Community Champion ⭐⭐⭐

Songs with Clever Lines

Forum|Forum|6 years ago
May 2, 2020
237 replies
65349 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)

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DarcyFarrowAuthor

Community Champion ⭐⭐⭐

Winter (Tori Amos)

"But I only can see myself
Skating around the truth who I am
But I know, dad, the ice is getting thin"

BeatleloverKT

Community Champion ⭐⭐⭐

For a dancer Jackson Browne

The “Late for the sky” album, released in

1974, was a genius masterpiece that I

couldn’t stop playing! There isn’t one bad

song on it. For a dancer is one of his

finest, a clever song about much more

than being a dancer. From the third verse:

Just do the steps that you’ve been shown

By everyone you’ve ever known

Until the dance becomes your very own

No matter how close to yours

Another’s steps have grown

In the end there is one dance you’ll do alone

DarcyFarrowAuthor

Community Champion ⭐⭐⭐

Late for the Sky (Jackson Browne):

"You never knew what I loved in you
I don't know what you loved in me
Maybe the picture of somebody you were hoping I might be"

BeatleloverKT

Community Champion ⭐⭐⭐

Abracadabra Steve Miller Band. This

song, about a guy hot for the girl of

his dreams has pretty simple and

predictable lyrics, except for Verse Six:

I feel the magic in your caress

I feel magic when I touch your dress

Silk and satin, leather and lace

Black panties with an Angels face

BeatleloverKT

Community Champion ⭐⭐⭐

Piano Man Billy Joel (1973) This song,

based on his own experience as a

piano-lounge singer for six months just

to pay rent under an assumed name.

He has said he has no idea why the song

became so popular. I find the song extremely

cleverly worded and one of my favs of his.

From Verse Five:

Now John at the bar is a friend of mine

He gets me my drinks for free

And he’s quick with a joke or to

light up your smoke

But there’s someplace that he’d rather be
He says “Bill, I believe this is killing me”

As the smile ran away from his face

”Well I’m sure that I could be a movie star

If I could get out of this place”

DarcyFarrowAuthor

Community Champion ⭐⭐⭐

The Miracle (of Joey Ramone)--U2:

"We got language so we can't communicate
Religion so I can love and hate
Music so I can exaggerate my pain, and give it a name"

MaVolta

Community Champion ⭐⭐⭐

Written by Rick Nelson, the entire song is a clever description of an evening at "The Garden", but the descriptions of John Lennon and George Harrison in verse two, ingenious! Another talent, gone too soon. RIP Rick.

Garden Party - Rick Nelson

Went to a garden party to reminisce with my old friends
A chance to share old memories and play our songs again
When I got to the garden party, they all knew my name
No one recognized me, I didn't look the same

People came from miles around, everyone was there
Yoko brought her walrus, there was magic in the air
And over in the corner, much to my surprise
Mr. Hughes hid in Dylan's shoes wearing his disguise

Played them all the old songs, thought that's why they came
No one heard the music, we didn't look the same
I said hello to "Mary Lou", "She Belongs to Me"
When I sang a song about a honky-tonk, it was time to leave

Someone opened up a closet door and out stepped Johnny B. Goode
Playing guitar like a-ringin' a bell and lookin' like he should
If you gotta play at garden parties, I wish you a lotta luck
But if memories were all I sang, I rather drive a truck

And it's all right now, learned my lesson well
You see, ya can't please everyone, so you got to please yourself

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

DarcyFarrowAuthor

Community Champion ⭐⭐⭐

Volcano (U2):

"Your eyes were like landing lights
They used to be the clearest blue
Now you don't see so well
The future's gonna land on you"

S

SusanF606311

Contributor ⭐⭐

Adelaide's Lament by Frank Loesser (from the musical, Guys and Dolls)

The average unmarried female
Basically insecure
Due to some long frustration may react
With psychosomatic symptoms
Difficult to endure
Affecting the upper respiratory tract.

In other words, just from waiting around for that plain little band of gold
A person can develop a cold.

You can spray her wherever you figure the streptococci lurk
You can give her a shot for whatever she's got, but it just won't work
If she's tired of getting the fish eye from the hotel clerk
A person can develop a cold.

