Lines from songs that you think are brilliant

[FleetwoodRaincoat]

My absolute favourite is "We don't need no education", followed closely by "You're dressed to kill ... and guess who's dying?"

What are your favourites?

Most of what Scroobius Pip wrote is genius, but two standouts are

"You see a mousetrap; I see free cheese and a fucking challenge."

And

"The world don't revolve around you but it should. I ain't saying you're perfect but you're really really good."

Plus Courtney Barnett:

"I must confess I've made a mess of what should be a small success. But I digress, at least I've tried my very best I guess."

and The Housemartins:

"Don't shoot someone tomorrow that you can shoot today."

Bob Dylan Masters of War

I see through your eyes
And I see through your brain
Like i see through the water
That runs in my drain

Patience is like bread I say
I ran out of that yesterday

Lemonheads - It's About Time - a great song anyway - sang it many times at open mics
www.dailymotion.com/video/x5msy

If You Go Away

If you go away on this summer day
Then you might as well take the sun away
All the birds that flew in a summer sky
When our love was new and our hearts were high
When the day was young and the night was lo-ong
And the moon stood still for the night birds song
If you go away, If you go away, If you go away

But if you stay I'll make you a day
Like no day has been or will be again
We'll sail on the sun, we'll ride on the rain
We'll talk to the trees and worship the wind
Then if you go-o I'll understand
Leave me just enough love to fill up my hand
If you go away, If you go away, If you go away

If you go away as I know you must
There'll be nothin' left in the world to trust
Just an empty room full of empty space
Like the empty look I see on your face
Can I tell you now as you turn to go
I'll be dying slowly till your next hello
If you go away, If you go away, If you go away

But if you stay, I'll make you a night
Like no night has been or will be again
I'll sail on your smile, I'll ride on your touch
I'll talk to your eyes that I-I love so much
But if you go, I won't cry
Though all the good is gone from the world
When you tell me goodbye
If you go away, If you go away, If you go away

If you go away as I know you must
There'll be nothin' left in the world to trust
Just an empty room full of empty space
Like the empty look I see on your face
I would be the shadow of your shadow's shadow
If I thought it might have kept you by my side
Please dont go away

"Still your hands and still your heart
For still your face comes shining through
And all the morning glows anew
Still your soul and still your mind
For still the fire of our love is true
And I am breathless without you"

Nick Cave. Breathless.

"You're dressed to kill ... and guess who's dying?"

OP, at last I remember the origin of these words. You're a Roxy Music fan who appreciates their disco adventure, as do I! (Suspect the "dying" people were ladies who drooled too much over Bryan Ferry in his elegant prime.)

'At the age of 37
she realised she'd never ride
through Paris in a sports car
with the warm wind in her hair'

Ballad of Lucy Jordan - Marianne Faithful

@ofwarren

Pay your surgeon very well to break the spell of aging Celebrity skin, is this your chin, or is that war you're waging?

Californication RHCP

I always loved the line ‘space may be the final frontier but it’s made in a Hollywood basement’

You spend your time in smokey rooms
where haggled old women with cheap perfume say
"it never happens for people like us you know"
well nothing ever happened on it's own
and while the toilets smell of desperation
the streets all echo of aggregation
and you wonder why you cant get no sleep
when you've got nothing to do, and you've had nothing to eat
your life's slipping and sliding right out of view
and there's absolutely nothing that you can do, well

We'll live and die,
We'll live and die in these towns
Don't let it drag you down
Don't let it drag you down now

We'll live and die,
We'll live and die in these towns
Don't let it drag you down
Don't let it drag you down now

Dirty dishes from a tv meal that went cold from the wind through a smashed up window
You can't go out if anybody calls you cos you can't have a bath when there's no hot water
and your friends are out on the town again
and you ask yourself if it will ever end
and it's all too much for your head to take
just a matter of time before you break, well

We'll live and die,
We'll live and die in these towns
Don't let it drag you down
Don't let it drag you down now

The Enemy

Another Housemartins one -still relevant today

Feigning concern, a conservative pastime
Makes you feel doubtful right from the start
The expression she pulls is exactly like last time
You've got to conclude she just hasn't a heart

So many above that I love and a great thread - I’ll read through properly at leisure later.

