“If I was twice the man I could be, I’d still be half of what you need.” -Nine Inch Nails
“Hike up your skirt a little more, and show your world to me” -Dave Matthews Band
“I like the way you still say please
While you’re looking up at me
You’re like my favorite damn disease.” -Nickelback ( I actually hate the song, I just really like the line about the disease"
I didn’t read all the posts, so apologies if these are repeated:
SolGrundy Soul Coughing is my favorite band of all time (today).
From The Incumbent (SC)
New York New York
I won’t go back
Indelible reminder of the steel I lack
I gave you seven years, what did you give me back
jaw grind, disposition to a panic attack.
From Sweet Lord in Heaven Mike Doughty (formerly of Soul Coughing)
Oh I have felt
Cobain’s sarcoma
growing on
this will of mine
I won’t put more, but look at the lyrics for the songs on ‘skittish’ at www.superspecialquestions.com.
Stone Temple Pilots
From: Still Remains
take a bath I’ll drink the water that you leave
if you should die before me ask if you can bring a friend
I could go on forever, but I won’t. Just one more.
“You’re awake and trying not to be/ Wrapped around your pillow like a prawn/ And the nighttime’s wrapped around you/ Will be until it drops you on the dawn” - Fountains of Wayne, “No Better Place.”
Damn, I wish I could have written that song.
I’m not especially an Elvis Costello fan, but I do like these two lines from the very fine ‘middle eight’ (sic) of Accidents Will Happen:
“It’s the damage that we do and never know
It’s the words that we don’t say that scare me so…”
Someone mentioned Pulp today, and I remembered how much I love the line:
Then it might be nice if you credited it to Joni Mitchell! 
One my favorites of hers: (People’s Parties from Court and Spark, one of her best in my opinion)
All the people at this party
They’ve got a lot of style
They’ve got stamps of many countries
They’ve got passport smiles
Some are friendly
Some are cutting
Some are watching it from the wings
Some are standing in the centre
Giving to get something
I told you when I met you
I was crazy
Cry for us all Beauty
Cry for Eddie in the corner
Thinking he’s nobody
And Jack behind his joker
And stone-cold Grace behind her fan
And me in my frightened silence
Thinking I don’t understand
I feel like I’m sleeping
Can you wake me
You seem to have a broader sensibility
I’m just living on nerves and feelings
With a weak and a lazy mind
And coming to people’s parties
Fumbling deaf dumb and blind
From NoFX, The Idiots Are Taking Over
“Someone flopped a steamer in the gene pool”
Short, sweet, and interminably cynical.
I might like you better if we slept together
“Never Say Never”, Romeo Void
Don’t treat me special, oh don’t kiss my ass,
Just treat like the way you treat 'em up in first class
“Waitress in the Sky”, The Replacements
From the Ice Age, to the dole-age
There is but one concern
I have just discovered
Some girls are bigger than others
Stephen Patrick Morrissey
You’re so pretty when you’re unfaithful to me
“Bone Machine”, Pixies
Bob Mould, “Sacrifice / Let There Be Peace”
*And a blackbird broke the silence
As he whistled it so sweet
And in Brendan Behan’s footsteps
I danced up and down the street
And we said goodnight to Broadway
Giving it our best regards
Tipped our hats to Mr. Cohan
Dear old Time Square’s favorite bard
And we raised a glass to JFK and a dozen more besides
When I got back to my empty room I suppose I must have cried*
—“Thousands are Sailing”, The Pogues. Last line describes many a night from my drinking days.
Well, maybe…next year…
—“Send In the Clowns”, Judy Collins/Stephen Sondheim. “But why do you cry? What does it mean?” asked my non-American roommate. Couldn’t explain; still can’t.
Poignant Warren Zevon:
We made mad love, shadow love, random love and abandoned love…
Non-poignant WZ:
The name of the game is be hit and hit back.
Now the years are rolling by me, they are rocking evenly
And I am older than I once was, and younger than I’ll be: that’s not unusual
Nor is it strange, after changes upon changes, we are more or less the same
After changes, we are more or less the same.
“The Boxer”, Simon and Garfunkel. “Extra” verse they sang at the Concert in Central Park.
Like the fool I am and I’ll always be
I’ve got a dream, I’ve got a dream
“I’ve Got A Name”, Jim Croce.
Shiny purple fishes
Run laughing thru your fingers
And you want to take her with you
To the heartland of the Winter
Bernie Taupin’s “The Greatest Discovery” is a great, simple song of childhood:
Nice.
Back to C&W. Charlie Robison’s “You’re Not The Best” has two good lines:
You know a pretty girl she’ll leave you
Leave you to drown in your own tears
You know an ugly girl she’ll leave you too
But then again, who really cares?
and, of course, the chorous:
You’re not the best but you’re the best that I can do.
Since someone mentioned the Pixies (who are brilliant), this line from the Bloodhound Gang - the Roof is on Fire comes to mind…
I’m not black like Barry White no I am white like Frank Black is
So if man is five and the devil is six than that must make me seven
And what about the Smiths … wonderfully depressing lyrics…
And if a ten tonne truck, crashes into us,
To die by your side, well the pleasure, the privilege is mine
Jeff Buckley, Lover You Should Have Come Over.
It’s the perfect song for when you’ve ended a relationship and realised too late that you’ve ruined the best thing in your life.
These are my favourite lines.
Maybe I’m too young to keep good love from going wrong
But tonight you’re on my mind so you’ll never know
I’m broken down and hungry for your love with no way to feed it
Too young to hold on and too old to break free and run
Lonely is the room, the bed is made, the open window lets the rain in
Burning in the corner is the only one who dreams he had you with him
My body turns and yearns for a sleep that won’t ever come
It’s never over, my kingdom for a kiss upon her shoulder
It’s never over, all my riches for her smiles when I slept so soft against her
It’s never over, all my blood for the sweetness of her laughter
It’s never over, she’s the tear that hangs inside my soul forever
I’m a major Dylan freak, some of my favorites include:
“The ghost of electricity howls in the bones of her face” and
“Harmonicas play the skeleton keys in the rain.” both from Visions of Johanna
“I’ve seen all these decoys
through a set of deep turquoise
eyes and I feel so depressed.” from No Time to Think . Hey, he had the guts to rhyme “decoys” and “turquoise”
Well, I spied a girl and before she could leave,
“Let’s go and play Adam and Eve.”
I took her by the hand and my heart it was thumpin’
When she said, “Hey man, you crazy or sumpin’,
You see what happened last time they started.” from Talking World War III Blues
“You know it balances on your head
Just like a mattress balances
On a bottle of wine” from Leopard Skin Pillbox Hat
A bunch of lyrics that Amuse The Hell Out Of Me:
BNL, Another Postcard:
A few from Voltaire:
Brains:
The Man Upstairs:
and
Finally, The USS Make Sh*t Up
Alanis Morisette, back when she was just Alanis - Oh, Yeah!:
Shonen Knife, Ah Singapore:
One of my favorite lyrics, from “This Kiss”, performed by Faith Hill:
Cinderella said to Snow White
How does love go so off-course
All I wanted was a white knight
With a good heart, soft touch, fast horse
That one always makes me smile.
What! No Meatloaf
Lies can often give you power
like a coffin filled with flowers gives life to the living, not the dead.
From a song called Silver, Sharp and Could Not Care by The Residents.