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04 Mar 08 - 09:01 AM (#2279132) Subject: Best Line in a Song From: Mrrzy I could have sworn there was a thread on this, but I couldn't find it. Elves, please consolidate if there is one, thanks. Top this recently rediscovered one, and name the author: Stories of tortures / Used by debauchers / Lurid, licencious and vile... Make me smile. |
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04 Mar 08 - 09:47 AM (#2279164) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: GUEST,PMB Tom Lehrer. But I prefer THIS sort of stuff: Sweeney the thin-groined it is, in the middle of the yew; life is very bare here, piteous Christ, it is cheerless. Grey branches have hurt me, they have pierced my calves, I hang here in the yew-tree above, without chessmen, no womantryst. I can put no faith in humans in the place they are; watercress at evening is my lot, I will not come down. |
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04 Mar 08 - 10:00 AM (#2279172) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: Micca On Raglan Road, on an August day I saw her first and knew, that her dark hair might weave a snare that I might one day rue. |
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04 Mar 08 - 10:00 AM (#2279173) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: alanabit I think it is Tom Lehrer's "Smut". I don't know the second song at all. |
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04 Mar 08 - 10:17 AM (#2279186) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: bubblyrat The one I always remember comes from a song,a 'hit' in the 1950s, about a girl who lived on "Wolverton ( I think )Mountain", and whose father was to be feared as, I quote ; "He's mardy hayandy with a gurn and a narf " ,or that's what it sounds like ! ( Do Americans really talk like that ?? ). |
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04 Mar 08 - 10:21 AM (#2279192) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: Sandy Mc Lean "Some will rob you with a six gun; some with a fountain pen." Woody Guthrie's Ballad of Pretty Boy Floyd. |
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04 Mar 08 - 10:21 AM (#2279193) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: George Papavgeris Three of my favourite lines, in their setting: Clive James: A King at Nightfall "You spun the crown away into a ditch And saw the water close The army that you fed now feeds the crows A king at nightfall You're gonna have to watch your manners now And never let your face show what you're missing Don't wait for them to bow Stick out your hand for shaking, not for kissing" Clive James: About the death of an ordinary man - a metalworker: "He was used and discarded in a game he didn't own But when the moment of destruction came He showed that a working man is more than flesh and bone The hands on his chest flared more brightly than his name For a technicolor second as he rolled into the flame Though he had no great gifts of personality or mind He was generally respected, and the proof Was a line of hired Humbers tagging quietly behind A fat Austin Princess with carnations on the roof" Clive James: "I see The Joker", about a Mafia boss fearful for his life: "We do the journey different every day Today we hit the garment district first Then double back and take the boulevarde And as we drive I don't know which is worst To know he'll come but not to know the way To know he'll make a play but not know how Is he somewhere out there setting up the gun? Is this headache from his crosswires on my brow? There's no way, not a crevice, not a crack That he can reach me, but when I cut the pack I see the Joker I cut the pack and see the Joker" |
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04 Mar 08 - 10:37 AM (#2279210) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: George Papavgeris Clive James, The Practical Man: There are some ideas you can't play round with Can't let go of and you can't give ground with 'Cause when you die they're what you're found with There are just some songs that are not for sale Clive James, The Hypertension Kid: "It's my lousy memory" I told the Kid "What other men forget I still remember The flies are still alive inside the amber It's a garbage can with rubbish for a lid" also "But I love the little darlings" sighed the Kid "The slide from grace is really more like gliding And I've found the trick is not to stop the sliding But to find a graceful way of staying slid "As for the dreadful memories" said the Kid "They're waste and poison in the spirit's river Relax your hands and let the bastards quiver They tremble more the more you keep it hid" |
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04 Mar 08 - 10:45 AM (#2279214) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: mrmoe "....my lover comes to me and tells me of her dreams with no attempt to shovel a glimpse into the ditch of what each one means" and then there's: "....my thirsty wanted whiskey; my hungry wanted beans" |
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04 Mar 08 - 10:46 AM (#2279217) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: bubblyrat Got to agree with you there, George----That there " Hypertension Kid" is something else !! But surely ,nothing could ever surpass " I asked the waiter for Iodine, but I dined all alone " ?? ( from " Your Red Scarf Matches Your Eyes "). Wat zegt U ?? |
