Songs that are lyrically brilliant

[HogNose]

Peter Gabriel Solsbury Hill

Climbing up on Solsbury Hill

I could see the city light

Wind was blowing, time stood still

Eagle flew out of the night

He was something to observe

Came in close, I heard a voice

Standing, stretching every nerve

I had to listen had no choice

I did not believe the information

I just had to trust imagination

My heart going boom, boom, boom

Son, he said, grab your things I've come to take you home

To keep in silence I resigned

My friends would think I was a nut

Turning water into wine

Open doors would soon be shut

So I went from day to day

Though my life was in a rut

Till I thought of what I'd say

And which connection I should cut

I was feeling part of the scenery

I walked right out of the machinery

My heart going boom, boom, boom

Son, he said, grab your things I've come to take you home

When illusion spin her net

I'm never where I want to be

And liberty she pirouette

When I think that I am free

Watched by empty silhouettes

Close their eyes but still can see

No one taught them etiquette

So I will show another me

Today I don't need a replacement

I'll tell them what the smile on my face meant

My heart going boom, boom, boom

Hey, I said, you can keep my things they've come to take me home

[Califan007 The Constipated]

Ship Of Fools - World Party

(incredible song about the direction the world is heading in and the shortsightedness of the world leaders who are causing it to go that way)

We're setting sail to the place on the map

from which no one has ever returned

Drawn by the promise of the joker and the fool

by the light of the crosses that burned

Drawn by the promise of the women and the lace

and the gold and the cotton and pearls

It's the place where they keep all the darkness you need.

You sail away from the light of the world on this trip, baby

You will pay tomorrow

You're gonna pay tomorrow

You will pay tomorrow

Save me

Save me from tomorrow

I don't want to sail with this ship of fools. No, no

Oh, save me...save me from tomorrow

I don't want to sail with this ship of fools

I want to run and hide right now

Avarice and greed are gonna drive you over the endless sea

They will leave you drifting in the shallows

or drowning in the oceans of history

Traveling the world, you're in search of no good

but I'm sure you'll build your Sodom like you knew you would

Using all the good people for your galley slaves

as you're little boat struggles through the warning waves

But you will pay

You will pay tomorrow

You're gonna pay tomorrow

You're gonna pay tomorrow

Save me

Save me from tomorrow

I don't want to sail with this ship of fools

Save me, save me from tomorrow

I don't want to sail with this ship of fools

Where's it comin' from?

Where's it goin' to now?

It's just, a It's just a ship of fools

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_BoAXopS54

[Koolblue13]

Wow A Lenny and the Squigtones reference. That absolutely rules.

[LadySkinsFan]

I Am What I Am by Oceanlab from the Sirens of the Sea collection

I know you've read

So many books

You keep abreast of all the things you think you should

You've got your own home grown philosophy

And it works for you

But please don't try to make it work for me

You have nothing to prove

But you're trying much too hard

Stop trying to change me (Stop trying to change me…)

I am what I am (I am what I am…)

No I don't need you to save me (I don't need you to save me…)

I am what I am (I am what I am…)

I don't want you to show me (I don't need you to show me…)

Because I stand where I stand (I stand where I stand…)

I just need you to know me (just need you to know me)

Just know who I am (Just know who I am…)

Just know who I am...

Just know who I am...

I know you feel

You need to prove

That you are good at something

Everything you try to do

And people hang on your every word

That you deliver

With conviction

Though they may just be absurd

Leave your armor behind

Free your vulnerable mind

Stop trying to change me (Stop trying to change me…)

I am what I am (I am what I am…)

No I don't need you to save me (I don't need you to save me…)

I am what I am (I am what I am…)

I don't want you to show me (I don't need you to show me…)

Because I stand where I stand (I stand where I stand…)

I just need you to know me (just need you to know me)

Just know who I am (Just know who I am…)

Just know who I am...

Just know who I am...

[Sticksboi05]

How Soon Is Now by The Smiths - best British band of the 80s might I add following on the heels of The Jam. (This doesn't include The Clash whose two best records came out in the late 70s).

