Reccomend Me Some Lyrical Gems

[Draevyn]

When listening to music, I've always been a fan of the lyrics and vocals of singers or bands, and the way things come off on that side. Music wise, I consider myself quite tone deaf. I hear something and like it, but I can't really pick out whether it's amazing or not. Often times it just fits with the song. Anyway, what I'm looking for here is songs people enjoy that have great lyrics, whether they be meaningful, or simply some very good lines that seem to mesh together to form a great song. So can anyone reccomend me songs with some great lyrics?

[Farmer Reil]

Edguy - Land Of The Miracle [Live]

The best vocalist in the world, and some nice mushy lyrics

[YI]

Strung Out and Bad astronaut are two bands that really strike a chord with my lyrically.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Hmm lyrics.

Well just a few of my favourite lyrics (taking sections of songs) are:

We’ll sit for days

And talk about things

Important to us like whatever

We'll defuse bombs

And walk marathons

And take on whatever, together

"A.M. 180" by Grandaddy

I'll put a spell on you,

You'll fall asleep,

I'll put a spell on you,

And when I wake you,

I'll be the first thing you see,

And you'll realise that you love me.

"Strange And Beautiful" by Aqualung (mine and my mife's first dance at our wedding)

You know its gonna make it that much better

When we can say goodnight and stay together

Wouldnt it be nice if we could wake up

In the morning when the day is new

And after having spent the day together

Hold each other close the whole night through

Happy times together weve been spending

I wish that every kiss was neverending

Wouldnt it be nice

"Wouldn't It Be Nice" by The Beach Boys (we walked down the aisle to this)

I've called you so many times today

And I guess its all true what your girlfriends say

That you dont ever want to see me again

And your brother's going to kill me and hes six feet ten

I guess you'd call it cowardice

But Im not prepared to go on like this

"Can't Stand Losing You" by The Police

Visions of you on a motorcycle drive by,

The cigarette ash flies in your eyes, and you don't mind, you smile,

And say the world doesn't fit with you.

I don't believe you, you're so serene.

Careening through the universe, your axis on a tilt, you're guiltless and free,

I hope you take a piece of me with you,

And there's things I'd like to do that you don't believe in,

I would like to build something, but you'd never see it happen

And there's this burning, like there's always been,

I've never been so alone, and I've, I've never been so alive,

"Motorcycle Drive By" by Third Eye Blind (Man I loved these ten years ago as a teenager)

Time for some Blur...

Educated the expensive way

He knows his claret from his beaujolais

I think he'd like to have been Ronnie Kray

But then nature didn't make him that way

"Charmless Man"

I get up when I want, except on Wednesdays, when I get rudely wakened by the dustmen. (Parklife!)

I put my trousers on, have a cup of tea, and I think about leaving the house. (Parklife!)

I feed the pigeons, I sometimes feed the sparrows too.

It gives me a sense of enormous well-being. (Parklife!)

And then I'm happy for the rest of the day,

safe in the knowledge there will always be a bit of my heart devoted to it.

"Parklife"

We all say, don't want to be alone

We wear the same clothes cos we feel the same

And kiss with dry lips when we say goodnight

End of a century

Oh, it's nothing special

"End Of A Century"

I took her to a supermarket,

I don't know why but I had to start it somewhere,

so it started there.

I said pretend you've got no money,

she just laughed and said,

"Oh you're so funny."

I said "yeah?

Well I can't see anyone else smiling in here.

Are you sure you want to live like common people.

"Common People" by Pulp

Also numerous 3 Colours Red lyrics are fantastic.

[GoGo Yubari]

"Hallelujah" by Leonard Cohen, as covered by either John Cale or Jeff Buckley. One of the most wonderful songs ever made.

The Beatles have a ton of these songs, with some of my favorites in particular being "A Day in the Life," "You Never Give Me Your Money," "Blackbird," and "Strawberry Fields Forever."

Some Other Songs as I Find Them on my laptop:

"Subhuman" by The Pillows (It's especially impressive when you realize that it's a Japanese band writing English lyrics and instead of coming out as total Engrish nonsense, you can tell what it's about and the lyrics are actually pretty clever. "I can't see, but I can feel/All the time" being my favorite by far)

"I Palindrome I" by They Might Be Giants

"Narrow Your Eyes" by They Might Be Giants

"Burnt Offering" by Blue Scholars

"Life & Debt" by Blue Scholars

"Parklife" by Blur

"Moral Centralia" by Harvey Danger

"What Ever Happened?" by The Strokes

"Sunday Morning" by The Velvet Underground

"Earn Enough For Us" by XTC

More later, perhaps.

[Summers]

I'll put a spell on you,

You'll fall asleep,

I'll put a spell on you,

And when I wake you,

I'll be the first thing you see,

And you'll realise that you love me.

