Clever lyrics ?

[chilistrucker]

mini me said:

Wear sunscreen?

Magic

[realjv]

I've always liked this one. Great song. I like how "got us" in the first verse becomes "goddess" in the third and the "When I see your eyes arrive, they explode like two bugs on glass" is a great turn of phrase given the driving context of the rest of the song.


MERCURY REV
Goddess On A Hiway

Well, I got us on a highway and I got us in a car
Got us going faster than we've ever gone before
I got us on a highway and I got us in a car
Got us going faster than we've ever gone before

And I know it ain't gonna last
And I know it ain't gonna last
When I see your eyes arrive
They explode like two bugs on glass

Far above the ocean, deep under the sea
There's a river running dry because of you and me
Far above the ocean, deep under the sea
There's a river running dry because of you and me

And I know it ain't gonna last
And I know it ain't gonna last
When I see your eyes arrive
They explode like two bugs on glass

She's a goddess on a highway, a goddess in a car
A goddess going faster than she's ever gone before
She's a goddess on a highway, a goddess in a car
A goddess going faster than she's ever gone before

And I know it ain't gonna last
And I know it ain't gonna last
When I see your eyes arrive
They explode like two bugs on glass

And I know it ain't gonna last ...
It ain't gonna last

https://youtu.be/rqGDHA4dcXQ

[grumbledoak]

"Du Hast" is quite clever, adding a word each time changes the meaning completely.

Du
Du hast
Du hast mich
Du hast mich gefragt
Du hast mich gefragt und ich hab nichts gesagt

[deeen]

oddball1313 said:

Dogs
My favourite Pink Floyd song and probably one of the best lyrics ever penned

Purists will probably scoff (too popular?) but "Wish You Were Here" still brings me out in goosebumps, every time.

[Wacky Racer]

"I drive a Rolls Royce 'cos it's good for my voice"

Marc Bolan

(Died 40 years ago this week)

[Crackie]

The righteous rise
With burning eyes
Of hatred and ill-will

Madmen fed on fear and lies
To beat, and burn, and kill

They say there are strangers, who threaten us
In our immigrants and infidels
They say there is strangeness, too dangerous
In our theatres and bookstore shelves
That those who know what's best for us -
Must rise and save us from ourselves

Quick to judge,
Quick to anger
Slow to understand

Ignorance and prejudice
And fear
Walk hand in hand

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Big money goes around the world
Big money underground
Big money got a mighty voice
Big money make no sound
Big money pull a million strings
Big money hold the prize
Big money weave a mighty web
Big money draw the flies

Sometimes pushing people around
Sometimes pulling out the rug
Sometimes pushing all the buttons
Sometimes pulling out the plug
It's the power and the glory
It's a war in paradise
It's a cinderella story
On a tumble of the dice

Big money goes around the world
Big money take a cruise
Big money leave a mighty wake
Big money leave a bruise
Big money make a million dreams
Big money spin big deals
Big money make a mighty head
Big money spin big wheels

Sometimes building ivory towers
Sometimes knocking castles down
Sometimes building you a stairway --
Lock you underground
It's that old-time religion
it's the kingdom they would rule
It's the fool on television
Getting paid to play the fool

Big money goes around the world
Big money give and take
Big money done a power of good
Big money make mistakes
Big money got a heavy hand
Big money take control
Big money got a mean streak
Big money got no soul...

[ajprice]

I could put a lot of Jarvis Cocker/Pulp in here, a personal favourite for the lyrics is I Spy...


I spy a boy
I spy a girl
I spy the worst place
In the world
In the whole wide world
Oh, you didn't do bad
You made it out
I'm still stuck here
Oh, but I'll get out
Oh, yeah, I'll get out

Can't you see the giant that walks around you seeing through your petty lives?
Do you think I do these things for real, I do these things just so I survive

And you know I will survive
It may look to the untrained eye
I'm sitting on my ass all day
I'm biding time until I take you all on

My Lords and Ladies, I will prevail
I cannot fail 'cause I spy

Oh I've got your numbers, taken notes
I know the ways your minds work, I've studied

And your minds are just the same as mine
Except that you are clever swines
You never let mask slip, you never admit to it, you're never hurried
Oh, no, no, no

And every night I hone my plan
How I will get my satisfaction
How I will blow your paradise away away, away
'Cause I spy

And it's just like in the old days
I used to compose my own critical notices in my head
"The crowd gasp at Cocker's masterful control of the bicycle
Skilfully avoiding the dog turd next to the corner shop"

