MetaChat - Song Lyrics - Your Favorite Ever Single Line

Be the hair that knots with my hair

*swoon*

posted by iconomy 30 November | 13:49

Who is that from, ico?

posted by danf 30 November | 13:52

I just sent you a letter -- it'll be at least three days before you know your heart's been broken.

posted by occhiblu 30 November | 13:57

It's from a song called If Everything Fell Quiet by Reindeer Section.

be my guide
be my pilot
be the breath on my face
be the arms that can form it
be the heart in my chest

this is the way i want you to begin my life.
i couldn't face another night like that again.

be my hope, i'll be your hope.
be the hair that knots with my hair.
be the drink when i am thirsty.
be the hand to hold at night.

this is the way i want you to begin my life.
i couldn't face another night like that again.

posted by iconomy 30 November | 13:58

Yeah mine was from an equally obscure artist. . .some guy named Dylan. Not sure if he'll catch on or not.

posted by danf 30 November | 14:04

And I'm hovering like a fly, waiting for the windshield on the freeway.

Because life's like that sometimes.

posted by Doohickie 30 November | 14:06

It's really just one line of this, but I like the whole bit:

Long days of ground in habit
The wheels keep dragging
My Gibson whispers nothing to me
Those days I pine for silence
The fall of quiet
Just isn't loud enough

(Straitjacket Fits - Quiet Come)

posted by gaspode 30 November | 14:07

"Are you still jumping out of windows in expensive clothes?"
Tom Waits - Who Are You

I have a ton of favorite one liners from Tom Waits.

posted by CitrusFreak12 30 November | 14:14

Still a little bit of your taste in my mouth, still a little bit of you laced with my doubt....
Cannonball Damien Rice

posted by Wilder 30 November | 14:23

There's a bottle of wine in the kitchen, if you feel like hanging around, I can lay on love like a madman, I can burn your soul to the ground.

posted by rainbaby 30 November | 14:45

"Memo to myself -
Do the dumb things I gotta do.
Touch the puppet head."

posted by deadcowdan 30 November | 14:56

Doohickie--yours reminds me of this:

"Sometimes you're the windshield,
Sometimes you're the bug,
Sometimes you're the Loiusville slugger,
Sometimes you're the ball."

(Mark Knopfler, but Mary Chapin Carpenter did a better version)

posted by Joe Invisible 30 November | 15:23

I don't think I'm fit to answer the question accurately and the answer I am going to give is in many ways nothing more than a rhetorical parlor trick BUT I have always really loved:

You're so vain. I bet you think this song is about you. Don't you?

Honestly, my favorite line ever is probably from Wilco's "Sunken Treasure":

There are rows and rows of houses, with the windows painted blue, and the light of the TV running parallel to you.

The album and the art of Roger Brown entered my conciousness at about the same time, and I found a really neat congruence between the imagery of each that evokes all kinds of things. It isn't that tremendous a line on its own merits; I've heard better, but there are all sorts of other things that make it particularly striking to me.

posted by pokermonk 30 November | 15:27

It's a toss up for me, between

...but you'll never see the end of the road while you're traveling with me... - Don't Dream It's Over by Crowded House

and

...don't let the loveless ones sell you a world wrapped in grey... - Wrapped In Grey by XTC

posted by tommasz 30 November | 15:29

...and Matilda asks the sailors - are those dreams or are those prayers...

Tom Waits "Time"

posted by triggerfinger 30 November | 15:34

"Something about the wrinkle in your forehead tells me there’s a fit about to get thrown ..."

Heathens by the Drive-By Truckers.

posted by essexjan 30 November | 15:37

...and Matilda asks the sailors - are those dreams or are those prayers...

Tom Waits "Time"

posted by triggerfinger 30 November | 15:43

sometimes you gotta be an SOB
if you want to make your dreams reality

Mark Knopfler - Boom Like That

posted by chewatadistance 30 November | 15:50

In an hour I'd most likley have a different choice, but at the moment:

She's filing her nails while they're dragging the lake

posted by Slack-a-gogo 30 November | 16:00

She's filing her nails while they're dragging the lake

That is one of mine also. . .the little spine-chill piano riff just before it is groovy also.

posted by danf 30 November | 16:10

My car is parked outside I'm afraid of doesn't work.

posted by cillit bang 30 November | 16:19

"Jesus rides beside me, but he never buys any smokes"

posted by richat 30 November | 16:21

Occhi: Vienna Teng does a really lovely cover of that song (also she's playing The Independent on the 22nd! I'll be there!)

