24 Sep 08 - 04:28 PM (#2449204) Subject: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: GUEST,Rafflesbear Would you like to share with us some of your favourite phrases from songs - you know a couple of lines, a line or just half a line where the songwriter has just encapsulated a thought in a way that leaves you wishing you could write like that Tiny pieces of poetry thrown in and almost lost in the song here's a couple of examples to show what I mean and maybe get the ball rolling Gordon Lightfoot's Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald "does anyone know where the love of God goes when the waves turn the minutes to hours" and from Rufford Park Poachers on the death of Roberts the head keeper "He never will rise up until the final Judgment Day" over to you, Mudcats |
24 Sep 08 - 04:32 PM (#2449206) Subject: RE: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: Desert Dancer Some previous contributions are here: Favorite Lines thread -- not to discourage any new thoughts... ~ Becky in Tucson |
24 Sep 08 - 04:40 PM (#2449210) Subject: RE: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: GUEST,Rafflesbear Thanks for the link Becky - some ready-made answers there - but if you could look for the really short bits in this thread please |
24 Sep 08 - 05:46 PM (#2449267) Subject: RE: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: Snuffy She made her way homewards, with one star awake |
24 Sep 08 - 05:57 PM (#2449272) Subject: RE: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: GUEST,MeadowMuskrat from Gordon Bok "Fundy's long and Fundy's wide, Fundy's fog and rain and tide." |
24 Sep 08 - 06:04 PM (#2449275) Subject: RE: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: curmudgeon "She smiled all over her face, she did, They call me Jackie Monroe." |
24 Sep 08 - 06:14 PM (#2449282) Subject: RE: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: meself "He has a baseball team of whiskers all over his jaws" - Five (Four?) Famous Fishermen, from the Helen Creighton collection; I forget who wrote it ... |
24 Sep 08 - 09:41 PM (#2449384) Subject: RE: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: Joe_F rocks the cradle and cries too late, but never mind some helped in hallways the man of independent mind drips Carnation from the can the silent stars go by in the fight that followed that evening sun sweet whips ding dong |
24 Sep 08 - 10:29 PM (#2449403) Subject: RE: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: Sandy Mc Lean Buddy Mac Donald ( Getting Dark Again) "For the second time since we got up, it's getting dark again." Scrooll down on music to title: Buddy Mac Donald |
25 Sep 08 - 04:00 AM (#2449487) Subject: RE: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: Dave Hanson From ' A Pub With No Beer ' There's a far away look on the face of the bum. eric |
25 Sep 08 - 04:15 AM (#2449493) Subject: RE: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: Oldguit Dad's gawn darn the dog track, Muver's playin bingo, Sister's cawtin on the soffa, You wanna ear the spring go. From: What a crazy world, sung by Joe Brown. Sheer poetry! Oldguit Arr. |
25 Sep 08 - 05:21 AM (#2449526) Subject: RE: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: Acorn4 Steve Knightley: RED DIESEL:- "He said he sang a folksong once , but he didn't inhale" |
25 Sep 08 - 05:26 AM (#2449530) Subject: RE: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: BusyBee Paul From "Seat of Ease" by Duncan McFarlane "That's when they spied the bare, tanned hide upon the seat of ease" |
25 Sep 08 - 05:29 AM (#2449531) Subject: RE: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: Oldguit Have you any dreams you'd like to sell. Fleetwood Mac. Teach your children well / teach your parents well. Graham Nash. I was floating in the ocean, greased in suntan lotion. Loving Spoonfull. |
25 Sep 08 - 08:18 AM (#2449617) Subject: RE: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: topical tom What can we do with the rest of our life But love 'til we love it away, Love 'til we love it away. From "Thanksgiving Eve" by Bob Franke |
25 Sep 08 - 11:13 AM (#2449844) Subject: RE: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: GUEST,Peadar (formerly) of Portsmouth I don't know why the two that leap to mind both involve wings, but... "On the wild and crazy wings of youth they went flying around in the rain, Until their feathers once so fine were torn and tattered In the end they traded their tired wings For the resignation that living brings They traded love's bright and fragile glow for the glitter and the rouge" --Jackson Brown, Before the Deluge "Since their wings have got rusted, the angels wanna wear my red shoes." --Elvis Costello, Red Shoes |
