β
Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery.
None but ourselves can free our minds.
β
β
Bob Marley
β
Don't criticize what you can't understand.
β
β
Bob Dylan
β
Who are you?
Are you in touch with all of your darkest fantasies?
Have you created a life for yourself where you can experience them?
I have. I am fucking crazy.
But I am free.
β
β
Lana Del Rey
β
I was always an unusual girl.
My mother told me I had a chameleon soul, no moral compass pointing due north, no fixed personality; just an inner indecisiveness that was as wide and as wavering as the ocean.
β
β
Lana Del Rey
β
funny how a beautiful song could tell such a sad story
β
β
Sarah Dessen (Lock and Key)
β
The story of life is quicker than the wink of an eye, the story of love is hello and goodbye...until we meet again
β
β
Jimi Hendrix
β
you're an expert at sorry and keeping the lines blurry
β
β
Taylor Swift
β
Would you destroy Something perfect in order to make it beautiful?
β
β
Gerard Way
β
Get up, stand up, Stand up for your rights. Get up, stand up, Don't give up the fight.
β
β
Bob Marley (Bob Marley - Legend)
β
We all shine on...like the moon and the stars and the sun...we all shine on...come on and on and on...
β
β
John Lennon
β
If they substituted the word 'Lust' for 'Love' in the popular songs it would come nearer the truth.
β
β
Sylvia Plath (The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath)
β
I get by with a little help from my friends.
β
β
John Lennon
β
When pain brings you down, don't be silly, don't close your eyes and cry, you just might be in the best position to see the sun shine.
β
β
Alanis Morissette
β
I fell for her in summer, my lovely summer girl,
From summer she is made, my lovely summer girl,
Iβd love to spend a winter with my lovely summer girl,
But Iβm never warm enough for my lovely summer girl,
Itβs summer when she smiles, Iβm laughing like a child,
Itβs the summer of our lives; weβll contain it for a while
She holds the heat, the breeze of summer in the circle of her hand
Iβd be happy with this summer if itβs all we ever had.
β
β
Maggie Stiefvater (Shiver (The Wolves of Mercy Falls, #1))
β
He not busy being born is busy dying.
β
β
Bob Dylan
β
Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace
You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one
β
β
John Lennon (Imagine)
β
I've been burdened with blame trapped in the past for too long, I'm moving on
β
β
Rascal Flatts
β
You have every right to a beautiful life.
β
β
Selena GΓ³mez
β
I don't let nobody see me wishin' he was mine
β
β
Taylor Swift
β
Oh Beautiful for smoggy skies, insecticided grain,
For strip-mined mountain's majesty above the asphalt plain.
America, America, man sheds his waste on thee,
And hides the pines with billboard signs, from sea to oily sea.
β
β
George Carlin
β
But, my God, it's so beautiful when the boy smiles
β
β
Anna Nalick
β
Remember to let her into your heart.
β
β
John Lennon
β
Have you ever heard somebody sing some lyrics that you've never sung before, and you realize you've never sung the right words in that song? You hear them and all of a sudden you say to yourself, 'Life in the Fast Lane?' That's what they're saying right there? You think, 'why have I been singing 'wipe in the vaseline?' how many people have heard me sing 'wipe in the vaseline?' I am an idiot.
β
β
Ellen DeGeneres (My Point... And I Do Have One)
β
I'd trade all my tomorrows for one single yesterday.
β
β
Kris Kristofferson
β
I called to wish you an unhappy birthday because you're evil and you lie and if you should die I may feel slightly sad, but I won't cry.
β
β
Morrissey
β
Take my hand and we'll make it - I swear
β
β
Jon Bon Jovi (The Best of Bon Jovi / Cross Road)
β
We're reaching for death
on the end of a candle
We're trying for something
that's already found us
β
β
Jim Morrison
β
I'm just a man, not a hero. just a boy, who wants to sing this song.
β
β
Gerard Way
β
Love me or hate me, i swear it won't make or break me.
β
β
Lil Wayne
β
Instead of singing in the shower, I would write out the lyrics of my favourite songs, the ink would turn the water blue or red or green, and the music would run down my legs.
β
β
Jonathan Safran Foer (Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close)
β
I truly loved you, but now I'm walking away
β
β
Jonny Lang
β
Her happiness floated like waves of ocean along the coast of her life. She found lyrics of her life in his arms but she never sung her song.
β
β
Santosh Kalwar
β
one love, one heart
β
β
Bob Marley
β
because being with you makes perfect sense
β
β
Tim McGraw
β
..And now you've lost the only thing that ever made you feel alive
β
β
Keith Urban
β
I always think of each night as a song. Or each moment as a song. But now I'm seeing we don't live in a single song. We move from song to song, from lyric to lyric, from chord to chord. There is no ending here. It's an infinite playlist.