Imagining a blue plaque
Above the place I first ever touched a girl's chest
But hold on
You've got to wait for the best
You see, you should take me seriously

Very seriously indeed.
Cause I've been sleeping with your wife for the past sixteen weeks
Smoking your cigarettes
Drinking your brandy
Messing up the bed that you chose together

And in all that time I just wanted you to come home unexpectedly one afternoon
And catch us at it in the front room
You see I spy for a living
And I specialize in revenge
On taking the things I know will cause you pain
I can't help it
I was dragged up

My favorite parks are car parks
Grass is something you smoke
Birds are something you shag
Take your "Year in Provence" and shove it up your ass

Your Ladbroke Grove looks turn me on, yeah
With roach burns in designer dresses
Skin stretched tight over high cheek-bones
And thousands of tiny dryness lines beating a path to the corners of your eyes
And every night I hatch my plan, It's not a case of woman v man

It's more a case of haves against haven'ts
And I just happen to have got what you need
Just exactly what you need, yeah

La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la
In the midnight hour.
La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la
I will come to you
I will come to you
I will take you from this sickness
Dinner parties and champagne
I'll hold your body and make it sing again

Come on sing again, Let's sing again, oh yeah, 'cause I spy
Yes, I spy
I spy a boy
And I spy a girl

I spy the chance
To change the world
To change your world

Edited by ajprice on Tuesday 23 January 23:30

[boxedin]

Do you ever get that feeling
When the guilt begins to hurt
Seeing all the children
Wallowing in dirt
Crying out with hunger
Crying out in pain
At least the dirt will wash off
When it starts to rain

Soap won't wash away your shame

[Penelope Stopit]

And my thoughts are turning backwards
And I'm picking at the pieces
Of a world that keeps turning
The screws into my mind

[gmaz]

Lots of Rush on this thread but one of the most interesting wordplay songs is "Anagram" which is mainly partial anagrams but has meaningful phrases like "Lonely things like nights I find, end finer with a friend"


There's a snake coming out of the darkness
Parade from paradise
End the need for Eden
Chase the dreams of merchandise

There is tic and toc in atomic
Leaders make a deal
The cosmic is largely comic
A con they couldn't conceal

There is no safe seat at the feast
Take your best stab at the beast
The night is turning thin
The saint is turning to sin

Raise the art to resistance
Danger dare to be grand
Pride reduced to humble pie
Diamonds down to sand

Take heart from earth and weather
The brightness of new birth
Take heart from the harvest
Shave the harvest from the earth

Reasoning is partly insane
Image just an eyeless game
The night is turning thin
The saint is turning to sin

Miracles will have their claimers
More will bow to Rome
He and she are in the house
But there's only me at home

Rose is a rose of splendor
Posed to respond in the end
Lonely things like nights
I find, end finer with a friend

I hear in the rate of her heart
A tear in the heat of the art
The night turns thin
The saint turns to sin

[cerbfan]

I've always loved this song and the lyrics have seen very apt at times living in Aberdeen over the past 2 or 3 years!!

Across the border they turn
Water into wine
Some say it's the devil's blood
They're squeezing from the vine
Some say it's a saviour
In these hard and desperate times
For me it helps me to forget
That we're just born to die

I came here like so many did
To find the better life
To find my piece of easy street
To finally be alive
And I know nothing good comes easy
And all good things take some time
I made my bed I'll lie in it
To die in it's the crime

You can't help but prosper
Where the streets are paved with gold
They say the oil wells ran deeper here
than anybody's known
I packed up on my wife and kid
And left them back at home

Now there's nothing in this paydirt
The ghosts are all I know
Now the oil's gone
The money's gone
And the jobs are gone
Still we're hangin' on

Down in dry county
They're swimming in the sand
Praying for some holy water
To wash the sins from off our hand
Here in dry county
The promise has run dry
Where nobody cries
And no one's getting out of here alive

In the blessed name of Jesus
I heard a preacher say
That we are God's children
And He'd be back someday
And I hoped that he knew
Something as he drank his cup of wine
I didn't have too good of a feeling
As I head out to the night

I cursed the sky to open
I begged the clouds for rain
I prayed to God for water
For this burning in my veins
It was like my soul's on fire
And I had to watch the flames
All my dreams went up in ashes
And my future blew away

Now the oil's gone
And the money's gone
And the jobs are gone
Still we're hangin' on

Down in dry county
They're swimming in the sand
Praying for some holy water
To wash the sins from off our hand
Here in dry county
The promise has run dry
Where nobody cries
And no one's getting out of here alive