I am the son

and the heir

Of a shyness that is criminally vulgar

I am the son and heir

Of nothing in particular

You shut your mouth

How can you say

I go about things the wrong way

I am Human and I need to be loved

Just like everybody else does

I am the son

And the heir

Of a shyness that is criminally vulgar

I am the son and heir

Of nothing in particular

You shut your mouth

How can you say

I go about things the wrong way

I am Human and I need to be loved

Just like everybody else does

There's a club, if you'd like to go

You could meet somebody who really loves you

So you go, and you stand on your own

And you leave on your own

And you go home

And you cry

And you want to die

When you say it's gonna happen now,

When exactly do you mean?

See I've already waited too long

And all my hope is gone

[abdcskins]

I could name so many. I'm gonna go with a song by Aceyalone. One of the most underrated lyricists in hip hop and a top 20 emcee ever imo. Song is called The Balance. Such a poetic song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28al2nc-Pjw

[Bliz]

Was going to say Sara, or shelter from the storm, or something like that, then realized the tougher challenge is to figure out which Dylan songs DON'T belong in this thread

[Gibbs Hog Heaven]

Imagine, to me, is one of Lennon's more overrated songs. I'd rather not say why, lest we turn this into a big political debate (which this doesn't need to be), but I'm not too fond of it.

Working Class Hero or Instant Karma, though? Genius.

'Working Class Hero' is my favorite Lennon solo work, but I personally went with 'Imagine' for the sake of this thread as the lyrics to me are simplistically brilliant and get the message over without over complicating anything.

Hail.

[Califan007 The Constipated]

I'm Driving Your Girlfriend Home - Morrissey

(I've been the "driver" in these lyrics more times than I can remember...)

I'm driving

Your girlfriend home

And she's saying

How she never chose you

"Turn left", she says

I turn left

And she says:

"So how did I end up

So deeply involved in

The very existence

I planned on avoiding?"

And I can't answer

I'm driving

Your girlfriend home

And she's laughing

To stop herself crying

"Drive on", she says

I drive on

And she says:

"So how did I end up

Attached to this person

When his sense of humour

Gets gradually worser?"

And I can't tell her

I'm parking

Outside her home

And we're shaking hands

Goodnight, so politely

[SuperBash]

Good morning, on this day we become legendary Everything we dreamed of I'm like the fly Malcolm X, buy any jeans necessary -Kanye.

[Predicto]

Yeah, I'm going to leave Bob Dylan out of this thread, because he has so many songs with brilliant lyrics and turns of phrase that you kind of think he was cheating or something.

I was always partial to the lyrics of the Kinks' song "Lola." It seemed very clever and flowed so well.

As far as simple but powerful lyrics, I can't think of anything stronger than Neil Young's "Ohio," expecially in context of how it was written.

[Sticksboi05]

I'm Driving Your Girlfriend Home - Morrissey

(I've been the "driver" in these lyrics more times than I can remember...)

Already three Morrisey/The Smiths songs.

---------- Post added May-28th-2012 at 01:06 PM ----------

The Jam - That's Entertainment

A police car and a screaming siren

Pneumatic drill and ripped up concrete

A baby wailing, a stray dog howling

The screech of brakes and lamplights blinking

That’s entertainment, that’s entertainment

A smash of glass and the rumble of boots

An electric train and a ripped up phone booth

Paint splattered walls and the cry of a tom cat

Lights going out and a kick in the balls

I say that’s entertainment, that’s entertainment

Days of speed and slow time Mondays

Pissing down with rain on a boring Wednesday

Watching the news and not eating your tea

A freezing cold flat and damp on the walls

I say that’s entertainment, that’s entertainment

Waking up at 6 a.m. on a cool warm morning

Opening the windows and breathing in petrol

An amateur band rehearse in a nearby yard

Watching the telly and thinking 'bout your holidays

That’s entertainment, that’s entertainment

Waking up from bad dreams and smoking cigarettes

Cuddling a warm girl and smelling stale perfume

A hot summers day and sticky black tarmac

Feeding ducks in the park and wishing you were far away

That’s entertainment, that’s entertainment

Two lovers kissing amongst the scream of midnight

Two lovers missing the tranquillity of solitude

Getting a cab and travelling on buses

Reading the graffiti about slashed seat affairs

I say that’s entertainment, that’s entertainment

[thebluefood]

'Working Class Hero' is my favorite Lennon solo work, but I personally went with 'Imagine' for the sake of this thread as the lyrics to me are simplistically brilliant and get the message over without over complicating anything.