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04 Mar 08 - 10:48 AM (#2279220) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: GUEST,Riverman All the guys turn the colour of Avocado When he drives down the street in his Eldorado Jonathan Richman (John Cale): Pablo Picasso |
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04 Mar 08 - 10:55 AM (#2279228) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: topical tom What can you do with each moment of your life But love til you love it away, Love til you love it away. From "Thanksgiving Song" by Bob Franke |
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04 Mar 08 - 10:58 AM (#2279231) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: GUEST,DWR Mary Chapin Carpenter in Never Had It So Good: But when she burns you again And your phone doesn't ring Baby, it's me. |
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04 Mar 08 - 11:04 AM (#2279236) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: Midchuck Recent similar thread. P. |
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04 Mar 08 - 03:19 PM (#2279525) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: Leadfingers Where are the flowers that we put into the muzzles of the guns Dried up and pressed inside a frame they never get a second glance G . Pavgeris ! |
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04 Mar 08 - 03:37 PM (#2279538) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: PoppaGator bubblyrat: I remember "Wolverton Mountain," an early-60s crossover hit out of Nashville, although I wouldn't have rendered the hillbilly accent quite as outrageously as you do. A couple of years ago, I attended a reunion of the coffeehouse/folk-music crowd from my college days. A few of the guys had stayed in touch over the years and occasionally played together as a sort of just-for-laughs jug band, and had adopted "Wolverton Mountain" as their tongue-in-cheek theme song. Of course, the whole gang joined in enthusiastically and made the song everyone's theme for the weekend. The biggest and most gleeful laughs always came at the lines ~ sung extra-slowly: H-e-r - t-e-n-d-e-r - l-i-p-s A-r-e - s-w-e-e-t-e-r - t-h-a-n - h-o-n-e-y We all employed our most outrageously exaggerated backwoods accents, of course. Now, none of the above represents a "best line" of lyrics, so this message has been strictly thread-drift. Before I try for a serious, on-topic contribution to this thread, I'll have to think a bit more. I'm sure I can come up with a quote or two from Bob Dylan and/or Robert Hunter (Jerry Garcia's lyric-writing partner) that can measure up to those really nice bits from Clive James. |
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04 Mar 08 - 04:40 PM (#2279593) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: GUEST,patty o'dawes She had a snake for a pet and an amulet She was breeding a dwarf but she wasn't through yet. |
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04 Mar 08 - 04:58 PM (#2279608) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: Nick "You know the times you impress me most Are the times when you don't try" first Joni Mitchell line of many that came to mind |
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04 Mar 08 - 04:59 PM (#2279614) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: Bill Hahn//\\ John Prine---Sometimes You Have To Lose Your Mind To Keep Your Sanity Bill Hahn |
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04 Mar 08 - 05:03 PM (#2279623) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: Cool Beans They're billing me for killing me --"Lord Have Mercy on the Working Man," sung by Travis Tritt but I don't know the author. |
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04 Mar 08 - 05:15 PM (#2279634) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: GUEST,Tunesmith Jackson Browne's "Before the Deluge" is about the difficulties in trying to opt out of the rat-race and live a true "hippy" type existence. In the extract that follows, Jackson describes the moment the resolve to live an alternative life-style was broken by attractions of modern city life. " ... and in the end he traded his tired wings for the resignation that living brings, and exchanged love's bright and fragile glow for the glitter and the rouge ..." |
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04 Mar 08 - 05:25 PM (#2279645) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: Ruth Archer How can you lie there and think of England When you don't even know who's in the team? - Billy Bragg |
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04 Mar 08 - 05:40 PM (#2279657) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: GUEST,Gerry Oh, wouldst I could kick the habit, and give up smoting for good. http://dmdb.org/lyrics/sherman.folksinger.html#3 |
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04 Mar 08 - 06:11 PM (#2279680) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: GUEST,David Jones, Guest Fred Wedlock wrote in his song "Jogging", Now look here Fred the Misses said you'r getting much too fat, She poked me in the belly, said you'll have to shift all that, You'll have to get some exercise, you'll have to understand; A balanced diet doesn't mean a pint in either hand. David Jones |
