the songs of late 70s/80's pop band Squeeze (from the South of England)  who had a string of hits in the UK. Their songs, written by band members Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook, all have snappy, catchy tunes and lyrics.  Jools Holland - who is 'Mr Music' (a fantastic jazz/blues musician/band leader/music programme tv host) here in the UK - was their keyboard player. I would say Squeeze song lyrics have probably influenced me more than any others.   

 

Examples intros: 

 

Tempted

 

I bought a toothbrush, some toothpaste/ A flannel for my face/Pyjamas, a hairbrush/ New shoes and a case/ I said to my reflection/ Let's get out of this place

 

 

Up The Junction

 

I never thought it would happen / With me and the girl from Clapham / Out on a windy common / That night I ain't forgotten.

 

 

 

(and my favourite..............)

 

 

Take Me I'm Yours

 

I've come across the desert / To greet you with a smile / My camel looks so tired / It's hardly worth my while

 

 

 

(Difford/Tilbrook)

 

(Edited to say: I met and shook  hands with Glenn Tilbrook this week - simply awesome !! )  22.11.13 

 

 

 

 

Jan

Edited November 24, 2013 by JanHutchinson
Update

[James Austin]

It's got to be Gaslight Anthem, for me. Counting Crowes would be top, but on closer inspection a lot of their meaningful lyrics don't actually make much sense, whereas Gaslight's are grounded in their gritty insight. It's impossible for me to pick an all-time favourite, but these three definitely stand out from the rest (and the rest is outstanding):

 

Wherefore Art Thou, Elvis?: 'Between the minor chord fall and the fourth and the fifth/ It's a broken Hallelujah and a pain in my fist'

 

Blue Dahlia: 'Did they take you to the carnival to get locked up on a ride? Me, I got caught up with the fortune tellers and the ladies with the sleepy eyes'

 

Halloween: 'And who are you supposed to be? You look like heaven tonight/ Me, I'm a tomb, a corpse in a suit, trying to look a little alive'

 

My ambition is to write something Brian Fallon wishes he'd written, and it's scaring me that he seems to be getting better with each album.

Edited December 10, 2013 by James Austin

[Beatles4ever]

Hi

 

   Songs and artists I pick aren't exactly household names here, but their significance for me is that the music and the lyrics had this certain fit to them that you couldn't deny was magical in its own realm.

 

Pitseleh-by Elliot Smith. The melody fits the self loathing of someone who realizes or has the foresight that the relationship wouldn't work if they continued.

 

You Avoid Parties-the Posies. A quasi dramatic third person observation of a girl burying and trying to overcome her past abuse. The sparseness of the arrangement adds to the tension in the song.

 

Peter Pumpkin Head-XTC. Certainly tongue n cheek references in the song abound about JFK and his life exploits. The melody has this playful story telling mid tempo catchyness that is accented nicely with how the chords fit the mood of each line. 

 

Something-The Beatles-featuring George Harrison. The melody certainly is creative with its bridges etc and the words arent overly sappy and yet have a certain simplicity and sentiment about them that you dont feel your blood sugar level go overboard.

 

Calling Occupants -Klaatu. A great Beatle spoof musically of sorts and the lyrics fit the wonderment that the music presented.

 

Deacan Blues - Steely Dan. Just a nice 70s lounge jazz feel to the song and the lyrics had this casualness to them that you couldnt help but want to actually know what the story was behind the lyrics themselves.

 

Paul Simon...I think that says it all. Scarborough Fair being the one that stands out for me.

 

  Well...like everyone here, I could go on and on. But these seemed to pop up in my head as lyrically satisfying and how the music and the lyrics just had that certain artistic something something about them to work as a complete song.

 

just my observation

Beatle Jim

[wilmot]

Perhaps not exactly as inspiration, but for comfort when getting stuck when writing lyrics, I often turn to Leonard Cohen's "Bird on the Wire".

