• From: Donegal, Ireland
  • Registered: 2013-03-10
  • Posts: 150

Topic: Your favourite lyrics (doesn't have to be Joe)

Hey guys, little bit bored on a St Patrick's day eve, so thought I'd open up a discussion of sorts.

It's a divisive issue at the best of times, music vs lyrics. Personally I think good lyrics are very important and I have a real appreciation for beautifully composed verse, however there are rare occasions where the music is so good that the lyrics really don't have to be anything special, and vice-versa.

Anyway, I digress, let's hear your favourite lyrics. Keep it between a couple of lines and a verse or 2. Something that really stands out.

For me personally I think one of the finest verses for meaning and simplicity is:

Tired of lying in the sunshine staying home to watch the rain.
You are young and life is long and there is time to kill today.
And then one day you find ten years have got behind you.
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun.

So you run and you run to catch up with the sun but it's sinking
Racing around to come up behind you again.
The sun is the same in a relative way but you're older,
Shorter of breath and one day closer to death.

Fender David Gilmour NOS Strat *"Vera"* - MIJ 1986/7 E-Series Fender '62 Re-Issue Strat *"Sevenoff"* - MIM Fender Strat *"Tortuga Azul"* - MIM Fender Frankenstrat (EMG-DG20s) *"Mary Shelly"* - MIK Fender Lite Ash Strat *"Phoenix"* - MIK 1989 E-Series Squier Strat *"Pyong"* - MIK 1990 S-Series Squier Strat *"Yang"* - Squier Classic Vibe 50s Tele *"CC"* - Fender DeVille 410 *"Long John Silver Face"*
  • RickB
  • RickB
  • BONAMEGAMETAL
  • Offline
  • From: San Diego
  • Registered: 2009-10-30
  • Posts: 12,198

Re: Your favourite lyrics (doesn't have to be Joe)

Good topic.
For me there is one that always gets me smiling. The tune and the lyrics mesh perfectly. A timeless song by a timeless band.

"Good day sunshine"
You know the rest. smile
Rick

Free download from Vienna! http://mbsy.co/bNLR
Lots of unique videos of Joe http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwd5vL8fXTw
Buy Joe's merchandise here. http://www.jbonamassa.com/affiliates/id … hp?id=1381

RickB's Website

  • From: Donegal, Ireland
  • Registered: 2013-03-10
  • Posts: 150

Re: Your favourite lyrics (doesn't have to be Joe)

Indeed I do, and I agree, it's perfect, reflects it's subject matter perfectly.

I mean, from the first lines...I need to laugh, and when the sun is out, I've got something I can, laugh about....

Fender David Gilmour NOS Strat *"Vera"* - MIJ 1986/7 E-Series Fender '62 Re-Issue Strat *"Sevenoff"* - MIM Fender Strat *"Tortuga Azul"* - MIM Fender Frankenstrat (EMG-DG20s) *"Mary Shelly"* - MIK Fender Lite Ash Strat *"Phoenix"* - MIK 1989 E-Series Squier Strat *"Pyong"* - MIK 1990 S-Series Squier Strat *"Yang"* - Squier Classic Vibe 50s Tele *"CC"* - Fender DeVille 410 *"Long John Silver Face"*
  • RickB
  • RickB
  • BONAMEGAMETAL
  • Offline
  • From: San Diego
  • Registered: 2009-10-30
  • Posts: 12,198

Re: Your favourite lyrics (doesn't have to be Joe)

Schritzer wrote:

Indeed I do, and I agree, it's perfect, reflects it's subject matter perfectly.

I mean, from the first lines...I need to laugh, and when the sun is out, I've got something I can, laugh about....

Exactly. When I read your topic it leaped to my mind. I like a lot of music and that one is tops in my book from the first day I heard it. So simple and short but the message gets there. " I'm in love and it's a sunny day." The exuberance of love.  Everyone can relate! Inspired music.