β
β
David Levithan (Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist)
β
I wish the night would end,
I wish the day'd begin,
I wish it would rain or snow,
or the wind would blow,
or the grass would grow,
I wish I had yesterday,
I wish there were games to play...
β
β
V.C. Andrews (Flowers in the Attic (Dollanganger, #1))
β
Because you let our love just fall apart
You no longer have my heart
β
β
Boyz II Men
β
I know something you don't....and that is.... I'M NOT WEARING ANY UNDERWEAR! We're gonna get sexy for a minute!
β
β
Gerard Way
β
It's the heart afraid of breaking that never learns to dance.
β
β
Xiaolu Guo (A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers)
β
Lose your dream, you lose your mind.
β
β
The Rolling Stones
β
There is a place where the sidewalk ends
And before the street begins,
And there the grass grows soft and white,
And there the sun burns crimson bright,
And there the moon-bird rests from his flight
To cool in the peppermint wind.
Let us leave this place where the smoke blows black
And the dark street winds and bends.
Past the pits where the asphalt flowers grow
We shall walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And watch where the chalk-white arrows go
To the place where the sidewalk ends.
Yes we'll walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And we'll go where the chalk-white arrows go,
For the children, they mark, and the children, they know
The place where the sidewalk ends.
β
β
Shel Silverstein (Where the Sidewalk Ends)
β
Iβd rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints, the sinners are much more fun.
β
β
Billy Joel
β
Eleanor hadn't written him a letter.
It was a postcard. GREETINGS FROM THE LAND OF 10,000 LAKES it said on the front. Park turned it over and recognized her scratchy handwriting. It filled his head with song lyrics.
He sat up. He smiled. Something heavy and winged took off from his chest.
Eleanor hadn't written him a letter, it was a postcard.
Just three words long.
β
β
Rainbow Rowell (Eleanor & Park)
β
time made me stronger, you're no longer on my mind
β
β
Boyz II Men
β
Don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you've got till it's gone.
β
β
Joni Mitchell
β
You think you're lost but you're not lost on your own. You're not alone. I will stand by you, I will help you through when youβve done all you can do.
If you canβt cope, I will dry your eyes
I will fight your fight, I will hold you tight and I wont let go
β
β
Rascal Flatts
β
I once had a dreams of becoming a beautiful poet, but upon an unfortunate series of events some of those dreams dashed and divided like a million stars in the night sky that I wished on over and over again, sparkling and broken.
But I didn't really mind, because I knew that it takes getting everything you ever wanted, and then losing it to know what true freedom is.
β
β
Lana Del Rey
β
But when ye come, and all the flowers are dying,
If I am dead, as dead I well may be,
You'll come and find the place where I am lying,
And kneel and say Ave there for me,
And I shall hear, though soft you tread above me,
And all my grave will warmer, sweeter be,
For you will bend and tell me that you love me,
And I shall sleep in peace until you come to me
β
β
Frederic Edward Weatherly
β
Our love is like a song
but you won't sing along.
β
β
Demi Lovato (Demi Lovato - Don't Forget)
β
All you need is love.
β
β
John Lennon
β
A harp can be a dangerous as a sword, in the right hands.
β
β
George R.R. Martin (A Storm of Swords (A Song of Ice and Fire, #3))
β
Every night I used to pray that Iβd find my people, and finally I did on the open road.
We had nothing to lose, nothing to gain, nothing we desired anymore, except to make our lives into a work of art.
β
β
Lana Del Rey
β
When I find myself in times of trouble, mother Mary comes to me,
speaking words of wisdom, let it be.
And in my hour of darkness she is standing right in front of me,
speaking words of wisdom, let it be.
Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be.
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be.
And when the broken hearted people living in the world agree,
there will be an answer, let it be.
For though they may be parted there is still a chance that they will see,
there will be an answer. let it be.
Let it be, let it be, .....
And when the night is cloudy, there is still a light, that shines on me,
shine until tomorrow, let it be.
I wake up to the sound of music, mother Mary comes to me,
speaking words of wisdom, let it be.
Let it be, let it be, .....
β
β
Paul McCartney
β
Blot out the moon,
Pull down the stars.
Love in the dark, for we're for the dark
So soon, so soon.
β
β
Jean Rhys (Wide Sargasso Sea)
β
These are the seasons of emotion,
and like the winds, they rise and fall.
β
β
Led Zeppelin
β
I don't want to be in love but you're makin' me
β
β
Jonny Lang
β
She laid her heart and soul right in your hands
And you stole her every dream and crushed her plans
She never even knew she had a choice
And that's what happens when the only voice she hears is telling her she can't
You stupid boy
β
β
Keith Urban
β
I wrote a song about dental floss but did anyone's teeth get cleaner?
