Favorite Lines?

"Eleanor Rigby died in the church and was buried along with her name"

"I was born in a crossfire hurricane"

"As the music dies, something in your eyes calls to mind the silver screen and all its sad goodbyes"

"When we meet again, introduced as friends, please don't let on that you knew me when I was hungry and it was your world"

"Who knows, maybe you were kidnapped, tied up, taken away, and held for ransom"

"If you think I'll sit around as the world goes by, you're thinking like a fool 'cause it's a case of do or die"

"The world was on fire and no one could save me but you"

"Hey now, baby, I'm the rank outsider--you can be my partner in crime"

"Ua mau ke ea o ka 'aina i ka pono o Hawai'i"

ETA:
"And when the sand was gone and the time arrived, in the naked dawn only a few survived, and in an attempt to understand a thing so simple and so huge, believed that they were meant to live after the deluge"

"There's a hole in Daddy's arm where all the money goes." - John Prine, "Sam Stone"

"Freedom's just another word for nothin' left to lose." - Kris Kristofferson, "Me and Bobby McGee"

"And I won't be runnin' from the rain, when I'm gone, and I can't even suffer from the pain, when I'm gone; can't say who's to praise and who's to blame, when I'm gone, so I guess I'll have to do it while I'm here." - Phil Ochs, "When I'm Gone"

"Through eighty-six years of perpetual motion, if he likes you he'll smile and he'll say, some of it's magic, some of it's tragic, but I had a good life all the way." - Jimmy Buffett, "He Went to Paris"

"You don't have to look, and you don't have to see, 'cause you can feel it in your olphactory." - Loudon Wainwright III, "Dead Skunk"

"A woman's a two-face, a worrisome thing that'll leave you to sing the blues in the night." - Big Joe Turner et alii, "Blues in the Night"

"Candles thick as pillars, you can buy one off the floor."
"Beauty is religion and it christens me with wonder."
~ The Spirit of the West

"Put my faith in a dollar bill, but the dollar bill flew away." Rare Earth, "I Just Want to Celebrate"

"No, no, no, no, I don't *sniff* no more, I'm tired of waking up on the floor; no, thank you please, it only makes me sneeze, and then it makes it hard to find the door." - Ringo Starr, "The No-No Song"

"Yeah, I said it's all right - I won't forget all the times I waited patiently for you, and you'll do just what you choose to do, and I will be alone again tonight, my dear." - Bryan MacLean, "Alone Again Or"

"Then the woman that she was drove her on to desperation, and I saw as she went a most hopeless situation, for Joanne, and the man, and the time that made them both run." - Michael Nesmith, "Joanne"

"My pappy said, Son, you're gonna drive me to drinkin' if you don't stop drivin' that hot rod Lincoln." - Commander Cody & the Lost Planet Airmen, at alii, "Hot Rod Lincoln"

"You know that old trees just grow stronger, and old rivers grow wilder every day, but old people just grow lonely, waiting for someone to say, Hello in there, Hello." - John Prine, "Hello In There"

"Yes, I am a pirate, two hundred years too late. The cannon don't thunder, there's nothin' to plunder, I'm an over forty victim of fate." -Jimmy Buffett, 'A Pirate Looks at Forty"

I could do this just with John Prine songs.

"Give my brain to the hurricane, the blind can have my eyes; the deaf can have both my ears, if they don't mind the size."

"Blow up your TV, throw away your paper, move to the country, build you a home. Plant a little garden, eat a lot of peaches, try to find Jesus on your own."

"And there's a backwards old town that's often remembered, so many times that my memories are worn."

I saw a werewolf drinking a pina colada at Trader Vic's and his hair was perfect - Warren Zevon, Werewolves of London

"California tumbles into the sea, that'll be the day I go back to Annandale." My Old School, Steely Dan

"Well, you wouldn't know a diamond if you held it in your hand, the things you think are precious I can't understand." Reelin' in the Years, Steely Dan

"Out on the road today, I saw a Deadhead sticker on a Cadillac." Boys of Summer, Don Henley

"The pump don't work 'cause the vandals stole the handles." Subterranean Homesick Blues, Bob Dylan

'Between thought and expression, lies a lifetime.' - Lou Reed. Some kinda love.

"And time was like water but I was the sea
I'd have never noticed it passin'
except for the turnin' of night into day
and the turnin' of day into cursin' " - Townes Van Zandt.

