Favorite Lines

Subject: RE: Favorite Lines
From: GUEST,DTM
Date: 20 Jul 14 - 07:58 AM

"Sad as a gypsy serenading the moon" - Skylark

Subject: RE: Favorite Lines
From: GUEST,mg
Date: 19 Jul 14 - 04:30 PM

Our pen is the sword and our voice is the cannon ...bold fenian men

I live in montana i wear a bandana

It wasnt his intent he got a.fine head of cement..
Building. Up and tearing england.down

The girls will wear new.sealskin pants when the boys come home from swiling

Slugger otoole who was drunk as a rule

Where seldom is heard a discouraging word

Subject: RE: Favorite Lines
From: kendall
Date: 18 Jul 14 - 07:41 PM

If you cheat again, he'll have to move the flowers.

Subject: RE: Favorite Lines
From: Mr Red
Date: 18 Jul 14 - 03:25 PM

Keith Hancock - more of a chorus.

When I were a lad eeee time they were bad,
But not as bad as when my dad were a lad.
When my dad were a lad, eeee times they were bad,
but not as bad as when my dad's dad were a lad.

Subject: RE: Favorite Lines
From: Mr Red
Date: 18 Jul 14 - 03:19 PM

the Ballad of Andrew McCrew by Don Maclean

Well, what a way to live a life and what a way to die.
Left to live a living death with no one left to cry.
Petrified amazement, and wonder beyond words,
A man who found more life in death than life gave him at birth.

Subject: RE: Favorite Lines
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 18 Jul 14 - 02:46 PM

G. K. Chesterton described that widespread "floater"

Over the hills and far away

as "the finest line in English literature and the silent refrain of all English poems".

(Not quite sure what he meant by the last phrase; but it is certainly a most exquisitely nostalgically expressed concept, isn't it?)

~M~

Subject: RE: Favorite Lines
From: GUEST,Johnmc
Date: 18 Jul 14 - 01:18 PM

"God didn't make those little green apples
And it don't rain in Indianapolis in the summertime".

" Born at the instant church bells chime
Whole world listening
Born at the right time".    P Simon

Thought if I could submit without checking they must be good.
A bit like The Beatles songwriting - if they couldn't remember it the next day why
should anyone else, so song was ditched.

Subject: RE: Favorite Lines
From: GUEST,Dave Hunt
Date: 18 Jul 14 - 10:51 AM

'Across the hills the sun has gone astray, tomorrows cares are many dreams away',,....in fact ALL of John O' Dreams by Bill Caddick....who has written so many memorable lines/songs.

Subject: RE: Favorite Lines
From: GUEST,Desi C
Date: 18 Jul 14 - 06:41 AM

From Phil & June Colclough's 'Song For Ireland'
Drinking all the day, in old pubs where Fiddlers love to play' My iea of heaven ;)
And from Brendan Behan's 'The Auld Triangle'
Up in the female prison, there are seventy fine women, and it's among them I wish I did dwell

Subject: RE: Favorite Lines
From: GUEST,DTM
Date: 17 Jul 14 - 01:18 PM

"Well, I'm a standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona
And such a fine sight to see
It's a girl, my Lord, in a flatbed Ford
Slowin' down to take a look at me"

(Jackson Browne/Glenn Frey)

You can't get any better than those first four lines above.
Perfection!

Subject: RE: Favorite Lines
From: Bill D
Date: 17 Jul 14 - 12:13 PM

... after losing his girl to a stranger and going off to get drunk...

♫"And since it is no better, I'm glad it is no worse,
Brandy in my bottle and money in my purse."♫

From the singing of Mike Seeger, who probably got it from the book Our Singing Country... at least I've found no other source. You can see the complete text at that link.
I heard Mike sing it at the Smithsonian Festival about 1975. He recorded it on "Music from the True Vine.

I have sung this ever since....

