What's your favorite song lyric?
Doesn't matter if the song as a whole is your favorite, I'm just curious what line really stood out to you in a good way.
Syndicated from the fediverse. Read and engage on the original instance.
View original on crazypeople.onlineDoesn't matter if the song as a whole is your favorite, I'm just curious what line really stood out to you in a good way.
162 replies
Killing in the name by rage against the machine
The Boxer is good, but The whole of The Sound of Silence is one of my faves.
WHY DO THEY ALWAYS SEND THE POOR‽
Still baffles me how you can release music like that and then become a trump supporter
Oh no... nononono. I feel all gross now. all my heroes are dead...
Where does the kool-aid come from, and why do they drink it‽
It's been awhile for me... SOAD?
Correct, you get a free pogo stick!
FUCK YOU, I WON'T DO WHAT YOU TELL ME!
Artist: Knapsack Can't remember the song name right now
It's the opening lyric to the song, and I just think it's a great way to illustrate depression, and wanting with every fibre of your being to do something but being unable to. Cactuses are one of the easiest plants to take care of, so wanting to keep it alive but having it die just shows how helpless it can get
Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me!!!
“No, his mind is not for rent
To any god or government,
Always hopeful yet discontent,
He knows changes aren’t permanent,
But change is.”
Rush - Tom Sawyer
Rush is a gold mine for good lyrics, imo
Yup, Rush and Billy Joel are almost always amazing lyrics.
My dad quotes this one often <3
I didn't know that last line was words into right now
Fucker stole mine! Solid choice, solid choice. My alternative is “My dick, the midnight fee, yo dick the hiv”.
"The teacher stands in front of the class, but the lesson plan he can't recall. The student's eyes, don't perceive the lies, bouncing off every fucking wall. His composure is well kept. I guess he fears playing the fool. The complacent students sit, and listen to the bullshit that he'd learned in school.
Europe ain't my rope to swing on. Can't learn a thing from it, yet we hang from it. Gotta get it, gotta get it together then, like the motherfuckin' Weathermen."
Adding one more that speaks to me alot at the moment, even if it's not an all time favorite:
"All at once,
the world can overwhelm me,
there's almost nothing that you can tell me,
that would ease my mind.
Which way will you run?
When it's allways all around you.
The feeling's lost and found you again,
the feeling that we have no control."
"I walk a lonely road, the only road that i have ever known"
And then one day you find ten years have got behind you. No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun.
Time - Pink Floyd
The Sun is the same, in a relative way, but you're older Shorter of breath and one day closer to death.
“Together we’ll find your monster soul.”
Maybe win the lottery Buy myself a lobotomy Scoop out my brains, and maybe then blend right in with management.
Idk I just work here - DURRY
And you run and you run to catch up with the sun but it's sinking
Racing around to come up behind you again
Sun is the same, in a relative way, but you're older
Shorter of breath and one day closer to death
I'm surprised this isn't getting more love. For me it's a toss up between Time and Money lyrics-wise.
The simple narrative taught in every history class Is demonstrably false and pedagogically classist Don't you know the world is built with blood? And genocide and exploitation The global network of capital essentially functions To separate the worker from the means of production And the FBI killed Martin Luther King Private property's inherently theft And neoliberal fascists are destroying the left And every politician, every cop on the street Protects the interests of the pedophilic corporate elite That is how the world works (really?) That is how the world works Genocide the Natives, say you got to it first That's how it works
How the world works - bo Burnham
If I can only choose one:
The Beatles, "Let It Be"
When I have to make choices like this, I really feel like Dan Andriano of Alkaline Trio had it right in "Blue Carolina":
"Is a dream a lie if it don't come true, or is it something worse?" Bruce Springsteen This line pops up in my head from time to time.
Most people don't change, they only get old.
"Sexual violence doesn't start and end with rape
It starts in our books and behind our school gates
Men are scared women will laugh in their face
Whereas women are scared it's their lives men will take"
Idles - Mother
I cried the first time I heard this song.
Seems to be a take on the Margaret Atwood quote. Courtney Barnett has a similar line where she admits to basically taking the quote word for word:
It's a common sentiment among women and feminists for sure. There was something particularly moving about hearing it from an all male band.
