# 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:** 16\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![epepke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9de0a6/32.png) [@epepke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epepke)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2004, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-song-lyrics-of-all-time/234033/41 "2004-03-14T08:06:30Z")
Since we seem to be on a Zappa kick, from _Jesus Thinks You’re a Jerk_ _With a Ku Klux mumu in the back of the truck If ya ain’t born again, they wanna mess you up Screamin’ no abortion, no sirree Life’s too precious, can’t you see. What’s that hangin’ from a neighbor’s tree? Why it looks like colored folk to me._ ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2004, 9:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-song-lyrics-of-all-time/234033/42 "2004-03-14T09:04:19Z")
I think this will be my second post telling **Sam Stone** that I agree about Desperadoes Under the Eaves. Especially the verse about the hotel bill. ---
**Author:** ![spiralscratch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dfb087/32.png) [@spiralscratch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spiralscratch)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2004, 9:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-song-lyrics-of-all-time/234033/43 "2004-03-14T09:12:31Z")
No mention of Bob Mould? “Sacrifice / Let There Be Peace” \*If I ride on the rails I shall ride them alone And if I need all this pain I will find it alone If I’m wanted for leaving I will leave here alone And if I can’t resist this Then I am unfit to go on A simple solution is all I require If fire is the passion I only aspire to be free Let me be free If the strain on your conscience gets under your skin And leads you to making a sacrifice Sacrifice me Let there be peace To the grave from the cradle We don’t rock anymore Now I stand here with both feet Planted firm on the floor And if you’re planning a future Of indefinite grace You’d better start removing The lines of deceit from your face A simple conclusion is all I require If fire is the passion I only aspire to be free Let me be free And all of the hypocrites lie through their teeth Talk about making a sacrifice Sacrifice me Let there be peace How much longer can all this go on? How many more choices can one person have? And all of the questions with no proper answers Continue continue Have to go on have to go on have to go on Should I bend down and worship the ground Of the beautiful people who live without flaws? Success is a virtue to share with the world But failure’s a lesson that’s best learned alone Respect is a virtue that strong men command But when words become weapons There’ll be peace in the valley of death when I rise Peace in the valley of death when I rise\* ---
**Author:** ![Odinoneeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/97f17d/32.png) [@Odinoneeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odinoneeye)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2004, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-song-lyrics-of-all-time/234033/44 "2004-03-14T09:13:31Z")
As a parent, I’ve always found The Cradle Song by Shriekback moving. “I remember your face as you cried for the first time The cold air of the world and the fierce light of day and the cruel separation in a world washed with tears numbed with pain to unfeeling may you hold to your truth as you walk the dark light of unreason” ---
**Author:** ![Windwalker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/5e9695/32.png) [@Windwalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Windwalker)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2004, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-song-lyrics-of-all-time/234033/45 "2004-03-14T10:47:34Z")
I think Simon & Garfunkel consistently have the best lyrics of anyone I’m familiar with; my favorites include Sounds of Silence, Wednesday Morning 3 AM, The Boxer, and Feelin’ Groovy (in the lyrics department). But perhaps the lyrics that move me the most are from Barbara’s “Gottingen”: > [@](#): > > Bien sûr ce n’est pas la Seine > Ce n’est pas le Bois de Vincennes > Mais c’est bien joli tout de même > A Gottingen, à Gottigen > Pas de quais et pas de rengaines > Qui se lamentent et qui se traînent > Mais l’amour y fleurit quand même > A Gottingen, à Gottingen > > 1-Ils savent mieux que nous je pense > L’histoire de nos rois de France > Herman, Peter, Elga et Hans, > A Gottingen > Et que personne ne s’offense > Mais les contes de notre enfance > “It était une fois” commencent > A Gottingen > Bien sûr nous nous avons la Seine > Et puis notre bois de Vincenne > Mais Dieu que les roses sont belles > Nous nous avons nos matins blêmes > Et l’aube grise de Verlaine > Eux c’est la mélancolie même > A Gottingen, à Gottingen > > 2- Quand ils ne savent rien nous dire > Ils restent là à nous sourire > Mais nous les comprenons quand même > Les enfants blonds de Gottingen > Et tant pis pour ceux qui s’étonnent > Et que les autres me pardonnent > Mais les enfants ce sont les mêmes > A Paris ou à Gottingen > Faites que jamais ne revienne > Le temps du sang et de la haine > Car il y a des gens que j’aime > A Gottingen, à Gottingen > > Final: > Et lorsque sonnerait l’alarme > S’il fallait reprendre les armes > Mon coeur verserait une larme > Pour Gottingen, pour Gottingen. In this song, Barbara describes the German city of Gottingen, and relates it to her hometown of Paris. She highlights the differences, but maintains that both cities have their own unique and essential beauty, in its environs and people. She states that the people are not really so different, that the children are basically the same, and that she has people she cares for there. Throughout the song is a curtain of sadness, a memory of WWII, and one of forgiveness as well. She prays that war and bloodshed never appears again, for her heart would shed a tear not only for her Paris, but for Gottingen, city of her country’s traditional enemy, as well. What really gets me is that Barbara herself was a French Jew born in 1930, and her family was denounced during the Nazi invasion and had to flee to the countryside and hide out for the duration of the war. Her voice is hauntingly expressive, and while no song has ever made me cry, Gottingen has come very close. ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2004, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-song-lyrics-of-all-time/234033/46 "2004-03-14T15:40:01Z")
“The Boxer” by S&G. Poetry set to music. I use one of their lines, “Still a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest” as my sig line on occasion. Then there’s “The Sound of Silence.” Just the concept of the sound of silence is a great image. Then there’s “I’d give up forever to touch you” from the Goo-Goo Dolls’ “Iris.” Great hook, sexiest line. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2004, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-song-lyrics-of-all-time/234033/47 "2004-03-14T15:49:40Z")
I absolutely love the songs of Jacques Brel. Also Joni Mitchell. Pretty much every song on her first three albums. Small samples that really stand out for me: [The Dawntreader](http://www.jonimitchell.com/JM68LyricsHome.html) > [@](#): > > Peridots and periwinkle blue medallions > Gilded galleons spilled across the ocean floor > Treasure somewhere in the sea and he will find where > Never mind their questions there’s no answer for > The roll of the harbor wake > The songs that the rigging makes > The taste of the spray he takes > And he learns to give > He aches and he learns to live > He stakes all his silver > On a promise to be free > Mermaids live in colonies > All his seadreams come to me [The Gallery](http://www.jonimitchell.com/Clouds69LyricsHome.html) > [@](#): > > Somewhere in a magazine > I found a page about you > I see that now it’s Josephine > Who cannot be without you > I keep your house in fit repair > I dust the portraits daily > Your mail comes here from everywhere > The writing looks like ladies’ > > “Lady, please love me now, I am dead > I am a saint, turn down your bed > I have no heart,” that’s what you said > You said, “I can be cruel > But let me be gentle with you” ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2004, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-song-lyrics-of-all-time/234033/48 "2004-03-14T15:51:48Z")
Oh! How could I forget Tom Waites? The simple stories beautifully told in _Martha_ and _Kentucky Avenue_ get me bawling every time. ---
**Author:** ![Astroboy14](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/df705f/32.png) [@Astroboy14](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astroboy14)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2004, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-song-lyrics-of-all-time/234033/49 "2004-03-14T22:09:18Z")
No mentions of **Pink Floyd**? _If you don’t eat your meat, you can’t have any pudding!/ How can you have pudding if you don’t eat your meat?_ That pretty much sums up every life lesson I’ve ever learned. 🆒 ---
**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, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-song-lyrics-of-all-time/234033/50 "2004-03-14T23:03:34Z")
No thread about great lyrics could be complete without mentioning **John Prine**. Consider **Sam Stone** : - Sam Stone, came home, To his wife and family After serving in the conflict overseas. And the time that he served, Had shattered all his nerves, And left a little shrapnel in his knee. But the morphine eased the pain, And the grass grew round his brain, And gave him all the confidence he lacked, With a Purple Heart, and a monkey on his back. Chorus: There’s a hole in daddy’s arm, where all the money goes, Jesus Christ died for nothin I suppose. Little pitchers have big ears, Don’t stop to count the years, Sweet songs never last too long on broken radios. Mmm… \* One of my favorite songs. Or there’s this, from **Angel From Montgomery** : - I am an old woman named after my mother My old man is another child that’s grown old If dreams were lightning thunder was desire This old house would have burnt down a long time ago Chorus: Make me an angel that flies from Montgom’ry Make me a poster of an old rodeo Just give me one thing that I can hold on to To believe in this living is just a hard way to go \* Or this stanza from **Hello in There** : - We had an apartment in the city, Me and Loretta liked living there. Well, it’d been years since the kids had grown, A life of their own, Left us alone. John and Linda live in Omaha, And Joe is somewhere on the road. We lost Davy in the Korean war, And I still don’t know what for, Don’t matter anymore. Chorus: Ya know that old trees just grow stronger, And old rivers grow wilder ev’ry day. Old people just grow lonesome Waiting for someone to say, “Hello in there, hello.” \* Prine doesn’t right flowery, poetic prose. What he is, however, is a master of imagery. Listening to his music, you can see the scene he’s describing in front of your eyes. The music sets the atmosphere, and it matches perfectly. But the lyrics are simple but haunting. Conder this from **Mexican Home** : - It got so hot last night I swear you couldn’t hardly breathe heat lightning burnt the sky like alcohol I sat on the porch without my shoes and I watched the cars roll by as the headlights raced to the corner of the kitchen wall. Chorus: Mama dear your boy is here far across the sea waiting for that sacred core that burns inside of me and I feel a storm all wet and warm not ten miles away approaching my Mexican home. \* Can’t you just picture that scene? A hot summer night on a poor farm, moisture in the air. Heat lightning off in the distance, signifying one hell of a summer thunderstorm on the way. I can just picture Prine sitting on that porch. The song continues: \*My God! I cried it’s so hot inside you could die in the living room take the fan from the window prop the door back with a broom \* And now you can just imagine the kind of house this is - an old ranch house, probably. It’s got an old fan sitting in the window to try and exhaust hot air out the house. Old interior doors, propped back with brooms to try to keep the air moving. The song ends: - My father died on the porch outside on an August afternoon I sipped bourbon and cried with a friend by the light of the moon so its hurry! hurry! step right up it’s a matter of life or death the sun is going down and the moon is just holding its breath. \* Then the chorus again. It’s a wonderful song. ---
**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, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-song-lyrics-of-all-time/234033/51 "2004-03-14T23:08:43Z")
Mr. Siegal - Tom Waits [http://www.oldielyrics.com/lyrics/tom\_waits/mr\_siegal.html](http://www.oldielyrics.com/lyrics/tom_waits/mr_siegal.html) i spent all my money in a mexican whorehouse, across the street from a catholic church, and then i wiped off my revolver, and i buttoned up my burgundy shirt, i shot the morning in the back, with my red wings on, i told the sun he’d better go back down, and if i can find a book of matches, i’m goin’ to burn this hotel down. you got to tell me brave captain, why are the wicked so strong, how do the angels get to sleep, when the devil leaves the porchlight on. ---
**Author:** ![ZebraShaSha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/eada6e/32.png) [@ZebraShaSha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZebraShaSha)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2004, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-song-lyrics-of-all-time/234033/52 "2004-03-14T23:18:16Z")
Can I post three times in a thread like this? Oh well, I am going to try… Camper Van Beethoven - All Her Favorite Fruit [lyrics](http://www.lyricscrawler.com/song/130079.html) _I drive alone, home from work And I always think of her Late at night I call her But I never say a word And I can see her squeeze the phone between her chin and shoulder And I can almost smell her breath faint with a sweet scent of decay She serves him mashed potatoes And she serves him peppered steak, with corn …snip… We’d play croquet behind white-washed walls and drink our tea at four Within intervention’s distance of the embassy The midday air grows thicker with the heat And drifts towards the line of trees When negroes blink their eyes, they sink into siesta And we are rotting like a fruit underneath a rusting roof We dream our dreams and sing our songs of the fecundity Of life and love…_ To me, it compares a slave under the British Empire to a guy who feels like a slave in his relationship. That, my friends, is good song writing. ---
