Well, as promised yesterday -- I've got a Thursday Discussion all ready for you. It's Friday, I know ... and we've got all kinds of crazy stuff going on today as well, but that doesn't mean we can't also talk about one of my favorite topics in music: lyrics. I'd say overall, lyrics draw me to a band more than just about anything else. I love a good vocal, sure ... but if the words are right, nothing else hits me in quite the same way. Now, we could discuss favorite lyricists (and this will be a future topic); however, for today what I am writing about are my top 10 favorite lyrical parts of a song. The actual words themselves.
As always I put some rules on my selection -- first, I tried to stay within our music scene (sorry, Bob Dylan -- you're still fucking awesome), and second I could only use the band once. Lastly, I looked at all the music I've loved -- and tried to take longevity into account. Otherwise this would have been full of stuff that I love today (sorry Dessa, you're still one helluva writer), compared to those that have stood the test of time. I also did my best to add some commentary about why I love the highlighted lyrical portion. I'd love to hear some of your favorite lyrics as well ... and if you're up for it, include why you picked it - and what the lyrics mean to you.
So, with that ... here's my top 10 favorite lyrics.
Brand New - "Play Crack the Sky"
"This story's old but it goes on and on until we disappear. Calm me and let me taste the salt you breathed while you were underneath. I am the one who haunts your dreams of mountains sunk below the sea. I spoke the words but never gave a thought to what they all could mean. I know that this is what you want. A funeral keeps both of us apart. You know that you are not alone. Need you like water in my lungs."
Thrice - "Betrayal is a Symptom"
"Faith, is not something that I grasp, it's something that I fake, as I'm slipping, as I'm falling through the cracks. Faith, without actions is a mask, for making the same mistakes, as I'm slipping as I'm falling through the cracks."
Jimmy Eat World - "23"
"Amazing still it seems, I'll be 23. I won't always love what I'll never have, I won't always live in my regrets."
Yellowcard - "Back Home"
"Another sunny day in Californ-i-a, I'm sure back home they'd love to see it. But they don't know that what you love is ripped away, before you get a chance to feel it. Back home I always thought I wanted so much more, now I'm not too sure -- cause sometimes I miss knowing someone's there for me and feeling free [...] Another sunny day beneath this cloudless sky, sometimes I wish that it would rain here."
The Gaslight Anthem - "Here's Looking At You Kid"
"And you can tell Jane, if she writes, that I'm drunk off all these stars and all these crazy Hollywood nights. That's total deceit, but she should've married me. And tell her I spent every night of my youth on the floor, bleeding out from all these wounds. I would've gotten her a ride out of that town she despised. You tell that to Janey, if she writes."
Morrissey - "I Don't Mind If You Forget Me"
"So now you send me your hardened 'regards', when once you'd send me 'love'. Sincerely I must tell you, your mild 'best wishes,' they make me suspicious. I don't mind. I don't mind if you forget me."
Blink 182 - "Untitled"
"But what do I get 'cause I just seem to lose, you make me regret those times I spent with you. And playing those games as I wait for your call, and now I give up: so goodbye and so long."
Saves the Day - "This is Not an Exit"
"Tonight will be the night that we begin to ease the plugs out of the dam. And we still stand knee deep in the flow, the undertow will grab our heels and won't let go. And while we hold, our legs quivering, the water rises now to our teeth when we just let go -- and sail belly up to the clouds, the rocks scraping our backs."
Dashboard Confessional - "The Best Deceptions"
"I heard about your regrets. I heard that you were feeling sorry. I heard from someone that you wish you could set things right between us. Well I guess I should have heard of that from you. I guess I should have heard of that from you."
MxPx - "Doing Time"
"I remember times I had, some were happy, some were sad, memories me and my partners in crime: throwing up a thousand times. I got through it, I feel fine, I went to school and did my time -- in a sense I'm out, in a sense I'm free, to be what I wanna be."
After writing this, I realize just how many personal things come out through the lyrics you love. I could have done this all day. In reality, I still have a giant list of words that speak to me -- that's why I'm here. The music. The way it changes you. Hell, at this point I'm finding new ones every single year. With every year comes new obsticles to overstep in life -- and new songs to give me the courage to take those steps.
"You know I won't mind if you monopolize all my time, I won't say a thing at all, I won't say a word, no."
Marvelous 3 - Cigarette Lighter Love Song
"All that I do comes back to you, so I'll just think about you til there's nothing in my head. All I can do is try not to screw this up again, and just be friends, I'd rather be dead."
Park - Conversations With Emily
"So here is my advice to you: it should have turned out different, but it didn't, so get over it. But don't you find it reassuring, that one consolation growing, my darling boy, it won't snow where she is going."
Name Taken - We Give Up Sometimes
"Hold your breath, you know how long. Do what you can to forget you were wrong. Is it okay if I don't care anymore? We give up sometimes, and I guess that should be good enough for me."
Bright Eyes - Poison Oak
"And I never thought this life was possible. You're the yellow bird that I've been waiting for."
"They call 'em rogues, they travel fast and alone
One hundred foot faces of God's good ocean gone wrong
What they call love is a risk, 'cause you always get hit out of nowhere
By some wave and end up on your own."
Overshadows that part you mentioned a hundredfold for me.
ive been on a big dangerous summer kick lately. war paint is FULL of lyrics that have hit me incredibly hard. i have not had a strong emotional attachment with a band in a long time, but i've had one with TDS for quite some time now.
Not my favourite but definitely up there and one that always comes to mind.
"You're the echoes of my everything,
You're the emptiness the whole world sings at night.
You're the laziness of afternoon,
You're the reason why I burst and why I bloom.
You're the leaky sink of sentiment,
You're the failed attempts I never could forget.
You're the metaphors I can't create to comprehend this curse that I call love.."
"You know I won't mind if you monopolize all my time, I won't say a thing at all, I won't say a word, no."
Marvelous 3 - Cigarette Lighter Love Song
"All that I do comes back to you, so I'll just think about you til there's nothing in my head. All I can do is try not to screw this up again, and just be friends, I'd rather be dead."
Park - Conversations With Emily
"So here is my advice to you: it should have turned out different, but it didn't, so get over it. But don't you find it reassuring, that one consolation growing, my darling boy, it won't snow where she is going."
An American Football lyric, from the song "Honestly?," that I live by (in any situation) is "All the whos are there, but the whys are unclear." Certain people come into your life, why is the real question. We don't know why until everything unfolds. I find it very powerful and moving. I'm getting it tattooed on me soon. I love it so much
Some great picks Jason, Crack The Skye is perfect. The Boy Who Blocked His Own Shot has some fantastic lines in it too, especially the bridge, gets me every time.
I'll throw The Wonder Years in there too: Hoodie Weather, WSP, LRS etc.
Blink has some memorable ones too, Dude Ranch has some great moments.
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