Lyrics that stand out

[DonMoose]

So, there are a few lines from a few songs that really grab my ear

- Some will fall in love with life and drink it like a fountain
That is pouring like an avalanche, comin' down a mountain
-- Pepper, B'hole Surfers

- It's like a book, elegantly bound,
But in a language you can't read [just yet]
-- I Will Possess Your Heart, Death Cab for Cutie

- Instead fear sits patiently
Fear almost smiles when you finally see him
Though you have kept him waiting for thirty-three years
And now he has let himself in
And he has brought you fistfuls of teenage nightmares
-- Parameters, Ani Di Franco

What grabs you?

[NitroLiq]

I was drowning my sorrows but my sorrows learned to swim—End of the World, U2

[skyboltone]

I was burned out from exhaustion, buried in the hail
Poisoned in the bushes, blown out on the trail
Hunted like a crocodile, ravaged in the storm
Come in, she said, I'll give ya, shelter from the storm

BD, Shelter from the Storm

[Bob-I]

Start me up, you got me licking like a pork chop - Mick Jagger

[dartanion]

Oh, Fee, you're trying to live a life
That's completely free
Floyd is dead; he's nothing but a ripple
Cause Milly took that paper
And sliced him on the nipple

[deiseldave]

It's always the awful lyrics that catch my ear. Their path to survival would seem to be as perilous as a baby sea turtle's. Yet the crappy lyric thrives and multiplies. There should be a Discovery Channel special on it.
(in the voice of Leonard Nimoy) Cloaked in hypnotically repetitive melodies and rhythms, they scramble past the many dangers of quality control, unnoticed. Finally, reaching the airwaves, they float clumsily over the warm tides of commercial airplay, and into our ears. Then, like audio earwigs, they eat through hosts brains, on a relentless march towards a spot on the charts. After living a very long, full, and boring life, they instinctively migrate to sacred breeding grounds, cast seed onto thousands of club band set lists, and parisitically use the bodies of "cover singers", who unwittingly spew them back into the air again, completing the circle of futility.
Lyrics like "I wish that I could fly, so very high, just like a butterfly" are proof that crap is an essential part of the cosmos.

[drhulsey]

I just run in to my baby and finally found my old blue jeans.
I done ran in to my baby and finally found my old blue jeans.
I could tell that they was mine by the oil and gasoline.
ZZ Top, Blue Jean Blues

When you wake up in the mornin', and the light has hurt yo' head'
The first thing you do when you get up outa bed
Is hit that street a' runnin' and try to meet the masses
And go get yourself some cheap sunglasses
ZZ Top, Cheap Sunglasses

How could you leave out ZZ Top Masters of the spoken word

[DonMoose]

It's always the awful lyrics that catch my ear. --snippage--
Lyrics like "I wish that I could fly, so very high, just like a butterfly" are proof that crap is an essential part of the cosmos.

My all-time nadir in this category is VanHaggar's 'Only time will tell if we stand the test of time.'

[CaseyJones]

Sid Vicious, "I Did It My Way". All of it.

I love to hear either Sid or Tom Waits butcher Sinatra. Sid's dead, Franky is dead but Mr. Waits lives on. I'm a big fan.

Killer guitar tones there, too.

[NitroLiq]

There's a lady who's sure... Okay...someone had to do it.

[CaseyJones]

I'll venture that it depends on who sings the lyric.

The Beatles can sing, "yeah, yeah, yeah" and it's more meaningful than if I sing it.

Hendrix can say, "Yeah, baby" and it's cool 'cuz he was Jimi. Bootsy Collins can say, "Yeah, baby" just about every other phrase. It's cool 'cuz it's Bootsy.

Me, the only time I get away with "Yeah, baby" is when the penny slots pay out on the senior bus trip to the casino.

[CaseyJones]

It's always the awful lyrics that catch my ear. Their path to survival would seem to be as perilous as a baby sea turtle's. Yet the crappy lyric thrives and multiplies. There should be a Discovery Channel special on it.
(in the voice of Leonard Nimoy) Cloaked in hypnotically repetitive melodies and rhythms, they scramble past the many dangers of quality control, unnoticed. Finally, reaching the airwaves, they float clumsily over the warm tides of commercial airplay, and into our ears. Then, like audio earwigs, they eat through hosts brains, on a relentless march towards a spot on the charts. After living a very long, full, and boring life, they instinctively migrate to sacred breeding grounds, cast seed onto thousands of club band set lists, and parisitically use the bodies of "cover singers", who unwittingly spew them back into the air again, completing the circle of futility.
Lyrics like "I wish that I could fly, so very high, just like a butterfly" are proof that crap is an essential part of the cosmos.

That in itself is poetic.

Let's not forget... once the record company has milked every dime they can out of a tune, once they've screwed the artist outta royalties under the guise of "works for hire"... better yet, once the artist drops dead and there's only his or her estate to defend royalty rights to the song... that's when it's gonna experience a re-birth as the track under some commercial.

[sliberty]

If it wasn't for bad luck, I wouldn't have no luck at all....
[Born Under a Bad Sign]

[tubetek]

"Well, They want us to eat shit and say thanks-
They want a hedge o' paper you can take it to the bank-
Well I scratched their back but I still got My itch-
Singin' Sammy can't drive 55 and I'm headed for the ditch: Yeah
I got up in a drunk, My head was swimmin'-
I had this dream and it was not about women-
I saw this hippie and I think it was Neil Young-
He said "I heard your song, it's already been sung-
Then He handed Me a mouth-harp and a cold-plate sandwich-
Got in the ancient Cadillac and headed for the ditch-
Ol' Neil got in that ancient Cadillac and headed for the ditch; see Ya...
Bottlerockets "Headed For The Ditch" from Brand New Year

+1 for about anything from Dylan's Blood On The Tracks
tubetek

[deiseldave]

I'll venture that it depends on who sings the lyric.

The Beatles can sing, "yeah, yeah, yeah" and it's more meaningful than if I sing it.

Hendrix can say, "Yeah, baby" and it's cool 'cuz he was Jimi. Bootsy Collins can say, "Yeah, baby" just about every other phrase. It's cool 'cuz it's Bootsy.

Me, the only time I get away with "Yeah, baby" is when the penny slots pay out on the senior bus trip to the casino.

Interesting concept. So, a pathetic lyric can be redeemed if it is puked up by a super hero. It guess it makes sense. You know, come to think about it, I did forgive William Shatner for singing (or reciting) “Lucy in the sky” and “Rocket Man”. Why ?, Be ____ cause, ____ he _____ was ______ Captain ______ Kirk !!
If any rockers were to deserve lyrical forgiveness, it would certainly have to be the Beatles and Hendrix. Hell, they are practically the Leo and Les of classic rock.
We’re actually lucky Hendrix wasn’t on a lyrical level with someone like Dylan. That would be a Zappa-like creature that the mainstream could not ignore (the way the did Frank), and there would just be no point in anybody else ever creating another song. Ever !!
Besides, I suspect Hendrix was aware that his lyric writing was not his greatest skill, and that is cool. Nobody’s perfect. Maybe that is why he looked up to Dylan so much.
I will have to contemplate the “lyrical forgiveness for heros” concept some more. But, so far, I think I like it. Maybe I’ll adopt it, and then, declare amnesty for a large portion of songwriters that I have kept detained in my mind’s doo-doo filled dungeons, for their hackneyed lines.
Then, I can fill the dungeons with that much more stinky, toxic, and flammable doo-doo for the likes of real evil-doers, like Kip Michaels and Bret Winger.