Best lyrics in recent times

[Embers]

Most of the good songs were written a looong time ago. Very few songs make sense and alot of times its just noobs putting words together to somehow form a sentence. Anyway best lyrics in recent times for me would be pretty recent with John Butler Trio - Better than

All you want is
What you can’t have
And if you just look around man
You see you got magic
So just sit back relax
Enjoy it while you still have it
Don’t look back on life man and only see tragic

Because you could be better than that
Let it get the better of you
What could be better than now
Life’s not about what’s better than
You can be better than that
Let it get the better of you
What could be better than now
Life’s not about what’s better

All the time while you’re looking away
There are things you can do man
There’s things you can say
To the the ones you’re with
With whom you’re spending your day
Get your gaze off tomorrow
And let come what may

Because you could be better than that
Let it get the better of you
What could be better than now
Life’s not about what’s better than
You can be better than that
Let it get the better of you
What could be better than now
Life’s not about what’s better

All I know is sometimes things can be hard
But you should know by now
They come and they go
So why, oh why
Do I look to the other side
'Cos I know the grass is greener but
Just as hard to mow

Life’s not about what’s better than.

All you want is
What you can’t have
And if you just look around man
You see you got magic
So just sit back relax
Enjoy it while you still have it
Don’t look back on life man and only see tragic

Because you could be better than that
Let it get the better of you
What could be better than now
Life’s not about what’s better than
You can be better than that
Let it get the better of you
What could be better than now
Life’s not about what’s better


Nice, simple and a good message. I dont particularly like there brand of music or do I agree with the messages in there songs but this song is very brilliant

 

[AsianWithAFro]

^ Yeah I like John Butler Trio song didn't realize what the song was about until now.

I maybe bias here as I am a big silverchair song but I am always amazed by this song truly Daniel Johns at his best.

The Greatest View by silverchair

You're the analyst
The fungus in my milk
When you want no one
And you got someone
Through the wind you crawl
And laugh at burning dunes
But no one else will ever see

Now that you know why you feel like you do
They're turning their head whilst they wait for no one
And finally I know why you feel like letting go

I'm watching you watch over me
And I've got
The greatest view from here
I'm watching you watch over me
And I've got
The greatest view from here here

Mistakes don't mean a thing
If you don't regret them
So pack your tactic toes for the winter
Chain a waterfall to burned and withered skin
No one else will ever see

I'm watching you watch over me
And I've got
The greatest view from here
I'm watching you watch over me
And I've got
The greatest view from here

Now that you know why you feel like you do
They're turning their head whilst they wait for no one
And finally I know why I feel like you're letting go

I'm watching you watch over me
And I've got
The greatest view from here
I'm watching you watch over me
And I've got
The greatest view from here
The greatest view from here
The greatest view


The Worst lyrics ever written would have to John Cage's "4'33" It's a much Watch!!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HypmW4Yd7SY

 

[rickyp]

^ Yeah I like John Butler Trio song didn't realize what the song was about until now.

I maybe bias here as I am a big silverchair song but I am always amazed by this song truly Daniel Johns at his best.

The Greatest View by silverchair

Agreed, had it on iTunes on shuffle and that came up as soon as I opened the thread.

 

[johnnyhoward]

Johns' lyrics came a long way from Freak Show to Diorama. Tuna in the Brine has some good lyrics too.

 

[Underdog]

Most of the good songs were written a looong time ago. Very few songs make sense and alot of times its just noobs putting words together to somehow form a sentence.

That is a pretty narrow minded take on things when you are judging "best lyrics"

Perhaps you should change the subject to "Best lyrics that blatantly tell a story"

I have a mate who's band had a song in the Hottest 100 quite a few years ago and I was asking him about his lyric writing and he told me he likes to write in a fairly obscure and vague manner so that whilst the song represented his opinions/feelings, other people were able to get different things out of it depending upon their interpretation.