25 Sep 08 - 11:22 AM (#2449859) Subject: RE: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: quokka I second Jackson Browne's 'Before the Deluge'. Mind you, the first time I heard it , it was Christy Moore singin' it! I've got LOADS of phrases that stir the heart and soul in songs...Don't get me started or maybe I'll just bookmark this thread and get back to ya...(er... that's a promise, not a threat[!]) Cheers, Quokka |
25 Sep 08 - 11:30 AM (#2449872) Subject: RE: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: John MacKenzie I ain't sayin' you treated me unkind You coulda done better, but I don't mind. You just kinda wasted my precious time. So don't think twice, it's all right. Oh how bitter, yet oh so true Bob. JM |
25 Sep 08 - 11:39 AM (#2449880) Subject: RE: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: GUEST,glueman From Billy Bragg's New England. I loved you then as I love you still Tho I put you on a pedestal, They put you on the pill I dont feel bad about letting you go I just feel sad about letting you know I saw two shooting stars last night I wished on them but they were only satellites Is it wrong to wish on space hardware I wish, I wish, I wish youd care |
25 Sep 08 - 04:39 PM (#2450220) Subject: RE: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: oldhippie David Mallett: "Life is a rainstorm, but love is the ark", from Hard Time Love Song |
25 Sep 08 - 04:55 PM (#2450233) Subject: RE: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: astro I love "He knows his rhyme from his reason..." Astro... |
25 Sep 08 - 05:18 PM (#2450261) Subject: RE: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: Phil Edwards Peter Blegvad's written some beauties. The middle eight of In Hell's Despite ("We'll build a heaven... in hell's despite") always gets me: No one said, No one said it would be, Said it would, Said it would be *easy*... |
25 Sep 08 - 07:58 PM (#2450409) Subject: RE: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: JeffB A great theme for a thread. Some of you (I hope including Rafflesbear) might find these lines appealing; some will scratch your heads and say "What's this about? ..." Well, they're just lines I especially like for various reasons. Here's adieu sweet lovely Nancy :- "The secrets of your heart, dear girl, are the best of my goodwill." Not a profound line, but whenever I sing it I think, "Ah, that's so sweet." As I do with :- "And may good angels send the rain on desert stretches sandy, and when the summer comes again, God grant it brings us Andy." (Andy's gone with cattle). For some reason that just brings the old lump into the throat. Just an old softie, me. Clyde Water :- "You had a cruel mother, Willie, and I have had another; and now we'll sleep in Clyde Water like sister and like brother." Ballad of Springhill :- "All their lives they had dug their grave - two miles of earth for a marker stone ... " The Amphitrite :- "So farewell Valparaiso and farewell for a while, and likewise all them Spanish girls all on the coast of Chile " Captain Mansfield's fight :- "If you must have my tops'ls down, come aboard and strike them down for me." O good ale :- "It is you that makes my friends my foes, it's you that makes me wear old clothes; but since you be so near my nose it's up you comes and down you goes." Long Lankin :- "There's blood in the parlour, there's blood in the hall, there's blood in the chamber where my lady did fall." The molecatcher :- "Ten pound?" cried the young man, "Oh that I don't mind - it only works out about threepence a time." Shallow brown :- "Though it breaks my heart to leave thee - though it breaks my heart to grieve thee." Three maidens a-milking :- "Here's a health to the bird in the bush ... and we'll drink down the moon and we'll drink up the sun, let the neighbours say little or much." The unquiet grave :- "Oh had you a kiss from my clay cold lips, my breath is earthy strong .... " The week before Easter :- "The young men of the forest they now ask of me - How many strawberries grow in the salt sea? And I answer them with a tear in my eye - How many ships sail in the forest?" The yeoman's wooing (trying to get the girlfriend to decide) :- "I will put on my best white slop and I will wear my yellow hose, and on my head a good grey hat and in it stick a lovely rose ... wherefore you should make no delay, and if you love me, love me now. Or I shall seek some othwerwhere, for I cannot come every day to woo." Well, there's many another of course, but a personal selection like this would not be complete without something by Les Barker. From "The hard cheese of Old England" (do your own scansion) :- "Those edam foreigners are not worth a mention; that old Gorgonzola's renowned for his stench and his brother Emile wrote novels in French, and it's oh the hard cheese of Old England, in Eng-e-land very hard cheese." |
