Lyrics That Matter

[]-[@n$0Ma☩!©]

This is a gem, IMO, that has been overlooked (lyrically speaking) because its pop-chart success. And may I add... Mark King is a bad-ass.

How
How can it be
That a love - carved out of caring - fashioned by fate
Could suffer so long
From the games played once too often

But making mistakes
Is a part of life's imperfection
Borne of the years
Is it so wrong
To be human after all

Drawn into the stream of undefined illusion
Those diamond dreams
they can't disguise the truth
That there is something about you
baby
so right
I wouldn't be without you, baby, tonight

If ever our love was concealed
No one can say that we didn't feel
A million things
and a perfect dream of life (gone) fragile but free
We remain tender together
If not so in love
And it's not so wrong
we're only human after all

These changing years
they add to your confusion
Oh and you need to hear
the time that told the truth

 

[frankb56]

Awesome song, Gabriel rules. I think just about all of his songs are lyrically and musically superior. How about Solisbury Hill, Games Without Frontiers, Red Rain, Digging in the Dirt, BIKO.......

 

[John Beef]

My band's lyrics are mostly frivolous. Our next album will be called (most likely) Stuff We Like. Every song is basically just stuff we like. We're trying not to write cold and dreary lyrics any more, because music is one of the few things that makes me happy.

For example, "the Other White Meat"

We are here today to celebrate
"El Pork-o"
'cause that's what they say in Spain*
When fried, a Thanksgiving feast
Slow cook this delicious beast
Let's eat!

Delish main dish slow roasted all day long
Salted and cured, thick sliced and fried up in a pan
Buried with coals at a Hawaiian luau

Something this good must be a vice
when you know how to prepare it right
Give me seconds thirds and fourths!
There's always room for more.

*this is a reference to a running joke in the band. One practice on a whim I said "From-o el Top-o, as they say in Spain." and then we all laughed for like five minutes. Man, I love being in a band.

 

[studio66]

This song came out when I was in my early thirties...right at the same time I had peeked behind all the curtains and realized there was no magic...so the song/lyric resonated with me and does to this day....kind of a coming of age epiphany moment....cool song as well

"So I walk up on high
And I step to the edge
To see my world below.
And I laugh at myself
While the tears roll down.
'Cause it's the world I know.
It's the world I know."

*Ed Roland/Ross Childress

 

[jfb]

Gillian Welch and David Rawlings are as good as it gets to me. Add John Dyer Baizley's art and you have The Harrow & The Harvest.

Gillian Welch - The Harrow & The Harvest

Track 8 - Hard Times

There was a camp town man, used to plow and sing
And he loved that mule and the mule loved him
When the day got long as it does about now
I'd hear him singing to his muley-cow
Calling, "Come on my sweet old girl, and I'd bet the whole damn world
That we're gonna make it yet to the end of the row"

Singing "hard times ain't gonna rule my mind
Hard times ain't gonna rule my mind, Bessie
Hard times ain't gonna rule my mind no more"

Said it's a mean old world, heavy in need.
That big machine is just picking up speed
They were supping on tears, they were supping on wine
We all get to heaven in our own sweet time
So come all you Asheville boys and turn up your old-time noise
And kick 'til the dust comes up from the cracks in the floor

Singing, hard times ain't gonna rule my mind, brother
Hard times ain't gonna rule my mind
Hard times ain't gonna rule my mind no more

But the camp town man, he doesn't plow no more
I seen him walking down to the cigarette store
Guess he lost that knack and he forgot that song
Woke up one morning and the mule was gone
So come on, you ragtime kings, and come on, you dogs, and sing
And pick up the dusty old horn and give it a blow

Playing, hard times ain't gonna rule my mind, honey
Hard times ain't gonna rule my mind, sugar
Hard times ain't gonna rule my mind no more

 

[carpincowboy]

As the preacher stumbles from his castle of sin And his vision gets distorted from the bottle within But his mouth slurs out the words from a sober heart They cut deep into open nerves then they tear you apart

This is the ballad of the bullet proof poet This is the ballad, don't I know it

He gave Jesus tattoos and took the devil's soul He got the angels drunk and gave them the gutter for a home

This is the ballad of the bullet proof poet This is the ballad, don't I know it

He loved the most beautiful girl in the mist of wine A last kiss through cigarette smoke then she quietly slipped of the edge of time

This is the ballad of the bullet proof poet This is the ballad, don't I know it

Love this song.
The dogs damour. Bullet proof poet

 

[tiboy]

Then there' artist evolution, eg, from "I wanna hold your hand" to "Imagine all the people."