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04 Mar 08 - 06:22 PM (#2279691) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: GUEST,The Mole Catcher's unplugged Apprentice "The music room would make you grin It's cold as a freezing pit There's a hole in the wall where a lorry came in" Angel Delight - Fairport Convention Charlotte (keeping an eye on the wall in her music room) |
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04 Mar 08 - 06:24 PM (#2279693) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: Tootler Westron Winde when wilt thou blow The smalle raine down can raine Christ that my love were in my armes And I in my be again Anon, 16th. Cent. Not a song, but I love the opening sentence of Pride and Prejudice "It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife" |
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04 Mar 08 - 06:46 PM (#2279706) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: open mike the line from Michael Smith's The Dutchman comes to mind: He sees their unborn children in her eyes. (or is it she sees their unborn children in his eyes?) I think Greg Brown had a similar line in a song of his.. "Spring Wind" I lived awhile without you, darn near half my life. I no longer see our unborn children, run to you my unwed wife. |
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04 Mar 08 - 07:35 PM (#2279741) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: oldhippie I always liked the David Mallett lyric, "life is a rainstorm, but love is the ark"; and from Kate Wolf "You came when you were needed, I could not ask for more, Than to turn and find you walking, Through the kitchen door." |
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04 Mar 08 - 07:38 PM (#2279744) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: SouthernCelt I always liked the lines in "For Love" by Robert Earl Keen, Jr. (I think he wrote it): "I asked him before he died, what made him cross the line? He asked me did I mean the line I just stepped across." SC |
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04 Mar 08 - 07:42 PM (#2279747) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: Nick E She danced like she had NO bones In same song, She was dressed in a scarf and a sneeze...(David Bromberg) or the words of another folk singer of Jewish extraction.. I wish that for just one time you could stand inside my shoes, then you'd know what a drag it is to see you! (Bob) or on a more POP music note ...Pretty women walking with gorillas down my street... (All lyrics are likely paraphased as I suffer from CRS) |
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04 Mar 08 - 07:53 PM (#2279756) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: Suegorgeous You say the magic's gone but I'm not a magician You say the spark's gone, well, get an electrician... |
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04 Mar 08 - 07:59 PM (#2279759) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: number 6 There's plenty of good lines but the following comes to my mind at this time. "There's a hole in daddy's arm where all the money goes, Jesus Christ died for nothin' I suppose." .. by John Prine. biLL |
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04 Mar 08 - 08:08 PM (#2279769) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: Dave Earl "that her dark hair might weave a snare" Ouch Micca if that was Red instead of dark....... But! For my money :- "may the sun always shine where ever you are, But you'll still need the darkness to show you the stars" The Night is Young by Colum Sands Dave |
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04 Mar 08 - 08:57 PM (#2279780) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: Joe_F Well, I am going to be literal & mention single lines: Walking in his footsteps in the sweet delta dawn. Married girl, married girl, rocks the cradle and cries. I'll get myself up in some right high degree O Thou Who changest not, abide with me. Too late, my brothers! Too late, but never mind. Some helped in small ways, some helped in hallways I hear the noise of wings. If ever you heard a little dog bark Let the Hero, born of woman, crush the serpent with His heel She makes a small hole in the frost on the window I've looked on love from both sides now Say, don't you remember? I'm your pal. Da ya kuryashchaya Where many a rooster like himself sat waiting for his tea And so far no dead ends The sun shines owre the westlin hills by the lamplicht o the moon First flower of their wilderness, star of their night Then turn your high horse heid about The man o independent mind Her hair shone like gold in the hot morning sun So I eat a good breakfast and go back to bed. I have been a good boy, and done what was expected. Get in there and blow out the light. I'd walk on down that silver lane Life is a toil, and love is a trouble Since love is lord of heaven and earth And now I have lived, I know not how long Tie my bones to his back, turn our faces to the west And you the foremost o' them a' shall ride our forest