Good Lyrics Hall of Fame

Couldn't sing or act, but the man could write songs

 

Might be the coolest guy who ever lived, too.

 

Springsteen has a number of great turns of phrase in this Better Days.

This couplet in particular:

"But it’s a sad man my friend who’s livin’ in his own skin
And can’t stand the company"



BETTER DAYS
Well my soul checked out missing as I sat listening
To the hours and minutes tickin’ away
Yeah just sittin’ around waitin’ for my life to begin
While it was all just slippin’ away
I’m tired of waitin’ for tomorrow to come
Or that train to come roarin’ ’round the bend
I got a new suit of clothes a pretty red rose
And a woman I can call my friend
These are better days baby
Yeah there’s better days shining through
These are better days baby
Better days with a girl like you

Well I took a piss at fortune’s sweet kiss
It’s like eatin’ caviar and dirt
It’s sad funny ending to find yourself pretending
A rich man in a poor man’s shirt
Now my ass was draggin’ when from a passin’ gypsy wagon
Your heart like a diamond shone
Tonight I’m layin’ in your arms carvin’ lucky charms
Out of these hard luck bones

These are better days baby
These are better days it’s true
These are better days
There’s better days shining through

Now a life of leisure and a pirate’s treasure
Don’t make much for tragedy
But it’s a sad man my friend who’s livin’ in his own skin
And can’t stand the company
Every fool’s got a reason for feelin’ sorry for himself
And turning his heart to stone
Tonight this fool’s halfway to heaven and just a mile outta hell
And I feel like I’m comin’ home

These are better days baby
There’s better days shining through
These are better days
Better days with a girl like you

These are better days baby
These are better days it’s true
These are better days
Better days are shining through

 

Three pages and not a single John Lennon pull? Let me rectify that:

"Help me if you can, I'm feelin' down,
And I do appreciate you're bein' 'round.
Help me get my feet back on the ground.
Won't you please, please, help me."

Or this:

"I once had a girl, or should I say, she once had me."

And, finally:

"There are places I remember.
All my life, though some have changed.
Some forever not for better,
Some have gone and some remain.
All these places have their moments
With lovers and friends I still can recall.
Some are dead and some are living
In my life I've loved them all.

 

I hate myself for loving you and the weakness that it showed.
You were just a painted face on a trip down suicide road.
The stage was set, the lights went out all around the old hotel.
I hate myself for loving you, and I'm glad the curtain fell.

I hate that foolish game we played and the need that was expressed.
And the mercy that you showed to me, whoever would have guessed?
I went out on Lower Broadway, and I felt that place within,
That hollow place where martyrs weep and angels play with sin.

Heard your songs of freedom and man forever stripped,
Acting out his folly while his back is being whipped.
Like a slave in orbit, he's beaten 'til he's tame,
All for a moment's glory and it's a dirty, rotten shame.

There are those who worship loneliness; I'm not one of them.
In this age of fiberglass, I'm searching for a gem.
The crystall ball upon the wall hasn't shown me nothing yet.
I've paid the price of solitude, but at least I'm out of debt.

I can't recall a useful thing you ever did for me,
Except pat me on the back one time when I was on my knees.
We stared into each other's eyes 'till one of us would break.
No use to apologize, what difference would it make?

So sing your praise of progress and of the doom machine.
The naked truth is still taboo, whenever it can be seen.
Lady Luck, who shines on me, will tell you where I'm at
I hate myself for loving you, but I should get over that.

 

I've always thought the opening to Kristofferson's "Me and Bobby McGee" is as good as songwriting gets:

Busted flat in Baton Rouge, waitin' for a train, feelin' near as faded as my jeans
Bobby thumbed a diesel down, just before it rained, rode us all the way to New Orleans

Evocative, brilliant imagery, great story telling, the rhymes within the rhymes -- it's got it all. And he sustains it all the way through, too.

Then there's this from the great Townes Van Zandt:

Oh Loretta she's a barroom girl
Wears them sevens on her sleeve
Dances like a diamond shines
Tell me lies I love to believe
Her age is always 22
Her laughing eyes a hazel hue
Spends my money like water falls
Loves me like I want her to

Oh, Loretta, won't you say to me
Darling, put your guitar on
Have a little shot of booze
Play a blue and wailing song
My guitar rings a melody
My guitar sings, loretta's fine
Long and lazy, blonde and free
And I can have her any time


Sweetest at the break of day
Prettiest in the setting sun
She don't cry when I can't stay
'least not till she's all alone
Loretta, I won't be gone long
Keep your dancing slippers on
Keep me on your mind a while
I'll be back, babe, to make you smile

 

My favorite from TVZ:

The name she gave was caroline
Daughter of a miner
Her ways were free
It seemed to me
That sunshine walked beside her


She came from spencer
Across the hill
She said her pa had sent her
'cause the coal was low
And soon the snow
Would turn the skies to winter


She said she'd come
To look for work
She was not seeking favors
And for a dime a day
And a place to stay
She'd turn those hands to labor


But the times were hard, lord,
The jobs were few
All through tecumseh valley
But she asked around
And a job she found
Tending bar at gypsy sally's


She saved enough to get back home
When spring replaced the winter
But her dreams were denied
Her pa had died
The word come down from spencer


So she turned to whorin' out on the streets
With all the lust inside her
And it was many a man
Returned again
To lay himself beside her


They found her down beneath the stairs
That led to gypsy sally's
In her hand when she died
Was a note that cried
Fare thee well... tecumseh valley


The name she gave was caroline
Daughter of a miner
Her ways were free
It seemed to me
That sunshine walked beside her

 

I too am glad to see the DBT/Cooley/Isbell love here.