‘He was trapped in a haircut he no longer believed in’ - the best of many incredible lines from ‘King James Version’ (Billy Bragg)

If you could close your eyes, and just remember… that this is what you wanted last night.

Underwear by Pulp. Always thought this was desperately sad.

@LongLive89

Some fabulous lyrics here…

Mine…

‘You call me up again just to break me like a promise. So casually cruel, in the name of being honest.’

Taylor Swift - All too well.

I think this has to be one of the greatest lyrics ever written, the woman is a genius! I cannot WAIT for all 10 minutes to be released!

And love the username!

@Beancounter1

Janis Ian, a lesser know seventies singer-songwriter. Especially her album 'Between the Lines':

Those people who surround you
Only want to see you weak enough to crawl
They'll lie for you decide for you
And buy up all your rights and all your wrongs
And they'll try to stop your singing
In the middle of your song
For they do not want you free
And they do not make you strong
But only drag you down
In the hole they're coming from.

They say you are foolish in wanting the sun
Say you are selfish in learning to run
And they'll tell you that the darkness
Is a blessing in disguise
For you never have to notice
If you're sighted or you're blind
And they'll do their best
To keep you from the light.

Between the Lines is one of my most favourite albums ever! Each song is perfect - the lyrics amazing, but none of them spoke to me as much as At Seventeen, when I was 17, and also always picked last for basketball (well netball, but I knew what she meant!!)

@Coffeeand

If you could close your eyes, and just remember… that this is what you wanted last night.

Underwear by Pulp. Always thought this was desperately sad.

And such truth! Pulp have some great lyrics.

Country songwriting I think is some of the best ever- the storytelling quite often blows my mind.

Just another soon to be classic from Taylor; "Leaving like a father, running like water, when you are young they assume you know nothing", Cardigan

This from Kacey Musgraves is stunning- the first time I heard the opening lines I knew it was a good one!

If you ain't got two kids by 21
You're probably gonna die alone
At least that's what tradition told you
And it don't matter if you don't believe
Come Sunday mornin', you best be there
In the front row like you're supposed to
Same hurt in every heart
Same trailer, different park
Mama's hooked on Mary Kay
Brother's hooked on Mary Jane
And Daddy's hooked on Mary two doors down
Mary, Mary quite contrary
We get bored, so we get married
Just like dust, we settle in this town
On this broken merry go 'round
And 'round and 'round we go
Where it stops nobody knows
And it ain't slowin' down
This merry go 'round
We think the first time's good enough
So, we hold on to high school love
Say we won't end up like our parents
Tiny little boxes in a row
Ain't what you want, it's what you know
Just happy in the shoes you're wearin'
Same checks we're always cashin'
To buy a little more distraction
'Cause mama's hooked on Mary Kay
Brother's hooked on Mary Jane
And Daddy's hooked on Mary two doors down
Mary, Mary, quite contrary
We get bored, so, we get married
Just like dust, we settle in this town
On this broken merry go 'round
And 'round and 'round we go
Where it stops nobody knows
And it ain't slowin' down
This merry go 'round
Mary, Mary, quite contrary
We're so bored until we're buried
Just like dust, we settle in this town
On this broken merry go 'round
Merry go 'round
Jack and Jill went up the hill
Jack burned out on booze and pills
And Mary had a little lamb
Mary just don't give a damn no more

When the rain came, I thought you'd leave
'Cause I knew how much you loved the sun
But you chose to stay, stay and keep me warm
Through the darkest nights, I've ever known
If the mandolin wind, couldn't change a thing
Then I know I love ya

Mandolin Wind - Rod Stewart.

Lovely to see Curtis Mayfield upthread. Wish there was a 'like' button.