For sure. I just thought it was worth pointing out that it originated with a quote from a lecture by Margaret Atwood
https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/188039-men-are-afraid-that-women-will-laugh-at-them-women
Though I'm sure it's possible that she heard it from somewhere else
Oh I will always support quotes from Atwood and Barnett :)
The Cure - Pornography
I don't know why I like these lyrics, but they hit hard
The greatest thing you'll ever learn
Is just to love and be loved in return
„Lucy in the sky with Diamond Dave’s not here“
Dream Theater - Octavarium
Dream Theatre songs always have amazing lyrics.
The first twangs of the guitar in that song always tear at my soul.
Easily one of my favourite PF songs. Which is saying something because I have a lot of favourites from them but that one stands out.
Excellent choice.
"If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice!"
Not even joking, I find myself quoting this all the time.
Can't believe how strange it is to be anything at all.
Neutral Milk Hotel - In an aeroplane over the sea
hell yeah 2 mello mention
For me it's probably:
"Don't you do it
You're not even you yet"
I first heard Otep's Perfectly Flawed when I was early in transition and deeply suicidal. I'd already been hospitalized for it a couple of times. And then I heard this song and felt like it was speaking right at me. I'm still alive. Still depressed and working on it, but alive with the intention to continue. I don't know if the song actually helped or if it was all the other things I've tried, but it still resonates fondly for me so I'm comfortable calling that lyric my favorite.
This thread really perked me up on my way to work and got me listening to some old favorites again. Thank you! We're all so glad you're still here.
Motherfucker, I’m resourceful, resilient. I power through the waves of disappointment. Maybe not quite thriving but I’m buoyant. I am at peace these days (give or take a fit of blinding rage).
Propagandhi
I Sat By the Ocean by Queens of the Stone Age.
Well, I lived with one Well, I lived with one, I lived with two, I even lived with a third I wanna tell you about number one He was a miserable shitwringing turd Like he reminded me of some evil gnome Shaking hands was like shaking a hot, fat, oily bone Holding on for far too long Yes he took me in, he took me in He said that I looked pale and thin I told him he looked fat His lips were red and licking wet His house was roasting hot In fact it was a fucking slum Scum! Scum! Well then he hooked up with some slut from the same game Black snow! Black snow! Cocksuckstress, and I should know Mean and vicious, her microphone always smelled suspicious His and herpes bath towel type If you know what I mean I could not look at him, worm He'd be taking a shower and who should walk in He was the epitome of their type Her middle name was Welcome, his was Wipe Scum! Scum! Well you're on the shit list Thrust and twist, twist and screw You gave me a bad review And maybe you think that it's all just water under the bridge Well my un-friend, I'm the type that holds a grudge I'm your creator I think you fucking traitor, chronic masturbator, Shitlicker, user, self-abuser, jigger jigger! What rock did you crawl from? Which, did you come? You Judas, Brutus, Vitus, Scum! Hey four-eyes, come That's right, it's a gun Face is bubble, blood, and, street Snowman with six holes clean into his fat fuckin guts Psychotic drama mounts Guts well deep then a spring is fount I unload into his eyes Blood springs Dead snow Blue skies
"The hand that feeds deserves to be bitten when it beats." - Hand that Feeds by the Crane Wives
When being broke as fuck is getting me down, I jam to that song and I don't feel so bad after.
💚
Such a funny juxtaposition from the Beatles.
The best version is "Across the Universe" from Let it Be... Naked
Let it be... Naked is great.
Phil Spector really ruined Get Back/Let it Be imo
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 think you're blind to the fact That the hand you hold Is the hand that holds you down"
Everclear - Everything to Everyone
Thank U - Alanis Morissette
Echoes - Pink Floyd
"Time to get paid, blow up like the world trade" hits so much harder post 2001.
"Would it pain you more to walk on water
Than to wear a crown of thorns?
It wouldn't pain me more to bury you rich
Than to bury you poor."
Hard to choose between:
Can You Get to That - Funkadelic
Woodstock - Joni Mitchell
Redemption Song - Bob Marley
"And it's your face, I'm looking for, on every street".
That one will haunt me for the rest of my life. For reasons similar to Knopfler's.
“And honestly I have been
Begging for answers
That you and only you can give to me
My voice crying loud
I’ve been crying for days now
And as I start to run I stop to breathe
And I was nearly scared to death
Of why you left in paragraphs
The words were nearly over us
You stop and turn and grab your bags
I’ll be here by the ocean just waiting for proof that there’s sunsets and silhouette dreams
All my sandcastles fall like the ashes of cigarettes and every wave drags me to sea
I could stand here for hours just to ask god the question “is everyone here make believe?”
