Songs with Clever Lines

[DarcyFarrow]

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)

[JohnD131536]

Night Moves - Bob Seger

I was a little too tall

Could've used a few pounds

Tight pants points hardly renown

She was a dark haired beauty with big dark eyes

And points all her own, sitting way high

[1968Hoya46]

My Little Town: Simon & Garfunkel (Every line is clever in that they create a vivid image, feeling  and mood for what it was like growing up in that little town, eg. Twitching like a finger on the trigger of a gun).

[DarcyFarrow]

Still in Hollywood (Concrete Blonde):

"And on the bus today, I met the queen of L.A.
At least she said she was and who am I to say?"

[DarcyFarrow]

Telegraph Road (Dire Straits)

"I've run every red light on memory lane"

[DarcyFarrow]

That's the Way I Always Heard it Should Be (Carly Simon):

"You say we'll soar like two birds through the clouds
But soon you'll cage me on your shelf
I'll never learn to be just me first
By myself"

[JohnD131536]

Piano Man - Billy Joel

It's nine o'clock on a Saturday

The regular crowd shuffles in

There's an old man sitting next to me

Making love to his tonic and gin

[DarcyFarrow]

I'm Gone (Dolly Parton):

"Say I'm in the witness program with the F.B.I.,
Say a U.F.O. abducted me from home
You can say what you choose, but I tell you the truth
You can say for sure I'm gone, 'cause I'm gone"

[DarcyFarrow]

My Tennessee Mountain Home (Dolly Parton):

"In my Tennessee mountain home
Life is as peaceful as a baby's sigh"

[DarcyFarrow]

Forever and Ever Amen (Randy Travis):

"They say time take its toll on a body
Makes a young girl's brown hair turn gray
Well, honey, I don't care, I ain't in love with your hair
And if it all fell out, well, I'd love you anyway"

[MaVolta]

Do What You Can  -  Bon Jovi  (new song)

Ain't it time we loved the stranger
They're just a friend you ain't met yet

[TheGent2U]

@MaVolta - Jon Bon Jovi channeling his inner Will Rogers. Love it!

[JohnD131536]

Landslide - Fleetwood Mac

I took my love, took it down

I climbed a mountain, and I turned around

And I saw my reflection in the snow-covered hills

Till the landslide brought me down

[MaVolta]

More from the new Bon Jovi album  . . .  

This album is full of songs with well thought out lyrics. It's Bon Jovi having his say on a range of contemporary issues.

Blood In The Water  -  2020: Bon Jovi

Blood in the water
Who's jumping in?
The devils made his final offer
Now the sharks are circling
Blood in the water
Our fates are sealed
The devils greatest trick
Was just to say he wasn't real
Satan always used to love to say he wasn't real

[DarcyFarrow]

Winter (Tori Amos)--a conversation between father and child

"He says, 'When you gonna make up your mind?
When you gonna love you as much as I do?"

[MaVolta]

An extraordinary singer-songwriter and performer, Mac Davis wrote many hit songs, including this one. He always seemed to have this great sense of humor, that would often turn into clever lines in a song.

It's Hard To Be Humble  -  Mac Davis    RIP

https://genius.com/Mac-davis-its-hard-to-be-humble-lyrics

Oh Lord, it's hard to be humble
When you're perfect in every way
I can't wait to look in the mirror
'Cause I get better lookin' each day
To know me is to love me
I must be a hell of a man
Oh Lord, it's hard to be humble
But I'm doin' the best that I can! 

[JohnD131536]

Piano Man - Billy Joel

Now Paul is a real estate novelist

Who never had time for a wife

And He's talkin' with Davy, who's still in the navy

And Probably will be for life

[DarcyFarrow]

Dela (Johnny Clegg): 

"One day I looked up and there you were
Like a simple question looking for an answer"

[DarcyFarrow]

Everybody Knows (Leonard Cohen):

"Everybody knows you've been discreet
But there were so many people you just had to meet
Without your clothes"

[BeatleloverKT]

Crazy on you, 1976, Heart

From the 7th verse:

I was a willow last night in a dream

I bent down over a clear running stream

Sang you the song that I heard up above

And you kept me alive with your sweet flowing love

[DarcyFarrow]

Hearts Filthy Lesson (Bowie):

"If there was only something between us
Other than our clothes"

[cm9889168]

"River of Souls"  by Dan Fogelberg

"I take my place along the shore
And I wait for the tide
It seems I've passed this way before
In an earlier time
To every man the mystery
Sings a different song
He fills his page of history
Dreams his dreams and is gone"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4f_I0smzeI

[DarcyFarrow]

Since You Went Away (Monkees)

"You said you couldn't tell the doormat from my face
You said if I had brains I would pawn them
Could be I've finally gotten up off of my thumbs
Could be that you're the one that was on them. . . .

You said without your help I couldn't tie my shoes
You said without a doubt I'd be stranded
Could be that you were right and I had to fly the coop
Could be the eagle finally has landed"

[TheGent2U]

Knife Edge - Emerson, Lake, and Palmer.  Just a step, cries the sad man. Take a look down at the madman.  https://youtu.be/XwIehM-x6kA

[CateazM]

Soho Needless to Say- Al Stewart

"Rainstorm, brainstorm, faces in the maelstrom

Huddle by the puddles in the shadows where the drains run"

[JohnD131536]

Piano Man - Billy Joel

And the waitress is practicing politics

As the businessmen slowly get stoned

Yes, they're sharing a drink they call loneliness

But it's better than drinkin' alone

[DarcyFarrow]

Until the End of the World (U2):   “In my dream, I was drowning my sorrows/ But my sorrows they learned to swim."

[DarcyFarrow]

Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Pink Floyd):

"Remember when you were young, you shone like the sun
Shine on you crazy diamond
Now there's a look in your eyes, like black holes in the sky
Shine on you crazy diamond
You were caught on the crossfire of childhood and stardom"

[MaVolta]

You can find clever lyrics in most songs written by David Bowie. I was watching a documentary about his early work, and how Space Oddity was the song brought him to the forefront of the pop music scene. It was mentioned how the song characterizes the pop culture and commercialization of all things outer space after the Apollo moon landing in 1969. The entire song is brilliant, but outstanding line that they pulled from the song was this one . . . 

This is Ground Control to Major Tom
You've really made the grade
And the papers want to know whose shirts you wear

[JohnD131536]

Piano Man - Billy Joel

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 my smoke

But there's some place that he'd rather be

[DarcyFarrow]

And the best line in "Anthem":

"Ring the bells that still can ring

Forget your perfect offering

There is a crack in everything

That's how the light gets in"