Men spend their whole lives
Waiting praying for their big reward
But it seems sometimes
The payoff leaves you feeling
Like a dirty we
If I could choose the way I'll die
Make it by the gun or knife
'Cause the other way there's too much pain
Night after night after night

Down in dry county
They're swimming in the sand
Praying for some holy water
To wash the sins from off our hand
Here in dry county
The promise has run dry
Where nobody cries
And no one's getting out of here alive

[bartesque]

Half Man Half Biscuit

loads to choose from;

Time flies by when you’re a driver of a train
Speeding out of Trumpton with a cargo of cocaine
I get high when I’m the pilot of a plane
Touching down in Camberwick I’m stoned out of my brain

Under bridges, over bridges, to our destination
Careful with that spliff Eugene, it causes condensation

or

Oh darling sugar honey
When it was nice and sunny
And when I had some money
We would go and see Echo And The Bunny
…men

Since I was eight I’ve loved you
Through garden gates I’ve shoved you
Then there’s the time I slashed you
And you had to go to hospital

Now you are gone forever
Shot by your Uncle Trevor
My story seems so tragic
Ali Bongo’s good at contortionism

Oh he’s much better than David Nixon ever was
Woh oh oh oo-ooh
Slowly I picked my life up
Now I go and pick the wife up
She works at Marks & Spencer’s
La la la Lech Walesas
When Cupid threw her last dart
You, girl, were still in my heart
I love you more than ever
Even though I married Trevor

or

There was one in the gang who had Scalextric
And because of that he thought he was better than you
Every day after school you’d go round there to play it
Hoping to compete for some kind of championship
But it always took about fifteen billion hours to set the track up
And even when you did the thing never seemed to work

It was a dodgy transformer again and again
A dodgy transformer again and again
It was a dodgy transformer again and again
A dodgy transformer that cost three pound ten

So he’d send his doting mother up the stairs with the stepladders
To get the Subbuteo out of the loft
He had all the accessories required for that big match atmosphere
The crowd and the dugout and the floodlights too
You’d always get palmed off with a headless centre forward
And a goalkeeper with no arms and a face like his

And he’d managed to get hold of a Dukla Prague away kit
‘Cos his uncle owned a sports shop and he’d kept it to one side
And after only five minutes you’d be down to ten men
‘Cos he’d sent off your right back for taking the base from under his left winger
And come to half time you were losing four-nil
Each and every goal a hotly disputed penalty
So you’d smash up the floodlights and the match was abandoned
And the dog would bark and you’d be banned from his house
And your travelling army of synthetic supporters
Would be taken away from you and thrown in the bin

Now he’s working in a job with a future
He hands me my Giro every two weeks
And me I’m on the lookout for a proper transformer …errr

[dandarez]

Well, she was standing by the highway
In her boots and silver spurs
Gonna hitchhike to the yellow moon
When a Cadillac stopped for her
And she said: "Hey, nice to meet you, are you goin' my way?"
Yeah, that's when it happened
The world caught fire that day.

And she went down swingin'
Yeah, she went down swingin'

Well, she was over twenty-one
In trouble with the law
And it didn't faze her none
She called her mother-in-law
And said I need a little money
I knew I could count on you
After that night in Vegas
And the hell that we went through.

We went down swingin'
Like Benny Goodman
Yeah, we went down swingin'

Moonlight on the interstate
She was 'cross the Georgia line
Looked out the window feeling great
Yeah, it had to come in time
And she said I'm never goin' back
She said at last I'm free
I wish ma could see me now, she'd be so proud of me.

She went down swingin'
Like Glenn Miller
Yeah, she went down swingin'
Like Tommy Dorsey
Yeah, she went down swingin'
Like Sammy Davis
She went down swingin'
Like Sonny Liston

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4vJM4L2D2U
the accompanying video will keep your eyes open!

[skeeterm5]

I give you Laura Izibor;

If an angel came down to me
Asked what I would do differently
I would say nothing you see
I have loved someone truly
And if I do not see tomorrow
You know it's gonna be alright

For me a beautiful song and sentiment.

[deeen]

If I said you had a beautiful body...

