Re: You Took The Words Right Out Of My Mouth

I was listening to Pere Ubu's astonishing Final Solution the other day and realized how much I always anticipate the, "Mom threw me out til I get some pants that fit, she just won't approve of my strange kind of wit" classic line in that song. Hence, it got me thinking about everyone's opinions of memorable or classic lines/lyrics in songs that might connect with them in one way or another whether it's due solely to the words themselves/how they're strung together, how the lyrics are sung/presented, how they play off the music or a combination of all of these things. These could be the kind of lyrics where you sit in total silence throughout a song only to find yourself briefly breaking that silence to help the singer out momentarily with just those one or two of your favorite lines and then simply fade back to silence as quickly as you broke it in order to let the artist finish up the song as nature intended --- on his or her own.

A list of some of the ones implanted in my mind. It's not all-encompassing as one can list hundreds or perhaps thousands of these but...

"And I know what you're thinking, you still think I am crap, but you'd better listen man because the kids know where it's at." - The Jam (In The City)

"And the material singers will fade into dust like forgotten merchants of disgust, if I don't crap out." Iggy Pop (I Won't Crap Out)

"My hands were clammy and cunning, she's been suitably stunning but I know there's not a hope in Hades." - Elvis Costello (Beyond Belief)

"She hangs out at the bargain stand, dates a lot of married men, who take her out and wonder when she'll sing that song again." - Dramarama (Scenario)

"When there was no water to water the crops, I cried and I cried...and I used my teardrops." - Gregory Isaacs (Word Of The Farmer)

"Angel looks down at him and says, ah, pretty boy, can't you show me nothing but surrender?” - Patti Smith

"Hang the blessed D.J. because the music that they constantly play, it says nothing to me about my life." - The Smiths (Panic)

"You're on your own now don't you think that it's a shame, when you're the only one responsible to take the blame." Joy Division (Novelty)

"Can't you hear me calling, I'm a thousand miles away and I don't want to stay, I'm thinking words I've got to say." New York Dolls (Lonely Planet Boy)

"Now I'm a bullet...of violent pain, I'm a cigarette...in the rain." - Alan Vega (Cry A Sea Of Tears)

"Shake your hair girl with your ponytail, takes me right back, when you were young." - Roxy Music (If There Is Something)

"From station to station, back to Dusseldorf City, meet Iggy Pop and David Bowie." Kraftwerk (Trans Europe Express)

"In New York City, I guess it's cool when it's dark, there's one sure way Johnny you can leave your mark." - Replacements (Johnny's Gonna Die)

"How can someone's bad luck last so long, until I realized that I was wrong." - Social Distortion (I Was Wrong)

"And if you give me half a chance I'd do it now, I'd do it now, right now, you fascist - I know we could all feel safe like Sharon Tate." - John Cale (Leaving It All Up To You)

"Some girls they have natural ease, they wear it any way they please...with a french flip curl." - Hedwig And The Angry Inch Soundtrack (Wig In A Box)

"In quaaludes and red wine demanding Billy Dolls and other friends of mine." David Bowie (Time)

"You can go home and sleep tonight if you can get up and walk away." - The Who (Who Are You)

"But when they shoot me up with thorizene on crystal smoke you choke like a son of a gun." - Lou Reed (Kill Your Sons)

"Baby I'm not joking and it's not what I'm smoking, I really think your nice." Dennis Brown/Ken Boothe (Silver Words)

"Ain't it fun when you tell her she's just a c*nt, ain't it fun when she splits and leaves you on the bum." - Peter Laughner (Ain't It Fun)

"It's gonna be al-riiiiight, it's gonna be al-riiiiight, it's gonna be al-riiiiight." Ramones (It's Gonna Be Alright)



Post Edited (03-21-06 13:33)

Hong Kong is up for grabs
London is full of Arabs
We could be in Palestine
Overrun by a Chinese line
with the boys from the Mersey and the Thames and the Tyne

-Elvis Costello (Oliver's Army)

---

I travelled to a mystical time zone
And I missed my bed and I soon came home
They said : "There's too much caffeine in your bloodstream
And a lack of real spice in your life"
I said : "Leave me alone because I'm alright, dad
Surprised to still be on my own."

-Smiths (A Rush and a Push and the Land is Ours!)



