"Things I Once Thought Unbeleivable in My Life Have All Taken Place"

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That one was PJ Harvey. Others?

― calstars (calstars), Friday, 3 October 2003 00:08 (twenty-three years ago)

"Aisha.....I'm confused.....Aisha...I'm VIBRATING!!!"
- "Aisha" by Death in Vegas...as sung by Iggy Pop

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 3 October 2003 00:18 (twenty-three years ago)

"I don't walk, I get carried by a motorcade of voter-age women on rollerblades in cute sleeveless shirts, exposing their shoulder blades"
- MC Paul Barman

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 3 October 2003 00:20 (twenty-three years ago)

"I've been thinking for days about the means and the ways that I could hate all I touch" - Stephen Malkmus, "Transport Is Arranged"

― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Friday, 3 October 2003 00:30 (twenty-three years ago)

"It was all right"
- "Rock And Roll," The Velvet Underground

"All right" was a recurring motif in Lou/VU songs. There is something so beautifully simplistic about the phrase - or Lou's delivery of said lines... It always makes me smile. I'll take it over Poet Lou anyday.

― Kent Burt (lingereffect), Friday, 3 October 2003 00:54 (twenty-three years ago)

Kent, I totally agree. At his best, when he said it was alright, you knew everything was alright. That was the power of his music.

― calstars (calstars), Friday, 3 October 2003 01:11 (twenty-three years ago)

"I remember my friends
they were once not so dead"
-Yoko Ono

― Charlie Rose (Charlie Rose), Friday, 3 October 2003 01:17 (twenty-three years ago)

"freeze - don't move. you've been chosen as an extra in the movie adaptation of the sequel to your life."

- pavement, "shady lane"

― big baby jesus, Friday, 3 October 2003 02:10 (twenty-three years ago)

"Life finds a limit at the edge of our bodies. A stranger begins whereever I see 'em." - Silver Jews, "Like Like The The The Death"

― Famous Athlete, Friday, 3 October 2003 04:07 (twenty-three years ago)

"You'll never watch your life slide out of view, and dance and drink and screw
Because there's nothing else to do." - Pulp, "Common People"

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Friday, 3 October 2003 05:15 (twenty-three years ago)

"row house row house pass through, let the city rise up
twister, dust buster, hospital bed, I'll see you, see you
see you on the highway"
Lee Ranalod, Skip Tracer

― Fabrice (Fabfunk), Friday, 3 October 2003 07:10 (twenty-three years ago)

She said she was working for the ABC News
It was as much of the alphabet as she knew how to use

Elvis Costello ("Brilliant Mistake")

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Friday, 3 October 2003 07:49 (twenty-three years ago)

"I believed in the fates/ I thought they were great" - Frank Black

― dave q, Friday, 3 October 2003 09:34 (twenty-three years ago)

"the day is like a warm night
salt rusts the cold line"

i actually came on here to submit that pixies like before i knew someone had posted frank black just before!

― jed (jed_e_3), Friday, 3 October 2003 10:05 (twenty-three years ago)

"You're all just pissing in the wind. You don't know it, but you are. And there aint nothing like a friend who can tell you you're just pissing in the wind."
Neil Young - "Ambulance Blues"

― dave225 (Dave225), Friday, 3 October 2003 10:35 (twenty-three years ago)

Some of these lines are great, and I love that PJ Harvey line. But many are of the smart-arse aren't-I-so-clever school of song-writing, best typified by Evis Costello, which makes me cringe.

― Eloise, Friday, 3 October 2003 10:39 (twenty-three years ago)

damn i was just about to post that neil young line.

"the lines that precede it as well:
Well, I'm up in T.O. keepin' jive alive,
And out on the corner it's half past five.
But the subways are empty
And so are the cafes.

Except for the Farmer's Market
And I still can hear him say:
'You're all just pissin' in the wind
You don't know it but you are.' "

i always imagine that "him" is dylan for some reason.

