Song Lyrics

one of my favourites too.

another one from dylan, from love and theft;
All my powers of expression
and thoughts so sublime
Could never do you justice
in reason or rhyme.

And he sings it with such sincerity... its sobering.


this is one from bright eyes, and though conor oberst annoys me a lot of the time, this song has a lot in it that creeps into me.

You come home.
Darling, you come here.
Don’t stay so far away from me.
This weather has me wanting love more tangible.
Something I can hold because it’s getting cold.

"this weather has me wanting love more tangible" - its beautiful, crude, innocent and has that winter warmth. ah, beautiful.

and another one from the same song -

Come for the week.
You can sleep in my bed.
And then pass through my life like a dream through my head.
It will be easy.


ah, i could go on all day. so i'll say one more. its an old blues song by blind willie johnson called 'nobody's fault but mine'. it's one of the most grounding songs i've ever heard. there's no romance. it says, plain and simple, that its down to you. beautiful.

Of course there's Joni, with so many amazing lyrics, but lately I've marveled at this one:

Pawn shops glitter like gold tooth caps
In the grey decay
They chew the last few dollars off
Old Beale Street's carcass
Carrion and mercy
Blue and silver sparkling drums
Cheap guitars eye shades and guns
Aimed at the hot blood of being no one
Down and out in Memphis Tennessee

and this one:

The big man he's not listening
His eyes hold Edith
His left hand holds his right
What does that hand desire
That he grips it so tight

And this one:

In a highway service station
Over the month of June
Was a photograph of the earth
Taken coming back from the moon
And you couldn't see a city
On that marbled bowling ball
Or a forest or a highway
Or me here least of all
You couldn't see these cold water restrooms
Or this baggage overload
Westbound and rolling taking refuge in the roads

And I could go even more, but hey, look them up yourselves.

My favorite Dylan lyric is the line that says "I wish just once you could stand in my shoes and see what a drag you are".... For me that just sums up life, but as a life long Beatle freak my favorite line is Lennons "Life is what happens to you while you're making other plans" favorite lyrical song, "across the universe" still don't have a clue as to what it means but I love it everytime I hear it...

TWO:

Going to California by Led Zeppelin: "Standing on the hill of my mountain of dreams
Telling myself it's not as hard, hard, hard as it seems."

and

"In the clearing stands the boxer and a fighter by his trade
And he carrries the reminders
Of every glove that laid him down
And cut him 'til he cried out
In his anger and his shame
"I am leaving, I am leaving" but the fighter still remains." -Simon and Garfunkel.

Never. Say. Die.

Now me, I like Cole Porter

I like the refrain lyrics in the Elton John/Bernie Taupin song "Rocket Man"

"And I think it's gonna be a long, long time
till touchdown brings me round again to find
I'm not the man they think I am at home--
I'm a rocket man, burning out his fuel up here alone."

Song Lyrics? Don't get me started. Ah, but you have. So here's one heavy and one light:

Achtung Baby!

One life
With each other
Sisters
Brothers
One life
But we're not the same
We get to
Carry each other
Carry each other



Suds in the bucket

Now all the biddies in the beauty shop gossip goin' non stop Sippin on pink lemonade
How could 18 years just up'n and walk away?
Our little pony-tail girl grown up to be a woman
Now she's gone in the blink of an eye
She left the suds in the bucket and the clothes hangin' out on the line

Lets not forget that song lyrics are not poetry -- what makes them work is the marrying of the words to the rhythm and music -- not only the melody but the chord changes as well.

One quick example from the Beatles.

"Why, tell me why did you not treat me right?
Love has a nasty habit of disappearing overnight."

A sentiment we can all relate to. But what makes it really work is that the the last two words, disappearing and overnight, each are emphasized by their own separate chords.

Songwriting is an art allied to poetry, but it's not the same at all.

she runs through the streets
with eyes painted red
under the black belly of cloud in the rain
in through the doorway
she brings me
white gold and pearls
stolen from the sea
she is raging
she is raging
and the storm blows up in her eyes

she will
suffer the needle chill
she's running to stand
still

--Running to stand still, U2