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Lyrically speaking
While driving from point A to point B, I was trying to decide what my five favorite lyrics of all time are. Not the entire lyric, mind you, but just the line or verse that makes me go, "Ooo! Now why can't I write stuff like that?" Here's what I came up with, in no particular order:
"I swear you look like you're in jail
Then all at once you're halfway out the door
One foot dancing,
One foot nailed to the floor."
-- "Trouble," Shawn Colvin
"Now I've always been puzzled by the yin and the yang
That comes out in the wash, but it always leaves a stain"
-- "2:19," Tom Waits (same song has "Are you drying your nails or waving goodbye?")
"Well, you wish, but don't wish for me
As if the wish could cheat the fall
Just believe, and leave it be
There's beauty in what's brief
There's beauty in what's small
That's all"
-- "That's All, Amen, Close the Door," Richard Thompson
"They squeezed and the edged and they glared
Half of the clearly impaired
By rage or exhaustion
The rest were just touchy as hell."
-- "Transit," Richard Shindell
"You fondle my trigger, then you blame my gun"
-- "Limp," Fiona Apple
Honorable mention, because it's too new to include:
"I had a brain that felt like pancake batter."
-- "The Hardest Button to Button," The White Stripes
So, what are yours?
"I swear you look like you're in jail
Then all at once you're halfway out the door
One foot dancing,
One foot nailed to the floor."
-- "Trouble," Shawn Colvin
"Now I've always been puzzled by the yin and the yang
That comes out in the wash, but it always leaves a stain"
-- "2:19," Tom Waits (same song has "Are you drying your nails or waving goodbye?")
"Well, you wish, but don't wish for me
As if the wish could cheat the fall
Just believe, and leave it be
There's beauty in what's brief
There's beauty in what's small
That's all"
-- "That's All, Amen, Close the Door," Richard Thompson
"They squeezed and the edged and they glared
Half of the clearly impaired
By rage or exhaustion
The rest were just touchy as hell."
-- "Transit," Richard Shindell
"You fondle my trigger, then you blame my gun"
-- "Limp," Fiona Apple
Honorable mention, because it's too new to include:
"I had a brain that felt like pancake batter."
-- "The Hardest Button to Button," The White Stripes
So, what are yours?
no subject
And I loved my life, and I hated you."
-- "6'1"", Liz Phair
"If it wasn't for disappointments, I wouldn't have any appointments."
-- "Snowball in Hell", They Might Be Giants
"I hope that you won't rest in peace, 'cause that would bore you right to tears..."
-- "Broken White Line", Kris Delmhorst
"There's a strong dark current that runs deep beneath the ocean
Canyons beneath the wind-swept streets
In silent conversation I make believe your answers
It's a wonder that we never disagree... are you thinking about me?"
-- "Thinking About You", Trout Fishing in America
"I may die a poor and restless girl
I may not leave a mark on this world
But I could reconcile mortality
If you would stay up all night with me."
-- "Stay Up All Night", Catie Curtis
These probably aren't the top 5, but they're the first ones that come to mind.