queen Die Liebe dauert oder dauert nicht And turns to put the mirror gently face down by the stove "Es kann drei Tage kosten." "Kam'rad, ich komme gleich." And some of them will marry, and one will marry me. Give motherlove and lumpytums. I've a neater, sweeter maiden in a cleaner, greener land. Tonight there'll be but three. He was born on land, but he sure enjoys the skies. The silent stars go by And here comes the chopper to chop off your head. Alas! it was to none but me. Rechka dvizhitsa i ne dvizhitsa, Your face will shine through all our tears And mother catechises me till I want to go out and swear A dragon lives forever, but not so, little boys This world is a world of lies Rozhenkes mit mandeln Put my boots on tall, read the writing on the wall Greasy rails, red clay trails Chickens crowing on Sourwood Mountain Sweet whips, ding-dong Que je me souviens eux. And our friends in South America, though them we never saw |
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04 Mar 08 - 11:08 PM (#2279851) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: GUEST,TonyK Later on the crowd thinned out and I was just about to do the same. Dylan |
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04 Mar 08 - 11:25 PM (#2279857) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: Fred Maslan Lightfoor's "You can't jump a jet plane Like you can a freight train. So I'd best be on my way in the early morning rain." |
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04 Mar 08 - 11:27 PM (#2279859) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: Janice in NJ It shall never be said in old England I slew a naked man. |
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05 Mar 08 - 12:13 AM (#2279881) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: GUEST,jeff He said, "Oh baby, I'm crazy 'bout you.' She looked the othter way and said , "OhYeah? Well me,too" Tom Dundee from his song 'A Long Letter and a Short farewell'. |
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05 Mar 08 - 11:21 AM (#2280226) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: number 6 " Hear them singing All the women of Pompeii Standing with the Nagasaki housewives in doorways In eruptions and destructions on doomsday" ... from the Yard went on Forever by Jimmy Webb biLL |
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05 Mar 08 - 11:26 AM (#2280232) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: The Unicorn Man My favorite is "Merry Christmas you arse hole, Thank god it's our last" The Pogues. Fairy Tail in New York, of course. |
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05 Mar 08 - 11:32 AM (#2280237) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: Bru "And I'll stand over your grave, till I'm sure that you're dead" Bob Dylan - Masters Of War. An oldie, but goldie. |
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05 Mar 08 - 12:16 PM (#2280292) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: BTMP I like Merle Haggard's line from the song 'Going Off of the Deep End' where he sings: "My weakness is stronger than I am." -btmp |
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05 Mar 08 - 12:23 PM (#2280298) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: Little Hawk "He wore his gun outside his pants for all the honest world to feel" "Now you wear your skin like iron, your breath's as hard as kerosene" - Townes Van Zandt "Money doesn't talk, it swears" - Dylan "Nothin' ain't worth nothin', but it's free..." - Kristofferson "But to live outside the law you must be honest" - Dylan "the church of mad love is such a holy place to be" - David Bowie "he not busy being born is busy dying" - Dylan She said, "Where ya been?" I said, "No place special." She said, "You look different." I said, "Well, I guess..." She said, "You've been gone." I said, "That's only natural." She said, "Ya gonna stay?" I said, "If you want me too...YES!" - Dylan |
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05 Mar 08 - 12:46 PM (#2280315) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: number 6 "The only thing we knew for sure about Henry Porter is that his name wasn't Henry Porter." .... from Brownsville Girl by Bob Dylan and Sam Shepard biLL |
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05 Mar 08 - 12:50 PM (#2280319) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: number 6 "Its a pink, pink, pink, pink, pink moon." ... from Pink Moon by Nick Drake biLL |
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05 Mar 08 - 12:53 PM (#2280323) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: john f weldon This is from the best songwriter of all Mr Trad Anon, from "Young Edwin" The fish out on the ocean Swim o'er my true love's breast His body's in a slow and gentle motion I hope his soul's at rest. |
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05 Mar 08 - 12:59 PM (#2280333) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: GUEST,Jonny Sunshine "My head and my heart fought like brothers torn apart I got Cain-ed and completely un-Abel" from "Big Baboon" by Flipron, who are one of the best bands I've heard in a long while (look 'em up) |