β
β
Frank Zappa
β
The worst things in life come free to us
β
β
Ed Sheeran (Ed Sheeran: + (TAB))
β
There's nothing you can do that can't be done
Nothing you can sing that can't be sung.
Nothing you can say but you can learn how to play the game.
It's easy.
Nothing you can make that can't be made.
No one you can save that can't be saved.
Nothing you can do but you can learn how to be you in time.
It's easy.
Nothing you can know that isn't known.
Nothing you can see that isn't shown.
Nowhere you can be that isn't where you're meant to be.
It's easy.
β
β
John Lennon
β
The beautiful thing is, music can be like a time machine. One song- the lyrics, the melody, the mood- can take you back to a moment in time like nothing else can.
β
β
Lisa Schroeder (Chasing Brooklyn)
β
I am the sea and nobody owns me
β
β
Pippi Longstocking
β
It took a while for her to figure out she could run but when she did she was long gone, Long gone..
β
β
Keith Urban
β
Droplets of yes and no, in an ocean of maybe.
β
β
Faith No More (Faith No More - The Real Thing)
β
The things that mattered
Were broken and shattered
One by one
β
β
Jonny Lang
β
Ah, but I was so much older then
Iβm younger than that now
β
β
Bob Dylan
β
I think there is a song out there to describe just about any situation.
β
β
Criss Jami (Killosophy)
β
We are not just Art for Michelangelo to carve, he can't rewrite the agro of my furied heart- Lady Gaga 10/22/10
β
β
Lady Gaga
β
Because the song is us and the song is her and this time Iβm going to use her name. Norah, Norah, Norah - no rhymes really. Just truth.
I shouldnβt want the song to end. I always think of each night as a song. Or each moment as a song. But now Iβm seeing we donβt live in a single song. We move from song to song, from lyric to lyric, from chord to chord. There is no ending here. Itβs an infinite playlist.
β
β
David Levithan (Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist)
β
I am pieces of all the places I have been,
and the people I have loved. Iβve been stitched together by song lyrics, book quotes, adventure, late night conversations, moonlight, and the smell of coffee.
β
β
Brooke Hampton
β
Now everyone dreams of a love faithful and true,
But you and I know what this world can do.
So let's make our steps clear so the other may see.
And I'll wait for you...should I fall behind wait for me.
β
β
Bruce Springsteen
β
Then came the healing time, hearts started to shine, soul felt so fine, oh what a freeing time it was.
β
β
Aberjhani (Songs from the Black Skylark zPed Music Player)
β
No matter how close, you are always too far. My eyes are drawn everywhere you are...
β
β
Cora Carmack (Losing It (Losing It, #1))
β
We're still so young and desperate for attention...
β
β
Panic at the Disco
β
You can't start a fire
Worrying 'bout your little world falling apart
This gun's for hire
Even if we're just dancing in the dark
β
β
Bruce Springsteen
β
A song and a smile from someone I cared about could be enough to distract me from all that darkness, if only for a little while.
β
β
Ransom Riggs (Hollow City (Miss Peregrineβs Peculiar Children, #2))
β
Never be bored, and you will never be boring.
β
β
Eleanor Roosevelt (You Learn by Living: Eleven Keys for a More Fulfilling Life)
β
..I find it incredible impossible not to cry when I hear Stevie Nicks's "Landslide," especially the lyric: "I've been afraid of changing, because I've built my life around you." I think a good test to see if a human is actually a robot/android/cylon is to have them listen to this song lyric and study their reaction. If they don't cry, you should stab them through the heart. You will find a fusebox.
β
β
Mindy Kaling
β
..bright eyes and subtle variations of blue...
β
β
Owl City
β
When we feel, a kind of lyric is sung in our heart.
When we think, a kind of music is played in our mind.
In harmony, both create a beautiful symphony of life.
β
β
Toba Beta (My Ancestor Was an Ancient Astronaut)
β
When I hold you in my arms and I feel my finger on your trigger I know no one can do me no harm because happiness is a warm gun.
β
β
John Lennon
β
Let me fall out of the window/
With confetti in my hair
β
β
Tom Waits (Lyrics of Tom Waits: The Early Years, 1971-1983)
β
My task is set before me, girl
My mission clear and true
Thereβll be black knights and dragons, girl
But I will always come for youβ¦
β
β
Emme Rollins
β
We think we understand a song's lyrics but what makes us believe in them, or not, is the music
β
β
Carlos Ruiz ZafΓ³n (The Angel's Game (The Cemetery of Forgotten Books, #2))
β
There are beautiful sounds in rock. Very lazy, dreamlike noises. You can forget about the lyrics in most songs. Just dig the noise, and you've got your sound...We're musical primitives.