Red, white, blue is in the sky
Summer's in the air and baby, heaven's in your eyes
I'm your national anthem

• National Anthem, Lana Del Rey

I come from down in the valley
Where, mister, when you're young
They bring you up to do like your daddy done
Me and Mary we met in high school
When she was just seventeen
We drive out of this valley
Down to where the fields were green
We'd go down to the river
And into the river we'd dive
Oh, down to the river we'd ride
Then I got Mary pregnant
And man, that was all she wrote
And for my nineteenth birthday
I got a union card and a wedding coat
We went down to the courthouse
And the judge put it all to rest
No wedding day smiles, no walk down the aisle
No flowers, no wedding dress
That night we went down to the river
And into the river we'd dive
Oh, down to the river we did ride
Yeah, yeah
I got a job working construction
For the Johnstown Company
But lately there ain't been much work
On account of the economy
Now all them things that seemed so important
Well mister they vanished right into the air
Now I just act like I don't remember
Mary acts like she don't care
But I remember us riding in my brother's car
Her body tan and wet, down at the reservoir
At night on them banks I'd lie awake
And pull her close just to feel each breath she'd take
Now those memories come back to haunt me
They haunt me like a curse
Is a dream a lie if it don't come true
Or is it something worse
That sends me down to the river
Though I know the river is dry
That sends me down to the river tonight
Down to the river
My baby and I
Oh, down to the river we ride-ide

• The River, Bruce Springsteen

@PlanetMJ

"Oh you're in my blood like holy wine You taste so bitter and so sweet Oh I could drink a case of you darling And I would still be on my feet Oh I would still be on my feet”

— Joni Mitchell, Case Of You

I remember that time you told me You said, "Love is touching souls" Surely you touched mine 'Cause part of you pours out of me In these lines from time to time

— ibid

Are you still training for the big race
By hoping the runners will die?

Some great ones shared so far! Hard to narrow it down, but here are a few:

1. Road to Joy, Bright Eyes - the whole song but especially these two

"Well I could have been a singer, if I had someone else's voice"

"No one ever plans to sleep out in the gutter
Sometimes that's just the most comfortable place"

1. Fidelity, Regina Spektor - such a fun song but also a great reflection on life

"This is how it works: you're young and until you're not
You love until you don't
You try until you can't
You laugh until you cry
You cry until you laugh
And everyone must breathe until their dying breath"

1. The Shins, Australia - the whole song is brilliant, great reflections on the human condition

"Faced with the dodo's conundrum
I felt like I could just fly
But nothing happened every time I tried"

1. Somebody Else, 1975 - the perfect song for when you're getting over someone but aren't quite there yet

"I'm looking through you while you're looking through your phone and then leaving with somebody else
No, I don't want your body but I'm picturing your body with somebody else"

1. America, Simon and Garfunkel - paints such an evocative picture of journeys across the US and existential angst

" 'Kathy, I'm lost', I said, though I knew she was sleeping
I'm empty and aching and I don't know why
Counting the cars on the New Jersey turnpike"

1. No Hard Feelings, Wolf Alice - a new one but already a favourite, reflecting on the demise of a relationship

"Would we ever have tied the knot
Well, how long is a piece of string?"

I don’t want to start any blasphemous rumours, but I think that God’s got a sick sense of humour and when I die, I expect to find him laughing.

Depeche Mode, Blasphemous Rumours

@Doubleraspberry

If I had $1 million, I would buy you a green dress - not a real green dress, that’s cruel.

Love this song 🥰

And I’m floating in a most peculiar way
And the stars look very different today
Bowie

The long and winding road
That leads to your door
Will never disappear
I’ve seen that road before
Beatles

Wham, bam thank you ma’am
Bowie again

Far beyond the hills,
Where earth and sky will meet again,
Are shadows like an opening hand.
Control the secrets
That I've yet to find, and wonder at
The light in which they stand.

(Leaf and Stream - Wishbone Ash)

Every night we light the candle
That stands beside our bed
But sometimes the flame's too much to handle
That's what you said
That's what you said
And you should know
Because you built a fire in me and you made it burn
You followed me watching every move
Matching every turn.

Your green eyes, they don't miss a thing
They hold me like the sun going down
Warm me like a fire in the night
Without a sound.

(Green Eyes - Kate Wolf. Definitely one of the most beautiful songs ever written: