Lyrics that speak to you.

[Robb Fesig]

My Immortal by Evanescence:

I've tried so hard to tell myself that you're gone
But though you're still with me, I've been alone all along

 

[tubedude]

Like some.others here, I don't hear the lyrics as much as hear the voice as an instrument. Some songs I listen to frequently, the lyrics sink in. I was shocked recently to realize the lyrics to Porcupine Tree"s Blackest Eyes was about a deranged serial killer in training! I rely love the music though.

My favorite lyrics are probably Thirty Years, by UK. Had to hear that a hundred times before they sunk in.

 

[Arizona Jones]

Quite a bit of Paul Westerberg's lyrics, but the one Replacements song that gets me verklempt every time is "Bast@rds Of Young" when he sings:
The ones who love us best are the ones we'll lay to rest
And visit their graves on holidays at best
The ones who love us least are the ones we'll die to please
If it's any consolation, I don't begin to understand them

+1

Bastards of Young, first song that popped into my head -

God, what a mess, on the ladder of success
Where you take one step and miss the whole first rung
Dreams unfulfilled, graduate unskilled
It beats pickin' cotton and waitin' to be forgotten

Answering Machine really moves me -

Try and breathe some life into a letter
Losing hope, we'll never be together
My courage is at its peak
You know what I mean
How do you say you're okay
To an answering machine?
How do you say goodnight
To an answering machine?

Kids Don't Follow -

Kids don't follow
What you're doin'
In my face out my ear
Kids won't follow
What you're sayin'
We can't hear

 

[Clef_de_fa]

These walls by Dream Theater
The whole thing speak to me as I first heard that songs in a deep depressive state. Otherwise I never give much attention to lyrics as almost nothing I listen to is in my native language.

 

[-Liam-]

A little on the morbid side, but here they are:

D.N.R (Do not resuscitate) by Testament

Wing of sadness... will
hold my prayers
all this madness... will
end my fears
contempt in life
Conceptualize, wrong or right
The ending of life...
God save me now...

Time... end it now
No going back
Can you see the light as you pass
Ending wars, ending pain...
Waited all my life to be saved

And I will not ever see
All the hate and suffering
Can not live for the rest of my life
DNR Do not resuscitate me... DNR

For some reason I've always really liked hearing those words, especially when I'm feeling a bit low. My favourite Testament song by far.

 

[DrayMiles]

I personally don't think you know a song UNLESS you know the lyrics... Regarding Jazz that is... and nobody knows fewer songs than me.

 

[RockNRollRanter]

They make me
Make me dream your dreams
They make me
Make me scream your screams
Trying to please you for too long

Showbiz by Muse... Amazing song with an incredible bass part

Speaking of Muse..."Don't waste your time, or time will waste you." ("Knights of Cydonia") Such a simple single line, but so powerful. And accurate.

Also, call me a complete geek if you like, but I adore the lyrics of "'39" by Queen. Besides being the greatest song ever written about the Theory of Relativity, it just speaks to me. Love, loss, travel, change, and family...all poignant themes.

 

[ThuzzleFump]

IMO the strongest lyrics of any album ever are on "Life'll Kill Ya," released by Warren Zevon in 2000. From the title track right on through, it's a masterpiece.


1. "I Was in the House When the House Burned Down" 3:04
2. "Life'll Kill Ya" 2:47
3. "Porcelain Monkey" (Jorge Calderón, Zevon) 3:32
4. "For My Next Trick I'll Need a Volunteer" 3:13
5. "I'll Slow You Down" 3:13
6. "Hostage-O" 4:05
7. "Dirty Little Religion" 3:11
8. "Back in the High Life Again" (Will Jennings, Steve Winwood) 3:13
9. "My poopie's shaged Up" 2:45
10. "Fistful of Rain" (Jorge Calderón, Zevon) 5:19
11. "Ourselves to Know" 3:18
12. "Don't Let Us Get Sick"

 

[-Liam-]

These are just so absurd that you can't help but be amused. "Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables" is a record full of dark sarcasm, resentment, and politics, but on the b-side there's just this song about joyfully stealing mail. Classic.