Hail.

Working Class Hero just cuts right to the core. You can feel the rage and desperation burning in Lennon's mind and vocal chords.

[DCSaints_fan]

How Soon Is Now by The Smiths - best British band of the 80s might I add following on the heels of The Jam. (This doesn't include The Clash whose two best records came out in the late 70s).

I am the son

and the heir

Of a shyness that is criminally vulgar

I am the son and heir

Of nothing in particular

[snip]

I had that song from The Wedding Singer soundtrack and liked it, but never paid much attention to the lyrics

Pink Floyd had tons of great lyrics. Waters was a poet who also happened to be a musician

You raise the blade

You make the change

You rearrange me till I'm sane.

You lock the door

And throwaway the key

There's someone in my head

But its not me

[CrypticVillain]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6Q7Ay6QSeI

Today I heard what them people say
Dem want to live free greedily, with everyone to pay.
You play under the sun while others fight and dies away
but I say if you don't like it this way, then why stay? Go away....

[Riggo-toni]

And when your fingers find her

She drowns you in her body

Carving deep blue ripples

In the tissues of your mind

[Jumbo]

There's soooo many but for now I just want to echo Predicto's comments (I mean Bob Dylan, c'mon) and note previous mention of Simon & Garfunkel (numerous, but Sounds of Silence is always worth a nod), Knopfler's Romeo & Juliet, and McLachlan's Angel (go ahead and give me ****, I dare ya), Don Quixote by Gordon Lightfoot, Cohen's Suzanne, Shawn Colvin's Trouble, and of course, the incomparable In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida :pfft:. I love talented lyricists.

[DeaconTheVillain]

Bob Dylan for sure

[LadySkinsFan]

Find the Cost of Freedom by Neil Young

Find the cost of freedom, buried in the ground

Mother earth will swallow you, lay your body down

Find the cost of freedom, buried in the ground

Mother earth will swallow you, lay your body down

Goes along with O-HI-O CSNY

[elkabong82]

Bob Dylan for sure

The times they are a changin'

[Destructis]

This song brings up emotions in me like no other song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3PbMAo43-I&hd=1

Every generation

Blames the one before

And all of their frustrations

Come beating on your door

I know that I'm a prisoner

To all my father held so dear

I know that I'm a hostage

To all his hopes and fears

I just wish I could have told him

In the living years

Crumpled bits of paper

Filled with imperfect thought

Stilted conversations

I'm afraid that's all we've got

You say you just don't see it

He says it's perfect sense

You just can't get agreement

In this present tense

We all talk a different language

Talking in defence

Say it loud, say it clear

You can listen as well as you hear

It's too late when we die

To admit we don't see eye to eye

So we open up a quarrel

Between the present and the past

We only sacrifice the future

It's the bitterness that lasts

So don't yield to the fortunes

You sometimes see as fate

It may have a new perspective

On a different day

And if you don't give up,

And don't give in

You may just be OK

Say it loud, say it clear

You can listen as well as you hear

It's too late when we die

To admit we don't see eye to eye

I wasn't there that morning

When my father passed away

I didn't get to tell him

All the things I had to say.

I think I caught his spirit

Later that same year

I'm sure I heard his echo

In my baby's new born tears

I just wish I could have told him

In the living years

Say it loud, say it clear

You can listen as well as you hear

It's too late when we die

To admit we don't see eye to eye

[DC9]

The two most lyrically brilliant songs of all time are:

1) Better Dayz by Tupac (how he makes certain words and phrases rhyme/go together that have no business doing so is amazing.

Time to question our lifestyle, look how we live

Smokin weed like it ain't no thang, so even kids

wanna try now, they lie down and get ran through

Nobody watched 'em clockin the evil man do

Faced with the demons, addicted to hearin victims screamin

Guess we was evil since birth, product of cursed semens

Cause even our birthdays is cursed days

A born thug in the first place, the worst ways

I'd love to see the block in peace

With no more dealers and crooked cops, the only way to stop the beast

And only we can change

It's up to us to clean up the streets, it ain't the same

Too many murders, too many funerals and too many tears

Just seen another brother buried plus I knew him for years

Passed by his family, but what could I say?

