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)

[BeatleloverKT]

Ooh La La, Faces

I wish I knew what I know now

When I was younger.....

[1968Hoya46]

"Wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then"

Against The Wind:  Bob Seger

[EricC28201]

I re-watched Hidden Figures last week and finally found the words for this one.

Runnin' - Pharrell Williams

"I don't want no free ride
I'm just sick and tired of runnin',"

It is such a phenominally artful set-up for the segue to Katherine's confrontation with Mr. Harris that results in Mr. Harris's desegregation of the coffee pots, removal of the bathroom sign and statement, "Here at NASA we all pee the same color,".

For further context:

You and I are not different from each other (other)
Shut our eyes, when we slumber I see numbers (numbers)
Black and white, we're computers, I am colored (colored)
Don't act like you was there when you wasn't

From runnin' to exams (exams) to jobs for a man (man)
Don't act like you was there when you wasn't
In the law of the land (land) the women were often banned (banned)
Don't act like you was there when you wasn't

I know they say you crawl for your own
But in my mind I already jog
If I stand still I cannot get far
They want the Moon, I'm on Mars

Sometime my mind dives deep
When I'm runnin'
I don't want no free ride
I'm just sick and tired of runnin'
Some nights I cry
Cause I can see the day comin'
Together we fight
Oh, but no more runnin'

[nli28210]

Walter Jackson - "It's and Uphill Climb"

It's and Uphill Climb to the Bottom, when your love has gone"

[sweetjulieblueeyes52]

Life's Been Good - Joe Walsh

I have a mansion, forget the price

Ain't never been there. They tell me it's nice 

My Maseratti does one-eighty-five

I lost my license, now l don't drive 

It's  tough to handle this fortune and fame

Everybody's so different, l haven't changed 

[sweetjulieblueeyes52]

Don't know the reason 

Stayed here all season

Nothing to show but this brand new tattoo

But it's a real beauty 

A Mexican cutie

How it got here, l haven't a clue 

From Margaritaville- Jimmy Buffet 

[Raynyky]

Up To No Good Livin’-Chris Stapleton 

I used to drink like a fish and run like a dog
Done a whole lotta **bleep** not permitted by law
People call me the Picasso of paintin' the town
But I've finally grown up
And I finally changed from that someone I was to somebody I ain't
But she finds it hard to believe that she's turned me around
You know I'll probably die before I live all mine
Up to no good livin' down

[sweetjulieblueeyes52]

You just slip out the back, Jack

Make a new plan, Stan

You don't need to be coy, Roy

Just get yourself free

Hop on the bus, Gus

You don't need to discuss much

Just drop off the key, Lee

And get yourself free

50 Ways to Leave Your Lover  - Paul Simon

[postman29]

"If we had love before, we can have it back once more."

Lost Without Your Love- Bread

That line was a killer after my first love left me. 

[sweetjulieblueeyes52]

This one really strikes a cord with me since l was born in southern England.

Sitting in an English garden

Waiting for the sun

If the sun don't come you get a tan

From standing in the English rain. 

From I Am the Walrus - Beatles

[Constantitan]

Elton John - Rocket Man

"Mars ain't the kind of place to raise your kids
In fact it's cold as Hell
And there's no one there to raise them if you didn't
And all this science, I don't understand
It's just my job, five days a week"

[BeatleloverKT]

Part of the plan    Dan Fogelberg 

Was hard to pick just one verse but

this is Verse Five:

Your conscience awakes and you see

your mistakes

And you wish someone would buy

your confessions 

The days miss their mark and the

night gets so dark

And some kind of message comes

through to you

Some kind of message shoots through

[EricC28201]

The Beat Goes On/Switching To Glide - The Kings

"Nothing matters but The Weekend from a Tuesday point if view"

[MaVolta]

Under A Raging Moon  -  Roger Daltrey

Like a demon, I could feel the madness
Running through the crowd
We were freedom
From the moment that we hit the ground
And the wild man, he laid the thunder down.

A tribute to Keith Moon. 

[DarcyFarrow]

Subterranean Homesick Blues (Dylan)

"Oh, get born, keep warm
Short pants, romance
Learn to dance, get dressed, get blessed
Try to be a success
Please her, please him, buy gifts
Don't steal, don't lift
Twenty years of schoolin'
And they put you on the day shift"

[DarcyFarrow]

Blow Up Your TV (Spanish Pipe Dream) (John Prine)

"I knew that topless lady had something up her sleeve"

[DarcyFarrow]

"I see my life in your rear view mirror"

"Rear View Mirror," Bill Danoff

[DarcyFarrow]

Your Haunted Head (Concrete Blonde)

"He laid his troubles out to me like a deck of playing cards,
Well don't you know that I can tell the Kings and Jokers well apart?"

[1968Hoya46]

Lyin' Eyes: Eagles   I think the song is full of cleverly crafted lines, images and metaphors, starting with "City girls just seem to find out early, how to open doors with just a smile".

[DarcyFarrow]

That's the Way I've 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"

[DarcyFarrow]

Blue Sky (A-ha)

"Oh, I used to be confused
But now I just don't know"

[MaVolta]

Oh Girl  -  Scorpions

Life's been dancin' on a razor blade
I had my share of love and hate
Well, after all I found myself
'Cause it's you who makes me live
It's only you who can forgive

Away for a long time but never gone
Sometimes life just takes the long way home

[DarcyFarrow]

Don't You Want to Be There (Jackson Browne)

"And those you have wronged, you know
You need to let them know some way
And those who have wronged you, know
You'll have to let them go someday"

[DarcyFarrow]

"You can ride high atop your pony
I know you won't fall
'cause the whole thing's phony"

--"Bella Donna," Stevie Nicks

[EricC28201]

"Across the street A neon sign
All you can eat for a Dollar ninety nine

Our soul stew Is the baddest in the land
But-a one dollar's worth Was all that I could stand"

Sometimes Bad Is Bad - Huey Lewis And The News

[DarcyFarrow]

"We could have almost made it

Looks like we found the door but lost the key"

--Not What We Promised to Be (Fat City)

[BeatleloverKT]

She’s so cold   Stones

I’m so hot for her and she’s so cold

Yeah, I tried re-wiring her, tried re-firing her

I think her engine is permanently stalled

[MaVolta]

Mixed Emotions  -  The Stones

This coming and going is driving me nuts
This to-ing and fro-ing is hurting my guts
So get off the fence now, you're creasing your butt
Life is a party, let's get out and strut, yeah

Gotta love Mick Jagger!  He's trying to make up with his girl . . .  🤣

[DarcyFarrow]

Captai Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy (Elton John)

"Captain Fantastic, raised and regimented, hardly a hero
Just someone his mother might know
Very clearly a case for Corn Flakes and classics"