― Bob Shaw (Bob Shaw), Friday, 3 October 2003 11:00 (twenty-three years ago)

"I heard some foot-steps by the front porch door,
so I grabbed my shot-gun from the floor.
Snuck around the house with a huff and a hiss,
saying "Hands up, you communist!"
It was the mailman.
He punched me out."

bob dylan - talkin john birch paranoid blues

"WE COME FROM THE LAND OF THE ICE AND SNOW
FROM THE MIDNIGHT SUN WHERE THE HOT SPRINGS BLOW!"

immigrant song obviously

"why can't i be loved as what i am
a wolf among wolves, and not as a man
among men"

bonnie prince billy - wolf among wolves (that line has reverberated round my head a lot this year)

― Bob Shaw (Bob Shaw), Friday, 3 October 2003 11:09 (twenty-three years ago)

"The wind was blowing. Especially, through her hair."

-- John Prine, "Lake Marie"

― Jazzbo (jmcgaw), Friday, 3 October 2003 11:28 (twenty-three years ago)

Do his hands in your hair
feel a lot like a thing you believe in
or a bit like a bird stealing bread
out from under your nose

- Iron and Wine 'Bird Stealing Bread'

― Chris V. (Chris V), Friday, 3 October 2003 11:33 (twenty-three years ago)

and many men behind her door have heard the bathtub run
and longed to love her and though she never waits for me
we never ask the time when we're together.

- Iron and Wine "Her Tea Leaves"

― Chris V. (Chris V), Friday, 3 October 2003 11:37 (twenty-three years ago)

I've been to the East, and I've been to the West,
But the girls I like most are the ones undressed.

Captain Sensible / "Wot??!?"

― Old Fart!!! (oldfart_sd), Friday, 3 October 2003 11:54 (twenty-three years ago)

"you're so pretty when you're unfaithful to me"

and also, of course

"i was talking to preachy-preach about kissy-kiss
he buyed me a soda, he buyed me a soda,
he buyed me a soda and he tried to molest me in the parking lot
hyup! hyup! hyup!"

― adam b (adam b), Friday, 3 October 2003 12:09 (twenty-three years ago)

too many dylan and richman (and don't even get me started on the mighty wu) but not much beats

her friends all looked down their nose;
they had a problem with his baggy clothes

from skater boi

― adam b (adam b), Friday, 3 October 2003 12:12 (twenty-three years ago)

"Jesus rides beside me, he never buys any smokes"
...and countless other Westerberg gems.

― BrianB, Friday, 3 October 2003 12:31 (twenty-three years ago)

"There's roosters laying chickens and chickens laying eggs."
-- John Prine, "Ain't Hurtin' Nobody"

― Jazzbo (jmcgaw), Friday, 3 October 2003 15:41 (twenty-three years ago)

The Velvet Underground line mentioned above is one of my favorite things evah -- "I met myself in a dream, and I just want to tell you EVERYTHING'S ALL RIGHT!"

"I write what I know and I know a lot" -- Northern State

― chris herrington (chris herrington), Friday, 3 October 2003 15:54 (twenty-three years ago)

I have to throw another MC Paul Barman line out there for fun-- "My dandy voice makes the most anti-choice grannies' panties moist."

...And any single lyric from Lifter Puller's "Fiestas + Fiascos" starting from the very beginning... "she puts those lips like a leech up to the sex on the beach" and so on...

― Ben Boyer (Ben Boyer), Friday, 3 October 2003 16:00 (twenty-three years ago)

"If Mars had life on it, I might find my wife on it" - Beach Boys

"The more that you can give it, then the more it will be" - Andrew WK

― jel -- (jel), Friday, 3 October 2003 16:04 (twenty-three years ago)

When you punish a
person for dreaming his dreams / don't expect him to thank or forgive you

― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Friday, 3 October 2003 16:05 (twenty-three years ago)

that silver jews guy can write some lyrics:

"And the drums march along at the clip / Of an IV drip / Like sparks from a muffler dragged down the strip" from People off of American Water

and another one had the chorus: "Won't soul music change / Now that our souls have turned strange"

― Matt Helgeson (Matt Helgeson), Friday, 3 October 2003 16:25 (twenty-three years ago)

how 'bout this from krazee-eyez killa:

"i'll make you my b*tch............i gotta scratch my itch...........i'll get out my gat..........i'm dope and i'm phat

― larry david, Friday, 3 October 2003 16:59 (twenty-three years ago)

Schoolly D, from "Parkside 5-2":

"A little white kid called me a n*gger/If I'd had a gun then I'd have pulled that trigger."

