Favorite Lyric?

Favorite new record? Favorite old record? Got a band? Post it here.
User avatar
scottT
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 2426
Joined: Tue Dec 14, 2010 11:39 am

Re: Favorite Lyric?

Post by scottT » Wed Feb 07, 2018 6:33 pm

PorkyPrimeCut wrote:
Wed Feb 07, 2018 3:44 pm
I actually have part of this as my signature...

Slip Inside This House - The Thirteenth Floor Elevators.
I just googled your sig yesterday! Something I had been meaning to do. I figured it was a song lyric. I was pleasantly surprised when it turned up The Thirteenth Floor Elevators. I listened to it on youtube. Really cool.

User avatar
shadowplay
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 25930
Joined: Thu Sep 27, 2007 4:30 am
Location: Glasgow. Scotland
Contact:

Re: Favorite Lyric?

Post by shadowplay » Thu Feb 08, 2018 5:07 am

I can't see past Jhonn Balance as a lyricist, he was beyond that really and more into the realm of a great English visionary poet.

Two short lyrics for short songs (in Coil terms anyway).

Amber Rain I'm not exaggerating when I say this isn't just a great song to me but just great art. There's nothing I would change in either lyric or music.
Amber rain is beautiful but wrong
Caught between weak and being strong
It seems these days the weaker ones survive
What an awful way to find out you're alive

A dull warm red water falls
Flowing down to the sea
Where deeper darker waters wait for me

I don't expect I'll ever understand
How life just trickled through my hand
Cold Cell unusual for Jhonn, this track requires no decoding, it's a simple prayer for humanity.
O Lord, save my sinful soul
From local punishment
From the far-away zone
From being frisked
From the tall fence
From the severe prosecutor
From the Devil or from the devil owner
From small rations
From dirty water
From steel handcuffs
From hidden obligations
A cold cell
And short haircuts
Save us from the death penalty
Amen
There's also an amazing version of Cold Cell called A Cold Cell In Bangkok the proceeds of which go to Thai Children's Trust.

Last one...is a bit longer, essentially spoken word and impossible as it is to choose, probably not just may favourite Coil song but essentially my favourite piece of art ever, the first seven minutes is deep magick but the last four are just transportative. In lesser hands this would be a trip to pseuds corner but it's not in lesser hands. Last summer I was lying about round a fire with the family and friends under a starry sky in the middle of nowhere, with Songs to Play in The Dark Vol 2 on and Batwings came on while actual bats whirled above us, their wingbeats seemingly syncronised to the music and the whole world seemed to dissappear for 11 minutes.

i could have chosen a few tracks from the 'Darks' like Red Queen, Ether, or Mrs S's favourite The Dreamer is Still Asleep but Batwing it is.

Batwings (A Limnal Hymn)
(The key to joy is disobedience
There is no guilt and there is no shame)

A moon-piece to fetch up the golden cup
A snow-piece to avoid the great heat of the sun
Is kept in the night and by the light of the moon

An ice-piece so as they seem forever fallen
A night-piece of the dismal supper and strange entertainment
A rare chance-piece, a handsome piece of deformity
The skin of a snake bred out of the spinal marrow of a man

With stones and illegible inscriptions found about great ruins
Pictures of three remarkable steeples, or towers
Built purposely awry, so as they seem eternally tipping and falling

A transcendent perfume made of the richest odorates
Kept in a box of translucent scale

A glass of spirits made of ethereal salt, hermetically sealed up
Kept continually in quicksilver, of so volatile a nature
That it will scarcely endure the light
And therefore only shown in winter
Or by the light of a carbuncle, or a firefly

And batwings
And batwings
And batwings sing this limnal hymn
A wideness opening and closing to keep the darkness sealed within
To keep the darkness sealed within
To keep the darkness sealed within
The weird thing about Coil is that you can't copy them, they are outside everything and inside nothing. I used to try, I split up my band in the 80's to pursue similar ideas but I got literally nowhere near it.

D
Are you loathsome tonight?

User avatar
PorkyPrimeCut
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 24464
Joined: Tue Nov 28, 2006 7:46 am
Location: Leipzig
Contact:

Re: Favorite Lyric?

Post by PorkyPrimeCut » Thu Feb 08, 2018 3:10 pm

scottT wrote:
Wed Feb 07, 2018 6:33 pm
PorkyPrimeCut wrote:
Wed Feb 07, 2018 3:44 pm
I actually have part of this as my signature...

Slip Inside This House - The Thirteenth Floor Elevators.
I just googled your sig yesterday! Something I had been meaning to do. I figured it was a song lyric. I was pleasantly surprised when it turned up The Thirteenth Floor Elevators. I listened to it on youtube. Really cool.
Glad you like it. Such an epic song, lyrically & musically. Kinda rivals Dylan in the "longest lyrics ever" department too. I'd love to add it to my campfire songs list but I'd never remember all that!
You think you can't, you wish you could, I know you can, I wish you would. Slip inside this house as you pass by.