"Strange And Beautiful" by Aqualung (mine and my mife's first dance at our wedding)

Also numerous 3 Colours Red lyrics are fantastic.

That's so awesome, to first wedding dance to that song would be amazing.

Edited January 27, 2007 by Summers

[apsham]

If you ask me, Fall Out Boy has good lyrics and the way that Stump vocalizes them is amazing at time, but just reading them never does justice sadly so I will leave them out here.

"All around me are familiar faces

Worn out places, worn out faces

Bright and early for their daily races

Going nowhere, going nowhere

Their tears are filling up their glasses

No expression, no expression

Hide my head I want to drown my sorrow

No tomorrow, no tomorrow

And I find it kinda funny

I find it kinda sad

The dreams in which I'm dying

Are the best I've ever had

I find it hard to tell you

I find it hard to take

When people run in circles

It's a very, very mad world mad world"

Tears For Fears\Gary Jules

If you could read my mind love

What a tale my thoughts could tell

Just like an old time movie

'Bout a ghost from a wishing well

In a castle dark or a fortress strong

With chains upon my feet

You know that ghost is me

And I will never be set free

As long as I'm a ghost that you can't see

If I could read your mind love

What a tale your thoughts could tell

Just like a paperback novel

The kind the drugstores sell

When you reach the part where the heartache come

The hero would be me

But heroes often fail

And you won't read that book again

Because the ending's just too hard to take

I'd walk away like a movie star

Who gets burned in a three way script

Enter number two

A movie queen to play the scene

Of bringing all the good things out in me

But for now love, let's be real

I never thought I could act this way

And I've got to say that I just don't get it

I don't know where we went wrong

But the feeling's gone

And I just can't get it back

If you could read my mind love

What a tale my thoughts could tell

Just like an old time movie

'Bout a ghost from a wishing well

In a castle dark or a fortress strong

With chains upon my feet

But stories always end

And if you read between the lines

You'll know that I'm just trying to understand

The feelings that you lack

I never thought I could feel this way

And I've got to say that I just to get it

I don't know where we went wrong

But the feeling's gone

And I just can't get it back

Gordon Lightfoot

[ADG]

"Bittersweet Symphony" by The Verve/Richard Ashcroft

"Wonderful Tonight" by Eric Clapton

"The Woman With The Tattooed Hands" by Atmosphere

Two really obvious greats and one I personally love.

[K]

Lupe Fiasco

[MalaCloudy Black]

Lupe Fiasco

Listen to this man.

Kick, push, kick, push, kick, push, coooooast...

Man I love that album. And Ghostface Killah too.

[Number of the Breast]

Any Buck 65 would be recommended. A lot of Iron Maiden and Dream Theater include great lyrics too.

[Nerf]

"You are just a dreamer and I am just a dream."

Like A Hurricane - Neil Young.

[MalaCloudy Black]

"Well, I hope Neil Young will remember

A Southern man don't need him around anyhow."

- Sweet Home Alabama, Lynyrd Skynyrd. >_>

[VerbalPuke]

Johnny Thunders - Chinese Rocks (Despite the song being written by Dee Dee Ramone, the song poses as a gut wrenching self reflection of heroin addiction).

Gun Club - Brother and Sister (There is a certain beauty in the lyrics and the way they mesh with the music. The Gun Club had a knack for creative lyrics, plus Jeffrey Lee Pierce was one of the greatest vocalists to step behind the mic).

Reagan Youth - No Class (The lyrics aren't what you'd call profound, but they are brilliant in the fact that they are simple and to the point. They reflected the feelings of a whole generation of kids, and to this day can be used to describe nonconformist ideals).

Just a few for now.

[MGW]

Slip inside the eye of your mind

Don't you know you might find

A better place to play

You said that you'd once never been

All the things that you've seen

Will slowly fade away

So I'll start the revolution from my bed

Cos you said the brains I had went to my head

Step outside the summertime's in bloom

Stand up beside the fireplace

Take that look from off your face

You ain't ever gonna burn my heart out

So Sally can wait, she knows its too late as we're walking on by

Her soul slides away, but don't look back in anger I hear you say

Don't Look Back in Anger - Oasis

See the stone set in your eyes

See the thorn twist in your side.

I wait for you.

Sleight of hand and twist of fate

On a bed of nails she makes me wait

And I wait without you

With or without you

With or without you.

Through the storm, we reach the shore

You gave it all but I want more

And I'm waiting for you

With or without you

With or without you.

I can't live with or without you.