Free download from Vienna! http://mbsy.co/bNLR
Lots of unique videos of Joe http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwd5vL8fXTw
Buy Joe's merchandise here. http://www.jbonamassa.com/affiliates/id … hp?id=1381

RickB's Website

  • From: San Clemente, CA
  • Registered: 2011-02-19
  • Posts: 569

Re: Your favourite lyrics (doesn't have to be Joe)

Schritzer wrote:

Hey guys, little bit bored on a St Patrick's day eve, so thought I'd open up a discussion of sorts.

It's a divisive issue at the best of times, music vs lyrics. Personally I think good lyrics are very important and I have a real appreciation for beautifully composed verse, however there are rare occasions where the music is so good that the lyrics really don't have to be anything special, and vice-versa.

Anyway, I digress, let's hear your favourite lyrics. Keep it between a couple of lines and a verse or 2. Something that really stands out.

For me personally I think one of the finest verses for meaning and simplicity is:

Tired of lying in the sunshine staying home to watch the rain.
You are young and life is long and there is time to kill today.
And then one day you find ten years have got behind you.
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun.

So you run and you run to catch up with the sun but it's sinking
Racing around to come up behind you again.
The sun is the same in a relative way but you're older,
Shorter of breath and one day closer to death.


So many RW lyrics could fit your request, including yours obviously.  I would vote  (despite the final mixed metaphor!) for :


So, so you think you can tell
Heaven from Hell,
Blue skies from pain.
Can you tell a green field
From a cold steel rail?
A smile from a veil?
Do you think you can tell?

And did they get you to trade
Your heroes for ghosts?
Hot ashes for trees?
Hot air for a cool breeze?
Cold comfort for change?
And did you exchange
A walk on part in the war
For a lead role in a cage?

How I wish, how I wish you were here.
We're just two lost souls
Swimming in a fish bowl,
Year after year,
Running over the same old ground.
And how we found
The same old fears.
Wish you were here.

  • From: Donegal, Ireland
  • Registered: 2013-03-10
  • Posts: 150

Re: Your favourite lyrics (doesn't have to be Joe)

Please feel free to contribute as often as you wish. smile

Nice choices!

More Roger - Little black soul departs in perfect focus
Prime time fodder for the News at Nine

That line haunts me!!

And now i'll break my own rules hmm


Miraculous you call it babe
You ain't seen nothing yet
They've got Pepsi in the Andes
Mcdonalds in Tibet
Yosemite's been turned into
A golf course for the Japs
The Dead Sea is alive with rap
Between the Tigris and Euphrates
There's a leisure centre now
They've got all kinds of sports
They've got Bermuda shorts
The had sex in Pennsylvania
A Brazilian grew a tree
A doctor in Manhattan
Saved a dying man for free
It's a miracle
Another miracle
By the grace of God Almighty
And pressures of marketplace
The human race has civilized itself
It's a miracle
We've got a warehouse of butter
We've got oceans of wine
We've got famine when we need it
Got a designer crime
We've got Mercedes
We've got Porsche
Ferrari and Rolls Royce
We've got a choice
She said meet me
In the Garden of Gethsemane my dear
The Lord said Peter I can see
Your house from here
An honest man
Finally reaped what he had sown
And farmer in Ohio has just repaid a loan
It's a miracle
Another miracle
By the grace of God Almighty
And pressures of marketplace
The human race has civilized itself
It's a miracle
We cower in our shelters
With our hands over our ears
Lloyd-Webber's awful stuff
Runs for years and years and years
An earthquake hits the theatre
But the operetta lingers
Then the piano lids comes down
And break his @#$%^^&# fingers
It's a miracle

Fender David Gilmour NOS Strat *"Vera"* - MIJ 1986/7 E-Series Fender '62 Re-Issue Strat *"Sevenoff"* - MIM Fender Strat *"Tortuga Azul"* - MIM Fender Frankenstrat (EMG-DG20s) *"Mary Shelly"* - MIK Fender Lite Ash Strat *"Phoenix"* - MIK 1989 E-Series Squier Strat *"Pyong"* - MIK 1990 S-Series Squier Strat *"Yang"* - Squier Classic Vibe 50s Tele *"CC"* - Fender DeVille 410 *"Long John Silver Face"*
  • Registered: 2008-06-16
  • Posts: 4,021

