Most Evocative Lyrics

[Frau_Blucher]

I know there have been similar "favorite" lyrics threads. But which ones are the most EVOCATIVE for you? I don't mean whole songs but rather specific lines that always have the power to evoke some thought or emotion, paints an impression in your mind, makes you reminisce, etc. This aspect of lyrics is probably one of the most powerful and fundamental aspects to my liking of music. What lines similarly impress you??

The Jam's Town Called Malice has a killer one for me: "Ghost of a steamtrain echoes down my track". I'm not sure exactly what it evokes except a strong pensive or reminising feeling, but it's a freakin great lyric.

[hexicon]

Howard Devoto, "Rainy Season." Love lost in time and space. "Stirring the blue-gray waves . . . "

Also, Franz Ferdinand, "Dark of the Matinee." I'm not really sure what it's about but I'm going with an anonymous sexual encounter.

[MARV]

"I feel so extraordinary,
something's got a hold of me,
I get this feeling I'm in motion,
a sudden sense of liberty"
- True Faith

"I drank in every bar in town,
filled my cup when I was down,
saw the things I wanted to see,
became the man I wanted to be"
- Turn My Way

"I lived my life on alcohol
I lived my life on pills
I lived my life in the valley
I lived my life on the hills"
- Thieves Like Us

"Hello everyone it's nice to be here,
Come so far to see you all.
I can see your deep blue eyes
They sleep beneath the open skies"
- Sooner Than You Think

"And they gave him away.
Let him whistle downwind.
By the look on his face,
He never gave in."
- Vanishing Point

"If we could find a home,
we could go through time together.
If we could hold our own,
devastate the night forever."
- Paradise

ALL NEW ORDER. I could go on.....seriously.....[:p]

[Panorama]

Sheryl Crow has several songs that really get to me -- Home, Redemption Day, and Safe and Sound -- an amazing song, the version she played after 9/11 still brings a tear to my eye.

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"Photography with a Vision"
http://www.cooganphoto.com

[Frau_Blucher]

Another one...if only to get Dan's freakin' Sheryl Crow reply off the bottom of the list. [B)]

The fast secondary chorus in the Plimsouls' "Now" always captures the sense of immediacy and complete sense of exuberance of hanging out in very early 80s SoCal:

"They'll never take this night away
It's yours and mine until the day
It's all right for one night.
We'll never have this chance again
So love me now and we'll pretend
It's all right for one night right now"

[tiger_mn]

"Sunshine On Me" by the Vampire Beach Babes:

Do You Remember
When We Used To kiss?
Under The Boardwalk

We would walk together
We’d be holding hand in hand

And the wind
would run
it’s fingers through your hair
We Were Alive We Were Alive

Sunshine On Me
Sunshine On Me


After posting in the old pics thread, I remember that some dark memories should stay in the darkness. [V]

[WolverineSyr]

A couple of mine have a lot to do with the delivery of the line as much as the words themselves.

The entire end of Voices Carry with the yelled "Shut Up, Oh God Can't you keep it down...etc." gets me every time. It probably has a lot to do with having experienced that situation also, but Aimee Mann's delivery has such pain and isolation to it - so incredibly heart-felt. I remember feeling the exact same way.

Lene Lovich's It's You Mein Schmerz - Near the end, she's shouting "It's You! It's You!" and then she laughs. It's that exuberance and overjoyed delivery that brings me up. I always felt like it didn't matter if the object of her affection wanted her or not - she was simply overjoyed. I remember how it feels when you're in love and all excited, bouncing around the room.

Rachel Sweet - Who Does Lisa Like - The line "People Starving in India, Fighting in Bagdad & we don't care! It's none of our business besides, we don't dare...Who does Lisa Like?!?" Takes me back to that whole shallow, insulated world of teenagers & young kids - where nothing matters except what they're feeling or experiencing right then. And it makes me remember that I felt everything in the world would eventually be ok - it wasn't anything I had a say in, or even mattered to me when I was that young.

[MARV]

Sorry to post practically half the song here Blir, but these lyrics have always RESOUNDED:

"I would tell you about the things
They put me through
The pain I’ve been subjected to
But the lord himself would blush
The countless feasts laid at my feet
Forbidden fruits for me to eat
But I think your pulse would start to rush

Now I’m not looking for absolution
Forgiveness for the things I do
But before you come to any conclusions
Try walking in my shoes
Try walking in my shoes

You’ll stumble in my footsteps
Keep the same appointments I kept
If you try walking in my shoes
If you try walking in my shoes

Morality would frown upon
Decency look down upon
The scapegoat fate’s made of me
But I promise you, my judge and jurors
My intentions couldn’t have been purer
My case is easy to see

I’m not looking for a clearer conscience
Peace of mind after what I’ve been through
And before we talk of repentance
Try walking in my shoes
Try walking in my shoes"

- Walking In My Shoes, Depeche Mode

[bpdp3]

From Bowie's Ashes to ashes - - "Time and again I tell myself, I'll stay clean tonight..."