With or Without You - U2

Over the sea and far away

She's waiting like an iceberg

Waiting to change

But she's cold inside

She wants to be like the water

All the muscles tighten in her face

Buries her soul in one embrace

They're one and the same

Just like water

And the fire fades away

Most of everyday

Is full of tired excuses

But it's too hard to say

I wish it were simple

But we give up easily

You're close enough to see that

You're on the other side of the world to me

Other Side of the World - KT Tunstall

The U2 song really is moving when you listen to it sung.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

I'll put a spell on you,

You'll fall asleep,

I'll put a spell on you,

And when I wake you,

I'll be the first thing you see,

And you'll realise that you love me.

"Strange And Beautiful" by Aqualung (mine and my mife's first dance at our wedding)

Also numerous 3 Colours Red lyrics are fantastic.

That's so awesome, to first wedding dance to that song would be amazing.

It was

[Liam]

Unless I'm having Deja vu, you two had the same conversation (practically) a little while ago.

As for lyrically good bands, The Smiths are pretty good, as are Depche Mode (if a little more straightforward). Songs for each: The Smiths - "This Charming Man", "The Boy With The Thorn In His Side", "Girlfriend In A Coma", There Is A Light That Never Goes Out....for Depeche Mode, "Little 15", "Somebody", "Blasphemous Rumours" and "Enjoy The Silence".

[Lord Nibbler]

I really like the lyrics to "Los Angeles, I'm Yours" by The Decemberists. The animated music video is very cool too, though it misses out the third verse:

Oh what a rush of ripe elan

Languor on divans

Dalliant and dainty

But oh, the smell of burnt cocaine

The dolour and decay

It only makes me cranky

Oh great calamity,

Ditch of iniquity and tears

How I abhor this place

Its sweet and bitter taste

Has left me wretched, retching on all fours

Los Angeles, I'm yours

[Skummy]

As Liam said, There Is A Light That Never Goes Out by The Smiths, so much so that it needs to be quoted in full, just to cement that.

Take me out tonight

Where theres music and theres people

And theyre young and alive

Driving in your car

I never never want to go home

Because I havent got one

Anymore

Take me out tonight

Because I want to see people and i

Want to see life

Driving in your car

Oh, please dont drop me home

Because its not my home, its their

Home, and Im welcome no more

And if a double-decker bus

Crashes into us

To die by your side

Is such a heavenly way to die

And if a ten-ton truck

Kills the both of us

To die by your side

Well, the pleasure - the privilege is mine

Take me out tonight

Take me anywhere, I dont care

I dont care, I dont care

And in the darkened underpass

I thought oh god, my chance has come at last

(but then a strange fear gripped me and i

Just couldnt ask)

Take me out tonight

Oh, take me anywhere, I dont care

I dont care, I dont care

Driving in your car

I never never want to go home

Because I havent got one, da ...

Oh, I havent got one

And if a double-decker bus

Crashes into us

To die by your side

Is such a heavenly way to die

And if a ten-ton truck

Kills the both of us

To die by your side

Well, the pleasure - the privilege is mine

Oh, there is a light and it never goes out

There is a light and it never goes out

There is a light and it never goes out

There is a light and it never goes out

There is a light and it never goes out

There is a light and it never goes out

There is a light and it never goes out

There is a light and it never goes out

There is a light and it never goes out...

It's the most beautiful love song ever written, in my humble opinion, even at face value. Then looking into the amount of possible references, from the pseudo-stolen intro riff ("the most tenuous in-joke in rock and roll"), to passing references to James Dean and the New York Dolls, it's just such a "complete" song, for lack of a better term. Also, The Lucksmiths covered it beautifully, ending with the line "There's a light in your eyes that never goes out". Both versions are more than worth checking out.

Speaking of The Lucksmiths, any of the following are bonafide lyrical gems, but half their back catalogue falls under the same category, these are just a couple of my personal favourites.

Better Saturday

It’s been that way since I spoke to you this morning

From a pay-phone in a pub

Here’s the rock’n’roll and there’s the rub

And when I spoke to you

You said ‘I’ll see you soon’

But I won’t see you for ages

And your voice sounded so small

The loneliness of the long distance phone call

The Lucksmiths - Guess How Much I Love You

“Ba-ba-bada-ba-ba” goes the backing vocal

I’m trying not to be so antisocial

Truth be told, I’m not entirely hopeful

I’ve woken up on one too many floors

But my favourite was yours...

The Lucksmiths - There Is A Boy That Never Goes Out

Complex, completely credible love

The kind that is made not handed to you from above

Is difficult to talk about and harder to write

Like the rhythm of a pulse, or the contours of firelight

Overblown libretto and a sumptuous score

Could never contain the contradictions I adore

We can just be chaos and then something aligns

It’s so hard to contain, maintain it or define it

The Lucksmiths - Sunlight In A Jar

[Summers]

Unless I'm having Deja vu, you two had the same conversation (practically) a little while ago.

It's possible. :pinch: