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Lyrics can really turn a phrase. What are some of your favorites? Off the top of my head:

"Don't go away mad. Just go away."
- Motley Crew

"Watching my TV - or is it watching me?"
- Noel Gallagher (High Flying Birds)

tlarson58 wrote: ↑Sun Nov 19, 2023 12:46 pm
"Don't go away mad. Just go away."
- Motley Crew

Wait a minute . . . I think Mario Van Peebles said that first in the movie Heartbreak Ridge .


As far as favorite lyrics, I've gotta go with something from the eminently quotable DLR. I always loved this:

"Yeah, we're runnin' a little bit hot tonight
I can barely see the road from the heat comin' off"

EDIT:

Looking back at the OP, I think I can better catch the spirit with a different quote, as @tlarson58 showed examples of quotes as lyrics with a clever turn of phrase. So how about this . . .

"A bottle in front of me is like a frontal lobotomy."
- Faster Pussycat

Bump.

One of my favorite is this by Chris Knight:

"There oughta be a town somewhere named for how I feel, yeah I could be the mayor down there and say, welcome to Sorryville"

It is from a song called It Ain't Easy Being Me. I love the song and have covered it a million times. I once heard John Prine talking about a song called "Clay Pigeons". He said it was a song he wish he had written. That is how I flet when I heard the Chris Knight song. For me a song is all about the lyrics. A great song will inspire a songwriter to write a great song.

One of my other favorites is from an Eagles song Already Gone. "So often times it happens that we live our lives in chains
And we never even know we have the key". I have known countless people in my life guilty of just that.

A few lines from Webb Wilder and the Beatnecks' "One Taste of the Bait":

"If she don't drive you crazy, I guarantee you'll be close enough to walk"
"One taste of the bait is worth the pain of the hook, It's easy to fall you don't need a push"

DLR could be all over this

"Her t-shirt ended early and her hot pants started late.

When it came to vice and versa, I did not hesitate."

But...Gord Downie.

"His tiny knotted heart
Well, I guess it never worked too good
The timber tore apart
And the water gorged the wood"

This whole song, about his sister losing a baby son to a heart defect, is crushing.



Another of his gems.

"I left your house this mornin'
About a quarter after nine
Could have been the Willie Nelson
Could have been the wine"



Neil Peart.

"Sprawling on the fringes of the city
In geometric order
An insulated border
In-between the bright lights
And the far, unlit unknown"

And, because I was thinking of this the other day, "Sympathy for the Devil". What a sprawling tale of menace and evil.

"Please allow me to introduce myself
I'm a man of wealth and taste
I've been around for a long, long year
Stole many a man's soul and faith
And I was 'round when Jesus Christ
Had his moment of doubt and pain
Made damn sure that Pilate
Washed his hands and sealed his fate

Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name
But what's puzzling you
Is the nature of my game

Stuck around St. Petersburg
When I saw it was a time for a change
Killed the Czar and his ministers
Anastasia screamed in vain
I rode a tank, held a general's rank
When the Blitzkrieg raged and the bodies stank

Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name
Oh, yeah
Ah, what's puzzling you
Is the nature of my game
Oh, yeah

I watched with glee while your kings and queens
Fought for ten decades for the gods they made
I shouted out, "Who killed the Kennedys?"
Well, after all, it was you and me
Let me please introduce myself
I'm a man of wealth and taste
And I laid traps for troubadours
Who get killed before they reach Bombay

Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name
Oh, yeah
But what's puzzling you
Is the nature of my game
Oh, yeah
A-get down, baby

Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name
Oh, yeah
But what's confusing you
Is just the nature of my game
Mm, yeah

Just as every cop is a criminal
And all the sinners saints
As heads is tails, just call me Lucifer
'Cause I'm in need of some restraint
So if you meet me, have some courtesy
Have some sympathy and some taste
Use all your well-learned politesse
Or I'll lay your soul to waste, mm, yeah

Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name
Mm, yeah
But what's puzzling you
Is the nature of my game
Mean it
Get down"

I wrote a song about confrontation that starts with the line:

"What's going on with your face?"

@BatUtilityBelt Love this ^

tonebender wrote: ↑Mon Nov 20, 2023 8:06 am For me a song is all about the lyrics. A great song will inspire a songwriter to write a great song.

I'm the exact opposite. I can hear a song a thousand times and not know the words (unless it's playing and I can sing along) or message. There were a few times in band practice when I had an epiphany and said "I didn't know that this song was about..."

My band mates just frown and shake their heads.

Sing, bird of prey. Beauty begins at the foot of you.