[tr7ster]

Glad to see a good bit of Rush mentioned here, not too surprising given Neil Peart's history of writing. One of my many favourites of theirs is Time Stand Still; partially because some of the lyrics resonate with me, but also for the subtle wordplay here and there:

I turn my back to the wind
To catch my breath,
Before I start off again.
Driven on
Without a moment to spend
To pass an evening
With a drink and a friend

I let my skin get too thin
I’d like to pause,
No matter what I pretend
Like some pilgrim —
Who learns to transcend —
Learns to live
As if each step was the end

Time stand still —
I’m not looking back —
But I want to look around me now
See more of the people
And the places that surround me now

Freeze this moment
A little bit longer
Make each sensation
A little bit stronger
Experience slips away…

I turn my face to the sun
Close my eyes,
Let my defences down —
All those wounds
That I can’t get unwound

I let my past go too fast
No time to pause —
If I could slow it all down
Like some captain,
Whose ship runs aground —
I can wait until the tide
Comes around

Make each impression
A little bit stronger
Freeze this motion
A little bit longer
The innocence slips away…

Summer’s going fast–
Nights growing colder
Children growing up —
old friends growing older
Experience slips away…


Also I'm surprised nobody's mentioned Billy Joel yet - some of his lyrics are quite clever. From Piano Man:

And the waitress is practicing politics
As the businessmen slowly get stoned
Yes they're sharing a drink they call "Loneliness"
But it's better than drinking alone

[dandarez]

Clever lyrics?
Dark ones, but who t f cares when guitar playing and interaction is this good!

I been alone
All the years
So many ways to count the tears
I never change
I never will
I'm so afraid the way I feel

Days when the rain and the sun are gone
Black as night
Agony's torn at my heart too long
So afraid
Slip and I fall and I die

I been alone
Always down
No one cared to stay around
I never change
I never will
I'm so afraid the way I feel

Days when the rain and the sun are gone
Black as night
Agony's torn at my heart too long
So afraid
Slip and I fall and I die

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcB8rUuD_CI&li...

[dandarez]

dandarez said:

Swingin' lyrics by TPHB
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4vJM4L2D2U
the accompanying video will keep your eyes open!

Jesus, who'd have thought just 4 days after I posted this, Tom would be gone.

[jcremonini]

Pretty much everything written by Nick Cave.

The Curse of Millhaven for example is full of genuis:

Yes, it is I, Lottie, The Curse Of Millhaven
I've struck horror in the heart of this town
Like my eyes ain't green and my hair ain't yellow
It's more like the other way around
I got a pretty little mouth underneath all the foaming

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACG9wv69bKU

[Pooh]

cerbfan said:

I've always loved this song and the lyrics have seen very apt at times living in Aberdeen over the past 2 or 3 years!!

Across the border they turn
Water into wine
Some say it's the devil's blood
They're squeezing from the vine
Some say it's a saviour
In these hard and desperate times
For me it helps me to forget
That we're just born to die

I came here like so many did
To find the better life
To find my piece of easy street
To finally be alive
And I know nothing good comes easy
And all good things take some time
I made my bed I'll lie in it
To die in it's the crime

You can't help but prosper
Where the streets are paved with gold
They say the oil wells ran deeper here
than anybody's known
I packed up on my wife and kid
And left them back at home

Now there's nothing in this paydirt
The ghosts are all I know
Now the oil's gone
The money's gone
And the jobs are gone
Still we're hangin' on

Down in dry county
They're swimming in the sand
Praying for some holy water
To wash the sins from off our hand
Here in dry county
The promise has run dry
Where nobody cries
And no one's getting out of here alive

In the blessed name of Jesus
I heard a preacher say
That we are God's children
And He'd be back someday
And I hoped that he knew
Something as he drank his cup of wine
I didn't have too good of a feeling
As I head out to the night

I cursed the sky to open
I begged the clouds for rain
I prayed to God for water
For this burning in my veins
It was like my soul's on fire
And I had to watch the flames
All my dreams went up in ashes
And my future blew away

Now the oil's gone
And the money's gone
And the jobs are gone
Still we're hangin' on

Down in dry county
They're swimming in the sand
Praying for some holy water
To wash the sins from off our hand
Here in dry county
The promise has run dry
Where nobody cries
And no one's getting out of here alive

Men spend their whole lives
Waiting praying for their big reward
But it seems sometimes
The payoff leaves you feeling
Like a dirty we
If I could choose the way I'll die
Make it by the gun or knife
'Cause the other way there's too much pain
Night after night after night

Down in dry county
They're swimming in the sand
Praying for some holy water
To wash the sins from off our hand
Here in dry county
The promise has run dry
Where nobody cries
And no one's getting out of here alive

I love this song, especially after being made redundant from the oil industry after 27 years.