My current is "I feel invisible. Not in a good way, but in a bad way." It amuses me.

posted by Fuzzbean 30 November | 16:37

This is bound to change in thirty seconds, but I'll go with:

"As I went wandering drunk down your street
To your window I stumbled by chance and I peeked in on you" from Crooked Fingers' Valerie

Obligatory Favorite Tom Waits Line:

"And I remember quiet evenings trembling close to you..."
from Martha. I like songs with people names!

posted by ufez 30 November | 16:42

There's too many to choose from. I go from uber-slushy/romantic/heartbreak to death and destruction. I was surprised to actually find someone on Last.fm this week that also liked a similar mix of country, bluegrass and metal that I do. Anyway, at the moment, it's these:

"Fucking you got boring when it didn't feel so wrong" - Therapy?

"I'm praying for rain
And I'm praying for tidal waves
I wanna see the ground give way.
I wanna watch it all go down.
Mom please flush it all away.
I wanna watch it go right in and down.
I wanna watch it go right in.
Watch you flush it all away." - Tool

posted by TheDonF 30 November | 17:13

Fuzzbean, how cool. That's one of my favorite Brian Webb songs, and Vienna Tang is one of those artists I've always thought I liked, but haven't heard enough of to really judge.

I think I'm probably going to be a bit caught up in visiting-family on the 22nd, though. Bummer. I like the Independent.

posted by occhiblu 30 November | 17:16

i can fill this up with paul westerberg lyrics.

"oh, then one day
i saw you walkin' down that little one-way
where, the place i'd catch my ride most every day
there wasn't a damn thing i could do or say
up in the skyway"

:sniff:

posted by syntax 30 November | 18:31

because words matter...and healing is possible
Otep "Thots"

posted by sperose 30 November | 18:35

Favourite of the moment: "You dress like a chick drawn by an outsider artist" from Darling we're out of time by Cracker.

posted by misteraitch 30 November | 18:40

"Wrap your legs 'round these velvet rims, and strap your hands cross my engines". "Born To Run", Bruce Springsteen. Ever since that song came out (and before I really knew what sexy was) that line turned me on.

posted by redvixen 30 November | 18:53

'roll down the windows and let the wind blow back your hair, the nights busted open these two lanes will take us anywhere..' - Bruce Springsteen 'Thunder Road'

'I Used To be disgusted, now I try to be amused..' - Elvis Costello 'The Angels Wanna Wear My red Shoes'

'You never understood that it ain't no good, you shouldn't let other people get your kicks for you' - Bob Dylan 'Like A Rolling Stone'

'Everybody's heard about the bird, bird-bord-bird said the bird is the word...' The trashmen 'Surfin Bird

and of course:

'A million stars
out of reach
A billion grains of sand
on the beach
you can pray every night
When the sun goes down
but there's only two things
that make the world go round

What's it all about
Pussy and money
I ain't tryin to be cute
I ain't tryin to be funny
Everybody lies about
Everybody cries about
Everybody shout it out!!
Pussy and money

It's always gonna be that way
It's always gonna be that way'
-take a wild guess

posted by jonmc 30 November | 19:43

Before Lord God made the sea and land
He held all the stars in the palm of his hand
And they ran through his fingers like grains of sand
And one little star fell alone

Then the Lord God hunted through the wide night air
For the little dark star in the wind down there
And he stated and promised he'd take special care
So it wouldn't get lost again.

Now, a man don't mind if the stars go dim
And the clouds blow over and darken him
So long as the Lord God's watching over him
Keeping track how it all goes on

But I've been walking through the night and the day
Till my eyes get weary and my head turns gray
And sometimes it seems maybe God's gone away
Forgetting his promise and the word he'd say

And we're lost out here in the stars
Little stars big stars blowing through the night
And we're lost out here in the stars
Little stars big stars blowing through the night
And we're lost out here in the stars

--Maxwell Anderson

posted by box 30 November | 19:52

Hear the lonesome whippoorwill
He sounds too blue to fly
The midnight train is whining low
I'm so lonesome I could cry

I've never seen a night so long
When time goes crawling by
The moon just went behind a cloud
To hide its face and cry

Did you ever see a robin weep
When leaves begin to die
That means he's lost the will to live
I'm so lonesome I could cry

The silence of a falling star
Lights up a purple sky
And as I wonder where you are
I'm so lonesome I could cry

--Hank Williams

posted by box 30 November | 19:53

Now when I was just a little boy
Standin' to my daddy's knee
My papa said 'Son, don't let the man get ya,
Do what he done to me.'

--John Fogerty

posted by box 30 November | 19:55

It's impossible to choose just one line. Besides, all the ones I really like make me sound like a bitter old crank - which, while not entirely incorrect, is not the impression I like to give off if I can help it.

