# Lines from music which make you grin **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 8, 2007, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lines-from-music-which-make-you-grin/421980 "2007-10-08T19:12:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2007, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lines-from-music-which-make-you-grin/421980/61 "2007-10-10T01:27:19Z")
Warren Zevon has zillions of 'em, but my favorite is from Poor Poor Pitiful Me: _She really worked me over good, She was a credit to her gender. She put me through some changes, lord, Sort of like a Waring blender._ I mean, who the heck would think of rhyming gender and blender? And putting it in a song? Well, I just answered my own question, I guess. Warren Zevon would. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2007, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lines-from-music-which-make-you-grin/421980/62 "2007-10-10T02:22:30Z")
“Littered campgrounds, folding chairs Feed Doritos to the bears” -The Dead Kennedys, _Winnebago Warrior_ ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2007, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lines-from-music-which-make-you-grin/421980/63 "2007-10-10T16:39:22Z")
Moxy Früvous’ _My Baby Loves A Bunch Of Authors_ is a riot. > [@](#): > > I like to go out dancin’ > My baby loves a bunch of authors > My heart’s a-broke and bleedin’ > Baby’s just a-sittin’ here doin’ some readin’ ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2007, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lines-from-music-which-make-you-grin/421980/64 "2007-10-10T16:58:54Z")
this one is amusing, but it’s hilarious when you actually [HEAR](http://www.stoid.com/sd/goin.mp3) it: “I don’t need no make up I got real scars I got hair on my chest I look good without a shirt” The link is just that little bit, not the whole song, which is “Goin’ Out West” by Tom Waits, and which has awesome drums, heard in “Fight Club”. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2007, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lines-from-music-which-make-you-grin/421980/65 "2007-10-10T19:12:27Z")
“We got the bubble-headed-bleach-blonde who Comes on at five She can tell you bout the plane crash with a gleam In her eye Its interesting when people die- Give us dirty laundry” **Dirty Laundry** - Don Henly ---
**Author:** ![kelly5078](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6f9a4e/32.png) [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2007, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lines-from-music-which-make-you-grin/421980/66 "2007-10-10T19:16:11Z")
A couple from Dylan: She said your debutante just knows what you need, but I know what you want. - Memphis Blues Again Well he hands you a nickel, he hands you a dime, He asks with a grin if you’re having a good time, Then he fines you every time you slam the door. I ain’t gonna work for Maggie’s pa no more. - Maggie’s Farm ---
**Author:** ![Cyberhwk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7993a0/32.png) [@Cyberhwk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyberhwk)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lines-from-music-which-make-you-grin/421980/67 "2007-10-11T06:16:00Z")
[QUOTE=thirdwarning] And my favorite opening line, courtesy of Joe Diffie; _Third Rock From the Sun_; She walked into Smokey’s one hip at a time Actually the whole song makes me grin, but that line gets me every time. [/QUOTE] “We hate to wake you up, but we can’t find the chief [of police]. Mayor said, ‘Use your head. If he ain’t in his car, he’s hiding from his wife down at Smokey’s Bar.’” 😃 Also Eminem’s “Leap tall hoes in a single bound.” ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lines-from-music-which-make-you-grin/421980/68 "2007-10-11T06:39:54Z")
"All my Exes live in Texas… …and that’s why I hang my hat in Tennessee!" 😃 ---
**Author:** ![TripleTee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ac8455/32.png) [@TripleTee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TripleTee)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lines-from-music-which-make-you-grin/421980/69 "2007-10-11T07:12:04Z")
Dead Skunk- Wainwright Loudon Crossing the highway late last night, He shoulda looked left and he shoulda looked right. He didnt see the station wagon car, The skunk got squashed, and there you are. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lines-from-music-which-make-you-grin/421980/70 "2007-10-11T07:14:51Z")
Rocketman, as performed by William Shatner - ‘Mars is no kind of place to raise a kid. In fact, it’s cold as Hell. And there’s no one there to raise them, if you did.’ The line’s odd in all the versions, but Shatner’s delivery makes it transcendantly absurd, and I love it so. Jellyfish’s Joining a Fanclub- ‘Shake that body, for me St Pinocchio.’ It’s just so delightfully bizarre an image (so is a lot of the rest of the song). ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lines-from-music-which-make-you-grin/421980/71 "2007-10-11T08:12:53Z")
Lines from music: In a mass by Gounod, in the Agnus Dei, there is a line which sounds like it’s about to break into something from the Pirates of Penzance: “If I hadn’t in elegant diction indulged in an innocent fiction - Which is not in the same category as telling a regular terrible story.” It fair made me chuckle, I can tell you. (It’s a purely melodic joke. There’s no similarity in the words.) ---
**Author:** ![Fiveroptic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiveroptic/32/8257_2.png) [@Fiveroptic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveroptic)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lines-from-music-which-make-you-grin/421980/72 "2007-10-11T08:33:55Z")
From Julie Brown’s “The Homecoming Queen’s Got A Gun” – _She did a flip and hit her head; it was real acrobatic But I was crying so hard I couldn’t work my Instamatic…_ I can’t think of a line from that song that does NOT make me grin. ---
