# The best song lyrics of all time **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 13, 2004, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-song-lyrics-of-all-time/234033 "2004-03-13T04:13:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Talon\_Karrde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Talon\_Karrde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Talon_Karrde)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2004, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-song-lyrics-of-all-time/234033/21 "2004-03-13T18:57:42Z")
[Electric Six- Danger High Voltage](http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Danger-High-Voltage-lyrics-Electric-Six/0B03F56B4024D0C448256D5E00076617) [Echo and the Bunnymen- Thorn of Crowns](http://www.lyricsdir.com/e/echo-and-the-bunnymen/thorn-of-crowns.php) But seriously, Glen Phillips (who used to be in Toad the Wet Sprocket) is my favorite lyricist. ---
**Author:** ![A\_wizard\_song\_for\_thee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/46a35a/32.png) [@A\_wizard\_song\_for\_thee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A_wizard_song_for_thee)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2004, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-song-lyrics-of-all-time/234033/22 "2004-03-13T19:04:01Z")
I’m kind of shocked that it’s gotten this far into the thread and no one has mentioned Dylan. The Bob is the best rock lyricist of all time. There’s a reason it’s a cliche. Of course, there’s also Lou Reed, whose lyrics have always been witty, wise, and wonderful, but I don’t think he ever really mastered phrasing like Dylan did. And no, **Ianzin** , Cole Porter isn’t the best lyricist of all time. That honor falls to Lorenz Hart, IMHO. Especially when coupled with Richard Rodgers’s music. As far as more modern stuff goes, I’m partial to Stephin Merritt of, among other things, The Magnetic Fields. He’s sort of a throwback to the old days of Porter and Hart but with more modern music. ---
**Author:** ![cactus\_waltz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@cactus\_waltz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cactus_waltz)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2004, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-song-lyrics-of-all-time/234033/23 "2004-03-13T19:15:20Z")
> [@A wizard song for thee](#): > > I’m kind of shocked that it’s gotten this far into the thread and no one has mentioned Dylan. The Bob is the best rock lyricist of all time. There’s a reason it’s a cliche. > > As far as more modern stuff goes, I’m partial to Stephin Merritt of, among other things, The Magnetic Fields. He’s sort of a throwback to the old days of Porter and Hart but with more modern music. I just figured people didn’t bother to state the obvious. 😉 I love the Magnetic fields as well, I just purchased “69 love songs” and it has been spinning repeatedly in my stereo. Absolutely wonderful, and such a lovely voice Stephen has! ---
**Author:** ![JohnBckWLD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d6d6ee/32.png) [@JohnBckWLD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnBckWLD)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2004, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-song-lyrics-of-all-time/234033/24 "2004-03-13T20:22:45Z")
Snips only > [@Robbie Robertson](#): > > [Somewhere Down The Crazy River](http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Somewhere-Down-The-Crazy-River-lyrics-The-Band/C620137280E9CED548256B1B0013E1F2) > Yeah, I can see it now. The distant red neon shivered in the heat. I was feeling like a stranger in a strange land. You know where people play games with the night. God, it was too hot to sleep. I followed the sound of a jukebox coming from up the levee. All of a sudden I could hear somebody whistling from right behind me. I turned around and she said, “Why do you always end up down at Nick’s Cafe?” I said “I don’t know, the wind just kind of pushed me this way”… > [@Soul Coughing](#): > > [Screenwriter’s Blues](http://www.lyricsdepot.com/soul-coughing/screenwriters-blues.html) > …As the radioman says, 'It is 5 AM and the sun has charred the other side of > the world and come back to us and painted the smoke over our heads > an imperial violet. It is 5 AM and you are listening to Los Angeles… > [@Simon & Garfunkel](#): > > [For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her](http://www.lyricsfreak.com/s/simon-and-garfunkel/124640.html) > …And when you ran to me, your cheeks flushed with the night. We walked on frosted fields of juniper and lamplight. I held your hand. And when I awoke and felt you warm and near, I kissed your honey hair with my grateful tears… > [@Jackson