Post Edited (03-21-06 15:08)

For sheer wit alone :

"I've got a handful (hand full) of friends - one needs a match and one needs some ice" - The Replacements "Answering Machine"

"Take the crutch away from you, and watch you fall down. It's a shame about a girl like you, always falling down" - The Only Ones "Oh Lucinda" (Love Becomes A Habit).

I always like the specificity in Dylan lyrics, for example in "The Times They Are-A- Changin' :

"Come senators, congressmen, please heed the call
Don't stand in the doorway, don't block up the hall
For he who gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled"

There are about two dozen words or phrases he could use there, but the word "hurt" is perfect, implying violence, and making the song sound genuinely dangerous and more like a prophecy.



Post Edited (03-21-06 15:31)

"Sitting on my lap at a party
Naming things we've never done
You can hardly come up with any
I can only concentrate on one."
--"Drinking Game" by Nothing Painted Blue

"Though my name in bygone years
Is in the land, in the land,
I'll uproot it without tears
And I'll change it if I can.
So no more shall I be
Loyal to my sorrowful country..."
--"Loyal to My Sorrowful Country" by Ted Leo & the Pharmacists

"Love is like a bottle of gin but a bottle of gin is not like love."
--"Love is Like a Bottle of Gin" by The Magnetic Fields

More in the way of sheer wit:

"I'd have been Raskolnikov, but Mother Nature ripped me off" from Magazine's "Philadelphia" (and yeah, I know I referred to it in a previous thread - just shows how brilliant I think it is)

"I've got rhymes like Charles got Dickens, got the girlies in the coop like the Colonel's got the chickens" from some song on "Paul's Boutique"

"And Jesus was a sailor when he walked upon the water
and he spent a long time watching from his lonely wooden tower
and when he knew for certain only drowning men could see him
he said all men will be sailors, then, until the sea shall free them."
- Leonard Cohen, "Suzanne"

"All I ever learned from love is how to shoot at someone who outdrew you"
-Leonard Cohen, "Hallelujah"

"A heart that's full up like a landfill,
a job that slowly kills you,
with bruises that won't heal."
- Radiohead, "No Surprises"

"Girls grow tops to go topless in
while we sit and count the hairs that blossom from our chins
Our voices change at a rapid pace
I could start a song as tenor and then end as bass."
- Sparks, "Amateur Hour"

"On a Ferris Wheel, looking out on Coney Island
Under more stars than there are prostitutes in Thailand
our hands in the air, our lips blue from cotton candy
When we kiss it feels like a flying saucer landing."
- The Magnetic Fields, "Strange Powers"

"Your eyes are the Mesa Verde, big and brown and far away
Your eyes are Kansas City, in Kansas and in Misery."
- The Magnetic Fields, "Long Vermont Roads"

"And in time, I could only believe in one thing
the sky was just phosphourus stars hung on strings
and you swore that they'd always be mine
when you can pull them down anytime"
- Til Tuesday, "The Other End of the Telescope"

"My name's Ken and I like men
but the people at Mattel, the home that I call hell,
are somewhat bothered by my queer proclivities
it's safe to say they're really pissed at me.
They always stick me with Barbie
but I want them to know I prefer GI Joe
but any able-bodied man would surely do
for someone to love since i am not set up to screw"
- The Negro Problem, "Ken"

"And there's hope that I've taken
And there's drugs to make it painless.
And men, we're quick as rainbows.
Always rare to keep her thirsty
And I've gone like she'd always known."
- Kitchens of Distinction. "Quick as Rainbows"



Post Edited (03-22-06 14:04)

"You smoke the day's last cigarette, remembering what you said."
-Bob Seger, "Turn the Page"

I kid! I kid!

For real though, I'd cite a parcel of lyrics from Townes Van Zandt, Morrissey or Steve Earle.

...she was a black haired beauty with big dark eyes, points all her own, sittin firm and high, yeah, way up firm and high...

I rearranged the plastic letters on the fridge to read; Bob Seger must die. My Girlfriend put a "t" at the end.

"Everytime she slit her wrist
I wish she'd hit instead of miss.
Every secret family crime,
All my love a waist of time."
All - Scary Sad

"There's a little bit of springtime in the back of my mind
Remembers things, perhaps as they should have been.
Rather than the lies. Rather that the cruelty,
That sometimes we were guilty of."
Leatherface - Springtime

"Take out the garbage, but the dishes don't get done"
Husker Du - I Apologize

That line always cracks me up

And the best of all -

"I was thinking that
maybe I'd get a maid
Find a place nearby
for her to stay.
Just someone
to keep my house clean,
Fix my meals and go away."

"Destroy your safe and happy lives/ Before it is too late" -- Memphis, Egypt -- The Mekons

"If it wasn't for some acci -- accidents, then some would never, ever learn" -- Chemistry Class -- Elvis Costello (best intentional stutter in a song?)

"When I woke up, mom and dad were rolling on the couch/ Rolling numbers, rockin' rollin', got my Kiss records out" -- Surrender -- Cheap Trick

"The ones who love us best, are the ones we'll lay to rest/ Visit their graves on holidays, at best/ The ones who love us least, are the ones we'll die to please/ If it's any consolation, I don't begin to understand them" -- Bastards of Young -- The Replacements (you can get this song as a ringtone, I s**t you not)

"Wish I was somewhere/ Over You" -- Over You -- Roxy Music

"But when I trimmed it real small/ My Jewish friends would never call" -- Moustache -- Sparks

I have a lot of things to say
and you'd be wise to listen good
I think that hunger war and death
are bringing everybody down – Clem Snide

I see her nearly everyday
Just a girl but she's okay
I figure if she's heaven sent
new disclosures should be imminent;
real strain could be evident;
metaphysics would be provident;
I'd sure to be obedient
I'd love to be penitent – Pere Ubu

Under the door there's an eye on the place
He watches for the shadows race
Watch real close
Look real fast
He's in touch
It'll never last
Cuz our poor boy
believes in chance
he'll never get the modern dance – Pere Ubu

With a bottle of aspirin
A sack full of jokes
I wish I could go home
With all the big folks
And I wish life could be
Swedish magazines
I wish life could be
Swedish magazines
I wish life could be
Anything - Iggy

I just don't know what to do tonight,
My head is aching as I drink and breathe
Memory falls like cream in my bones, moving on my own – Patti Smith

baby, baby, baby, bah-bah, b-b-baby
baby, baby, baby, bah-bah, b-b-baby

baby, baby, baby, bah-bah, b-b-baby
baby, baby, baby, bah-bah, b-b-baby

hey baby
hey girl
hey baby-girl

baby, baby, baby, bah-bah, b-b-baby
baby, baby, baby, bah-bah, b-b-baby

- jack & the beanstalk



baby baby baby baby baby baby baby i love you
baby baby baby baby baby baby baby i love you
when you see me on the street
maybe you will love me too
when you see me on the street
maybe you will love me too

one! two! three! four!

baby baby baby baby baby baby baby i love you
baby baby baby baby baby baby baby i love you
etc etc

- sweet baby jesus

"yeah yeah yeah
don't go in there
no no no!"
- Gilligan, blocking the entrance to the hut of feathers

2nd verse:
"there's nothin in there
yeah yeah yeah"

Hangin' out in 100 B
Watching Get Smart on TV
Thinking' about
You and me and you and me - Ramones

I'm not livin' in the real world no more... - Blondie

Take the guitar player for a ride... - Peter Laughner

I live for cars and girls... - Dictators

La la la la la la la la... - Iggy Pop

Is there life on mars? - Bowie

Oh no love you're not alone... - Bowie

I can't think of the name of Elvis Costello song this is from, but I do remember it was from the Punch the Clock album:

I wish you luck with a capital F

"God said to Abraham, "Kill me a son" / Abe said, "Man, you must be puttin' me on." - B. Dylan

"Bob! Dylan! Wrote propaganda songs!" - Minutemen

"Our band could be your life / Real names will be the proof." - Minutemen, "History Lesson, Pt. II"

"Yeah? Well I hear he's bad /Mmmm, he's good bad, but he's not evil" - Shangri-Las "Give Him a Great Big Kiss"

"Bama lama, bama loo" - Little Richard

Allow me to administer the beat down by delivering, as Rob Sheffield might say, "the best ever lyrics in rock and roll, ever:"

Don't need no politician tell me things I shouldn't be
Neither no optician tell me what I oughtta see
No one tells you nothing even when you know they know
But they tell you what you should do, they don't like to see you grow

Eddie & The Hot Rods, "Do Anything You Wanna Do"

I don't know how to quote the words to The Who's "Dogs, Part Two" but I always sing along.

