Memorable Lyrics

All the girls around her say she's got it coming
But she gets it while she can

 

I love that song.

Lots of great Chuck lyrics. A few off the top of my head:

Arrested on charges of unemployment
He was sittin' in the witness stand
The judge's wife called up the district attorney
Said, "Free that brown-eyed man.
You want your job, you'd better free that brown-eyed man."


Sweet little sixteen
She's got the grown up blues
Tight dresses and lipstick
She's sportin' high heel shoes
Oh, but tomorrow morning
She'll have to change her trend
And be sweet sixteen
And back in class again


You know my temperature risin'
And the jukebox blowin' a fuse
My heart beatin' rhythm
And my soul keep a-singing the blues
Roll over Beethoven
And tell Tchaikovsky the news


I saw her from the corner when she turned and doubled back
And started walkin' toward a coffee-colored Cadillac
I was pushin' through the crowd tryin' to get to where she's at
And I was campaign shoutin' like a southern diplomat

 

Brass In Pocket is some sexy shit.

Gonna use my arms
Gonna use my legs
Gonna use my style
Gonna use my side step
Gonna use my fingers
Gonna use my, my, my imagination

'Cause I gonna make you see
There's nobody else here
No one like me
I'm special so special
I gotta have some of your attention give it to me

 

Tattooed Love Boys is an awesome Pretenders song, just love how Chrissie spits out lyrics like this:

I was a good time
Yeah, I got pretty good
Changing tires, upstairs bro.
I shot my mouth off and he showed me what that hole was for.

 

Not so much a lyric as the way it's delivered, but Natalie Merchant's voice cracking during the next-to-last "take me now" in the 10,000 Maniacs cover of "Because The Night" is smoldering.

 

Always enjoyed this couplet from “America”:

“Kathy I’m lost I said, though I knew she was sleeping,
I’m empty and aching and I don’t know why.”

The subject of the song is admitting this to his girlfriend, but only because she can’t hear him.

Of course “America” has personal meaning for me because I figured out how to play it on guitar in college while I was dating my now wife, whose name is Cathy. Not that she was ever too impressed by that!

 

as for the pretenders, this sums up Chrissie Hynde's whole deal:

"But not me, baby, I'm too precious/
Fuck off"

 

"It took me four days to hitchhike from Saginaw."

One of their greatest songs.

I love songs about rural America. Mary Chapin Carpenter has a bunch.

"This shirt was lost for three whole days in a town near Buffalo

Till I found the locker key in a downtown Trailways bus depot."

 

… When I sat down on the bed next to you
You started to cry
I said, maybe if I leave, you'll want me
To come back home
Or maybe all you mean, is leave me alone
At least that's what you said

… You're irresistible when you get mad
Isn't it sad, I'm immune
I thought it was cute
For you to kiss
My purple black eye
Even though I caught it from you
I still think we're serious
At least that's what you said

 

I got sidetracked in El Paso
Stopped to get myself a map
Went the wrong way into Juarez
With Juanita on my lap
Then I went to sleep in Shreveport
Woke up in Abilene
Wondering why the hell I'm wanted
In some town halfway between

 

Who'll be my role model
Now that my role model is gone, gone?"
He ducked back down the alley
With some roly-poly little bat-faced girl

 

The escalation in Paula Cole's "Where Have All the Cowboys Gone" is pretty great. Begins with a tawdry hookup, ends with embittered resignation.

I will wash the dishes
While you go have a beer

Rolling beer into a disgusted six-syllable word was perfect.