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05 Mar 08 - 01:10 PM (#2280346) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: The Mole Catcher's Apprentice (inactive) well alright...I couldn't resist... I was reminded of it because of another thread, about the ancient British television programme, 6.5 Special Hoots mon,there's a moose loose aboot this hoose complete nonsense but oh so funny Charlotte (one quarter Scottish) |
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05 Mar 08 - 01:29 PM (#2280364) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: Ruth Archer Between Marx and Marzipan in the dictionary, there was Mary I never made the first team, I just made the first team laugh And she never came to the phone, she was always in the bath No amount of poetry could mend this broken heart But you could put the hoover round if you want to make a start One dark night, he came home from the sea And put a hole in her body where no hole should be - all courtesy of The Bard of Barking |
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05 Mar 08 - 01:31 PM (#2280368) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: The Mole Catcher's Apprentice (inactive) ying tong iddle i po.. Charlotte (one of six charlies in search of an author) |
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05 Mar 08 - 01:44 PM (#2280387) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: GUEST,mg I think it is wonderful that a new thread was started, although I don't mind links to old threads. But I hate opening up a thread from 2003 when it is 2008 now. Anyway, their was a lot of consensus in previous threads for "if it weren't for the alligators I'd sleep out in the swamp." mg |
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05 Mar 08 - 02:18 PM (#2280420) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: open mike ting tang walla walla bing bang oo ee oo ah ah ting tang walla walla bing bang (the witch doctor)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8qDphoQPdw and then there is the one eyed one horned flying purple people eater http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9H_cI_WCnE |
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05 Mar 08 - 03:36 PM (#2280490) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: Mrrzy The only person on the scene missing was the Jack of Hearts... |
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05 Mar 08 - 03:53 PM (#2280503) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: GUEST,Ken Brock two of my favorites are from one song, Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart's "Take Him" (from Pal Joey, 1940): last year his arm was busted, reaching _from_ a check and later so here's my benediction, please take my Benedict, too. |
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05 Mar 08 - 04:41 PM (#2280548) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: oldhippie More; "Deliver me lord from the judgement Of the Saints who have never been caught" - Larry Jon Wilson "Your light still shines It's one small star to guide me" - Eric Bogle "'Cause I know I'm going nowhere And anywhere's a better place to be" - Harry Chapin |
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05 Mar 08 - 04:50 PM (#2280559) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: The Mole Catcher's Apprentice (inactive) "Gonna see Miss Brer Foxhole she's got diamonds in her teeth" - W.S. Walcott Medicine Show. The Band Charlotte (up on Cripple Creek) |
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05 Mar 08 - 05:00 PM (#2280571) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: JulieF Always loved I saw a shooting star last night i wished on it but it was just a satelite its wrong to wish on space hardware I wish, i wish you care billy bragg - new England |
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05 Mar 08 - 05:06 PM (#2280575) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: GUEST,Tunesmith What's interesting about this is that no one has commented on posters' choice of "best lines". Maybe, they only really work in the context of the complete song. |
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05 Mar 08 - 05:26 PM (#2280595) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: GUEST,Brendan I heard Louis Killen singing a song last week that I think was written by Mike Waterson. The song was about a common working man whose run of bad luck was described beautifully with the brilliant line.... If he fell into a barrel of ladies parts he'd climb out sucking his thumb. |
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05 Mar 08 - 05:59 PM (#2280622) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: Art Thieme If you do not when you may, you shall not when you would! from Blow Away The Morning Dew-as sung by Ewan MacColl Aint it enough to break your heart, You've got to work all day, and at night it's dark. Hard Times In The Mill as sung by Pete Seeger He has both come and gone! (?) This young couple were childhood sweethearts, She was a child and he was a hood. In my song called That's The Ticket But this line actually is from Carol Thieme if you really want the truth of it!!! (So there...) Art Thieme Art Thieme |