User avatar
julius2790
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 221
Joined: Tue Apr 01, 2014 11:07 am
Location: Just outside Raleigh, North Carolina

Re: Favorite Lyric?

Post by julius2790 » Thu Feb 08, 2018 6:43 pm

PorkyPrimeCut wrote:
Thu Feb 08, 2018 3:10 pm
scottT wrote:
Wed Feb 07, 2018 6:33 pm
PorkyPrimeCut wrote:
Wed Feb 07, 2018 3:44 pm
I actually have part of this as my signature...

Slip Inside This House - The Thirteenth Floor Elevators.
I just googled your sig yesterday! Something I had been meaning to do. I figured it was a song lyric. I was pleasantly surprised when it turned up The Thirteenth Floor Elevators. I listened to it on youtube. Really cool.
Glad you like it. Such an epic song, lyrically & musically. Kinda rivals Dylan in the "longest lyrics ever" department too. I'd love to add it to my campfire songs list but I'd never remember all that!
I LOVE that song and also listen to Splash I at least a couple of times a week. One of my favorite band of all time no doubt!

User avatar
shadowplay
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 25930
Joined: Thu Sep 27, 2007 4:30 am
Location: Glasgow. Scotland
Contact:

Re: Favorite Lyric?

Post by shadowplay » Tue Mar 06, 2018 4:59 am

I think Glen Johnson of Piano Magic can certainly string a sentence together. I'd go as far as say he's getting on for poetry quality.

Piano Magic - Dark Ages (sung by Vashti Bunyan)
None of us are what we were
I know you've heard this all before
I know you've heard this all before
But none of us are what we were
But it's a dark age, a dangerous time
I'm on the last page, the end of the line
But it's a dark age, a dangerous time
I'm on the last train, the end of the line
Outside the bar on the road to the madrid
A curious frost settled down on my ribs
These were the badlands, the sad lands
I wanted to leave but I wanted to give
Whispered in song in the tops of the trees
"Tears are the only rain that we see"
Whispered in song in the tops of the trees
"Tears are the only rain that we see"
I get up too late to wave off the night
I get up too late to wave off the night

Piano Magic - Disaffected
Anything can happen in life
Especially nothing, mainly nothing
Once you know that, you're fine
Once you know that, you can retire
Set your clock by your heart
Work's overrated and it will kill you
Finish nothing you start
And start nothing you think you'll continue

I'm disaffected now
I'm disaffected now

And to this model i've kept
I surface at 3 in the clothes that i slept in
And though i'm drowning in debt
I'm richer through all the things i'm rejecting
And in a rare, certain light
I have a strange charm, i think you'd like me
And the rain brings me out
The rain makes me happy

I'm disaffected now
I'm disaffected now

Set your clock by your heart
Work's overrated and it will kill you
Piano Magic - You can never get lost (when you've nowhere to go)
I know nothing of tides
And i'm confused by the stars
But you can never get lost
When you've nowhere to go

And i've got space in my heart
For the next twenty years
So don't think there's a rush
Just come on over sometime

And i will haunt myself blind
Only sleep when i'm bored
And i will talk into space
And i will worry this house

And i've got space in my heart
For the next twenty years
So don't think there's a rush
Just come on over sometime
(come on over sometime)


Glen Johnson - Details Not Recorded
Your bedroom is a cinder
In the black hearth of the night
You are sleeping with the singer
Though the drummer fucked you twice
There are details not recorded
And the memory drown in wine
Those days were minor bruises
Their atoms lost in time

I loved you from a distance
Like a bird surveys the dawn
It hesitates to get involved
Though beautiful the morn
There are details not recorded
And the memory drowned in wine
You are sleeping with the singer
Your kiss will ne'er be mine

Your lovers are like dominoes
They chain across your life
These bones are almost seamless
Though they topple in a line
I've seen the way you kiss him
One eye upon the next
You're never short of candidates
To suckle to your breast
To hook and clip your dress

My hands are small but careful
I'd trace your map of bone
Slowly chart the latitudes
As sculptors sculpt the stone
There are details not recorded
And the memory drowned in wine
You are sleeping with the singer
Your kiss will ne'er be mine
Are you loathsome tonight?

User avatar
natthu
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 2740
Joined: Sat Aug 13, 2011 4:30 am
Location: Adelaide, Australia

Re: Favorite Lyric?

Post by natthu » Tue Mar 06, 2018 7:44 am

This particular phrase from "Electricity" by Something For Kate resonates with me for some reason:
...beautiful like breaking glass
Not yet broken

Singlebladepickup
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 2831
Joined: Tue Oct 21, 2014 4:12 am
Location: U.S. of fuckin' A.

