best song lyrics ever - Page 7

FireBadTreePretty · 11-02-2009, 03:29 PM

KJOFKW: As a parent I have always found that an extraordnarily profound song.
To me, the saddest lyric is from Bobby McGee:
"I'd trade all my tomorrows for a single yesterday."

Shrinkrap · 11-02-2009, 03:31 PM

Yes! Cat in the Cradle always gets me. What's the one where it starts with mom or dad holding baby, and ends with the son holding the parent? Is that the same song?

CURRENT fave..(some of it I find objectionable, but hey, it's "hip hop"....

Maino : All The Above

MAINO - ALL THE ABOVE LYRICS
Tell me what do you see
When you looking at me
(woooahhhh)
On a mission to be
What I'm destined to be
(woooahhhh)
I done been through the pain and the sorrow
The struggle is nothing but love (nothing but love)
I'm a soldier, a rider, a ghetto survivor
And all the above
All the above (x7)

Verse 1 [Maino]:
Listen
Really what do you see
When you looking at me?
See me come up from nothing,
To me living my dreams
I done been to the bottom,
I done suffered a lot,
I deserve to be rich,
Headed straight to the top
Thank you for making me struggle,
Thank you for making me grind
I perfected my hustle,
Tell me the world ain't mine
You've been seein' me lately,
I'm a miracle baby
I refuse to lose
This what the ghetto done made me
I put that on my father
Tryna hope for tomorrow
When I think that I can't,
I envision Obama,...

garland · 11-02-2009, 08:15 PM

Okay, one more. I first heard Joe Strummer's "Johnny Appleseed" sung by an apple farmer friend of mine, at the dedication of a park in memory of the love of his life, my sister-in-law and best friend...

Quote:

Lord, there goes Johnny Appleseed
He might pass by in the hour of need
There's a lot of souls
Ain't drinking from no well locked in a factory

Hey - look there goes
Hey - look there goes
If you're after getting the honey - hey
Then you don't go killing all the bees

Lord, there goes Martin Luther King
Notice how the door closes when the chimes of freedom ring
I hear what you're saying, I hear what he's saying
*Is what was true now no longer so

Hey - I hear what you're saying
Hey - I hear what he's saying
If you're after getting the honey - hey
Then you don't go killing all the bees

What the people are saying
And we know every road - go, go
What the people are saying
There ain't no berries on the trees

Let the summertime sun
Fall on the apple - fall on the apple

Lord, there goes a Buick forty-nine
Black sheep of the angels riding, riding down the line
We think there is a soul, we don't know
That soul is hard to find

Hey - down along the road
Hey - down along the road
If you're after getting the honey
Then you don't go killing all the bees

Hey - it's what the people are saying
It's what the people are saying
Hey - there ain't no berries on the trees
Hey - that's what the people are saying, no berries on the trees
You're checking out the honey, baby
You had to go killin' all the bees

Yup...If you're after getting the honey
Then you don't go killing all the bees

MidwestMom2Kids_ · 11-02-2009, 10:11 PM

I do love Me and Bobby McGee and In My Life and Hallelujah and Four Strong Winds and The Boxer; what a like-minded crew of parents we are. I was just trying to explain The Boxer to my son recently... No luck, we were on the road, and I needed the internet.

Here's my vote for Most Romantic Lyrics Ever:

Quote:

Deep in the dark your kiss will thrill me
Like days of old
Lighting the spark of love that fills me
With dreams untold
Each day I pray for evening just
To be with you
Together at last at twilight time

I just love The Platters. Seriously.

