Community Champion ⭐⭐⭐

Songs with Clever Lines

Forum|Forum|6 years ago
May 2, 2020
237 replies
65381 views

So which lines jump out at you as especially clever or well written?

To start: "We have to shout above the din of our Rice Crispies" ("Synchronicity II," the Police)

"Is her power all in her club sandwich?" ("Waitress," Tori Amos)

This topic has been closed for replies.

Show previous replies

LouLit01

Conversationalist ⭐

I find these lyrics brilliant, hilarious, edgy... and many other good things but I'm not sure I can clean the song up enough to get it past ToS. And that would be a shame -- it's a great song.

I Hate My Life

So sick of the hobos
Always beggin' for change
I don't like how I gotta work
And they just sit around and get paid

I hate all of the people
Who can't drive their cars
B***h you better get out of my way
Before I, start falling apart

I hate how my wife
Is always up my a**
She always wants to buy brand new things
But I, don't have the cash

(Oh, lord, kill me now)

Well I hate my job, all of my rich friends
I hate everyone to the bitter end
Nothing turns out right, there's no end in sight
I hate my life

How come I never get laid?
Nice guys always lose
How could she have another headache?
There's always some kind of excuse

I still hate my job
My boss is a d***
I don't get paid nearly enough
To put up with all of his s***

Well I hate my job, all of my rich friends
I hate everyone to the bitter end
Nothing turns out right, there's no end in sight
I hate my life

I hate that I can't tell
When a girl's underage
And when I tell her she's a nice piece of a**
Then her daddy punches me in the face

So if you're p****d like me
B****s here's what you've gotta do
Put your middle fingers up in the air
Go on and say "f you"

Well I hate my job, all of my rich friends
I hate everyone to the bitter end
Nothing turns out right, there's no end in sight
I hate my life

So much at stake
Can't catch a break
I hate my life

Now there's nothing new
And it sucks to be you
I f ing hate my life

This is the video. What makes the song great is tone of voice he sings it in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbLJn941dBY

Theory of a Dead Man

BeatleloverKT

Community Champion ⭐⭐⭐

Love all things Bob Segar but this song is

my favorite:

Her Strut

She’s totally committed

To major independence

But she’s a lady through and through

She gives them quite a battle

All that they can handle

She’ll bruise some

She’ll hurt some too

But oh they love to watch her strut

I

Imagine948

Contributor ⭐

"They paved paradise and put up a parking lot" - Jon Mitchell

......Don't it always seem to go

That you don't know what you got till it's gone...

They paved paradise and put up a parking lot.

DarcyFarrowAuthor

Community Champion ⭐⭐⭐

Consider Me Gone (Sting):

"There were rooms of forgiveness
In the house that we share
But the space has been emptied
Of whatever was there
There were cupboards of patience
There were shelf loads of care
But whoever came calling
Found nobody there"

BeatleloverKT

Community Champion ⭐⭐⭐

Paperlate Genesis

From the middle of the song:

Oh it’s too easy to compute your future

Taking no risks and playing too safe

Any change would take too long

So dry your eyes

Ooh it’s too easy to talk about rocking the boat

But you better not lock that door

’Cause you’ll be coming back

Raynyky

Community Champion ⭐⭐⭐

Chow Mein and Bowling-Michael Nesmith

Chow mein and bowling
Twinkies and champagne
Moon over McDonald's
Frozen pizza in the rain
In the rain

Dancing in the dump truck
Dining with the dog
Laughing in the bathtub
With a ducky and a frog

Stake me to an anthill
Shoot me to the moon
Without you I am no one
Like a burger with no bun
Like a burger with no bun
I can't go on

On the spot we first met
Flowers grow today
Where's that little toxic waste dump
Where two children used to play
Used to play

Meat and diet cola
Duck a la butane
Refried beans and rare wines
Like they give you on a plane

BeatleloverKT

Community Champion ⭐⭐⭐

Locomotive breath Jethro Tull. Ian

Anderson is an extraordinary songwriter

exemplified in this, my fav Jethro Tull tune:

In the shuffling madness

Of the locomotive breath

Runs the all time loser

Headlong to his death

He feels the piston scraping

Steam breaking on his brow

Old Charlie stole the handle and

The train it won’t stop going

No way to slow down

DarcyFarrowAuthor

Community Champion ⭐⭐⭐

Lawyers in Love (Jackson Browne):

"Last night I watched the news from Washington (the Capitol)
The Russians escaped while we weren't watching them (as Russians will)
Now we've got all this room, we've even got the moon
And I hear the U.S.S.R will be open soon

As vacation land for lawyers in love"

MaVolta

Community Champion ⭐⭐⭐

Lawyers in Love (Jackson Browne)

Good one, for sure!

“When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.” - Jimi Hendrix

BeatleloverKT

Community Champion ⭐⭐⭐

Continuing with the musical genius that is

Jackson Browne. He has a knack for

taking the most mundane topics and

spinning them into genius in song.

