Some lyrics are as inspirational as the musings of the Greek Gods. Other lyrics make you want to kick the hair out of the head of the person that wrote them
Either way once heard they are in your head and you carry them with you pretty much forever.
I will kick it off
Best Line - “Gravity keeps my head down or is it maybe shame at being so young and being so vain” - Manic Street Preachers - If You Tolerate This.
Worst Line - “If you judge a book by its cover then you judge the look by the lover.” - ABC The Look Of Love. WTF does that mean? its bugged me for decades.
Try to keep it to a single line that resonates or annoys the crap out of you.
.
Best line:
“You know the fish with the bloated lips that cleans the oceans floor
When I looked at O 'Malleys wife thats exactly what I saw”
Nick Cave “O Malleys Bar”
Worst Line:
“You think we look pretty good together
You think my shoes are made from leather”
The Who " Substitute"
Worst attempt at rhyme ever
Look at any Scooter song for laughably bad lyrics. “It’s not a bird, it’s not a plane, it must be Dave who’s on the train” or “Respect to the man in the icecream van” etc.
As for best lines, I always found that lyrics from rap or hip songs stuck with me more. Eminem’s entire Nail In The Coffin diss track is packed full of venomous jibes, a favourite line from that would be “ If you was really sellin’ coke, well, then what the fuck you stop for, dummy? If you slew some crack you’d make a lot more money than you do from rap”.
Another would be from Find No Enemy by Akala. The entire song is a lyrical masterpiece, but I always liked the line “They can keep the charts all I want is your hearts”. Akala to me has always been hugely under appreciated in terms of the quality of music he has put out there and should really be far more acclaimed than he is, but he’s never chased that glory or complained about his standing in the industry. Such an intelligent, humble and all round inspirational guy.
Everybody knows that the dice are loaded Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed Everybody knows the war is over Everybody knows the good guys lost Everybody knows the fight was fixed The poor stay poor, the rich get rich That’s how it goes Everybody knows
Leonard Cohen
You look so self-possessed I won’t disturb your rest It’s lovely when you’re sleeping But wide awake is best
Ian Dury
And in the naked light I saw Ten thousand people, maybe more People talking without speaking People hearing without listening People writing songs that voices never share No one dared Disturb the sound of silence
Malcolm Gladwell has an excellent podcast - Revisionist History - there is one podcast where he talks about Elvis and his constant inability to complete the song “Are You Lonesome Tonight” which Gladwell terms a parapraxis - similar to a Freudian slip - basically his unconscious will not allow him to complete the song. It is a very interesting and sometimes moving discussion and insight into songwriting and performing. - Jack White of the White Stripes and a few other musicians contribute also. You don’t need to be an Elvis fan to enjoy it - definitely worth a listen.
And don’t try to enchant me with your manner of dress
'Cause a monkey in silk is a monkey no less
So measure for measure reflect on my said
And when I won’t see you then measure it dead.
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 privilige is mine…
Too many Smith’s lyrics to mention, Morrissey is a fucking genius.
Loose, Footloose
kick off your sunday shoes
please Louise
pull me offa my knees
Jack, get back
c’mon on before we crack
lose your blues
everybody cut Footloose.
Footloose, by Mr Kenny Loggins, makes me want to shove rusty knitting needles into my ears.
“I’m as serious as cancer, when I say rhythm is a dancer”
Rhythm Is A Dancer, Snap!
Really!!! A dancey number with relating a disease to dancing!!
“All my people right here, right now/D’you know what I mean? (yeah, yeah)”
No, I have no clue what Noel means here
The demise of Noel Gallagher the songwriter.
I’ma get, get, get, get you drunk/Get you love-drunk off my hump/My hump, my hump, my hump, my hump, my hump/My hump, my hump, my hump, my lovely little lumps"
Really!!! A dancey number with relating a disease to dancing!!