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Author Topic: Favorite Opening Lines and Verses of Songs...
ClaudiaTherese
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Dag, a Cohenesque Name That Tune:

quote:
It's true that all the men you knew were dealers
Who said they were through with dealing
Every time you gave them shelter

quote:
It's four in the morning, the end of December
I'm writing you now just to see if you're better

quote:
She stands before you naked
You can see it, you can taste it,
And she comes to you light as the breeze.

quote:
Ah we're drinking and we're dancing
And the band is really happening
And the Johnny Walker wisdom running high

quote:
Now I've heard there was a secret chord
That David played, and it pleased the Lord
But you don't really care for music, do you?

quote:
I loved you in the morning, our kisses deep and warm,
Your hair upon the pillow like a sleepy golden storm

quote:
Many men have loved the bells
You fastened to the rein,
And everyone who wanted you
They found what they will always want again.

quote:
They sentenced me to twenty years of boredom
For trying to change the system from within

quote:
If you want a lover
I'll do anything you ask me to
And if you want another kind of love
I'll wear a mask for you

quote:
Well my friends are gone and my hair is grey
I ache in the places where I used to play
And I'm crazy for love but I'm not coming on


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Tammy
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Done so many things wrong I don't know if I can do right

At this point in my life - Tracy Chapman

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fiazko
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I like Alanis. Can you tell?

Do I stress you out
My sweater is on backwards and inside out
And you say how appropriate
--All I Really Want, Jagged Little Pill

Dear momma's boy I know you've had your butt licked by your mother
I know you've enjoyed all that attention from her
And every woman graced with your presence after
Dear narcissus boy I know you've never really apologized for anything
I know you've never really taken responsibility
I know you've never really listened to a woman
--Narcissus, Under Rug Swept

What's it been over a decade?
It still smarts like it was four minutes ago
We only influenced each other totally
We only bruised each other even more so
--Flinch, Under Rug Swept

I'm not threatened by every pair of legs you watch go by
I don't cringe when you stare at women it's just a thing called guy
I don't notice your sideways glances or where your loyalty lies
I'm secure and out of me it's hard to get a rise
--Doth I Protest Too Much, So-Called Chaos

I can be an a$$hole of the grandest kind
--Everything, So-Called Chaos

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kwsni
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Lindsay, "Jack the Lion" made me cry yesterday. THat song hits WAY to close to home.

Tonight I feel ambitious and so does my foot as it sinks on the pedal I press it to the floor I don't need a girl don't need a friend my friend lonesome's unconditional We're flying forever bored And for a moment I love everything I see and think and feel I love my broken side view mirror Cause it's so perfect I'm so perfect you're so perfect you're not here I hear the change in gears My pile shakes as I hit eighty on the open road This is an open road song
Eve 6, Open Road Song

As we walk together through theautumn nearing winter through the dying leaves and trees we call our home and native land, you say you don't belive a thing i say i say you don't belive a thing yousay you can't belive how i don't understand.
Barenakedladies, You will be waiting

Well she's lying in our bed sweating staring at the ceiling
I know her worried head is aching, I know the cause is me
I could leave the bathroom light on for better dreams tonight
My stability, my luxury, my life
And I won't go, neither will you turn off the phone, let's sleep 'til two
Eve 6, Nocturnal

90 miles outside Chicago
Can't stop driving
I don't know why
So many questions
I need an answer
Two years later, you're still on my mind
Whatever happened to Emilia Earhart
Who holds the stars up in the sky
Is true love once in a lifetime
Did the captain of the Titanic cry
New radicals, SOmeday we'll know

Frozen fingers on my skin
Guilty hands clutching gin
Your tin, thin eyes can't see within
Soul to soul and skin to skin we burn
And the silence won't subside
As I crawl to your scaly side
Your eyes could never hide
My eyes and all their pride
Stroke 9, Down

Once inside the door I check my face in the mirror,
As I look past this lonely minute
Was this the ride worth waiting for
I'm scared to death that now I've missed it
But she was not the only stone
Skipped across this gravel road leading down the path of loneliness
So I'll fly from this hate, pray my soul the lord will take me
To a place through time and indifference
SR-71, Go Away

Grace
She takes the blame
She covers the shame
Removes the stain
It could be her name

Grace
It's a name for a girl
It's also a thought that
Changed the world
U2, Grace

I've been to london
I've sailed a ship around the world
I've counted angels
I've seen a tangerine girl
Splender, London.

Are you feelin that your on the brink
Of spilling some rand in the sink
It wasn’t the easiest year
No I don’t want you to go
Eve6, Friend of Mine

forgive me for the long post, guys, but i have to post most of this one.

rake up all the leaves in pleasant valley
it's the last day of my visit upstate new york
to pay respects to the old man
he's still got his sense of humor
but his body fails him
he's surrounded by loved ones
but that only goes so far
and does he know where he is?
i doubt it.
jack the lion roaring his last
like a vision sent from the past
bedside, crying, holding his hands
strong hands
finally get a moment alone with the old man
he's having trouble breathing and he's not the only one
Harvey Danger, Jack the Lion

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punwit
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Hello darkness, my old friend,
I've come to talk with you again,
Because a vision softly creeping,
Left its seeds while i was sleeping,
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of silence

The Sound of Silence Simon and Garfunkel

I'm sittin' in the railway station
Got a ticket for my destination
On a tour of one night stands
My suitcase and guitar in hand
And every stop is neatly planned
For a poet and a one man band

Homeward Bound Simon and Garfunkel

I am just a poor boy and my story's seldom told
I've squandered my resistance for a pocketful of mumbles, such are promises
All lies and jest, still the man hears what he wants to hear
And disregards the rest, hmmmm

The Boxer Simon and Garfunkel

Obviously I'm a big Simon and Garfunkel fan. There were lots of other lyrics I would like to have posted but they weren't opening stanzas.

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Dagonee
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quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It's true that all the men you knew were dealers
Who said they were through with dealing
Every time you gave them shelter
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It's four in the morning, the end of December
I'm writing you now just to see if you're better
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Famous Blue Raincoat

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
She stands before you naked
You can see it, you can taste it,
And she comes to you light as the breeze.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Something Like This

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ah we're drinking and we're dancing
And the band is really happening
And the Johnny Walker wisdom running high
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Now I've heard there was a secret chord
That David played, and it pleased the Lord
But you don't really care for music, do you?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Halleluia

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I loved you in the morning, our kisses deep and warm,
Your hair upon the pillow like a sleepy golden storm
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Many men have loved the bells
You fastened to the rein,
And everyone who wanted you
They found what they will always want again.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
They sentenced me to twenty years of boredom
For trying to change the system from within
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
First We Take Manhatten

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you want a lover
I'll do anything you ask me to
And if you want another kind of love
I'll wear a mask for you
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I’m Your Man

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well my friends are gone and my hair is grey
I ache in the places where I used to play
And I'm crazy for love but I'm not coming on
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tower of Song

All from memory - no googling or looking at lyrics.

Dagonee

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Alucard...
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If you could only see the way she loves me, maybe you would understand why I feel this way about our love, and what I must do
-Tonic "If you could only see" from Lemon Parade

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AvidReader
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Ah, Tonic. A band that I haven't heard nearly enough of. Good stuff.

CT and Dag, who sang Something Like This? That's poetry there.

One of my favorites:

quote:
Nibblin on spongecake
Watching the sun bake
All of those tourists covered in oil.
Strumming my six string
On my front porch swing
Smell those shrimp they're beginning to boil.


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Dagonee
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Leonard Cohen wrote "Something like this" (which is actually called "LIght as the Breeze" apparantly).

Billy Joel did a very good cover of it, as well. But Cohen's voice on these lyrics is just unbeleivable.

quote:
She stands before you naked
you can see it, you can taste it,
and she comes to you light as the breeze.
Now you can drink it or you can nurse it,
it don't matter how you worship
as long as you're
down on your knees.

So I knelt there at the delta,
at the alpha and the omega,
at the cradle of the river and the seas.
And like a blessing come from heaven
for something like a second
I was healed and my heart
was at ease.

O baby I waited
so long for your kiss
for something to happen,
oh something like this.

And you're weak and you're harmless
and you're sleeping in your harness
and the wind going wild
in the trees,
and it ain't exactly prison
but you'll never be forgiven
for whatever you've done
with the keys.

O baby I waited ...

It's dark now and it's snowing
O my love I must be going,
The river has started to freeze.
And I'm sick of pretending
I'm broken from bending
I've lived too long on my knees.

Then she dances so graceful
and your heart's hard and hateful
and she's naked
but that's just a tease.
And you turn in disgust
from your hatred and from your love
and comes to you
light as the breeze.

O baby I waited ...

There's blood on every bracelet
you can see it, you can taste it,
and it's Please baby
please baby please.
And she says, Drink deeply, pilgrim
but don't forget there's still a woman
beneath this
resplendent chemise.

So I knelt there at the delta,
at the alpha and the omega,
I knelt there like one who believes.
And the blessings come from heaven
and for something like a second
I'm cured and my heart
is at ease


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AvidReader
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Anyone got a good lyrics site they can recommend? Oh there's plenty out there that claim to find the song even if you don't know the artist or title. But I still can't find who this is:

Rain falls angry on the tin roof
As we lie awake in my bed.
You're my survival
You're my living proof
Something, something
I'll be the greatest man of your life.

I put in the bit with the rain on the tin roof and I kept getting Barbara Streisand. I know that's not who I'm thinking of.

edit for missing letters

[ June 12, 2004, 07:19 PM: Message edited by: AvidReader ]

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Dagonee
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"I'll Be" by Edwin McCain?

http://www.lyricalcontent.com/htmlit.php?q=913&artist=Edwin+McCain&title=I%27ll+Be

[ June 12, 2004, 07:52 PM: Message edited by: Dagonee ]

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AvidReader
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More cool points for Dag. Thanks!
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Dagonee
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[Cool]
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fil
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quote:
Honey, put down that flyswatter
and get me some ice water.

Love it, live it.

fil

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ClaudiaTherese
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AvidReader, he's a poet and a novelist, as well as a singer/songwriter.

Well done, Dag! The others:

quote:

It's true that all the men you knew were dealers
Who said they were through with dealing
Every time you gave them shelter
The Stranger Song

quote:
Ah we're drinking and we're dancing
And the band is really happening
And the Johnny Walker wisdom running high
Closing Time

quote:
I loved you in the morning, our kisses deep and warm,
Your hair upon the pillow like a sleepy golden storm
Hey, That's No Way to Say Goodbye

quote:
Many men have loved the bells
You fastened to the rein,
And everyone who wanted you
They found what they will always want again.

I'm trying to remember this last one without googling, but I'm blanking. He wrote it about a woman he had a thing for (big surprise there), a fellow singer with stark blonde hair who turned out to be deaf, which is why he found their conversations so intriguing. (She'd say things completely unrelated to what he was saying.) Nico? She's not mentioned in the song.

Now you've got Light as the Breeze running through my head, and I can't pull this one up. [Smile]

Edit: Take this Longing. I bow to the Google.

quote:

Your beauty lost to you yourself
just as it was lost to them.
Oh take this longing from my tongue,
whatever useless things these hands have done.
Let me see your beauty broken down
like you would do for one you love.

Your body like a searchlight
my poverty revealed,
I would like to try your charity
until you cry, "Now you must try my greed."



[ June 13, 2004, 08:02 AM: Message edited by: ClaudiaTherese ]

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Dagonee
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I keep meaning to get more of his albums. I've got the Best of and I'm Your Man, which is why I know the songs I do. I'm not sure why I couldn't pick out "Hey, That's no way..." I've heard lots of his other stuff, but until I own a CD and play it obsessively I don't really connect lyrics with titles.

So what album should I add to the collection next?

Dagonee

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ClaudiaTherese
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Dag, you gotta do The Essential Leonard Cohen. Although it is missing some favorites like Light as the Breeze, the progression through two discs from tenor-lilting storytellor (the first Songs of Leonard Cohen) through to the familiar gravelly bass is magnificent. When you get to Hallelujah, his voice suddenly drops like an elevator. [Cool]

He chose the songs and the order himself. The selection represents all of the albums except for Death of a Ladies' Man (the Phil Spectre disaster he later disowned).

If you haven't the resources to snag it (~$20?), I'll lend you mine. [Wink]

[ June 13, 2004, 09:18 AM: Message edited by: ClaudiaTherese ]

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Elizabeth
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CT,
Did you ever get the Jennifer Warnes singing Leonard Cohen album?

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Dagonee
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OK, it's on the top of my album list. All my Leonard Cohen is down in Charlottesville, so this will be good to have here anyway.

Thanks!

Dagonee

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ClaudiaTherese
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Famous Blue Raincoat -- I've listened to excerpts, but I never bought a copy. Still, she does some lovely interpretations.

Did you like it?

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ClaudiaTherese
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Dagonee, great. [Smile] Let me know what you think.
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kidyanna
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Halleluja by Rufus Wainwright

I've heard there was a secret chord
That David played, and it pleased the Lord
But you don't really care for music, do you?
It goes like this, the fourth, the fifth
The minor fall, the major lift
The baffled king composing Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Your faith was strong but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew you
She tied you to a kitchen chair
She broke your throne, she cut your hair
And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Maybe I've been here before
I know this room, I've walked this floor
I used to live alone before I knew you
I've seen your flag on the marble arch
Love is not a victory march
It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

There was a time you let me know
What's real and going on below
But now you never show it to me, do you?
And remember when I moved in you?
The holy dark was moving too
And every breath we drew was Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Maybe there's a God above
And all I ever learned from love
Was how to shoot at someone who outdrew you
It's not a cry you can hear at night
It's not somebody who's seen the light
Its a cold and its a broken Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

I love the way he sings it, he has such an amazing voice.

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ClaudiaTherese
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There are, indeed, some awesome covers of Leonard Cohen songs. Still, I have pledged myself to his own version of this one. [Wink]

It was recently chosen as the best song to come out of Canada, bar none. He was also just made a Companion of the Order of Canada, Canada's highest honour, in 2003 -- in part for this song.

One smooth dude.
*grin

[ June 13, 2004, 12:30 PM: Message edited by: ClaudiaTherese ]

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Dagonee
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I'm an originalist with this song, too. And Leonard Cohen defines smooth. He was once described as someone who spends his mornings doing TM in an Armani suit.

Dagonee

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Elizabeth
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Yes, there is no one who can do Leornard Cohen like Leonard Cohen.

CT, I liked the jennifer Warnes album very much. I think we have it on a cassette, someone made it for us, so now that I know the name of the album, I can buy the cd.

(sorry to turn this into a "cover" thread.

[ June 13, 2004, 12:44 PM: Message edited by: Elizabeth ]

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Alucard...
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Snowball by Devo from Freedom Of Choice

my baby took our love
and then she rolled it up
rolled it up a hill
like a ball of snow
like a snowball grows
until it gets too big
until she lost control
and it rolled back down
and it rolled back down
and it rolled back down
and it rolled back down

she took a tiny bit
and rolled it up again
slower than before
she went a step too far
she had to let it go
i saw it go straight down
my baby turned around
started up again
started up again
started up again
started up again

eyes were made for looking'
hands were made for holdin'
hearts were made for lovin'
lips were made for kissin'
legs were made for walkin'
tracks were made to follow
that's what i'm gonna do
two tracks
in the snow
two tracks
up that hill
my heart broke
when my baby left
two tracks behind

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Ben
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breaking my own rule, but this is an End of a song.

i've built this wall around my heart
to shut you out i've, played my part
in this game that i thought was real
in this pain that i now feel
and if i ever fall again
will i just turn in the wind
or let it fly away with pain
or let it fester into the same
a small dark place inside my mind
will keep my safe and far behind
so you can never hurt me again
you can never hurt me again
nothing can ever hurt me again
the way you did
and nothing, nothing can ever erase.
i pull this glass out of my skin
the 'wish i hads' replace my sins
i release the lies but the disdain and nothing can ever wash this away. a small quiet place where i can hide. where you can never hurt me again.
where no one can never hurt me again."
- RESECTION by boy sets fire

[ June 16, 2004, 09:58 PM: Message edited by: Ben ]

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pH
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One of my new favorite openings:
I broke into your house last night and left a note at your bedside.
Snow Patrol - "Spitting Games"

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Cashew
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"My life's an open book,
You read it on the radio"
--Neil Young

"Southern trees bear strange fruit,
Blood on their leaves, blood on their root"
--can't remember who wrote it, but Billie Holliday sang it

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Ben
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"Doctors played your dosage like a card trick, and Scrabbled down the hallway yelling 'Yahtzee!'" - the Weakerthans.

[ June 17, 2004, 09:15 PM: Message edited by: Ben ]

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Danzig
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Hello, I love you, won't you tell me your name?

Hello, I Love You by the Doors

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