Song lyrics that are like poetry

[Bluetitnest]

I like a friend to many is a friend to none

George Michael, Praying for Time

These are the days of the empty hand
Oh, you hold on to what you can
And charity is a coat you wear twice a year
This is the year of the guilty man
Your television takes a stand
And you find that what was over there is over here
So you scream from behind your door
Say what's mine is mine and not yours
I may have too much but I'll take my chances
'Cause God's stopped keeping score
And you cling to the things they sold you
Did you cover your eyes when they told you
That he can't come back 'cause he has no children
To come back for?
It's hard to love
There's so much to hate
Hanging on to hope
When there is no hope to speak of
And the wounded skies above
Say it's much too late
So maybe we should all be praying for time.

I should have said it is Northern Skies. I Am Kloot.

Back in the day you had been part of the smart set
You'd holidayed with kings, dined out with starlets
From London to New York, Cap Ferrat to Capri
In perfume by Chanel and clothes by Givenchy
You sipped camparis with David and Peter
At Noel's parties by Lake Geneva
Scaling the dizzy heights of high society
Armed only with a cheque-book and a family tree

You chased the sun around the Cote d'Azur
Until the light of youth became obscured
And left you on your own and in the shade
An English lady of a certain age
And if a nice young man would buy you a drink
You'd say with a conspiratorial wink
"You wouldn't think that I was seventy"
And he'd say, "no, you couldn't be!"

etc

Lady of a Certain Age by The Divine Comedy, I think it’s based on some of the characters from Noel Cowards autobiography.

"Eleanor Rigby,
puts on a face that she keeps in a jar by the door.
Who is it for?"

Possibly the most perfect metaphor to ever be used in a song...

Genesis - Undertow:

Better think awhile
Or I may never think again
If this were the last day of your life, my friend
Tell me, what do you think you would do then?
Stand up to the blow that fate has struck upon you
Make the most of all you still have coming to you
Lay down on the ground and let the tears run from you
Crying to the grass and trees and heaven finally on your knees
Let me live again, let life come find me wanting
Spring must strike again against the shield of winter
Let me feel once more the arms of love surround me
Telling me the danger's past, I need not fear the icy blast again

Donovan- Catch the wind

In the chilly hours and minutes
Of uncertainty, I want to be
In the warm hold of your loving mind

To feel you all around me
And to take your hand, along the sand
Ahh, but I may as well try and catch the wind

When sundown pales the sky
I want to hide awhile, behind your smile
And everywhere i'd look your eyes I'd find

For me to love you now
Would be the sweetest thing
That would make me sing
Ah but I may as well try and catch the wind

When rain has hung the leaves with tears
I want you near, to kill my fears
To help me to leave all my blues behind

For standing in your heart
Is where I want to be, and I long to be
Ah but I may as well try and catch the wind.

So many of Bob Dylan's lyrics, but these lines especially :
"To dance beneath the diamond sky
With one hand waving free
Silhouetted by the sea
Circled by the circus sands
With all memory and fate
Driven deep beneath the waves
Let me forget about today until tomorrow. "

Leonard Cohen - Hey That’s No Way to Say Goodbye

I loved you in the morning our kisses deep and warm
Your hair across the pillow like a sleepy golden storm
Yes many went before us, I know that we are not new
In city and in forest, they smiled like me and you
But now it’s come to distance and both of us must try
Your eyes are soft with sorrow
Hey, that’s no way to say goodbye.

I’m not looking for another as I wander in my time
Walk me to the corner, our steps will always rhyme
You know my love goes with you as your love stays with me
Its just the way it changes, like the shoreline and the sea
But let’s not talk of love or chains and things we can’t untie
Your eyes are soft with sorrow
Hey, that’s no way to say goodbye.

I loved you in the morning, our kisses deep and warm
Your hair upon the pillow like a sleepy golden storm
Yes, many loved before us, I know that we are not new
In city and in forest, they smiled like me and you
But let’s not talk of love or chains and things we can’t untie
Your eyes are soft with sorrow
Hey, that’s no way to say goodbye.

