Waxing Lyrical..
 

I have thought about posting this thread for a while... but never got around to it... so here goes.....

What's you fav lyric from a song?

Mine would have to be......

'I don't know karate, but I know KA-RAZY' by James Brown from The Payback

how about you?

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For sheer presence, creativity and punch, I would say Bob Dylan. And he has quite a few.

dude... 'fav lyric from a song'.... not fav artist!..... quote some lyrics..

and I thought you were a cunning linguist!?

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All right. I vote for "A Hard Day’s Night", as performed by Peter Sellers.
I’ll let yo’ fellow Limey do the quoting. ;)

Pull me out of the aircrash,
Pull me out of the lake,
I'm your superhero,
we are standing on the edge.

At least 3 people on this board should know the band, so I won't bother introducing it.

cool clip....

right back at ya with some Welsh comedy hip-hop from GLC.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=botnsA3KOWI

:)

don't suppose the band are originally from Abingdon in Oxford are they?!

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Zimmerman again:

He woke up, the room was bare
He didn't see her anywhere.
He told himself he didn't care, pushed the window open wide,
Felt an emptiness inside to which he just could not relate
Brought on by a simple twist of fate.

He hears the ticking of the clocks
And walks along with a parrot that talks,
Hunts her down by the waterfront docks where the sailers all come in.
Maybe she'll pick him out again, how long must he wait
Once more for a simple twist of fate.
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I resisted posting the whole song because you asked for a lyric.

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How Many Seas Must The White Dove Sail
Before She Sleeps In The Sand...

How Many Years Can A Mountain Exist
Before It’s Washed To The Sea...

How Many Times Can A Man Turn His Head
And Pretend That He Just Doesn't See...

How Many Times Must A Man Look Up
Before He Can See The Sky...

Yes, And How Many Ears Must One Man Have
Before He Can Hear People Cry
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Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears reliev’d;
How precious did that grace appear,
The hour I first believ’d! - Amazing Grace, John Newton

They’re gonna clean up your looks
With all the lies in the books
To make a citizen out of you
Because they sleep with a gun
And keep an eye on you, son
So they can watch all the things you do

Because the drugs never work
They’re gonna give you a smirk
‘Cause they got methods to keep you clean
They’re gonna rip up your heads
Your aspirations to shreds
Another cog in the murder machine

Floyd: ....Wish you were here....

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Pink: "Is there anybody out there?"
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Nobody told me there'd be days like these

A spiral orbit circumnavigates the axis
Fragments, threads of the origin's shape
The dreary synopsis of an aeon-old praxis
Encircles the thoughts from which minds escape

Perplexed by the questions of our existence
The patterns in external reality
Secretive formulas along an unthinkable distance
Force the thinking into unexplored philosophy

An entity which spins in the galaxy hurricane
With a plasticity changing by the age
The director of periodic meteor rain
Which seems to be framed by a mathematical cage

"different like a platypus,
analytical analyst,
by the end of this record I make sure all of y'all know how Sage Francis is"

-Sage Francis
"Personal Journals"
Different (Produced by Sixtoo)

If thats from the TQ song you stole my line:mad:

Nope.

John Lennon - Nobody Told Me - 1984

oh k lol, i got a new line anyway. from the song this way by dilated peoples.
My moves are calculated through the lense, almost there, Success will be the best revenge...

I read somewhere that Poly Styrene's favorite Xray Spex lyric was:

I've always been partial to the line:

but this verse is quite striking:

Some others that I find memorable:

My favorite might be:

I've since heard other versions by other artists, but this is the one I heard first, driving home one night years ago, listening to "Sound and Spirit" hosted by Ellen Kushner (on 89.7 FM WGBH Boston).

From the song "Native Son" by Bryan Adams:

I'll only post that verse, but I think that the whole song is quite poetic and very moving.

From the song "Father & Son" by Cat Stevens:

Anyone with children can relate to this song. Again, the whole song is charged with meaning, but these lyrics pop out in my mind as being the most poignant.

Impressive lyric quotes! Each memorable for very different reasons. Thx!

