“'Cause the record company, Rosie, just gave me a big advance!”
The most joyful line in rock.
“Did you exchange
A walk-on part in the war
For a lead role in a cage?”
Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd. Well-known but still great.
The Beatles song referenced earlier is Across the Universe on the album Let It Be. As I’m sure everyone knew.
Murcielago, great choice.
“I’ve got a clan of gingerbread men
Here a man, there a man,
Lots of gingerbread men.
Take a couple if you wish,
They’re on the dish.”
I remember us riding in my brother’s car
Her body tan and wet down at the reservoir
At night on them banks I’d lie awake
And pull her close just to feel each breath she’d take
Now those memories come back to haunt me
they haunt me like a curse
Is a dream a lie if it don’t come true
Or is it something worse
The River Bruce Springsteen
I would have made this instrumental but the words got in the way - XTC ‘No Language in Our Lungs’
I said I love you so much I could die - she said ‘drop dead’ then left with another guy - Costello, Red Shoes
I’ll just look in the Book of Liars for your name - Steely Dan ‘Book of Liars’
How can you lie there and think of England when you dont even know who’s in the team - Billy Bragg, ‘Greetings to the New Brunette’
Never take the cheaper option when it comes to buying shoes,
never claim to have seen a film when you’ve only read reviews - Craig Stevens, ‘How not to live your life’
I’ll see you at the weighing-in,
When your life’s sum-total’s made
And you set your wealth in godly deeds
Against the sins you’ve laid.
- Jethro Tull
Hmmmm… can you say “judgement day”? “Karma”? The Egyptian myth of weighing your heart against a feather?
“There’s a hole in daddy’s arm where all the money goes…”
Not quite classic rock, but I think it counts.
One of my favorites:
Just take it like a sweet injection
Just a token of my affection
Another night we’ll take another direction
I’m gonna play you like a rhythm section
Mista Bone, Great White.
The song’s actually called “Big Balls”, and it’s on the album **Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap". Just thought I’d let ya know.
Green Day:
“Why does my life have to be so small and death is forever
But does Forever have a life to call its own
Don’t give me an answer, 'cause you only know as much as I know
Unless you’ve been there, which
Well I hardly think so”
Good ole Pete again.
Meet the new boss
Same as the old boss
And another one from Roger
You bought a guitar
to punish your ma’
You didn’t like school
And you know you’re nobody’s fool
Some welcome to the machine
And Syd
Arnold Lane
Had a strange hobby
Collecting clothes
Moonshine washing-line
They suit him fine
And Mr Zappa
The book says he made us to be just like him
So if we’re dumb
Then maybe - god is dumb
And maybe even a little bit ugly on the side
Dumb all over
A little ugly on the side (repeat)
Cramps (Lux)
You got good taste
You got good taste
You come here
Sit on my…
Lap
Since we’re going for a pretty broad interpretation of “classic rock”
Robyn Hitchcock
All aboard Brenda’s iron sledge
All aboard Brenda’s iron sledge
All aboard Brenda’s iron sledge
Please don’t call me Reg’
It’s not my name
When you’re driving down the highway at night
and you’re feeling that Wild Turkey’s bite
Don’t give Johnny Walker a ride,
'Cause Jack Black is right by your side.
How could anybody be so unkind
To arrest a man for driving while blind?
ZZ Top - *Arrested for Driving While Blind * (Tejas)
and the piece of resistance
While I’m not really a big Rush fan, there was always one line in “New World Man” that really struck me as my early-20’s set to music:
Old enough to know what’s right … and young enough not to choose it.
The percentage you’re paying is too high priced
While you’re living beyond all your means
and the man in the suit has just bought a new car
from the profit he’s made on your dreams
Low Spark of High Heeled Boys - Traffic
It’s better to burn out than it is to rust.
I’ve seen the needle and the damage done
A little part of it in everyone
But every junkie’s like a settin’ sun.
From the Chuckster’s Carol:
Jump into my machine so we can cruise on out
I know a little joint where we can jump and shout
Not too far back off the highway 'bout an hour’s ride
You park your car in the open and you walk inside
A little cutie takes your hat and you can thank her m’am
Don’t let the heat overcome you when the joint is jammed
Oh Carol, don’t let him steal your hear away
I’ve got to learn to dance if it takes me all night and day.
For some reason, those lyrics sum up for me my youth in the 60s USA, rock 'n roll, and what I am sure heaven is like.
Either I got swooshed, or you need this.
No one is going to nominate Hotel California?? Or Come Together? I know, they’re way over-exposed and clichéd now, but, oh the sacrilege!
‘Everybody needs a bosom for a pillow, everybody needs a bosom.’
For years, this line from the Eagles’ Take it Easy was always my favorite:
*I’ve been searching for the daughter
Of the devil himself
I’ve been searching for an angel in white
I’ve been waiting for a woman who’s a little
Of both
And I can feel her but she’s nowhere
In sight *