Best Song Lyric NOT about Love.

[Yetmorebeanstocount]

Just that - most songs are about love, so what is the best line you know which is about something else?

Every year is getting shorter, never seem to find the time
Plans that either come to naught or half a page of scribbled lines
Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way

Pink Floyd - 'Time'. The whole song is brilliant, so it is hard to pick the best lines.

The Mississippi delta was shining like a national guitar - Paul Simon

I don't want to hate
But that's all you've left me with
A bitter aftertaste
And a fantasy of how we all could live

no regrets - Robbie

sums up so perfectly about how I feel about the loss of some major and lasting friendships

Oh no, love, you're not alone
No matter what or who you've been
No matter when or where you've seen
All the knives seem to lacerate your brain
I've had my share, I'll help you with the pain
You're not alone

Couldn't afford a car so she named her daughter Alexis

I don't need you to worry for me 'cause I'm alright
I don't want you to tell me it's time to come home
I don't care what you say anymore this is my life
Go ahead with your own life leave me alone

I never said you had to offer me a second chance
(I never said you had to)
I never said I was a victim of circumstance
(I never said)

I still belong (still belong)
Don't get me wrong (don't get me wrong)
You can speak your mind but not on my time.

My Life by Billy Joel.

Listened to this song on repeat and it gave me the strength to walk away from people who were trying to push me (& my life) in a direction I didn't want to go.

Ha I was thinking of this one too! Also love "what was the bettin' an arrow in his retina would lead to his downfall" from We're History. Some really clever lyrics throught the series.

Ziggy really sang, screwed up eyes and screwed down hairdo like some cat from Japan

I was going to say the same! Also love the lyric: how high does the sycamore grow, if you cut it down then you'll never know.

I Know I Believe In Nothing, But It’s My Nothing

I’ve been too honest with myself, I should have lied like everybody else

Both from ‘Faster’ by Manic Street Preachers 💕

Yes. An entire album of stunning lyrics (but clearly written from a very dark place).

Love this song, Tina rocked

The e rite of Common People, Pulp

And bill hoardings advertise products that nobody needs
While "Angry from Manchester" writes to complain about all the repeats on TV
Computer terminals report some gains in the values of copper and tin
While American businessmen snap up Van Goghs for the price of a hospital wing

'Nothing ever happens' - Del Amitri

Simon Smith and the Amazing Dancing Bear!

You can try and read my lyrics off of this paper before I lay 'em
But you won't take the sting out these words before I say 'em
'Cause ain't no way I'ma let you stop me from causin' mayhem
When I say I'm a do somethin', I do it
I don't give a damn what you think

Eminem Not Afraid - this whole song gave me the courage to stand up for myself.

Ooh yes and the lyrics for 8 mile too

If I had myself a flying giraffe
You'd have one in a box with a window

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

'Praying for time' George Michael

So come all ye full time, small town heroes
Cast away your in-bred fears of
Standing out from all the rest

Someone has already beaten me to Common People.

May be back to add something later but just wanted to say thank you for the brilliant thread. I was listening to eighties tracks in the car just this week and bemoaning the lack of non-love songs.
So many good lyrics here, so many good writers . . .
Off to revisit Peter Gabriel, Eurythmics, Tracey Chapman, early U2 . . . I might be a while . . .

Ive been enjoying this one recently, and it could almost be several MN threads rolled into one (DHs, weddings, class, property, NDN feuds 😁)

Rebekah rode up on the afternoon train, it was sunny
Her saltbox house on the coast took her mind off St. Louis
Bill was the heir to the Standard Oil name and money
And the town said, "How did a middle-class divorcée do it?"

The wedding was charming, if a little gauche
There's only so far new money goes
They picked out a home and called it "Holiday House"
Their parties were tasteful, if a little loud
The doctor had told him to settle down
It must have been her fault his heart gave out

And they said, "There goes the last great American dynasty
Who knows, if she never showed up what could've been
There goes the maddest woman this town has ever seen
She had a marvelous time ruining everything."

Rebekah gave up on the Rhode Island set forever
Flew in all her Bitch Pack friends from the city
Filled the pool with champagne and swam with the big names
And blew through the money on the boys and the ballet
And losing on card game bets with Dalí

And they said, "There goes the last great American dynasty
Who knows, if she never showed up, what could've been
There goes the most shameless woman this town has ever seen
She had a marvelous time ruining everything."

They say she was seen on occasion
Pacing the rocks staring out at the midnight sea
And in a feud with her neighbor
She stole his dog and dyed it key lime green
Fifty years is a long time
Holiday House sat quietly on that beach
Free of women with madness
Their men and bad habits, and then it was bought by me

Who knows, if I never showed up what could've been
There goes the loudest woman this town has ever seen
I had a marvelous time ruining everything
I had a marvelous time
Ruining everything
A marvelous time
Ruining everything
A marvelous time
I had a marvelous time

I don't wanna be the girl that has to fill the silence
The quiet scares me 'cause it screams the truth

Pink, Sober

Vienna, Billy Joel. Especially:
Slow down you crazy child
Take the phone off the hook and disappear for a while
It's alright, you can afford to lose a day or two

It can't buy you love
It can't give you a soul
Can pick you up
Can down you low
Can drag you out, of the hole
You dug
Yourself
Out of...again

Every day I think of money, Stereophonics

They've broken down barriers in-between nations,
So your kids can wear clothing that children have made,
With no education, no hope for the future,
They're thankful for pennies they're paid,
While here job security's late and lamented,
You work while you can to prepare for the worst,
And hope you stay healthy as you watch your debt growing,
And pray that the bubble won't burst.

No Country's Law - Eileen McGann

Honestly, I could have written the lyrics for this whole song, and several of her others. If you haven't heard her work - it's well worth a listen!