Favourite two lines of lyrics

Paul Sommer


While we are talking about Pearl Jam, what about this from Rearview Mirror:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Saw things so much clearer
Once you were in my rearview mirror

This one got me through some times after my divorce.

I saw the numbers on each side
But all that mattered was the line
 
bumblefoot- Dash
 
its referring to a gravestone such as (1955-2011) and that all that matters is whats in between the dates and what you make of your life...cool idea and cool song

 

Nice.  I like that, socool.

So many good references here...
 
@DougMasters...dude...the Outlaw Torn is probably among James' best lyrics...an amazing choice.

Another great one and easily one of the coolest lyrical passages in my whole music collection IMO is this passage from a song off the new Staind album, from the song "Failing". Aaron Lewis is such a genius with these kind of lyrics.


Yeah, like the day that your guardian angel decided to fly away...
Yeah, like a bruise that doesn't fade...
Yeah, like a memory that tortures your soul until your dying day...
Yeah, like the life you couldn't save...

PJ's Vedder is a great lyricist, no doubt.
 
Hard To Imagine:
Things were different then,
all is different now
I tried to explain,
somehow.
 
Light years:
We were but stones,
You're light made us stars.
 
And all the lyrics of The End, what a song that one is.

Searchin' for a note, pure and easy
Playing so free, like a breath rippling by

Loving all of the Pearl Jam references.  Another one of my favorites comes from Hold On.  I love the simplicity of it;  it makes the delivery hit that much harder.
 
I know life would be different had I held on (held on)
I know I could be something had I held on (held on)
 
And another favorite of mine - one that's very similar to socool111's - comes from I Am Mine.
 
I know I was born and I know that I'll die
The in between is mine - I am mine

Seeing as some people are posting more than 2 lines I shall too (cause its just damn too hard sometimes hehe)
 
Shepherds in the field of reality
Blame the sheep for lost possibilities
The sheep may be lost
But the shepherd, he is just as lost

A shepherd is a man afraid of
Losing all the things he made up
To keep his feet planted high above the field
 
Born Branded by Ed Kowalczyk - Live

My all time favorite is no contest.   It's been my signature for over 10 years, and it's been a way of looking at life for over 25. 
 
But I think if I had to give an honorable mention, it would be:
 
"I AAAM THE CATFISH MAAAAAAANNNN!!!   I CAAAAAN'T HEEEAAARRR YOOOOOOUUUUUU!!!!"
 

Mine is not up yet
 
Would you exchange?
A walk on part in a war for a leading role in a cage?

Among my many favorites, I'll throw out this excerpt which has been used in many of the world's greatest musical compositions ever written:
 
Gloria in excelsis Deo.
Et in terra pax hominibus bonae voluntatis.
 
If that one doesn't "count", as it's not specific to just one piece, or because it's liturgical, I'll offer this excerpt as another very cool phrase (specifically in the context of the musical setting):
 
And if you close your eyes, a silent and beautiful current fills you from within
Flows forward, darkens you;
Night brings its wetness to beaches in your soul.
 
(Water Night.  Poem by Octavio Paz, set to music by Eric Whitacre)
 
If we're looking for lyrics only from a straight-up popular music song, then I'll have to think a bit more before posting.  There are some good ones to be sure, but for me the greatest musical texts tend to be found more often across a much larger section of musical history.
 
Good thread, btw.

Sheathed within the walkman, wear the halo of distortion
Aural contraceptive, aborting pregnant conversation
 
Marillion - Fugazi.
 
Fish sure could write lyrics... I used to do this on trains to stop people from talking to me. I put the headphones on and listened to my walkman so I could ignore them.

I AM THE TABLE
I AM THE TABLE

Drakodan


I AM THE TABLE
I AM THE TABLE

PUMPING BLOOD
PUMPING BLOOD
 

thefunkygibbons


Mine is not up yet

Would you exchange?
A walk on part in a war for a leading role in a cage?

That's mine too, but it's actually:
 
Did you exchange
a walk on part in the war
for a lead role in a cage?

Duke


Searchin' for a note, pure and easy
Playing so free, like a breath rippling by

 
There once was a note, listen!
There once was a note, listen!
 
 
What a great song.  I think as good as Eddie V. is (and he is) he learned a lot from Pete T.

Might technically be three lines, but its kick ass every time:
 
"Karen's been asleep forever I know she hears me she has so much to say,
Machine shoots sparks through her egg shell mind. Tears stream from her face
Unto my hand, unto my heart"

shameless plug since it's my band, but i didn't write it so it makes it better.
 
"You're lucky I'm not God, bitch.  If it were up to me
Your money would buy you a one-way ticket straight to hell."
Pretty Rich Beautiful by Opium Symphony
 
other favorites...
"Clear the battlefield and let me see
All the profit from our victory"
Tarkus by ELP
 
"Thanks to our kindness and skill, you'll have no trouble until
You catch your breath and the nurse will present you the bill"
Entangled by Genesis
 
"I repeat myself when under stress
I repeat myself when under stress"
Indiscipline by King Crimson
 
"The band is just fantastic, that is really what I think
Oh, by the way, which one's Pink?"
Have a Cigar by Pink Floyd
 
Rush and Yes have SO MANY great ones, to me at least, so I'll just pick some off the top of my head.
 
"How many times do we hear it?  It goes on all day long.
Everyone knows everything, and no one's ever wrong."
Show Don't Tell by Rush
 
"Now theres no more Oak oppression, for they passed a noble law
And now the trees are all kept equal by hatchet, axe and saw"
The Trees by Rush
 
"The pen won't stay the demon's wings
The hour approaches, pounding out the devil's sermon"
The Gates of Delirium by Yes
 
"Like the time I ran away
Turned around and you were standing close to me"
Awaken by Yes
 
and of course...
"Let me introduce...
MY BRUTHUH"
 
i also agree with the guy posted "I am senor valasco/I drink my milk with tobasco".