25 Sep 08 - 11:16 PM (#2450534) Subject: RE: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: Mudlark Pancho and Lefty....The dust that Pancho bit down south ended up in Lefty's mouth Just about any line from Tom Wait's Lookin' for the heart of Sat. Night Hobo's Lullaby....Do not let your heart be troubled, if the world styles you a bum. For if your Mother lives, she loves you; you will always be your mother's son. |
26 Sep 08 - 09:14 PM (#2451320) Subject: RE: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: Joe_F If ever the dead can pray for the living |
26 Sep 08 - 09:56 PM (#2451335) Subject: RE: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: Pilgrim Wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then |
27 Sep 08 - 08:44 AM (#2451489) Subject: RE: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: Jim Carroll For I saw the new moon yestereen wi' the old moon in its arms. Sir Patrick Spens. I once was full o' Gil Maurice as the hip is of the stone. Gil Maurice For we are young and the world is wide. Rambling Boys of Pleasure. Some were playing cards and some were playing dice, And some were standing round giving good advice. Golden Vanity Jim Carroll |
27 Sep 08 - 09:09 AM (#2451509) Subject: RE: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: Bat Goddess "She jumped right in beside him to keep herself warm, Thinking that a sailor wouldn't do her any harm..." From Home, Dearie, Home Linn |
27 Sep 08 - 09:17 AM (#2451513) Subject: RE: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: Snuffy A lobster boiling in the pot, A bluefish on the hook They are suffering long, but nothing like The ache I bear for you, my dear, Mary Anne. |
27 Sep 08 - 08:17 PM (#2451861) Subject: RE: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: Joe_F Pilgrim: That's a lovely line. What does it belong to? |
27 Sep 08 - 09:27 PM (#2451902) Subject: RE: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: open mike Kate Wolf.. "Here in California, the fruit hangs heavy on the vine but there's no gold, i thought i'd warn ya, and the hills turn brown in the summer time" Hugh Prestwood, "Way up on the mountain near the high timberline there's a twisted old tree called the bristlecone pine the wind there is bitter it cuts like a knife keeps that tree holding on for dear life but hold on it does, standing it's ground standing as empires rise and fall down when Jesus was gathering lambs to the fold this tree was already a thousand years old. |
27 Sep 08 - 09:33 PM (#2451905) Subject: RE: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: bobad "I was so much older then I'm younger than that now" Da Bob |
27 Sep 08 - 11:04 PM (#2451933) Subject: RE: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: GUEST,Songster Bob "Be it murder or treason, oh, what a great crime, To drown poor Naomi and leave her behind." [Naomi Wise] "The prophets old, they foretold, Of a city to come all made with gold. Peradventure they saw the day Now dawning in Californi-ay." [Banks of the Sacramento; the Hutchinson Family Singers, 1850] Bob Clayton |
28 Sep 08 - 10:41 PM (#2452493) Subject: RE: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: open mike written by Julie Gold and performed by Nanci Griffith , Bette Midler and others: From a distance the world looks blue and green, and the snow-capped mountains white. From a distance the ocean meets the stream, and the eagle takes to flight. From a distance, there is harmony, and it echoes through the land. It's the voice of hope, it's the voice of peace, it's the voice of every man. From a distance we all have enough, and no one is in need. And there are no guns, no bombs, and no disease, no hungry mouths to feed. From a distance we are instruments marching in a common band. Playing songs of hope, playing songs of peace. They're the songs of every man. God is watching us. God is watching us. God is watching us from a distance. From a distance you look like my friend, even though we are at war. From a distance I just cannot comprehend what all this fighting is for. From a distance there is harmony, and it echoes through the land. And it's the hope of hopes, it's the love of loves, it's the heart of every man. It's the hope of hopes, it's the love of loves. This is the song of every man. And God is watching us, God is watching us, God is watching us from a distance. Oh, God is watching us, God is watching. God is watching us from a distance. _____ there are so many phrases here..i will jsut post the whole song.. is it in the D.T. i wonder? |