Subject: RE: Favorite Lines
From: Cool Beans
Date: 17 Jul 14 - 10:53 AM

These are great! One of my faves, by Frank Loesser,in "Guys and Dolls":
When you see a gent paying all kinds of rent
For a flat that would flatten the Taj Mahal...

Subject: RE: Favorite Lines
From: GUEST,gillymor
Date: 17 Jul 14 - 09:59 AM

Pharaoh he sits in his tower of steel
The dogs of money all at his heel
Magicians cry "Oh truth! Oh real!"
We're all working for the Pharaoh

-Richard Thompson

Subject: RE: Favorite Lines
From: GUEST
Date: 17 Jul 14 - 01:38 AM

The best love songs are written with a broken arm.. (The Carpenters)

Subject: RE: Favorite Lines
From: Elmore
Date: 17 Jul 14 - 01:15 AM

My old man wasn't really old, It's just that I was young. And anyone over 12 years old was halfway to the tomb. from "My Old Man" by Ewan MacColl.

Subject: RE: Favorite Lines
From: PHJim
Date: 17 Jul 14 - 12:40 AM

The Leonard Cohen line suggested by Elmore reminds me of this one by Martin Mull:

I'm tired of rock & rollin'
Let's get married Honey, let's go bowlin'.
Throw away our pot and acid,
Spend the weekend in Lake Placid
'Cause it's hard to live in this town if you're strange.
What say you and I get normal for a change.

Subject: RE: Favorite Lines
From: meself
Date: 17 Jul 14 - 12:39 AM

By this pipe in me mouth then replied the old woman
and that's a great oath on me soul for to say


-anon., Daniel O'Connor (Making Babies by Steam)

Subject: RE: Favorite Lines
From: Bert
Date: 16 Jul 14 - 11:31 PM

Her hair is yellow as the morning sun, except where the black shows through.

The Belle of Barking Creek, Paddy Roberts.

Subject: RE: Favorite Lines
From: Elmore
Date: 26 Apr 13 - 12:36 AM

AH baby let's get married. We've been alone too long. Let's be alone together. Let's see if we're that strong. From "Waiting For The Miracle" by L. Cohen.

Subject: RE: Favorite Lines
From: GUEST,guest : May Queen
Date: 26 Apr 13 - 12:22 AM

For England is not flag or Empire
It is not money it is not blood
It's limestone gorge and granite fell
It's Weald and clay and Severn mud

It's blackbird singing from the may-tree
Lark ascending through the scales
Robin watching from his spade
And English earth beneath your nails

June Tabor - A Place called England

This is my favourite as of yesterday when I heard it for the first time whilst gardening. There was a blackbird and I did have English earth in my nails :-)

Subject: RE: Favorite Lines
From: Fred Maslan
Date: 25 Apr 13 - 11:43 PM

"Long ago, I used to be a young man
And dear Margaret remembers that for me" From 'The Dutchman' by Michael Smith

Subject: RE: Favorite Lines
From: GUEST,mg
Date: 25 Apr 13 - 06:45 PM

you can wear a cinderalla snow white alice wonderlanded gown..Eric Anderson?

fight with your grandsires on Cullodon's field..one of the Corries

I put my head into a cask of brandy trad.

and everyone's favorite in other threads..

if it weren't for the alligators I'd sleep out in the swamp

Subject: RE: Favorite Lines
From: Bren Ború
Date: 25 Apr 13 - 06:18 PM

There's a bar where the boys have stopped talking,
They've been sentenced to death by the blues.

"Take This Waltz" by Leonard Cohen

Subject: RE: Favorite Lines
From: Bobert
Date: 25 Apr 13 - 04:58 PM

"Some folks see the light, others just feel the heat" (Ray Wylie Hubbard from "Conversation with the Devil")

B~

Subject: RE: Favorite Lines
From: Elmore
Date: 25 Apr 13 - 01:19 PM

Ring the bells that still can ring. Forget your perfect offering. there is a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in. from "Anthem" by L. Cohen.