"Are we too far gone? Are we so irresponsible? Have we lost our balls? Or do we just not care?
We're terminal cases that keep taking medicine, pretending the end isn't quite that near."
The Last Straw - Marillion
 
"Where are the prophets? Where are the visionaries? Where are the poets?
To breach the dawn of the sentimental mercenary."
Fugazi - Marillion
 
Fish is one of the best lyricists I've ever heard

The essence of lies in notes defined,
As we dance to the dissonant sway.

Dancers to a discordant system - Meshuggah

I've read some really beautiful lines already.
 
The one that comes to mind:
My soul is painted like the wings of butterflies
Fairy tales from yesterday grow old but never die
 
- The Show Must Go On - Queen -

dkepner

thefunkygibbons


Mine is not up yet

Would you exchange?
A walk on part in a war for a leading role in a cage?

That's mine too, but it's actually:

Did you exchange
a walk on part in the war
for a lead role in a cage?

/facepalm

Taping


Reason: Listen to Pride now, for once he is right.
Pride: Listen to Reason, let us be your guide.

From Ayreon - The Human Equation that James guest sang on.

+1

I know it's more than 2 lines, but...
 
"I'll never find anyone to replace you
Guess I'll have to make it through this time
Oh, this time, without you
I knew the storm was getting closer
And all my friends said I was high
But everything we've ever known is here
I never wanted it to die"
 
That song (Estranged, by Guns N' Roses) has gotten me through so many hard times in my life.  Each line hits me hard, especially at the end here.

Kickin’ in the front seat
Sittin’ in the back seat
Gotta make my mind up
Which seat can I take?


 
Deep.

Peartfan


Kickin’ in the front seat
Sittin’ in the back seat
Gotta make my mind up
Which seat can I take?



Deep.

We...we...we so excited.

Paul Sommer


Stadler -

This one makes me cry more often than not when I hear it:
I know someday you'll have a beautiful life,
I know you'll be the sun in somebody else's sky...

That is a great quote, but you left out the next part which really completes the lyric

I know someday you'll have a beautiful life,
I know you'll be the sun in somebody else's sky,
But why, why, why can't it be mine.


I really like:

You run and you run to catch up to the sun but it's sinking
Racing around, to come up behind you again.

 
 
I always thought that the lyrics were:
 
I know someday you'll have a beautiful life,
I know you'll be A STAR in somebody else's sky
 
Maybe I was wrong
 
 

Rapsoda

I always thought that the lyrics were:

I know someday you'll have a beautiful life,
I know you'll be A STAR in somebody else's sky

Maybe I was wrong

Searching around the internet, I see it about 50/50 both ways.  However, I just listened to it again and I agree with you.  Sounds like "star" to me.  I wish the CD booklet had all the lyrics in it instead of just a few of the words randomly printed so we could settle this once and for all. 
 
I don't own the super special reissue edition, though.  Maybe that has all the lyrics for that song?

Here you go!

A cup of coffee before bed so I dream fast
I stole your car which I purposefully crashed.
 
Keep those flowers I'll just give 'em back.
Cause the only way to my heart is with an axe.

Let me take my thoughts away to think about another day
Remembering the times I pray to help me deal with me

It's a town full of losers
And I'm pullin out of here to win   - Springsteen
 
Baby this town rips the bones from your back
It's a death trap, it's a suidice rap   - Springsteen
 
We gotta get out while we're young
'cause tramps like us, baby we were born to run   - Springsteen
 
I wanna die with you Wendy on the street tonight
In an everlasting kiss  - Springsteen
 
Pretty much, every 2 lines of the song Born To Run
 
 
 
 
 

From Youngstown by Springsteen:
 
"When I die I don't want no part of heaven
I would not do heavens work well
I pray the devil comes and takes me to stand
In the fiery furnaces of hell"

When there's more in your head
Than you find in your life, it calls for a change
I can't wait forever
 
And the days and the hours
And the years keep turning in my mind
I've been waiting forever

Kevin Gilbert's got some great ones. Here's some of my faves from his first solo album Thud:
 
GOODNESS GRACIOUS

"The world's a very scary place now, things were different in her day.
So what horrors will be commonplace when my hair starts to grey?"
 
 
SHRUG
 
"You are the tallest building
and I am the street;
It's gonna take an earthquake
for our eyes to meet.
I am a cliff and you are the sea;
You turn me into nothing
whenever you hammer at me."
 
"If it causes the tension,
it's best not to mention,
'cause only the dumb bee stings."
 
SONG FOR A DEAD FRIEND

"Danny my friend,
I think you knew me better than I ever knew you.
'Cause you read every chapter,
and I just glossed right over them, pretending I knew."
 
"I relied on you,
To make me see the foolishness, of paragraphs
that were better as one word"
 
"life has more to give that what you take"
 
"I wish I could have been for you a more consistent friend. 
The chapters that I skipped I'm going to have to read again"
 
"And there's lots of pages missing from my book. 
'Cause you had more to give than what I took."

Rapsoda


I always thought that the lyrics were:

I know someday you'll have a beautiful life,
I know you'll be A STAR in somebody else's sky

Maybe I was wrong

I believe, sir, you are correct!  You learn something new every day!  (Can I put this in the "trivia you didn't know until recently" thread, too?)

"One day a child and an angel stood on either side
Of a magic river that there was no crossing"

"If I can't be my own
I'd feel better dead"
 
Layne Staley