# Best single lines in rock lyrics **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [November 20, 2022, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-single-lines-in-rock-lyrics/975262 "2022-11-20T16:21:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 19
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2023, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-single-lines-in-rock-lyrics/975262/361 "2023-01-13T06:25:37Z")
From Cleveland’s own Michael Stanley singing “Lover” (sung with one breath): “Baby what you gonna do when the fire is through and you find he’s out looking for somebody new cause you did everything that he wanted you to do and now you’re all alone and crying, aren’t you…lover?” ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2023, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-single-lines-in-rock-lyrics/975262/362 "2023-01-13T06:26:55Z")
I want to thank you falletinme be mice elf agin. ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2023, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-single-lines-in-rock-lyrics/975262/363 "2023-01-13T06:29:48Z")
Got to have some Cheap Trick “Surrender” (the whole song is quotable) “But when I woke up Mom and Dad were rolling on the couch, rolling numbers rock and rolling my Kiss albums out…” ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2023, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-single-lines-in-rock-lyrics/975262/364 "2023-01-13T06:30:28Z")
> [@mixdenny](#): > > You pulled that out of thin air, I wonder how many know where it’s from. 34th and Vine. ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2023, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-single-lines-in-rock-lyrics/975262/365 "2023-01-13T06:32:45Z")
“White, shining silver studs with their noses in flames” Patti Smith - _Horses._ ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2023, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-single-lines-in-rock-lyrics/975262/366 "2023-01-13T18:48:51Z")
I don’t want to spend the time going back through them all, they are easy to Google should anyone care, but might be persuaded to quiz people on them in a separate thread. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2023, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-single-lines-in-rock-lyrics/975262/367 "2023-01-16T01:15:46Z")
Right now listening to Velvet Underground. From “Some Kinda Love”: _Between thought and expression lies a lifetime_ Another one from Lou Reed comes to mind, from “Magic And Loss”: _There’s a bit of magic in everything, and then some loss to even things out_ ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2023, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-single-lines-in-rock-lyrics/975262/368 "2023-01-17T04:05:57Z")
_You could find better things to do than to break my heart again_ Beatles, “I’ll Be Back” ---
**Author:** ![Steven\_Maven](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steven_maven/32/3272_2.png) [@Steven\_Maven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steven_Maven)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2023, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-single-lines-in-rock-lyrics/975262/369 "2023-01-19T04:09:03Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > > [@Johanna](#): > > > > Said “I got no money.” He said “It ain’t necessary.” > > _I married Isis on the fifth day of May_ > _But I could not hold on to her very long_ > > I love this song (Isis). Somebody should make a movie out of it. John Ford could’ve done it. Great idea. Another Dylan song that would make a great movie is _Lily, Rosemary, and the Jack of Hearts._ Since it’s a western, Ford would be a perfect choice here too. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2023, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-single-lines-in-rock-lyrics/975262/370 "2023-01-19T05:11:22Z")
Or, the song/story that Dylan wrote with an actual film guy, Sam Shepherd, with lines like: > _She said, "Even the swap meets_ > _around here are getting pretty corrupt."_ It was hard to choose one line of “Brownsville Girl”. The entire story is worth listening to (and following the plot, for gems like how the protagonist’s relationship to a Gregory Peck movie keeps changing as the story unfolds). [**The story/poem/lyrics from Bob’s site** , but you really should hear it…](https://www.bobdylan.com/songs/brownsville-girl/) ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2023, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-single-lines-in-rock-lyrics/975262/371 "2023-01-19T05:24:25Z")
_Ain’t there one damn song that can make me break down and cry?_ **David Bowie** - Young Americans ---
**Author:** ![kwintenstraler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kwintenstraler/32/10698_2.png) [@kwintenstraler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kwintenstraler)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2023, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-single-lines-in-rock-lyrics/975262/372 "2023-01-23T18:33:48Z")
The bats have left the bell tower Bela Lugosi’s Dead - Bauhaus ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2023, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-single-lines-in-rock-lyrics/975262/373 "2023-01-24T01:13:08Z")
One of the best quotes in rock all right ---
**Author:** ![Mark\_Finn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/34f0e0/32.png) [@Mark\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mark_Finn)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2023, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-single-lines-in-rock-lyrics/975262/374 "2023-01-24T05:27:27Z")
I don’t believe in Beatles - John Lennon anf the Plastic Ono Band “God”. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2023, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-single-lines-in-rock-lyrics/975262/375 "2023-01-25T16:57:58Z")
Some lines from the Clash’s “Death Or Glory”, another song that’s quotable in its entirety: _And every gimmick hungry yob digging gold from rock and roll_ _Grabs the mic to tell us he’ll die before he’s sold_ Of course that was a dig at Pete Townshend. _Love and hate tattooed across the knuckles of his hands_ _The hands that slap his kids around 'cause they don’t understand how_ _Death or glory_ _Becomes just another story_ Another cultural reference here, Robert Mitchum’s masterfully diabolic character in “The Night Of The Hunter” had these tattoos. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2023, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-single-lines-in-rock-lyrics/975262/376 "2023-01-25T23:01:36Z")
> [@Steven\_Maven](#): > > “Little old lady got mutilated late last night” Which reminds me of this great line (possible already in the thread): > And I’m hiding in Honduras > I’m a desperate man > Send lawyers, guns, and money > The shit has hit the fan ---
**Author:** ![Dogginit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dogginit/32/16920_2.png) [@Dogginit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogginit)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2023, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-single-lines-in-rock-lyrics/975262/377 "2023-01-26T21:02:09Z")
“I don’t want the world, I just want your half.” They Might Be Giants, “Ana Ng” ---
**Author:** ![Steven\_Maven](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steven_maven/32/3272_2.png) [@Steven\_Maven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steven_Maven)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2023, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-single-lines-in-rock-lyrics/975262/378 "2023-01-27T17:31:03Z")
> [@kwintenstraler](#): > > The bats have left the bell tower > > Bela Lugosi’s Dead - Bauhaus Thanks for the inspiration. GROUP: Moody Blues ALBUM: In Search of the Lost Chord SONG: Legend of a Mind QUOTE: Timothy Leary’s dead No, no, no, no, he’s outside, looking in ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2023, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-single-lines-in-rock-lyrics/975262/379 "2023-01-28T13:59:03Z")
He’s a walking contradiction, partly truth and partly fiction, taking every wrong direction (The Pilgrim, Kris Kristofferson) ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2023, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-single-lines-in-rock-lyrics/975262/380 "2023-01-30T06:08:17Z")
Two lines from Captian Beefheart’s “When I See Mommy I Feel Like a Mummy”: _Her interest fades like breath on a mirror_ and a bit later… _And the wind from my hand blows away like a feather_ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-single-lines-in-rock-lyrics/975262.md?page=18) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-single-lines-in-rock-lyrics/975262.md?page=20)