Great lines from a song

[wuapinmon]

A Better Place to Be - YouTube - Harry Chapin.

Harry Chapin was a master when it came to putting a story into song. I was 14 when I first heard this song on the radio, and I became a Harry fan.

When I put or second son to bed at every night as a baby, I would sing Taxi to him, and he would always fall to sleep by the end. By the time he was 3, I'd skip a word, and he would say it for me. I must have sung that song to him about a thousand times. Later we had another baby so he got the big boy treatment, and he got a book from his mom before bed. When he was 18, he was in the car with me, and he heard the song on the radio for the first time, and we had never talked about the song since I used to sing it to him. He reaction was priceless. He recognized the song and kinda knew the words, but he had no recollection of ever hearing it before or of me singing it to him. It really spun him for a loop.

Both are good memories.

When I was a teenager, I started listening to the Eagles and Fleetwood Mac, and I was shocked that somehow I knew almost all of the songs without remembering listening to them. Our parents don't always screw us up. That's a great memory, clacka. Thanks for sharing it with us.

[LA Ute]

"Sugar Trade," by James Taylor

Now back when this earth was a silver blue jewel
and back when your grandfather's father was young,
men of these shores made and gave up their lives pulling up fish from the sea.

While down in the African slavery trade, stealing young men to cut sugar cane,
rum to New Bedford and codfish from Maine,
they were building a wall that will always remain.

Oh, the crown and the cross the musket and chain,
the white man's religion, the family name.
Two hundred years later and who is to blame?
The captain or the cargo or the juice of the sugar cane?

[YOUTUBE]v3miBzGJ6SI&feature=youtube_gdata_player[/YOUTUBE]

[Pelado]

But he paid no heed as the shivering thoughts of the nights
delights went through him.
His foot nudged the brakes to slow him down.
But the pedal floored easy without a sound.
He said "Christ!"
It was funny how he had named the only man who could save him now.

Spoiler for Additional lyrics that include the title of the song.:

You know the man who told me about it on the bus,
as it went up the hill out of Scranton, Pennsylvania,
he shrugged his shoulders, he shook his head,
and he said (and this is exactly what he said)
"Boy that sure must've been something.
Just imagine thirty thousand pounds of bananas.

[clackamascoug]

But he paid no heed as the shivering thoughts of the nights
delights went through him.
His foot nudged the brakes to slow him down.
But the pedal floored easy without a sound.
He said "Christ!"
It was funny how he had named the only man who could save him now.

Spoiler for Additional lyrics that include the title of the song.:

You know the man who told me about it on the bus,
as it went up the hill out of Scranton, Pennsylvania,
he shrugged his shoulders, he shook his head,
and he said (and this is exactly what he said)
"Boy that sure must've been something.
Just imagine thirty thousand pounds of bananas.

I listened to it last night.... (mormon tubercular choir version)

[CJF]

There's a picture opposite me
Of my primitive ancestry
Which stood on rocky shores and kept the beaches shipwreck free
Though I respect that a lot
I'd be fired if that were my job
After killing Jason off and countless screaming Argonauts

[Northwestcoug]

Three words to the whack are "step yourself back"
'Cause we're gettin' down, and ain't givin' no slack
Like a Burger King with a sack of Big Macs
We're throwin' down with a rack of Bozaks
One time, in your mind you see
You gotta boogie to your best ability
You gotta funk it up until it knocks you down
And when you've funked enough, make sure you pass it around

[HauteCoug]

fear is like a fake friend
it warms you up and takes you in
you mouth the words but no sound comes out
fear is like your best friend
manipulates and takes you in
you mouth the words... no sound again
but you don't know better

another one of my favorites:

the fourth, the fifth
the minor fall and the major lift.

and the perfect lyric:

if you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice

[Art Vandelay]

...

Girls will be boys, and boys will be girls
It's a mixed up, muddled up, shook up world

[creekster]

another one of my favorites:

the fourth, the fifth
the minor fall and the major lift.

WHy is this one of your favorites? Am I missing something? Isnt he just calling out the progression? What am I missing? In context I think it has more menaing, but stand alone, not so much.

[lambdacoug]

Staind - Zoe Jane

A song from a dad to his daughter. It's fairly poignant to me as it embodies a lot of things I think as a father of two daughters.


Well I want you to notice
To notice when I'm not around
And know your eyes see straight through me
And speak to me without a sound

I wanna hold you
Protect you from all of the things I've already endured
And I wanna show you
Show you all the things that this life has in
Store for you
And I'll always love you
The way that a father should love his daughter

When I woke up this morning
I cried as I walked to the door
I cried about how long I'll be away for
I cried about leaving you all alone

So I wanted to say this
'Cause I wouldn't know where to begin
To explain to you what I have been through
To explain where your daddy has been

[YOUTUBE]03cR1tAFSmQ[/YOUTUBE]

[SoCalCoug]

And with a sad heart I say bye to you and wave
Kicking shadows on the street for every mistake that I had made
And like a baby boy I never was a man
Until I saw your blue eyes cry and I held your face in my hand
And then I fell down yelling “Make it go away!”
Just make a smile come back and shine just like it used to be
And then she whispered “How can you do this to me?”

I love Blue October, and having been married for 8 years to a bipolar (now ex-) wife, that song's particularly poignant to me.

Also, Hallelujah is definitely one of my favorite songs, but when it plays in my head, it's the Leonard Cohen version that my mind plays, not the Jeff Buckley one. If you haven't listened to the Leonard Cohen version, it's on Youtube.

[lambdacoug]

Amon Amarth - Where Silent Gods Stand Guard

Nothing like a little Viking Metal to get you going in the morning. :rockon2:

They were crawling on their knees
Begging for their pathetic lives
Now their souls belong to me
As well as their eyes

Each man has something that I crave
I ate their steaming eyes
And drink their blood to make them my slaves
At Odin's feet in afterlife


P.S. This not a serious post, in case you missed it.

[Art Vandelay]

Line, people. Line.

line, verse, album. They're all pretty much the same.

[Commando]

I was just thinking about this thread the other day as I was appreciating some great lyrics

Here's a name you cannot forget
Her name is Glynis, yes
And with these tears of respect
Conforms a sadness
For anyone who's ever lost
One who's dearest, and the love of a friend

On our worried knees
Given to all beliefs
Scarecrows and disease haunt us all
Ooh, bury your heads in the sand
Ooh, bury your heads

So have we stumbled from grace
Are we being punished for fate
My god is subtle and great
He can't be wounded
By the gossip and the hate of the frightened
Who took their paths on the sand, yeah

So have we stumbled from grace
Are we being punished for fate
My god is subtle and great
He can't be wounded
By the gossip and the hate of the frightened
Who took their paths on the sand, yeah

Fear that grips us all
Gives us an awful sound
Can't help anything but ourselves
bury your head in the sand

I believe in one love

[youtube]Ic07ejc5DPE[/youtube]

[HauteCoug]

WHy is this one of your favorites? Am I missing something? Isnt he just calling out the progression? What am I missing? In context I think it has more menaing, but stand alone, not so much.

Because as a musician, the minor fall into the major lift is one of the most poignant moments you can experience while performing. It's so simple, but if there were a progression that tugged at the "heart strings", this is it. Contextually it means something different, but it's also the reminder to me as a writer that the right words can mean so much more than just their face value.