rock and roll lyrics quarantine diversions

[swiftdrivr]

Okay, so I'm a failed novelist, and I admire a good turn of a phrase. It's a writer's job to evoke a response, paint a picture, bring things into focus with well chosen words or phrases. The guys who really demonstrate this are the ones who write lyrics; they have a very compressed platform in which to accomplish their mission. Below are some of my favorites. I have limited these to two lines or less, although some are as short as two words. A couple are even about cars. There are thousands of these; Feel free to contribute your own favorite evocative lines in rock and roll.

In somewhat last-to-best order.

10.Bootleg boozer on the west side, full of people who were doing wrong
[Long cool woman in a black dress {an evocative title too!}]

9. Been riding all night, my hands wet on the wheel
[Radar Love, Golden Earring] Been there, done that

8. It's got safety tubes, but I ain't scared, The brakes are good, tires fair
[Hot Rod Lincoln; Commander Cody] I've driven worse

7. Midnight at the lost and found
[Meatloaf; title] Probably me, if my wife hadn't married me!

6. She's got friends that she ain't never used
[Greg Allman; Angeline]

5. cooling water at the fevers end
[Eagles, I wish you peace]

4. You were the first to be the last.
[Title] Says it all, in eight words.

3 .through the open windows of the darkened rooms, angry voices flash and children cry
[Bob Segar, Fire Inside]

2. She prays like a Roman with her eyes on fire.
[Josie by Steely Dan] What a mental image! Brilliant writing

1. Yellow tigers crouched in jungles in her dark eyes.
[If you haven't met her, you've wanted to!] Man I wish I'd written that line,

[TimH]

Red hair and black leather, my favourite colour scheme. [1952 Vincent Black Lightning, by Richard Thompson]

[Bardahl77]

I'm gonna hit the highway like a battering ram
On a silver-black phantom bike
When the metal is hot, and the engine is hungry
And we're all about to see the light

[DanW]

Running down the road, trying to loosen my load, I got seven women on my mind.
Four that want to stone me, two that want to own me, one says she's a friend of mine...

Standin on a corner in Winslow Arizona and such a fine sight to see, there's a girl my Lord, in a flat bed Ford, slowin' down to take a look at me...

Eagles Take it easy.

[Roland V. Johnson]

Winslow, Az has a corner dedicated to this song, complete with flatbed etc.

[swiftdrivr]

Red hair and black leather, my favourite colour scheme. [1952 Vincent Black Lightning, by Richard Thompson]

I like it. I was expecting something from the early days of Rock, but not an Irish storyteller from that far back!

[Beartrax]

I'm gonna hit the highway like a battering ram
On a silver-black phantom bike
When the metal is hot, and the engine is hungry
And we're all about to see the light

One of the first LP's I ever bought!

[Beartrax]

"Well-weathered leather
Hot metal and oil
The scented country air
Sunlight on chrome
The blur of the landscape
Every nerve aware"

Rush, Red Barchetta

[racersonly]

Living at home is such a drag.
Your Mom threw away your best porno mag.

Beastie Boys- You gotta fight for your right to paaaartay!

[tppj]

I can well recall the first time I ever put to sea
It was on the old Calcutta in 1853
I was just a lad of 14 years, a midshipman to be
To make my way in sailing ships, of the Royal Navy

By the time that I was 21, I'd sailed the world around
Weathered storms in the China Sea, with the hatches battened down
And made my way by starlight, off the coast of Newfoundland
And dined on beer and herrings while the waves blew all around

Oh the wooden ships they turned to iron
And the iron ships to steel
And shed their sails like autumn leaves
With the turning of the wheel

Now just like you, I've sailed my dreams
Like ships across the sea
And some of them they've come on rocks and faced some mutiny
And when they're sunken one by one I'll join that company-
Old admirals who feel the wind, and never put to sea

The above from "Old Admirals". He paints a pretty good word picture.

[TimH]

I like it. I was expecting something from the early days of Rock, but not an Irish storyteller from that far back!

Richard Thompson's actually English, just borrowed the Irish style for that wonderful song. He was lead guitarist for Fairport Convention before he went solo a long time ago.

Now Nortons and Indians and Greeveses won't do
They don't have a soul like a Vincent '52.

[JustDave]

“Music is the cup that holds the wine of silence. Sound is that cup, but empty. Noise is that cup, but broken.”
Robert Fripp, King Crimson

[Marty Nygard]

Actually RT also released an entirely forgettable song about the MGB GT.
On the other hand, if you want to listen to some of the best acoustic guitar picking on record, you must listen to the Vincent Black Lightning song.