Now this is hardly news or even an industry secret but it does highlight that there is so much more to and varying lyric styles then you can recognise

 

[DreamBrother]

No Surprises - Radiohead

A heart that's full up like a landfill,
a job that slowly kills you,
bruises that won't heal.
You look so tired, unhappy,
bring down the government,
they don't, they don't speak for us.
I'll take a quiet life,
a handshake of carbon monoxide,

with no alarms and no surprises,
no alarms and no surprises,
no alarms and no surprises,
Silent silent.

This is my final fit,
my final bellyache,

with no alarms and no surprises,
no alarms and no surprises,
no alarms and no surprises please.

Such a pretty house
and such a pretty garden.

No alarms and no surprises (get me outta here),
no alarms and no surprises (get me outta here),
no alarms and no surprises, please.


Very meaningful when analysed, and when accompanied by the hollow, haunting instrumentals and the disembodied tone of Yorke's voice, as well as the video clip. In which he is holding his breath underwater.

IMO It's about conformity and oppression (and ultimately suicide), the notion that we are merely statistics and emotionless machines, ala 1984. A theme Radiohead have previously touched on just as vividly in songs like Street Spirit and Idioteque.

 

[glengowan]

Elliott Smith's Everything Means Nothing To Me

Someone found the future as a statue in a fountain
At attention, looking backward in a pool of water
Wishes with a blue songbird on his shoulder
Who keeps singing over everything
Everything means nothing to me
Everything means nothing to me
Everything means nothing to me
I picked up the song and found my picture in the paper
The reflection in the water showed an iron man still trying to salute
People from a time when he was everything he's supposed to be
Everything means nothing to me
Everything means nothing to me
Everything means nothing to me
Everything means nothing to me

Love the lyrics to this song - especially accompanied by the music. Also like Better Than by John Butler. Almost polar opposites in meanings to this song.

 

[Tigger Please!]

Pretty much anything by Okkervil River, but I especially like this one:

The War Criminal Rises and Speaks

The heart wants to feel.
The heart wants to hold.
The heart takes past Subway,
past Stop and Shop,
past Beal’s,
and calls it “coming home.”
The heart wants a trail
away from “alone,”
so the heart turns a sale
into a well-worn milestone
towards hard-won soft furniture,
fought-for fast food,
defended end table that
holds paperbacks and back U.S. News.
The mind turns an itch
into a bruise,
and the hands start to twitch
when they’re feeling ill-used.

And you’re almost back now,
you can see by the signs;
from the bank you tell the temperature
and then the time,
and the billboard reads some headlines.
The head wants to turn,
to avert both its eyes,
but the mind wants to learn
of some truth that might be
inside reported crimes.

So they found a lieutenant
who killed a village of kids.
After finishing off the wives,
he wiped off his knife
and that’s what he did.
And they’re not claiming that
there’s any excusing it;
that was thirty years back,
and they just get paid for the facts
the way they got them in.

Now he’s rising and not denying.
His hands are shaking, but he’s not crying.
And he’s saying “How did I climb
out of a life so boring into that moment?
Please stop ignoring the heart inside,
oh you readers at home!
While you gasp at my bloody crimes,
please take the time
to make your heart my home:
where I’m forgiven by time,
where I’m cushioned by hope,
where I’m numbed by long drives,
where I’m talked off or doped.
Does the heart wants to atone?

Oh, I believe that it’s so,
because if I could climb back through time,
I’d restore their lives and then give back my own:
tens of times now its size
on a far distant road
in a far distant time
where every night I’m still crying,
entirely alone.”

But the news today always fades away as you drive by,
until at dinnertime when you look into her eyes,
lit by evening sun - that, as usual, comes
from above that straight, unbroken line,
the horizon
- its rising
is a given,
just like your living.

Your heart’s warm and kind.
Your mind is your own.
Our blood-spattered criminal
is inscrutable;
don’t worry, he won’t
rise up behind your eyes
and take wild control.
He’s not of this time,
he fell out of a hole.

 

[Jizza9]

Easily this:

Four, tres, two, uno

[Will I Am]
Listen up ya'll, 'cause this is it
The beat that I'm bangin' is delicious

[Verse 1 - Fergie]
Fergalicious definition make them boys go loco
They want my treasure so they get their pleasures from my photo.
You could see me, you can't squeeze me.
I ain't easy, I ain't sleazy.
I got reasons why I tease 'em.
Boys just come and go like seasons.

