What's your favourite song lyrics?
For me it's:
Crossing that bridge, with lessons I've learned
Playing with fire and not getting burned.
I may not know what you're going through.
But time is the space between me and you.
Prayer for the Dying, by Seal (1994).
Tired of lying in the sunshine staying home to watch the rain
You are young and life is long and there is time to kill today
And then one day you find ten years have got behind you
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun
Pink Floyd - Time
I was lucky to hear this words when I was young. I think they made me a little more conscious of how I live.
I heard them when I was a kid but being in a non-english speaking country, I didn't understand them. When I could understand them, I didn't "listen" to them (as in I didn't pay attention), when I did start to actually listen to them, I was already old and it hit me in a not very positive way lol.
But hey, thats life.
Yes, I still thank about missed opportunities in life. I hope to use my remaining years to do things differently.
Not sure if they're my favourite, but always liked this sequence in Bulls on Parade:
Weapons, not food, not homes, not shoes
Not need, just feed the war, cannibal animal, I
Walk the corner to the rubble
That used to be a library, line up to the mind cemetery now
What we don't know keeps the contracts alive and movin'
They don't gotta burn the books, they just remove 'em
While arms warehouses fill as quick as the cells
Rally 'round the family, pockets full of shells
"Why do we always send the poor"
Invidious | YouTube
And on a more serious note, really the whole song, but here's the refrain, with my amateur translation.
世界で一つの 輝く光になれ
私でいい
私を信じてゆくのさ
遠回りしても 守るべき道を行け
私でいい
私の歩幅で生きてくのさ
Become a shining light in this world
I'm good enough
I'm going to start believing in myself
Walk the way that I know I should stay true to, even if it takes me on detours
I'm good enough
I'm going to start living with my pace
Beautiful, by Superfly
Invidious | YouTube
I've been living with recidivating depression for a few years now and this song helps.
Woah, that’s a solid line!
”en jaksa mutta jatkan / tämän yhden mäen vielä / sateen jälkeen täältä näkee kauas”
Vorna - Kauas
Don’t know exactly why, but this has always got to me, hits some spot nothing else prior ever had, and nothing else still has not since.
Translated to English, it’s something like:
“I have no will or energy, but I shall climb / this one last hill / after the rain you can see so far from here”
It doesn’t translate well, but something about it really resonates with me. I’ve lived with clinic depression for so long, and I’ve been so close to giving in, but always just choosing to climb that one last hill gives some perspective and after all these years… here I am.
I’m too tired to continue, but I’ll fight this one more fight before I fall to my eternal slumber. And after the fight, as the dust settles, the rains stop… well, the view is beautiful. The world is beautiful. But I’m tired… too tired to go on. So I shall only fight this one more fight before I get my peace. One last glance at the beauty. Ah, one more fight, but no more, and I’ll return back up this hill and this view shall be my last. But it’s so beautiful. Only one more fight, and… And so on and so on.
It just feels like I belong in those words.
Hello my friend. Sorry for the late reply.
I recognised the Finnish writing, even though I only know some basics, and I listened to the song.
Thanks for sharing how significant the lyrics are for you. I’m sorry for your struggle. It was a problem for me in my twenties and I was lucky to be able to mostly deal with it (therapy + medication + positive life experiences). I know many others are not so lucky.
I hope you choose to continue to stay for the beauty, in spite of the struggle.
https://foodhouse.bandcamp.com/track/now-2
This world, it turns on the thought of you dead.
If you want, a second to breathe, I'll give you all of my love, give you all that you need
In "Way less sad" by AJR
This is one of those lyrics that keep hitting hard, even after 30+ years of first hearing this song:
Joy Division - Komakino
On the wings of a dream so far beyond reality
All alone in desperation, now the time is gone
Lost inside you'll never find
Lost within my own mind
Day after day this misery must go on
So far away we wait for the day
For the lives all so wasted and gone
We feel the pain of a lifetime lost in a thousand days
Through the fire and flames we carry on
Through the Fire and Flames, Dragonforce. Most people know it for having five guitar solos, but the lyrics speak to me
That question is too hard, so I will just answer with the latest lyrics I brought up to anyone - was listening to Iris by the Goo Goo Dolls, not a lyrical powerhouse. But the very beginning is one of the best beginnings -
"And I'd give up forever to touch you" is such a strong opening.
