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.
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.
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*
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”
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”:
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.
“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.
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
Oh! How could I forget Tom Waites? The simple stories beautifully told in Martha and Kentucky Avenue get me bawling every time.
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. 
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.
Mr. Siegal - Tom Waits
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.
Can I post three times in a thread like this? Oh well, I am going to try…
Camper Van Beethoven - All Her Favorite Fruit
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.
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.
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
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.
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) X3Rar. :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
Actually any Tom Waits makes it onto my list.