"I don't know how to spell VW, but I drive a Porsche"-'Cause I'm A Blonde by Julie Brown

hey theres a party at julie browns!
wheres my whoopie cushion?

The first verse of The Neurotics 'Fighting Times'

And

"You're my only friend, and you don't even like me" - 'My Pal' by God.

In no particular order ...

Iggy's lyrics are surprisingly great ...

I'm a streetwalkin' cheetah with a heart full of napalm.
--Iggy, "Search and Destroy"

It's not the side effects of the cocaine
I'm thinking that it must be love
--David Bowie, "Station to Station"

When you think the night has seen your mind
That inside you're twisted and unkind
Let me stand to show that you are blind
Please put down your hands
'Cause I see you
--Lou Reed, "I'll Be Your Mirror"

Don't you know I'm an animal?
But don't you know I can't stand up steady?
But you can't show me any kind of hell
That I don't know already.
--Elvis Costello, 'Hand in Hand"

Gimme danger little stranger
And I'll feel your disease
There's nothing in my dreams
Just some ugly memories
Kiss me like the ocean breeze
--Iggy Pop, "Gimme Danger"

But you can't switch off my lovin'
Like you can't switch off the sun.
--Peter Townshend, "So Sad About Us"

The scene is fascination, man, and everything's for free
Until you wind up in some bathroom overdosed and on your knees
--Iggy Pop, "Kill City"
[Can someone find a way to use THIS song in a TV commercial like they did with "Lust for Life"?]

I don't have my finger on the pulse of my generation
I just got my hand on my heart, can't think of a better location
--Justin Currie (Del Amitri), "Not Where It's At"

Life’s an illusion, love is a dream
But I don’t know what it is...
--Peter Shelley, "Everybody's Happy Nowadays"

This is the age of machinery,
A mechanical nightmare,
The wonderful world of technology,
Napalm hydrogen bombs biological warfare,

This is the twentieth century,
But too much aggravation
It’s the age of insanity,
What has become of the green pleasant fields of jerusalem.

Ain’t got no ambition, I’m just disillusioned
I’m a twentieth century man but I don’t wanna be here.
My mama said she can’t understand me
She can’t see my motivation
Just give me some security,
I’m a paranoid schizoid product of the twentieth century.

You keep all your smart modern writers
Give me william shakespeare
You keep all your smart modern painters
I’ll take rembrandt, titian, da vinci and gainsborough,

Girl we gotta get out of here
We gotta find a solution
I’m a twentieth century man but I don’t want to die here.

I was born in a welfare state
Ruled by bureaucracy
Controlled by civil servants
And people dressed in grey
Got no privacy got no liberty
Cos the twentieth century people
Took it all away from me.

Don’t wanna get myself shot down
By some trigger happy policeman,
Gotta keep a hold on my sanity
I’m a twentieth century man but I don’t wanna die here.

My mama says she can’t understand me
She can’t see my motivation
Ain’t got no security,
I’m a twentieth century man but I don’t wanna be here.

This is the twentieth century
But too much aggravation
This is the edge of insanity
I’m a twentieth century man but I don’t wanna be here.

Great previous post (20th Century Man by Ray Davies)

Here's one that popped into my mind from Bobby "Blue" Bland

I don't like work and work don't like me, we agree to stay apart, that's the way it gotta be ("Ain't Doing Too Bad Pt. 1")

seconded on "I'm a street walkin' cheetah" by the Stooges

"We knocked 'em dead in Dallas.. and I didn't pay my dues/yeah we knocked 'em dead in Dallas.. they didn't know we were Jews"--Dictators, "Next Big Thing."

"then I pulled out my razor blade.. and I did what god forbade. Now the cops are after me, but I'll prove I'm no sissy"--Ramones, "53rd and 3rd"

"Pushing all the limits to a point of no return.. trashed beyond belief to show those kids don't wanna learn."--Adolescents, "Kids Of The Black Hole."

"John Wayne was a nazi.. he loved to play SS. He had a picture of Adolf, the boy, stuck in his cowboy vest. Well he would string up your mama and then he'd torture your pop. Then he'd march you up to the wall and he'd hang you by your left ball."--MDC, "John Wayne Was A Nazi"

"They nailed you to a cross.. but you're still a f**n' pain.. dead 2000 years, still can't get it through your brain. You're just a worthless corpse. You're just a pile of s**t. Give me a couple of nails and I'll ventilate your pits... Jesus entering from the rear... f***g you in the Asssssssssss"--Feederz, "Jesus Entering From the Rear"

"I wanna take the president, chop off his head and mail it to them in a garbage bag... Hinckley had a vision!!""--Crucifucks, "Hinckley Had A Vision."