Usually for me it's more a combination of the lyrics and delivery, not just the words.
I will never bow to you
Like you will never bleed for me
Rule number one in life
Never be the number two
Bloodred Hourglass - Six Feet Saviour
I love the vibe of this lyric telling me to enjoy my ordinary life.
This is your life, it's all been ordinary
Until you find all you're worth
Then you find your life is all but something ordinary
And you're longing for home
Your gonna find yourself at home
The Buzzhorn - Ordinary
That’s great. I’ll listen to that one. Thanks.
immediately two very different songs come to mind.
aesop rock 'daylight' - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igUsHrFqegE
la dispute 'king park' - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8IT-xrQRqk
All you get is today, try to see it that way, don't hold on too tight
Loosen your shoes, don't listen to news that keeps you up at night
Don't try to explain, try not to complain, no one really cares
And don't try to find your place in line 'cause it's everywhere
You don't need to find your place in line 'cause it's everywhere
Chris Smither - Place in Line
https://youtu.be/MztnxPiiDbI
Choices we make em
Chances we take em
Some are mistakes
Some we celebrate em
We don't look back 'cause
So much we're facing
I always stay proud of myself
I'm yelling: FUCK REGRET!
Leonard Cohen - Closing time:
Ah, we're drinking and we're dancing And the band is really happening And the Johnny Walker wisdom running high And my very sweet companion She's the Angel of Compassion She's rubbing half the world against her thigh And every drinker, every dancer Lifts a happy face to thank her The fiddler fiddles something so sublime All the women tear their blouses off And the men, they dance on the polka-dots And it's partner found, it's partner lost And it's hell to pay when the fiddler stops It's closing time (closing time, closing time, closing time) Yeah, the women tear their blouses off And the men, they dance on the polka-dots And it's partner found, it's partner lost And it's hell to pay when the fiddler stops It's closing time Ah, we're lonely, we're romantic And the cider's laced with acid And the Holy Spirit's crying, "Where's the beef?" And the moon is swimming naked And the summer night is fragrant With a mighty expectation of relief So we struggle and we stagger Down the snakes and up the ladder To the tower where the blessed hours chime And I swear, it happened just like this A sigh, a cry, a hungry kiss The Gates of Love, they budged an inch I can't say much has happened since But closing time (closing time, closing time, closing time) I swear, it happened just like this A sigh, a cry, a hungry kiss The Gates of Love, they budged an inch I can't say much has happened since I can't say much has happened since I can't say much has happened since But closing time Closing time I loved you for your beauty But that doesn't make a fool of me You were in it for your beauty too And I loved you for your body There's a voice that sounds like god to me Declaring (declaring), declaring (declaring) Declaring that your body's really you (really, really, really, really you) And I loved you when our love was blessed And I loved you, now, there's nothing left But sorrow and a sense of overtime And I missed you since the place got wrecked And I just don't care what happens next Looks like freedom, but it feels like death It's something in between, I guess It's closing time (closing time, closing time, closing time) Yeah, I missed you since the place got wrecked By the winds of change and the weeds of sex Looks like freedom, but it feels like death It's something in between, I guess It's closing time Yeah, we're drinking and we're dancing But there's nothing really happening And the place is dead as Heaven on a Saturday night And my very close companion Gets me fumbling, gets me laughing She's a hundred, but she's wearing something tight And I lift my glass to the awful tuth Which you can't reveal to the ears of youth Except to say it isn't worth a dime And the whole damn place goes crazy twice And it's once for the Devil, and once for Christ But the Boss don't like these dizzy heights We're busted in the blinding lights Of closing time (closing time, closing time, closing time) The whole damn place goes crazy twice And it's once for the Devil, and it's once for Christ But the Boss don't like these dizzy heights We're busted in the blinding lights (busted in the blinding lights) Busted in the blinding lights Of closing time Closing time Oh, the women tear their blouses off And the men, they dance on the polka-dots It's closing time And it's partner found, it's partner lost And it's hell to pay when the fiddler stops It's closing time I swear it happened just like this A sigh, a cry, a hungry kiss It's closing time (closing time, closing time, closing time) The Gates of Love, they budged an inch I can't say much has happened since But closing time (closing time, closing time, closing time) I loved you when our love was blessed I love you now, there's nothing left But closing time (closing time, closing time, closing time) I miss you since the place got wrecked By the winds of change and the weeds of sex of closing...
"wearing all black doesn't make you cool, but it probably doesn't hurt and I think you're kind of cool anyway" - no men:
https://no-men.bandcamp.com/track/w-a-b-d-m-y-c
Triplets born
The throne avaits
A see'r warns of a deadly fate
Give yo your children! seperate!
Bide your time Lie in wait
Sonic underground They made a vow Their mother will be found.
The triplets grow and learn what's right
Leaders of the freedom fight
They miss their mother She knows they do
Is it time!?
If she only knew!!!
Will the prophecy come true...?
Sonic underground They made a vow their mother will be found
I Miss my children but I have to wait
To act too soon could seal their fate
They made a vow their mother will be found
That’s compelling.
so its hard to find a point where I want to end listing the lyrics of wondering again as the lyrics of the whole song are definately my favorite and just get more relevant every decade:
There's the stillness of death on a deathly unliving sea,
And the motor car magical world long since ceased to be,
When the Eve-bitten apple returned to destroy the tree,
Incestuous ancestry's charabanc ride,
Spawning new millions throws the world on its side,
Supporting their far-flung illusion, the national curse,
And those with no sandwiches please get off the bus ,
The excrement bubbles
The century's slime decays,
And the brainwashing government lackeys
Would have us say,
It's under control and we'll soon be on our way,
To a grand year for babies and quiz panel games,
Of the hot hungry millions you'll be sure to remain......
I salute at the threshold of the North Sea of my mind And I nod to the boredom that drove me here to face the tide And I swim, I swim, oh swim Dip a toe in the ocean, oh how it hardens and it numbs The rest of me is a version of man built to collapse in crumbs And if I hadn't come now to the coast to disappear I may have died in a landslide of rocks and hopes and fears So I swim until you can't see land Swim until you can't see land Swim until you can't see land Are you a man? Are you a bag of sand?
Up to my knees now, do I wade, do I dive? The sea has seen my like before, though it's my first and perhaps last time Let's call me a baptist, call this a drowning of the past She is there on the shoreline throwing stones at my back So I swim until you can't see land Swim until you can't see land Swim until you can't see land Are you a man? Are you a bag of sand?
And the water is taller than me And the land is a marker line All I have is a body adrift in water, salt and sky
Edit: I had listed the lyrics to Boycott Heaven due to recency bias, but after more thought I think it's Oblivion Song by cloudkissed
🎶It’s comforting to know that in a hundred years or so
🎶My memory will all but fade away
🎶It’s interesting to note that every clumsy song I wrote
🎶Will outlive me by forever and a day
🎶‘Cause despite all my potential I’m quite inconsequential
🎶And these tears that feel torrential will not matter any more
🎶And maybe it sounds morbid, but if my efforts are rewarded by oblivion
🎶That sounds nice to me
I’m glad I read those lyrics. Thanks for that, and the link.
"Cause love's such an old-fashioned word And love dares you to care for The people on the edge of the night And love dares you to change our way of Caring about ourselves This is our last dance This is our last dance This is ourselves Under pressure."
Such a powerful part of that song by Queen (and Bowie, I think).
„Filmriss“ by Knochenfabrik („blackout“ by Bonefactory) in a way one of the saddest songs I know.
Original [2023 remix]
Great cover with more emphasis on the sadness of the topic
We never planned to be born, and yet, somehow, it happened
When we finally recognized ourselves and thought everything was pretty shitty, at least we figured out what really mattered:
Because as long as we can still crawl, there’s room for one more we drink until our skulls are empty
Because we want to be forever as hollow as our empty bottles.
Everything else doesn’t matter anymore
The Pogues - Pont Mirabeau
“Calling all friends and people I met on the way down
Calling all friends and people I don't even know
Calling on high I want to believe there's a way now
I'm too tired to pretend I don't want to be alone”
I like to remind myself it’s ok to reach out for a connection to other people.
