Author Topic: Great single lines from lyrics  (Read 24213 times)

Great single lines from lyrics
« on: 14 May, 2014, 02:01:53 pm »
Today's favourite:

Rock and Roll means well, but it can't help tellin' young boys lies

You can always bet on the Drive by Truckers to come up with a good one.

I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that.

Steph

  • Fast. Fast and bulbous. But fluffy.
Re: Great single lines from lyrics
« Reply #1 on: 14 May, 2014, 05:24:36 pm »
I know this one from the singing of Mabsant with the late Siwsann George.

"Ac yn Nhrawsfynydd, ar lan y llyn, yr oen yn araf marw"

(And in Trawsfynydd, by the lake, the sheep slowly die)
Mae angen arnaf i byw, a fe fydda'i

Re: Great single lines from lyrics
« Reply #2 on: 14 May, 2014, 11:43:14 pm »
I'm not a great Oasis fan, but I do like their line (I think this is it) : -

'Cos the brains you said I had went to my head.

Edit:  Just checked, it's : -

Cos you said the brains I had went to my head
Rust never sleeps

Re: Great single lines from lyrics
« Reply #3 on: 14 May, 2014, 11:53:53 pm »
I keep meaning to listen to the Drive by Truckers. Someone I like (can't remember who mind) name checked them onstage.

The one that comes to mind is:

"Your mouth has a more complicated history than the American South".

The Mountain Goats.

Re: Great single lines from lyrics
« Reply #4 on: 15 May, 2014, 12:01:36 am »
"The pump don't work cos the vandals took the handle."

PaulF

  • "World's Scariest Barman"
  • It's only impossible if you stop to think about it
Re: Great single lines from lyrics
« Reply #5 on: 15 May, 2014, 06:42:45 am »
"It's the side effects that save us"

And

"The followers of chaos, out of control"

gibbo

  • Riding for fun, cake and beer.
    • Boxford Bike Club
Re: Great single lines from lyrics
« Reply #6 on: 15 May, 2014, 07:32:26 am »
They let you think you're king but you're really a pawn - The Jam, When You're Young.

Jaded

  • The Codfather
  • Formerly known as Jaded
Re: Great single lines from lyrics
« Reply #7 on: 15 May, 2014, 07:59:09 am »
Smash the system with the song!
It is simpler than it looks.

Steph

  • Fast. Fast and bulbous. But fluffy.
Re: Great single lines from lyrics
« Reply #8 on: 15 May, 2014, 08:29:06 am »
There will be bleeding from orifices! Do not panic.
Mae angen arnaf i byw, a fe fydda'i

Juan Martín

  • Consigo mi abrigo
Re: Great single lines from lyrics
« Reply #9 on: 15 May, 2014, 08:36:36 am »
Think only of yourself.

Vince

  • Can't climb; won't climb
Re: Great single lines from lyrics
« Reply #10 on: 15 May, 2014, 11:07:56 am »
Your missus is a nutter, She's got curly teeth and walks with a stutter
216km from Marsh Gibbon

Eccentrica Gallumbits

  • Rock 'n' roll and brew, rock 'n' roll and brew...
Re: Great single lines from lyrics
« Reply #11 on: 15 May, 2014, 01:22:39 pm »
There is nothing better in life than writing on the sole of your slipper with a biro.
My feminist marxist dialectic brings all the boys to the yard.


tiermat

  • According to Jane, I'm a Unisex SpaceAdmin
Re: Great single lines from lyrics
« Reply #12 on: 15 May, 2014, 02:22:35 pm »
"The pump don't work cos the vandals took the handle."

Sounds like it may the genesis of, or inspired by:

"Heads you win, 'cos the dog chewed the handle"

Others I like are:

"I came as a rat, came as a whore"

"I seem to recognise your face, haunting familarity, I can't seem to place"

"If all the people in the world were in your back garden, would you call the police, or grab a plate and join them?"

And, of course, my sig line.

Out of them, 3 are Terrorvision, one Pearl Jam and one Modest Mouse, all good for one liner lyrics.
I feel like Captain Kirk, on a brand new planet every day, a little like King Kong on top of the Empire State

rogerzilla

  • When n+1 gets out of hand
Re: Great single lines from lyrics
« Reply #13 on: 16 May, 2014, 10:41:39 pm »
The Smiths (well, Morrissey wrote the lyrics) were masters at this.

