Lyrics that float your boat.

[The Filth Wizard]

The lyrics that suck thread seems to be going gangbusters... thought we might as well have one in tribute to those finely crafted lyrics that just stand out.

And this is not a thread for those shooting off about the merits of Billy Bragg

I'll start... one of my favourite lyrics of all time:

10CC- Life Is A Minestrone:

Im dancing on the white house lawn
Sipping tea by the taj mahal at dawn
Hanging round the gardens of babylon
Minnie mouse has got it all sewn up
She gets more fan mail than the pope
She takes the mickey out of all my phobias
Like signing cheques to ward off double pneumonia
Life is a minestrone
Served up with parmesan cheese
Death is a cold lasagne
Suspended in deep freeze
Im leaning on the tower of pisa
Had an eyeful of the tower in france
Im hanging round the gardens of madison
And the seat of learning
And the flush of success
Relieves a constipated mind
Im like a gourmet in a skid row diner
A fitting menu for a dilettante
Life is a minestrone
Served up with parmesan cheese
Death is a cold lasagne
Suspended in deep freeze
Love is a fire of flaming brandy
Upon a crepe suzette
Lets get this romance cooking, honey
But let us not forget
Life is a minestrone
Served up with parmesan cheese
Death is a cold lasagne
Suspended in deep freeze

 

[Kangalicious]

Oooohh no, not playing. Too scared of being shot down by the 'culture' police.

 

[Mr Reliable]

Check out the last verse in particular. Written to Bush and Howard

Watch out now, take care
Beware of falling swingers
Dropping all around you
The pain that often mingles
In your fingertips
Beware of darkness

Watch out now, take care
Beware of the thoughts that linger
Winding up inside your head
The hopelessness around you
In the dead of night

Beware of sadness
It can hit you
It can hurt you
Make you sore and what is more
That is not what you are here for

Watch out now, take care
Beware of soft shoe shufflers
Dancing down the sidewalks
As each unconscious sufferer
Wanders aimlessly
Beware of maya

Watch out now, take care
Beware of greedy leaders
They take you where you should not go
While weeping atlas cedars
They just want to grow, grow and grow
Beware of darkness (beware of darkness)

George Harrison, 1970 (still true today)

 

[Lidge]

Still relevant today (20+ years later). Simply replace Reagan with Bush or Howard.

Old Mother Reagan - The Violent Femmes
Old mother reagan
And her crew
Took away
From me and you
I hope she goes far away
She better go far away
Y'know it ain't right
When it's all wrong
This is the old mother reagan
Protest song
Old mother reagan
She's so dumb
She's so dangerous
How come...
Old mother reagan went to heaven
But at the pearly gates
She was stopped!

 

[Lidge]

Too cool for words.

Ride A White Swan Lyrics
- T. Rex

Ride it on out like a bird in the sky ways
Ride it on out like you were a bird
Fly it all out like an eagle in a sunbeam
Ride it on out like you were a bird

Wear a tall hat like a druid in the old days
Wear a tall hat and a tatooed gown
Ride a white swan like the people of the Beltane
Wear your hair long, babe you can't go wrong

Catch a bright star and a place it on your fore-head
Say a few spells and baby, there you go
Take a black cat and sit it on your shoulder
And in the morning you'll know all you know, oh

Wear a tall hat like a druid in the old days
Wear a tall hat and a tatooed gown
Ride a white swan like the people of the Beltane
Wear your hair long, babe you can't go wrong

Da-da-da-di-di-da, da-da-da-di-di-da ....

 

[The Teflon Dean]

Too cool for words.

Ride A White Swan Lyrics
- T. Rex

Ride it on out like a bird in the sky ways
Ride it on out like you were a bird
Fly it all out like an eagle in a sunbeam
Ride it on out like you were a bird

Wear a tall hat like a druid in the old days
Wear a tall hat and a tatooed gown
Ride a white swan like the people of the Beltane
Wear your hair long, babe you can't go wrong

Catch a bright star and a place it on your fore-head
Say a few spells and baby, there you go
Take a black cat and sit it on your shoulder
And in the morning you'll know all you know, oh

Wear a tall hat like a druid in the old days
Wear a tall hat and a tatooed gown
Ride a white swan like the people of the Beltane
Wear your hair long, babe you can't go wrong

Da-da-da-di-di-da, da-da-da-di-di-da ....

Nice one Lidge.

Although, Jeepster is better.

 

[The Teflon Dean]

Illumination, Henry Rollins

At night the highway's diesel roar
Speaks to me and tells me more
Than any book I've ever read
Or anything you've ever said
Through silent eyes inside
I watch myself and worlds collide
The seasons burn and crack my skin
I stay outside and live within

 

[The Teflon Dean]

Hard to go past this one -

Hearts to hearts and hands to hands,
Beneath the Blue and White we stand,
We shout, God bless our native land,
North Melbourne, North Melbourne.

 

[Lidge]

Nice one Lidge.

Although, Jeepster is better.

Yes, Jeepster is a favourite amongst many Billy Elliott fans.