― Phil Freeman (Phil Freeman), Friday, 3 October 2003 17:03 (twenty-three years ago)

Watching my Japanese TV
With my 6-string buddy

― calstars (calstars), Friday, 3 October 2003 19:11 (twenty-three years ago)

"one two three four five six"
-Roadrunner by the Modern Lovers

― Charlie Rose (Charlie Rose), Friday, 3 October 2003 19:24 (twenty-three years ago)

Call it young and wild
But I ran a mile in a minute and there’s no going back

Blood On My Hands by The Sundays

― Michael G, Friday, 3 October 2003 20:26 (twenty-three years ago)

"I could wait a long, long time before I hear another love song...
Come here - I think you're beautiful." - The Sisters of Mercy, "Some Kind of Stranger"

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Friday, 3 October 2003 20:31 (twenty-three years ago)

I agree with whoever mentioned the Silver Jews. Lyrics aren't very important to me at all, but I always notice theirs.

"In 1984 I was hospitalized for approaching perfection."
- Random Rules

― Michelle, Friday, 3 October 2003 21:11 (twenty-three years ago)

yeah david berman's lyrics are fantastic throughout all the silver jews albums, especially american water. from "people":

"moments can be monuments to you if your life is interesting and true."

"the drums march along at the clip of an IV drip like sparks from a muffler dragged down the strip."

and i've always adored the last verse of built to spill - "carry the zero", especially:

"and now it's coming back, hasn't it come too far? i was trying to help but i guess i pushed too hard. and now we can't even tough it, afraid it'll fall apart."

― big baby jesus, Friday, 3 October 2003 22:58 (twenty-three years ago)

oops - touch, not tough.

― big baby jesus, Friday, 3 October 2003 23:26 (twenty-three years ago)

i know a lot of things that you don't. you wanna hear some??

joe jackson - different for girls

― ron (ron), Saturday, 4 October 2003 06:58 (twenty-three years ago)

but it's so sad to see the world agree
that they'd rather see their faces filled with flies
all when i'd want to keep white roses in their eyes

neutral milk hotel - holland 1945

― j c, Saturday, 4 October 2003 11:50 (twenty-three years ago)

I should be lying on a tropical beach somewhere
Stroking her golden brown skin
And then in a year or maybe not quite,
we'll be sharing the same next of kin.

- Whole wide world by Wreckless Eric, of course!

― Johnney B (Johnney B), Saturday, 4 October 2003 11:56 (twenty-three years ago)

"pretending not to see his gun, I said 'let's go out and have some...gay fun'"

don lennon - gay fun

― RJG (RJG), Saturday, 4 October 2003 12:07 (twenty-three years ago)

"Police,Police,Police/Please stop the Euro/From binar bin Laden/Io paramount Pan/Io Paradox Pan" -from "For To End Yet Again" by Arcturus

― scott seward, Saturday, 4 October 2003 12:39 (twenty-three years ago)

"And I'm proud to be an American/Where at least I know I'm free"

Lee Greewood (actually pulled from another thread and for Alex from NYC's benefit, really). Doesn't it just bring a red white and blue tear to your eye?

― Charlie Rose (Charlie Rose), Saturday, 4 October 2003 13:37 (twenty-three years ago)

"I don't want to start any blasphemous rumours, but I think that God's got a sick sense of humour. And when I die I expect to find him laughing".

Depeche Mode

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Saturday, 4 October 2003 16:08 (twenty-three years ago)

Most of these lines look rubbish as there is an understandable tendency to try and pick self-contained aphoristic 'smart' lines (exemplified by the Costello ABC one) over subtly perfect lyrical stuff that works with the music.