We ain't going to the party
We ain't going to the game
We ain't going to the disco
Ain't gonna cruise down main

We're stealing people's mail
stealing people's mail
stealing people's mail
On a friday night

We're gonna steal your mail
On a Friday night
We're gonna steal your mail
By the pale moonlight

We got grocery sackful after grocery sackful
After grocery sackful after grocery sackful
After grocery sackful after grocery sackful
Of the private lives of you
Ha Ha

 

[wmhill]

this speaks to me on the fact that some cool songs have just goofy lyrics..... Durran Durran's "hungry like the wolf"

In touch with the ground
I'm on the hunt I'm after you
Smell like I sound, I'm lost in a crowd
And I'm hungry like the wolf

 

[Lobster11]

I thought this thread was supposed to be about lyrics that "speak to you." If we're including lyrics that are just downright goofy, however, I nominate the following (from Phish's Contact) as the stupidest set of lyrics ever:

The tires are the things on your car
That make contact with the road
The tires are the things on your car
That make contact with the road
The tires are the things on your car
That make contact with the road
The car is the thing on the road
That takes you back to your abode

The tires are the things on your car
That make contact with the road
The tires are the things on your car
That make contact with the road
The tires are the things on your car
That make contact with the road
Bummed is what you are when you go out
To your car and it's been towed

 

[BigDanT]

Wow. There are really too many to list for me but Here are a couple...

"The sun is filled with ice and gives no warmth at all
And the sky was never blue
The stars are just raindrops searching for a place to fall
And I never cared for you"

There's also one line from Natural Science that really resonated with me (sorry Peart detractors)

"Living in their pools they soon forget about the sea"

Lastly but perhaps (IMO) one of the best lines ever written in modern music...
"Freedom's just another word for nothin' left to lose but nothin' don't mean nothin' if it ain't free."

 

[Fingerpickingood]

I tend toward pretty dark lyrics. Not just gory or violent, though I do enjoy a well-written death metal song.

I like songs that tell a story. I'm a pretty voracious reader, and the nerdier the subject a song tackles, the happier I am, haha.

I really enjoy sci-fi and fantasy-based lyrics, as I read quite extensively in those genres.

All that aside, "Whiskey Lullaby" by Brad Paisley and Alison Krauss is one of my lyrical favorites. It is absolutely one of the saddest songs ever written. It touches upon so much that I've struggled with: being cheated on and left, a very serious drinking problem, deep and dark depression, and suicidal urges.

I tend toward the more dour stuff, sure... But there's a lot of to be said for a songwriter who is able to elucidate the beauty in the darkness.

 

[BassAt33]

Josh Homme of QOTSA "I need something good to die for, to make it Beautiful to live"

 

[40Hz]

The lyrics to Time Passages by Al Stewart. Especially the segment that goes:

Well I'm not the kind to live in the past
The years run too short and the days too fast
The things you lean on are the things that don't last
Well it's just now and then my line gets cast into these
Time passages
There's something back here that you left behind
Oh time passages
Buy me a ticket on the last train home tonight

As I get older I've started to notice who I am is made up more and more of my memories than it is my 'now.' Which I suppose is the natural consequence of waking up one morning and inescapably realizing I have far more days behind me than I have ahead of me.

It was an interesting revelation for me. And it'll be even more interesting to see how the endgame plays out.

One thing for certain…when the GD sang: "Lately it's occurred to me… what a long strange trip it's been." truer words were never spoken.

 

[jasonrp]

A lot of times for me it's just how the vocals are delivered that triggers a memory or emotion.

 

[maxschrek]

I don't really listen to lyrics. I just hear the singer as another instrument. I don't even know many of the words to my bands originals.

I got on a Rush kick and listened to nothing but Rush for a few weeks. The lyrics are so awful I actually started listening to them. I love Rush but those are the most God-awful lyrics I've ever heard from a major band.

Corny, corny, corny and I've loved Rush ever since I was 14 years old! Hemispheres is their meisterwerk but those putrid lyrics read like a bad high school lit paper

Lyrics that are clever and/or move me are a bit more esoteric...I love the words of Elliott Smith and 10cc.

 

[Maiden Bass]

 

[jerry]

There a lot of lyricists that I dig, but Laura Nyro was one that's been with since I was teenager, a real street poet.

 

[BassFishingInAmerica]

I guess we won't be seeing a lot of Frank Zappa in this thread.