# 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:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![MadTheSwine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MadTheSwine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadTheSwine)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-lyrics-in-rock-pop-music/520201/41 "2009-12-08T00:52:06Z")
Marillion(Fish Era) have many. The sky was Bible black in Lyon When I met the Magdalene She was paralysed in a streetlight She refused to give her name And a ring of violet bruises They were pinned upon her arm. Two hundred francs for sanctuary and she led me by the hand To a room of dancing shadows where all the heartache disappears And from glowing tongues of candles I heard her whisper in my ear “'J’entend ton coeur” I can hear your heart and from another I saw a war widow in a launderette Washing the memories from her husband’s clothes She had medals pinned to a threadbare greatcoat A lump in her throat with cemetery eyes ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-lyrics-in-rock-pop-music/520201/42 "2009-12-08T00:59:59Z")
Shame Tom Lehrer doesn’t count as rock/pop. I would never claim ‘best’, but the following are the _cleverest_ lyrics I’ve ever heard (regarding the death of Clementine -say them out loud!): > [@](#): > > That I missed her depressed her young sister named Esther, > This mister to pester she tried. > Now a pestering sister’s a festering blister, > You’re best to resist her, say I. > The mister resisted, the sister persisted. > I kissed her; all loyalty slipped. > When she said I could have her, > Her sister’s cadaver > Must surely have turned in its crypt. But in the spirit of the thread I nominate Tom Waits for his deft and moving summations of tragic lives. So many to choose from, but [_Martha_](http://www.lyricsfreak.com/t/tom+waits/martha_20138825.html) does it for me. > [@](#): > > Operator, number, please: > It’s been so many years > Will she remember my old voice > While I fight the tears? > Hello, hello there, is this Martha? > This is old Tom Frost, > And I am calling long distance, > Don’t worry 'bout the cost. > 'Cause it’s been forty years or more, > Now Martha please recall, > Meet me out for coffee, > Where we’ll talk about it all. > > … > > And I remember quiet evenings > Trembling close to you. ---
**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 8, 2009, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-lyrics-in-rock-pop-music/520201/43 "2009-12-08T01:59:33Z")
More from Paul Simon: _I don’t know a soul who’s not been battered I don’t have a friend who feels at ease And I don’t know a dream that’s not been shattered Or driven to its knees._ _Kathy I’m lost, I said, though I knew she was sleeping._ _My father was a fisherman My mama was a fisherman’s friend And I was born in the boredom and the chowder_ ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-lyrics-in-rock-pop-music/520201/44 "2009-12-08T08:53:40Z")
I agree with PunditLisa that the whole song is great, but these lines are just so lonely they make it real: But I get no offers, Just a come-on from the whores on Seventh Avenue I do declare, there were times when I was so lonesome I took some comfort there ---
**Author:** ![Negative\_Lite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Negative\_Lite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Negative_Lite)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-lyrics-in-rock-pop-music/520201/45 "2009-12-08T18:26:32Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > Paul McCartney: “She was just seventeen - you know what I mean” Credit John Lennon for saving this couplet from being one of the worst. From the Wiki: > [@](#): > > It was typical of how Lennon and McCartney would work in partnership, as McCartney later commented: "I had ‘She was just seventeen,’ and then ‘Beauty queen’. When I showed it to John, he screamed with laughter, and said ‘You’re joking about that line, aren’t you?’ “It was one of the first times he ever went ‘What? Must change that…’” ---
**Author:** ![HeadNinja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b4bc9f/32.png) [@HeadNinja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeadNinja)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-lyrics-in-rock-pop-music/520201/46 "2009-12-08T18:39:46Z")
> [@Hamlet](#): > > Ugh. A couple of teenaged morons with half assed pipe dreams and little to no point to their lives? Ugh. Right. And it captures it perfectly. They’re stuck in the small town. They are going to die there. They are currently living through the best times of their lives. And we know it. It isn’t going to get any better. It’s only going to get worse because they aren’t doing a blessed thing to make their lives better. It is a depressing ass song. The chorus sums it up. “Life goes on. Long after the thrill of living is gone.” It doesn’t throw any romance into their situation. The song could pretty much be the prelude to “Fast Car” by Tracy Chapman. I knew a shitload of Jacks and Dianes growing up. They all stayed behind. They all love the song because it reminds them of the good times. They clearly were not paying attention when Mrs. DiPetro lectured us on irony in 11th grade English. ---
**Author:** ![sqweels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-lyrics-in-rock-pop-music/520201/47 "2009-12-08T18:53:11Z")
Steely Dan, “Black Friday”: _When Black Friday comes I’ll stand down by the door And catch the grey men When they dive from the 14th floor_ ---
**Author:** ![sqweels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-lyrics-in-rock-pop-music/520201/48 "2009-12-08T18:58:54Z")
Rush, “Vital Signs”: \*Leave out the fiction The fact is this friction Can only be worn by persistence Leave out conditions Courageous convictions Will drag this dream to existence\* ---
**Author:** ![miss\_eliss](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7cd45c/32.png) [@miss\_eliss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/miss_eliss)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-lyrics-in-rock-pop-music/520201/49 "2009-12-08T19:51:35Z")
> [@Talon\_Karrde](#): > > Leonard Cohen. DEFINITELY. I’m surprised no one else mentioned him It’s difficult to choose a favorite Leonard Cohen lyric because there are so many good ones (could there be a break-up song colder than “Everybody Knows”? I think not), but I’ve always felt a special pull to this one: \* Ring the bells that still can ring Forget your perfect offering There is a crack, a crack in everything That’s how the light gets in.\* I love the line “a kingdom for a kiss upon the shoulder” in Jeff Buckley’s “Lover, You Should’ve Come Over.” My mom likes Devendra Banhart (weird) and I’m pretty sure it’s just because of this one lyric: \*Oh we knew, we knew We had a choice We choose rejoice \* I guess my Mama and I are both suckers for uplifting, vaguely existential sentiments. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-lyrics-in-rock-pop-music/520201.md?page=2)