Re: Your favourite lyrics (doesn't have to be Joe)

almost anything from Jackson Browne, this one in particular stands out. scroll down and check out the guests, he didn't skimp on the musicians, especially the background vocals.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Looking_East

As corn through a goose, so are the days of our lives
  • From: Deep in the forest
  • Registered: 2007-02-11
  • Posts: 5,296

Re: Your favourite lyrics (doesn't have to be Joe)

I do have a perverse sense of humor and have always loved John Prine lyrics
Please Don't Bury Me
©John Prine

Woke up this morning
Put on my slippers
Walked in the kitchen and died
And oh what a feeling!
When my soul
Went thru the ceiling
And on up into heaven I did ride
When I got there they did say
John, it happened this way
You slipped upon the floor
And hit your head
And all the angels say
Just before you passed away
These were the very last words
That you said:

Chorus:
Please don't bury me
Down in that cold cold ground
No, I'd druther have "em" cut me up
And pass me all around
Throw my brain in a hurricane
And the blind can have my eyes
And the deaf can take both of my ears
If they don't mind the size
Give my stomach to Milwaukee
If they run out of beer
Put my socks in a cedar box
Just get "em" out of here
Venus de Milo can have my arms
Look out! I've got your nose
Sell my heart to the junkman
And give my love to Rose

Repeat Chorus

Give my feet to the footloose
Careless, fancy free
Give my knees to the needy
Don't pull that stuff on me
Hand me down my walking cane
It's a sin to tell a lie
Send my mouth way down south
And kiss my **** goodbye

  • From: Donegal, Ireland
  • Registered: 2013-03-10
  • Posts: 150

Re: Your favourite lyrics (doesn't have to be Joe)

Ha!! Great lyrics. Love me some John Prine.

Strange one, I'm from a tiny town in rural Ireland, and yet a friend of mine, (he's also my barber) is cousins with Prines wife, Fiona Whelan. He comes over now and then and plays in local bars! Really is a very small world!!

Fender David Gilmour NOS Strat *"Vera"* - MIJ 1986/7 E-Series Fender '62 Re-Issue Strat *"Sevenoff"* - MIM Fender Strat *"Tortuga Azul"* - MIM Fender Frankenstrat (EMG-DG20s) *"Mary Shelly"* - MIK Fender Lite Ash Strat *"Phoenix"* - MIK 1989 E-Series Squier Strat *"Pyong"* - MIK 1990 S-Series Squier Strat *"Yang"* - Squier Classic Vibe 50s Tele *"CC"* - Fender DeVille 410 *"Long John Silver Face"*
  • From: Crystal Lake, Il.
  • Registered: 2006-04-22
  • Posts: 5,120

Re: Your favourite lyrics (doesn't have to be Joe)

It was 10:49
When I said my last goodbye
It was 10:49
When I said my last goodbye
You closed your eyes
I finally opened mine

- Aaron Williams and the Hoodoo

BTW, here's a previous thread: https://forum.jbonamassa.com/viewtopic.php?id=22439

"Rock ON & Keep the Faith"
  • From: Orlando, FL
  • Registered: 2010-04-15
  • Posts: 1,373

Re: Your favourite lyrics (doesn't have to be Joe)

Dylan - "The Times They Are A-Changin'"

My music & music blog: https://vincedickinson.home.blog/
New prog/rock album "Atlantis" available everywhere, including:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/atlantis/1411523163
https://open.spotify.com/album/3InrPujiALJCslZqp9V6e2

ZeyerGTR's Website

  • Reem
  • Reem
  • Platinum
  • Offline
  • From: Amman, Jordan
  • Registered: 2012-12-16
  • Posts: 340

Re: Your favourite lyrics (doesn't have to be Joe)

EVERY LYRIC THAT RONNIE JAMES DIO HAS EVER WRITTEN !

Fishing for a good time starts with throwing in your line...
  • From: Cliftonville Kent England
  • Registered: 2006-07-30
  • Posts: 2,150

Re: Your favourite lyrics (doesn't have to be Joe)

There was a similar post a few years ago, and was covered in length ..

Pink Floyd always get a mention as should Bob Dylan

mine strangely enough are in this song

T Rex - Electric Slim and The Factory Hen

bout a soldier who comes back to find his girl working the street ...

"Frozen feet on a winter street, man that ain't your fate,
Greased in the sun, California fun, man that's more my style"

Genius  Marc Bolan


............ Michael

Joe Bonamassa .......  His Greatest 3 Videos ... IMMHO   After Much Deliberation
3rd ...... Mountain Time / Rockpalast       http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h01xa6NMsJo
2nd ...... Sloe Gin       /  Vienna            http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRASS8O8ZnE           
1st ....... Blues Deluxe / The Borderline    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnl3E_KLxYg
  • From: Donegal, Ireland
  • Registered: 2013-03-10
  • Posts: 150

Re: Your favourite lyrics (doesn't have to be Joe)

Ah sorry, didn't mean to repost!!

Any Warren Zevon fans here?

"I'd like to go back to Paris someday and visit the Louvre Museum
Get a good running start and hurl myself at the wall
Going to hurl myself against the wall
'Cause I'd rather feel bad than feel nothing at all
And it ain't that pretty at all
Ain't that pretty at all"

Fender David Gilmour NOS Strat *"Vera"* - MIJ 1986/7 E-Series Fender '62 Re-Issue Strat *"Sevenoff"* - MIM Fender Strat *"Tortuga Azul"* - MIM Fender Frankenstrat (EMG-DG20s) *"Mary Shelly"* - MIK Fender Lite Ash Strat *"Phoenix"* - MIK 1989 E-Series Squier Strat *"Pyong"* - MIK 1990 S-Series Squier Strat *"Yang"* - Squier Classic Vibe 50s Tele *"CC"* - Fender DeVille 410 *"Long John Silver Face"*
  • From: Salem, Oregon
  • Registered: 2010-01-07
  • Posts: 844

Re: Your favourite lyrics (doesn't have to be Joe)

"Blood stains the roots of the palm trees in Venice"....Jim Morrison.....For some reason that line just came to mind....so strange....of course, that WAS "The Doors" Specialty

Murfdog
  • From: Donegal, Ireland
  • Registered: 2013-03-10
  • Posts: 150

Re: Your favourite lyrics (doesn't have to be Joe)

One of my top 10 albums of all time right there! Morrison Hotel...

Fender David Gilmour NOS Strat *"Vera"* - MIJ 1986/7 E-Series Fender '62 Re-Issue Strat *"Sevenoff"* - MIM Fender Strat *"Tortuga Azul"* - MIM Fender Frankenstrat (EMG-DG20s) *"Mary Shelly"* - MIK Fender Lite Ash Strat *"Phoenix"* - MIK 1989 E-Series Squier Strat *"Pyong"* - MIK 1990 S-Series Squier Strat *"Yang"* - Squier Classic Vibe 50s Tele *"CC"* - Fender DeVille 410 *"Long John Silver Face"*
  • From: Southern New Jersey, USA
  • Registered: 2006-04-23
  • Posts: 2,966

Re: Your favourite lyrics (doesn't have to be Joe)

Being a HUGE Beatles fan, I have to agree. So TRUE guys, fantastic upbeat song!!

This is one of my favorites by John Lennon. I especially relate to it when I need an attitude adjustment.

"Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans".

RickB wrote:
Schritzer wrote:

Indeed I do, and I agree, it's perfect, reflects it's subject matter perfectly.

I mean, from the first lines...I need to laugh, and when the sun is out, I've got something I can, laugh about....

Exactly. When I read your topic it leaped to my mind. I like a lot of music and that one is tops in my book from the first day I heard it. So simple and short but the message gets there. " I'm in love and it's a sunny day." The exuberance of love.  Everyone can relate! Inspired music.

StringsforaCURE~Helping cancer patients one STRING at a time.
http://stringsforacure.com/

Angela's Website

  • From: Newark, DE
  • Registered: 2013-01-13
  • Posts: 1,675

Re: Your favourite lyrics (doesn't have to be Joe)

"When they said sit down I stood up"
Bruce Springsteen - "growin' up".  The signature line in my email...

Alan