[Daryl DeArman]

The trees are all kept equal by hatchet, axe, and saw. -Rush The Trees

(What happens in a forest when equal rights become equal outcomes)


There's nothing wrong with Capitalism.
There's nothing wrong with free enterprise.
You're just a middle class, socialist brat
From a suburban family and you never really had to work. -Oingo Boingo Capitalism


Society blind by color
Why hold down one to raise another
Discrimination now on both sides
Seeds of hate blossom further. -Creed One

[Bob Wright]

"...When you see the Southern Cross for the first time
You understand now why you came this way
'Cause the truth you might be runnin' from is so small
But it's as big as the promise, the promise of a coming day..."

Crosby, Stills & Nash; Southern Cross.

One of my favorites of theirs, and I wouldn't mind being lost in the southern Pacific on a sailboat about now.

[phantomjock]

...and I wouldn't mind being lost in the southern Pacific on a sailboat about now.

Except French Polynesia is banning all arrivals. When you show up in many countries now - you do not even pass thru customs - proceed direct to quarantine -- for 14 days.

Been following the cruising world closely - while trying to sell a cruising yacht in this time is sorta' "Tangled up in Blue;

...said our lives together Sure was gonna be rough

Cheers - Jim

[Daryl DeArman]

This one paints a pretty clear picture and delivers a great message at the same time!

Eight years old with a floursack cape
Tied all around his neck
He climbed up on the garage
Figurin' what the heck
He screwed his courage up so tight
The whole thing came unwound
He got a runnin' start and bless his heart
He headed for the ground

He's one of those who knows that life
Is just a leap of faith
Spread your arms and hold your breath
Always trust your cape

All grown up with a floursack cape
Tied around his dreams
He was full of spit and vinegar
He was bustin' at the seams
He licked his finger and he checked the wind
It was gonna be do or die
He wasn't scared of nothin' boys
And he was pretty sure he could fly
He's one of those who knows that life
Is just a leap of faith
Spread your arms and hold your breath
Always trust your cape

Old and grey with a floursack cape
Tied all around his head
He's still jumpin' off the garage
Will be till he's dead
All these years the people said
He's actin' like a kid
He did not know he could not fly
So he did

He's one of those who knows that life
Is just a leap of faith
Spread your arms and hold your breath
Always trust your cape


-Guy Clark "The Cape"

[Bob Wright]

aww, you popped my dream balloon.

[TimH]

Actually RT also released an entirely forgettable song about the MGB GT.

Never heard it before, and actually rather like it. "She's a runner now."

[swiftdrivr]

"...When you see the Southern Cross for the first time
You understand now why you came this way
'Cause the truth you might be runnin' from is so small
But it's as big as the promise, the promise of a coming day..."

Crosby, Stills & Nash; Southern Cross.

Love that song!

Also, Al Stewart ; Year of the Cat …..2 lines that completely do what I am talking about

You go strolling through the crowd like Peter Lorre
Contemplating a crime

She comes out of the sun in a silk dress running
Like a watercolor in the rain

And Robert Palmer; Simply Irresistible perhaps less clearly evocative, but I love the line

She's so fine, there's no telling where the money went

[Bardahl77]

I like smoke and lightning, heavy metal thunder
Racin' with the wind, the feelin' that I'm under.

Yeah, I'm still a hard rocker after all these years. Of course, you can't beat..

Jerry was a racecar driver
He drove so goddamn fast
He never did win no checkered flag
But he never did come in last

How can you not love that turn of phrase, especially when accompanied by the funkiest bass slaps ever!

[swiftdrivr]

I like smoke and lightning, heavy metal thunder
Racin' with the wind, the feelin' that I'm under.

Yeah, I'm still a hard rocker after all these years. Of course, you can't beat..

Jerry was a racecar driver
He drove so goddamn fast
He never did win no checkered flag
But he never did come in last

How can you not love that turn of phrase, especially when accompanied by the funkiest bass slaps ever!

Great song by Steppenwolf, but I don't recognize the other one. What is it?

[Bardahl77]

Great song by Steppenwolf, but I don't recognize the other one. What is it?

Not to everyone's taste, but I like weird stuff...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBQ2305fLeA

a little more conventional but a similar vein..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAQv1pxrpy4

[swiftdrivr]

Not to everyone's taste, but I like weird stuff...

Agreed, but I like the first one. So much music out there you never get exposed to.

[Mike Ahrens]

Little Feat, Dixie Chicken...