Subject: RE: Favorite Lines
From: Capo da Monty
Date: 25 Apr 13 - 05:22 AM

So many...

"Breasts as smooth as stones washed by the sea.."

"Summer Girls" by Ralph Mctell from the album "Boy with a Note"

Cdm

Subject: RE: Favorite Lines
From: GUEST,BobL
Date: 25 Apr 13 - 05:10 AM

The (old) English Hymnal had an Easter hymn with the line, referring to Christ in the tomb:

"Ill doth it seem that thy limbs should linger in lowly dishonour"

I just love the alliteration.

Subject: RE: Favorite Lines
From: PHJim
Date: 25 Apr 13 - 02:21 AM

The silence of a falling star
Lights up a purple sky
And as I wonder where you are
I'm so lonesome I could cry

                      Hank Williams

She says she's had enough of cowboy boots and pick-up trucks
Enough of checkered shirts and dark blue eyes
Goin' back to being a rich man's wife
And I'm just dreamin'

                      Fred J. Eaglesmith

They say we are weathered with age Maggie
Like spray by the wild breakers flung,
But to me you're as fair as you were Maggie
When you and I were young.

                      James Johnson (?)

Subject: RE: Favorite Lines
From: Elmore
Date: 24 Apr 13 - 02:10 PM

But I'm stubborn as those garbage bags that time cannot decay. I'm junk but I'm still holding up this little wild bouquet: Democracy is coming to the USA. From "Democracy" by L. Cohen.

Subject: RE: Favorite Lines
From: GUEST,gillymor
Date: 24 Apr 13 - 01:47 PM

from The Pogues Lullaby of London (McGowan):

And there is no lonesome corncrake's cry,
Of sorrow and delight.

From PD:

Oh a peanut sat on the railroad track,
It's heart was all aflutter,
Down the line came number nine,
Toot toot peanut butter.

Also PD:

Everybody wants to go to heaven,
But nobody wants to die.

Subject: RE: Favorite Lines
From: GUEST,CrazyEddie
Date: 24 Apr 13 - 03:19 AM

Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose...

Kris Kristofferson, Bobby Magee.

Subject: RE: Favorite Lines
From: GUEST,Jaze
Date: 23 Apr 13 - 09:04 PM

Good one, Ebbie

Subject: RE: Favorite Lines
From: GUEST,jaze
Date: 23 Apr 13 - 09:02 PM

If love means forever,expecting nothing returned--then I hope I'll be given another whole lifetime to learn.---Joan Baez-"Love Song To A Stranger"

Subject: RE: Favorite Lines
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 23 Apr 13 - 08:48 PM

From " Sweet Thames flow softly"
Kissed her once again at Wapping,
After that there was no stopping.
(Memories of student days in the East End of London!)

And - how he ever got away with this rhyme: always makes me laugh when I hear it - from Eric Bogle's "Belle of Broughton":
In love they were BESOTTEN
With the bonnie belle of Broughton.

Subject: RE: Favorite Lines
From: Joe_F
Date: 23 Apr 13 - 08:07 PM

Walking in his footsteps in the sweet delta dawn.

Subject: RE: Favorite Lines
From: GUEST,JHW
Date: 23 Apr 13 - 05:23 PM

The terrace streets were my Grand Canyons
The dockyard cranes were my redwood trees
The steelworks tips were my mountain ranges
Those brickyard ponds were my Seven Seas

Graeme Miles 'My Eldorado'

RIP Graeme and many thanks for so many songs

Subject: RE: Favorite Lines
From: Elmore
Date: 23 Apr 13 - 02:45 PM

I love to speak with Leonard. He's a sportsman and a shepherd. He's a lazy bastard living in a suit. From "Going Home" by L. Cohen.

Subject: RE: Favorite Lines
From: Scabby Douglas
Date: 23 Apr 13 - 12:07 PM

".. and all I do is miss you, and the way we used to be
and all I do is keep the beat - and bad company
and all I do is kiss you, through the bars of a rhyme..."