 

[hippietim]

Lyrics are the gibber-gabber that singers blurt out until the guitars solo.

In all seriousness, lyrics are no better/worse than they've ever been.

The lyrics that Warren Haynes wrote for Soulshine are probably my favorite.

When you can't find the light
That guides you through a cloudy day
When the stars ain't shining bright
And it feels like you lost your way
When the candle lights of home
Burn so very far away
Well you got to let your soul shine
Just like my daddy used to say

He used to say soul shine
It's better than sunshine
Better than moonshine
Damn sure better than the rain
Hey now people don't mind
We all feel this way sometimes
Got to let your soul shine
Shine till the break of day

Grew up thinking that I had it made
Gonna make it on my own
But life can take the strongest man
And make him feel so alone
But now sometimes I feel a cold wind
Blowing through my aching bones
I think back to what my daddy said
He said, "Boy, in this darkness before the dawn"

Let your soul shine
Oh, it's better than sunshine
Better than moonshine
Damn sure better than rain
Yeah now people don't mind
We all feel this way sometimes
Got to let your soul shine
Shine till the break of day

Sometimes a man can feel this emptiness
Like a woman has robbed him of his very soul
Woman too, God knows, she can feel like this
And when your world seems cold
You got to let your spirit take control

Talking about the soul shine
Better than sunshine
Better than moonshine
Damn sure better than rain
Lord, now people don't mind
We all feel this way sometimes
Got to let your soul shine
Yeah, shine on and on and on and on

Oh, it's better than sunshine
Better than moonshine
Damn sure better than rain
Yeah, now people don't mind
We all feel this way sometimes
Got to let your soul shine
Shine till the break of day

 

[hippietim]

It's amazing how we can hear a song for 20 years and it doesn't really register and then because a life event, the song takes on a completely new meaning and importance to us.

Cat's In The Cradle did it to me.

 

[cjmwrx]

"I would dig a hole all the way to China
Unless of course I was there then I'd dig my way home
If by diggin' I could steal the wind from the sails
Of the greedy men who ruled the world

Still you're my best friend
And after a good, good drunk
You and me wake up and make love after a deep sleep
Where I was dreamin', I was dreamin'
Of a dreamgirl, a dreamgirl, a dreamgirl, dreamgirl

I was feelin' like a creep as I watched you asleep
Face down in the grass, in the park, in the middle of a hot afternoon
Your top was untied and I thought how nice
It'd be to follow the sweat down your spine

You're like my best friend
Oh, after a good, good drunk
You and me wake up and make love after a deep sleep
Where I was dreamin', I was dreamin'
Of a dreamgirl, a dreamgirl, a dreamgirl, dreamgirl

Caught by a wave, my back to the ocean
It knocks me off my feet and
Just as I find my footing
Here you come again





DMB - Dreamgirl

Something about this song make me think about every girl I've ever fallen in love with.

 

[johnnyflame]

Love this:

I woke the same as any other day
Except a voice was in my head
It said, "Seize the day, pull the trigger
Drop the blade and watch the rolling heads"
The day I tried to live
I stole a thousand beggar's change and gave it to the rich
The day I tried to win
I dangled from the power lines and let the martyrs stretch​

Soundgarden in their prime

 

[mapleleaf14]

We are secrets to each other
Each one's life a novel
No one else has read
Even joined in bonds of love
We're linked to one another
By such slender threads

We are planets to each other
Drifting in our orbits
To a brief eclipse
Each of us a world apart
Alone and yet together
Like two passing ships

Just between us
I think it's time for us to recognize
The differences we sometimes fear to show
Just between us
I think it's time for us to realize
The spaces in between
Leave room for you and I to grow

We are strangers to each other
Full of sliding panels
An illusion show
Acting well rehearsed routines
Or playing from the heart?
It's hard for one to know

We are islands to each other
Building hopeful bridges
On a troubled sea
Some are burned or swept away
Some we would not choose
But we're not always free

----------------------------------------------

It's not how fast you can go
The force goes into the flow
If you pick up the beat
You can forget about the heat
More than just survival
More than just a flash
More than just a dotted line
More than just a dash

It's a test of ultimate will
The heartbreak climb uphill
Got to pick up the pace
If you want to stay in the race
More than just blind ambition
More than just simple greed
More than just a finish line
Must feed this burning need
In the long run...

From first to last
The peak is never passed
Something always fires the light that gets in your eyes
One moment's high, and glory rolls on by
Like a streak of lightning
That flashes and fades in the summer sky

Your meters may overload
You can rest at the side of the road
You can miss a stride
But nobody gets a free ride

More than high performance
More than just a spark
More than just the bottom line
Or a lucky shot in the dark
In the long run...