With a tear in his voice he said “son, that’s the question”
Does this deafening silence mean nothing to no one but me?
Play me online
Well you know
That I’ll beat you
If I ever meet you,
I’ll Ctrl+Alt+Delete you
All About the Pentiums, Weird Al
As a child, an easy listening radio station soothed me to sleep. It kept the monsters at bay. I would not unpack nor understand the psychological abuse I suffered at home for decades. The song now reminds me that a late bloomer can still be beautiful. Crushes me to death every time.
It's the heart, afraid of breaking
That never learns to dance
It's the dream, afraid of waking
That never takes the chance
It's the one who won't be taken
Who cannot seem to give
And the soul, afraid of dying
That never learns to live
Fun fact, the woman who wrote this song, Amanda McBroom, also played JAG Capt. Phillipa Louvois in the incredible Star Trek: TNG episode Measure of a Man
Scatman John, Scatman's world:
[Verse 1] Everybody's talkin' something very shocking Just to keep on blockin' what they're feelin' inside But listen to me brother, you just keep on walkin' 'Cause you and me and sister ain't got nothing to hide Scatman, fat man, black and white and brown man Tell me 'bout the color of your soul If part of your solution isn't ending the pollution Then I don't wanna hear your stories told I wanna welcome you to Scatman's World
[Verse 2] Everybody's born to compete as he chooses But how can someone win if winning means that someone loses? I sit and see and wonder what it's like to be in touch No wonder all my brothers and my sisters need a crutch I wanna be a human being, not a human doing I couldn't keep that pace up if I tried The source of my intention really isn't crime prevention My intention is prevention of the lie Yeah, welcome to the Scatman's World
The kids are playing-up downstairs
From Food by Radiation City.
It me
All creatures born are born to die / but before then survive / some creatures born they never live / but still they are alive
Gwar - Biledriver
::: spoiler All of What a Fool Believes
He came from somewhere back in her long ago,
The sentimental fool don't see-
Tryin' hard to recreate,
What had yet to be created. Once in her life
She musters a smile,
For his nostalgic tale.
Never coming near what he wanted to say
Only to realize:
It never really was.
She~ had a place in his life,
He~ never made her think twice...
As he rises to her apology
Anybody else would surely know
He's watching her go
But what a fool believes~, he sees~
No-wise-man-has-the-power(!) to reason away, [if love can come, and love can go-]
What seems~ to be~ [-why can't love return, oh no]
Is always better than nothing
And nothing at all~... keeps sending him...
Somewhere back in her long ago.
Where he can still believe there's a place in her life,
Someday, somewhere... she will return.
She~ had a place in his life,
He~ never made her think twice...
As he rises to her apology
Anybody else would surely know
He's watching her go....
But what a fool believes~, he sees~
No-wise-man-has-the-power(!) to reason away, [I believe she's never gone away]
What seems~ to be~ [no, nah nah]
Is always better than nothing
And nothing at all~... keeps sending him...
:::
"It's Never Been a Fair Fight" from Craig Finn
Growing up in the punk scene and losing a lot of friends, the whole song really hits me hard.
Pretty much everything from Aesop rock.
Here an example.
Death wish from day one, I wake up and it rain blood
Raincheck these fuck shows, I'm donezo, my brain's mush
Drumroll, I might piss straight, loose tooth in my spit shake
Every possible Futurama come trooping out of his pill case
Every time I look up from the paper I see animals exhibiting irregular behavior
Even though I know that it's a warning I am back on my old shit again like any other morning
Every time I peek out from the corner Birds are flying belly-side-up, fish are walking out the water
Even though it seem legit I'm right here til the season dip
I ain't seen shit I ain't seen shit
He's so fucking good
"Life's not a bitch, life is a beautiful woman. You only call her a bitch cuz she won't let you get that pussy."
Maybe she didn't feel y'all shared any similar interests, or maybe you're just an asshole who couldn't sweet talk a princess.
"Life's not a bitch, life is a biatch Who keeps the villagers circling the marketplace Out searching for the G spot"
I scrolled to find Aes’ - I wasn’t disappointed.
Aesop Rock, Andre 3K, Lupe Fiasco and Sadistik are four lyricists who rotate in my life depending on mood.