Browne](#): > > [Hold On, Hold Out](http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/HOLD-ON-HOLD-OUT-lyrics-Jackson-Browne/C8FC0AAF64F9294648256A4D001D3810) > …You’re a hold out. Well I’m a hold out too. But it took me all this time to figure out something you already knew. Will love be true? Can it pull you through? How long? How strong? Some things depend on you…Anyway, I guess you wouldn’t know unless I told you–I love you. And just look at yourself–I mean what else would I do?.. > [@Bob Dylan](#): > > [Maggie’s Farm](http://www.bobdylan.com/songs/maggie.html) > …No, I ain’t gonna work for Maggie’s pa no more. Well, he puts his cigar out in your face just for kicks. His bedroom window it is made out of bricks. The National Guard stands around his door. Ah, I ain’t gonna work for Maggie’s pa no more… > [@Was Not Was](#): > > [I Feel Better Than James Brown](http://www.letssingit.com/lyrics/w/was-not-was/1.html) > …I was attending Mardi Gras with Fidel Castro. Buxom cross dressers threw fake gold coins at our feet as we discussed the fate of the revolution. Suddenly, CIA men dressed in bikinis tried to stab us with fountain pens. Fidel blew mustard gas through his cigar and immobalized the lot of them. Nineteen tequilas later we had a deal: Havana goes back to the mob and Fidel and I open a chain of Kentucky Fried Chicken shops… > [@Joan Baez](#): > > [Recently](http://baez.woz.org/Lyrics/recently.html) > …Recently the product of all our years, dressed in a navy blue blazer & headed for a first class school in the east. And I’d like to say he’s hardly a failure now. And neither are you on the second time around with a wife and a family. And the roses that lately arrived in the new baby’s eyes - So recently… > [@Blue Öyster Cult](#): > > [Mirrors](http://www.oldielyrics.com/lyrics/blue_oyster_cult/mirrors.html) > …A mirror is a negative space. With a frame and a place for your face. It reveals what the rest of us see, it conceals what you’d like it to be. Vanity’s a deadly sin - It’s what the flesh is packaged in. > [@Mike Agranoff](#): > > [Ballad of The Sandman](http://www.mikeagranoff.com/lyrics/Sandman.htm) > …When the broadcast room’s a living tomb of cracked accoustic tiles. And you’re left alone with your microphone, and your playlist, and your dials. Though the airwaves seem a graveyard of lifeless whitened bone, there’s always someone listening, and you’re really not alone. > [@Bob Dylan](#): > > [Talkin’ New York Blues](http://www.ebobdylan.com/lyrics/talkinny.html) > …Now, a very great man once said that some people rob you with a fountain pen. It didn’t take too long to find out just what he was talkin’ about. A lot of people don’t have much food on their table, but they got a lot of forks and knives and they gotta cut somethin… > [@Black Sabbath](#): > > [Killing Yourself To Live](http://www.lyricsstyle.com/b/blacksabbath/killingyourselftolive.html) > …I don’t know if I’m up or down. Whether black is white or blue is brown. The colors of my life are all different somehow. Little boy blue’s a big girl now… > [@Biafra / Ice T](#): > > [Shut Up, Be Happy!](http://www.lyrics007.com/Ice-T%20Lyrics/Shut%20Up,%20Be%20Happy%20Lyrics.html) > …Shut up, be happy. Obey all orders without question. The comfort you demanded is now mandatory. Be happy. At last everything is done for you. > [@Dada](#): > > [Here Today, Gone Tomorrow](http://www.lyricsdepot.com/dada/here-today-gone-tomorrow.html) > …So we went up to Hef’s to meet some bunnies. I saw Hugh, he was actin’ funny. He handed me some grass and a vodka & gin, that was about the time that Jack Webb walked in. He said, "Son I’m gonna tell you something and it ain’t pretty, “There’s a thousand ways to die in this naked city!”… ---
**Author:** ![JohnBckWLD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d6d6ee/32.png) [@JohnBckWLD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnBckWLD)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2004, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-song-lyrics-of-all-time/234033/25 "2004-03-13T20:23:51Z")
> [@don't ask](#): > > Frank Zappa _Call Any Vegetable_ > > Call any vegetable Pick up your phone > Think of a vegetable Lonely at home > Call any vegetable And the chances are good > That a vegetable will respond to you Especially beans or celery. ---
**Author:** ![Homer\_J](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c37758/32.png) [@Homer\_J](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homer_J)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2004, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-song-lyrics-of-all-time/234033/26 "2004-03-13T22:33:02Z")
jeff beck - last goodbye, and his version of cohen’s hallejuah(Sp wrong im sure), and dylan - tangled up in blue, like a rolling stone, shelter from the storm. ---
