# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![The\_Mighty\_Boosh](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_mighty_boosh/32/1755_2.png) [@The\_Mighty\_Boosh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Mighty_Boosh)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-lyrics-in-rock-pop-music/520201/21 "2009-12-07T13:22:26Z")
Smokey Robinson played with words as well as anyone: ‘Outside I’m masquerading Inside my hope is fading I’m just a clown since you put me down My smile is my make up I wear since my break-up with you …’ Smokey Robinson, Tracks of my Tears And Townes van Zandt wrote the finest damn set of lyrics ever composed by someone-who-is-not-Leonard-Cohen: ‘Living on the road my friend Was gonna keep you free and clean Now you wear your skin like iron Your breath’s as hard as kerosene You weren’t your mama’s only boy But her favorite one it seems She began to cry when you said goodbye And sank into your dreams’ Townes Van Zandt, Pancho and Lefty ---
**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, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-lyrics-in-rock-pop-music/520201/22 "2009-12-07T13:30:17Z")
Little bit of Elvis Costello: Dial me a Valentine She’s a smooth operator It’s all so calculated She’s got a calculator She’s my soft touch typewriter And I’m her great dictator White lies, alibis, say anything but say that it’s true. Now we could sit like lovers, staring in each other’s eyes, but the magic of the moment might become too much for you. You’re upstairs with the boyfriend while I’m left here to listen. I hear you calling his name, I hear the stutter of ignition. Ooh, I know what you’re doin’. I know where you’ve been. I know where, but I don’t care, 'cause there’s no such thing as an original sin. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-lyrics-in-rock-pop-music/520201/23 "2009-12-07T14:11:04Z")
“I tripped the light fandango Turned cartwheels 'cross the floor I was feeling kind of seasick The crowd called out for more.” or “She wandered through the garden fence and said, ‘I’ve brought at great expense a potion guaranteed to bring relief from all your suffering.’ And though I said, ‘You don’t exist,’ she grasped me firmly by the wrist and threw me down upon my back and strapped me to her torture rack” or “Outside the gates of Cerdes sits the two-pronged unicorn who plays at relaxation time a rhinestone flugelhorn whilst mermaids lace carnations into wreaths for ailing whales and Neptune dances hornpipes while Salome sheds her veils.” or “When you knew that I had given all the kindness that I had did you think that it might be time to stop? When you knew that I was through that I’d done all I could do did you really have to milk the final drop?” All by the great Keith Reid. ---
**Author:** ![HeadNinja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b4bc9f/32.png) [@HeadNinja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeadNinja)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-lyrics-in-rock-pop-music/520201/24 "2009-12-07T15:40:03Z")
Just about everything in Jack and Diane is perfect. And I second Squeeze. ---
**Author:** ![jali](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecae2f/32.png) [@jali](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jali)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-lyrics-in-rock-pop-music/520201/25 "2009-12-07T15:44:55Z")
_…Tumbled out of bed and stumbled to the kitchen Poured myself a cup of ambition…_ This short line made me fall in love with Dolly Parton’s work. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-lyrics-in-rock-pop-music/520201/26 "2009-12-07T16:44:03Z")
Anything by Warren Zevon. Especially “The French Inhaler” “When the lights came on at two, I caught a glimpse of you, and your face looked like something death brought with him in a suitcase.” “I thought you’d be an actress I thought you’d be a star So I drank up all the money Yes I drank up all the money With these phonies in this Hollywood bar With these friends of mine in this Hollywood bar…” He tells great, sad stories. ---
**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, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-lyrics-in-rock-pop-music/520201/27 "2009-12-07T17:48:51Z")
My favorite Warren Zevon lyrics (couldn’t choose just one verse, so here’s the entire lyric): **Mr. Bad Example** I started as an altar boy, working at the church Learning all my holy moves, doing some research Which led me to a cash box, labeled “Children’s Fund” I’d leave the change, and tuck the bills inside my cummerbund [VERSES DELETED BY MOD] ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-lyrics-in-rock-pop-music/520201/28 "2009-12-07T21:18:23Z")
Al Stewart has written some of the most beautiful lyrics ever. He paints pictures with his phrases. A lot of his songs are based on people from history and that makes them even more poignant. For example, his song “Old Admirals” is based on the life of Admiral John Fisher, one of the most important people in British Naval History. It contains a verse that sums up what it is like to be old and overlooked: > [@](#): > > But the war, it ran its course they could find no use for me > And I live in the country now, grandchildren on my knee > And sometimes think in all this world the saddest thing to be > Old admirals who feel the wind and never put to sea. And I had no clue who [Hanno the Navigator](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanno_the_navigator) was until I heard Stewart’s song about him. From the Wiki article: > [@](#): > > At the terminus of Hanno’s voyage the explorer found an island heavily populated with what were described as hirsute and savage people. Attempts to capture the males failed, but three of the females were taken. These were so vicious they were killed, and their skins preserved for transport home to Carthage. The interpreters called them gorillae, and when European explorers first encountered gorillas in the 19th century, the apes were given this name on the assumption that they were the “people” Hanno described. From the song: > [@](#): > > Steer beyond the light of your favorite star > Down along the coast of Africa > The first Phoenicians on this beach > Where the monkeys jibber and the parakeets screech > The strangest women run wild down there > Covered head to toe in fur and hair > They fight like demons, better let them be > Hanno the Navigator said to me I could go on, but you would be better served by listening to his music yourself. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-lyrics-in-rock-pop-music/520201/29 "2009-12-07T21:29:56Z")
