# 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:** 5
**Author:** ![beckwall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b487fb/32.png) [@beckwall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beckwall)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2008, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-beautiful-song-lyrics-but-no-love-songs-we-spit-on-love-songs/444182/81 "2008-04-08T02:11:52Z")
[QUOTE=Washoe] 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. [/QUOTE] I love this song. And yes, when it’s a spectacularly beautiful sounding song, it’s hard to say if the lyrics are what you respond to. ---
**Author:** ![Bambi\_Hassenpfeffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Bambi\_Hassenpfeffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bambi_Hassenpfeffer)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2008, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-beautiful-song-lyrics-but-no-love-songs-we-spit-on-love-songs/444182/82 "2008-04-08T04:54:48Z")
[QUOTE=eleanorigby] Lo siento mi vida Yo sé que ya terminó Corazones quebrados Esperanza que se fue [Note: no accent on this e – **BH**] Cuando brille la luna Yo sé que no dormirás Ni tú Ni yo Ya ha llegado el triste pesar Debemos siempre separarnos [/QUOTE] I’m not a lyricist, but I can give you what the lines mean. Not nice and poetic like the original, but at least you’ll have the meaning. _I’m sorry, my love I know that it’s already over Broken hearts. . . Hope that has left. . . Whenever the moon shines, I know that you won’t be sleeping Not you Not me The sad regret has already come We have to be apart forever_ ---
**Author:** ![Quint](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/76d3ee/32.png) [@Quint](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quint)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2008, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-beautiful-song-lyrics-but-no-love-songs-we-spit-on-love-songs/444182/83 "2008-04-08T06:06:48Z")
Well, hope this snippet doesn’t cross the line, but if it does, well… less just wouldn’t cover enough in this case. From **REM** ’s **Green** **[You Are The Everything](http://www.remrock.net/remrock/lyrics/albums/green.html?song=youare)**: Here’s a scene You’re in the back seat laying down The windows wrap around To sound of the travel and the engine All you hear is time stand still in travel and feel such peace and absolute The stillness still that doesn’t end But slowly drifts into sleep The stars are the greatest thing you’ve ever seen And they’re there for you For you alone You are the everything Maybe this one is for pre-seatbelt kids, but it so perfectly captures the feeling of falling asleep in my parent’s car on the way home, past my bedtime, with the moon mysteriouly following us and the engine throbbing away. Really, for me a perfect song. ---
**Author:** ![Essay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e57/32.png) [@Essay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Essay)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2008, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-beautiful-song-lyrics-but-no-love-songs-we-spit-on-love-songs/444182/84 "2008-04-08T06:39:28Z")
I would quote the entire work of John Darnielle, but that might violate fair use. So this is merely an excerpt from my favorite Mountain Goats hate song, “Baboon.” > [@](#): > > Daisies on the hillside like cancer on the skin > Pretty little yellow eyes that flutter in the wind > I’d be grateful my children aren’t here to see this > If you’d ever seen fit to give me children So much bitterness in so few words! And from “Hast Thou Considered the Tetrapod,” the most beautiful song I know that combines Biblical allusion and imagery from evolutionary biology to tell a story about surviving an abusive childhood. > [@](#): > > Held under these smothering waves > By your strong and thick-veined hand > But one of these days > I’m gonna wriggle up on dry land And to those who mentioned Regina Spektor’s brilliant “On the Radio”: yes! Doesn’t she just make you love the world? ---
**Author:** ![Windwalker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/5e9695/32.png) [@Windwalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Windwalker)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2008, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-beautiful-song-lyrics-but-no-love-songs-we-spit-on-love-songs/444182/85 "2008-04-08T07:05:55Z")
[QUOTE=Essay] And to those who mentioned Regina Spektor’s brilliant “On the Radio”: yes! Doesn’t she just make you love the world? [/QUOTE] I don’t know why, but hearing that others also love this song makes me very happy. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Fourth\_Wall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Fourth\_Wall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fourth_Wall)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2008, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-beautiful-song-lyrics-but-no-love-songs-we-spit-on-love-songs/444182/86 "2008-04-08T07:48:41Z")
An excerpt from Todd Rundgren’s “Love of the Common Man” _I would be so pleased to spend some time To hear a little talk about what’s been on your mind 'Cause it don’t take long To turn my head around If it comes easy 'Cause everyone needs the love of the common man 'Cause everyone_ [http://trconnection.com/lyrics/Song.11.8](http://trconnection.com/lyrics/Song.11.8) Rundgren writes a lot of beautiful lyrics that are way beyond typical boy/girl/love junk - it made it hard to pick just one to submit here, but if you want to check out more go here: [http://trconnection.com/trconn.php/article=lyrics.art](http://trconnection.com/trconn.php/article=lyrics.art) ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2008, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-beautiful-song-lyrics-but-no-love-songs-we-spit-on-love-songs/444182/87 "2008-04-08T12:48:08Z")
