Greatest Song Lyrics: Whatcha Got?

Books, comics, TV, music
41

(I wrote that song about Kitsune)

42

Interesting that in a thread about lyrics, there’s only one Dylan reference, But never mind him. How about Randy Newman?

Cain slew Abel Seth knew not why
For if the children of Israel were to multiply
Why must any of the children die?
So he asked the Lord
And the Lord said:

Man means nothing he means less to me
Than the lowliest cactus flower
Or the humblest Yucca tree
He chases round this desert
Cause he thinks that’s where I’ll be
That’s why I love mankind

I recoil in horror fro the foulness of thee
From the squalor and the filth and the misery
How we laugh up here in heaven at the prayers you offer me
That’s why I love mankind

The Christians and the Jews were having a jamboree
The Buddhists and the Hindus joined on satellite TV
They picked their four greatest priests
And they began to speak
They said, “Lord, a plague is on the world
Lord, no man is free
The temples that we built to you
Have tumbled into the sea
Lord, if you won’t take care of us
Won’t you please, please let us be?”
And the Lord said
And the Lord said

I burn down your cities-how blind you must be
I take from you your children and you say how blessed are we
You all must be crazy to put your faith in me
That’s why I love mankind
You really need me
That’s why I love mankind

43

Or better yet:

The great nations of Europe
Had gathered on the shore
They’d conquered what was behind them
And now they wanted more
So they looked to the mighty ocean
And took to the western sea
The great nations of Europe in the sixteenth century

Hide your wives and daughters
Hide your groceries too
Great nations of Europe coming through

The Grand Canary Islands
First land to which they came
They slaughtered all the canaries
Which gave the land its name
There were natives there called Guanches
Guanches by the score
Bullets, disease, the Portuguese, and they weren’t there anymore
Now they’re gone, they’re gone, they’re really gone
You’ve never seen anyone so gone
They’re a picture in a museum
Some lines written in a book
But you won’t find a live one no matter where you look

Hide your wives and daughters
Hide your groceries too
Great nations of Europe coming through

Columbus sailed for India
Found Salvador instead
He shook hands with some Indians and soon they all were dead
They got TB and typhoid and athlete’s foot
Diphtheria and the flu
Excuse me great nations coming through!

Balboa found the Pacific
And on the trail one day
He met some friendly Indians
Whom he was told were gay
So he had them torn apart by dogs on religious grounds they say
The great nations of Europe were quite holy in their way
Now they’re gone, they’re gone, they’re really gone
You’ve never seen anyone so gone
Some bones hidden in the canyon
Some paintings in a cave
There’s no use trying to save them
There’s nothing left to save

Hide your wives and daughters
Hide your sons as well
With the great nations of Europe you never can tell

From where you and I are standing
At the end of a century
Europes have sprung up everywhere as even I can see
But there on the horizon as a possibility
Some bug from out of Africa might come for you and me
Destroying everything in its path
From sea to shining sea
Like the great nations of Europe
In the sixteenth century

44

And finally:

When Karl Marx was a boy
He took a hard look around
He saw people were starving all over the place
While others were painting the town
The public spirited boy
Became a public spirited man
So he worked very hard and he read everything
Until he came up with a plan

There’ll be no exploitation
Of the worker or his kin
No discrimination 'cause of the color of your skin
No more private property
It would not be allowed
No one could rise too high
No one could sink too low
Or go under completely like some we all know

If Marx were living today
He’d be rolling around in his grave
And if I had him here in my mansion on the hill
I’d tell him a story t’would give his old heart a chill

It’s something that happened to me
I’d say, Karl I recently stumbled
Into a new family
With two little children in school
Where all little children should be
I went to the orientation
All the young mommies were there
Karl, you never have seen such a glorious sight
As these beautiful women arrayed for the night
Just like countesses, empresses, movie stars and queens
And they’d come there with men much like me
Froggish men, unpleasant to see
Were you to kiss one, Karl
Nary a prince would there be

Oh Karl the world isn’t fair
It isn’t and never will be
They tried out your plan
It brought misery instead
If you’d seen how they worked it
You’d be glad you were dead
Just like I’m glad I’m living in the land of the free
Where the rich just get richer
And the poor you don’t ever have to see
It would depress us, Karl
Because we care
That the world still isn’t fair

45

I can fix that!

God said to Abraham, kill me a son
Abe said Man, you must be putting me on
God said No
Abe said What?
God said You can do what you want Abe but
The next time you see me coming 'round you better run
Abe said Where you want this killing done?
God said Out on Highway 61

46

I’m not sure the lyrics of Hamilton fit in this ledger, but the other truly impactful lyrics that come to mind are from Johnny Cash’s San Quentin.

San Quentin, you’ve been livin’ hell to me
You’ve blistered me since nineteen sixty three
I’ve seen ‘em come and go and I’ve seen them die
And long ago I stopped askin’ why

San Quentin, I hate every inch of you.
You’ve cut me and you scarred me through and through.
And I’ll walk out a wiser weaker man;
Mister Congressman you can’t understand.

San Quentin, what good do you think you do?
Do you think I’ll be different when you’re through?
You bend my heart and mind and you warp my soul,
And your stone walls turn my blood a little cold.

San Quentin, may you rot and burn in hell.
May your walls fall and may I live to tell.
May all the world forget you ever stood.
And may all the world regret you did no good.

San Quentin, I hate every inch of you.

47

I kicked off the thread with an excerpt, but here is the entirety of The Carny, by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds. While almost more a spoken word piece than a regular song, it exudes unsettling menace, and is probably my favorite piece of words set to music.

And no one saw the Carny go, the weeks flew by
Until they moved on the show, leaving his caravan behind
It was parked out on the south east ridge
And as the company crossed the bridge
With the first rain filling the bone-dry river bed
It shone, just so, on the edge

Away, away, we’re sad to say
Dog-boy, Atlas, Mandrake, the geeks, the hired hands
There was not one among them that did not cast an eye behind
In the hope that the Carny would return to his own kind

The Carny left behind a horse so skin and bone
That he’d named Sorrow
And it was a shallow, unmarked grave
That that old nag was laid
In the then parched meadow

And it was the dwarves that were given the task of digging the ditch
And laying the nag’s carcass in the ground
While boss Bellini, waved his smoking pistol around
Saying “The nag was dead meat
We can’t afford to carry dead weight”

While the whole company standing about
Not making a sound
And turning to the dwarves perched on the enclosure gate
The boss says, “Bury this lump of crow bait”

And the rain came hammering down
Everybody running for their wagons
Tying all the canvas flaps down
The mangy cats growling in their cages
The bird-girl flapping and squawking around

The whole valley reeking of wet beast
Wet beast and rotten, sodden hay
Freak and brute creation
All packed up and on their way

The three dwarves peering from their wagon’s hind
Moses says to Noah, “Shoulda dug a deeper one”
Their grizzled faces like dying moons
Still dirty from the digging done

And Charlie the Atlas to the three said
“I guess the Carny ain’t gonna show”
And they were silent for a spell
Wishing they’d done a better job of burying Sorrow

And the company passed from the valley
Into higher ground
The rain beat on the ridge and on the meadow
And on the mound

Until nothing was left, nothing left at all
Except the body of Sorrow
That rose in time
To float upon the surface of the eaten soil

And a murder of crows did circle 'round
First one, then the others flapping blackly down

And the Carny’s van still sat upon the edge
Tilting slowly as the firm ground turned to sludge

And the rain it hammered down
And the rain it hammered down
And the rain it hammered down
And the rain it hammered down

And no one saw the Carny go
No one saw the Carny go
No one saw the Carny go
I say, it’s funny how things go…

48

Here’s another wonderfully unsettling piece by Nick Cave: Song of Joy

Have mercy on me, sir
Allow me to impose on you
I have no place to stay
And my bones are cold right through
I will tell you a story
Of a man and his family
And I swear that it is true

Ten years ago I met a girl named Joy
She was a sweet and happy thing
Her eyes were bright blue jewels
And we were married in the spring
I had no idea what happiness a little love could bring
Or what life had in store
But all things move toward their end
All things move toward their end
On that you can be sure

Then one morning I awoke to find her weeping
And for many days to follow
She grew so sad and lonely
Became Joy in name only
Within her breast there launched an unnamed sorrow
And a dark and grim force set sail
Farewell happy fields
Where joy forever dwells
Hail horrors hail

Was it an act of contrition or some awful premonition
As if she saw into the heart of her final blood-soaked night
Those lunatic eyes, that hungry kitchen knife
Ah, I see sir, that I have your attention!
Well, could it be?
How often have I asked that question
Well, then in quick succession
We had babies, one, two, three

We called them Hilda, Hattie and Holly
They were their mother’s children
Their eyes were bright blue jewels
And they were quiet as a mouse
There was no laughter in the house
No, not for Hilda, Hattie or Holly
“No wonder”, people said, “Poor mother Joy’s so melancholy”
Well, one night there came a visitor to our little home
I was visiting a sick friend
I was a doctor then
Joy and the girls were on their own, yeah

Joy had been bound with electrical tape
In her mouth a gag
She’d been stabbed repeatedly
And stuffed into a sleeping bag
In their very cots my girls were robbed of their lives
Method of murder much the same as my wife’s
Method of murder much the same as my wife’s
It was midnight when I arrived home
Said to the police on the telephone
Someone’s taken four innocent lives

They never caught the man
He’s still on the loose
It seems he has done many, many more
Quotes John Milton on the walls in the victim’s blood
The police are investigating at tremendous cost
In my house he wrote “His red right hand”
That, I’m told is from Paradise Lost
The wind round here gets wicked cold
But my story is nearly told
I fear the morning will bring quite a frost

So I’ve left my home
I drift from land to land
I am upon your step and you are a family man
Outside the vultures wheel
The wolves howl, the serpents hiss
And to extend this small favor, friend
Would be the sum of earthly bliss
Do you reckon me a friend?

The sun to me is dark
And silent as the moon
Do you, sir, have a room?
Are you beckoning me in?

49

And one more Nick Cave piece. Hollywood is the closer to his album Ghosteen, which is an almost too-intimate window into a parent grieving the death of their child.

The fires continued through the night
The kid with a bat face appeared at the window
Then disappeared into the headlights

I was halfway to the Pacific Coast
I had left you in your longing
In your yearning like a ghost

There is little room for wonder, now
And little room for wildness too
We crawl into our wounds
I’m nearly all the way to Malibu

I’m gonna buy me a house up in the hills
With a tear-shaped pool and a gun that kills
Cause they say there is a cougar that roams these parts
With a terrible engine of wrath for a heart
That she is white and rare and full of all kinds of harm
And stalks the perimeter all day long
But at night lays trembling in my arms

And I’m just waiting now for my time to come
And I’m just waiting now for my time to come
And I’m just waiting now for my place in the sun
And I’m just waiting now for peace to come

And I’m just waiting now for my time to come
And I’m just waiting now for my time to come
And we hide in our wounds
And I’m nearly all the way to Malibu
And I know my time will come one day soon
I’m waiting for peace to come
I’m nearly all the way to Malibu
Oh babe, we’re on the run, we’re on the run, we’re on the run
Half down the Pacific Coast
Well I left you sleeping like a ghost
In your wounds

Darling your dreams are your greatest part
I carry them with me in my heart
Darling your dreams were your greatest part
I carry them with me in my heart
Somewhere, don’t know

Now I’m standing on the shore
All the animals roam the beaches
And sea creatures rise out of the sea.
And I’m standing on the shore
Everyone begins to run
The kid drops his bucket and spade
And climbs into the sun

Kisa had a baby but the baby died
Goes to the villagers says my baby’s sick
Villagers shake their heads and say to her
Better bury your baby in the forest quick

It’s a long way to find peace of mind, peace of mind
It’s a long way to find peace of mind, peace of mind

Kisa went to the mountain and asked the Buddha
My baby’s sick! Buddha said, don’t cry
Go to each house and collect a mustard seed
But only from a house where no one’s died

Kisa went to each house in the village
My baby’s getting sicker, poor Kisa cried
But Kisa never collected one mustard seed
Because in every house someone had died

Kisa sat down in the old village square
She hugged her baby and cried and cried
She said everybody is always losing somebody
Then walked into the forest and buried her child

Everybody’s losing someone
Everybody’s losing someone
It’s a long way to find peace of mind, peace of mind
It’s a long way to find peace of mind, peace of mind
And I’m just waiting now for my time to come
And I’m just waiting now for peace to come
For peace to come

50

Shittin’ in the mornin’ sun
I’ll be shittin’ here when evenin’ come
Watching my turds fall in
then I take them back out again, yeah

I’m shittin’ off the dock of the bay
Watching my great big turds float away
Just shittin’ off the dock of the bay
Makin’ a big stank (now listen)

I ate some black-eyed peas in Georgia
Now they’re making me feel so sad
Every time i have to use the bathroom
It hurts my rear end so bad (so bad)

I’m shittin’ off the dock of the bay
Watching my great big turds float away
Shittin’ off the dock of the bay
Just wastin’
Just wastin’
UNH!

51

I have to give the ladies some love too on great lyrics.

Joni Mitchell has a ton of them. She has a special way to turn feelings into words.

Just before our love got lost you said
“I am as constant as a northern star”
And I said, “Constantly in the darkness
Where’s that at?
If you want me I’ll be in the bar”

Another is Kate Bush

I found a book on how to be invisible
On the edge of the labyrinth
Under a veil you must never lift
Pages you must never turn
In the labyrinth

You stand in front of a million doors
And each one holds a million more
Corridors that lead to the world
Of the invisible
Corridors that twist and turn
Corridors that blister and burn

52

Got a wife and kids in Baltimore, Jack
I went out for a ride and I never went back,
Like a river that don’t know it’s flowing
I took a wrong and just kept on going.

Everybody’s got a hungry heart,
Everybody’s got a hungry heart.

53

Given recent(ish) events I’d be surprised if the below song didn’t somewhat wind up in the spotlight again. I didn’t want to copy-paste the whole thing (spoilarz, srsly!), and I think it’s more fun to narrow these down to a specific verse or two. Makes this more personal! This one was a difficult choice though, the rhythm of this one flows so smoothly it’s difficult to break apart and I do love some of the other metaphors and imagery in it. But let’s go with;

“My performances are greeted with plaudits and laughter
If you caught me red handed you’d probably think it’s stigmata”

 - The Struggle, Scroobius Pip

54

Garden State Stomp, from the late, great, Dave Van Ronk:

Allamuchy, Hacklebarney, Rockaway, Piscataway
Ho-Ho-Kus, Secaucus, Lower Squankum, Fair Play
Wanamassa, Succasunna, Manumuskin, Plumbsock
BiValve, Buckshutem, Turkey Foot, Macanippock
Jugtown, Feebletown, Nummytown, Rahway…

Wickatunk, Manunka Chunk, Mantua, Mizpah
Manasquan, Raritan, Matawan, Totowa
Whippany, Parsippany, Penny Pot, Hackensack
Batsto, Nesco, Metedeconk, Peapack
Loch Arbour, Egg Harbor, Swinesburg, Caviar…

Cheesequake, Boy Scout Lake, Moonachie, Tenafly
Netcong, Watchung, Pluckemin, Mount Misery
Bardonia, Ironia, Colonia, Weehawken
Manahawkin, Mantoloking, Mahalala, Pennsauken
Dutchtown, Ironbound, Frelinghuysen, and Lodi…

Hardscrabble, Double Trouble, Picatinny, Montague
Muckshaw Pond, Oakanickon, Espanong, Ocean View
Navesink, Shabakunk, Ongs Hat, Jumbo
Wortendyke, Waterwitch Park, Blue Ball, Ringoes
Matchaponix, Delawanna, Wawayanda, Timbuctoo…

55

Neil Young has some very good lyrics. This is NOT one of them :)

Got mashed potatoes
Got mashed potatoes
Got mashed potatoes
Ain’t got no T-Bone
Ain’t got no T-Bone

Got mashed potatoes
Got mashed potatoes
Got mashed potatoes
Got mashed potatoes
Ain’t got no T-Bone

Got mashed potatoes
Got mashed potatoes
Got mashed potatoes
Ain’t got no T-Bone
Ain’t got no T-Bone

Got mashed potatoes
Got mashed potatoes
Got mashed potatoes
Ain’t got no T-Bone
Ain’t got no T-Bone
T-Bone

Got mashed potatoes
Got mashed potatoes
Got mashed potatoes
Ain’t got no T-Bone
Ain’t got no T-Bone
Ain’t got no T-Bone
Ain’t got no T-Bone
No T-Bone

Got mashed potatoes
Got mashed potatoes
Got mashed potatoes
Ain’t got no T-Bone
Ain’t got no T-Bone

Ain’t got no T-Bone
Ain’t got no T-Bone
Ain’t got no T-Bone

Ain’t got no T-Bone

Got mashed potatoes
Got mashed potatoes
Got mashed potatoes
Ain’t got no T-Bone

Got mashed potatoes
Got mashed potatoes
Got mashed potatoes
Ain’t got no T-Bone
Ain’t got no T-Bone
Ain’t got no T-Bone
Ain’t got no T-Bone
Ain’t got no T-Bone

56

Man, what a great idea for a topic!

The first thing that comes to mind isn’t actually a lyric or even a line, it’s the song title itself, which isn’t in the song at all: Blue Öyster Cults “I’m On the Lamb But I Ain’t No Sheep”.

I was in love with it from the moment I saw it. It took me a while to become a bonafide Cult follower and really feel the music, but that line as the title always tickled my brain.

57

I’d be remiss if I didn’t include any lyrics by Adrian Belew:

And when I have some words
This is the way I’ll sing
Through a distortion box
To make them menacing

Yeah, then I’m gonna have to write a chorus
We’re gonna need to have a chorus
And this seems to be as good as any other place to sing it 'til I’m blue in the face

And for a second verse
Of terse economy
I’ll brew another pot
Of ambiguity

Then I’m gonna have to write a chorus
We’re gonna need to have a chorus
And this seems to be as good as any other place to sing it 'til I’m blue in the face

Yes, we’re gonna need to have a chorus
I’m gonna have to write a chorus
And this seems to be as good as any other place to sing it 'til I’m blue in the face

Happy with what you have to be happy with
You have to be happy with what you have
To be happy with what you have
Happy with what you have to be happy with
You have to be happy with what you have
To be happy with what you have
You have to be happy with what you have to happy with

Then I guess I’ll repeat the chorus!
We’re gonna repeat the chorus!
I guess I’ll repeat the chorus!
We’re gonna repeat the chorus!

Then I guess I’ll repeat the chorus!
We’re gonna repeat the chorus!
I guess I’ll repeat the chorus!
We’re gonna repeat the chorus!

Happy with what you have to be happy with
You have to be happy with what you have
To be happy with what you have
Happy with what you have to be happy with
You have to be happy with what you have
To be happy with what you have
You have to be happy with what you have to happy with

58

He said
“The thing about depression is,
You can’t let it get you down.
You’ve got to see the world for what it is,
A circus full of freaks and clowns.
You’ll never please everybody
That’s a well established fact.”
He said, “I recommend a fifth of Jack
And a bottle of Prozac. “

59

We’re no strangers to love
You know the rules and so do I
A full commitment’s what I’m thinking of
You wouldn’t get this from any other guy

I just want to tell you how I’m feeling
Gotta make you understand

Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry, never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you

60

It’s overplayed, but I do really like it:

On a dark desert highway
Cool wind in my hair
Warm smell of colitas
Rising up through the air
Up ahead in the distance
I saw shimmering light
My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim
I had to stop for the night

There she stood in the doorway
I heard the mission bell
And I was thinking to myself
This could be Heaven or this could be Hell
Then she lit up a candle
And she showed me the way
There were voices down the corridor
I thought I heard them say

Welcome to the Hotel California
Such a lovely place (such a lovely place)
Such a lovely face
Plenty of room at the Hotel California
Any time of year (any time of year)
You can find it here

Her mind is Tiffany-twisted
She got the Mercedes Benz
She got a lot of pretty, pretty boys
She calls friends
How they dance in the courtyard
Sweet summer sweat
Some dance to remember
Some dance to forget

So I called up the Captain
Please bring me my wine
He said, 'We haven’t had that spirit here since 1969"
And still those voices are calling from far away
Wake you up in the middle of the night
Just to hear them say

Welcome to the Hotel California
Such a lovely place (such a lovely place)
Such a lovely face
They livin’ it up at the Hotel California
What a nice surprise (what a nice surprise)
Bring your alibis

Mirrors on the ceiling
The pink champagne on ice
And she said, 'We are all just prisoners here"
“Of our own device”
And in the master’s chambers
They gathered for the feast
They stab it with their steely knives
But they just can’t kill the beast

Last thing I remember, I was
Running for the door
I had to find the passage back
To the place I was before
"Relax, " said the night man
“We are programmed to receive”
“You can check-out any time you like”
“But you can never leave!”