Can anyone explain the PJ Harvey line to me? Is it just saying 'Things that I once thought impossible have now happened to me' with a peculiar sentence order? If so, that's OK - I like the song and maybe the strainined syntax kind of works. I was just wondering if I'd just missed a subtler meaning to the line.

― N. (nickdastoor), Saturday, 4 October 2003 16:44 (twenty-three years ago)

"I'm proud to be an American/Where at least I know I'm free" = worst dangling modifier ever. There's no mention of America, only American--so to what does the "where" refer?

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Sunday, 5 October 2003 01:17 (twenty-three years ago)

"Lonely is as lonely does/Lonely is an eyesore
The feeling describes itself" - "Fish", Throwing Muses

― Trayce (trayce), Sunday, 5 October 2003 03:01 (twenty-three years ago)

"Doing drugs is the one thing we have in common. That can help overcome the language problem."

― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Sunday, 5 October 2003 03:44 (twenty-three years ago)

I never realized how dumb that "Proud to be an American" lyric really was.

― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Sunday, 5 October 2003 03:49 (twenty-three years ago)

"I like big butts and I cannot lie"
- s. mix-a-lot

― Hildy, Sunday, 5 October 2003 04:53 (twenty-three years ago)

'nother Pavement one:

"Lies and betrayals, fruit colored nails, electricity and lust" ("Trigger Cut")

― Trayce (trayce), Sunday, 5 October 2003 05:22 (twenty-three years ago)

"We first met through a shared view, she loved me and I did too"

Mike "Streets" Skinner

― mentalist (mentalist), Sunday, 5 October 2003 06:29 (twenty-three years ago)

"Believe me, the sun in your eyes made some of the lies worth believing" - Alan Parsons Project, "Eye In the Sky"

― sundar subramanian (sundar), Wednesday, 8 October 2003 14:34 (twenty-three years ago)

"The rain hit the roof/like the sound of a finished kiss/like a lip lifted from a lip..."

The Go-Betweens 'Wrong Road'

― NickB (NickB), Wednesday, 8 October 2003 14:46 (twenty-three years ago)

As much as Paul Barman annoys me, I did quite like this line of his:

"You make my karma puke! You who would refuse to disarm a nuke!"

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Wednesday, 8 October 2003 14:48 (twenty-three years ago)

Some more greats:

"The large print giveth and the small print taketh away." - Tom Waits
"To defy the laws of tradition is a crusade only of the brave." - Les Claypool

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Wednesday, 8 October 2003 14:52 (twenty-three years ago)

Should I call the mortician? You're a bag of bones /
You should audition for the Rolling Stones
- Carter USM "Sing Fat Lady Sing"

― Joshua Davis (josh_anomaly), Wednesday, 8 October 2003 21:21 (twenty-three years ago)

"C'mon Joe, don't make that sad song any sadder than it already is" - Daniel Johnston, "Hey Joe"

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Wednesday, 8 October 2003 22:39 (twenty-three years ago)

"Smoking and drinking on a Tuesday night" Beastie Boys

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Wednesday, 8 October 2003 23:49 (twenty-three years ago)

I wish I could eat the corn of joy and sorrow.
I wish the sky was green, and my body was bright blue.
I wish I could talk sideways and backwards.
I wish I could drive the tractor of innocence and return to the life I never knew.

King Missile

― OleM (OleM), Thursday, 9 October 2003 06:56 (twenty-three years ago)

When I draw my piece, arguments cease.

― mei (mei), Thursday, 9 October 2003 13:04 (twenty-three years ago)

"To tell the truth I am exactly what I want to be."
--Beastie Boys, "Pass the Mic"

"I poured my heart out
It evaporated"
--Ben Folds Five, "Evaporated"

― My name is Kenny (My name is Kenny), Thursday, 9 October 2003 14:58 (twenty-three years ago)

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"Things I Once Thought Unbeleivable in My Life Have All Taken Place" - Great Lines From Songs