Majority rule doesn't work in mental institutions
Finally some good fucking music
Sometimes the smallest, softest voice carries the grand biggest solutions!
Most of Mikes songs would do well here.
🎶 The
Chainsaw brotherhood - Bourbon boys
"When they try to pull you under... And they're out to steal your thunder... Gotta make them recognize... You're a phoenix and it's time to RISE!!! TONIGHT!!!"
From "Sunset Neon - Tonight"
Arguably my favorite song ever. It encourages and motivates you to do the thing whatever that may be.
Ben Gibbard sure writes some poignant lyrics, e.g.:
You may tire of me
As our December sun is setting
Cause I'm not who I used to be
No longer easy on the eyes
But these wrinkles masterfully disguise
The youthful boy below
Who turned your way and saw
Something he was not looking for
Both a beginning and an end
But now he lives inside
Someone he does not recognize
When he catches his reflection on accident
“Don’t let the sunshine fool you” Townes Van Zandt
Also:
ugh pat is so fucking good. I could put half the lines he's ever written in this thread tbh
Yeah, each one I think of makes me wish I had picked it.
id go with pretty much the whole song, but especially:
Relatable lines from Thom Yorke in Radiohead's "How to disappear completely" off of Kid A.
Based on a true story.
A recent one from Tierra Whack
A fellow Whack fan?! I really liked the new album
She is such a vibe I am down with.
Her new album is burning slower with me but the more I listen the more I love it.
I felt a little called out because I wasn't into the more pop-focused stuff she was doing and then she opens the album with "They said I should rap more, what more can I ask for?" lol
Yeahhhh we really do like your rapping, I didn't mean to pigeonhole you...
From "Kill the president" by Barnaby Jones:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8jdzfHvCI8
For some reason it just really seems to resonate with people
Sky not a roof Ground not a bottom
Grötüs - Brown
I like this one a lot. I pulled the song up and it starts with a sick bassline too, so nice choice all around
If this is paradise
I wish I had a lawnmower
When the wind's against you Remember this insight That's the optimal condition For birds to take flight Now the wind's against you Don't give up the fight
Enter Shikari - Airfield
Personally would have gone with:
Enter Shikari - Gap In The Fence
Yes!
Let me take your hands
I'm shaking like milk
"We are so small between the stars, so large against the sky"
From the song Stories of the Street by Leonard Cohen. That first album is poetry put to music.
“ I'll make time now, would you wait? I can meet you at the bottom but it won't be the same “
Cowboy tears by Oliver tree
My dad is a cowboy who lived on a farm his whole life. Went crazy in his 50’s and by 60 needs full time memory care at a dementia home. The whole song makes me sob, to me it’s about a cowboy with dementia that I had a shitty last few years with. Love you, dad.
Talking Heads - (Nothing but) Flowers
Their best song IMO, and weirdly a song many who are fans haven't heard.
I don’t have a single favourite, but a few recent favourites, from my current favourite artist, Jesse Welles:
“I still don’t know what living costs, but I can tell you what I spent”
“A bird in its cage loves the song that it sings”
“As the golden rod fades and short are the days, I wish I could pause ‘em somehow”
“I can see a light at the end of the tunnel, then again it could be the train”
He’s got a ton of great political lyrics too but I felt that would be better in a different comment or post. Check him out, especially his two newest albums (Masks Off and Devil’s Den).
Why would I stop loving you, a hundred years from now, it’s only time? It’s only time.
We suffer... but why?
I'm all alone in this crowd
Who are you to me? Whom I supposed to be? Not exactly sure, anymore
Where's this going to? Can I follow through? Or just follow you, for a while?
-Vampyre of time and memory QOTSA
"Hamlet" by the group "Wise Guys". The whole song text is a very good summary of Shakespeare's text. Actually better than something I've seen being used in schools. And, of course, with a twinkle in the eyes.
I don’t take good pictures 'cause I have the kind of beauty that moves.
-The Shins - "Pink Bullets"
From the Eagles, The Last Resort. I love the whole song but this verse hits me hardest.
I think it's just "Eagles"
Hmmm, right you are. I blame my oncoming senility. Thanks.