"T-t-tasty, tasty" - Fergie.

You can pin and mount me
Like a butterfly
- The Smiths, "Reel Around the Fountain"

I don't know, but I been told
It's hard to run with the weight of gold
Other hand, I've heard it said
It's just as hard with the weight of lead
- Grateful Dead, "New Speedway Blues"

It was plain to see that your life was lost
You was cold, and your body swung back and forth
But your eyes were still singin' the sad, sad song
Of how you lived so fast and died so young
-Grandmaster Flash, "The Message"

and her knees up on the glove compartment
took out her barrettes and her hair spilled out like rootbeer
and she popped her gum and arched her back
- Tom Waits, "Burma-Shave"

Well, it's Ninth and Hennepin
All the doughnuts have names like prostitutes
And the moon's teeth marks are on the sky
Like a tarp thrown all over this
And the broken umbrellas like dead birds
And the steam comes out of the grill
Like the whole goddamn town's ready to blow...
And the bricks are all scarred with jailhouse tattoos
And everyone is behaving like dogs
And the horses are coming down Violin Road
And Dutch is dead on his feet
And all the rooms they smell like diesel
And you take on the dreams of the ones who have slept here
And I'm lost in the window, and I hide in the stairway
And I hang in the curtain, and I sleep in your hat...
- Tom Waits, "Ninth and Hennepin"

Mclesh said:

I saw a werewolf drinking a pina colada at Trader Vic's and his hair was perfect - Warren Zevon, Werewolves of London

"California tumbles into the sea, that'll be the day I go back to Annandale." My Old School, Steely Dan

"Well, you wouldn't know a diamond if you held it in your hand, the things you think are precious I can't understand." Reelin' in the Years, Steely Dan

"Out on the road today, I saw a Deadhead sticker on a Cadillac." Boys of Summer, Don Henley

"The pump don't work 'cause the vandals stole the handles." Subterranean Homesick Blues, Bob Dylan

Click to expand...

Some great calls here. That one from My Old School, I always liked too. I live in So. Cal, too. How 'bout this one from Dan?

"Like a castle in its corner, in a Medieval game, I foresee terrible trouble, but I stay here just the same..."

"Look out kid they keep it all hid," also from Dylan's Homesick Blues.

Bernie Taupin wrote some great lyrics for Elton John. From the Madman LP, Indian Sunset...

"Now there seems no reason why I should carry on. In this land that once was my land, I can't find a home ... and the red sun sinks at last into the hills of gold, and peace to this young warrior comes, with a bullet hole..."

For those who haven't heard this song the entire lyric, the sentiment is just beautiful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2t4XpeEuXA

When I was just a baby,
My Mama told me, "Son,
Always be a good boy,
Don't ever play with guns,"
But I shot a man in Reno,
Just to watch him die,
When I hear that whistle blowin',
I hang my head and cry.

- Johnny Cash (Folsom Prison Blues)


Johnny's such a bad a**, but a lovable and repentant bad a**.

Bebop said:

Some great calls here. That one from My Old School, I always liked too. I live in So. Cal, too. How 'bout this one from Dan?

"Like a castle in its corner, in a Medieval game, I foresee terrible trouble, but I stay here just the same..."

"Look out kid they keep it all hid," also from Dylan's Homesick Blues.

Bernie Taupin wrote some great lyrics for Elton John. From the Madman LP, Indian Sunset...

"Now there seems no reason why I should carry on. In this land that once was my land, I can't find a home ... and the red sun sinks at last into the hills of gold, and peace to this young warrior comes, with a bullet hole..."

For those who haven't heard this song the entire lyric, the sentiment is just beautiful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2t4XpeEuXA

Click to expand...

Bebop, I could quote Steely Dan lines all day. Whenever my husband and I would take a road trip to Las Vegas, we'd put Steely Dan's greatest hits collection on. Wall-to-wall great music.

I love reading everyone's favorite lines. This is great.

Mclesh said:

Bebop, I could quote Steely Dan lines all day. Whenever my husband and I would take a road trip to Las Vegas, we'd put Steely Dan's greatest hits collection on. Wall-to-wall great music.

I love reading everyone's favorite lines. This is great.

Click to expand...

