# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2022, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-single-lines-in-rock-lyrics/975262/21 "2022-11-20T18:14:45Z")
“There’s a skeleton choking on a crust of bread.” _King of Pain_ - The Police ---
**Author:** ![Drsunflower1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drsunflower1/32/12711_2.png) [@Drsunflower1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drsunflower1)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2022, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-single-lines-in-rock-lyrics/975262/22 "2022-11-20T18:22:30Z")
Watching his exit is like falling off the ferry in the night Arctic Monkeys - the juweller’s hands ---
**Author:** ![alovem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@alovem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alovem)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2022, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-single-lines-in-rock-lyrics/975262/23 "2022-11-20T18:30:10Z")
A well-worn dandy: **But he could play a guitar just like a-ringin’ a bell!** ETA: Yeah, that line from Year of the Cat _is_ pretty good. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2022, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-single-lines-in-rock-lyrics/975262/24 "2022-11-20T18:34:39Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > I wanna see Miles on lead vocals, Taura on drums, Baz on bass, Bel Thorne on lead guitar, Elli on rhythm guitar, and Mark on synthesizer rock out. Simon behind the scenes on the soundboard. Why leave out Nicol? She’s the only character in the series who’s described as a musician. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2022, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-single-lines-in-rock-lyrics/975262/25 "2022-11-20T18:42:13Z")
Scuse me while I kiss this guy. Wrapped up like douche another runner in the night. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2022, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-single-lines-in-rock-lyrics/975262/26 "2022-11-20T18:48:37Z")
_Snot’s running down his nose._ Aqualung by Jethro Tull ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2022, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-single-lines-in-rock-lyrics/975262/27 "2022-11-20T18:49:30Z")
How loosely are we defining “rock” and “single”? I love the Indigo Girls’ “I spent four years prostrate to the higher minds, got my paper, and I was free.” ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2022, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-single-lines-in-rock-lyrics/975262/28 "2022-11-20T18:51:18Z")
Exactly what I was going to post. > [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > _“And though she feels as if she’s in a play/She is anyway”_ - “Penny Lane” by Paul McCartney ---
**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:** [November 20, 2022, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-single-lines-in-rock-lyrics/975262/29 "2022-11-20T18:52:28Z")
“And that’s how his truck, landed up, in the drink.” So sublime, given the previous line “Seems he died from having too much to drink.” All in the [delivery -](https://youtu.be/JKIODEPTJw8?t=93) courtesy Jon Wayne. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2022, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-single-lines-in-rock-lyrics/975262/30 "2022-11-20T18:56:32Z")
From “Rock Me Gently” (Andy Kim): **Beautiful is the Dream, that Makes You Mine** Back in my single days I actual used this line several times and it worked! ---
**Author:** ![Dropo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2022, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-single-lines-in-rock-lyrics/975262/31 "2022-11-20T19:46:50Z")
_History shows again and again_ _How nature points out the folly of men._ —“Godzilla” by BOC _Hey now baby, get into my big black car._ ----“Politician” by Cream ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2022, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-single-lines-in-rock-lyrics/975262/32 "2022-11-20T19:54:45Z")
“guess I should’ve known, by the way you parked your car sideways that it wouldn’t last” Prince, Little Red Corvette And pretty much anything from “5:15” by The Who. He man drag In the glittering ballroom Gravely outrageous In my high heel shoes ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2022, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-single-lines-in-rock-lyrics/975262/33 "2022-11-20T21:22:44Z")
“Mars ain’t the kind of place to raise your kids. In fact it’s cold as hell.” Rocket Man lyric by Bernie Taupin, music by Elton John. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2022, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-single-lines-in-rock-lyrics/975262/34 "2022-11-20T21:32:58Z")
Gotta stretch the “rock” definition: He was born in the summer of his 27th year, Coming home to a place he’d never been before. “Rocky Mountain High” - John Denver ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2022, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-single-lines-in-rock-lyrics/975262/35 "2022-11-20T21:35:36Z")
Good one; I’ll allow it. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2022, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-single-lines-in-rock-lyrics/975262/36 "2022-11-20T21:47:45Z")
I’m sorry my son, but you’re too late in asking, Mr. Peabody’s coal train has hauled it away – Paradise, John Prine There stands the naked ape in the monkey suit with the little mustache he grew, the shifty brute – All Men are Liars, Nick Lowe to stretch the definition of a line ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2022, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-single-lines-in-rock-lyrics/975262/37 "2022-11-20T22:01:50Z")
The Who, “Behind Blue Eyes” “No one knows what it’s like, to be hated, to be fated, to telling only lies.” Ronnie James Dio, “Last in Line” “We’ll know for the first time if we’re evil or divine. We’re the last in line” Blue Oyster Cult, “Veteran of the Psychic Wars” “I’ve been living on the edge so long, where the winds of Limbo roar” Gordon Lightfoot, “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” either “Superior, it’s said, never gives up her dead, when the skies of November turn gloomy” or “Does anyone know where the love of God goes, when the waves turn the minutes to hours?” ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2022, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-single-lines-in-rock-lyrics/975262/38 "2022-11-20T22:06:00Z")
I love the line **saw a deadhead sticker on a Cadillac** from _The Boys of the Summer_, Don Henley. Probably pretty date now, but impactful when new. ---
**Author:** ![Tride](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tride/32/13907_2.png) [@Tride](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tride)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2022, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-single-lines-in-rock-lyrics/975262/39 "2022-11-20T22:18:50Z")
“They say that looks don’t count for much and so there goes your proof!” _Is she really going out with him_, Joe Jackson. Heard that the other day and it’s the perfect diss. ---
**Author:** ![Borborygmi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/borborygmi/32/217_2.png) [@Borborygmi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Borborygmi)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2022, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-single-lines-in-rock-lyrics/975262/40 "2022-11-20T23:10:56Z")
_I’m just an animal looking for a home_ “This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)”, Talking Heads And if you want to get even more granular than a single line, I’m very fond of the phrase… _a couple of paintings from Sears_ “Scenes From an Italian Restaurant”, Billy Joel [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-single-lines-in-rock-lyrics/975262.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-single-lines-in-rock-lyrics/975262.md?page=3)