**Author:** ![J\_String](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ce73a5/32.png) [@J\_String](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/J_String)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2004, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-song-lyrics-of-all-time/234033/27 "2004-03-13T22:43:37Z")
Porcupine Tree’s “Collapse the Light Into Earth.” The second verse (below) especially. I won’t heal given time I won’t try to change your mind I won’t feel better in the cold light of day But I wouldn’t stop you if you wanted to stay Also verse 2 of “After Me” by Marillion (to the best of my memory): There’s a stray dog she feeds That she found in the street And he loves her to hold him But he won’t let her keep him And he claws at the door To be let out at night And she makes do without him And she worries about him… ---
**Author:** ![ZebraShaSha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/eada6e/32.png) [@ZebraShaSha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZebraShaSha)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2004, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-song-lyrics-of-all-time/234033/28 "2004-03-13T23:37:17Z")
They Might Be Giants - Fingertips The lyrics to this song have to be my favorite of all time. They seem like utter nonsense untill you consider them to be the life of a person. Then, it all falls together perfectly. From the baby being conceived inside a womb, “Everything is catching, yes, everything is catching on fire” to the person dying “Finger tiiiiiips” to him actually being dead “I walk alone, darkened corridor”; it just is awesome. I would consider it the apex of TMBG lyrical style, and they are some of my favorite lyricists. Actually, I would consider them to be the best lyricists of all time, for all of theirs has in outlet in someone. ---
**Author:** ![ZebraShaSha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/eada6e/32.png) [@ZebraShaSha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZebraShaSha)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2004, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-song-lyrics-of-all-time/234033/29 "2004-03-13T23:38:31Z")
Also, I am very fond of some of Sparklehorse’s lyrics, my favorite would go to _More Yellow Birds_ . It not only fits the music, they seem so multi-layered that it is amazing. I tend to feel the lyrics are about a guy going off to war, but that is just an idea. ---
**Author:** ![ccwaterback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2004, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-song-lyrics-of-all-time/234033/30 "2004-03-14T01:58:49Z")
A whiter shade of pale - Procol Harum. [http://www.xs4all.nl/~josvg/cits/sb/sb9u05.html](http://www.xs4all.nl/~josvg/cits/sb/sb9u05.html) All Along the Watchtower - Dylan. [http://www.bobdylan.com/songs/watchtower.html](http://www.bobdylan.com/songs/watchtower.html) ---
**Author:** ![Already\_in\_Use](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9adbd/32.png) [@Already\_in\_Use](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Already_in_Use)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2004, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-song-lyrics-of-all-time/234033/31 "2004-03-14T03:10:45Z")
> [@don't ask](#): > > Frank Zappa _Call Any Vegetable_ > > Call any vegetable Pick up your phone > Think of a vegetable Lonely at home > Call any vegetable And the chances are good > That a vegetable will respond to you “Just call… and tell them how you feel. About muffins… pumpkins… wax paper… Caledonia mahoganies elbows… And soon, a new rapport… You and your new little green and yellow buddies, grooving together, oh no! Maintaining your coolness together! Worshipping together in the church of your choice! _Only in America…_” From “Electric Aunt Jemima”: “Holidays And salad days And days of moldy mayonnaise Caress me, Caress me, Aunt Jemima” Or from “Flakes”: “Well, the toilet went crazy yesterday afternoon The plumber he says, “Never flush a tampon,” This great information cost me half a week’s pay, And the toilet blew up later on the next day-ee-ay-ee-ay!” “Dumb All Over”: “Listen, people, we can’t really be dumb, if we’re just following God’s orders! After all, He wrote this book here! And in the book, it says He made us all to be just like Him! So if we’re dumb, then GOD IS DUMB… And maybe even a little bit ugly on the side!” For more serious lyrics, I like Paul Simon’s lyrics in a lot of S & G songs, Jimi Hendrix, the Beatles, and the Kinks (although all of them have some humorous lyrics as well). ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2004, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-song-lyrics-of-all-time/234033/32 "2004-03-14T03:23:59Z")