MidwestMom2Kids_ · 11-02-2009, 10:26 PM

And two choices, perhaps tied, for Saddest Lyrics Ever (I am pathetically sentimental):

Quote:

And now if I return,
They will hang me
High from the old oak tree
Down by the mission,
Down by the fountain
Where my love told me:

There's a web like a spider's web
Made of silver light and shadows
Spun by the moon in my room at night
It's a web made to catch a dream
Hold it tight til I awaken
As if to tell me my dream is all right

and of course

Quote:

The judge said, "Son, what is your alibi?
If you were somewhere else, then you won't have to die."
Well, I said not a word, though it meant my life
For I'd been in the arms of my best friend's wife

Oh, she walks these hills in a long black veil
She visits my grave when the night winds wail
Nobody knows, nobody sees, nobody knows but me

oddly recently overdone by Garrison Keillor... Ridiculous spoof on last week's show.

mathmom · 11-02-2009, 11:29 PM

Really? we missed the spoof! The Long Black Veil is S2's favorite song! (When he's not listening to Finnish Metal).

I haven't thought about the spider web song for thirty plus years!

nightchef · 11-03-2009, 10:43 PM

Actually Levon Helm says in his autobiography that the Band recorded Long Black Veil because they "thought it was funny"...so their version, anyway, was something of a spoof from the beginning, though a pretty convincing one.

Speaking of those guys, one of my favorite lyrics is "Acadian Driftwood." I particularly love the opening lines, which have an almost Homeric feel to them:

Quote:

The war was over and the spirit was broken,
the hills were smoking as the men withdrew.
We stood on the cliffs and watched the ships
slowly sinking to their rendezvous.

For a very different kind of poetry, I adore "The Shape I Found You In" by Ty Greenstein of Girlyman:

Quote:

You were spoken for
I spent twenty lifetimes at your door
but your heart was busy within
building bomb shelters under your skin
that's the shape I found you in,
that's the shape I found you in.

I was calling to you,
it was one thing I knew how to do
but my heart tried to cheat
building safety nets under my feet
so if I fell I would fall right in,
that's the shape you found me in.

You were delivered to me
we were closed as the stores on Christmas eve
so I felt around in the dark
building rope ladders into your heart
climbing hand over hand to get in
that's the shape I found you in.

nightchef · 11-03-2009, 10:52 PM

Speaking of Christmas, one of my favorite songs is the Pretenders' "2000 Miles," especially the second verse, which captures something about the beauty of deep winter that I've never seen expressed quite so well.

Quote:

In these frozen and silent nights
sometimes in a dream
you appear
Outside under the purple sky
diamonds in the snow
sparkle

Our hearts were singing
it felt like Christmastime

Wartsandall · 11-03-2009, 11:01 PM

All I ask of you(Phantom of the Opera):

RAOUL:
No more talk of darkness
Forget these wide-eyed fears
I'm here
Nothing can harm you
My words will warm and call you

Let me be your freedom
Let daylight dry your tears
I'm here
with you, beside you
to guard you and to guide you

CHRISTINE:
Say you'll love me every waking moment
Turn my head with talk of summertime
Say you need me with you now and always
Promise me that all you say is true
That's all I ask of you

RAOUL:
Let me be your shelter
Let me be your light
You're safe
No one will find you
Your fears are far behind you

CHRISTINE:
All I want is freedom
A world with no more night
And you,
always beside me
to hold me and to hide me

RAOUL:
Then say you'll share with me one love one lifetime
Let me lead you from your solitude
Say you need me with you, here beside you
Anywhere you go let me go too
Christine,
that's all I ask of you

CHRISTINE:
Say you'll share with me one love one lifetime
Say the word and I will follow you

BOTH:
Share each day with me,
each night, each morning

CHRISTINE:
Say you love me

RAOUL:
You know I do

Both:
Love me,
that's all I ask of you

Anywhere you go let me go to
Love me,
that's all I ask of you

That's just one of the shorter songs that I enjoy(I didn't want to post some of the longer ones). I love all of the songs though.

