Song Lyrics I Love

There was an internet meme – that I believe also became a t-shirt (or maybe vice versa) – that said “My brain is 80% song lyrics.”  I don’t know about you all, but that is certainly true for me.  It’s kind of bizarre, because I can go years without hearing a song, but then when it comes on, I can jump in a sing the lyrics like I just listened to it five minutes ago.

Longtime readers of this blog know that I love music.  I’ve had previous blog posts about my favorite albums of all time, my favorite Beatles songs, etc.  Now, I’d like to share some of my favorite song lyrics of all time.  These may not necessarily come from my favorite artists or songs; they may just be a phrase or a line of a song that has always stuck with me for whatever reason.

Here we go!

Artist:   Edwin McCain

Song: “Sorry to a Friend”
Lyric: “We had wonderful times but terrible timing”
Why I Love It: This entire song is one of my favorites, but it’s this line that always gets to me.  It’s incredibly sad and poignant and, as will soon become obvious, I have a soft spot for sad and poignant lyrics.  For those unfamiliar with the song, it is a story of two friends who drifted away over time only to run into each other again.  You get the impression that they may have been in love at some point in the past but had never actually been together due to other circumstances, hence the line in question.  I think many of us can relate to similar situations from our lives and to hear someone put that sentiment to music….well, it gives me chills sometimes.

Artist:   Howard Jones

Song: “No One is to Blame"
Lyric: “Aspirations in the clouds but your hopes go down the drain”
Why I Love It: This song is one of my favorites from the 1980s.  In a sense, there are some similarities in theme to the above song, in that it’s about people kept apart for whatever reason.  The lyrics for the entire song are terrific, but this line is my favorite.  Who can’t relate to a day or a week or a month where you are a shooting for the moon (or reaching for the stars, or whatever other cliché you want to pick) only to get shot down?  Maybe it was being rejected by someone you love.  Maybe it was not getting that job that you really wanted.  Maybe it was a project at work that you had high hopes for but that wound up being a disaster.  Regardless, I think everyone can relate to the emotion contained in that simple line.

Artist:   Soundgarden

Song:     “Outshined”
Lyric:     “I’m looking California and feeling Minnesota”
Why I Love It: I think we have all experienced what Chris Cornell is talking about in that line.  We’ve all had days where we look good outside but we’re a mess inside.  Someone gives you a compliment and you appreciate it, but you also don’t feel worthy of the praise you’re receiving due to other things with which you are dealing.  You dress up and put on a brave face, but inside all you really want to do is stay in bed and hide under the covers.

Artist:   Trisha Yearwood (written by Hugh Prestwood)

Song:     “The Song Remembers When”
Lyric:     “Still I guess some things we bury/Are just bound to rise again/For even if the whole world has forgotten/The song remembers when”
Why I Love It:  Music can be a very powerful thing.  Some songs can trigger memories and instantly transport you back to a particular place in time and that’s the theme of this song.  It could be 20 or 30 years later, but every time you hear that song, you immediately associate it with a person or a place or a particular time in your life.  Even if you had previously completely forgotten about that person or event, the music can trigger it.  It happens to me a lot and it’s one of the reasons why I love that song and that lyric.

Artist:   Better Than Ezra

Song:     “Cry in the Sun”
Lyric:     “For everyone/there’s a person, place or time/That brings you back and makes you feel alive/Before your reason clouds your eyes/You could rule the world if you wanted to”
Why I Love It:  I love to reminisce and think about how life was when I was younger.  Similar to the previous song, this lyric talks about that.  For everyone, there is a person or a place or a song that takes you back to when you were about 20 years old and were seemingly invincible – when the world was your oyster and there was no limit to what you could accomplish.  Perhaps it’s when you go back to visit where you went to college or perhaps it’s whenever you get together with old friends.  Whatever it is, I believe that this is another universal sentiment to which everyone can relate.