 

I've always felt that after having written that first stanza

 

   Like a bird on the wire

   Like a drunk in a midnight choir

   I have tried in my way to be free

 

He cursed himself because it's so perfect, contained and impossible to continue - And he's been struggling with the rest ever since.

Though that's probably all in my imagination.

[JamesB]

Hi Garrett. I see this post is getting on in age, but I just wanted to put my 2c in, because I have really gained a lot from listing to a few particular artists, and they had no small part in inspiring me to write. One of the  best lyricists of all time in my opinion is Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits. Sultans of Swing and Romeo & Juliet are my personal faves. 

 

R&J

"When you can fall for chains of silver you can fall for chains of gold

You can fall for pretty strangers and the promises they hold
You promised me everything you promised me thick and thin yeah
Now you just say oh Romeo yeah you know I used to have a scene with him...."

 

SoS

"And a crowd of young boys, they're fooling around in the corner,

Drunk and dressed in their best brown baggies and their platform soles.
The don't give a damn about any trumpet playing band.
It ain't what they call rock and roll.
And the Sultans,
Yes the Sultans play Creole..."

 

Another great writer is Roger Clyne, formerly of the Refreshments, currently of Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers. He writes great songs such as Counterclockwise, Green and Dumb, and A Little Hung Over You. Listening to and singing along to songs like these really inspired me to pick up my guitar after years of not playing, and has gradually led me to try to write something as good myself. That of course it a work very much in progress. 

[Stova007]

This lyric from U2 always stood out to me. It's from their song 'Cedars of Lebanon"

 

"Choose your enemies carefully 'cos they will define you
 Make them interesting 'cos in some ways they will mind you
 They're not there in the beginning but when your story ends
 Gonna last with you longer than your friends"

[bluduc]

My inspiration to start writhing songs came when I was 16, setting front row center and heard Johnny Cash do The Ledgen Of John Henry"s Hammer. Cursed for life. My favorite writer was the late Mickey Newbury. I had the experance of a life time to sit for four hours over breakfast and talk song writing. A great writer and a wonderfull man.

    How Many Times Must The Piper Be Paid For His Song  by Mickey Newbury.

 

Morning came and found her at the window
With her nose pressed to the glass
The dew was like a broken diamond necklace
Left scattered on the grass

She slipped from my side
She stands at the window and watches the rain
Lord, I wish I was blind
And could not read her mind and see all her pain

But from here where I lie
I can see the tears in her eyes
As she quietly cries out for him, not for me
How many times must the piper be paid for his song?

Her shattered dream
It's like broken glass cuttin' through to her soul
It's leaving her naked mind alone now
To tremble and cry in the cold

Any day now she knows that he'll call
Lord, she's wonderin' if I'll be around
When he's gone and she's left to fall
How many times must the piper be paid for his song?

Well, the sun fell through the window
The morning was filled with the singin' of birds
Will she ever remember?
He sung the songs but forgot all the words

From here where I lie
I can see the tears in her eyes as she quietly cries
Then she turns and she walks back to me
How many times must the piper be paid for his song?

 

•  

[White Soul Black Heart]

I have many that stand out but there's a lyric from one song in particular that captivates me everytime. It's the chorus from a little known French new wave band Little Nemo in their song "Sandcastle"

 

Turn your face to the spindrift
See the waves rolling over the rocks
Build your sandcastle in the rain
It will stand with a great touch of faith

 

When I listen to the song and hear the bass and drum churn like the waters he describes, and the plea the singer makes in this bleak scene, I feel emotions, angst, but the entirety of those emotions turns to a bleary, but veritable hope in the last two lines. And the imagery, just in those few lines, is as moving as any I've heard in a song. I'm immediately reminded of Friedrich's "Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog"; staring out into a vast, beautiful tumult.

 

The band's dreamy, poetical sort of imagery in all of their songs is something I intend to work toward in my songwriting.

 

God music is awesome...

[lillypilly]

There is a song written by Steve Earle  "Goodbye"  it says it all and does not use a lot of fancy words