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05 Mar 08 - 06:09 PM (#2280631) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: GUEST,Frank Lee Eddie Cochrane's, 'I called my Congressman and he said, quote, "I'd like to help you son, but you're too young to vote" From 'Summertime Blues' |
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05 Mar 08 - 06:19 PM (#2280646) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: Little Hawk "they asked for some collaterol, and I pulled down my pants" - Dylan "ADAM RAISED A CAINE!!! ADAM RAISED A CAINE!!!" - Springsteen |
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05 Mar 08 - 06:21 PM (#2280648) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: dulcimerjohn would have to mine my databank but I'm sure it's something either from Richard Thompson, Dave Cousins or Dylan..Dulcimerjohn |
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05 Mar 08 - 06:21 PM (#2280649) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: Art Thieme It's knowing I can get some sex without having to commit to you at all, That makes me leave my sleeping bag rolled up and stashed behind your couch... ----A parody of Gentle On Ny Mind that I once improvised during my set on the steamboat Julia Belle Swain and sang for John Hartford. It got less than a hearty welcoming, and that's about as far into it as I went... Art Thieme |
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05 Mar 08 - 06:23 PM (#2280653) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: Art Thieme You had to be there! Art |
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05 Mar 08 - 06:29 PM (#2280664) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: John Hardly Hello and goodbye, divided by a line down the middle of the road. --Pierce Pettis The dust that Pancho bit down south ended up in Lefty's mouth __ Van Zandt And I need you more than want you And I want you for all time --Jim Webb But this Tom waits lyric is the most blow-my-mind best written shit I've ever heard... When traveling abroad in the continental style It's my belief one must attempt to be discreet And subsequently bear in mind your transient position Allows you a perspective that's unique And though you'll find your itinerary a blessing and a curse Your wanderlust won't let you settle down And you'll wonder how you ever fathomed that you'd be content To stay within the city limits of a small Midwestern town Most vagabonds I knowed don't ever want to find the culprit That remains the object of their long relentless quest The obsession's in the chasing and not the apprehending The pursuit, you see, and never the arrest Without fear of contradiction, bon voyage is always hollered In conjunction with a handkerchief from shore By a girl who drives a Rambler and furthermore Is overly concerned that she won't see him anymore Planes and trains and boats and buses Characteristically evoke a common attitude of blue Unless you have a suitcase and a ticket and a passport And the cargo that they're carrying is you A foreign affair, juxtaposed with a stateside And domestically approved romantic fancy Is mysteriously attractive due to circumstances, knowing It will only be parlayed into a memory |
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06 Mar 08 - 12:29 PM (#2281289) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: GUEST,Joseph de Culver City Yes and only if my own true love was waiting And I could hear her heart a softly pounding Only if she was lying by me, Would I rest in my bed once again Bob Dylan White, so white, refrigerator white Everything about you is refrigerator white You're cold pretty mama, like a Utah night Everything about you is refrigerator white Nick Lowe |
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06 Mar 08 - 12:31 PM (#2281292) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: wordfella Bob Seger: Wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then... Ah, ironic reversals! |
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06 Mar 08 - 03:09 PM (#2281450) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: The Vulgar Boatman "I'd rather have drowned in misery than gone to New South Wales..." Jim Jones - trad. |
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06 Mar 08 - 03:48 PM (#2281494) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: slowerairs She isn't a virgin but she's trying to become one. |
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06 Mar 08 - 04:20 PM (#2281520) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: GUEST,The Mole Catcher's unplugged Apprentice from a song that I actually perform: "So we just closed our eyes and dreamed us up a kitchen" - Desperados Waiting For A Train . written by Guy Clarke Charlotte (the view from Ma and Pa's piano stool |
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06 Mar 08 - 07:47 PM (#2281699) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: Big Al Whittle Carl had a way with cotton Mama had a way with words And I had my way with a red haired Catholic girl Sometimes they drink Four Roses Sometimes the old Grandad They don't drink in the mornings, but sometimes they wish they had from Happy Endings by Eric Taylor |