Suicidal Tendencies - Institutionalized

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The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress

See her as she flies
Golden sails across the skies
Close enough to touch
But careful if you try
Though she looks as warm as gold
The moon's a harsh mistress
The moon can be so cold

Once the sun did shine
And Lord it felt so fine
The moon a phantom rose
Through the mountains and the pine
And then the darkness fell
The moon's a harsh mistress
It's hard to love her well

I fell out of her eyes
I fell out of her heart
I fell down on my face, yes I did
And I tripped and I missed my star
And I fell and fell alone
The moon's a harsh mistress
The sky is made of stone

The moon's a harsh mistress
She's hard to call your own

-- Jimmy Webb


PS. Try to get ahold of the version by Norwegian singer Radka Toneff. Truly exquisite! You’ll find it on iTunes Music Store, on the album "Fairytales", with Steve Dobrogosz.
Radka (1952-82) also sang lyrics by other first-rate poets, such as Sylvia Plath and Robert Creeley.

"He came home from the war with a party in his head
and an idea for a fire-works display." - Tom Waits, Swordfishtrombones.

Ma-ia hii
Ma-ia huu
Ma-ia hoo
Ma-ia haha (x4)

Alo, salut, sunt eu, un haiduc
si te rog, iubirea mea, primeste fericirea.
Alo, alo, sunt eu, Picasso
ti-am dat beep
si sunt voinic
Dar sa stii, nu-ti cer nimic.

Vrei sa pleci dar nu-mã, nu-mã iei
Nu-mã, nu-mã iei, nu-mã, nu-mã, nu-mã iei
Chipul tãu si dragostea din tei
Mi-amintesc de ochii tãi.

Vrei sã pleci dar nu-mã, nu-mã iei
Nu-mã, nu-mã iei, nu-mã, nu-mã, nu-mã iei
Chipul tãu si dragostea din tei
Mi-amintesc de ochii tãi.

Te sun, sã-ti spun, ce simt, acum
Alo, iubirea mea sunt eu, fericirea.
Alo, alo, sunt iarasi eu, Picasso
ti-am dat beep si sunt voinic
Dar sã stii, nu-ti cer nimic.

0zone- Dragostea din Tei (Romanian International Hit 2004 :D)

"Shoo-ba-di-do-wop-wop say what yeah" - Circle Jerks

"There's a time to live and a time to die,
I smoke Elvis Presley's toenails when I want to get high." - Butthole Surfers

While it's hardly my fave song, the lyric that appeals to me as ringing truest in these times is Bob Dylan's With God on Our Side.

Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - I See a Darkness

Well, you're my friend (that's what you told me)
And can you see (what's inside of me)
Many times we've been out drinking
And many times we've shared our thoughts
But did you ever, ever notice,
the kind of thoughts I got
Well you know I have a love,
a love for everyone I know
And you know I have a drive
to live I won't let go
But could you see it's opposition,
comes rising up sometimes
That it's dreadful end position,
comes blacking in my mind
Then I see a darkness...

The Birthday Party - Mutiny in Heaven

I was born...
And lord shakin', even then was dumped into an icy font,
Like some great stinking unclean!
From slum-church to slum-church, I spilled my heart
To some fat **** behind a screen...

Evil pump'n eye pressed up to the opening
He'd slide shut the little perforated hatch...
at night my body blushed
To the whistle of the birch
With a little practice I soon learnt to use in on myself
Punishment... reward... punishment...

Ah what the hell :D


Tom Waits - Frank's Wild Years

Frank settled down out in the Valley and hung his wild years on a nail that he drove through his wife's forehead. He sold used office furniture out there on San Fernando Road and assumed a $30,000 loan at 15 1/4 % and put a down payment on a little two bedroom place. His wife was a spent piece of used jet trash- made good bloody marys, kept her mouth shut most of the time, had a little Chihuahua named Carlos that had some kind of skin disease and was totally blind. They had a thoroughly modern kitchen, self-cleaning oven, the whole bit. Frank drove a little sedan and they were so happy.

One night Frank was on his way home from work, stopped at the liquor store, picked up a couple Mickey's Big Mouths drank 'em in the car on the way to the Shell station. Got a gallon of gas in a can, drove home, doused everything in the house. Torched it. Parked across the street, laughing, watching it burn, all Halloween orange and chiminea red then Frank put on a top forty station, got on the Hollywood Freeway and headed north.

Never could stand that dog.