# Favourite Line or Couplet From a Song **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 19, 2003, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-line-or-couplet-from-a-song/169715 "2003-04-19T23:15:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bluecanary](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bluecanary/32/3614_2.png) [@bluecanary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bluecanary)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2003, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-line-or-couplet-from-a-song/169715/1 "2003-04-19T23:15:36Z")
Sometimes I hear a song and there’s a line or couplet and just gasp. Funny or profound, but like nothing else in any other song. Some examples for me: **Letter From An Occupant** by _The New Pornographers feat. Neko Case_ _“The tune you’ll be humming for ever All the words all replaced and wrong”_ **Alleluia** by _Dar Williams_ (though the lyrics are sublime throughout) _“God says, how could this be, that’s really odd I guess I’ll have to check my records, silly me, you know, I’m only God…”_ **I Will Buy You A New Life** by _Everclear_ _“I moved in with the strangest guy Can you believe he actually thinks that I am really alive”_ ---
**Author:** ![brianmelendez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/65b543/32.png) [@brianmelendez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brianmelendez)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2003, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-line-or-couplet-from-a-song/169715/2 "2003-04-19T23:45:26Z")
Dar Williams, [“After All”](http://www.limitless.org/~del/dar/greenworld/afterall.html): > [@](#): > > But now I’m sleeping fine > Sometimes the truth is like a second chance > _I am the daughter of a great romance > And they are the children of the war_ ---
**Author:** ![rexnervous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e9c0ed/32.png) [@rexnervous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rexnervous)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2003, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-line-or-couplet-from-a-song/169715/3 "2003-04-20T02:43:15Z")
It’s not a couplet, but one of the greatest verses ever describing infatuation is in _Just Like Heaven_, by **The Cure** : _Spinning on that dizzy edge I kissed her face and kissed her head, And dreamed of all the different ways I had to make her glow_ or, from the same song (girl’s point of view, so to speak) _“Show me how you do that trick The one that makes me scream” she said “The one that makes me laugh” she said And threw her arms around my neck_ ---
**Author:** ![rexnervous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e9c0ed/32.png) [@rexnervous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rexnervous)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2003, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-line-or-couplet-from-a-song/169715/4 "2003-04-20T03:03:09Z")
Since you got me started… 🙂 Another lyric I like from a great song, _Fake Plastic Trees_ by **Radiohead** : _He used to do surgery On girls in the eighties But gravity always wins_ ---
**Author:** ![js\_africanus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/87869e/32.png) [@js\_africanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/js_africanus)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2003, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-line-or-couplet-from-a-song/169715/5 "2003-04-20T03:16:15Z")
By far the best (non-rhyming) couplet is the opening line of Beck’s “Loser”: _In the time of chimpanzees, I was a monkey._ It describes how I feel with an uncanny accuracy. It is a kinder & gentler version of the opening soliloquy of “The Way of the Gun”, a world view to which I sometimes which I would subscribe. ---
**Author:** ![waterj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/858c86/32.png) [@waterj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waterj2)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2003, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-line-or-couplet-from-a-song/169715/6 "2003-04-20T03:19:14Z")
From “Story of my Life” by Social Distortion: “Good times come and good times go I only wish the good times would last a little longer.” ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2003, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-line-or-couplet-from-a-song/169715/7 "2003-04-20T03:19:30Z")
The Mr. T Experience always slays me with the lines: “True I’m gonna miss you But let’s not skirt the issue From now on, everything is gonna Suck.” ---
**Author:** ![zoogirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b9bd4f/32.png) [@zoogirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoogirl)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2003, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-line-or-couplet-from-a-song/169715/8 "2003-04-20T04:11:51Z")
The line that immediatly came to mind is from “Stairway”- _If there’s a bustle in your hedgerow, don’t be alarmed now It’s just a Spring clean for the May Queen._ I don’t know, it’s such a homey, English image. It’s always had a kind of Hobbity feel to it. ---
**Author:** ![Blackhawkeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c4cdca/32.png) [@Blackhawkeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackhawkeye)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2003, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-line-or-couplet-from-a-song/169715/9 "2003-04-20T06:51:46Z")
“Thinkin’ of a master plan, cause ain’t nothin’ but sweat inside my hand.” Eric B and Rakim “Paid in Full” ---