Re: Favorite Lyric?

Post by Singlebladepickup » Tue Mar 06, 2018 7:47 am

At first there should be unicorns
The ones with the purple eyes, not the ones with green eyes
Whatever they give them, they shit everywhere
And it would be great if the moon was almost down
Like in a very red/orange state
Let's leave it like that for at least three hours,
Hovering just above the horizon
And if the police show up,
We will give them so much money that they can retire from their shitty,
Violent jobs and live the greatest life they've ever lived
And we will be high and the love generator will be turned up to its maximum
And we’ll get higher, when at last,
The sun comes up in the morning and we will collapse under the weight of the ancient earth
And it will be inside me and it will be inside you
And it will be the end of the world and the beginning of a new love
The Flaming Lips - There Should Be Unicorns

User avatar
Larry Mal
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 19673
Joined: Mon Nov 29, 2010 4:25 pm
Location: Saint Louis, MO

Re: Favorite Lyric?

Post by Larry Mal » Tue Mar 06, 2018 8:08 am

I used to play music with a guy, one of my dearest friends, and he wrote a lyric that has always stuck with me:

"I drive around town in my mother's Ford Escort,
and nobody, nobody, nobody notices me."
Back in those days, everyone knew that if you were talking about Destiny's Child, you were talking about Beyonce, LaTavia, LeToya, and Larry.

User avatar
silentium_vk
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 224
Joined: Mon Jul 06, 2009 9:27 am
Location: somewhere

Re: Favorite Lyric?

Post by silentium_vk » Mon Mar 12, 2018 8:02 am

"The day I tried to live I wallowed in the blood and mud with all the other pigs". (C) Chris Cornell
Cats are not what they seem...

User avatar
danbind
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 659
Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2010 5:43 pm
Location: VA - US of A

Re: Favorite Lyric?

Post by danbind » Sat Mar 17, 2018 6:17 am

Dylan and Elvis Costello can come up with such great imagery, with the latter often echoing the former's patterns and technique.

From "Visions of Johanna"

In the empty lot where the ladies play blindman's bluff with the key chain
And the all-night girls they whisper of escapades out on the "D" train
We can hear the night watchman click his flashlight
Ask himself if it's him or them that's really insane
Louise, she's all right, she's just near
She's delicate and seems like the mirror
But she just makes it all too concise and too clear
That Johanna's not here
The ghost of 'lectricity howls in the bones of her face
Where these visions of Johanna
have now taken my place

Part of Dylan's genius is how he fits the syllables into the rhythm of the track--it adds this kinetic quality that makes them that much more affecting.

From EC's "Bedlam"

I've got this imaginary radio, and I'm punching up the dial
I've got the A.C. trained on the T.V. so it won't blow up in my eye
And everything that I thought fanciful and mocked as too extreme
Must be family entertainment here in the strange land of my dreams
Now I'm practicing my likeness of St. Francis of Assisi
For if I hold my hand outstretched
A little bird comes to me

I might recite a small prayer
If I ever said them
I lay down on an iron frame
Found myself in bedlam
Escaping from the fingers that were stretching through the bars
Wailing echoes down the corridors
remember / to kick it over

User avatar
BoringPostcards
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 7046
Joined: Tue Jun 02, 2009 8:50 am
Location: Newfoundland

Re: Favorite Lyric?

Post by BoringPostcards » Sat Mar 17, 2018 8:19 am

Too many to think of.
Always loved Skip Tracer by Sonic Youth (Lee Ranaldo)

"This she did in public for us to see
She came in here too drunk to do the show
Between the trains and cars
Broken glass and lost hub-caps, images of a gun
Row house row house pass through
Let the city rise up to fill the screen
Clothes flung out of closets, doorknobs falling off
The guitar guy played real good feedback, and super sounding riffs
With his mild mannered look on, yeah he was truly hip
The girl started out in red patent leather
Very I'm in a band with knee pads
We watch her fall over and lay down,
Shouting the poetic truths of high school journal keepers
Row house row house pass through, let the city rise up
Twister, dust buster, hospital bed, I'll see you, see you
See you on the highway
Now we're told so merge ideas, of song forms and freedom
Missed seafood, missed cheesecake, a couple of missed donuts
The edge of a blade pressed to the throat of your reflected image
Poised, yet totally screwed up
Yes sir, yes sir, step right up
None of us know, where we're trying to get to
What sort of live where we trying to build
Now we're told so merge ideas, of song forms and freedom
Seasons out of life, nothing is out of reach
L.A. is more confusing now, than anywhere I've ever been to
I'm from New York City, breath it out and let it in
Where are you now?
When your broken eyes are closed
Head in a cloudy dream, green and sailboats
Borrowed and never returned
Emotions, books, outlooks on life
Hello twenty fifteen!
Hello, twenty, fifteen!"
Det er mig der holder traeerne sammen.

