“The tune you’ll be humming forever, all the words all replaced and wrong” - Letter From An Occupant by The New Pornographers feat. Neko Case
“What left to do but complain? You better find someone to blame!” - Get Over It by OK-Go
“God looks like a guidance counsellor, God’s got that smile” - Alleluia by Dar Williams (the whole song is genius though)
If I can get away with a ‘not-quite-a-one-liner’ then:
“She said “of course I love you. Of course I love you as a friend”
If I hear that just one more time I’ll cut both my ears off, I swear
But I swear things all the time” - The Hole In My Heart by The Dawn Parade
or even
“Closed circuit cameras in department stores shoot the same movie every day
And the stars of these films neither die not get killed
Just survive constant action replay.” - Nothing Ever Happens by Del Amitri
Okay, sorry, I have to ask, and not just because it’s one of the most beguiling lyrics of all time . . . bluecanary in the aisle by the light switch, who watches over you?
Twice shy and dog tired be cause you’re been bitten
Everything you say now sounds like it was ghost-written
Elvis Costello - New Amsterdam
Helplessly F*&ked in the ass by a legion of 40 ex-cons
That’s what it feels like when you walk all over me
Oingo Boingo - Helpless
Apparently nobody’s happy in heaven
All the lights are too bright and the music is always too loud
And people’d be shocked if you told them they’re spending their life everafter
On a cold and uncomfortable cloud
Frazier Chorus - Heaven (possibly misquoted)
Tiny voices, echoes of our heritage,
Our long and sallow faces turn the other way,
Tiny voices, harbored deep within
As we outwardly deny that they have something to say,
And if we don’t confront them they will never go away
Bad Religion - Tiny Voices
Howzabout a knuckle sandwich
A side of fries and and iced cold bevarage?
Howzabout a mout full of fist
Gonna ram it in cram it in right to my wrist
Stretch Armstrong - Knuckle Sandwich
The BEST line EVER from ANY song ANYWHERE follows:
“Now I have to get off my knees, because I have some shopping to do.”
–Diamanda Galas in “Do You Take This Man?” from The Sporting Life, her collaboration with John Paul Jones, the source of such other gems as “Hide all the knives, cuz Baby’s insane,” and “My teeth are in your brain, I feel your pain.”
And let’s not forget JoCarol Pierce, whose Bad Girls Upset By the Truth includes such lines as: “Friends are great, but for a truly exciting life you must have strangers,” and “Men are a pack of animals, but you have got to capture yourself one to protect you from all the rest.”
And Stephin Merritt has written such lyrics as “Give me another chance. I won’t make you happy, but you’ll never be happy anyway,” and “On a ferris wheel, on a night on Coney Island/There were more stars than there are prostitutes in Thailand.”
Critics at their worst could never criticize the way that you do
no, there’s no one else, I find, to undermine or dash a hope quite like you
and you do it so casually, too
Aimee Mann, Nothing is Good Enough
Now that I’ve met you, would you object to never seeing each other again?
Aimee Mann, Deathly
I swear that I do listen to music from other artists, but these two phrases stick to me. Actually fairly relevant in the context of my life.
Critics at their worst could never criticize the way that you do
no, there’s no one else, I find, to undermine or dash a hope quite like you
and you do it so casually, too
Aimee Mann, Nothing is Good Enough
Now that I’ve met you, would you object to never seeing each other again?
Aimee Mann, Deathly
I swear that I do listen to music from other artists, but these two phrases stick to me. Actually fairly relevant in the context of my life.
Now the damage’s done and we’re back out on the run
Funny how everything was roses when we held onto the guns
Just because your winning don’t mean you’re the lucky one.