 

[Mr Reliable]

For the truckies (Lowell George/Little Feat-Willin'):

I been warped by the rain, driven by the snow
I'm drunk and dirty don't ya know, and I'm still, willin'
Out on the road late at night, Seen my pretty Alice in every head light
Alice, Dallas Alice
I've been from Tuscon to Tucumcari
Tehachapi to Tonapah
Driven every kind of rig that's ever been made
Driven the back roads so I wouldn't get weighed
And if you give me: weed, whites, and wine
and you show me a sign
I'll be willin', to be movin'
I've been kicked by the wind, robbed by the sleet
Had my head stoved in, but I'm still on my feet and I'm still... willin'
Now I smuggled some smokes and folks from Mexico
baked by the sun, every time I go to Mexico, and I'm still willin'.

 

[The Teflon Dean]

Go Down - AC/DC

*Lyrics removed as they may offend uptight individuals.

 

[wombles]

Lyrics often look silly to me when i see them as text, anywho, here is one that i like.

Roscoe - Midlake

Stonecutters made them from stones
Chosen specially for you and I
Who will live inside
The mountaineers gathered tender
Piled high
In which to take along.
Driving many miles, knowing they'd get here.

When they got here, all exhausted
On the roof leaks they got started
And now when the rain comes
We can be thankful

Ooh aah ooh
When the mountaineers
Saw that everything fit, they were
Glad and so they took off

Thought we were devoid
A change or two
Around this place
When they get back they're all mixed up with no one to stay with

The village used to be all one really needs
That's filled with hundreds and hundreds of
Chemicals that mostly surround you
You wish to flee but it's not like you
So listen to me, listen to me

Oh, oh, oh and when the morning comes,
We will step outside
We will not find another man inside
We like the newness, the newness of all
That has grown in our garden soaking for so long

Whenever I was a child I wondered what if my name had changed into something more productive like Roscoe
Been born in 1891
Waiting with my Aunt Rosaline

Thought we were devoid
A change or two
Around this place
When they get back they're all mixed up with no one to stay with

1891
They looked around the forest
They made their house from cedars
They made their house from stones

Oh, they're a little like you, and
They're a little like me
When they're falling me

Thought we were devoid
A change or two
Around this place
(This place)
(This place)

When they get back they're all mixed up with no one to stay with

See, looks silly. Sounds great though.

 

[Groggyk]

One of the original protest songs that achieved mainstream popularity. Classic

Sam Cooke
A Change is Gonna Come

I was born by a river in a little tent
Oh, and just like that river I've been runnin ever since
It's been a long, long time coming
But I know a change is gonna come, yes it will

It's been too hard living, but I'm afraid to die
Cause I don't know whats up there, beyond the sky
It's been a long, long time coming
But I know a change is gonna come, oh yes it will

I go to the movie and I go downtown
Somebody keep telling me don't hang around
It's been a long, long time coming
But I know a change is gonna come, oh yes it will

Then I go to my brother
And I say, brother help me please
But he winds up knockin' me
Back down on my knees

Ohhhhh.....

There been times that I thought I couldn't last for long
But now I think I'm able to carry on
It's been a long, long time coming
But I know a change is gonna come, oh yes it will

 

[chris86]

Nine Inch Nails - The Great Below

staring at the sea
will she come?
is there hope for me
after all is said and done
anything at any price
all of this for you
all the spoils of a wasted life
all of this for you
all the world has closed her eyes
tried faith all worn and thin
for all we could have done
and all that could have been

ocean pulls me close
and whispers in my ear
the destiny I've chose
all becoming clear
the currents have their say
the time is drawing near
washes me away
makes me disappear

I descend from grace
in arms of undertow
I will take my place
in the geat below

I can still feel you
even so far away

 

[SweetLeftFoot]

In terms of a single lyric, I will always like Pete Doherty's effort on Time For Heroes.

There are fewer more distressing sights than that
Of an Englishman in a baseball cap

And in terms of an angry, invective spitting set of lyrics, I've always admired Shane MacGowan's Birmingham Six.

There were six men in birmingham
In guildford theres four
That were picked up and tortured
And framed by the law
And the filth got promotion
But theyre still doing time
For being irish in the wrong place
And at the wrong time
In ireland theyll put you away in the maze
In england theyll keep you for seven long days
God help you if ever youre caught on these shores
The coppers need someone
And they walk through that door

Youll be counting years
First five, then ten
Growing old in a lonely hell
Round the yard and the stinking cell
From wall to wall, and back again

A curse on the judges, the coppers and screws
Who tortured the innocent, wrongly accused
For the price of promotion
And justice to sell
May the judged by their judges when they rot down in hell

May the whores of the empire lie awake in their beds
And sweat as they count out the sins on their heads
While over in ireland eight more men lie dead
Kicked down and shot in the back of the head

 

[SweetLeftFoot]

For brilliant lyrics, its hard to go past this classic from Squeeze - Up The Junction - a kitchen sink drama worthy of Mike Leigh in under four minutes.