"We are not jesus christ, we are not fascist pigs... we are not capitalists..we are not communist.. we are the one."--Avengers, "We Are The One."

"'cause not everybody wants to look the same
And not everybody wants to think the same
And not everybody wants to act the same
And I say everybody don't wanna to be the same"--Saints "Private Affair."

"I don't need anyone, don't need no mom and dad. Don't need no pretty face, don't need no human race.."-Dead Boys, "Sonic Reducer"

.. and this one is terrible but it makes me laugh.. sorry...

"I want me a sleazy slut.. who can give a tongue bath to my butt"--Mentors, "My Erection Is Over."

Do you think you could spell 'garbage bag' the way D.C. Dart really sings it?

garrrrrbage baaaaaaaaaaagggggggg...

one of the greatest vocal moments ever.

Oh, Oh, oh. Oh, oh. Oh, yeah.
You have so many relationships in this life,
Only one or two will last.
You go through all the pain and strife,
Then you're turnin' your back and they're gone so fast.

Oh yeah. And they're gone so fast, yeah.

Oh, so hold on to the ones that really care,
In the end they'll be the only ones there.
When you get old and start losing your hair,
Can you tell me who will still care?
Can you tell me who will still care? Oh care.

Chorus:

MMMBop...bidi dapa doo wop
Doo bi dapa doo bop
Bidi dapa doo, yeah, yeah
MMMBop...bidi dapa doo wop
Doo bi dapa doo bop
Bidi dapa doo, yeah, yeah

Said oh yeah, in an MMMBop they're gone. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Plant a seed, plant a flower,plant a rose
You can plant any one of those
Keep planting to find out which one grows.
It's a secret no one knows.
It's a secret no one knows.
Oh, knows, no one knows.

(Chorus...)

In an MMMBop they're gone
In an MMMBop they're not there
In an MMMBop they're gone
In an MMMBop they're not there
Until you lose your hair
ohh, but you don't care, oh yeah.

(Chorus...)

Can you tell me?
Ohh, no you can't 'cause you don't know.
Can you tell me?
Oh yeah, you say you can but you don't know.
Can you tell me? (Which flower's gonna grow)
Ohh, no you can't 'cause you don't know.
Can you tell me? (Is it gonna be a daisy or a rose?)
You say you can but you don't know.
Can you tell me? (Which flower's gonna grow)
Ohh, no you can't 'cause you don't know.
Can you tell me?
You say you can but you don't know.
Say you can but you know.
You don't know ohh.
Don't know ohhh.

MMMBop.......Doo wop........Doo bop.......Doo.......yeah, yeah
MMMBop..woah, yeah, yeah...Doo wop......Doo bop........Doo........woah, yeah

(Chorus...)(2x)

Can you tell me?
Ohh, no you can't 'cause you don't know.
Can you tell me?
Oh yeah, you say you can but you don't know.
Say you can but you don't know..........No.




I think it's a touching song.

Meatwad make the money, see.
Meatwad get the honeys, G.
Drivin in my car, livin' like a star.
Ice on my fingers and my toes and I'm a Taurus.

Where's the Lysol Mrs. Davis?
Here we are now, in containers
I feel stupid and contagious.
Here we are now in containers.

I was humming Baggy Trousers this morning and just recalled the lyric "teacher comes to break it up, back of the head with a plastic cup"

It bears repeating (or at least it's going to be repeated) that Elvis Costello's songs are a treasure trove of unforgettable lyrics. My personal favorite:

I said "I'm so happy I could die"
She said "Drop dead" then left with another guy

Cow cow hoo-oo
Cow cow wanna dib-a-doo
Chick'n hon-a-chick-a-chick hole-a-hubba
Hell fried chuck-a-lucka wanna jubba
Hi-low 'n-ay wanna dubba hubba
Day down sum wanna jigga-wah
Dell rown ay wanna lubba hubba
Mull an a mound chicka lubba hubba
Fay down ah wanna dip-a-zip-a-dip-a

you got me, MD - what's that?

rubber biscuit!

the neats _ "i found out there's no such thing as wasting time. you wouldn't know it, it's hard to know."