That used to run through my head everytime I prepared for what I knew would end up being a night of drinking with my mates...

[edisonoside]

You could've done anything if you wanted at all
Your friends and family think that your lucky
But the side of you they never see is when your left alone with memories that hold your life together like glue.

This is the day - The The.

[NuWaveRx]

Blir, if you mean great lyrics, that trigger an emotional response (maybe a chill down your spine) there are a ton for me that fits the bill:

(just off the top of my head)

"So I Live, It's about all I can say/
I breathe, nearly every day/
Some say that it's better this way--That I Live"

The Fixx--I Live


"A Certain Smile, reveals the highest card/
Beyond this place the rains are falling hard"

Heaven 17--The Best Kept Secret (One of the best songs about Death ever written)

"Lies on a stranger's bed the new day breaks, like a speeding train
Or an old friend ever expected, but never knocking.."

Duran Duran--Secret Oktober

"And so I forced a smile contrary to my style
and she looked into my eyes
she said d'you want to go heaven
or would you rather not be saved?'

Lloyd Cole and the Commotions--Charlotte Street

"Sons of men who stand like gods
we give life to feed the cause
and run to ground our heathen foe
our name will never die
this time will be forever"

Big Country--Where the Rose is Sown

"New york, new york
I won't go back
Indelible reminder of the steel I lack
I gave you seven years
What did you give me back?
A jaw-grind, disposistion to a panic attack"

Soul Coughing--The Incumbent

"I Confess I ruined three lives/
did not care till I found out that one of them was mine"

The English Beat--I Confess


Wont you come by
wont you give me a try
I'm easy to reach
and I'm willing to teach you EVERYTHING you wanna know
DONT come knockin on my door
its open
just walk in like you own the place
hang your hat
put your feet UP
I got time and I know how to use it
how much time do you have?
do you know?"

Black Flag--Let your fingers do the walkin

and so on--Like Marv I could do this all day[:p]

[Ollie Stench]

2 come to mind right away:

"On a crowded beach washed by the sun
He puts his headphones on
His modern world revolves around
The synthesizer song"
-Ultravox

Seemed so appropriate as I had just gotten my first Walkman (a Toshiba, actually), and practically all I was listening to was synth music.


"Sometimes I wonder why my eyes choose not to see
I'll just be a friend if that's the only role that's free"
-Classix Nouveaux

Having used the album "La Verite" to get me through 2 very major relationship break-ups that lyric at once depresses the hell out of me and lifts me, knowing that eventually my broken heart will heal and there will be another woman for me to mull that line over in the future.

[birdmadgirl]

These lyrics physically affect me everytime I hear them.

The big hand makes all of your favorite things
Like all your dreams go small
And all your friends run away
Until your memories fall
And the words don't fit
But the way the big hand smiles
You just won't care about it
The big hand makes all of your favorite things
Like all your days run out
And your hopes disappear
And your smiles just stop
And your eyes go dead
And the shadows start to crawl
In the back of your head
--"The Big Hand," The Cure
The song's actually about heroin addiction. It means something to me, though, because I struggle with depression and my depression is my "big hand."

I think I've reached that point
Where giving up and going on
Are both the same dead end to me
Are both the same old song
--"End," The Cure
When my marriage was cracking up ...

And the way the rain comes down hard
That's how i feel inside...
--"Open," The Cure
Damn. I'm a barrel of laughs, aren't I?

... I lift my hands from touching you
to touch the wind that whispers through
this twilight garden
turns into a world
where dreams are real
no-one will ever take your place
I am lost in you
no-one will ever take your place
so in love with you...
--"This Twilight Garden," The Cure
Me being cheesy in love

i hate the way you want me to be
hate regret and humility
and you just wait for me to fall at your feet
oh i'm sick of it all
sick of it all
... the ways you try and run me down
make me pay for the things i've been
the ways you try and push me around
all you want to do is win
--"Trap," The Cure
Love gone bad

i'm always wanting more
anything i haven't got
everything i want it all
i just can't stop
planning all my days away
never find new ways to stay
never feel enough today
tomorrow must be more
more drink more dreams
more bed more drugs
more lust more lies
more hate more love
more fear more fun
more pain more flesh
more stars more smiles
more fame more sex
"Want," The Cure
--My restlessness and wanting it all

it doesn't touch me at all
--"Wendy Time," The Cure
Me, trying hard not to care

[egg-roger]

Luka - Suzanne Vega

[schwenko]

Always gives me a kick to the stomach [B)]

Somebody to Love-Darby Slick

When the truth is found to be lies
and all the joy within you dies
don't you want somebody to love
don't you need somebody to love
wouldn't you love somebody to love
you better find somebody to love

When the garden flowers baby are dead yes
and your mind [, your mind] is [so} full of red
don't you want somebody to love
don't you need somebody to love
wouldn't you love somebody to love
you better find somebody to love