TonyK · 11-06-2009, 08:14 PM

"Dear Abby"

Dear Abby, Dear Abby ...
My feet are too long
My hair's falling out and my rights are all wrong
My friends they all tell me that I've no friends at all
Won't you write me a letter, Won't you give me a call
Signed Bewildered.
Bewildered, Bewildered...
You have no complaint
You are what your are and you ain't what you ain't
So listen up Buster, and listen up good
Stop wishing for bad luck and knocking on wood

Dear Abby, Dear Abby...
My fountain pen leaks
My wife hollers at me and my kids are all freaks
Every side I get up on is the wrong side of bed
If it weren't so expensive I'd wish I were dead
Signed Unhappy.
Unhappy, Unhappy
You have no complaint
You are what your are and you ain't what you ain't
So listen up Buster, and listen up good
Stop wishing for bad luck and knocking on wood

Dear Abby, Dear Abby...
You won't believe this
But my stomach makes noises whenever I kiss
My girlfriend tells me It's all in my head
But my stomach tells me to write you instead
Signed Noise-maker.
Noise-maker, Noise-maker
You have no complaint
You are what your are and you ain't what you ain't
So listen up Buster, and listen up good
Stop wishing for bad luck and knocking on wood

Dear Abby, Dear Abby...
Well I never thought
That me and my girlfriend would ever get caught
We were sitting in the back seat just shooting the breeze
With her hair up in curlers and her pants to her knees
Signed Just Married.
Just Married, Just Married...
You have no complaint
You are what your are and you ain't what you ain't
So listen up Buster, and listen up good
Stop wishing for bad luck and knocking on wood.

- John Prine

NJres · 11-06-2009, 09:26 PM

Quote:

What's the one where it starts with mom or dad holding baby, and ends with the son holding the parent? Is that the same song

Hey Shrinkrap (great username, but I keep reading it as Shrin - krap because you left out the "w"

) Same general idea here, a real tearjerker:

Crystal Shawanda Lyrics – You Can Let Go

Wind blowin’ on my face
Sidewalk flyin’ beneath my bike
A five year-old’s first taste
Of what freedom’s really like
He was runnin’ right beside me
His hand holdin’ on the seat
I took a deep breath and hollered
As I headed for the street

Chorus
You can let go now, Daddy
You can let go
Oh, I think I’m ready
To do this on my own
It’s still .. it still feels .. a little bit scary
But I want you to know
I’ll be ok now, Daddy
You can let go

I was standin’ at the altar
Between the two loves of my life
To one I’ve been a daughter
To one I soon would be a wife
When the preacher asked,
‘Who gives this woman?’
Daddy’s eyes filled up with tears
He kept holdin’ tightly to my arm
‘Till I whispered in his ear

(Chorus)

It was killin’ me to see
The strongest man I ever knew
Wastin’ away to nothin’
In that hospital room
‘You know he’s only hangin’ on for you’
That’s what the night nurse said
My voice and heart were breakin’
As I crawled up in his bed, and said

You can let go now, Daddy
You can let go
Your little girl is ready
To do this on my own
It’s gonna be a little bit scary
But I want you to know
I’ll be ok now, Daddy
You can let go
You can let go

mathmom · 11-06-2009, 11:23 PM

Speaking of tear jerkers, I was listening to Guy Clark's Randall Knife today. What a great love song to a Dad!

My father had a Randall knife
My mother gave it to him
When he went off to WWII
To save us all from ruin
If you've ever held a Randall knife
Then you know my father well
If a better blade was ever made
It was probably forged in hell

My father was a good man
A lawyer by his trade
And only once did I ever see
Him misuse the blade
It almost cut his thumb off
When he took it for a tool
The knife was made for darker things
And you could not bend the rules

He let me take it camping once
On a Boy Scout jamboree
And I broke a half an inch off
Trying to stick it in a tree
I hid it from him for a while
But the knife and he were one
He put it in his bottom drawer
Without a hard word one

There it slept and there it stayed
For twenty some odd years
Sort of like Excalibur
Except waiting for a tear

My father died when I was forty
And I couldn't find a way to cry
Not because I didn't love him
Not because he didn't try
I'd cried for every lesser thing
Whiskey, pain and beauty
But he deserved a better tear
And I was not quite ready

So we took his ashed out to sea
And poured `em off the stern
And threw the roses in the wake
Of everything we'd learned
When we got back to the house
They asked me what I wanted
Not the lawbooks not the watch
I need the things he's haunted

My hand burned for the Randall knife
There in the bottom drawer
And I found a tear for my father's life
And all that it stood for