You can do a lot in a lifetime
If you don't burn out too fast
You can make the most of the distance
First you need endurance
First you've got to last...

 

[Tosca]

Sheets of empty canvas, untouched sheets of clay
Were laid spread out before me as her body once did.
All five horizons revolved around her soul as the earth to the sun
Now the air I tasted and breathed has taken a turn


Ooh, and all I taught her was everything
Ooh, I know she gave me all that she wore


And now my bitter hands chafe beneath the clouds of what was everything.
Oh, the pictures have all been washed in black, tattooed everything...


I take a walk outside, I'm surrounded by some kids at play
I can feel their laughter, so why do I sear?
Oh, and twisted thoughts that spin round my head, I'm spinning, oh,
I'm spinning, how quick the sun can drop away


And now my bitter hands cradle broken glass of what was everything
All the pictures have all been washed in black, tattooed everything...


All the love gone bad turned my world to black
Tattooed all I see, all that I am, all I'll ever be... yeah...


Uh huh... uh huh... ooh...


I know someday you'll have a beautiful life,
I know you'll be a star in somebody else's sky,
But why, why, why can't it be, can't it be mine?

 

[jfb]

Sheets of empty canvas, untouched sheets of clay
Were laid spread out before me as her body once did.
All five horizons revolved around her soul as the earth to the sun
Now the air I tasted and breathed has taken a turn


Ooh, and all I taught her was everything
Ooh, I know she gave me all that she wore


And now my bitter hands chafe beneath the clouds of what was everything.
Oh, the pictures have all been washed in black, tattooed everything...


I take a walk outside, I'm surrounded by some kids at play
I can feel their laughter, so why do I sear?
Oh, and twisted thoughts that spin round my head, I'm spinning, oh,
I'm spinning, how quick the sun can drop away


And now my bitter hands cradle broken glass of what was everything
All the pictures have all been washed in black, tattooed everything...


All the love gone bad turned my world to black
Tattooed all I see, all that I am, all I'll ever be... yeah...


Uh huh... uh huh... ooh...


I know someday you'll have a beautiful life,
I know you'll be a star in somebody else's sky,
But why, why, why can't it be, can't it be mine?

Love that record and their second. Still play them frequently.

 

[Mike Duncan]

I can't do the talk like the talk on the TV
And I can't do a love song like the way it's meant to be
I can't do everything but I'd do anything for you
I Can't do anything except be in love with you



Goofy? Maybe a little, but they've always stuck out to me. Third line especially.

 

[Todd_FindingMyWay]

Maple Leaf beat me to it...

I'll save my fingers...

EVERY RUSH SONG.....done.

 

[ghochan]

More Peter Gabriel. One simple line from the Genesis years sticks with me: "I've got sunshine in my stomach, like I've just rocked my baby to sleep." More recently:
"Come Talk To Me"

The wretched desert takes its form, the jackal proud and tight
In search of you I feel my way though the slowest heaving night
Whatever fear invents, I swear it make no sense
I reach out through the border fence
Come down, come talk to me

In the swirling, curling storm of desire unuttered words hold fast
With reptile tongue, the lightning lashes towers built to last
Darkness creeps in like a thief and offers no relief
Why are you shaking like a leaf
Come on, come talk to me

Ah please talk to me
Won't you please talk to me
We can unlock this misery
Come on, come talk to me

I did not come to steal
This all is so unreal
Can't you show me how you feel now
Come on, come talk to me
Come talk to me [x2]

The earthly power sucks shadowed milk from sleepy tears undone
From nippled skin as smooth as silk the bugles blown as one
You lie there with your eyes half closed like there's no one there at all
There's a tension pulling on your face
Come on, come talk to me

Won't you please talk to me
If you'd just talk to me
Unblock this misery
If you'd only talk to me

Don't you ever change your mind
Now your future's so defined
And you act so deaf and blind
Come on, come talk to me
Come talk to me [x2]

I can imagine the moment
Breaking out through the silence
All the things that we both might say
And the heart it will not be denied
Till we're both on the same damn side
All the barriers blown away

 

[David Eaton]

I tend to go for the great or thought-provoking line. One that stuck out to me recently was in Switchfoot's song "yesterday"..."Every lament is a love song."

Holly Williams has a great line in "Waiting for June" (a great song about her grandparents)..."Since '45 he's touched her skin in the middle of the night." (That line comes in the verse where they are put in separate rooms in the nursing facility).