Keep yo' head up and try to keep the faith

And pray for better days

Thinkin back as an adolescent, who would've guessed

that in my future years, I'd be stressin

Some say the ghetto's sick and corrupted

Plus my P.O. won't let me hang with the brothers I grew up with

Tryin to keep my head up and stay strong

All my homies slangin llello all day long, but they wrong

So I'm solo and so broke

Savin up for some Jordan's, cause they dope

I got a girl and I love her but she broke too, and so am I

I can't take her to the place she wanna go to

So we argue and play fight, all day and night

Makin passionate love 'til the daylight

Plus we about to get evicted, can't pay the rent

Guess it's time to see who really is yo' friend

Tell me you pregnant and I'm amazed

So many blessings while we stressin

Lookin for them better days

Now me and you was real cool, hell on them square fools

Since back in high school, we was true, me and you

Hardly parted or seperated, we stayed faded

Affiliated with gangbangers and still made it

Up in the gym, mess with me, gotta mess with him

Still dressin like grown men when rollin

I went to dark, smokin Newports, gamin marks

Got a place in my heart, homey stay smart

Locked you up in the pen, and gave you three to ten

I send you letters with naked flicks of old friends

Hopin you well, I know it's hell

Doin time in the cells, you need mail, when you in jail

And me I'm doin cool

I settled down, had a family, workin in night school

Every once in a while, I reminisce

And wonder how we ever came to this

I miss the better days

2) Welcome to the Machine by Pink Floyd (huge arguments about what this song is about in my family, but great lyrics do that for you)

Welcome my son, welcome to the machine.

Where have you been? It's alright we know where you've been.

You've been in the pipeline, filling in time,

provided with toys and Scouting for Boys.

You bought a guitar to punish your ma,

And you didn't like school, and you know you're nobody's fool,

So welcome to the machine.

Welcome my son, welcome to the machine.

What did you dream? It's alright we told you what to dream.

You dreamed of a big star, he played a mean guitar,

He always ate in the Steak Bar. He loved to drive in his Jaguar.

So welcome to the machine.

[CRobi21]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q29YR5-t3gg&feature=related

(Father)

It's not time to make a change,
Just relax, take it easy.
You're still young, that's your fault,
There's so much you have to know.
Find a girl, settle down,
If you want you can marry.
Look at me, I am old, but I'm happy.

I was once like you are now, and I know that it's not easy,
To be calm when you've found something going on.
But take your time, think a lot,
Why, think of everything you've got.
For you will still be here tomorrow, but your dreams may not.

(Son)

How can I try to explain, when I do he turns away again.
It's always been the same, same old story.
From the moment I could talk I was ordered to listen.
Now there's a way and I know that I have to go away.
I know I have to go.

(Father)

It's not time to make a change,
Just sit down, take it slowly.
You're still young, that's your fault,
There's so much you have to go through.
Find a girl, settle down,
If you want you can marry.
Look at me, I am old, but I'm happy.
Son, away away away, I know I have to
Make this decision alone, no son
All the times that I cried, keeping all the things I knew inside,
It's hard, but it's harder to ignore it.
If they were right, I'd agree, but it's them you know not me.
Now there's a way and I know that I have to go away.
I know I have to go.

---------- Post added May-28th-2012 at 07:00 PM ----------

Obviously not the original version, but still a great version.

Well I've been out walkin'
I don't do that much talkin' these days
These days
These days I seem to think a lot
About the things that I forgot to do...for you
And all the times I had the chance to

And I had a lover
And it's so hard to risk another these days
These days
Now if I seem to be afraid ... to live the life I have made in song
Well it's just that I've been losin' ... for so long

Well I'll keep on movin' ... movin' on
Things are bound to be improvin' these days
One of these days
These days I'll sit on corner stones
And count the time in quarter tones to ten ... my friend
Don't confront me with my failures
I had not forgotten them

------

A couple of my faves. There are many more.

[TK]

No love for Steel Panther?

[skinfan2k]