# Best lyrics in rock/pop music **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 6, 2009, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-lyrics-in-rock-pop-music/520201 "2009-12-06T15:53:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Pulp\_Friction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/2acd7d/32.png) [@Pulp\_Friction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pulp_Friction)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2009, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-lyrics-in-rock-pop-music/520201/1 "2009-12-06T15:53:44Z")
Consider this a companion to the worst lyrics thread. I’ll start: Steely Dan: \*I’m so excited I can barely cope I’m sizzling like an isotope \* Bob Dylan: _I got a cravin’ love for blazing speed Got a hopped up Mustang Ford Jump into the wagon, love, throw your panties overboard_ ---
**Author:** ![ToeJam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dfb087/32.png) [@ToeJam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ToeJam)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2009, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-lyrics-in-rock-pop-music/520201/2 "2009-12-06T17:47:43Z")
Beck’s _Sexx Laws_: one of my favorite wierdest songs, where it looks like the lyrics just don’t work until you listen to it… \* I want to defy The logic of all sex laws Let the handcuffs slip off your wrists I’ll let you be my chaperone At the halfway home I’m a full-grown man But I’m not afraid to cry\* ---
**Author:** ![Talon\_Karrde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Talon\_Karrde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Talon_Karrde)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2009, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-lyrics-in-rock-pop-music/520201/3 "2009-12-06T19:31:42Z")
Leonard Cohen. ---
**Author:** ![lucky\_henry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bc8723/32.png) [@lucky\_henry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lucky_henry)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2009, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-lyrics-in-rock-pop-music/520201/4 "2009-12-06T20:00:17Z")
Walter Becker from the song “Lucky Henry”: Dusted down in shanty town behind a sky of red Hoist upon some frozen dawn exploding in my head Fast asleep in trouble deep or wide awake and burning Stuck inside some stranger’s hide whose karma keeps returning Where you trail that holy grail of darkness and despair Way cross town, now up now down, as though you’d really care On the bus across from us seen once in silhouette The old man’s face you couldn’t place that now you can’t forget ---
**Author:** ![Scougs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scougs/32/3158_2.png) [@Scougs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scougs)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2009, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-lyrics-in-rock-pop-music/520201/5 "2009-12-06T20:06:29Z")
I’ve always loved one line in Neil Young’s Powderfinger: _Big John’s been drinkin’ since the river took Mary Lou_ In that one line - less than ten words - there’s a whole picture painted. I can visualise everything about Big John. Maybe that’s just me. ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2009, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-lyrics-in-rock-pop-music/520201/6 "2009-12-06T20:26:46Z")
Chuck Berry doesn’t often get the credit he deserves as a lyricist. But his lyrics are clever, inventive, evocative, and he was a master at fitting syllables to the rhythm of the song. For example: > [@](#): > > I saw her from the corner when she turned and doubled back > And started walkin’ toward a coffee colored Cadillac > I was pushin’ through the crowd to get to where she’s at > I was campaign shouting like a southern diplomat If you listen to the song, every stress in those lines falls exactly where it should. The alliteration of “coffee colored cadillac” is perfect. And the phrase “southern diplomat” wonderfully evokes a blowhard shouting politician on a soapbox. Huey Long, perhaps? And then anything by Ray Davies. ---
**Author:** ![Pulp\_Friction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/2acd7d/32.png) [@Pulp\_Friction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pulp_Friction)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-lyrics-in-rock-pop-music/520201/7 "2009-12-07T00:39:40Z")
> [@](#): > > I’ve always loved one line in Neil Young’s Powderfinger Love that one too, Scougs. From the same song: _Raised my rifle to my eye Never stopped to wonder why. Then I saw black, And my face splashed in the sky._ ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-lyrics-in-rock-pop-music/520201/8 "2009-12-07T01:18:07Z")
I don’t know if it’s particularly powerful because of the way Eddie Vedder sings it, but this line from “Black” - a breakup song - has always struck me as an amazing piece of writing: _I know someday you’ll have a beautiful life I know you’ll be a sun In somebody else’s sky But why, why, why can’t it be mine?_ ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-lyrics-in-rock-pop-music/520201/9 "2009-12-07T01:27:37Z")
Sting, All This Time: The teachers told us, the Romans built this place They built a wall and a temple, an edge of the empire Garrison town, They lived and they died, they prayed to their gods But the stone gods did not make a sound And their empire crumbled, 'til all that was left Were the stones the workmen found ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-lyrics-in-rock-pop-music/520201/10 "2009-12-07T01:50:09Z")
Paul McCartney: “She was just seventeen - you know what I mean” Robert Palmer (I assume): “She’s so fine, there’s no telling where the money went” Pete Townshend: “Hope I die before I get old” ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-lyrics-in-rock-pop-music/520201/11 "2009-12-07T02:47:19Z")
> [@RikWriter](#): > > Sting, All This Time: > > The teachers told us, the Romans built this place > They built a wall and a temple, an edge of the empire > Garrison town, > They lived and they died, they prayed to their gods > But the stone gods did not make a sound > And their empire crumbled, 'til all that was left > Were the stones the workmen found Sting again: Mephistopheles is not your name; I know what you’re up to just the same. Also: Hey there mighty brontosaurus, Do you have a lesson for us? Just using that name in a song gives him major props. ---