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06 Mar 08 - 08:30 PM (#2281714) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: number 6 "And I would write Jesus a letter, But I hear that he don't speak English... So instead I'll just throw these cobblestones Until I ring that old church bell." ..... from Sleepy Town by Jim White .... biLL |
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06 Mar 08 - 10:20 PM (#2281791) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: Bert From a Johnny Cash song... I like to get my loving, while I've got it on my mind. |
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07 Mar 08 - 05:57 AM (#2281923) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: Melbert AS an "attention getter" for an opening line, I don't think you can beat Thachray's "I love a good bum on a woman, it makes my day"...... |
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07 Mar 08 - 06:07 AM (#2281926) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: GUEST,wayne monroe "I never had a job where the boss wouldn't steal the bass drum from his own brass band", from Cheyenne, written and sung by John Stewart. |
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07 Mar 08 - 07:09 PM (#2282525) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: GUEST,Green gal she doesn't have to say she's faithful she's true like ice, like fire |
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08 Mar 08 - 01:01 AM (#2282700) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: number 6 "You thought the leaden winter would bring you down forever, But you rode upon a steamer to the violence of the sun." by Eric Clapton and Martin Sharp ... biLL |
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08 Mar 08 - 12:22 PM (#2282948) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: The Mole Catcher's Apprentice (inactive) And the colours of the sea bind your eyes with trembling mermaids, And you touch the distant beaches with tales of brave Ulysses... sorry couldn't resist...it's a really great song, one of Cream's best Charlotte (disraeli gears) |
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08 Mar 08 - 04:02 PM (#2283135) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: GUEST,David Jones, Guest. From the days of -49. "They call me a bummer and a gin sot too, but what cares I for praise" David Jones |
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08 Mar 08 - 10:41 PM (#2283395) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: moongoddess From a John Denver song: "Please Daddy, don't get drunk this Christmas, I don't want to hear my mamma cry." |
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08 Mar 08 - 11:09 PM (#2283403) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: freightdawg "When people say that life is rough, I wonder, "compared to what?"" From "I'm Just Me" performed by Charlie Pride "In a place of enchantment, where the wild things are known will the future remember, when the lovers are gone?" From "A Song For All Lovers" by John Denver "I thought he walked on water." From the song of the same title, Randy Travis "And today I saw the first airplane that flew, touched a moon rock, saw a senator at the zoo." From "Nothing as Original as You", The Statler Bros. Just a few, many many others but I'm too sleepy... Freightdawg |
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09 Mar 08 - 12:12 AM (#2283421) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: GUEST,Marty Harry Nilsson: You're breakin' my heart, You're tearin' it apart, So fuck you |
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09 Mar 08 - 05:20 AM (#2283470) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: Bonnie Shaljean There have definitely been other threads on this subject - I've clickied some of them below. My fave line is buried in one of them, among 759,834 others so that means I get to write it again here: "She had to have something flash every time she smiled" (Bob Dylan, Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts) We all know people for whom that is the perfect description. Another favourite has surfaced in my memory because of the recent Swiss Cottage lyrics thread. It's less poetic but just so true - and it's replayed itself in my head a thousand times when sparked off by some life-event or other: "You know you can't make people be what you want them to be..." (Al Stewart, Swiss Cottage Manoeuvres) In addition to this thread, there are also: Great turns of phrase in lyrics Songs that hook you with one great line Lines that really grab you Favorite lines This is the one Midchuck posted above, just so it doesn't feel left out. |
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09 Mar 08 - 05:34 AM (#2283476) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: eddie1 "I fumbled in my closet through my clothes to find my cleanest dirty shirt". (Kris Kristoffersen, "Sunday Morning Coming Down".) Eddie |
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09 Mar 08 - 06:22 AM (#2283490) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: Bonnie Shaljean Everybody's saying that hell's the hippest way to go I don't think so Gonna take a look around it though - Blue, the incomparable Joni |