At the moment?
I've always interpreted it as someone finding an alternative to suicide, by helping those around them.
Between the Bars by Elliott Smith is a beautiful but sad song about alcohol addiction. These lyrics about how it robs you of potential while at the same time making you feel like anything is possible really hit home for me.
Drink up baby, stay up all night
With the things you could do
You won't but you might
The potential you'll be
That you'll never see
The promises you'll only make
Farewell Mona Lisa
Wash it down the drain
Down the drain
Wash your smile down
(Yeah!)
Wash it down the drain
Please
Like animals, destined for fuel or observance
Our role is clear, never stray far from the path
Everything has an end
Everything has an end
Everything must have an end
But what am I supposed to say?
(What am I supposed to say?)
Oh, sorry, I guess I forgot
You think you could tell me again?
(Please, I don't remember)
What am I supposed to think?
(What am I supposed to think?)
What am I supposed to feel?
(What am I supposed to feel?)
There's no feeling in this place
The echoes of the past speak louder than
Any voice I hear right now
Don't you ever try to be
More than you were destined for
Or anything worth fighting for
Don't you ever try to be
More than you were destined for
Or anything worth fighting for
There's no feeling in this place
There's no feeling in this place
Feeling in this place
What did you expect?
That we would never leave home, that we would never leave?
What did you expect?
That we would never leave home?
That we would never leave?
That we would never leave?
That we would never leave?
That we would never leave?
What did you expect from us?
We're murderers
Murderers and liars and rapists and thieves
You should never put your trust in any of us
There is nothing to gain from this interference
Don't you ever try to be
More than you were destined for
Or anything worth fighting for
There's no feeling in this place
The past speaks louder than anything I hear right now
The past speaks louder than anything I hear right now
Wow. That could apply to a lot of people or nations at the moment.
When the screaming and thrashing subsides into the melodic, I feel a great sense of euphoria and reassurance wash over me. It certainly does apply to the world at large right now…
Maybe I will never be
all the things that I want to be
Now is not the time to cry
Now's the time to find out why
I was just listening to these guys this morning.
I absolutely love Oasis
The way they layer guitars is brilliant. The first 20 seconds of Roll With It are an example. Four different guitar sounds come in one after the other at 0, 7 and 20 seconds. At 20 seconds it’s both an acoustic and electric together. Pure class.
Bottles and Bones, Califone What Sara Said, Death Cab for Cutie Fake Plastic Trees, Radiohead
Those come to mind as great, "poetry with music" songs, but there are many more.
Something in the orange - Zac Bryan
Let the products sell themselves
Fuck advertising commercial psychology
Psychological methods to sell should be destroyed
———————
But our land isn’t free
So I work my youth away
In the place of a machine
I refuse to be a slave
Shit from an old notebook and This ain’t no picnic both by minutemen
"What will you tell your children, when they ask you: "What went wrong"? How will you paint a picture, of a paradise lost to eyes that know only a wasteland? How will you justify, justify watching the world die?" Parkway Drive - Dark Days.
People I see
Just remind me of mooing
Like a cow on the grass
And that's not to say
That there's anything wrong
With being a cow anyway
But people are people
With the added advantage
Of the spoken word
We're getting on fine
But I feel more of a man
When I get with the herd
From Elegant Chaos by Julian Cope https://youtu.be/Bj1pAd92E3k
Wir sind Helden
Translation:
I don't always want to have to what I can
One hand in the stars the other one is offering drinks
I can stand with all my ten feet in twenty doors
And with the eleventh up my nose I can perform balletts
But if I could how I wanted, I wouldn't want anything. Though, I know that everybody has to want something.
I typically don't listen to the lyrics, but a few songs by The Velvet Underground are an exception, and I like Lou Reed's writing style of using simple words and imagery. Check out ‘Candy Says’, ‘I'm Waiting For The Man’, ‘After Hours’, ‘I'm Sticking With You’.
A couple songs written by Jackson Browne and sung by Nico work in a remarkably similar way: ‘These Days’ and ‘The Fairest of the Seasons’.