Surprised a few haven't came up though.

"Cocaine rich comes quick and that's why the small dicks have it all." — Cooley, "Gravity's Gone"

Here's one by Patterson — "Aftermath USA." The song would have been great for the "Hangover" scene when they wake up in the Vegas hotel room.

When I crawled out of bed this morning
I could tell something wasn't right
There were cigarettes in the ashtrays
They weren't your menthol lights
There were beer bottles in the kitchen
And broken glass on the floor
Someone must have slipped me something
Passed out a couple days before

The car was in the carport sideways
Big dent running down the side
Never seen anything as frightening
As when I took a look inside
Smell of musk and deception
Heel marks on the roof-line
Bad music on the stereo
All the seats in recline

The aftermath staring me right in the face
I'll get around to breaking even one of these days

My credit cards have all been maxed out
The meat in my freezer all thawed
The IRS laid the facts out
It's all worse than I thought
The welfare lady said enough is enough
The kids ain't been to school in weeks

Crystal-meth in the bathtub
Blood splattered in my sink
Laying around in the aftermath
It's all worse than you think

More Cooley — "Cartoon Gold"

Getting all excited finding nothing that was never there before
Is like bringing flowers to your Mama and tracking dog shit all over the floor
Jesus made the flowers but it took a dog to make the story good
I think about you when I can and sometime when I don't I probably should

And, Isbell on "GDLL"
You could come to me by plane, but that wouldn't be the same
as that old motel room in Texarkana was.
So I'll take two of what you're having and I'll take all of what you got
to kill this goddamn lonely, goddamn lonely love.

The back story of "Margo and Harold" was told by Patterson at a solo show (6-16-12 at Metropolitan Kithen) and it's great. The show can be found on archive.org. I highly recommend giving it a listen if you're a DBT fan.

I'm scared of the basement of Harold's Pawn Shop,
I've heard tales of what goes down there.
Mid-life crises, high on Dilauded, Valium, and crystal meth.
Harold and Margo, feeling no pain
Fifty and crazy, big hair and cocaine.

I can go on and on with DBT lyrics, but here are a few more that I think are pretty good.

Bill Withers "Use Me"
Oh sometimes yeah it's true you really do abuse me
You get in a crowd of high class people and then you act real rude to me
But oh baby baby baby baby when you love me I can't get enough
I and I want to spread the news that if it feels this good getting used
Oh you just keep on using me until you use me up
Until you use me up

The Black Crowes "Morning Song"
If music got to free your mind
Just let it go cause you never know, you never know

Blue Mountain "Lakeside"
Spanish moss in the moonlight
The distance echo of a dog fight
Meeting up at midnight
Under the water tank

James McMurtry/ Ray Wylie Hubbard "Choctaw Bingo"
Ruth Ann and Lynn they wear them cut off britches and those skinny little halters
And they're second cousins to me
Man I don't care I want to get between 'em
With a great big ol' hard on like a old bois d' arc fence post
You could hang a pipe rail gate from
Do some sister twisters 'til the cows come home
And we'd be havin' us a time

 

Well then suddenly, there was no one left standing in the hall
Yeah, yeah in a flood of tears that no one really ever heard fall at all
I went searching for an answer up the stairs and down the hall
Not to find an answer, just to hear the call of a nightbird
Singing come away, come away, come away...

 

Great verse.

 

Funkadelic could string together some good ones when they wanted to ...

... When you base your life on credit
And your loving days are done
Checks you signed with love and kisses
Later come back signed "insufficient funds"
Y'all get to that
Can you get (I wanna know)
I want to know if you can get to that

 

The bigger the cushion, the sweeter the pushin'
That's what I said.
The looser the waistband, the deeper the quicksand
Or so I have read.
My baby fits me like a flesh tuxedo.
I love to sink her with my pink torpedo.

Big bottom
Big bottom
Talk about bum cakes,
My gal's got 'em.
Big bottom,
Drive me out of my mind.
How can I leave this behind?

I saw her on Monday, twas my lucky fun day
You know what I mean.
I love her each weekday, each velvety cheek day
You know what I mean.
My love gun's loaded and she's in my sights
Big game's waiting there inside her tights

Big bottom
Big bottom
Talk about mud flaps
My gal's got 'em.
Big bottom
Drive me out of my mind.
How can I leave this behind?