Fat Charlie the Archangel sloped into the room
Paul Simon, “Crazy Love, Vol. II”
It’s a weird lyric, but it’s evocative as hell for me, and I’ve long wanted to put a character in a D&D game known as “Fat Charlie the Archangel”
“And he was too old to rock n roll, but he was too young to die”
Jethro Tull
In The Brother From Another Planet (1984):
“Ask me for my green card?! My people was in the Revolution, Jim! How long you been here?”
I thought the old-fashioned name for a man of unknown name was “Clyde.”
From Richard Thompson’s “Why Must I Plead”…
“You’ve been licking his stamps and taking his dictation.”
(NB: This is from a live performance, A slightly different line is used in the studio recording.)
Personally, I prefer the worst in you, to bad you have a better half…
I’m surprised there’s been no mention of Steely Dan. Some of their single lines sound good and evoke strong imagery, like frames from an intriguing film.
I crawl like a viper through these suburban streets
Make love to these women, languid and bittersweet
I prefer the variation in the final chorus:
“You’re never too old to rock n roll, if you’re too young to die.”
Although I’m not a fan of Charley Daniels politics, I think the song “The Devil went down to Georgia” (Southern Rock) is worthy of mention in this thread. Technically, a single line is delivered in one breadth:
The Devil Went Down to Georgia, he was lookin’ for a soul to steal. He was in a bind 'cause was way behind and willing to make a deal".
It seems to me to be (IMO) loosely referencing Robert Johnson’s Crossroads written in 1936.
It’s about dealing with the Devil at the crossroads. And weather you would trade your soul to be a master of your craft.
Eric Clapton covered Crossroads.
And they made a movie (Crossroads) starring Ralph Macchio about dueling with the devils demon on guitar where if you lose “The Devil will get your Soul”.
A rock-n-roll fable that has been around for decades.
I recall a line by Paul Westerberg, either solo or with The Replacements:
“I’m your Bad Idea, whose time has come.”
I can’t remember the song.
Ah, hell, since we’ve strayed outta “rock” anyway, this Tom Waits from “Watch Her Disappear” gave me goosebumps the first time I heard it:
“… a wooden cherry scent is faintly breathing the air …”
“When you’re lost in the rain in Juarez
and it’s Easter-time too…”
Something in the way she moves
Attracts me like no other lover
Something in the way she woos me
–Harrison
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.
The Boxer, Simon and Garfunkel
That has never been truer than it is today!
You know the world must be flat, because when people leave town they never come back.
Hal Ketchum
Heaven help the boy who won’t reach twenty-one.
Heaven help the man who gave that boy a gun.
Stevie Wonder
Best, I’m not sure. But Neil Pearl’s line from Freewill is up there.
If you choose not to decide you still have made a choice.
Dazzling, dancing
Half enchanted
In my Merlin sleep
A couple from You’re So Vain - Carly Simon. Although only one is technically one line:
“You had one eye in the mirror, as you watched yourself gavotte.”
“Well you’re where you should be all the time
And when you’re not, you’re with some underworld spy
Or the wife of a close friend”
“She was a winner that became a doggie’s dinner”
-Marie Provost by Nick Lowe