The female remaining single
Just in the legal sense
Shows a neurotic tendency, see note: (looks at note)
Chronic organic syndromes
Toxic or hypertense
Involving the eye, the ear, the nose, and throat.

In other words, just from worrying whether the wedding is on or off
A person can develop a cough.

You can feed her all day with the vitamin A and the Bromofizz
But the medicine never gets anywhere near where the trouble is.
If she's getting a kind of name for herself, and the name ain't his
A person can develop a cough.

BeatleloverKT

Community Champion ⭐⭐⭐

Apple Scruffs (1970) George Harrison.
The Apple Scruffs were the devoted

admirers and fans of the Beatles,

so legend says 🤷‍

Now I’ve watched you sitting there

Seen the passers-by all stare

Like you have no place to go

But there’s so much they don’t know

About Apple Scruffs

HeyBoomer

Contributor ⭐⭐

Oh Very Young by cat stevens

Oh very young, what will you leave us this time
You're only dancin' on this earth for a short while
And though your dreams may toss and turn you now
They will vanish away like your dads best jeans
Denim blue, faded up to the sky
And though you want them to last forever
You know they never will
...
And the patches make the goodbye harder still

Oh very young what will you leave us this time
There'll never be a better chance to change your mind
And if you want this world to see a better day
Will you carry the words of love with you
Will you, will you ride the great white bird into heaven
And though you want to last forever
You know you never will
...
And the goodbye makes the journey harder still

BeatleloverKT

Community Champion ⭐⭐⭐

Gypsy (1982), Fleetwood Mac. From the

Mirage album, Stevie Nicks, songwriter. Has been my fav Mac song for forever 😎

So I’m back to the velvet underground

Back to the floor that I love

To a room with some lace and paper flowers

Back to the Gypsy that I was

To the Gypsy that I was

BeatleloverKT

Community Champion ⭐⭐⭐

Black Water (1974), Doobie Brothers.

From the album “What were once vices

are now habits” Songwriter is Patrick

Simmons, who is on lead vocals. Hard

to believe this was the B side to Another

park, another Sunday!

Well, if it rains, I don’t care

Don’t make no difference to me

Just take that streetcar that’s goin’ uptown

Yeah, I’d like to hear some funky Dixieland

and dance a honky-tonk

And I’ll be buyin’ ev’rybody drinks all ‘roun’

TheGent2U

Contributor ⭐⭐⭐

'Innocence and undying love will reign"

From "All Of The Above" - Transatlantic

TheGent2U

Contributor ⭐⭐⭐

"Said my get up and go must've of got up and went."

Sweet Emotion - Aerosmith

TheGent2U

Contributor ⭐⭐⭐

"It's too easy humming songs to a girl in a yellow dress."

"The four Kings of EMI are sitting stately on the floor"

Randy Scouse Git - written by Mickey Dolenz, performed by the Monkees.

About a party welcoming the Monkees that was hosted by the four Kings of EMI - The Beatles.

The girl in yellow dress? Mama Cass Elliot.

TheGent2U

Contributor ⭐⭐⭐

"Good old General Hand Grenade
Ridin' in a motorcade
Sippin' on a lemonade
And waving at his fans

Isabella Band Aid
Wavin' at the Shrine parade
Eatin' toast and marmalade
And getting sticky hands

Good old General Hand Grenade
Ridin' in a motorcade
Lookin' for the cavalcade
To take him off to war

Isabella Band Aid
Suckin' on a Gatorade
Lookin' at the mess he made
And wonderin' what it's for

People gettin' high

People gettin' low

People gettin' nowhere

Cause they don't know where to go"

General Hand Grenade - Trooper https://youtu.be/HwtKTpfNevU

DarcyFarrowAuthor

Community Champion ⭐⭐⭐

Emotional Allegiance (Johnny Clegg):

"I don't want to be a tourist in your heart
I don't want to visit someone else's ruins
Don't want a day trip to the feelings in the dark"

DarcyFarrowAuthor

Community Champion ⭐⭐⭐

Don't Make Me Wait (Sting and Shaggy):

"I'm already sold on the idea of you and I
Just tell me where I need to sign"

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