"Whiskey Lullaby" written by Bill Anderson and sung by Brad Paisley and Alison Krauss starts off with "she put him out, like the burning end of a midnight cigarette."

Some are profound, some are touching, and some are a great turn of phrase.

I'm listening to Charlie Peacock's "No Man's Land" this morning, it's full of great lyrics.

 

[jimistephen]

I think Corey Taylor is the best song writer in my generation. I'd have to admit that I've never listen to a slipknot song start to finish, but once I got in to orange amps and then Jim Root, and then stone sour I was blown away by some of the things he says.

You were my fire
So I burned
Til' there was nothing left of me

I, I touched your face
I held you close
Til' I could barely breathe

Why give me hope
then give me up
Just to be the death of me
Save the rest of me

Cause I see you
But I can't feel you anymore
So go away...

I need you
But I can't need you anymore
You hesitate

Now, now and then
You come around
Like there's something left for me

We were one,
Ooh, we were everything
I'm still here
But I'll just keep the rest of me

Cause I see you
But I can't feel you anymore,
So go away...

I need you,
But I can't need you anymore
You hesitate

Ooh, we never made it...
You hesitated.

Ooh, I don't believe
That I see you
But I can't feel you anymore,
So go away...

I need you,
But I can't need you anymore
You hesitate

Cause I see you
But I can't feel you anymore
So go away...

I need you,
But I can't need you anymore
You hesitate
Hesitate

You were my fire
So I burned
Now there's nothing left of me...

 

[jfb]

I have ranted and raved about Martin Simpson everywhere, but not yet in this thread...so...

Here's my favorite Simpson tune. I remember vividly the first time I heard it. How I thought I understood it's greatness immediately only to receive a blow to astonishingly simple. When the verse I have bolded was sung I was wrecked. I have never in my life been slapped so hard.

Martin Simpson - Never Any Good

You were never any good with money.
You couldn't even hold a job,
Not steady enough for the office,
Not hard enough for the hod.
You'd rather be riding your Norton
Or going fishing with your split cane rod.
You were never any good with money.
You couldn't even hold a job.

When your grammar school days were over,
It was nineteen-seventeen,
And you did the right and proper thing.
You were just eighteen.
You were never mentioned in dispatches.
You never mentioned what you did or saw.
You were just another keen young man
In the mud and stink of war.

You were never any good with money.
You couldn't even hold a job,
Not steady enough for the office,
Not hard enough for the hod.
You'd rather be singing the Pirate King,
Or going fishing with your split cane rod.
You were never any good with money.
You couldn't even hold a job.

You came home from the Great War
With the pips of a captain's rank.
A German officer's Luger,
And no money in the bank.
Your family sent you down in the coal mine
To learn to be captain there,
But you didn't stand it very long.
You needed the light and the air.

You were never any good with money.
You couldn't even hold a job,
Not steady enough for the office,
Not hard enough for the hod.
You'd rather be watching performers fly
Or fishing with your split cane rod.
You were never any good with money.
You couldn't even hold a job.

When the second war came along,
You knew what should be done.
You would re-enlist to teach young men
The booby trap and the gun;
And they sent you home to Yorkshire,
With a crew and a Lewis gun,
So you could save your seaside town
From the bombers of the Hun.

You were never any good with money.
You couldn't even hold a job,
Not steady enough for the office,
Not hard enough for the hod.
You'd rather be finding the nightjar's nest,
Going fishing with your split cane rod.
You were never any good with money.
You couldn't even hold a job.

And when my mother came to your door,
With a baby in her arm,
Her big hurt boy only nine years old,
Trying to keep her from harm,
If you had been a practical man,
You would have been forewarned.
You would have seen that it never could work,
And I would have never been born.

There's no proper work in your seaside town,
So you come here looking for a job.
You were storeman at the power station
Just before I came along.
Nobody talked about how you quit,
But I know that's what you did.
My mother said you were a selfish man,
And I was your selfish kid.

You were never any good with money.
You couldn't even hold a job,
Not steady enough for the office,
Not hard enough for the hod;
And your Norton it was soon gone
Along with your split cane rod.
You were never any good with money.
You couldn't even hold a job.

You showed me eyebright in the hedgerow,
Speedwell and travellers joy.
You showed me how to use my eyes
When I was just a boy;
And you taught me how to love a song
And all you knew of nature's ways:
The greatest gifts I have ever known,
And I use them every day.

You were never any good with money.
You couldn't even hold a job,
Not steady enough for the office, maybe,
Not hard enough for the hod.
You'd rather be riding your Norton
Or going fishing with your split cane rod.
You were never any good with money.
You couldn't even hold a job.