**Author:** ![SkipMagic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skipmagic/32/20706_2.png) [@SkipMagic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkipMagic)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lines-from-music-which-make-you-grin/421980/73 "2007-10-11T11:34:25Z")
Please remember to post only a few lines from the lyrics (usually, just four or five) in light of copyright concerns; you can then link to the remaining lines. Definitely do not post the entire song. ---
**Author:** ![brewha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@brewha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brewha)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lines-from-music-which-make-you-grin/421980/74 "2007-10-11T11:55:30Z")
“Pardon Me” by Incubus: > [@](#): > > Cause lately I’ve been thinking of **combustication** > as a welcome vacation from.. Hey, if you can’t get a word to rhyme, make one up! Pretty much every line from “Bad Touch” by the Bloodhound Gang makes me smile. But, since Lyle Lovett has already been mentioned: > [@](#): > > You’ll love it just like Lyle, > and then we’ll do it doggy style > so we can both watch X-Files. ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lines-from-music-which-make-you-grin/421980/75 "2007-10-11T17:55:17Z")
[QUOTE=Malacandra] Lines from music: In a mass by Gounod, in the Agnus Dei, there is a line which sounds like it’s about to break into something from the Pirates of Penzance: “If I hadn’t in elegant diction indulged in an innocent fiction - Which is not in the same category as telling a regular terrible story.” It fair made me chuckle, I can tell you. (It’s a purely melodic joke. There’s no similarity in the words.) [/QUOTE] Sullivan [del]stole[/del] borrowed melodies from other well-known works and inserted them into his operas as musical jokes. Listen to Verdi’s _Overture to I Vespri Siciliani_ and you’ll find yourself humming “Oh men of dark and dismal fate”. You’ll also hear a bit from the _Anvil Chorus_ (_Il Trovatore_) just before the pirates begin singing “Pray observe the magnanimity”. And, of course, the chorus of “With cat-like tread” is an inversion of the _Anvil Chorus_’s most famous melody, while the scene in which it occurs is itself a parody of the abduction scene from _Rigoletto_. Sullivan clearly had Verdi on the brain while scoring _Pirates_. In other words, the similarity you point out between “I’m telling a terrible story” and Gounod’s mass (which one, by the way?) is probably not accidental. ---
**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lines-from-music-which-make-you-grin/421980/76 "2007-10-11T18:26:33Z")
I like Frank Zappa. So many of his songs are grin-inducing, and I could list so many of them here. I’ll just quote one song: “Tinseltown Rebellion.” …_the Tinseltown aficionados come to see and not to hear But then again, this system works as perfect as a dream It works for all those record company pricks Who come to skim the_ (modified lick from “Sunshine Of Your Love”)\* cre-e-e-e-e-e-eam From the cesspools of excitement where Jim Morrison once stood…\* The guy cracks me up. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lines-from-music-which-make-you-grin/421980/77 "2007-10-11T19:06:54Z")
[QUOTE=Kizarvexius] Sullivan [del]stole[/del] borrowed melodies from other well-known works… [/QUOTE] I think you meant to say: “Sullivan included homage to other composers with melodies from other well-known works…” Just like Stalling. and Schickele, and many others. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![NoCoolUserName](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5fc32e/32.png) [@NoCoolUserName](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NoCoolUserName)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lines-from-music-which-make-you-grin/421980/78 "2007-10-11T19:28:11Z")
And now the line that needs no introduction: > [@](#): > > Oh, by the way, which one’s Pink? Another fav, from Victim Of Love (Eagles): > [@](#): > > Victim of love, you’re just a victim of love > I could be wrong, but I’m not, no I’m not ---
**Author:** ![MadTheSwine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MadTheSwine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadTheSwine)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lines-from-music-which-make-you-grin/421980/79 "2007-10-11T20:13:43Z")
From **Wall of Voodoo** _(Don’t Spill My) Courage_ I was drunk on hooch four nights long When I rolled underneath this mobile home The folks woke up and drove away Left me here with these two dead legs Now I’m rolling, rolling, rolling …and later on The Lord took my legs Now it won’t help if you pray So don’t spill my courage away No don’t spill my courage away **Elton John** _Since God Invented Girls_ The mother of invention made it good for me Tighter in the rear Longer in the seam Kicked out yards of leather Wrapped around her waist Trimmed it to perfection And left a little space ---
**Author:** ![ThisSpaceForRent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thisspaceforrent/32/345_2.png) [@ThisSpaceForRent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisSpaceForRent)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lines-from-music-which-make-you-grin/421980/80 "2007-10-11T20:32:51Z")
I agree w/ **fishbicycle** Zappa always makes me chuckle… _Muffin man_ The muffin man is seated at the table in the laboratory of the utility muffin Research kitchen… reaching for an oversized chrome spoon he gathers an Intimate quantity of dried muffin remnants and brushing his scapular aside Proceeds to dump these inside of his shirt… He turns to us and speaks: and from \*Advance Romance \* … Potato-head Bobby was a friend of mine He opened three of his eyes in the food stamp line He opened four of his eyes in the food stamp line He opened five of his eyes in the food stamp line He opened six of his eyes in the food stamp line [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lines-from-music-which-make-you-grin/421980.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lines-from-music-which-make-you-grin/421980.md?page=5)