(Note: If you wish to read my initial list, it was posted on 2/22/17. Feel free to check it out!)
Artist: Pearl Jam
Song: "Black"
Lyric: "I know some day you'll have a beautiful life / I know you'll be a star / In somebody else's sky / But why, why, why, can't it be, can't it be mine?"
Why I Love It: I suspect that there are a lot of people my age for whom this lyric would make their respective lists. While "Black" was never released as a single by Pearl Jam, this song nevertheless became one of their biggest hits. Like many of the lyrics I have previously listed, this one deals with the end of a relationship. Instead of being bitter at the end of it, Eddie Vedder (who wrote the lyrics) wishes his lover the best while still being heartbroken over the end of the relationship. Aside from being poignant and evocative words in and of themselves, Vedder's delivery in the song are the proverbial icing on top of the cake. You can almost feel the ache in his voice as he sings the line. It's my favorite lyric from my favorite Pearl Jam song and that's why it makes the list.
Artist: Turnpike Troubadours
Song: "How Do You Fall Out of Love?"
Lyric: "You bet your heart on a diamond / And I played the clubs in spades / We gambled and lost / Guess we both paid the costs / Look what a mess I have made"
Why I Love It: While this is not one of my favorite Turnpike Troubadours' songs, this lyric is terrific and clever. Evan Felker, the band's lead singer, primary songwriter and lyricist, has a way with words and knows how to turn a phrase. This is an example of his skill - in just a few phrases, he paints a picture of a girl in love with a musician. He deftly mentions all four suits of playing cards and uses them as a motif for a failed relationship.
Artist: Edwin McCain
Song: "Sign on the Door"
Lyric: "We all talk about timing, lifestyles and such / But to a heart that's been shattered, those words don't mean much"
Why I Love It: This song is a terrific blues number that uses the concept of a sign on a door that says "sorry, we're closed" as a metaphor for a person's heart who hasn't healed from a prior relationship and thus isn't yet ready to fall in love again. The line above in question, however, is more universal. We've all either had our heart broken or had a friend or relative who has. And when you are trying to comfort them, your advice may be great, but at that point in time, they are not really in a frame of mind to listen to it. There's nothing you can say to them at that point in time that will make them feel better. Most of you have likely never heard this song, but I'd encourage you to check it out some time. It's one of my favorites by Edwin.
Artist: Better Than Ezra
Song: "Rewind"
Lyric: "Right there a song became a soundtrack for this space in time"
Why I Love It: In my first list of favorite lyrics, I referenced a lyric from the Trisha Yearwood song "The Song Remembers When" and talked about how music can transport us back to a specific place in time. This Better Than Ezra lyric talks about the same thing - how a particular song can become inextricably linked to an event or place in time. It doesn't matter if it's been 2 years or 20 years - there is something about the song that fires some synapsis somewhere in your brain and you will always associate that song with that event.
Artist: Goo Goo Dolls
Song: "Iris"
Lyric: "And I don't want the world to see me / 'Cause I don't think that they'd understand / When everything's made to be broken / I just want you to know who I am"
Why I Love It: This one comes from the Goo Goo Dolls' biggest hit song, which was also one of the biggest hit songs of the 1990s. Whereas all of the aforementioned lyrics occur in the verse or bridge of the song, this one is the chorus. It resonates, though, because it's so accurate. I think we all have times where we'd like to be invisible because we don't think anyone understands us or what we're going through. We're all a little broken and we all want to be loved and accepted for who we are but sometimes that seems impossible and it just seems like it would be easier to slide by unnoticed.
Artist: Metallica
Song: "Holier Than Thou"
Lyric: "You lie so much you believe yourself"
Why I Love It: While most of the lyrics I love are melancholy or introspective, this last one is angry. I've thought about this lyric a lot over the past two years and how aptly it applies to politicians in general and our president in particular. They lie and stretch the truth with such frequency that they themselves lose track of what the truth is and what is a falsehood. Few things in this world bother me more than a liar so I suppose it's only natural that I gravitate toward this lyric.
There it is - my second list of lyrics I love. I hope you enjoyed it. Thanks for reading!
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