Good Lyrics Hall of Fame

"You burn me up like a chicken at a barbeque."

 

Hmmm ... an old man on his deathbed once said to me
You are the master of your destiny
A diamond is a diamond, and a stone is a stone
But a man's not all good nor all bad
When the chips're all down and your back's at the wall
You're the best friend that you've ever had
You're the best friend that you've ever had
So you laugh when it's time to laugh, and you cry when it's time to cry
Live while it's time to live, cause you'll die when it's time to die

 

Someone misquoted a line from this in the other thread. But the song idea and the lyrics always struck me as true pop genius, which Bernie Taupin is.

It's a little bit funny this feeling inside
I'm not one of those who can easily hide
I don't have much money but boy if I did
I'd buy a big house where we both could live

If I was a sculptor, but then again, no
Or a man who makes potions in a travelling show
I know it's not much but it's the best I can do
My gift is my song and this one's for you

And you can tell everybody this is your song
It may be quite simple but now that it's done
I hope you don't mind
I hope you don't mind that I put down in words
How wonderful life is while you're in the world

I sat on the roof and kicked off the moss
Well a few of the verses well they've got me quite cross
But the sun's been quite kind while I wrote this song
It's for people like you that keep it turned on

So excuse me forgetting but these things I do
You see I've forgotten if they're green or they're blue
Anyway the thing is what I really mean
Yours are the sweetest eyes I've ever seen

And you can tell everybody this is your song
It may be quite simple but now that it's done
I hope you don't mind
I hope you don't mind that I put down in words
How wonderful life is while you're in the world

 

Tangled Up In Blue is amazing, but I think this is better from the same album ...

Someone's got it in for me, they're planting stories in the press
Whoever it is I wish they'd cut it out quick, but when they will I can only guess
They say I shot a man named Gray and took his wife to Italy
She inherited a million bucks and when she died it came to me
I can't help it if I'm lucky.

People see me all the time and they just can't remember how to act
Their minds are filled with big ideas, images and distorted facts
Even you yesterday you had to ask me where it was at
I couldn't believe after all these years you didn't know even me better than that
Sweet lady.

Idiot wind blowing every time your move your mouth
Blowing down the backroads heading south
Idiot wind blowing every time you move your teeth
You're an idiot babe
It's a wonder that you still know how to breathe

I ran into the fortune-teller who said beware of lightning that might strike
I haven't known peace and quiet for so long I can't remember what it's like
There's a lone soldier on the cross smoke pouring out of a boxcar door
You didn't know it you didn't think it could be done in the final end he won the wars
After losing every battle.

I woke up on the roadside daydreaming about the way things sometimes are
Visions of your chestnut mare shoot through my head and are making me see stars
You hurt the ones that I love best and cover up the truth with lies
One day you'll be in the ditch, flies buzzing around your eyes
Blood on your saddle.

Idiot wind blowing through the flowers on your tomb
Blowing through the curtains in your room
Idiot wind blowing every time you move your teeth
You're an idiot babe
It's a wonder that you still know how to breathe.

It was gravity which pulled us down and destiny which broke us apart
You tamed the lion in my cage but it just wasn't enough to change my heart
Now everything's a little upside down, as a matter of fact the wheels have stopped
What's good is bad what's bad is good you'll find out when you reach the top
You're on the bottom.

I noticed at the ceremony, your corrupt ways had finally made you blind
I can't remember your face anymore, your mouth has changed your eyes don't look into mine
The priest wore black on the seventh day and sat stone faced while the building burned
I waited for you on the running boards, near the cypress trees while the springtime turned
Slowly into autumn.

Idiot wind blowing like a circle around my skull
From the Grand Coulee Dam to Capitol
Idiot wind blowing every time you move you teeth
You're an idiot babe.
It's a wonder that you still know how to breathe.

I can't feel you anymore, I can't even touch the books you've read
Every time I crawl past your door, I been wishing I was somebody else instead
Down the highway down the tracks down the road to ecstasy
I followed you beneath the stars hounded by your memory
And all you raging glory.