Hi there, Mclesh- you're right, great thread idea. I really like Steely Dan a lot. I've never seen them live, but that's one great band. Okay, I've got a trivial question for you- what major comedy film star was an early drummer for the band?

You like this one? Show business kids makin movies for themselves you know they don't give f*uck about anybody else...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9QVNbUPzgM

*Raises hand*

Another Steely Dan fan in da house.

Lavern08 said:

*Raises hand*

Another Steely Dan fan in da house.

Click to expand...

You ever hear the story of this song?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCGiG4rgx5I

I think it was both Fagan and Baxter who lived under an older guy, a real Brooklyn type who was always griping about what he had comin'.

Gotta get Paul Simon into this-

The Boxer ... In the corner stands a boxer and a fighter by his trade, and he carries a reminder of every glove that beat him down or cut him till he cried out in his anger and his shame...

The Sound of Silence ... And the sign said, The words of a prophet are written on the subway walls, and tenement halls...

Still Crazy After All These Years ... Now I sit by my window and I watch the cars, I fear I'll do some damage one fine day. But I would not be convicted by a jury of my peers, still crazy after all these years...

Oh, man, this could go on for ages. Big tip of the hat to Steely Dan and Paul Simon. "Train in the Distance" just yanks my heartstrings right out.

Some more:

My back to the wall, the victim of laughing chance
This is for me the essence of true romance
- Steely Dan, "Deacon Blues"

Why all this talk of love when love's something you've never known?
It's too undignified and much too close - it's much too close to home.
- Everything but the Girl, "Laugh You Out the House"

Everything would be just fine
if I had the right pastime
I'd have been Raskolnikov
but Mother Nature ripped me off
In Philadelphia, I'm sure that I felt healthier
Maybe it's right to be nervous now
- Magazine, "Philadelphia"

Romance is mush, stifling those who strive
I'll live a lush life in some small dive
and there I'll be while I rot with the rest
of those whose lives are lonely too
- Billy Strayhorn, "Lush Life"

It's a quarter to three
There's no one in the place
except you and me
Set 'em up, Joe
I've got a little story
I think you should know
We're drinkin', my friend
to the end
of a brief episode
So make it one for my baby
and another one for the road
- Johnny Mercer/Harold Arlen, "One for My Baby" -- I'd put the whole song here, but hey.

There should be Beastie Boys lyrics in here, but which?

Bebop said:

You ever hear the story of this song?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCGiG4rgx5I

I think it was both Fagan and Baxter who lived under an older guy, a real Brooklyn type who was always griping about what he had comin'.

Click to expand...

I always like to hear the story behind the songs.

Bebop and poetinahat, it's funny that you should mention Paul Simon. The other day I heard the song Graceland on the radio, and I couldn't get this line out of my head:

There's a girl in New York City
She calls herself the human trampouline
And sometimes when I'm fumbling, flying
Or tumbling in turmoil I say
Oh, so this is what she means

Paul Simon deserves his own thread.

Some great stuff, Simon, Strayhorn, Johnny "Moon River" Mercer!

Two drifters off to see the world
there's such a lot of world to see
We're after the same rainbow's end
waitin' 'round the bend
my Huckleberry Friend
moon river
and me

Eden Abhez, "Nature Boy"

And then one day
one magic day he passed my way
And though we talked of many things, fools and kings
this he said to me...
The greatest thing you'll ever learn
is just to love
and be loved in return

Must be late- feelin' sentimental

One more before I try to sleep...

Don't your feet get cold in the winter time?
The sky won't snow and the sun won't shine
it's hard to tell the night time from the day
You're losin' all your highs and lows
ain't it funny how the feeling goes away?

Henley/Frey, "Desperado".

Nice, Bebop - why had I forgotten the Eagles? I always liked Hotel California, but New Kid in Town Was the one that stunned me.

Oh, yeah, two more, from Australian bands:

All my friends are fuckups, but they're fun to have around
- The Whitlams, "You Sound Like Louis Burdette"

You take a feather from every bird, yeah, but you never fly
- Dave Graney and the Coral Snakes, "You're Just Too Hip"

"You've been waiting a long time to fall down on your knees, cut your hands, cut yourself until you bleed" - Black and Blue, Counting Crows.

"A-Whomp-bomp-a-loo-bop, a-lawmp-bam-boom!" - Little Richard, "Tutti Frutty"