Nah just me being overly pedantic
Aesop Rock - The Cut
ive got six things on my mind
youre no longer one of them
(desire as a sylph figured creature who changes her mind)
desire as by prefab sprout
All the other kids with the pumped-up kicks You better run, better run faster than my bullet
The flames of hell they seemed so high
When I could barely see over the pew
I was only a boy when they told me that lie
But lord it felt so true
And that's a hell of a thing to do to a kid
Just to teach him right from wrong
You can burn in hell for the rest of your days
Or you can choose to sing along
Found this song on shuffle during a drive and had to pull over to cry out some religious trauma.
Favorite lyric is the sort of thing that changes constantly, but my favorite lyricist right now is undoubtedly Vessel from Sleep Token
Man just casually busts out bars like
"My, my, those eyes like fire, I'm a winged insect, you're a funeral pyre"
And
"Even if the earth breaks like burnt skin, And the heavens just won't open up for me"
But I'm also going to give a shout out to The Midnight for some genuinely insane lines.
"If the rent's too high we'll just buy cheaper wine" is one of the most uncomfortably present lyrics I have ever heard.
The last one reminds me of the chorus of Buckingham Rabbit by The Silver Jews (RIP):
"I get the news I need on the weather report. Oh i can gather all the news I need on the weather report. Hey, I've got nothing to do today but smile."
Simon and Garfunkel - The only living boy in New York
I wish life was that simple!
And evolving from the sea Would not be too much time for me To walk beside you in the sun
"The Sad Punk", The Pixies
In the context of the whole song it's particularly poignant. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcVpFug2p00
I got lament This human form Where I was born I now repent
Caribou
Plenty of good ones, but I think one that stuck with me was from Beatles Day in the Life. My mom sang it a lot and as an adult... I get it.
And so on. It's also just a trippy, dark song.
“I’ve had recurring nightmares, That I was loved for who I am, And missed the opportunity, To be a better man”
-Muse, Hoodoo
"If you're after getting the honey, then you don't go killin' all the bees"
Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros' Johnny Appleseed
That's stuck with me since my early 20s.
TEQUILA!
Where veterans dream of the fight, fast asleep at the traffic light
Starlight by Muse
I can dig it
One that has stuck with me lately was "mistook sign for signified."
"The way the trees look dead, reminds me that there's more to life than living"
Bayside - A Synonym For Acquiesce
"Stuck in this inferno, straight cooking, al dente" (but pronounced like Dante)
Burn It Down - Timeflies
"I'm the shit I'm fartin', I don't know how to potty"
Kodak Black - Drowning
That song is so great because it sounds incredible and seems like it should be deep, but instead it’s full of lines like this
Lyrics are a very important part of the whole music experience for me. There can never be just one.
Of those many, here's one that just popped into my mind:
-Chris Pureka - So it Goes
We were the first band to vomit in the bar And find the distance to the stage too far
NEXT:
Life is a liar yeah life is a cheat
It'll lead you on and pull the ground from underneath your feet
No use complainin', don't you worry, don't you whine
Cause if you get it wrong you'll get it right next time, next time.
"Man thinks, because he rules the earth, he can do with it as he please." Bob Dylan 'Infidels'
Not the greatest arts literate here but if I have to give a quick answer I'd say Billy Talent - Viking Death March stuck in my head.
Mainly because it's a homing signal for Canadians.
My love has concrete feet My love's an iron ball Wrapped around your ankles Over the waterfall
"You can go outside on a hot night and clap, but you won't get your blood back"
Fair Game Samia
The Clash - Death or Glory
-Birds Fly (Whisper to a Scream) by The Icicle Works
-All These Things that I’ve Done by The Killers
Recall the deeds as if they're all
Someone else's atrocious stories
Now you stand reborn before us all
So glad to see you well
One of my favs is- I don't own the clothes I'm wearing.
Twinz by Big Pun and Fat Joe
It's so hard to not fall into the lyrical rhythm of it.
Eyes Wide Shut by Sadistik
These bars lately are helping me go on in life.
Excuse me, Mister, do she got a sister?
Who he not to kiss her? True, she do got a blister
Now the movie plot twists like a Twizzler
If I needed my meat burnt, I'd go to Sizzler
This is like half the song but as everything has enshitified year after year in my life in this country it just gets more and more apropos:
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
The natural resources are dwindling and no one grows old
And those with no homes to go to, please dig yourself holes
-I Prevail, Scars
"If the world we're living have a single soul that you love, if it holds a shred of meaning, then it's worth every single fight" Natewantstobattle's Sorario Days
If this theme does give you hope, I don't know what will