From Jewel:
If I could tell the world just one thing
It would be that we’re all OK
And not to worry 'cause worry is wasteful
And useless in times like these
[ LYRICS DELETED ]
They were playing it a lot at a time when I really needed it.
From one of the most fey albums I have ever heard in my short life:
-Warren Zevon, Desperados Under the Eaves
-Tom Waits, Time
-The Grateful Dead, Ripple [never understood why this one gets to me, but it just does]
Just a couple that pop to mind (I’m sure I could come up with many more):
I’m not even particularly a fan of the band, but Death Cab for Cutie’s "What Sarah Said " really hit me:
“'Cause there’s no comfort in the waiting room
Just nervous paces bracing for bad news
Then the nurse comes around and everyone lifts their head
But I’m thinking of what Sarah said
That love is watching someone die.”
And Janis Ian’s “At Seventeen” (pdf link):
“Remember those who win the game
lose the love they sought to gain
in debentures of quality and dubious integrity
Their small-town eyes will gape at you
in dull surprise when payment due
exceeds accounts received at seventeen.”
Tom Waits has some awesome imagery. “The wind is…” is just a great description.
One of my favorite Dylan songs, “Not Dark Yet”
Shadows are falling and I’ve been here all day
It’s too hot to sleep and time is running away.
[ LYRICS DELETED ]
Just a Mod-ly reminder, folks, but try to keep your song quotes reasonably short. Fair use and all.
My all-time favorite is “Tonight We Fly” by The Divine Comedy:
Tonight we fly
Over the houses, the streets and the trees -
Over the dogs down below;
They’ll bark at our shadows
As we float by on the breeze.
[ LYRICS DELETED ]
A couple faves:
Songs:Ohia/Magnolia Electric Company from Farewell Transmission
The real truth about it is
There ain’t no end to the desert I’ll cross
[ LYRICS DELETED ]
Hayden from Trees Lounge
I Need something to forget
What got me in this mess
I’m feeling less and less
My Judgement is not clear
I do things that I fear,
I would never do
Nick Cave from Papa Won’t Leave You Henry
I passed beside the mission house
Where that mad old buzzard, the reverend,
Shrieked and flapped about life after your dead
[ LYRICS DELETED ]
Tom Waits-Alice (I like it so much it’s going to be the bride and grooms dance song at Nashiitasii and I’s wedding)
It’s dreamy weather we’re on
You waved your crooked wand
Along an icy pond with a frozen moon
[ LYRICS DELETED ]
And so a secret kiss
Brings madness with the bliss
And I will think of this
When I’m dead in my grave
[ LYRICS DELETED ]
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
Here’s our policy in general on quoting from copyright material We don’t directly address songs, but we will remedy that in the next day or two. The answer for songs is: a line or two is plenty … and then provide a link to a website that has the rights.
I am going through and editing down all the quotes. It’s not always clear whether you’re quoting a couple of lines from six different songs, or a huge long amount from one song. If you feel that I’ve edited unfairly, then please send me an email and I’ll be glad to reconsider.
That is one of my favorite songs.
I love the line after he kills the guy -
And its into the shame,
And its into the guilt,
And its into the fucking fray,
And the walls ran red around me,
A warm arterial spray.
How I wish, how I wish you were here
We’re just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl, year after year,
Running over the same old ground
What have you found? The same old fears
Wish you were here
Remember when you were young
You shone like the sun
Shine on you crazy diamond
Word. It makes me cry every time I hear it. Its a shame Don McClean faded away so quickly.
Tool lyrics are overlooked a lot because of the band’s strange sound, and how hard it is to tell just what Maynard is saying sometimes. Here’s some good ones.
“I embrace my desire to/
feel connected, enough to/
weep like a widow”
“Cold silence has
a tendency to
atrophy any
sense of compassion”
“The universe is hostile,
so impersonal;
devour to survive
so it is, so it’s always been.”
“Dim my eyes
if they should
compromise
our fulcrum
Want and need divide me
then I might as well be gone.”
Note to mods: Each set of quotes is from a single song, separate from the others. No need to snip!
“Anthem,” from the musical Chess, by Andersson and Ulvaeus, lyrics by Tim Rice. A Soviet defector sings about his homeland:
How can I leave her?
Where would I start?
Let man’s petty nations tear themselves apart
My land’s only borders lie around my heart.
We’ve already got two of my faves from musicals, so two more. “For Good” from Wicked
Like a comet pulled from orbit as it passes a sun
Like a stream that meets a boulder half way through the wood
Who can say if I’ve been changed for the better
But because I knew you I have been changed for good.
and “No More” from Into The Woods
Hard to see the light now.
Just don’t let it go
Things will come out right now.
We can make it so.
Someone is on your side
No one is alone
Sweep through the heather like deer in the glen
Carry me back to the days i knew then.
Nights when we sang like a heavenly choir
Of the life and the time of the Mull of Kintyre.
I woke last night to the sound of thunder
How far off I sat and wondered
Started hummin’ a song from 1962
Ain’t it funny how the night moves
when you just don’t seem to have as much to lose
Strange how the night moves
with autumn closing in