Artist:   Turnpike Troubadours

Song:     “7 & 7”
Lyric:     “Ain’t strange how well I knew you back when I was 17/Lovin’ you was easy, babe, but I was just a child/These days you ain’t nothing, just an interstate daydream/Folks were sleeping while we were running wild”
Why I Love It:  Yeah, I know, another sad, poignant lyric in which the singer is reminiscing of a relationship from long ago.  This is from my favorite song by the group that is currently my favorite.  The whole song is looking back to when the singer was younger and, later on, he encounters an old flame in the supermarket aisle and deals with that awkwardness.  But I think it’s the bit about the “interstate daydream” bit that really gets me.  Who hasn’t driven down the interstate at 75 miles per hour while your mind drifts off to some time or place when you were younger and your life was much simpler?

Artist:   Sarah McLachlan

Song:     “I Will Not Forget You”
Lyric:     “So I ran like the wind to the water, please don’t leave me again I cried/And I threw bitter tears at the ocean, but all that came back was the tide”
Why I Love It:  As I said, I have a soft spot for sad, poignant lyrics.  This one, to me, is very evocative.  I can totally picture her on the beach, crying and praying for the return of her loved one.  This is not one of McLachlan’s better known songs (it’s from her second record, before songs like “Possession” made her a big star), but this is still my favorite lyric of hers.

Artist:   Gin Blossoms

Song:     “Hold Me Down”
Lyric:     “When you’re in the company of strangers or just the strangers you call friends”
Why I Love It: This lyric comes from my favorite record of all time, though interestingly, it’s not one of my favorite songs on the record.  The late Doug Hopkins, the Gin Blossoms’ primary songwriter early on, had a knack for pairing depressing lyrics with upbeat, jangly pop-rock music.  This line is an example of that: a simple, seemingly throwaway line buried in the middle of the first verse.  However, when you think about it, it’s very profound, very dark and very true.  How well does anyone really know us?  Even our best friends and our spouses don’t necessarily know what we’re thinking or what internal struggles we may be going through.  To some extent, our friends are still just strangers that we know better than others, so this lyric resonates with me from that standpoint.

Artist:   Creedence Clearwater Revival

Song:     “Lodi”
Lyric:     “If I only had a dollar/For every song I’ve sung/Every time I had to play/While people sat there drunk/You know I’d catch the next train/Back to where I live”
Why I Love It: Popular music is littered with songs about life on the road.  Rock music, blues, country – virtually every genre of music – has songs about touring or playing in clubs, bars and honky tonks.  Of all of those songs, this one is probably my favorite and this lyric is a big reason why.  Again, it paints a visual image – you can picture a band on stage singing to a half-empty bar populated by people drinking and smoking.  If I were ever in a band playing a show, I would definitely cover this song.

Artist:   Keith Whitley/Alison Krauss (written by Paul Overstreet and Don Schlitz)

Song:     “When You Say Nothing At All”
Lyric:     “Old Mister Webster could never define/What’s being said between your heart and mine”
Why I Love It:    This is a song that was a hit on the country charts two different times: for Keith Whitley in 1988 and for Alison Krauss in 1995.  I love both versions, both for the vocal performances (which couldn’t be more different – Whitley’s deep baritone vs. Krauss’s angelic soprano) and for the lyrics.  I like it so much that it’s the song my wife and I danced to at our wedding reception.  While the lyric I’ve selected above may sound corny, it’s perfect for someone who is deeply in love with someone, especially in the early stages of the relationship.  When the other person’s smile makes you weak in the knees, when you know that you have a special connection with that person.  It’s difficult to put into words and that’s what these lyrics convey.  Also, after listing a bunch of serious/depressing lyrics, I figured I should end on a lighter, more positive note.  J I’m a happy guy who has been immeasurably blessed, so I can’t say exactly why I gravitate toward depressing lyrics.  I just do!

There you have it – some song lyrics I love.  There are others out there, so I may do another volume of this in the future.  I’d be interested to hear from you – what are some of your favorite lyrics?  I’d love to know.

Thanks for reading!