As a music fanatic who was an English major I have always gravitated to lyrics. When I hear a truly great line, from the likes of Tom Waits, Paul Westerberg, Maria McKee, Patti Smith, Kendrick Lamar, Stevie Wonder, anyone, I shake my head in admiration.
Given my love for a great lyric, I asked 40 very eclectic people – musicians, producers, executives – for their favorite lyrics.
Here are their, as expected, equally eclectic answers.
Kate Hudson
“I was looking for a job and then I found a job
And Heaven knows, I’m miserable now”
The Smiths, “Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now”
“Ain’t it just like the night to play tricks
When you’re tryin’ to be so quiet”
Bob Dylan, “Visions of Johanna (Incomplete)”
Gavin Rossdale, BUSH
‘Love is brutal, especially when you lose it.’
“This song has long been a favorite of mine. ‘It’s a song for all the dreamers.”
Bob Dylan, “Most of the Time”
Robyn Hitchcock
“Inside the museums
Infinity goes up on trial
Voices echo ‘This is what
Salvation must be like after a while’
But Mona Lisa must have had the highway blues
You can tell by the way she smiles…”
Bob Dylan, “Visions of Johanna (Incomplete)”
Jim James (My Morning Jacket)
“Whatever will be will be.”
Eddie Money, “Baby, Hold On”
Sarah McLachlan
“A Joni song, probably be off Blue because lyrically, she’s the queen.”
Qveen Herby
“Real G’s move in silence like lasagna.”
Lil Wayne, “6 Foot 7 Foot”
Izzy Escobar
“I believe the children are our future”
Whitney Houston, “The Greatest Love of All”
Dia Frampton
“What have I become?
My sweetest friend
Everyone I know
Goes away in the end
You could have it all
My empire of dirt
I will let you down
I will make you hurt”
Nine Inch Nails, “Hurt”
Haley Reinhart
“I may not always love you
But long as there are stars above you
You never need to doubt it
I’ll make you so sure about it
God only knows what I’d be without you”
Beach Boys, “God Only Knows”
Cameron Crowe
“Try imagining a place where it’s always safe and warm
“Come in,” she said, “I’ll give you shelter from the storm”
Bob Dylan, “Shelter From The Storm”
DJ, Khruangbin
“Tomorrow was made for some. Tomorrow may never come for all we know.”
Donnie Hathaway. “For All We Know”
Laura Lee, Khruangbin
“She is the tear that hangs in my soul forever.”
I went through a Jeff Buckley tear this year
Jeff Buckley, “Lover, You Should’ve Come Over”
Orville Peck
“We are ugly, but we have the music.”
Leonard Cohen, “Chelsea Hotel #2”
Alison Wonderland
“Everything in its right place.”
For me, at the moment,
Radiohead, “Everything in its Right Place.”
Molly Tuttle
I have so many that come to mind, but I was just thinking about Joni Mitchell, so I’m going to go with,
“I could drink a case of you.”
Joni Mitchell, “A Case of You”
Luvcat
“And so a secret kiss brings madness with the bliss. And I will think of this when I’m dead in my grave.”
I think how every time I listen to that song I just take something new from each line, every single one holds so much weight and mystery and poetry
Tom Waits, “Alice”
Dewey Bunnell, America
“There must be some way out of here
Said the Joker to the Thief
There is too much confusion
I can’t get no relief”
Bob Dylan, “All Along The Watchtower”
Diana Popick, Actress
“And if you have five seconds to spare
Then I’ll tell you the story of my life:
Sixteen, clumsy and shy”
The Smiths, “Half A Person”
Amymarie Gaertner, Singer, Dancer
“Oh, mirror in the sky, what is love?
Can the child within my heart rise above?
Can I sail through the changin’ ocean tides?
Can I handle the seasons of my life?”
Fleetwood Mac, “Landslide”
Patrick Vitagliano, The Bones
“Come down off the cross, we could use the wood”
Tom Waits, “Come On Up To The House”
Stephen Pearcy, RATT
“I’m made of metal
My circuits gleam
I am perpetual
I keep the country clean
I’m elected electric spy
I’m protected electric eye”
Judas Priest, “Electric Eye”
Gina Birch
“I love you, but you’re strange.”
Bob Dylan, “Abandoned Love”
Patterson Hood, Drive-By Truckers
“My wife’s baking cookies to feed to the bridge club again / I’m almost out of cigarettes and Margie’s at the Lincoln Park Inn”
Tom T. Hal, “Margie’s at the Lincoln Park Inn)” – the best ever cheating song.
“Falling to hard luck and time and other thieves
While our limo is shining on his shanty street
Old Furry sings the blues”
Joni Mitchell, “Furry Sings the Blues”
“There should be something to fall back on
Like a knife or a career “
Maggie & Terre Roche, “Down the Dream”
ᐧSean Momberger, Producer
“Keep ya head up”
Tupac Shakur, “Keep Ya’ Head Up”
Tim Nordwind, OK Go
‘Got me a movie, ah-ha-ha-ho. Slicing up eyeballs, ah-ha-ha-ho. Girlie so groovy, I want you to know. Don’t know about you, but I am un chien andalusia.’