[Hook 1]
Fergalicious (so delicious)
But I ain't promiscuous.
And if you was suspicious,
All that shit is fictitious.
I blow kisses (mmmwwahhh)
That puts them boys on rock, rock.
And they be lining down the block just to watch what I got (four, tres, two, uno)

[Chorus]
So delicious (it's hot, hot)
So delicious (I put them boys on rock, rock)
So delicious (they wanna taste of what I got)
I'm Fergalicious (t-t-t-t-t-tasty, tasty)

[Verse 2]
Fergalicious def-,
Fergalicious def-,
Fergalicious def- ["def" is echoing]
Fergalicious definition make them boys go crazy.
They always claim they know me,
Comin' to me call me Stacy (Hey, Stacy),
I'm the F to the E, R, G, the I, the E,
And can't no other lady put it down like me.

[Hook 2]
I'm Fergalicious (so delicious)
My body stay vicious
I be up in the gym just working on my fitness
He's my witness (oooh, wee)
I put yo' boy on rock, rock
And he be lining down the block just to watch what I got (four, tres, two, uno)

[Chorus]
So delicious (it's hot, hot)
So delicious (I put them boys on rock, rock)
So delicious (they wanna taste of what I got)
Fergalicious (hold, hold, hold, hold, hold up, check it out)

[Vamp]
Baby, baby, baby,
If you really want me,
Honey get some patience.
Maybe then you'll get a taste.
I'll be tasty, tasty,
I'll be laced with lacey.
It's so tasty, tasty,
It'll make you crazy.

[Will I Am]
T to the A, to the S T E Y - girl, you're tasty, T to the A to the S T E Y - girl, you're tasty
D to the E, to the L I C I O U S, to the D, to the E, to the, to the, to the, hit it Fergie

[Rap - Fergie]
All the time I turn around brotha's gather round always looking at me up and down looking at my (uuhh)
I just wanna say it now - I ain't trying to round up drama, little mama I don't wanna take your man.
And I know I'm coming off just a little bit conceited and I keep on repeating how the boys wanna eat it.
But I'm tryin' to tell, that I can't be treated like clientele
'Cause they say she...

[Hook 3]
Delicious (so delicious)
But I ain't promiscuous
And if you was suspicious
All that shit is fictitious
I blow kisses (mmmwwahhh)
That puts them boys on rock, rock
And they be lining down the block just to watch what I got (got, got, got)

Four, tres, two, uno.
My body stay vicious,
I be up in the gym just working on my fitness,
He's my witness (oooh, wee).
I put yo' boy on rock, rock,
And he be lining down the block just to watch what I got (four, tres, two, uno)

[Chorus]
So delicious (aye, aye, aye, aye)
So delicious (aye, aye, aye, aye)
So delicious (aye, aye, aye, aye)
I'm Fergalicious, t-t-t-t-t tasty, tasty
It's so delicious (aye, aye, aye, aye)
So delicious (aye, aye, aye, aye)
So delicious (aye, aye, aye, aye)
I'm Fergalicious, t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t (aye, aye, aye, aye)

[Will I Am]
T to the A, to the S T E Y - girl, you're tasty. T to the A, to the S T E Y - girl, you're tasty
T to the A, to the S T E Y - girl, you're tasty. T to the A, to the, to the (four, tres, two, uno)
D to the E, to the L I C I O U S, to the D, to the, E to the, L I C I O U S, to the
D to the E, to the L I C I O U S, to the D, to the E, to the, to the, to the (four, tres, two, uno)

T to the A, to the S T E Y - girl, you're tasty. T to the A, to the S T E Y - girl, you're tasty
T to the A, to the S T E Y - girl, you're tasty. T to the A, to the, four, tres, two, uno
D to the E, to the L I C I O U S, to the D, to the E, to the L I C I O U S, to the
D to the E, to the L I C I O U S, to the D, to the E, to the, to the, to the, to the, to the.....