**Pink Floyd** are my favorite wordsmiths. With/without And who’ll deny it’s what the fighting’s all about? -and- You were caught in the crossfire of childhood and stardom, blown on the steel breeze. Come on you target for faraway laughter, come on you stranger, you legend, you martyr, and shine! ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-lyrics-in-rock-pop-music/520201/30 "2009-12-07T21:35:59Z")
More Elvis Costello, from “Tokyo Storm Warning”: The sky fell over cheap Korean monster-movie scenery And spilled into the mezzanine of the crushed-capsule hotel Between the Disney abattoir and the chemical refinery I knew I was in trouble but I thought I was in Hell ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-lyrics-in-rock-pop-music/520201/31 "2009-12-07T21:43:30Z")
“Pretty women out walking with gorillas down my street” - Joe Jackson ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-lyrics-in-rock-pop-music/520201/32 "2009-12-07T21:59:45Z")
Jack White with The White Stripes, “Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground” Soft hair and a velvet tongue I want to give you what you give to me and every breath that is in your lungs is a tiny little gift to me ---
**Author:** ![Sunshine\_and\_Smiles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@Sunshine\_and\_Smiles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunshine_and_Smiles)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-lyrics-in-rock-pop-music/520201/33 "2009-12-07T22:01:56Z")
Will Sheff from Okkervil River is a fantastic lyricist: The heart wants a trail away from “alone,” so the heart turns a sale into a well-worn milestone towards hard-won soft furniture, fought-for fast food, defended end table that holds paperbacks and back U.S. News. ~ The War Criminal Rises and Speaks You would probably die before you shot up 9 miles high Your eyes dilated as light played upon the sight Of TVC16 as it sings you goodnight Relaxed as hell and locked up in cell 45 ~Plus Ones And I think that I know the bitter dismay of a lover who brought fresh bouquets every day when she turned him away to remember some knave who once gave just one rose, one day, years ago. ~ A Stone Red is my favorite color - red like your mother’s eyes, after a while of crying about how you don’t love her. ~Red ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-lyrics-in-rock-pop-music/520201/34 "2009-12-07T22:02:21Z")
Paul Simon, Graceland: “She comes back to tell me she’s gone As if I didn’t know that As if I didn’t know my own bed As if I’d never notice The way she brushed her hair from her forehead And she said losing love Is like a window in your heart Everybody sees you’re blown apart Everybody sees the wind blow” from the same song: “The Mississippi Delta was shining like a National guitar” (it helps to know what a National guitar is, though) ---
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-lyrics-in-rock-pop-music/520201/35 "2009-12-07T22:06:27Z")
> [@HeadNinja](#): > > Just about everything in Jack and Diane is perfect. Ugh. A couple of teenaged morons with half assed pipe dreams and little to no point to their lives? Ugh. ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-lyrics-in-rock-pop-music/520201/36 "2009-12-07T22:25:03Z")
\*\*Best Opening Line: \*\* “And I’d give up forever to touch you.” -Goo Goo Dolls, “Iris” **The whole song is great, but the last two lines are awesome:** I have squandered my resistance for a pocket full of mumbles such are promises All lies and jests, Still a man hears what he wants to hear And disregards the rest -Simon & Garfunkel, “The Boxer” **Sad, simple but great:** “I’ll close my eyes, then I won’t see The love you don’t feel when you’re holding me Morning will come, and I’ll do what’s right Just give me till then to give up this fight.” 😭 -Bonnie Raitt’s “I Can’t Make You Love Me.” **Irony done right** Through tear-filled eyes I watch as you ride by, oh yeah A chauffeur, a chauffeur at the wheel dressed up so fine Well I’ll never, I’ll never love another Oh my heart, all my dreams, yeah they’re with you In that long black limousine -Elvis’ Long, Black Limousine" ---
**Author:** ![clarkstar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/439d5e/32.png) [@clarkstar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clarkstar)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-lyrics-in-rock-pop-music/520201/37 "2009-12-07T22:53:40Z")
i’m guessing the average age in this thread is 60+. terrible lyrics imo ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-lyrics-in-rock-pop-music/520201/38 "2009-12-08T00:15:59Z")
> [@clarkstar](#): > > i’m guessing the average age in this thread is 60+. terrible lyrics imo :rolleyes: Great contribution. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-lyrics-in-rock-pop-music/520201/39 "2009-12-08T00:28:27Z")
First, **Pulp Friction** and others: please do not quote entire lyrics. For those who may be confused, please see [Rules for posting at the Straight Dope Message Boards](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=384736) and note especially Post #3 in that thread. Second, **clarkstar** , if your comment is intended as some sort of insult, insults are not permitted in this forum. If it’s intended as threadshitting, then it’s not relevant to this thread. If you don’t like the lyrics people are citing, that’s your point of view; underhand cracks like what you posted are inappropriate. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-lyrics-in-rock-pop-music/520201/40 "2009-12-08T00:38:50Z")
> [@clarkstar](#): > > i’m guessing the average age in this thread is 60+. terrible lyrics imo Well, then post some lyrics you like. Also use some capital letters every once in a while; not doing so makes you look unintelligent. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-lyrics-in-rock-pop-music/520201.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-lyrics-in-rock-pop-music/520201.md?page=3)