28 Sep 08 - 11:01 PM (#2452497) Subject: RE: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: Janie If dreams were lightning, and thunder was desire This old world would have burned up a long time ago. John Prine |
29 Sep 08 - 01:45 AM (#2452556) Subject: RE: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: Bert Nice one oldguit. I love that song. Law caught me out thievin', took me down the nick The sergeant made out his report, and he layed it on real thick He said "I'll get your parents", I answered with a grin "Save yourself the trouble, mate, you'll never find 'em in" |
29 Sep 08 - 06:49 AM (#2452656) Subject: RE: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: Oldguit Hey Bert They don't write em like that anymore, sadly! another goodun that I love is: So I bought meself a guitar, bout a year ago bloke said I could learn it in a week or so he gave me a little book, pick or two He said e'are mate now its up to you Unsure of origin but sung by saint Lonnie. Oldguit Arr |
29 Sep 08 - 09:28 AM (#2452778) Subject: RE: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: Frank_Finn Mary from Loughrea The sun will miss the glowing of your golden yellow hair The lads will miss you from the dance on a Sunday evening fair. The grass will miss your flying steps as you sweep the dew away But I will miss you most of all, my Mary from Loughrea |
29 Sep 08 - 12:05 PM (#2452935) Subject: RE: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: Michael "What makes you go abroad fighting with strangers When you could stay at home free from all dangers?" Mike |
29 Sep 08 - 01:15 PM (#2453012) Subject: RE: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: Bat Goddess I'm also very fond of the phrase in "Cherry Tree Carol" -- "So Mary gathered cherries while Joseph stood around..." Linn |
29 Sep 08 - 04:20 PM (#2453169) Subject: RE: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: GUEST,Fantum Her breasts they were warm an by eck they were big uns A pale shade of white like wet tripe in moonlight |
29 Sep 08 - 04:50 PM (#2453199) Subject: RE: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: Joe G John Tams 'And go we must - no longer can we tarry' Jez Lowe Greek Lightning - whole song but especially 'At the wettest of Durham big meetings/oh how your heart it was easily won/I shouted for tunes by the Beatles/not that fat man from Athens they kept putting on' & 'Sometimes call me a coww then you think I'm your mam' Loads more by Robb Johnson, Tom Bliss, George Papavergis spring to mind but Dave Vermond's 'We're raffling off the headmaster to pay for the new school roof' is one I have never forgtten! |
29 Sep 08 - 05:05 PM (#2453211) Subject: RE: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: GUEST,John from Elsie`s Band "Home and Abroad" by Jerry Butlers Runaways (Paul Deane, 2003) "His voice, though plaintive, breathy and faint There was no mistaking, he said "Mines a pint" |
29 Sep 08 - 08:33 PM (#2453357) Subject: RE: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: Joe_F Bat Goddess: I am fond of that one, too. It is obviously a recent American addition (in Britain, one person cannot stand around), but it is so perfectly in the spirit of the original that I take care to sing it. |
29 Sep 08 - 09:05 PM (#2453370) Subject: RE: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: GUEST,Hellene Glueman, you beat me to it. "It's wrong to wish on space hardware" has always been a fave of mine. I will set my fox to run and with my quiver and my gun I will ride to the hunting with my hounds. (Anne Lister - The Hunter) "You shall strike the very first blow, strike it like a man. I shall strike the very next blow, and I'll kill you if I can" (Matty Groves) Tracing one warm line, through a land so wild and savage And make a Northwest Passage to the sea (OK, that probably owes something to Paul Gross and Callum Keith Rennie) |
29 Sep 08 - 10:37 PM (#2453418) Subject: RE: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: Warsaw Ed I can just see the members of the polar bear club swimming in the ocean "..See the bathers so bold as their noses turn blue.." Bob Franke "Under The Willows" |