This is one of my favs of his, from

the 3rd verse:

Fountain of Sorrow (1974)
Now the things that I remember seem

so distant and so small

Though it really hasn’t been

that long a time

What I was seeing wasn’t what was

happening at all

Although for awhile our path did seem to climb

When you see through love’s illusions

there lies the danger

And your perfect lover just looks like a

perfect fool

So you go running off in search

of a perfect stranger

While the loneliness seems to spring from

your life like a fountain from a pool

DarcyFarrowAuthor

Community Champion ⭐⭐⭐

Valparaiso (Sting):

"And every road I walked would take me down to the sea
With every broken promise in my sack"

BeatleloverKT

Community Champion ⭐⭐⭐

Make me smile Chicago, 1970

This song, which I always interpreted as

the guy trying to get the girl to stay, love

him and ultimately smile, is clever in its

simply worded lyrics and message. Love

the vocals by Terry Kath and the driving

beat of the song. It has been my fav

Chicago song since 1970 💜😎

Living life is just a game so they say

All the games we used to play fade away

We may now enjoy the dreams we shared

so long ago

Oh my darling

Got to have you

Feel the magic

When I hold you
Cry sweet tears of joy

Touch the sky

DarcyFarrowAuthor

Community Champion ⭐⭐⭐

Fountain of Sorrow (Jackson Browne):

"And while the future's there for anyone to change still you know it seems
It would be easier sometimes to change the past"

MaVolta

Community Champion ⭐⭐⭐

Cool little song from 1971, story behind the song here: https://www.songfacts.com/facts/five-man-electrical-band/signs

Signs - Five Man Electrical Band

And the sign said "Long-haired freaky people need not apply"
So I tucked my hair up under my hat and I went in to ask him why
He said "You look like a fine upstanding young man, I think you'll do"
So I took off my hat, I said "Imagine that. Huh! Me workin' for you!"
Whoa-oh-oh

Sign, sign, everywhere a sign
Blockin' out the scenery, breakin' my mind
Do this, don't do that, can't you read the sign?

And the sign said anybody caught trespassin' would be shot on sight
So I jumped on the fence and-a yelled at the house, "Hey! What gives you
the right?"
"To put up a fence to keep me out or to keep mother nature in"
"If God was here he'd tell you to your face, Man, you're some kinda sinner"

Sign, sign, everywhere a sign
Blockin' out the scenery, breakin' my mind
Do this, don't do that, can't you read the sign?

Now, hey you, mister, can't you read?
You've got to have a shirt and tie to get a seat
You can't even watch, no you can't eat
You ain't supposed to be here
The sign said you got to have a membership card to get inside
Ugh!

And the sign said, "Everybody welcome. Come in, kneel down and pray"
But when they passed around the plate at the end of it all, I didn't have a
penny to pay
So I got me a pen and a paper and I made up my own little sign
I said, "Thank you, Lord, for thinkin' 'bout me. I'm alive and doin' fine."
Wooo!

Sign, sign, everywhere a sign
Blockin' out the scenery, breakin' my mind
Do this, don't do that, can't you read the sign?

“When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.” - Jimi Hendrix

BeatleloverKT

Community Champion ⭐⭐⭐

Sisters of the moon The Mac, 1979 The

follow up Tusk album has incredible music

on it. This song is just one of those. Kudos

to Stevie for writing this amazing song.

From the 1st verse:

Intense silence

As she walked in the room

Her black robes trailing

Sister of the moon

And a black widow spider makes

More sound than she

And black moons in those eyes of hers

Made more sense to me

DarcyFarrowAuthor

Community Champion ⭐⭐⭐

For a Dancer (Jackson Browne):

"And somewhere between the time you arrive
And the time you go
May lie a reason you were alive
But you'll never know"

DED46

Contributor ⭐⭐⭐

LOVE INTERRUPTION - Jack White

I want love to, walk right up and bite me
Grab a hold of me and fight me leave me dying on the ground.

And I want love to, split my mouth wide open and
Cover up my ears and never let me hear a sound.

DarcyFarrowAuthor

Community Champion ⭐⭐⭐

True (Concrete Blonde):

"And if I had the choice I'd take the voice I got
Cause it was hard to find. . . .

if I can't walk proud, I'd rather walk away."

MaVolta

Community Champion ⭐⭐⭐

This list would be incomplete without a song by Stephen Stills. The alliteration in this one is especially brilliant, so I'll go with . . .

Helplessly Hoping - CSN

Helplessly hoping her harlequin hovers nearby
Awaiting a word
Gasping at glimpses of gentle true spirit

he runs wishing he could fly
only to trip at the sound of good-bye

Wordlessly watching he waits by the window and wonders
at the empty place inside

Heartlessly helping himself to her bad dreams he worries
did he hear a good-bye or even

Hello

They are 1 person
They are too alone
They are 3 together
They are for each other

“When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.” - Jimi Hendrix

BeatleloverKT

Community Champion ⭐⭐⭐

She’s so cold Stones. This song, from the

incredible Emotional Rescue album spins

a tale of romance, sex and amazingly

about aging. Kudos to Mick and Keith

for writing this clever tune, one of my Stones favs.

This is from the third verse:

Shes so cold, she’s so cold

She’s so cold cold cold

Like a tombstone

She’s so cold, she’s so cold

She’s so cold cold cold like an ice cream cone

She’s so cold she’s so cold

I dare not touch her my hand just froze

Sign up

Login with SSO

Login to the community

Login with SSO