**Author:** ![Emperor\_Penguin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c2a13f/32.png) [@Emperor\_Penguin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emperor_Penguin)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2003, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-line-or-couplet-from-a-song/169715/10 "2003-04-20T07:23:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by bluecanary \* > \*\*Sometimes I hear a song and there’s a line or couplet and just gasp. Funny or profound, but like nothing else in any other song. > > Some examples for me: > **Letter From An Occupant** by _The New Pornographers feat. Neko Case_ > > _“The tune you’ll be humming for ever > All the words all replaced and wrong”_ > > \*\* Oooh… good choice. I love that song. I’ve got several, all from my favorite band, the **Tragically Hip** We’re forced to bed but we’re free to dream – **Gift Shop** I want my life to please me Not another small town hometown bringdown – **Small Town Bringdown** no dresss rehersal, this is our life – **Ahead by a Century** I could go on all night like this, so in the intrest of the server, and bandwidth, I think I’ll stop now. ---
**Author:** ![Drastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Drastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drastic)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2003, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-line-or-couplet-from-a-song/169715/11 "2003-04-20T11:52:44Z")
From _My Dying Bride_’s cheerful ditty “I Am the Bloody Earth”: > [@](#): > > My endeavours to rise seem useless > But I will fight the distance between us I’m overly fond of it for goofy nostalgic reasons. ---
**Author:** ![gex\_gex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/94ad74/32.png) [@gex\_gex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gex_gex)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2003, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-line-or-couplet-from-a-song/169715/12 "2003-04-20T16:09:55Z")
> [@](#): > > _originally posted by rexnervous_ > Another lyric I like from a great song, Fake Plastic Trees by Radiohead: Oh come on! You can’t do that if you don’t post the best lines in the song! _And I can’t help the feeling I could blow through the ceiling If I just turn and run_ ---
**Author:** ![big\_alex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e56c9b/32.png) [@big\_alex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/big_alex)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2003, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-line-or-couplet-from-a-song/169715/13 "2003-04-20T19:28:33Z")
I just like “when rain has hung the leaves with tears,” Catch the Wind Donovan. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2003, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-line-or-couplet-from-a-song/169715/14 "2003-04-20T19:53:49Z")
From “Desperadoes Under The Eaves” by **Warren Zevon** : _And if California slides into the ocean, Like the mystics and statistics say it will, I predict this motel will be standing, Until I pay my bill._ ---
**Author:** ![Homer\_J](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c37758/32.png) [@Homer\_J](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homer_J)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2003, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-line-or-couplet-from-a-song/169715/15 "2003-04-20T20:10:41Z")
Coldplay - The Scientist ‘I was just guessing, numbers and figures…questions of science, science of progress’ Pink Floyd - Wish you were here ‘did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage’ Simon and Garfunkel - Mrs Robinson ‘Where have you gone Joe Dimaggio? A nation turns its lonely eyes to you’ Powderfinger - Hindley Street ‘Days keep rolling over, escape to the undercover soon it all be over, and we can start again’ Bob Dylan - visions of Johanna ‘Inside the museums, infinity goes up on trial’ ---
**Author:** ![ecugrad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ac8455/32.png) [@ecugrad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ecugrad)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2003, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-line-or-couplet-from-a-song/169715/16 "2003-04-20T20:12:07Z")
My all-time favorite is from **Dust in the Wind** by “Kansas” ‘and all your money won’t another minute buy…’ How true ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2003, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-line-or-couplet-from-a-song/169715/17 "2003-04-20T22:50:29Z")
One of my favorites is in the song “Round, Round World” from “Stan Freberg Presents the USA”: > [@](#): > > Columbus: > Friend, > Get hip, > Would I climb aboard this ship > If I didn’t have odds the earth was highly spherical? > > King Ferdinand: > It’s a miracle > If it is. I think the rhyme of “spherical” and “miracle” is ingenious. ---
**Author:** ![Kantalooppi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a5b964/32.png) [@Kantalooppi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kantalooppi)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2003, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-line-or-couplet-from-a-song/169715/18 "2003-04-20T22:56:35Z")
“Efficiency and progress is ours once more/now that we’ve got the neutron bomb/It’s nice and quick and clean and gets things done” - Dead Kennedys, “Kill the Poor” ---
**Author:** ![Iteki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/eada6e/32.png) [@Iteki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iteki)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2003, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-line-or-couplet-from-a-song/169715/19 "2003-04-20T23:17:34Z")
There is a group in Sweden called Gloria, who have in one of their songs: If noone wants to party then I’ll party by myself, If noone wants to play I’ll sing alone It’s maybe not my very favourite, but it is surely up there 🙂 I have always thought of it as a very strong sentiment. ---
**Author:** ![Murcielago](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/da6949/32.png) [@Murcielago](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Murcielago)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2003, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-line-or-couplet-from-a-song/169715/20 "2003-04-20T23:35:21Z")
From Roger Waters, _Amused to Death_ \*And the children on Melrose strut their stuff, - Is absolute zero cold enough? Out in the valley, warm and clean, - The little ones sit by their TV screens No thoughts to think, no tears to cry - All sucked dry – down to the very last breath\* [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-line-or-couplet-from-a-song/169715.md?page=2)