“I love these lyrics because of their surrealistic nature. Dali vibes for days. He, in fact, co-wrote the 1929 short French film Un Chien Andalou, which inspired these lyrics. Through dreamlike imagery they express the subconscious rather than a rational narrative. I don’t actually know what these words mean, but they provoke a feeling of chaos and control. Life to me often feels like a negotiation between reality and illogical bizarre sequences that mimic fantasies. This song puts that feeling perfectly in its crosshairs.”
Pixies, “Debaser”
Franky Perez
“Wait, they don’t love you like I love you.”
The Yeah Yeah Yeah’s “Maps”
Danny Case, From Ashes To New
“Not even stars last forever”
“We stand on the edge now. We’ve come so far. Through all the dust it becomes clear. You will always be my heart”
Avenged Sevenfold, “Acid Rain”
Joakim Brodén, Sobaton
“And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon god they made
Simon & Garfunkel, “The Sound of Silence”
Lee Jennings of The Funeral Portrait
“And in the end, we’ll fall apart
Just like the leaves changin’ colors”
My Chemical Romance, “It’s Not a Fashion Statement, It’s a Deathwish”
Chloe Trujillo
“Time was when I seemed to know,
Just like any other GI Joe
Should I cry like a baby, or die like a man
While all the planets little wars start joining hands,
Oh what a heaven–what a hell!!”
The The, “Sweet Birth Of Truth”
Lorraine Lewis of Femme Fatale
“Someday you will find me
Caught beneath the landslide
In a champagne supernova
A champagne supernova in the sky
Wake up the dawn and ask her why
A dreamer dreams she never dies”
Oasis, “Champagne Supernova”
Jon Davison, Yes
“Life is what happens to you when you’re busy making other plans,”
John Lennon, “Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)”
In the wise words of Allan Saunders which were put to music by John Lennon
Jeff Larson
“Oh, the flowers of indulgence and the weeds of yesteryear.
Like criminals, they have choked the breath of conscience and good cheer”
Bob Dylan, “Every Grain of Sand”
Dave Mustaine, Megadeth
“I keep your picture upon the wall
It hides a nasty stain that’s lying there
So don’t you ask me to give it back
I know you know it doesn’t mean that much to me”
10 CC, “I’m Not In Love”
Jonny Hawkins, NOTHING MORE:
“Every scar is a bridge to someone’s broken heart”
Thrice, “For Miles”
Amanda Lyberg, Eva Under Fire
“Lie, cheat
Don’t tell me secrets I can’t keep
Your fictions are putrid and so sweet
I’ll be so naive for you”
Badflower, “Move Me”
Monte Pittman, Ministry, Madonna
“I wanted you to know, I’ve learned to live without it
And even though it’s colder now, I no longer feel surrounded
And you never listened to me, and that’s the thing I tell the others
You were my harlequin bride, I was your undercover lover,”
Sleep Token , “Gethsemane”
Emma Swift
“And I need you more than want you
And I want you for all time
And the Wichita Lineman
Is still on the line…”
Jimmy Webb, “Wichita Lineman”
Robert DeLong
“Sometimes I wonder how I spend
The lonely night
dreaming of a song
The melody
haunts my reverie
And I am once again with you
When our love was new
And each kiss an inspiration
But, but that was long ago
Now my consolation is in the stardust of a song”
Hoagy Carmichael, “Stardust”
Kelly Vargas
“Finally taking flight, I know you don’t think it’s right/I know you think it’s fake, maybe fake’s what I like”
Tame Impala, “New Person, Same Old Mistakes”
Christiana Sudano
“I wish the world was flat like the old days
Then I could travel just by folding a map.
No more airplanes, or speed trains or freeways.
There’d be no distance that could hold us back.”
Death Cab For Cutie, “The New Year”
DREAH
“And you swear you’ll never be that man again
But who you were, it made me who I am.”
Jesse Murph, “The Man That Came Back”
Brinley Amicon, Guitarist
“And if the elevator tries to bring you down,
Go crazy, punch a higher floor”
Prince, “Let’s Go Crazy”
Anais Smith
“Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery
None but ourselves can free our minds”
Bob Marley, “Redemption Song”
Aisha Krieger
“If the sun refused to shine
I would still be loving you
If mountains crumble to the sea
There will still be you and me”
Led Zeppelin, “Thank You”
Daniel “Chakra” Krieger, Producer
“Look like nothing’s gonna change
Everything still remains the same
I can’t do what ten people tell me to do
So I guess I’ll remain the same, yes”
Otis Redding, “(Sitting On) The Dock of the Bay”
St. Panther
“I’ve been so many places in my life and time
I’ve sung a lot of songs
I’ve made some bad rhymes
I’ve acted out my life in stages
With ten thousand people watching
But we’re alone now
And I’m singing this song to you”
Leon Russell, “A Song For You”
“She’s been going ’round her business as usual
Always with that melancholy smile
But you were too busy looking into yourself
To see those tiny tears in her eyes”
Tindersticks, “Tiny Tears”