Romeo and Juliet - Mark Knopfler

Subject: RE: Favorite Lines
From: Sailor Ron
Date: 23 Apr 13 - 11:36 AM

Blaspheming Saints and splendid drunked heroes.... from Trawlertown Requiam by John Connely

Subject: RE: Favorite Lines
From: Sugwash
Date: 23 Apr 13 - 09:59 AM

Dance you buggers, dance, or you'll never get to heaven!

Bob Pegg the Last Dance

Subject: RE: Favorite Lines
From: GUEST,CrazyEddie
Date: 23 Apr 13 - 09:28 AM

I see the old men, all tired stiff & sore
The weary old heroes of a forgotten war
And the young people ask, "What are they marching for?"
And I ask myself the same question.

The Band Played Waltzing Matilda, Eric Bogle

Subject: RE: Favorite Lines
From: Jim McLean
Date: 22 Apr 13 - 03:39 PM

Mr Ben Nevis you're as old as the hills. Bob Halfin

Subject: RE: Favorite Lines
From: fat B****rd
Date: 22 Apr 13 - 03:32 PM

I quoted this in a long ago thread, but what the Hell!

'Told me love was too plebeian
Told me you were through with me and...'


"Cry Me A River" lyric by Arthur Hamilton

Subject: RE: Favorite Lines
From: Bert
Date: 22 Apr 13 - 03:10 PM

quieter than the moon??

This comes close to describing that silence, from A Song for a Winter's Night by Gordon Lightfoot.

The lamp is burnin' low upon my table top
The snow is softly falling
The air is still within the silence of my room
I hear your voice softly calling

Subject: RE: Favorite Lines
From: kendall
Date: 22 Apr 13 - 01:39 PM

Everything I just posted disappeared except one line.

Subject: RE: Favorite Lines
From: Ebbie
Date: 22 Apr 13 - 11:36 AM

There are so many favo(u)rite lines but one that always comes first to my mind:

"And the moon came up, so quiet in the sky" Bill Staines, Roseville Fair

Is there anything quieter than the moon?

Subject: RE: Favorite Lines
From: GUEST,gillymor
Date: 22 Apr 13 - 11:30 AM

A couple from The Band, humorous takes on some old traditional lines:

"If I thought it would do any good, I'd stand on the rock where Moses stood" -When you awake

"Going on down to the rairoad track, let the 4:19 scratch my back."-Rag Mama Rag

Townes Van Zandt:
"The dust that Pancho bit down south, ended up in Lefty's mouth."

More Cole Porter:
"Mr. Harris bureaucrat,
Wants to give my cheek a pat,
If a Harris pat means a Paris hat, Bebe!"- Always True to You in My Fashion

Richard Thompson:

"If I could just taste all of her wildness now,
If I could hold her in my arms today,
Then I wouldn't want her any other way."- Bee's Wing

"Your flag decal won't get you into heaven anymore,
They're already overcrowded from your dirty little wars." -John Prine

Subject: RE: Favorite Lines
From: Midchuck
Date: 22 Apr 13 - 11:14 AM

Almost twelve years ago, in a thread here on the same topic, I gave my choice:

You horsehair-braiding sons of bitches
Stole my claim to earthly riches.
Someone go and dig a ditch,
There may well be a hangin'!

- Tom Russell, The Sky Above, the Mud Below

Subject: RE: Favorite Lines
From: Elmore
Date: 22 Apr 13 - 10:19 AM

From L. Cohen's "I'm your Man". If you want a doctor, I'll examine every inch of you

Subject: RE: Favorite Lines
From: Becca72
Date: 22 Apr 13 - 10:15 AM

From Warren Zevon's The French Inhaler:

"when the lights came up at 2
I caught a glimpse of you
and your face looked like something Death brought with him in his suitcase"