And I don't remember church bells or the money I put down
On the white picket fence and boardwalk of the house at the edge of town
But boy do I remember the strain of her refrain
The nights we spent together, and the way she called my name

[TimH]

The nights we spent together, and the way she called my name

And all the boys there at the bar began to sing along...

Great song.

[Daryl DeArman]

Little Feat, Dixie Chicken...

That song may have been on in the background when I proposed to my wife 33 years ago! Ha ha. If we only knew what they were singing about

[tlracer]

One for the Nascar fans:

"Round and round
What comes around goes around…"
(Ratt)

[sc94]

Nothin' to do, nowhere to go
I wanna be sedated

[bob darcey]

And from the other side of the music industry table,

"We're so happy we can hardly count." Pink Floyd, Have A Cigar

[Mike Ahrens]

And pretty much every line from every song on Dark Side of the Moon.

[John Nesbitt]

When the change was made uptown
And the Big Man joined the band
From the coastline to the city
All the little pretties raise their hands
I'm gonna sit back right easy and laugh
When Scooter and the Big Man bust this city in half

Needs some saxophone to fully appreciate.

[swiftdrivr]

Dixie Chicken is an old favorite of mine. It really paints a picture for you; you get the "atmosphere / ambiance" in well chosen words. "She took me to the river, where she cast her spell, and in that southern moonlight..." You can see the Spanish moss, the mist on the water. A really welll written, simple and fun song. It's as good as the line in Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress, "Bootleg boozer on the west side, full of people who were doing wrong." They don't say it, but your mind immediately conjures up images of Gin-Molls, Tommy-guns, dim lights, smoky jazz and fedoras. You know there's contraband in the store room, and a fast Auburn or Cord parked outside in the alley.

On the other end of the intensity scale, Mellissa Ethridge comes to mind.
"Tonight I feel so weak, but all in love is fair. I turn the other cheek, and feel the slap and the sting of the foul night air."

She has so many good lyrics, when she fails, it's jarring. "Wings on these fingers? Doesn't work for me, even though I love the song. [Chrome Plated Heart]. Same [worse, actually] "Reaching under the fence, as I try to make sense" [The Ruins]. She should have worked on that one a bit longer.

[pacratt]

"She was a long cool woman in a black dress."

An army paratrooper needed a way to carry a machete on a mission into a jungle area.
He had a seamstress create an internal pocket for it in his body armor.
It was a lawn tool woven in a flack vest.

*ouch*…sorry…lol

Glenn

[swiftdrivr]

"She was a long cool woman in a black dress."

An army paratrooper needed a way to carry a machete on a mission into a jungle area.
He had a seamstress create an internal pocket for it in his body armor.
It was a lawn tool woven in a flack vest.

*ouch*…sorry…lol

Glenn

Not really evocative, but funny!

[FVRacer21]

....


There's nothing wrong with Capitalism.
There's nothing wrong with free enterprise.
You're just a middle class, socialist brat
From a suburban family and you never really had to work. -Oingo Boingo Capitalism

If you are going with Oingo Boingo....a message for today:

And just when I think
That things are in their place,
The heavens are secure,
The whole thing explodes in my face!

From: Just Another Day

ChrisZ

[FVRacer21]

This thread could keep me going for months........I hope it does not come to that.

Unfortunately - most of the lyrics and poetry (are they really any different) come from the 60's through the early 80's. Not that there are not any being written today, but the bell curve peak was definitely back then.

Someone mentioned Al Stewart. One line from the Road to Moscow always hit me:

Two broken Tigers on fire in the night
Flicker their souls to the wind

ChrisZ

[swiftdrivr]

Two broken Tigers on fire in the night
Flicker their souls to the wind

ChrisZ

That is poetry. Very well written lines.

[FVRacer21]

Okay, I am going to violate what I said above, by recommending a modern song, but not by a modern band:

Nada Surf:

something i should do

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1YIf-AIH18

The video is as good as the first of MTV

Stay to the end.

ChrisZ

[swiftdrivr]

While I am generally in favor of anything that takes on the hypocrisy of the self-crowned, purposely devisive and dishonest virtue-Nazis of the twitterverse, [which is what I think they are doing], it's not exactly the nexus of evocative writing meets tight lyrics I was thinking of. At the end of the song, which is mostly a speech, I'm still not 100% sure what they are saying. {maybe it's because I'm getting old?] When Springsteen sings "With her hands on her hips, and that smile on her lips, because she knows that it kills you," [She's the one] You know he's burning for her, and she's playing him like a fool. One sentence, and it's all clear. It's the ability to paint detail and meaning using minimal words that I find impressive.