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September 3, 2005
Top 10 lyrics I wish I thought up
1. "Can you whisper in my ear, the things you wanna feel" - Slide, GooGoo Dolls
This is a sweet lyric and remensicent of all that love stuff, when you just want to make someone else's dreams come true and have the confidence to know you can.
2. "The lights are kinda rough, but I can turn them off" - Hey Rose, Girlyman
I love the subtlty of this. It's sensual without having to to be overtly sexual. I mean, who doesn't know what happens when the lights go out?
3. "What day is this, besides the day you left me?" - Stay or Leave, Dave Matthews.
Who hasn't been here? The day doesn't matter, food doesn't matter - you'd forgot to sleep if it wasn't for your best friend getting you so crocked you pass out.. this is the lingering thought after every bad breakup. This sums up so perfectly what volumes of bad poetry can never accomplish.
4. "I just wanna make love to you in some dark, rainy street somewhere" - Bleed A little While Tonight, Lowest of the Low.
Maybe it's the meter of this song - I mean, the lyric itself isn't all that complex - but there is something about this line that just takes me right there - in that alley, kisses through the rain. I just hope he places this scene in the summer...
5. "Lovers come and go, when Hot gets a little cold" - Hot gets a little Cold, Cyndi Lauper.
Simple, yes - but so damn telling about what happens when that initial fire burns out and you have to figure out if you have something beyond lust.
6. "And now you just turn away and say Romeo? I think I used to have a scene with him" - Rome and Juliet - Mark Knoffler.
This song might actually make it onto another list - the best story telling song of all time along with "devil went down to Georgia" and Bob Dylan's "Hurricane". I think it took a lot of creativity to take such a known tale famous for it's tragic love story and turn it into a comedy - even if it is only in a song.
7. "When I was a boy" - Dar Williams.
Yes - I wish i thought of the whole song. It's sung ripe with sarcasm, as us Dar fans have gotten used to over the years. The song is about the gender roles we're forced into as adults and reminds of how things were when we were little, when little boys were little girls and little girls were little boys.
8. "Standing in line marking time--/Waiting for the welfare dime/'Cause they can't buy a job/The man in the silk suit hurries by/As he catches the poor old ladies' eyes/Just for fun he says "Get a job"/ - That's Just the Way it is - Bruce Hornsby
I was tempted to flake out on this one and put the whole song, but I figured that was inexcusible, and Dar would have to serve as the exception. That being said, this stanza is far more powerful with the company of the rest of the song, but it hits hard all by itself. It's a touching tribute to the stupidity of America, and a frightening reminder of how some shit just doesn't change.
9. "But I got debts no honest man can pay" - Atlantic City, Bruce Springsteen
I don't doubt that it's the sincerity that makes this line heart-wrenching and real, something Bruce manages to do quite frequently on Nebraska and now, Devils and Dust. His down-home folk makes you forgot how stinkin rich he is, and convinces you that maybe, maybe, he still has a soul.
10. "Baby I want scary kisses,/I want hits and I want misses,/I want hell and I want bliss,/and all that stuff between it,/and if you gave me safety in a short time I'll be driven crazy,/I would rather run and fall,/then take no chance at all" - Scary Kisses, Voice of the Beehive.
This sums up what 15 years of therapy couldn't manage to figure out. We don't like to be bored.
Posted by lysa at September 3, 2005 3:05 PM
Comments
YEY! for Cyndi..and OMG I remember clearly hearing Bruce the first time ... I was living in Va. Beach and he was quite popular in the area.. so he was ALWAYS on the radio
Posted by: Scottie at September 3, 2005 9:49 PM
Great idea, and list. Got me thinking of doing a similar list. Heh. Blogs seem to be the new Caffe in a sense. maybe it's just that I'm not on Caffe enough.
Posted by: B at September 4, 2005 12:37 AM
This is a fantastic idea.
Definitely noticed a trend in the lyrics you chose...
Posted by: K at September 4, 2005 4:24 PM
A Lowest of the Low lyric? Bravo. :-)
Posted by: Reid at September 5, 2005 10:54 PM