Quick!
What’s your favorite
line from a song?*
*Question humbly stolen from our very own Joanna Schroeder.
Here are a few of mine (some are more than one line. It’s okay to cheat):
“It grows like a flower, it grows like a tumor. Love shows you God has a sense of humour.” – Joe Jackson, “Stranger Than Fiction”
“There’s a hole in daddy’s arm where all the money goes.” – John Prine, “Sam Stone”
“But I know a change is gonna come, oh yes it will.” – Sam Cooke, “A Change is Gonna Come”
“I go through this before you wake up, so I can feel happier to be safe with you.” Bjork, “Hyperballad”
“I don’t wanna be buried in a pet sematary.” – The Ramones, “Pet Sematary”
“If you like pina coladas, and getting caught in the rain.” – Rupert Holmes, “Escape (The Pina Colada Song)”
“Just what God needs. One more victim.” – Tori Amos, “Crucify”
“I’m spunky. I like my oatmeal lumpy.” – The Digital Underground, “The Humpty Dance”
“He doesn’t give a fuck, he’s living under a truck!” Concrete Blonde, “Still in Hollywood”
“We can’t even think of a word that rhymes.” – Alice Cooper, “School’s Out”
“Someone left the cake out in the rain.” – Jimmy Webb, “MacArthur Park”
“Why are there so many songs about rainbows and what’s on the other side?” – Paul Williams, “The Rainbow Connection”
“I think it’s going to rain today.” – Randy Newman, “I Think It’s Going to Rain Today”
“Down in the park with the Machmen, meet the machines playing Kill By Numbers.” – Gary Numan, “Down in the Park”
“Then I got Mary pregnant and man that was all she wrote.” – Bruce Springsteen, “The River”
“Oh, I wish I had a river I could skate away on.” – Joni Mitchell, “River”
“What costume shall the poor girl wear to all tomorrow’s parties?” Lou Reed, “All Tomorrow’s Parties”
“This is what it sounds like when doves cry.” Prince, “When Doves Cry”
“If you’re lost, you can look and you will find me.” – Cyndi Lauper “Time After Time”
Now, this is a hugely personal list based solely on the first lines that came to my mind, so–of course–there are huge omissions here. For example, I love so many Bob Dylan and Tom Waits songs, it was impossible for me to think of one line standing out more than any other. What are the first lines that come to your mind? Be honest! I was!
“I’ve spent too much of my life waiting
Hoping, dreaming, wishing, believing,
And way too little of it living”
– “No Romance”
The Rainmakers
Cause I lost my job two weeks before Christmas
And I talked to Jesus at the sewer
And the Pope said it was none of his God-damned business
-Rodriguez
Sorry, that was
“Don’t let the loveless ones
Sell you a world wrapped in grey.”
– Wrapped in Grey by XTC
They say you gotta stay hungry.
Hey baby! I’m just about starvin’ to death!
– Bruce Springsteen
Let me take your hands
I’m shaking like milk.
The Cure
Awaken you dreamers
Asleep at your desks!
Parrots and lemurs populate
Your unconscious grotesques..
Please let some out.
Do it today.
Don’t let the loveless
Sell you a world wrapped in grey.
-XTC
“There are people in your life
Who’ve come and gone
They let you down
You know they hurt your pride
You better put it all behind you, baby
‘Cause’ life goes on
If you keep carrying that anger
It’ll eat you up inside, baby.”
Don Henley – Heart Of The Matter
“Love, I get so lost… sometimes.”
—Peter Gabriel, “In Your Eyes”
Knowing even the greatest dancers in the world
are bound to leave the dance floor.
DoomTree/Team The Best Team
“two can keep a secret if one of them is dead.”
-The Pierces
“Press my nose up to the glass around your heart, I should’ve know I was weaker from the start. You build your walls and I will play my bloody part to tear them down.” – Mumford and Sons (you can think they’re cheesy or trite, but that’s a great line.)
“There goes my hero, he’s ordinary”
Foo Fighters- My Hero
Simple and eloquent.
“Cause Love is an old fashioned word..and love dares you to care for the people of the night…and love changes our way of caring about ourselves…”
“Under Pressure” (Queen/Bowie)
There are some more really good answers on our Facebook page, here: https://www.facebook.com/thegoodmenproject/posts/10152533254388919
The Smiths – Heaven knows I’m miserable now:
“In my life
Why do I give valuable time
To people who don’t care
if I live or die ?”
Or any lyrics by The Smiths or Morrissey
‘I am wordless sounds compared to all your perfect words.’ – Jann Arden
yes!
No pill to swallow no Guru to follow – Michael Franti
For standing in your heart
Is where I want to be and long to be
Ah, but I may as well try and catch the wind
Read more: Donovan – Catch The Wind Lyrics | MetroLyrics
It takes a man to suffer ignorance and smile. … A gentleman will walk but never run.
Sting, Englishman in New York
Plenty of great lines in that song.
Whop ba ba loo bop ba lop bam boom!
Tuti Frutti, Little Richard
Doesn’t mean anything, but gives me some good vibes.
“And they will dance if they wanna dance Please brother take a chance You know they’re gonna go Which way they wanna go All we know is that we don’t know How it’s gonna be, please brother let it be Life on the other hand won’t let you understand We’re all part of the masterplan.” Oasis – The Masterplan “Some might say we will find a brighter day.” Oasis – Some Might Say “All the times that I cried, keeping all the things I knew inside, It’s hard, but it’s harder to ignore it.” Cat Stevens – Father & Son… Read more »
You stand there so nice, in your blizzard of ice/ please let me come into your storm
-One of Us Cannot Be Wrong, Leonard Cohen
“I knew all the rules but the rules did not know me.” Eddie Vedder
I have the whole world on my shoulders
But I only have two hands
Aviche – Wake me up
“Did she make you cry…? Make you break down…? Shatter your illusions of love? Is it over now…do you know how? Pick up the the pieces and go home….”
“Gold Dust Woman”
Fleetwood Mac
Confined to sex, we pressed against
The limits of the sea:
I saw there were no oceans left
For scavengers like me.
I made it to the forward deck.
I blessed our remnant fleet –
And then consented to be wrecked,
A Thousand Kisses Deep.
Leonard Cohen
“Freedom’s just another word for / nothing left to lose.” Billie Holliday
I think that was Janis Joplin
Technically it was Kris Kristofferson, but Janis made it famous.
LOL,I was close …. Saddens me, I saw both of them in concert … good gosh I’m getting old.