# The best closing lines/stanzas in songs **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [February 4, 2022, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-closing-lines-stanzas-in-songs/958878 "2022-02-04T00:26:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2022, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-closing-lines-stanzas-in-songs/958878/1 "2022-02-04T00:26:23Z")
Inspired by the [this thread](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-lines-in-a-song/958866/46) and my own posting of Bob Dylan examples, I’m now listening to “The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan” and noticed once more what a great song “Masters of War” is. You can’t attack the “military-industrial complex” more powerful than this way, and it still rings so true today after 60 years. And the most damning lines are the last stanza, which is hard to swallow but which I absolutely subscribe to: _And I hope that you die_ _And your death will come soon_ _I’ll follow your casket_ _By the pale afternoon_ _And I’ll watch while you’re lowered_ _Down to your deathbed_ _And I’ll stand over your grave_ _'Til I’m sure that you’re dead_ What are your examples of great closing lines? ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2022, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-closing-lines-stanzas-in-songs/958878/2 "2022-02-04T00:27:58Z")
> And here, she’s acting happy > Inside her handsome home > And me, I’m flying in my taxi > Taking tips and getting stoned > > I go flying so high, when I’m stoned Harry Chapin, Taxi ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2022, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-closing-lines-stanzas-in-songs/958878/3 "2022-02-04T00:37:50Z")
_Well, if they freed me from this prison_ _If that railroad train was mine,_ _You bet I’d move it on a little farther down the line_ _Far from Folsom Prison, that’s where I want to stay,_ _And I’d let that lonesome whistle_ _Blow my blues away._ —_ **Folsom Prison Blues** _, Johnny Cash _And though they talked for just a little time_ _Before she said she had to go_ _He saw the meeting as a tiny sign_ _That told him all he had to know_ _And so Louise_ _Waved from the bus_ _And as she left_ _She gave that smile_ _As if they were still lovers_ —_ **Louise** _, The Human League ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2022, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-closing-lines-stanzas-in-songs/958878/4 "2022-02-04T00:40:30Z")
I’d love to turn you on. ---
**Author:** ![peccavi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peccavi/32/388_2.png) [@peccavi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peccavi)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2022, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-closing-lines-stanzas-in-songs/958878/5 "2022-02-04T00:42:42Z")
_Remember what the dormouse said:_ _“Feed your head. Feed your head. Feed your head”_ ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2022, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-closing-lines-stanzas-in-songs/958878/6 "2022-02-04T00:50:41Z")
_Meet the new boss_ _Same as the old boss_ ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2022, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-closing-lines-stanzas-in-songs/958878/7 "2022-02-04T01:03:10Z")
_Looking up from eyes of_ _Amaranthine_ _They can see the sky_ _Is blue_ _Knowing that their love_ _Is true_ _Dreams they never knew_ _And the sky above is blue_ —_ **Flora’s Secret** _, Enya _I’ll be seeing you_ _In every lovely summer’s day_ _In everything that’s light and gay_ _I’ll always think of you that way_ _I’ll find you in the morning sun_ _And when the night is new_ _I’ll be looking at the moon_ _But I’ll be seeing you_ —_ **I’ll Be Seeing You** _, The Poni Tails (my favorite rendition) _It doesn’t matter whether skies are grey or blue_ _It’s raining in my heart 'cause I can’t be with you_ _I’m only living for the day you’re home to stay_ _So it might as well rain until September_ _September, September,_ _Oh, it might as well rain until September_ —_ **It Might as Well Rain until September** _, Carole King ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2022, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-closing-lines-stanzas-in-songs/958878/8 "2022-02-04T01:12:26Z")
> [@blondebear](#): > > _Meet the new boss_ > _Same as the old boss_ Good one! ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2022, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-closing-lines-stanzas-in-songs/958878/9 "2022-02-04T01:30:15Z")
And she’s buy- I- ing a stair- air- way- ee to Hea- vun. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2022, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-closing-lines-stanzas-in-songs/958878/10 "2022-02-04T01:33:28Z")
_The dreamer, the unwoken fool High on a hill in Eldorado._ ---
**Author:** ![peccavi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peccavi/32/388_2.png) [@peccavi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peccavi)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2022, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-closing-lines-stanzas-in-songs/958878/11 "2022-02-04T01:36:03Z")
_I’ve got blisters on my fingers!_ ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2022, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-closing-lines-stanzas-in-songs/958878/12 "2022-02-04T01:48:21Z")
Hah! When in 2009 the Beatles remasters were released, my Beatles collection was very lacking, and I made it a point to get me the mono box because I wanted to hear them as initially intended (haven’t experienced them originally, was late to the party being born in 1968). But the mono version of “Helter Skelter” fades out before the “blisters” remark, which always bugged me. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2022, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-closing-lines-stanzas-in-songs/958878/13 "2022-02-04T01:49:36Z")
_And in the end_ _The love you take_ _Is equal to the love you make_ ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2022, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-closing-lines-stanzas-in-songs/958878/14 "2022-02-04T01:52:08Z")
And the three men I admire most The father, son, and the Holy Ghost They caught the last train for the coast The day, the music died. (To refrain) ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2022, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-closing-lines-stanzas-in-songs/958878/15 "2022-02-04T01:53:04Z")
And a rock feels no pain. And an island never cries. ---
**Author:** ![peccavi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peccavi/32/388_2.png) [@peccavi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peccavi)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2022, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-closing-lines-stanzas-in-songs/958878/16 "2022-02-04T02:32:11Z")
Time for some country music! Let’s start with the most perfect country song ever written. (for those who don’t listen much to country music, to even qualify as a country song it has to be about mama, or trains, or trucks, or prison, or getting’ drunk). The last stanza nails it. _Well, I was drunk the day my mom got out of prison_ _And I went to pick her up in the rain_ _But before I could get to the station in my pickup truck_ _She got run over by a damned old train_ ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2022, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-closing-lines-stanzas-in-songs/958878/17 "2022-02-04T02:48:41Z")
_She told me she worked_ _In the morning and started to laugh_ _I told her I didn’t_ _And crawled off to sleep in the bath_ _And when I awoke I was alone_ _This bird had flown_ _So I lit a fire_ _Isn’t it good—Norwegian wood?_ —_ **Norwegian Wood** _, The Beatles ---
**Author:** ![SuntanLotion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suntanlotion/32/16165_2.png) [@SuntanLotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanLotion)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2022, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-closing-lines-stanzas-in-songs/958878/18 "2022-02-04T03:02:31Z")
Loved that. David Allen Coe ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2022, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-closing-lines-stanzas-in-songs/958878/19 "2022-02-04T03:15:30Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > _ **Norwegian Wood** _ , The Beatles which is also a good candidate for best opening line. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2022, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-closing-lines-stanzas-in-songs/958878/20 "2022-02-04T03:17:38Z")
But let them all call me crazy gringo. I laugh as I pay all my bills. 'Cause what they don’t know down in Sonora Is this gringo is paying all his bills With the gold he discovered in their hills. Bobby G. Rice [Crazy Gringo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJyG1-fwpwc) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-closing-lines-stanzas-in-songs/958878.md?page=2)