I been double-crossed now for the very last time and now I'm finally free
I kissed goodbye the howling beast on the borderline which separated you from me
You'll never know the hurt I suffered not the pain I raise above
And I'll never know the same about you your holiness or your kind of love
And it makes me feel so sorry.

Idiot wind blowing through the buttons of our coats
Blowing through the letters that we wrote
Idiot wind blowing through the dust upon our shelves
We're idiots babe
It's a wonder we can even feed ourselves.

 

Is this the "Hall of Good?"

Anyway, I love this one...

It started when we were dancing
It got heavy when we got to the bathroom
We didn't go back to her place
We went to some place where she cat sits
She said, "I know I look tired but everything's fried here in Memphis"

Now they want to know exactly which bathroom
Dude, does it make any difference?
It can't be important
Yeah, sure I'll tell my story again

In bar light she looked alright
In daylight she looked desperate
That's alright, I was desperate too
I'm getting pretty sick of this interview

Subpoenaed in Texas
Sequestered in Memphis
Subpoenaed in Texas
Sequestered in Memphis

I think she drove a new Mustang
I guess it might be a rental
I remember she had satellite radio
I guess she seemed a bit nervous

Do you think I'm that stupid?
Oh, what the hell I'll tell my story again

In bar light she looked alright
In daylight she looked desperate
That's alright, I was desperate too
I'm getting pretty sick of this interview

Subpoenaed in Texas
Sequestered in Memphis
Subpoenaed in Texas
Sequestered in Memphis

Subpoenaed in Texas
Sequestered in Memphis
Subpoenaed in Texas
Sequestered in Memphis

(I went there on business)
Subpoenaed in Texas
Sequestered in Memphis
(I went there on business)
Subpoenaed in Texas
Sequestered in Memphis

(I went there on business)
Subpoenaed in Texas
Sequestered in Memphis
(I went there on business)
Subpoenaed in Texas
Sequestered in Memphis

 

bob pretty much nails it in 11 words in against the wind:

"i wish i didn't know now what i didn't know then."

greatest use of words in music.

 

I'm just glad that fucking dick-sneeze Petty didn't start this thread.


I hereby nominate Comfortably Numb by Pink Floyd.

 

They put up my picture with silence, because my identity by itself causes violence.

Eazy-E in NWA's "Fuck Tha Police" (though almost certainly written by Ice Cube)

 

That's just such a fantastic song. The delivery of the "From the hundred-year war to the Crimea with a lance and a musket and a Roman spear" line never fails to pump me up.

 

It might not be Hall of Fame worthy, but this verse from Doug Hopkins' "Long Last Lonely Mile" as performed by The Pistoleros is worth a mention:

Well I came home drunk from work early yesterday
I was tired and I'd been fired and I felt half dead
I got a one hell of greetin'
She found a brand new way of cheatin'
It was a woman, not a man with her in bed

 

Shipbuilding (music-Clive Langer, words-Elvis Costello)

Is it worth it?
A new winter coat and shoes for the wife
And a bicycle on the boys birthday
Its just a rumour that was spread around town
By the women and children
Soon we'll be shipbuilding

Well I ask you
The boy said dad they're going to take me to task
But I'll be back by christmas
Its just a rumour that was spread around town
Somebody said that someone got filled in
For saying that people get killed in
The result of this shipbuilding

With all the will in the world
Diving for dear life
When we could be diving for pearls

Its just a rumour that was spread around town
A telegram or a picture postcard
Within weeks they'll be re-opening the shipyards
And notifying the next of kin
Once again
Its all were skilled in
We will be shipbuilding

With all the will in the world
Diving for dear life
When we could be diving for pearls

 

Slaid Cleaves has a bunch of great ones... and this one from "One Good Year" is one of my favorites:

It’s a bitter wind
In your face every day
It’s the little sins
That wear your soul away
When you start giving in
Where do the promises all go
Will your darkest hour
Write a blank check on your soul?