I never thought it would happen
With me and the girl from clapham
Out on a windy common
That night I aint forgotten
When she dealt out the rations
With some or other passions
I said you are a lady
Perhaps she said I may be
We moved into a basement
With thoughts of our engagement
We stayed in by the telly
Although the room was smelly
We spent our time just kissing
The railway arms were missing
But love had got us hooked up
And all our time it took up

I got a job with stanley
He said Id come in handy
And started me on monday
So I had a bath on sunday
I worked eleven hours
And bought the girl some flowers
She said shed seen a doctor
And nothing now could stop her

I worked all through the winter
The weather brass and bitter
I put away a tenner
Each week to make her better
And when the time was ready
We had to sell the telly
Late evenings by the fire
With little kicks inside her

This morning at 4:50
I took her rather nifty
Down to an incubator
Where thirty minutes later
She gave birth to a daughter
Within a year a walker
She looked just like her mother
If there could be another

And now shes two years older
Her mothers with a soldier
She left me when my drinking
Became a proper stinging
The devil came and took me
From bar to street to bookie
No more nights by the telly
No more nights nappies smelling

Alone here in the kitchen
I feel theres something missing
Id beg for some forgiveness
But beggings not my business
And she wont write a letter
Although I always tell her
And so its my assumption
Im really up the junction

 

[roobear]

And in terms of an angry, invective spitting set of lyrics, I've always admired Shane MacGowan's Birmingham Six.

That is excellent.

 

[The Other Dean]

In terms of a single lyric, I will always like Pete Doherty's effort on Time For Heroes.

There are fewer more distressing sights than that
Of an Englishman in a baseball cap

Love the line, and love the song.

 

[roobear]

One of my favourite single lines used to be my sig here. From Skid Row' s Monkey Business:

The freaks come out at nine
and it's twenty to ten

 

[The Other Dean]

For mine, it's a toss up between.......

"Fcuk the police"

....or....

"I'm a Barbie Girl
In a Barbie world
Life in plastic
It's fantastic"

Too hard to call. Both brilliant.

 

[Boozeroo]

Im a street walking cheetah with a heart full of napalm
Im a runaway son of the nuclear a-bomb
I am a worlds forgotten boy
The one who searches and destroys

Iggy Pop, Search and Destroy. Awesome.

 

[The Other Dean]

Like this one, too.

It's from the Pavement track, "Stereo".....

.....but, obviously, it borrows heavily from Shakespeare's "Othello.


"What about the voice of Geddy Lee ?
How did it get so high ?
I wonder if he speaks like an ordinary guy ?
(I know him, and he does)
And you're my fact-checking cuz"

 

[SweetLeftFoot]

Love the line, and love the song.

Yes, its a shame Pete seems to restrict his musical output to daily sessions on the old glass trombone, as he has/had quite the lyrical gift.

 

[sherrinorburley]

The Ramones could have a thread of their own on this aswell

"I Wanna Be Sedated"

Twenty-twenty-twenty four hours to go I wanna be sedated
Nothin' to do and no where to go-o-oh I wanna be sedated
Just get me to the airport put me on a plane
Hurry hurry hurry before I go insane
I can't control my fingers I can't control my brain
Oh no no no no no
Twenty-twenty-twenty four hours to go....
Just put me in a wheelchair, get me on a plane
Hurry hurry hurry before I go insane
I can't control my fingers I can't control my brain
Oh no no no no no
Twenty-twenty-twenty four hours to go I wanna be sedated
Nothin' to do and no where to go-o-o I wanna be sedated
Just put me in a wheelchair get me to the show
Hurry hurry hurry before I go loco
I can't control my fingers I can't control my toes
Oh no no no no no
Twenty-twenty-twenty four hours to go...
Just put me in a wheelchair...
Ba-ba-bamp-ba ba-ba-ba-bamp-ba I wanna be sedated
Ba-ba-bamp-ba ba-ba-ba-bamp-ba I wanna be sedated
Ba-ba-bamp-ba ba-ba-ba-bamp-ba I wanna be sedated
Ba-ba-bamp-ba ba-ba-ba-bamp-ba I wanna be sedated

 

[Wild Kangaroo]

"I" by Black Sabbath ( Dio) from the Dehumanizer album

I am anger
Under pressure
Lost it cages
A prisoner
The first to escape

I am wicked
I am legion
Strength in numbers
A lie
The number is one

I - I - I

Everything that I see is for me

Yes, I am giant
I'm a monster

Breaking windows
In houses

Buildings of glass
Rebel rebel

Holy outlaw
Ride together
Don't try it

The power's in one

I - I - I

I am standing alone
But I can rock you

I - I - I

On the edge of the blade
But the knife can't cut the hero down

I am virgin
I'm a whore
Giving nothing
The taker
The maker of war

I'll smash your face in
But with a smile
All together
You'll never
Be stronger than me

I - I - I

Right here on my own
But I still rock you

I - I - I

Don't follow behind
Just leave me on the outside

I - I - I

I am standing alone
But I can shock you

I - I - I

On the edge of the blade
But no one makes the hero bleed

I am hunger
Feed my head
All together
You'll never

Never make the hero bleed