30 Sep 08 - 08:16 PM (#2454334) Subject: RE: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: Fred Maslan "you can't jump a jet plane Like you can a frieght train" From "early morning rain" |
30 Sep 08 - 08:24 PM (#2454339) Subject: RE: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: Jayto Promises given Promises broken words stain my lips just like blood on my hands -- Lyle Lovett This is the best part of the day the dawn the final cleansing breathe unsullied yet by acrid fumes or death's cacophony the rank refuge of unchained ambitions --- Steve Earle |
01 Oct 08 - 11:48 AM (#2454859) Subject: RE: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: GUEST,TJ in San Diego Perhaps because three generations in our family went to sea with the U.S. Navy - aviators all, this hymn has always resonated with me. Though I've been accused of being stoic on occasion, and no fan of war, the memory of my lost heroes always brings a tear when this one is sung or played. "Eternal Father, strong to save, Whose arm hath bound the restless wave, Who bidd'st the mighty ocean deep, Its own appointed limits keep. Oh hear us when we cry to Thee, For those in peril on the sea! Amen." |
01 Oct 08 - 12:13 PM (#2454885) Subject: RE: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: Jayto Pour the sun upon the ground stand to form a shadow watch it grow into a night and fill a spinning sky --- Townes Van Zandt the highway kind You know you can't hang yourself if you don't have enough rope ---- Chris Knight Enough Rope Does anyone know where the love of God goes When the waves turn the minutes to hours --- Gordon Lightfoot Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald I'm a rolling stone all alone and lost for this life of sin I've paid the cost when I pass by all the people say just another guy on that lost highway --- Hank Williams Lost Highway I hurt myself today to see if I still feel I focus on the pain the only thing thats real & and you can have it all my empire of dirt I will let you down I will make you hurt ----- Trent Reznor Hurt My daddy worked in the coal mine until the company shut it down then he sit around and drank himself blind until they put him back underground --- Steve Earle Oxycontin Blues We were bad for one another but we were good at having fun --- Robert Earl Keen Corpus Christi Bay Gotta keep moving gotta keep moving Blues falling down like hail --- Robert Johnson Hellhounds on my Trail I always play Russian Roulette in my head & I will always remember to forget about you --- Tom Waits My favorite Color is Red She had that kind of razor sadness --- Tom Waits It was the kind of place that smelled like kerosene and you took on the dreams of the ones that had slept there before --- Tom Waits They drive along the pipeline they tango till their sore they take apart their nightmares and they leave them by the door --- Tom Waits Tango till thier sore Take you hatred out on me make your victim my head you never ever believed in me I am your torniquet --- Marilyn Manson Torniquet The wind was as steady as the throttle on a funeral train -- John Prine Mexican Home I met her on the night of fire and noise -- Nick Cave Do you Love Me A cheap hotel a long way from my home so many people make you feel so alone dreams die easy out here in these streets while your heart grows cold in the city heat --- Steve Earle Angry Young Man |
12 Jan 09 - 03:43 PM (#2538227) Subject: RE: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: GUEST,Rafflesbear This world has only one sweet moment set aside for us from "who wants to live forever" by Brian May |
12 Jan 09 - 04:03 PM (#2538251) Subject: RE: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: Joybell Leaving aside Dylan -- because there's too many. "The words of the prophet written on the subway wall" "I'd fly away from my false true lover" "I swim the seas within my mind and the pine trees laugh green laughter" |
12 Jan 09 - 04:13 PM (#2538266) Subject: RE: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: ClaireBear "Hell is deep, hell is dark, hell is full of mice." (from "Dives and Lazarus," trad.) "Pittsburgh has the Steelers and the Pirates and the thieves." (from "Grand Larceny," John Gorka, in a song about the theft of his guitar from a car parked on a Pittsburgh street) |
12 Jan 09 - 04:32 PM (#2538288) Subject: RE: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: GUEST,KP 'The man with the cane and Italian shoes, he walks like a lion looking for a lonely Christian' Richard Thompson - the Egypt Room 'On the little man's shirt are two skeletons screwing, and the legend says "Love never Dies" ' Martin Simpson - Love Never Dies 'In the Misty Crystal Glitter of the wild and windward spray'.....'Now from Washington and Oregon you can hear the factories hum, making chrome and making manganese and white aluminum' Both Woody Guthrie - Grand Coulee Dam 'They call her Natasha when she looks like Elsie' Elvis Costello - I don't want to go to Chelsea |
