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On a recent road trip, my family and I rocked out to Meat Loaf’s “I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)”, which was written and produced by the singer’s longtime collaborator Jim Steinman. It features an incredibly horny line that has stuck in my head for so long and always filled me with such delight when hearing it, I’ve decided is one of the greatest lyrics of all time.
“Will you hose me down with holy water if I get too hot?”
I don’t feel a moment’s hesitation at taking this position either.
What about you? What are some of your favorite single lines of lyric of all time? Doesn’t matter where it/they come from.
Sep 25, 2023·edited Sep 25, 2023Liked by Cole Haddon
Oh, "The show must go on", by Queen, for one. "My soul is painted like the wings of butterflies/Fairy tales of yesterday will grow but never die/I can fly, my friends". Especially knowing Mercury knew he was about to die.
And in both versions (I mean Nine Inch Nails', with Trent Reznor voice, and the Johnny Cash cover), "Hurt". But I can't pick a specific favourite part for this one. For my tastes, probably greatest lyrics ever.
I won't argue with most of Queen's lyrics, but "THE SHOW MUST GO ON" is especially powerful I think. Though is anything in the song as brilliant as "Flash! He'll save every one of us!"? I'm just kidding. God, I love Queen. The Cash "Hurt" cover is also achingly good.
Well, I think that U2's "Achtung Baby" has some of the best lyrics Bono's has ever written and I truly love his writing. If I have to pick one from the album, I'd say "Zoo station"
"Time is a train
Makes the future the past
Leaves you standing in the station
Your face pressed up against the glass"
Back in the late 90's-early 2000s, when I wrote songs, I've always dreamed of writing something both so poetic and true...
There is a mystery in this world I have never adequately answered: why doesn't U2 resonate with me like they do for so many others? I've seen them live and I've listened to their music, trying to fall in love with it. But it always leaves me a bit indifferent. Now I feel as if the problem is I didn't pay enough attention to the lyrics. I'll start with this song, thanks!
This is indeed a brilliant lyric: "You, me, and all that stuff we're so scared of."
I've always ached when I hear these words in "THE PROMISED LAND". though I think that might be because of how he delivers them:
"The dogs on Main Street howl
'Cause they understand
If I could take one moment into my hands
Mister I ain't a boy, no, I'm a man
And I believe in a promised land"
That said, "THUNDER ROAD" is just so excruciatingly good. Every line is perfect. "It's a town full of losers/And I'm pulling out of here to win".
If you've never seen JUST FRIENDS starring Ryan Reynolds. he plays a Jersey boy and quotes that line when he leaves Jersey behind at the start of the film.
Sep 26, 2023·edited Sep 26, 2023Liked by Cole Haddon
Love it, love Thunder Road - pretty much quintessential Bruce, isn't it?! I discovered his early stuff when I was 17/18, and the songs on Born To Run were so evocative of this other, exciting, edgy (to me, a teenager growing up in a sleepy, leafy Staffordshire village in the UK!) world, but a world which one still wants to escape (relatable to any teen, no matter where you are - see also Sarfraz Manzoor/Gurinder Chadha's Blinded By The Light!)...
eg these lines from Jungleland --
"There's an opera out on the turnpike
There's a ballet being fought out in the alley"
and
"Kids flash guitars just like switchblades
Hustling for the record machine"
...I could just picture it all.
I'm a big Paul Simon fan too - so many of his lyrics read like a poem. During the writers' & SAG strike it's occured to me that the AMPTP is the "loose affiliation of millionaires and billionaires" he sings about in The Boy In The Bubble ;)
Oh, "The show must go on", by Queen, for one. "My soul is painted like the wings of butterflies/Fairy tales of yesterday will grow but never die/I can fly, my friends". Especially knowing Mercury knew he was about to die.
And in both versions (I mean Nine Inch Nails', with Trent Reznor voice, and the Johnny Cash cover), "Hurt". But I can't pick a specific favourite part for this one. For my tastes, probably greatest lyrics ever.
I won't argue with most of Queen's lyrics, but "THE SHOW MUST GO ON" is especially powerful I think. Though is anything in the song as brilliant as "Flash! He'll save every one of us!"? I'm just kidding. God, I love Queen. The Cash "Hurt" cover is also achingly good.
Well, I think that U2's "Achtung Baby" has some of the best lyrics Bono's has ever written and I truly love his writing. If I have to pick one from the album, I'd say "Zoo station"
"Time is a train
Makes the future the past
Leaves you standing in the station
Your face pressed up against the glass"
Back in the late 90's-early 2000s, when I wrote songs, I've always dreamed of writing something both so poetic and true...
There is a mystery in this world I have never adequately answered: why doesn't U2 resonate with me like they do for so many others? I've seen them live and I've listened to their music, trying to fall in love with it. But it always leaves me a bit indifferent. Now I feel as if the problem is I didn't pay enough attention to the lyrics. I'll start with this song, thanks!
Two of my all-time favourite pop lyrics are these ones, which I think distill what it's like to be in love so succintly and beautifully.
From Bruce Springsteen's Tunnel of Love:
"The lights go out and it's just the three of us
You, me and all that stuff we're so scared of"
And when it comes to purely expressing the feeling of falling in love, I absolutely adore the deceptively simple Police lyric:
"Walking back from your house
Walking on the moon"
:)
This is indeed a brilliant lyric: "You, me, and all that stuff we're so scared of."
I've always ached when I hear these words in "THE PROMISED LAND". though I think that might be because of how he delivers them:
"The dogs on Main Street howl
'Cause they understand
If I could take one moment into my hands
Mister I ain't a boy, no, I'm a man
And I believe in a promised land"
That said, "THUNDER ROAD" is just so excruciatingly good. Every line is perfect. "It's a town full of losers/And I'm pulling out of here to win".
If you've never seen JUST FRIENDS starring Ryan Reynolds. he plays a Jersey boy and quotes that line when he leaves Jersey behind at the start of the film.
Love it, love Thunder Road - pretty much quintessential Bruce, isn't it?! I discovered his early stuff when I was 17/18, and the songs on Born To Run were so evocative of this other, exciting, edgy (to me, a teenager growing up in a sleepy, leafy Staffordshire village in the UK!) world, but a world which one still wants to escape (relatable to any teen, no matter where you are - see also Sarfraz Manzoor/Gurinder Chadha's Blinded By The Light!)...
eg these lines from Jungleland --
"There's an opera out on the turnpike
There's a ballet being fought out in the alley"
and
"Kids flash guitars just like switchblades
Hustling for the record machine"
...I could just picture it all.
I'm a big Paul Simon fan too - so many of his lyrics read like a poem. During the writers' & SAG strike it's occured to me that the AMPTP is the "loose affiliation of millionaires and billionaires" he sings about in The Boy In The Bubble ;)
(And - thanks for the Just Friends tip!)
The Boss! I love his songs! My favorite one is Independence Day:
“Cause the darkness of this house has got the best of us
There’s a darkness in this town that’s got us too
But they can’t touch me now
And you can’t touch me now
They ain’t gonna do to me
What I watched them do to you”
God I love the lyrics in this song!
Oh yes! Independence Day was one of the songs that got me into Bruce. Am a huuuuge fan of his.
Quirky lyrics get me too
The futures so bright I gotta wear shades
For me it’s Don McLean songs -
And if she asks you why, you can tell her that I told you
That I'm tired of castles in the air
I've got a dream I want the world to share
And castle walls just lead me to despair