# Incredibly beautiful song lyrics (But no love songs! We spit on love songs!) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 6, 2008, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-beautiful-song-lyrics-but-no-love-songs-we-spit-on-love-songs/444182 "2008-04-06T14:22:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2008, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-beautiful-song-lyrics-but-no-love-songs-we-spit-on-love-songs/444182/1 "2008-04-06T14:22:49Z")
This thread was inspired by the recent thread pitting those of us who love songs for their lyrics (hereafter known as “the Rockingest Rockinators north, south, east, and west of Pecos”) against those don’t listen to a single word the singer utters (hereafter known as “Yes, I think “Every Step You Take” is an appropriate wedding song, why are you looking at me so strange?”) Rules are simple. Name songs whose lyrics strike you as heart-thumpingly lovely, and tell us why if you feel moved to type that much. To raise the bar a bit, let’s leave out love songs if we can. As per board rules, let’s try to respect copyright; keep your quotes brief, because, after all, that is why Eresh-kigal gave us links. I’ll start with a Paula Cole song, “[Bethlehem](http://www.musicfanclubs.org/paulacole/lyrics2.html),” which starts like this: > [@](#): > > Pulling on the apron strings looking up > Standing on the chair to be grown up > I feel so little, I need my pillow > I hate the time, I hate the clock > I want to be a dog or I want to be a rock Words cannot express how lovely this song is to me. The careful choosing of details, the unobtrusive approximate rhyme, the mingled despair and hope: it perfectly captures the experience of growing up in a place you hate. It’s even more beautiful when you hear her sing it–but I’m using it because it works as poem too. But that’s just me. Anybody else? ---
**Author:** ![MadTheSwine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MadTheSwine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadTheSwine)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2008, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-beautiful-song-lyrics-but-no-love-songs-we-spit-on-love-songs/444182/2 "2008-04-06T14:48:12Z")
Vincent by Don McClean Starry starry night flaming flowers that brightly blaze swirling clouds in violet haze reflect in Vincent’s eyes of China blue. Colors changing hue morning fields of amber grain weathered faces lined in pain are soothed beneath the artist’s loving hand. Full lyrics here. [http://www.lyrics007.com/Don%20McLean%20Lyrics/Vincent%20Lyrics.html](http://www.lyrics007.com/Don%20McLean%20Lyrics/Vincent%20Lyrics.html) The whole song is beautiful. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2008, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-beautiful-song-lyrics-but-no-love-songs-we-spit-on-love-songs/444182/3 "2008-04-06T14:52:17Z")
Two classics. _Comfortably Numb_: > [@Pink Floyd](#): > > There is no pain, you are receding. > A distant ship’s smoke on the horizon. > You are only coming through in waves. > Your lips move, but I can’t hear what youre saying. > [LYRICS DELETED] _America_: > [@Simon and Garfunkel](#): > > “Cathy, I’m lost” I said, though I knew she was sleeping. > “I’m empty and aching and I don’t know why.” > Counting the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike, > They’ve all come to look for America. And finally a new one for me - the most beautiful song about a serial killer I’ve ever heard. _John Wayne Gacy Jr._: > [@Sufjan Stevens](#): > > The neighbors they adored him > For his humor and his conversation. > Look underneath the house there, > Find the few living things > Rotting fast in their sleep of the dead. > [LYRICS DELETED] ---
**Author:** ![HazelNutCoffee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@HazelNutCoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HazelNutCoffee)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2008, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-beautiful-song-lyrics-but-no-love-songs-we-spit-on-love-songs/444182/4 "2008-04-06T14:55:23Z")
“Scarborough Fair/Canticle,” by Simon and Garfunkel Tell her to make me a cambric shirt _(on the side of a hill in the deep forest green)_ Parsley, sage, rosemary & thyme _(tracing a sparrow on snow-crested ground)_ Without no seams nor needlework _(blankets and bedclothes a child of the mountains)_ Then she’ll be a true love of mine _(sleeps unaware of the clarion call)_ I love the lines they added to the original song. ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2008, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-beautiful-song-lyrics-but-no-love-songs-we-spit-on-love-songs/444182/5 "2008-04-06T15:29:17Z")
_Mary_ by Patty Griffin Mary you’re covered in roses, you’re covered in ruin You’re covered in secrets You’re covered in treetops, covered in birds Who can sing a million songs without any words ---
**Author:** ![Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brown_eyed_girl/32/3574_2.png) [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brown_Eyed_Girl)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2008, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-beautiful-song-lyrics-but-no-love-songs-we-spit-on-love-songs/444182/6 "2008-04-06T15:47:03Z")
[QUOTE=MadTheSwine] Vincent by Don McClean [/QUOTE] That would be my choice as well. Given the lyrics, it’s hard to say that’s not a love song, but it’s an entirely different kind of love. The love of artistic talent and expression coupled with empathy for the emotional pain that Van Gogh suffered from. I will add Carole King, Tapestry: _My life has been a tapestry Of rich and royal hue; An everlasting vision Of the ever-changing view; A wond’rous woven magic In bits of blue and gold; A tapestry to feel and see; Impossible to hold._ Full lyrics here: [http://www.seeklyrics.com/lyrics/Carole-King/Tapestry.html](http://www.seeklyrics.com/lyrics/Carole-King/Tapestry.html) ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2008, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-beautiful-song-lyrics-but-no-love-songs-we-spit-on-love-songs/444182/7 "2008-04-06T15:49:46Z")
[QUOTE=Brown Eyed Girl] That would be my choice as well. Given the lyrics, it’s hard to say that’s not a love song, but it’s an entirely different kind of love. [/quote] I’m the OP, and I love “Vincent,” and I’ll agree that it’s not a love song. I am defining love song as follows: 1. Songs about a person the speaker wants to sleep with and is trying to persuade to do so, or complaining about the person keeping his/her pants on. 2. Songs about a person the speaker has slept with and bemoaning the fact that the sex has become only a memory. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2008, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-beautiful-song-lyrics-but-no-love-songs-we-spit-on-love-songs/444182/8 "2008-04-06T15:55:11Z")
From Mary Chapin Carpenter’s _Come On, Come On_ album: It Was Only a Dream We lived on a street where the tall elm shade Was as green as the grass and as cool as a blade That you held in your teeth as we lay on our backs Staring up at the blue and the blue stared back [LYRICS DELETED] (this is a song about two kids, one girl, one boy–although it’s ambiguous- growing up and then one moves away. The description is lyrical [no pun intended!]) ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2008, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-beautiful-song-lyrics-but-no-love-songs-we-spit-on-love-songs/444182/9 "2008-04-06T15:59:40Z")
“Islands” by King Crimson. The last verse: > [@King Crimson's Pete Sinfield](#): > > Dark harbour quays like fingers of stone > Hungrily reach from my island. > Clutch sailors’ words–pearls and gourds > Are strewn on my shore. > [LYRICS DELETED] ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2008, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-beautiful-song-lyrics-but-no-love-songs-we-spit-on-love-songs/444182/10 "2008-04-06T16:04:41Z")
[QUOTE=Skald the Rhymer] I’m the OP, and I love “Vincent,” and I’ll agree that it’s not a love song. I am defining love song as follows: 1. Songs about a person the speaker wants to sleep with and is trying to persuade to do so, or complaining about the person keeping his/her pants on. 2. Songs about a person the speaker has slept with and bemoaning the fact that the sex has become only a memory. [/QUOTE] If those are the criteria then I can cite the Tragically Hip’s “Everytime You Go,” which is simply a description of a marriage of two poor people. The woman is described thus: [QUOTE=The Tragically Hip] My girl don’t just walk. She unfurls. [/QUOTE] I’ve never heard a simpler, better description of how it is when a woman just blows you away. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2008, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-beautiful-song-lyrics-but-no-love-songs-we-spit-on-love-songs/444182/11 "2008-04-06T16:07:25Z")
[QUOTE=RickJay] If those are the criteria then I can cite the Tragically Hip’s “Everytime You Go,” which is simply a description of a marriage of two poor people. The woman is described thus: I’ve never heard a simpler, better description of how it is when a woman just blows you away. [/QUOTE] I should have added “songs about the speaker’s current snogging partner in praise of her or his general or specific rockingness,” but I was distracted by my wife, who does, in fact, rock. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2008, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-beautiful-song-lyrics-but-no-love-songs-we-spit-on-love-songs/444182/12 "2008-04-06T16:08:07Z")
R.E.M. - _Nightswimming_ The most powerfully nostalgic lyrics in pop music. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2008, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-beautiful-song-lyrics-but-no-love-songs-we-spit-on-love-songs/444182/13 "2008-04-06T16:30:21Z")
Oh all the money that e’er I had, I spent it in good company And all the harm that e’er I’ve done, alas, it was to none but me And all I’ve done for want of wit to memory now I can’t recall So fill to me the parting glass, good night and joy be with you all Sometimes there’s beauty in simplicity. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2008, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-beautiful-song-lyrics-but-no-love-songs-we-spit-on-love-songs/444182/14 "2008-04-06T16:44:52Z")
I think Belle & Sebastian have some of the most beautiful song lyrics I’ve ever heard, and a good chunk of them are not about love at all. (links to lyrics on official band site, not crazy popup lyrics sites) [We Rule the School](http://www.belleandsebastian.com/recordings.php?release=8&view=lyrics&lyrics=364) [Get Me Away From Here, I’m Dying](http://www.belleandsebastian.com/recordings.php?release=7&view=lyrics&lyrics=70) [This Is Just a Modern Rock Song](http://www.belleandsebastian.com/recordings.php?release=13&view=lyrics&lyrics=97) [A Century of Fakers](http://www.belleandsebastian.com/recordings.php?release=14&view=lyrics&lyrics=101) There’s a lot more, but if I listed them I’d list about half their catalog… ---
**Author:** ![Washoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecae2f/32.png) [@Washoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Washoe)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2008, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-beautiful-song-lyrics-but-no-love-songs-we-spit-on-love-songs/444182/15 "2008-04-06T16:46:03Z")
Submitted for your perusal—[Waterloo Sunset](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvDoDaCYrEY). However, it’s hard to say whether the lyrics in and of themselves are exceptionally beautiful, or whether the song as a whole is exceptionally beautiful and that biases my view of the lyrics. ---
**Author:** ![Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brown_eyed_girl/32/3574_2.png) [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brown_Eyed_Girl)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2008, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-beautiful-song-lyrics-but-no-love-songs-we-spit-on-love-songs/444182/16 "2008-04-06T17:22:24Z")
[QUOTE=Skald the Rhymer] I’m the OP, and I love “Vincent,” and I’ll agree that it’s not a love song. I am defining love song as follows: 1. Songs about a person the speaker wants to sleep with and is trying to persuade to do so, or complaining about the person keeping his/her pants on. 2. Songs about a person the speaker has slept with and bemoaning the fact that the sex has become only a memory. [/QUOTE] Wow. That really opens things up then. Here’s a song that, as a mother with a son, has lyrics that were meaningful to me. I used to sing it to my son often: _Mama told me when I was young Come sit beside me, my only son And listen closely to what I say. And if you do this It will help you some sunny day. [LYRICS DELETED]_ [Simple Man, Lynyrd Skynyrd](http://www.seeklyrics.com/lyrics/Lynyrd-Skynyrd/Simple-Man.html) And I’m a Neil Young fan, as well: _Well, I dreamed I saw the knights In armor coming, Saying something about a queen. [LYRICS DELETED]_ [After the Goldrush](http://www.seeklyrics.com/lyrics/Neil-Young/After-The-Goldrush.html) ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2008, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-beautiful-song-lyrics-but-no-love-songs-we-spit-on-love-songs/444182/17 "2008-04-06T17:27:12Z")
[QUOTE=eleanorigby] From Mary Chapin Carpenter’s… [/QUOTE] This reminded me of MCC’s “This Shirt.” I always thought the lyrics were rather nice. It begins: _This shirt is old and faded All the color’s washed away I’ve had it now for more damn years Than I can count anyway…_ She then goes on to sing about all the things both she and the shirt have been through: the shirt has been a pillow and blanket, a cat gave birth on it, her boyfriend ripped the sleeve, it was lost in a bus station locker for a few days, and so on. As you listen to the shirt’s story that comes out in her her carefully-crafted words, you begin to agree with her that the shirt is more than “a faded piece of cotton,” as she puts it; it is a storehouse of irreplaceable memories from years of her life. ---
**Author:** ![Anastasaeon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Anastasaeon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anastasaeon)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2008, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-beautiful-song-lyrics-but-no-love-songs-we-spit-on-love-songs/444182/18 "2008-04-06T18:10:52Z")
I’m rather fond of \*\*Tasmin Archer’s \*\* \*Sleeping Satellite \* (my location pun may give that much away). Verses like this one: _and when we shoot for the stars what a giant step have we got what it takes to carry the weight of this concept or pass it by like a shot in the dark miss the mark with a sense of adventure_ The whole idea behind the song fills me with a weird mix of hope, frustration, confidence, optimism, pessimism, and other feelings I can’t put my finger on, all conflicting. But I love it. There’s an eerie beauty to the whole thing, like the moon itself. ---
**Author:** ![ZebraShaSha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/eada6e/32.png) [@ZebraShaSha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZebraShaSha)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2008, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-beautiful-song-lyrics-but-no-love-songs-we-spit-on-love-songs/444182/19 "2008-04-06T18:38:40Z")
I’m reviewing the Microphones rerelease and… “I faced death. I went in with my arms swinging. But I heard my own breath and had to face that I’m still living. I’m still flesh. I hold on to awful feelings. I’m not dead… my chest still draws breath. I hold it. I’m buoyant. There’s no end.” ---
**Author:** ![sunnyphilly43](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@sunnyphilly43](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sunnyphilly43)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2008, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-beautiful-song-lyrics-but-no-love-songs-we-spit-on-love-songs/444182/20 "2008-04-06T18:56:12Z")
Pretty unknown band Hey Rosetta! have some of the most beautiful lyrics I’ve ever heard. Notable: _i don’t want wires i know they’re trying to bring me back but no more plastic i’ve had my piles of all that [LYRICS DELETED]_ Tim Baker is really a remarkable songwriter, and deserves worldwide accolades, I think. Check them out at [http://www.heyrosetta.com](http://www.heyrosetta.com) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-beautiful-song-lyrics-but-no-love-songs-we-spit-on-love-songs/444182.md?page=2)