12 Jan 09 - 05:54 PM (#2538367) Subject: RE: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: GUEST,Shimrod Lord Bateman: "She sail-ed east and she sail-ed west 'Til Turpenstones she did chance to spy Then she went cracking of her fair white fingers As for Lord Bateman she did enquire." |
12 Jan 09 - 06:02 PM (#2538373) Subject: RE: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: Clifton53 " If you're treading on thin ice, then you might as well dance" Jesse Winchester |
12 Jan 09 - 06:06 PM (#2538377) Subject: RE: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: Mark Ross "We'll be out in the marble orchard where the tombstones are in bloom, Underneath the green grass, there's always plenty of room." 50 YEARS FROM NOW Haywire Mac McClintock Mark Ross |
12 Jan 09 - 06:15 PM (#2538384) Subject: RE: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: Amos "Change and decay on every hand I see; O, Thou Who changeth not, abide with me," "Such a coaxsome elf, I was ashamed of myself For to find I was truly there!" and many, many others.... A |
12 Jan 09 - 06:43 PM (#2538408) Subject: RE: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: GUEST,mg McALPINe's god was a well filled hod..from McAlpine's Fusiliers..which I think has the highest ratio of favorite phrases of any song I can think of..mg |
12 Jan 09 - 06:45 PM (#2538409) Subject: RE: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: Joybell "Come home with me, Madge, when I go the change will do you good." "I will twine with my mingles of raven/raving black hair" "First did come the thick, thick blood and next did come the thin Last did come the very heart's blood there was no more within." Of young men -- "They're like the stars of a Summer's morning, they'll first appear and then they're gone." "She had to leave her country home because the wolf was at the door, and her father had fallen down and broken his leg." "Ring down the curtain I can't sing tonight." |
12 Jan 09 - 06:49 PM (#2538415) Subject: RE: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: Joybell "My life goes on in enless song above Earth's lamentation." |
12 Jan 09 - 08:02 PM (#2538470) Subject: RE: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: Joe_F Amos: changest |
13 Jan 09 - 12:40 AM (#2538621) Subject: RE: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: Tootler A couple from Burns "Now westlin winds, and slaught'ring guns Bring August's pleasant weather;" and "As o'er the hill the eastern star tells bughtin' time is near, my Jo, And owsen frae the furrowed field return sae dowf and weary o, Doon by the burn where scented birks wi' dew are hangin' clear, my Jo, I'll meet ye on the lea rig, my ain kind dearie o." I had to put the whole verse in. It is such a wonderful description of dusk. One from Graceland by Paul Simon "The Mississippi Delta is shining like a National Guitar" |
13 Jan 09 - 02:49 PM (#2539002) Subject: RE: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: Clifton53 'and all I've done, for want of wit, to memory now I can't recall' |
13 Jan 09 - 06:06 PM (#2539154) Subject: RE: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: Rog Peek They're all in here: The Bells (Edgar Allen Poe/ Phil Ochs) Hear the sledges with the bells Silver bells What a world of merriment Their melody foretells How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle In the icy air of night All the heavens seem to twinkle With a crystalline delight Keeping time, time, time With a sort of Runic rhyme From the tintinnabulation That so musically wells From the bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells From the jingling and the tinkling of the bells Hear the mellow wedding bells Golden bells What a world of happiness Their harmony foretells Through the balmy air of night How they ring out their delight Through the dances and the yells And the rapture that impels How it swells, how it dwells On the future, how it tells From the swinging and the ringing of the molten golden bells Of the bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells Of the rhyming and the chiming of the bells Hear the loud alarum bells Brazen bells What a tale of terror now Their turbulency tells Much too horrified to speak Oh, they can only shriek For all the ears to know How the danger ebbs and flows Leaping higher, higher, higher With a desperate desire In a clamorous appealing to the mercy of the fire With the bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells With the clamor and the clanging of the bells Hear the tolling of the bells Iron bells What a world of solemn thought their monody compels For all the sound that floats From the rust within our throats And the people sit and groan In their muffled monotone And the tolling, tolling, tolling Feels a glory in the rolling From the throbbing and the sobbing Of the melancholy bells Oh, the bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells Oh, the moaning and the groaning of the bells. Rog |
13 Jan 09 - 06:40 PM (#2539170) Subject: RE: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: GUEST,Rafflesbear I think you're missing the point Rog - this thread is for one-liners - kind of helps if you read the first post |
13 Jan 09 - 08:42 PM (#2539259) Subject: RE: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: Joe_F Well, if we're going to have Burns, then: But whilst with both hands I can hold the glass steady The man of independent mind, He looks and laughs at a' that. 'And sh---, ye bitch,' the echoes' roar'd Lincluden wa's amang. (-- "Grim Grizzle", which it seems has not been set to music, tho it ought to be. Lincluden is a church, whose ruins are extant, in case anyone wants to repeat the experiment.) * The sun shines owre the westlin hills by the lamplicht o the moon -- Eppie Morrie |
14 Jan 09 - 01:58 AM (#2539359) Subject: RE: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: mg where are the lads who stood with me when history was made...from the boys of the old brigade. mg |
14 Jan 09 - 02:47 AM (#2539364) Subject: RE: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: Rog Peek No Rafflesbar, I'm not missing the point, I did read it, it wasn't just one liners it was 'some of your favourite phrases from songs - you know a couple of lines, a line or just half a line' - I just couldn't choose between them. Rog |
14 Jan 09 - 03:08 AM (#2539373) Subject: RE: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: GUEST,seth in Olympia "that red bandanna tied around your auburn hair you look like you oughta be somebody's wife somewhere" Merle Haggard " Papa got us in the pick-up With a damp rag across our nose(s) And we drove off through the cloud That he once plowed In long straight handsome rows" Lawrence Hammond " It balances on your head Like a mattress balances on a bottle of wine" Bob Dylan |
14 Jan 09 - 09:37 AM (#2539600) Subject: RE: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: GUEST In this era of Uk folk perhaps settling back from a very high point what about"NOTHING EVER HAPPENS TILL SOMEONE LIGHTS THE FUSE" If you are wondering it is from Ghost in blue suade shoes by Lindisfarne. |
14 Jan 09 - 10:00 AM (#2539617) Subject: RE: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: An Buachaill Caol Dubh There's a good one in "Lady of Lough Rea", intended to signify something impossible (rather like the Scots, "The blude-red rose at Yule may bloom"): "Ah, rose-leaf maid, 'tis easy to blame the wastrel now; But, who was ever able for to harrow with a plough?" Further to contributions from Tootler and Joe F, Yeats greatly admired Burns's line about "The wan moon is setting behind the white wave, And Time is setting with me...", while Walter Scott said that "Had we never lov'd sae kindly, Had we never lov'd sae blindly, Never met, or never parted, We had ne'er been broken hearted" contains the essence of a thousand love songs (or stories). Note, incidentally, that "parted" would be pronounced close to "perr-tit", with "hearted" rhyming. |
14 Jan 09 - 10:55 AM (#2539664) Subject: RE: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: GUEST "They couldn't do to me no harm, so they slew my baby in my arms and left me nought to wrap him in but the bloody sheet that he lay in." Amazing. |
14 Jan 09 - 11:41 PM (#2539924) Subject: RE: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: Stephen L. Rich From Sandy Andina's song about the Santa Ana Winds called "The Devil Wind" "Why do people fear the Reaper when it's the wind that wields the blade?" |
15 Jan 09 - 01:01 AM (#2539942) Subject: RE: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: raredance Tom Russell on Pain - physical or emotional It goes away, it might take years Or a hundred thousand tears. But one day the sky will clear, it goes away |
15 Jan 09 - 01:46 AM (#2539953) Subject: RE: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: meself I fought the law, and the law won. |