[QUOTE=Quint] Well, hope this snippet doesn’t cross the line, but if it does, well… less just wouldn’t cover enough in this case. From **REM** ’s **Green** **[You Are The Everything](http://www.remrock.net/remrock/lyrics/albums/green.html?song=youare)** [/QUOTE] I started to post that one myself. You’re right; it captures perfectly the childhood experience of falling asleep in the back seat of your parents’ car with the stars drifting overhead. ---
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2008, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-beautiful-song-lyrics-but-no-love-songs-we-spit-on-love-songs/444182/88 "2008-04-08T13:54:17Z")
If foreign songs are allowed, I’m sure Severine’s 1971 Eurovision winner “Un Banc, Un Arbre, Une Rue” is a beautiful lyric about childhood, but I can’t find a decent translation: …Un jour ou l’autre il faut partir Pour se construire un avenir, un avenir Et c’est l’inoubliable instant Où l’on rend ses habits d’enfant, d’enfant Chacun s’envole rempli d’espoir Sur le chemin qu’il s’est choisi, qu’il s’est choisi Vers la richesse ou vers la gloire Pourtant quelque soit notre but, notre but… ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2008, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-beautiful-song-lyrics-but-no-love-songs-we-spit-on-love-songs/444182/89 "2008-04-08T14:21:46Z")
Odd perhaps, but I’ve always liked the way the passing of time was expressed in “Windmills Of Your Mind”: > [@](#): > > Keys that jingle in your pocket > Words that jangle your head > Why did summer go so quickly > Was it something that I said > Lovers walking allong the shore, > Leave their footprints in the sand > Was the sound of distant drumming > Just the fingers of your hand > > Pictures hanging in a hallway > And a fragment of a song > Half remembered names and faces > But to whom do they belong > When you knew that it was over > Were you suddenly aware > That the autumn leaves were turning > To the color of her hair ---
**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 8, 2008, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-beautiful-song-lyrics-but-no-love-songs-we-spit-on-love-songs/444182/90 "2008-04-08T14:38:55Z")
[QUOTE=C K Dexter Haven] Moderator interjects: Whoa, gang. We’ve had some discussion before about how much of a song one can quote on these message boards. Here’s the discussion: [Song lyrics and copyright violation - About This Message Board - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=455110). [/QUOTE] Don’t be too harsh on them, Dex. They were clearly under the influence of that sick bastard Fabulous Creature (who in turn was clearly in despair over Memphis State getting hammered in the basketball-tourney-thingie last night.) ---
**Author:** ![tirial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ac91a4/32.png) [@tirial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tirial)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2008, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-beautiful-song-lyrics-but-no-love-songs-we-spit-on-love-songs/444182/91 "2008-04-08T18:42:49Z")
Another vote for Leonard Cohen - I liked “Hallelujah”, but prefered “Take this Waltz” (although strictly speaking credit for the lyrics should go to Federico Garcia Lorca’s poem “Little Viennese Waltz” translated by Cohen) - not sure if you’d count it as a love song though. “Now in Vienna there’s ten pretty women There’s a shoulder where Death comes to cry There’s a lobby with nine hundred windows There’s a tree where the doves go to die There’s a piece that was torn from the morning And it hangs in the Gallery of Frost.” Alternatively, “Bright Eyes” - Mike Batt and Art Garfunkel “There’s a fog along the horizon, A strange glow in the sky, And nobody seems to know where you go, And what does it mean? Oh, is it a dream?” There are versions of both on Youtube. ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2008, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-beautiful-song-lyrics-but-no-love-songs-we-spit-on-love-songs/444182/92 "2008-04-09T00:40:11Z")
[QUOTE=Skald the Rhymer] Don’t be too harsh on them, Dex. They were clearly under the influence of that sick bastard Fabulous Creature (who in turn was clearly in despair over Memphis State getting hammered in the basketball-tourney-thingie last night.) [/QUOTE] Memphis State? That is so last century. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Nader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Darth\_Nader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Nader)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2008, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-beautiful-song-lyrics-but-no-love-songs-we-spit-on-love-songs/444182/93 "2008-04-09T04:07:15Z")
_Soon I discovered that this rock thing was true. Jerry Lee Lewis was the devil. Jesus was an architect previous to his career as a prophet. All of a sudden, I found myself in love with the world– So there was only one thing that I could do, Was **ding a ding dang my dang a long ling long!** _ **Ministry** , “_Jesus Built My Hotrod_” ---