 

[do you know george?]

Easily this:

[Verse 1 - Fergie]
Fergalicious definition make them boys go loco
They want my treasure so they get their pleasures from my photo.
...

LOL.


A recent Dylan song - Things Have Changed recorded in 1999 and released in 2000 on the Wonder Boys soundtrack:

A worried man with a worried mind
No one in front of me and nothing behind
There's a woman on my lap and she's drinking champagne
Got white skin, got assassin's eyes
I'm looking up into the sapphire tinted skies
I'm well dressed, waiting on the last train

Bridge #1:
Standing on the gallows with my head in a noose
Any minute now I'm expecting all hell to break loose

Chorus
People are crazy and times are strange
I'm locked in tight, I'm out of range
I used to care, but things have changed

This place ain't doing me any good
I'm in the wrong town, I should be in Hollywood
Just for a second there I thought I saw something move
Gonna take dancing lessons do the jitterbug rag
Ain't no shortcuts, gonna dress in drag
Only a fool in here would think he's got anything to prove

Bridge #2
Lot of water under the bridge, Lot of other stuff too
Don't get up gentlemen, I'm only passing through

(chorus)

I've been walking forty miles of bad road
If the bible is right, the world will explode
I've been trying to get as far away from myself as I can
Some things are too hot to touch
The human mind can only stand so much
You can't win with a losing hand

Bridge #3
Feel like falling in love with the first woman I meet
Putting her in a wheel barrow and wheeling her down the street

(chorus)

I hurt easy, I just don't show it
You can hurt someone and not even know it
The next sixty seconds could be like an eternity
Gonna get low down, gonna fly high
All the truth in the world adds up to one big lie
I'm in love with a woman who don't even appeal to me

Bridge #4
Mr. Jinx and Miss Lucy, they jumped in the lake
I'm not that eager to make a mistake

(chorus)

 

[Divado]

Intro:]
Zone 4
Get money
New money
It's what you been waiting on

[Chorus: x2]
Rich Boy sellin' crack
**** fellows wanna jack
Shit tight no slack
Just bought a Cadillac (THROW SOME D'S ON THAT BITCH!)
Just bought a Cadillac (THROW SOME D'S ON THAT BITCH!)
Just bought a Cadillac

[Verse 1 - Rich Boy:]
Rich Boy sellin' crack **** fellows wanna jack
Shit tight no slack just bought a Cadillac
Took it to the chop shop
Got the damn top dropped two colored flip flopped
Candy red lollipop
There's hoes in the parking lot
But i still got my glock cocked
New money mother****er don't you see the big knot
Don't you see the big chain
Don't you see the big rims
Wonder who they hatin' on lately
Baby it's him candy paint,
Gator skin seats call me Dun Dee
pope in your hood I'm the one that you wanna be
Haters wish they could feel the wood in my '83
Ridin' with no tint so the mother****ers know it's me

[Chorus: x2]
Rich Boy sellin' crack
**** fellows wanna jack
Shit tight no slack
Just bought a Cadillac (THROW SOME D'S ON THAT BITCH!)
Just bought a Cadillac (THROW SOME D'S ON THAT BITCH!)
Just bought a Cadillac

[Verse 2 - Polow Da Don:]
I never slip, I never fall,
A lot of hoes give me they numbers but I never call
A real O.G. look at V.I.P. and see a fellow ball
Then after we hit the club baby then I'm gonna hit them draws
I'm gonna break you off (and that's all)
Every freak should have a picture of my dick (on they wall)
Polow be the shit, zone 4 be the click
Yeah this for my dawgs
Yeah gangsters, hustlers, wanksters, busters
(Wait a minute mother****er)

[Chorus: x2]
Rich Boy sellin' crack
**** fellows wanna jack
Shit tight no slack
Just bought a Cadillac (THROW SOME D'S ON THAT BITCH!)
Just bought a Cadillac (THROW SOME D'S ON THAT BITCH!)
Just bought a Cadillac

[Verse 3 - Rich Boy:]
Hit the block on some new 10 thousand dollar wheels
Can't explain how I feel,
Toucha gator on my wheel
Got peanut butter ice cream
Petter pan seats just gotta
Fresh cut
Now we looking for them freaks
Take a bad yella bitch
Make her drop them draws
Imma show you how to ball
Middle finger to the law so **** them
fellows tell em' what they wanna do?
Hating on a player 'cause my 'lac skated 22's.
When I pull up imma park right at the front door lean
In my cup got purp in my blunt.
Imma real pimp bitch I ain't playin' like a trick
Just bought a new 'Lac bout to put them
Thangs on that bitch!!!!!

touching lyrics.