**Author:** ![Pulp\_Friction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/2acd7d/32.png) [@Pulp\_Friction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pulp_Friction)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-lyrics-in-rock-pop-music/520201/12 "2009-12-07T03:28:57Z")
John Prine, The Sins of Memphisto: Adam and Eve and Lucy and Ricky Bit the big apple and got a little sticky Esmeralda and the Hunchback of Notre Dame They humped each other like they had no shame They paused as they posed for a Polaroid photo She whispered in his ear “Exactly Odo Quasimodo” ---
**Author:** ![Trick\_Rider](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Trick\_Rider](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trick_Rider)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-lyrics-in-rock-pop-music/520201/13 "2009-12-07T03:32:06Z")
“And I found a place where it’s dark and it’s rotted It’s a cool, sweet kinda-place where the copters won’t spot it” “Locked In The Trunk Of A Car” by The Tragically Hip ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-lyrics-in-rock-pop-music/520201/14 "2009-12-07T04:40:01Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Sting again: > Mephistopheles is not your name; > I know what you’re up to just the same. > > Also: > Hey there mighty brontosaurus, > Do you have a lesson for us? > > Just using that name in a song gives him major props. I guess Sting is an acquired taste - he was mentioned numerous times in the “worst lyrics” thread. But ol’ Gordon is a songsmith in my eyes. From “All This Time”: Saw the sad shire horses walking home, in the sodium light. “Invisible Sun”: I don’t want to spend the rest of my life Looking down the barrel of an Armalite I’d nominate virtually anything written by Chris Difford. Especially “Cool for Cats.” Andy Partridge from XTC also has skills: “The Mayor of Simpleton”: Well I don’t know how to tell the weight of the sun And crossword puzzles, well I just shun But I may be the mayor of Simpleton, but I know one thing And that’s I love you. “The Garden of Earthly Delights”: Kid, stay and snip your cord off, talk and let your mind loose Can’t all think like Chekov, but you’ll be O.K. Kid, is this your first time here? Some can’t stand the beauty So they cut off one ear, but you’ll be O.K. ---
**Author:** ![movingfinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@movingfinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/movingfinger)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-lyrics-in-rock-pop-music/520201/15 "2009-12-07T06:01:37Z")
Warren Zevon: “I saw a werewolf drinking a pina colada at Trader Vic’s. His hair was perfect.” ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-lyrics-in-rock-pop-music/520201/16 "2009-12-07T06:57:08Z")
The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead When the skies of November turn gloomy Gordon Lightfoot Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-lyrics-in-rock-pop-music/520201/17 "2009-12-07T09:06:00Z")
The Smith/Morrisey - pretty much anything and Lloyd Cole & The Commotions: > [@](#): > > She says a girl needs a gun these days > Hey on account of all the rattlesnakes > She looks like Eve Marie Saint in _On The Waterfront_ > She reads Simone De Beauvoir in her American circumstance ---
**Author:** ![SecondJudith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@SecondJudith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SecondJudith)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-lyrics-in-rock-pop-music/520201/18 "2009-12-07T10:04:41Z")
> [@Bruce Springsteen](#): > > Wendy, let me in, I want to be your friend > I want to guard your dreams and visions > Just wrap your legs 'round these velvet rims > And strap your hands 'cross my engines I can’t figure out how to make that make literal sense, but damn, is it evocative (and dirty)! ---
**Author:** ![ianzin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@ianzin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ianzin)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-lyrics-in-rock-pop-music/520201/19 "2009-12-07T12:07:03Z")
If you will allow Cole Porter to be nominated, as a writer of ‘popular’ music, then he wins all lyric-writing contests hands down. However, perhaps he’s too old and ‘swing era’ to be included. A few personal favourites: “It’s the damage that we do and never know It’s the words that we don’t say that scare me so” _- Elvis, ‘Accidents Will Happen’_ “What a wicked game to play, to make me feel this way. What a wicked thing to do, to let me dream of you.” _- Chris Isaak, ‘Wicked Game’_ “Now I think I know what you tried to say to me, And how you suffered for your sanity And how you tried to set them free. They would not listen; they’re not listening still. Perhaps they never will.” _- Don McLean, ‘Vincent’_ “Sergeant O’Leary is walkin’ the beat At night he becomes a bartender He works at Mister Cacciatores down on Sullivan Street Across from the medical center And he’s tradin’ in his Chevy for a Cadillac You oughta know by now And if he can’t drive with a broken back At least he can polish the fenders” _- Billy Joel, ‘Movin’ Out’_ “I break into a cold sweat Reaching for the phone I let it ring twice Before I chicken out and decide you’re not at home Does everyone stare the way I do? I only stare this way at you” _- Sting. ‘Does Everyone Stare?’_ And all of the lyrics to ‘Time’ by Pink Floyd. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-lyrics-in-rock-pop-music/520201/20 "2009-12-07T12:37:10Z")
I have been a John Mellencamp fan ever since 1978 when in _Born Reckless_, as a teenage Lothario trying to explain himself to his girl, he sang: _Well what I really want to say is… I guess I don’t know, what it is I really wanna say_ It’s hard to make a song scan, make sense and get a laugh. I still think it’s the best exposition of teen confusion ever. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-lyrics-in-rock-pop-music/520201.md?page=2)