*sigh*

Oh, all right. Just for today, let's say most of "Idiot Wind" works for me.

posted by bmarkey 30 November | 20:08

Oh, heck, I somehow missed the 'single line' part.

posted by box 30 November | 20:40

redvixen.... good lyric!

See if these lines ring any bells:

Breathe deep the gathering gloom,
Watch lights fade from every room.
Bedsitter people look back and lament,
Another day's useless energy spent.

Impassioned lovers wrestle as one,
Lonely man cries for love and has none.
New mother picks up and suckles her son,
Senior citizens wish they were young.

Cold hearted orb that rules the night,
Removes the colours from our sight.
Red is gray and yellow white,
But we decide which is right.

And which is an illusion?

Hint to the youngins: the words were spoken, not sung.

posted by Doohickie 30 November | 21:58

Honestly, I cannot think of any lyrics that are worth reproducing since Morphine's "Cure for pain". Christ, I sure miss Mark Sandman, and I never even knew him.

posted by msali 30 November | 22:31

OK, happier after dinner. How about

She was a damn good dancer but she wasn't all that great of a girlfriend.

AND, from the same song

She said "you're pretty good with words but words won't save your life" and they didn't so he died.

posted by bmarkey 30 November | 22:36

"Lord, the highway is lonesome, but the highway is straight. And some things are heavy, but they ain't worth the weight." --Lyle Lovett

"Each tender mumble brings us closer to bedlam/You're so lovable. The toast of the town and the talk of the bedroom/You're so lovable." --Elvis Costello

"From greatness to greatness is where I span/You have me for a moment-- grab on while you can." --The Hives

"And in her eyes you see nothing/No sign of love behind the tears cried for no one." --Paul McCartney

"Dust and despair, cobwebs and confusion, collecting in the corners of my room/
All of my dreams: bitter illusions. I just can’t be rid of them too soon." --Walter Becker

But those are just the first to come to mind. I could be talked out of them really quickly. Re-reading them, a few are at the very end of the song, so the buildup adds some drama. Also, I need to add some cheery ones. "Do you realize, that everyone you know, one day will die?"

msali, how could you insult Yes and Like Swimming like that?

posted by ibmcginty 30 November | 22:47

I have many, but here are a couple:

He's not the kind of wheel you fall asleep at. -Tom Waits

It's time to fly the finger, yeah that middle digit brings your point and drives it home. -Supersuckers

So so many eloquent songs or parts thereof by Nick Cave I could include here, but I'll stick to the one-line rule to avoid going on and on and on and on and on and Shit. See? I'll stop. For now.

posted by elizard 01 December | 01:43

and, because I have to choose at least one Westerberg lyric (though technically two lines):

How do you say I'm lonely to
An answering machine?

posted by elizard 01 December | 01:48

Doohickie, those lines were from the Moody Blues "Late Lament" section of Nights in White Satin.

But for pure rock silliness I've always been partial to:

"... If music be the food of love
Then laughter is its queen
And likewise if behind is in front
Then dirt in truth is clean ..."

However, my favorite song lyric is via the immortal Wesley "Sox" Wilson, courtesy of Bessie Smith:

"... Check all your razors and all your guns
We're gonna be arrested when the wagon comes
Gimme a pigfoot and a bottle of beer
Send me cause I don't care ..."

If that ain't a good time, I don't know what is.

posted by paulsc 01 December | 03:59

Look over yonder on the burying ground. Yonder stand 10,000 standing still just to let me down.

--Bukka White

You say you've taken lots of drugs, you really must be hip, but you'll never get to know yourself when you're on an ego trip.

--Teenage Fanclub

posted by sleepy_pete 01 December | 10:37

Bolded are the lines, with the corresponding verses.

Gather wood, prepare for burning
Leaving fast but soon returning
Bored as Christ with endless crosses
Close the vote and count the losses
-Shriekback 'Cleartrails'

a thousand rainy days
and i spoke on tongues that talk of saints
burned down days like cigarettes
for your hollow praise
-Psychedelic Furs 'Torch'

Faster, faster, like a whirling dervish spinning round
Faster, faster, until the Centre cannot Hold
You screamed give us Liberty or give us Death
Now you've got both, what do you want next?
War!
Here comes the war - put out the lights on the Age of Reason!
-New Model Army 'Here Comes the War'

posted by Zack_Replica 01 December | 18:23

The monkey rode a blade on an overhead fan
They paint the donkey blue if you pay
I got a telephone call from Istanbul
My baby coming home today

posted by Meatbomb 28 June | 05:46

30 November 2007