**Author:** ![manx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/65b543/32.png) [@manx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manx)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2004, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-song-lyrics-of-all-time/234033/53 "2004-03-14T23:45:14Z")
also just about every song in the Buffy the Vampre Slayer Musical episode **Once More With Feeling** , Especially **Walk through The Fire** **Life’s a Show** and **Where do we go from here**. I know it’s sad to find lyrical goodness in an episode of Buffy, but the songs are just bloody good. ---
**Author:** ![supernerd23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ba9def/32.png) [@supernerd23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/supernerd23)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2004, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-song-lyrics-of-all-time/234033/54 "2004-03-14T23:59:45Z")
I’ll second Jeff Buckley for Last Goodbye - truly an excellent song I’d put Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam on the list, Black being my favorite song by them ---
**Author:** ![manx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/65b543/32.png) [@manx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manx)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2004, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-song-lyrics-of-all-time/234033/55 "2004-03-15T00:08:01Z")
Best lyrics ever? Well I’d have to give it hands down to a rathe obscure song called **George** by **The Headless Chickens**. It’s kind of obscure because if you’re not from new Zealand or Australia you proabably won’t have heard it. And even if you are, you still proabably won’t have. Anyway, it’s a wonderfully angry song, based on a real person according to the singer/songwriter Fiona Macdonald. When I first heard it I fell in love with it, and it’s always stayed with me. ```php You know you don't love me but you still want to touch me feel my body and it makes me feel ugly wanna use me emotionally abuse me Show the rope and dangle it above me Want the truth and nothing but the whole truth same words but I'm looking for the real proof on the floor there's a little piece of paper got a name but that'll came later It would seem that you're no good at deceit It would appear that you lie and you cheat Wanna shriek to the beings in the corner Wanna howl cause it feels like torture Spare me your weak apologies I don't care for the way to make me bleed Can't find a reason and you won't explain you'll be sorry if it happens again Let's make a deal, Or I'll hurt you you know Bleed a path to my door, Why why why? Say all the things you've said before Why, Why? Tell me the Gospel according to you **Best single lyric EVER!** (chorus) you Know you don't love me but you still want to touch me Feel my body and it makes me feel ugly Wanna use me emotionally abuse me Show the rope and dangle it above me X2 Let's make a deal, Or I'll hurt you you know You haven't a notion and you haven't a clue You have to know that I cannot trust you now I know too well your ways Now I know i'll always pay So I sit in my room not daring to move never raising my voice and thinking of you and I try to imagine that we never met Try to pretend and I try to forget Let's make a deal, Or I'll hurt you you know. . . Bleed a path to my door Why why why? Say all the things you've said before Why, Why tell me the Gospel according to you (Chorus) X3 ``` ---
**Author:** ![manx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/65b543/32.png) [@manx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manx)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2004, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-song-lyrics-of-all-time/234033/56 "2004-03-15T04:52:55Z")
Rar. :mad: Always, always logout. Otherwise your brother will make you look like a fool by posting the complete lyrics, instead of a link. (And I can make a complete fool of mself without any help, thankyouverymuch!) Mods, feel free to remove/edit the above post, very sorry. And my contribution to the best lyrics ever would have to be _the Piano has been Drinking_ by Tom Waits. [link](http://www.officialtomwaits.com/music/m_sc_lyr.htm#Piano_Has_Been_Drinking) Actually any Tom Waits makes it onto my list. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-song-lyrics-of-all-time/234033.md?page=2)