User avatar
Gavanti
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 1712
Joined: Fri Jun 08, 2012 6:31 pm
Location: Des Noise, Idohiowa
Contact:

Re: Favorite Lyric?

Post by Gavanti » Sat Mar 17, 2018 10:13 am

Country (or country influenced) lyrics are the ones I tend to connect with. There's something about the balance of poetry, pop accessibility, and storytelling that just works when done well. If I had to pick one song, it would probably be "Pancho & Lefty." The whole song is great, but it just kills me every time Van Zandt gets to this verse:
Pancho needs your prayers it's true,
But save a few for Lefty too
He only did what he had to do,
And now he's growing old

Gillian Welch's "Everything is Free" is also amazing:
I can get a tip jar, gas up the car
Try to make a little change down at the bar
Or I can get a straight job, I done it before
Never minded workin' hard, it's who I'm workin' for
Everything is free now, that's what they say
Everything I ever done, gotta give it away
Someone hit the big score, they figured it out
They were gonna do it anyway, even if it doesn't pay

And Gram Parsons:
The scientists say
It will all wash away
But we don't believe any more
'Cause we've got our recruits
And our green mohair suits
So please show your I.D. at the door
This old earthquake's gonna leave me in the poor house
It seems like this whole town's insane
On the thirty-first floor a gold plated door
Won't keep out the Lord's burning rain

I grew up in Tom Dula/Dooley country, so I'm also sucker for a well-wrought murder song.

User avatar
Unicorn Warrior
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 3491
Joined: Sun Jul 22, 2012 5:58 pm
Location: Kentucky, USA

Re: Favorite Lyric?

Post by Unicorn Warrior » Sat Mar 17, 2018 11:04 am

Alison, I said we're sinking
There's nothing here but that's okay

And then...

Vanilla smile and a gorgeous strawberry kiss

User avatar
brucer
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 344
Joined: Sun Nov 02, 2014 10:18 pm
Location: Just below the middle of BC, Canada

Re: Favorite Lyric?

Post by brucer » Sat Mar 17, 2018 12:26 pm

I've always loved the sense of melancholy, love, wisdom and reconciliation gained by age and time in Leonard Cohen's "Famous Blue Raincoat". It resonated with me as a callow youth, even more so now that I'm an old man:

It's four in the morning, the end of December
I'm writing you now just to see if you're better
New York is cold, but I like where I'm living
There's music on Clinton Street all through the evening

I hear that you're building your little house deep in the desert
You're living for nothing now, I hope you're keeping some kind of record

Yes, and Jane came by with a lock of your hair
She said that you gave it to her
That night that you planned to go clear
Did you ever go clear?

Ah, the last time we saw you you looked so much older
Your famous blue raincoat was torn at the shoulder
You'd been to the station to meet every train, and
You came home without Lili Marlene

And you treated my woman to a flake of your life
And when she came back she was nobody's wife

Well I see you there with the rose in your teeth
One more thin gypsy thief
Well, I see Jane's awake
She sends her regards

And what can I tell you my brother, my killer
What can I possibly say?
I guess that I miss you, I guess I forgive you
I'm glad you stood in my way

If you ever come by here, for Jane or for me
Well, your enemy is sleeping, and his woman is free

Yes, and thanks, for the trouble you took from her eyes
I thought it was there for good so I never tried

And Jane came by with a lock of your hair
She said that you gave it to her
That night that you planned to go clear

Sincerely, L Cohen
Blank.

User avatar
jakeisjake
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 6683
Joined: Fri Jan 29, 2010 8:39 am
Location: i am the OGRE kukukachu, vermont
Contact:

Re: Favorite Lyric?

Post by jakeisjake » Sat Mar 17, 2018 5:25 pm

i love lyrics...here's some great ones:
Robert Hunter is truly one of the greatest lyricists ever...his lyrics get over looked because of the jam...

from "Uncle John's Band" by Grateful Dead:

It's the same story the crow told me; it's the only one he knows.
Like the morning sun you come and like the wind you go.
Ain't no time to hate, barely time to wait,
Wo, oh, what I want to know, where does the time go?

From "Take it Up" by World Party:

I had 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 empty
until you realize

from "Handsome Devil" by the Smiths:
"There's more to life than books, but not much more"

From Uncle John's Band" by Grateful Dead:
"I live in a silver mine and I call it beggar's tomb"

From "Adding to the Noise" by Switchfoot
"if we're adding to the noise--turn off this song"

From "the Honest Truth" by Typhoon

On my time I've walked a fine old line
I held a vacant sign upon my eyelids
On my time, oh Lord, I've been so blind
But now I see the light through my doorjamb
If I was a byrd, I'd be mighty sore every time they shut the door and I don't think I'd sing...

Post Reply