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09 Mar 08 - 10:21 AM (#2283590) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: GUEST,HiLo His tongue it could not speak but only flatter, Dylan. The priest he sat in the airport bar, he was wearing his fathers tie. Joni M. I lit a thin green candle to make you jealous of me, but the room just filled up with mosquitos, they heard that my body was free. L. Cohen. She's a hundred but she's wearin something tight. L. Cohen. Kick the darkness til it bleeds daylight. Bruce Cockburn. |
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09 Mar 08 - 11:09 AM (#2283623) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: Midchuck Well maybe there's a God above But all I've ever learned from love Was how to shoot somebody who outdrew ya Leonard Cohen, "Hallelujah" Peter |
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09 Mar 08 - 02:14 PM (#2283733) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: Mrrzy Thank God and Greyhound You're Gone! |
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09 Mar 08 - 03:27 PM (#2283791) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: GUEST,Dan in NS Fighting for the right to fight the right fight for the Right - (John Birch Society, the Chad Mitchell Trio) |
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09 Mar 08 - 04:27 PM (#2283840) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: SouthernCelt A couple more from Robert Earl Keen, Jr., (yeah, I like him a lot). "He bought a house in southern France, but he lives in Hollywood" From "Mr. Wolf and Mama Bear" and you have to take that line in the context of the rest of the song. "This morning our house looks like hell...or possibly WalMart." From Keen's second novelty Christmas song called, I think, Merry Christmas You-all" (can't lay my hands on the CD right now). SC |
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10 Mar 08 - 12:07 AM (#2284076) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: GUEST,Syd's ghost, in a minor key. Oh, 'tis my delight on a Friday night, at one and nine a throw. |
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10 Mar 08 - 12:52 AM (#2284100) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: Claymore There was a couple of bawdy ballads that we sang in the 'Nam. One was about the "Night We Gunned Down Santa Claus" ( The password was not Ho Ho Ho). The other had a verse that went; You come into the room, talking that talk, I can tell what you've been doing by the way you walk... |
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10 Mar 08 - 06:16 AM (#2284169) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: Jack Blandiver Don't get too gay in Botany Bay unless you be well hung; unless you be well hung me boys, and after that Jim Jones, way up upon the gallows high, the crows will pick your bones... Otherwise: Sweeney the thin-groined it is, in the middle of the yew... Is that Flann O'Brien's translation? Alas I can't lay my hands on either At Swim-Two-Birds OR Sweeney Astray (Seamus Heaney). Meanwhile making do with Buile Suibhne. It's a sair fecht, as Oor Wullie would say. |
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10 Mar 08 - 09:39 AM (#2284253) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: GUEST,Bernard Quenby 'Drop-Kick me Jesus, through the goal posts of life - Bobby Bare |
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10 Mar 08 - 12:08 PM (#2284378) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: GUEST,Russ Lulu, oh lulu come and open up this door, Before I have to open it with my old 44. from "Been all around this world." (traditional) The beer I had for breakfast wasn't bad, so I had one more for desert. (Kris Kristoffersen, "Sunday Morning Coming Down".) Your debutante knows what you need, but I know what you want. Russ (permanent GUEST) |
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10 Mar 08 - 01:28 PM (#2284441) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: Mrrzy Ah, but I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now! |
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10 Mar 08 - 02:53 PM (#2284536) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: GUEST,Henry 'I've seen landladies who've lost their lovers at the time of Rupert Brooke'. Four years of history and personal tragedy in one line by Clive James. |
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10 Mar 08 - 08:08 PM (#2284859) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: Susanne (skw) "Where are you when we need you Christy Moore?" (Eric Bogle, Plastic Paddy) |
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10 Mar 08 - 11:19 PM (#2285004) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: GUEST,TonyK A picnic in the rain after a prairie fire. Prine |
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11 Mar 08 - 02:04 PM (#2285473) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: GUEST,Ian cookieless North South East West Kill the best and buy the rest It's just spend a buck to make a buck You don't really give a flying fuck About the people in misery Call It Democracy by Bruce Cockburn |
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11 Mar 08 - 02:19 PM (#2285487) Subject: RE: Best Line in a Song From: PoppaGator Talkin' on the phone is not my speed Don't send me no letters 'cause I can't read... "Ready, Willing, and Able" as recorded by Fats Domino. (Not sure who wrote it...) |