Definitely the best lyric writer was **Cole Porter**. Everything he wrote was brilliant, and way ahead of anyone else. But for the single best lyric, I’d go with Ira Gershwin’s lyrics to “They Can’t Take That Away from Me.” No matter how many times you hear it, the word choices are still a surprise. If you want to limit things to rock, I’d pick Bruce Springsteen’s “Rosalita.” ---
**Author:** ![moejuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@moejuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moejuck)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2004, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-song-lyrics-of-all-time/234033/33 "2004-03-14T03:24:51Z")
[crooked fingers](http://www.crookedfingers.com/discography/bots.html) fronted by Eric Baughman of Archers of Loaf fame is worth a try. These guys write incredible lyrics, and many who have heard them compare the songwriting to Cohen and Zevon. Check them out, you won’t be dissapointed. moejuck ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2004, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-song-lyrics-of-all-time/234033/34 "2004-03-14T04:04:15Z")
Gotta go with **Warren Zevon**. For instance, we have this from _Desperadoes Under the Eaves_: \*I was sitting in the Hollywood Hawaiian hotel I was staring in my empty coffee cup I was thinking that the gypsy wasn’t lyin’ All the salty margueritas in Los Angeles I’m gonna drink 'em up And if California slides into the ocean like the mystics and statistics say it will I predict this hotel will be standing Until I pay my bill Don’t the sun look angry through the trees Don’t the trees look like crucified thieves Don’t you feel like desperadoes under the eaves Heaven help the one who leaves. … Still waking up in the mornings with shaking hands And I’m trying to find a girl who understands me But except in dreams you’re never really free Don’t the sun look angry at me \* etc. ---
**Author:** ![Gotti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7bcc69/32.png) [@Gotti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gotti)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2004, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-song-lyrics-of-all-time/234033/35 "2004-03-14T04:13:14Z")
Happy birthday to you Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday dear (name here) Happy birthday to you. ok so I like em simple…and when I was a little kid I loved this song. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2004, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-song-lyrics-of-all-time/234033/36 "2004-03-14T04:15:15Z")
Whats the over-under for when the warning about reprinting copyrighted lyrics comes up? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![drm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e57/32.png) [@drm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drm)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2004, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-song-lyrics-of-all-time/234033/37 "2004-03-14T04:26:27Z")
The Matthew Good Band has my favorite lyrics, my favorite song being “Apparitions”. ---
**Author:** ![gum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bbe5ce/32.png) [@gum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gum)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2004, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-song-lyrics-of-all-time/234033/38 "2004-03-14T05:43:48Z")
[“Vincent” by Don McLean](http://www.vangoghgallery.com/misc/mclean.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Hrd2hndl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8dc957/32.png) [@Hrd2hndl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hrd2hndl)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2004, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-song-lyrics-of-all-time/234033/39 "2004-03-14T07:21:06Z")
“I need my conscience to keep watch over me To protect me from myself So I can wear honesty like a crown on my head When I walk into the promised land We’ve been too long American dreaming I think we’ve all lost the way Fear long somnambulistic maniacal in the dark” ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2004, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-song-lyrics-of-all-time/234033/40 "2004-03-14T07:51:47Z")
I’ll toss another vote to **Vincent**. One of the most beautiful songs ever sung. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-song-lyrics-of-all-time/234033.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-song-lyrics-of-all-time/234033.md?page=3)