 

[johnnyhoward]

Haha, Fergie's songwriter couldn't even spell out 'tasty' correctly...says a hell of a lot.

 

[SunKing]

No Surprises - Radiohead

A heart that's full up like a landfill,
a job that slowly kills you,
bruises that won't heal.
You look so tired, unhappy,
bring down the government,
they don't, they don't speak for us.
I'll take a quiet life,
a handshake of carbon monoxide,

with no alarms and no surprises,
no alarms and no surprises,
no alarms and no surprises,
Silent silent.

This is my final fit,
my final bellyache,

with no alarms and no surprises,
no alarms and no surprises,
no alarms and no surprises please.

Such a pretty house
and such a pretty garden.

No alarms and no surprises (get me outta here),
no alarms and no surprises (get me outta here),
no alarms and no surprises, please.


Very meaningful when analysed, and when accompanied by the hollow, haunting instrumentals and the disembodied tone of Yorke's voice, as well as the video clip. In which he is holding his breath underwater.

IMO It's about conformity and oppression (and ultimately suicide), the notion that we are merely statistics and emotionless machines, ala 1984. A theme Radiohead have previously touched on just as vividly in songs like Street Spirit and Idioteque.

Gorgeous song and could also be interpreted at face value as a song about yearning for the simple life with no alarms and no surprises. One of my favorite songs from Ok Computer.

Another Radiohead favorite.

The Pyramid Song


I jumped in the river and what did I see?
Black-eyed angels swam with me
A moon full of stars and astral cars
All the things I used to see
All my lovers were there with me
All my past and futures
And we all went to heaven in a little row boat
There was nothing to fear and nothing to doubt

I jumped into the river
Black-eyed angels swam with me
A moon full of stars and astral cars
And all the things I used to see
All my lovers were there with me
All my past and futures
And we all went to heaven in a little row boat
There was nothing to fear and nothing to doubt

There was nothing to fear and nothing to doubt
There was nothing to fear and nothing to doubt

 

[VINCANITY]

love this song and it has good lyrics too
Smokers outside hospital doors - Editors

Pull the blindfold down
So your eyes can't see
Now run as fast as you can
Through this field of trees

Say goodbye to everyone
You have ever known
You are not gonna see them ever again

I can't shake this feeling I've got
My dirty hands, have I been in the wars?
The saddest thing that I'd ever seen
Were smokers outside the hospital doors

Someone turn me around
Can I start this again?

How can we wear our smiles
With our mouths wide shut
'Cause you stopped us from singin'

I can't shake this feeling I've got
My dirty hands, have I been in the wars?
The saddest thing that I'd ever seen
Were smokers outside the hospital doors

Someone turn me around
Can I start this again?
Now someone turn us around
Can we start this again?

We've all been changed
From what we were
Our broken parts
Left smashed off the floor

I can't believe you
If I can't hear you
I can't believe you
If I can't hear you

We've all been changed
From what we were
Our broken parts
Smashed off the floor

We've all been changed
From what we were
Our broken parts
Smashed off the floor

Someone turn me around
(We've all been changed from what we were)
Can I start this again?
(Our broken parts smashed off the floor)
Now someone turn us around
(We've all been changed from what we were)
Can we start this again?
(Our broken parts smashed off the floor)

 

[placebo]

Elliott Smith's Everything Means Nothing To Me

Someone found the future as a statue in a fountain
At attention, looking backward in a pool of water
Wishes with a blue songbird on his shoulder
Who keeps singing over everything
Everything means nothing to me
Everything means nothing to me
Everything means nothing to me
I picked up the song and found my picture in the paper
The reflection in the water showed an iron man still trying to salute
People from a time when he was everything he's supposed to be
Everything means nothing to me
Everything means nothing to me
Everything means nothing to me
Everything means nothing to me

Awesome. Someone else that likes Elliot Smith.
I love him, he's an amazing artist.

