Who's Line Is It Anyway?

[Claire]

This is my new post and it is inspired by The Killers, 'Read My Mind'.

The song contains the beautiful lyric: "a subtle kiss that no-one sees".
It also features the superlative: "the stars are blazing like rebel diamonds cut out of the sun". i think that line is magic.
Also good by the killers: "save some face, you know you've only got one".

So this gets me thinking, what are your favourite lyrics? its hard to name favourite songs so that is NOT this post. just snippets or soundbites, little bits that sound brilliant. i would also suggest lines/quotes from literature, like Seamus Heaney's Mid-Term Break. the poem ends: "No gaudy scar, the bumper knocked him clear, a four foot box, a foot for every year". that has stayed with me since GCSE with Mrs Dootson.

Join in and offer your favourite lines, lyrics and quotes. Jane Austen, Lennon and McCartney, Artic Monkeys or Charles Dickens...who do you choose?

[mr_e]

Ooh, so much to choose from. A few lyrics that spring to mind:

At The Gates (death metal band from Norway), from Primal Breath:
"Look, the herons in the greenbilled water / Their wet-ash wings wear medallions of patience"
"There are no clocks to measure time / But the beating of our singing hearts"

Deftones, from Hexagram :
"Paint the streets in white / Death is the standard breach for a complex prize"

I'm inspired to go buy some Seamus Heaney stuff now, I like what I've read of his work so far, and he doesn't mince around with his words. I've also just found out that I have a load of Palladas' poems as well, because Tony Harrison was actually the poet who translated them. Score. The Killers are pretty good on the lyrics front, and he can certainly sing.

Edit: the Primal Breath lyrics are possibly from a Sioux poem.

[Andy]

I like that line best from the Heaney poems in the anthology. Another particular favourite is ''Spit like a tamed cat/Turned savage.'' from Storm on the Island.

[BarcelonAl]

From Frank Turner's song 'I knew Prufrock before he was famous'...

Life is about love, last minutes and lost evenings, about fire in our bellies and furtive little feelings, and the aching amplitudes that set our needles all a-flickering, and help us with remembering that the only thing that's left to do is live.

[Andy]

I love songs that create an image in my mind. My all time favourite for this has to be

The Beatles - Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
Picture yourself in a boat on a river, / With tangerine trees and marmalade skies / Somebody calls you, you answer quite slowly, / A girl with kaleidoscope eyes. / Cellophane flowers of yellow and green, / Towering over your head. / Look for the girl with the sun in her eyes, / And she's gone./ Lucy in the sky with diamonds. / Follow her down to a bridge by a fountain / Where rocking horse people eat marshmellow pies, / Everyone smiles as you drift past the flowers, / That grow so incredibly high. / Newspaper taxis appear on the shore,/ Waiting to take you away. / Climb in the back with your head in the clouds, / And you're gone. / Lucy in the sky with diamonds, / Picture yourself on a train in a station, / With plasticine porters with looking glass ties, / Suddenly someone is there at the turnstyle, / The girl with the kaleidoscope eyes.

Other ones I am partial to are -

Joni Mitchell - Both Sides, Now.
Rows and flows of angel hair / And ice cream castles in the air / And feather canyons everywhere / Ive looked at clouds that way
But now they only block the sun / They rain and snow on everyone /So many things I would have done / But clouds got in my way / Ive looked at clouds from both sides now / From up and down, and still somehow / It's cloud illusions I recall / I really dont know clouds at all

U2 - Where The Streets Have No Name
I want to run / I want to hide / I want to tear down the walls / That hold me inside / I want to reach out / And touch the flame / Where the streets have no name
I want to feel, sunlight on my face / See that dust cloud disappear without a trace / I want to take shelter from the poison rain / Where the streets have no name

Procul Harum - Whiter Shade of Pale
We skipped the light fandango / Turned cartwheels 'cross the floor / I was feeling kinda seasick / But the crowd called out for more / The room was humming harder / As the ceiling flew away

[stimpsonslostson]

I've got a few favorite lyrics-

Sorry I'm late, I was out spoiling my liver.
I couldn't wait The sun was up for far too long today
And I can't see straight but the two of you look awfully pretty

Alkaline trio- Cooking wine.

but if you're all about the destination, then take a fucking flight.
We're going nowhere slowly, but we're seeing all the sights.

Frank Turner- Ballad of Me and My Friends.

p

[johnriley1uk]

There was a widespread feeling that Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds was referring to LSD, but years later John Lennon said it was actually about a child's drawing.

From the same album, A Day In The Life was banned by the BBC as they believed it was about drug taking.

[Mike]

The BBC are still banning / bleeping silly things from songs - such as the line 'you cheap lousey faggot' from the 'Fairytale of New York' by the Pogues.

[stimpsonslostson]

and yet they miss some pretty obvious ones!

Shaved her leg and then he was a she.
She says, hey babe, take a walk on the wild side

Lou Reed- the BBC missed that its about a transvestite hooker! Much to Reeds continuing amusement.

I found it incredible that the Comic Relief song recently was a cover of "Walk This Way"- all about oral sex! Girls Aloud claimed not to have noticed the lines-

I met a cheerleader, was a real young bleeder" and "You ain't seen nothin' til you're down on a muffin"

Can they really be THAT thick? (No wait don't answer that!)
p

[Andy]

There was a widespread feeling that Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds was referring to LSD, but years later John Lennon said it was actually about a child's drawing.

I've always felt it was about LSD. Lets face it, kids are crap at drawing. Now, now, before you start commenting, they are. It is a fact. Look at the evidence, virtually every child up until 6 misses out the body and thinks that all humans have legs that come up to their necks.

[johnriley1uk]

They don't? Damn, I still draw like that.