Subject: RE: The Best Song Lines EVER--For Us Newbies
From:
Genie
Date: 22 Aug 01 - 04:17 AM
I know it's an old thread and this is a long list, but reading the other entries 'inspired' my own list. Not all are "folk," but I wonder how many of you share my appreciation of some or all of the following: A. From thomas Moore's "Believe Me, If All Those Endearing Young Charms," "... No, the heart that has truly loved ne'er forgets, but as surely lives on to the close As the sunflower turns on her god when he sets, the same look which she turned when he rose."
B. From "Love Potion #9" (Lieber & Stoller?) - "She jumped down, turned around, and gave me a wink. She said, "I'm gonna mix it up right here in the sink. It smelled like turpentine, it looked like India ink; I held my nose, I closed my eyes --- I took a drink!" And the last verse of the song, too.
C. Bob Dylan, "Love Minus Zero," "In dimestores and bus stations, people talk of situations, Read books, repeat quotations, draw conclusions on the wall."'
D. Kate Wolf; "He's gone away, yesterday, and I find myself on a mountainside, Where the rivers change direction across the Great Divide."
E. All of Johnny Mercer's lyrics for "The Glow Worm,"especially "Glow, little glow worm, fly of fire, Burn like an incandescent wire. Burn for the female of the species, Turn on the AC and the DC. This night could use a little bright'nin'; Light up, you little ol' bug of lightnin'. When ya gotta glow, ya gotta glow ..." F. Nanci Griffith ( and her keyboardist) - "Gulf Coast Highway." "And when we die, we say we'll take some blackbird's wing And we will fly away to heaven, come some sweet bluebonnet spring."
G. Merle Travis's "sixteen tons" St. Peter, don't ya call me, 'cause I can't go, I owe my soul to the company sto'.
H. All the words to Irving Berlin's "You Can't Get A Man With A Gun," e.g., "... they don't look for spouses with buckshot in their trousers, and you can't shoot a male in the tail like a quail, ..."
I. Tom Paxton's chorus to "Saturday Night," especially the line, "Whoever is running her foot up my leg, I love you!"
J. Brian Bedford: 'What's the use of roots if you can't spread them, And what's the use of wings if you can't fly."
K. Pat Donohue's parody of "Would You Like to Swing On a Star," "Would You like to play the guitar / for a living -- har-de-har-har!"
L. Townes Van Zandt, Pancho and Lefty "All the Federales say they could've had him any day, They only lef him slip away out of kindness, I suppose."
M. Two from Hoyt Axton: •"You're the hangnail in my life and I can't bite you off."
•"If that cat could talk, what a tale he'd tell, 'Bout Della and the dealer and the dog, as well, But the cat was cool and he never said a mumblin' word."
N. Bob Shepherd blue -- Ballad of Erica Levine "A happy-ever-after life was not the one they got, But they tended to be happy, more often than not."
O. Mason Williams: "You done stompt on my heart and mashed that sucker flat!" ... "Sweetheart, you just sorta stompt on my aorta."
P. Kris Kristofferson, "Me and Bobby McGee" "Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose; Nothin' ain't worth nothin', but it's free."
Q. Joni Mitchell, "They've paved paradise and put up a parking lot."
R. Carly Simon: "You're so vain you prob'ly think this song is about you."
S. All of Paul Simon's "Sounds of Silence," especially, "the words of the prophets are written on the subway walls and tenement halls, echoed in the sounds of silence."
T. Amanda McBroom, "The Rose," "It's the ones who won't be taken who cannot seem to live and the soul afraid of dyin' that never learns to live."
U. The Dutchman --"Long ago, I used to be a young man, and dear Margaret remembers that for me."
V. John Prine, "The Speed of The Sound of Loneliness," especially, "...you come home late and you come home early /... / You come home straight and you come home curly .../"
W. Roger Miller: "You can't roller skate in a buffalo herd, but you can be happy, if you've a mind to."
Y. Kate Wolf, "Cornflower Blue," -- "...if love came in colors, I'd choose this one for you."
Z. "The water is wide; I cannot cross o'er, and neither have I wings to fly. Build me a boat that can carry two and both shall row, my love and I."
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