 

[Isandula]

I wouldnt say this is the best lyrics ever but I quite like this song of James Blunt and the song itself is catchy (no Im not a big fan of his)

"Give Me Some Love"​

Me and my guitar play my way. It makes them frown.
But little pieces by the highway bring me down.
Mine is not a heart of stone, I am only skin and bone,
And those little pieces are little pieces of my own.
Why don't you give me some love?
I've taken ship-load of drugs.
I'm so tired of never fixing the pain.
Valium said to me,
I'll take you seriously,
And we'll come back as someone else,
Who's better than yourself.
Many faces at the doorway all hang round.
Watch me fighting in the hallway but make no sound.
So I'm standing all alone, and I'm only skin and bone.
So many faces but they all look out for their own.
Why don't you give me some love?
I've taken ship-load of drugs.
I'm so tired of never fixing the pain.
Valium said to me,
I'll take you seriously,
And we'll come back as someone else,
Who's better than yourself.
And some day soon they'll drop the bomb and let it all out. Someday.
I know that someday soon we'll all be gone so let it all out.
Let it all out today.
And give me some love,
Yeah, give me some love,
Come on, give me some love today.
​

 

[vast]

T-PAIN (f/ Yung Joc) LYRICS

Buy U A Drank (Shawty Snappin')


Shawty Snap (Yeah)
T-Pain
Damn
Shawty Snap
Yung Joc (Shawty)

[Yung Joc:]
Ay Ay
She Snapping
Ah She Snapping
Shawty Snapping

[T-Pain:]
Snap Your Fingers Do The Step You Can Do It All By Yourself

[Verse 1:]
Baby Girl
What's Your Name?
Let Me Talk To You
Let Me Buy You A Drink
I'm T-Pain, You Know Me
Konvict Music Nappy Boy Like Oh Wee
I Know The Club Close At 3
What's the chance of you rolling With Me?
Back To The Crib
Show You How I Live
Let's Get Drunk Forget What We Did

[Chorus:]
I'mma Buy You A Drank
Then I'mma Take You Home With Me
I Got Money In The Bank
Shawty What you Think 'Bout That?
Find Me In The Grey Cadillac
We In The Bed Like
Ooh Ooh Oh, Ooh Ooh
We In The Bed Like
Ooh Ooh Ooh, Ooh Ooh

[Verse 2:]
Talk To Me, I Talk Back
Let's Talk Money, I Talk That
Crunk Juice Bottle
Oakly Shades
Shawty Got Class
Oh Behave
Let's Get Gone
Walk It Out (Now Walk It Out)
Just Like That
That's What I'm Talking 'Bout
We Gonna Have Fun
You Gonna See
On That Patron
You Should Get Like Me

[Chorus]

[Verse 3: Yung Joc]
Won't You Meet Me At The Bar
Respect Big Pimping
Tell Me How You Feel
Mama Tell Me What You Sipping?
A Certified Dime Piece
Deserve Louy 1-3
150 A Shot
3 For You And 3 For Me
I'm Checking Your Body Language
I Love The Conversation
And When You Lick Your Lips
I Get A Tingling Sensation
Now We're Both 'Bout Tipsy
You Say You In The Mood
All I Need Is 'Bout A Hour
Better Yet Maybe Two
Let Me Take You Where I Live
Ferrari Switch Gears
When I Whisper In Your Ear
Your Legs Hit The Chandilleer
Passion Fruit And Sex
All In The Atmosphere
I'mma Let T-Pain Sing It
So He Can Make It Clear

[Chorus]

[Verse 4:]
Let's Get Gone
Walk It Out
(Now Walk It out, think about it, Ah Snap)
Now Rock Rock Rock Rock
You Can Do It All By Yourself