Billy Joel

In every heart there is a room
A sanctuary safe and strong
To heal the wounds from lovers past
Until a new one comes along

I spoke to you in cautious tones
You answered me with no pretense
And still I feel I said too much
My silence is my self defense

But if my silence made you leave
Then that would be my worst mistake
So I will share this room with you
And you can have this heart to break

Every time I've held a rose
It seems I only felt the thorns
And so it goes, and so it goes
And so will you soon, I suppose

I would choose to be with you
That's if the choice were mine to make
But you can make decisions too
And you can have this heart to break

Last night I heard the screaming
Loud voices behind the wall
Another sleepless night for me
It won't do no good to call
The police
Always come late, if they come at all

That idea you had of me, who was she?
A never-needy, ever-lovely jewel who's shine reflects on you
Not weeping in a party bathroom
Some actress asking me what happened
You
That's what happened, you
You who charmed my dad with self effacing jokes
Sipping coffee like you're on a late night show
But then he watched me watch the front door all night
Willing you to come
And he said "it's supposed to be fun turning 21"

It's okay to feel
What they'll never feel

see through blue - scarlet rebel

Every heart/ every heart to love will come/
But like a refugee/
Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget their perfect offering/
There is a crack/ a crack
In everything
That's how the light gets in

Also, classic:

There's a girl in New York City, calls herself the human trampoline
Sometimes when I'm falling, flying
Tumbling into turmoil
I think, whoah, so this is what she means
She means we're bouncing into Graceland
And they say losing love is like a window in your heart
Everybody sees you fall apart
Everybody feels the wind blow

I think Paul Simon wins it for me

I feel like a philistine. I rarely listen to the words it's just the music for me.
Reading through these I felt like I was back in English Lit class having to analyse poetry and just not getting it.
I am a nice person honestly, probably just very shallow. It makes for a much easier path through life, if not particularly spiritually fulfilling.

I don't know, why you're mean to me when I call on the telephone.
And I don't know what you mean to me, but I wanna turn you on, turn you up, figure you out, I wanna, take you on.

This is my favourite REM but i found it hard to pick!

Birthday by the Sugar Cubes

‘She lives in this house over there
Has her world outside it
Grapples in the earth with her fingers and her mouth
She’s five years old’

I really like the lyrics at the start but can’t help feeling it all gets a bit paedophile like as the song goes on…

Ok just looked up what it means and it is a bit like I suspected, here is a Bjorne talking about it

’It was only an atmosphere I was trying to describe. The only thing I was doing consciously, that was mixing together pure innocence and pure... well, not danger, but something, you know, evil. Evil in an unreal way."

Though I think it does convey an underlying danger, and underlying evil. I guess it’s a bit like that scene in ConAir with the little girl in the desert innocently playing at tea party with the convicted paedophile.

I don’t know what this song is, but heard it on the radio and this refrain stayed with me,
’Don’t think about all the things you feel, just be glad to be’

I've got nothing on my mind
Nothing to remember
Nothing to forget
And I've got nothing to regret
But I'm all tied up on the inside
No one knows quite what I've got
And I know that on the outside
What I used to be
I'm not
Anymore

You know I've heard about people like me
But I never made the connection
They walk one road to set them free
And find they've gone the wrong direction
But there's no need for turning back
'Cause all roads lead to where I stand
And I believe I'll walk them all
No matter what I may have planned
Can you remember who I was?
Can you still feel it?
Can you find my pain?
Can you heal it?
Then lay your hands upon me now
And cast this darkness from my soul
You alone can light my way
You alone can make me whole
Once again

We've walked both sides of every street
Through all kinds of windy weather
But that was never our defeat
As long as we could walk together
So there's no need for turning back
'Cause all roads lead to where we stand
And I believe we'll walk them all
No matter what we may have planned

Crossroads: Don Mclean

Susan's House by Eels. So sad.

Mine upthread was from 'Verdi Cries' by 10,000 Maniacs. Natalie Merchant has a real gift for lyrics, there were almost too many to choose from.

I also love 'Order and Chaos' by Lady Maisery, particularly the final verses;

I'll leave you the stars from the sky
Oh, far future, and paths yet to come
Yet as all things must turn back to dust, then I'll glint in the afternoon sun

We're all made from the same as the earth
And someday we'll roam it together
Particles gliding
Dancing, colliding
We'll wander, entangled forever

Lay me down
Set me free
Oh, a part of this world I'll still be
You'll not find me in order but chaos
As I follow the path that time makes us

Joni Mitchell:

Tears and fear and feeling proud
To say I love you right out loud
Dreams and schemes and circus crowds
I've looked at life that way
But now old friends are acting strange
They laugh out loud
They say you've changed
But somethings lost
And something's gained
Each and every day

I like this thread. I was a kid who copied lyrics onto my diaries 😂

Oh today I'm just a drop of water
And I'm running down a mountainside
Come tomorrow I'll be in the ocean
I'll be rising with the morning tide
There's a ghost upon the moor tonight
Now it's in our house
When you walked into the room just then
It's like the sun came out

Start of Time Gabrielle Aplin