**Author:** ![Sleel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/73ab20/32.png) [@Sleel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleel)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2008, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-beautiful-song-lyrics-but-no-love-songs-we-spit-on-love-songs/444182/94 "2008-04-09T04:59:59Z")
[Round Here](http://www.lyricsfreak.com/c/counting+crows/round+here_20033499.html); Counting Crows. The whole song is filled with hauntingly painful beautiful images like: “Step out the front door like a ghost into the fog Where no one notices the contrast of white on white And in between the moon and you the angels get a better view Of the crumbling difference between wrong and right I walk in the air between the rain through myself and back again Where? I dont know” A mostly-forgettable band called The Men put out an album that had only one decent song on it, in my estimation; [Church of Logic, Sin & Love](http://www.lyricstime.com/the-men-the-church-of-logic-sin-and-love-lyrics.html). I tracked down the album when I was in college just because the lyrics sounded like something from Kerouac’s **On the Road** ; simple but resonant. “Two hours later they decided to stop at a diner, 'Cause they just loved the smell of eggs and coffee. I just had to smoke a cigarette and wear a hat… By the time that they set off again, The sun was starting to set, it made the sky look red like a nuclear way… One of them said, ‘What do you want more than anything in this whole wide world? Do you want money, do you want sex, or do you want all that success?’” In the same vein of simple but effective, Tracy Chapman’s [Fast Car](http://www.lyricsfreak.com/t/tracy+chapman/fast+car_20140283.html) is filled with quiet despair. "You got a fast car But is it fast enough so we can fly away We gotta make a decision We leave tonight or live and die this way “I remember we were driving driving in your car The speed so fast I felt like I was drunk City lights lay out before us And your arm felt nice wrapped round my shoulder And I had a feeling that I belonged And I had a feeling I could be someone, be someone, be someone” ---
**Author:** ![mascarpone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6bbea6/32.png) [@mascarpone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mascarpone)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-beautiful-song-lyrics-but-no-love-songs-we-spit-on-love-songs/444182/95 "2008-04-15T13:54:37Z")
The Killers’ “Read my Mind” has a line that just gets me every time. So cool: It’s funny how you just break down Waitin’ on some sign I pull up to the front of your driveway _With magic soakin’ my spine_ ---
**Author:** ![muzzynyc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b3f665/32.png) [@muzzynyc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muzzynyc)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-beautiful-song-lyrics-but-no-love-songs-we-spit-on-love-songs/444182/96 "2008-04-15T14:24:39Z")
Guy Garvey of Elbow writes some amazing lyrics. This from their first album “Asleep at the Back” from the song “Scattered Black & Whites”: Been climbing trees I’ve skinned my knees My hands are black the sun is going down She scruffs my hair in the kitchen steam She’s listening to the dream I weaved today Crosswords through the bathroom door While someone sings the theme-tune to the news And my sister buzzes through the room leaving perfume in the air And that’s what triggered this I come back here from time to time I shelter here somedays ---
**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 15, 2008, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-beautiful-song-lyrics-but-no-love-songs-we-spit-on-love-songs/444182/97 "2008-04-15T15:03:07Z")
[QUOTE=Contrapuntal] Memphis State? That is so last century. [/QUOTE] I’m a 1920s-style-Death Ray kinda guy. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-beautiful-song-lyrics-but-no-love-songs-we-spit-on-love-songs/444182/98 "2008-04-15T16:10:34Z")
I’d have to go with hymns, if love songs are out. Amazing Grace: When we’ve been there ten thousand years Bright shining as the sun We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise Than when we first begun How Great Thou Art: When Christ shall come with shout of acclamation And take me home What joy shall fill my heart Then I shall bow in humble adoration and there proclaim My God how great thou art! Alleluia Sing to Jesus: Alleluia! bread of angels, Thou on earth our food, our stay; Alleluia! here the sinful flee to Thee from day to day: Intercessor, Friend of sinners, Earth’s Redeemer, plead for me, Where the songs of all the sinless sweep across the crystal sea. ---
**Author:** ![Lissla\_Lissar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lissla\_Lissar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissla_Lissar)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-beautiful-song-lyrics-but-no-love-songs-we-spit-on-love-songs/444182/99 "2008-04-15T16:12:21Z")
\*Take some solace in these words, take notice of this place. Hollow whispers that they are, like the wind upon my face. Sing softly in my ear and look at me with wonder. I will try to ease your fear as the darkness pulls you under. I will walk this ground forever and stand guard against your name. I will give all I can offer, I will shoulder all the blame. I am sentry to you now, all your hopes and all your dreams. I will hold you to the light, that’s what forever means. \* -Forever, Bruderschaft ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-beautiful-song-lyrics-but-no-love-songs-we-spit-on-love-songs/444182/100 "2008-04-15T18:37:53Z")
I recently flipped through my old high school and cegep agendas, which were practically diaries at that point, filled with lyrics and pictures and drawings that mattered to me at the time. One song quote that’s actually written down in more than one of them is from the song _Thief_, by Our Lady Peace: “Someone help me understand who ordered This disgusting arrangement with time and the end” Another one from a similar era, I Mother Earth’s _Used to be Alright_ “And then you long For the days of trippin’ down The long road just reading the Signs that show you the way to A higher place you meditate to Feel the quiet of the earth That was back When we used to be alright” The Refreshments, _Down Together_ “We’ll find a speck of dust And scribble down our life story” None of them are earth-shattering, but I love them. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-beautiful-song-lyrics-but-no-love-songs-we-spit-on-love-songs/444182.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-beautiful-song-lyrics-but-no-love-songs-we-spit-on-love-songs/444182.md?page=6)