15 Jan 09 - 11:09 AM (#2540393) Subject: RE: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: boosh "if songs were lines in a conversation, the situation would be fine" |
15 Jan 09 - 06:12 PM (#2540803) Subject: RE: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: GUEST,Albert O'Balsam From 'My Home In Sweet Glenlee' |
15 Jan 09 - 06:18 PM (#2540810) Subject: RE: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: GUEST,Albert O'Balsam I found amid the multitude a creature of great pulchritude |
15 Jan 09 - 06:20 PM (#2540816) Subject: RE: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: Hallf-A-Mo My life had been a wilderness Untouched by fortunes gaze Had fate not linked my love to her Sweet Rose of Alendale. Or And people who walk about never ask why, The rich uns can live, and your poor daddy die. And if they should ask me, Lord, I'd only cry, For the Sun and the Moon's fallen down from the sky. Or With the love of your life, Spend a lifetime of love, Make her yours forevermore. Or So kiss me my sweet, and so let us part. And when I grow too old to dream, Your kiss will live in my heart. (sniff) God bless Sigmund Romberg! |
29 Aug 10 - 09:54 PM (#2975567) Subject: RE: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: Jason Xion Wang "Are you going away with no word of farewell Will there be not a trace left behind I could've loved you better, didn't mean to be unkind You know that was the last thing on my mind" "I've looked at life from both sides now From win and lose, and still somehow It's life's illusions I recall I really don't know life at all" "My body is merely the shell of my soul But the flesh must be given it's due Like a pony that carries it's master back home Like an old that's tried and been true My spirit will never be broken or caught For the soul is a free-flying thing Like an eagle that needs neither comfort nor thought To rise up on glorious wings" "For the heart of man's a palace And his dreams are as the sunlight They burn away the darkness, as they warm the freezing cold As an eagle flying higher, as a river through the canyon The diamond star shines down upon, a pathway to the soul" "But for just one fleeting moment The answer seemed so clear Heaven's not beyond the clouds It's just beyond the fear" Tom Paxton, Joni Mitchell, the last three by Joe Henry. |
30 Aug 10 - 12:35 AM (#2975647) Subject: RE: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: MGM·Lion That wonderfully confused version of Scarboro Fair ballad burden, "Sober and grave grow merry in time" ~~ makes a crazy kind of sense. Is there a better epitome of being in a great hurry than the widespread ballad floater!?: "When she came to the riverside she fell to her breast and she swam And when she came to the other side she took to her heels and she ran." ~Michael~ |
30 Aug 10 - 09:52 AM (#2975844) Subject: RE: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: GUEST,Peter Trouy 30.08.10 "Broken hearts and dirty windows make life dificult to see. Thats why last night and this morning allways look the same to me... John Prine or: "Beauty walks a razors edge, some day i'll make it mine". Dylan Peter Trout |
30 Aug 10 - 10:16 AM (#2975859) Subject: RE: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: GUEST,HiLo Every generation throws a hero up the pop charts Paul Simon Take down this mast of gold, set up a mast of tree, For it becomes not a forsaken maid to sail so royally..Lass of Loch Royal The ghost of electricity howls in the bones of her face Dylan The priest he sat in the airport bar, he was wearing his fathers tie Joni Mitchell Ask them easy questions, they'll tell you easy lies..Richard Farina She danced away thier gold and thier bright money..Bonnie Lass of Anglesy I lit a thin green candle to make you jealous of me, But the room just filled up with mosqitoes, they heard that my body was free Cohen |
30 Aug 10 - 06:05 PM (#2976244) Subject: RE: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: Joe_F MtheGM: My own daemon made it "Sparsely sage, those wary in time!". |
30 Aug 10 - 06:11 PM (#2976249) Subject: RE: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: GUEST,Len Wallace One Big Union that's our plan and the I.W.W.'s your only man, The flames of discontent we'll fan For the cause that never dies. From Andy Irvine's "Never Tire of the Road". Love singing that verse. Yours for the cause and music that never dies, Len Wallace |
30 Aug 10 - 06:23 PM (#2976259) Subject: RE: Favourite Phrases in Songs From: Cool Beans A flat that would flatten the Taj Mahal. --Frank Loesser, "Guys & Dolls" |