"There's more to life than books you know, but not much more"

"She said, 'I know you and you cannot sing'.  I said, 'That's nothing; you should hear me play piano'"

"And if you ever need self-validation, just meet me in the alley by the railway station"

"Two lumps please, you're the bee's knees - but so am I"

but the ultimate is from Happy Mondays.

"I might be the honky, but I'm hung like a donkey"  ;D

Shaun Ryder was, of course, the "poet" in the infamous 24 Hour Party People poster; Ian Curtis being the "genius" and Tony Wilson being the "twat".

Hard work sometimes pays off in the end, but laziness ALWAYS pays off NOW.

Re: Great single lines from lyrics
« Reply #14 on: 16 May, 2014, 11:05:11 pm »
From Jacques Brel's "Au Suivant":

"Je jure sur la tête de ma première vérole"  ("I swear on the head of my first pox").

Scott Walker and Alex Harvey cranked it up a notch with "I swear on the wet head of my first case of gonorrhea"
"He who fights monsters should see to it that he himself does not become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." ~ Freidrich Neitzsche

Re: Great single lines from lyrics
« Reply #15 on: 16 May, 2014, 11:06:05 pm »
"The pump don't work cos the vandals took the handle."

Sounds like it may the genesis of, or inspired by:

"Heads you win, 'cos the dog chewed the handle"



Here you are.

Re: Great single lines from lyrics
« Reply #16 on: 17 May, 2014, 02:16:35 pm »
It was the third of June, another sleepy, dusty, delta day



rogerzilla

  • When n+1 gets out of hand
Re: Great single lines from lyrics
« Reply #17 on: 17 May, 2014, 10:43:26 pm »
The Doors, of course...Jim Morrison's drug-fuelled poetry.  Most of "The WASP" could be great single-line quotes, but the best is

"Out here we is stoned - immaculate"

Jars a little these days because the bad grammar is supposed to be from "the negroes in the forest, brightly feathered".  Compare Tom and Jerry cartoons and "Where am dat cat?".
Hard work sometimes pays off in the end, but laziness ALWAYS pays off NOW.

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: Great single lines from lyrics
« Reply #18 on: 18 May, 2014, 08:24:54 am »
"I used to want to plant bombs at the Last Night of the Proms" - Brickbat, Billy Bragg.

"I get the news I need from the weather report" - Only Living Boy In New York, Simon & Garfunkel
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: Great single lines from lyrics
« Reply #19 on: 18 May, 2014, 08:28:02 am »

From Jacques Brel's "Au Suivant":

"Je jure sur la tête de ma première vérole"  ("I swear on the head of my first pox").

That is a great line. Brel is full of them. One of my favourites is from Les Vieux:

"Le muscat de dimanche ne les fait plus chanter"
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

Woofage

  • Tofu-eating Wokerati
  • Ain't no hooves on my bike.
Re: Great single lines from lyrics
« Reply #20 on: 19 May, 2014, 11:43:24 am »
"I have words that do not come from children's books"
- from Everything I've Got Belongs To You by Rodgers & Hart
Pen Pusher

clarion

  • Tyke
Re: Great single lines from lyrics
« Reply #21 on: 19 May, 2014, 02:16:38 pm »
"Je crache a la gueule de tout ce systeme" - Trust.
Getting there...

Re: Great single lines from lyrics
« Reply #22 on: 20 May, 2014, 11:36:40 am »
More conventional but tells a story in a single line

"She had a good-looking momma, who never was around"

Mary Jane's last dance, by Tom Petty.
<i>Marmite slave</i>

Steph

  • Fast. Fast and bulbous. But fluffy.
Re: Great single lines from lyrics
« Reply #23 on: 20 May, 2014, 01:32:32 pm »
Think only of yourself.
;D
If you are making love, it is imperative to bring all bodies to orgasm simultaneously.
Mae angen arnaf i byw, a fe fydda'i

Woofage

  • Tofu-eating Wokerati
  • Ain't no hooves on my bike.
Re: Great single lines from lyrics
« Reply #24 on: 20 May, 2014, 03:04:29 pm »
Think only of yourself.
;D
If you are making love, it is imperative to bring all bodies to orgasm simultaneously.

Use your wheels. It is what they are for.
Pen Pusher