β
β
Andy Warhol
β
To share is precious, pure and fair.
Don't play with something you should cherish for life. Don't you wanna care, ain't it lonely out there?
β
β
Marvin Gaye
β
Wish You Were Here
So, so you think you can tell
Heaven from Hell,
Blue skys from pain.
Can you tell a green field
From a cold steel rail?
A smile from a veil?
Do you think you can tell?
And did they get you to trade
Your heros for ghosts?
Hot ashes for trees?
Hot air for a cool breeze?
Cold comfort for change?
And did you exchange
A walk on part in the war
For a lead role in a cage?
How I wish, how I wish you were here.
We're just two lost souls
Swimming in a fish bowl,
Year after year,
Running over the same old ground.
What have we found?
The same old fears.
Wish you were here.
β
β
Roger Waters
β
If a thing can be said in ten words, I may be relied upon to take a hundred to say it. I ought to apologize for that. I ought to prune, pare and extirpate excess growth, but I will not. I like wordsβstrike that, I love wordsβand while I am fond of the condensed and economical use of them in poetry, in song lyrics, in Twitter, in good journalism and smart advertising, I love the luxuriant profusion and mad scatter of them too.
β
β
Stephen Fry (The Fry Chronicles)
β
The hungry and the haunted explode in a rock'n'roll band.
β
β
Bruce Springsteen
β
And I'm a bad boy 'cause I don't even miss her. I'm a bad boy for breakin her heart
β
β
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers
β
I never thought that you would be the one to hold my heart
β
β
Christina Perri
β
Can't fight the moment of truth in your lies.
β
β
Goo Goo Dolls
β
The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The new order is
Rapidly fadin'.
And the first one now
Will later be last
For the times they are a-changin'.
β
β
Bob Dylan (Chronicles, Volume One)
β
You forget all of it anyway. First, you forget everything you learned-the dates of the Hay-Herran Treaty and Pythagorean Theorem. You especially forget everything you didn't really learn, but just memorized the night before. You forget the names of all but one or two of your teachers, and eventually you'll forget those, too. You forget your junior class schedule and where you used to sit and your best friend's home phone number and the lyrics to that song you must have played a million times. For me, it was something by Simon & Garfunkel. Who knows what it will be for you? And eventually, but slowly, oh so slowly, you forget your humiliations-even the ones that seemed indelible just fade away. You forget who was cool and who was not, who was pretty, smart, athletic, and not. Who went to a good college. Who threw the best parties Who could get you pot. You forget all of them. Even the ones you said you loved, and even the ones you actually did. They're the last to go. And then once you've forgotten enough, you love someone else.
β
β
Gabrielle Zevin (Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac)
β
Every song deserves lyrics. Deserves a story to tell.
β
β
Courtney C. Stevens (Faking Normal (Faking Normal, #1))
β
Iβll be there someday, I can go the distance.
I will find my way, if I can be strong.
I know every mile, will be worth my while,
When I go the distance, Iβll be right where I belong. - Hercules
β
β
Walt Disney Company (Hercules)
β
Let's swim to the moon
Let's climb through the tide
Surrender to the waiting worlds
That lap against our side.
β
β
Jim Morrison
β
Beyond the picket fences and the oil wells, the happy endings, and the fairy tales, is the reality of shattered lives and broken dreams. We carry on.
β
β
Tim McGraw
β
If actions speak louder than words
Iβm the most deafening noise youβve heard
Iβll be that ringing in your ears
That will stick around for years
β
β
Touche Amore
β
So when your hopes on fire,
But you know your desire,
Don't hold a glass over the flame,
Don't let your heart grow cold,
I will call you by name,
I will share your road.
β
β
Mumford & Sons
β
Where it all ends I can't fathom, my friends.
If I knew, I might toss out my anchor.
β
β
Jimmy Buffett
β
Don't let your eyes refuse to see
Don't let your ears refuse to hear
β
β
Ray LaMontagne
β
If I could be anywhere, where would I be?
β
β
Tom Felton
β
We should get jerseys, cause we make a good team; but yours would look better than mine, cause you're outta my league.
β
β
Relient K (Relient K Five Score and Seven Years Ago 5)
β
Isn't this enough? Just this world? Just THIS?
β
β
Tim Minchin
β
We didn't land on plymouth rock, Plymouth rock landed on us".
β
β
Malcolm X
β
She's like a bullet through an ocean,
I still remember how you moved so slow,
You tried to kill me with a shot gun,
Bang!
Now we're even,
We don't stop till someone's bleeding!
β
β
Pierce the Veil
β
Iβd forgotten to keep blasting a song in my mind. I remedied my mistake, but the lyrics to βDo You Really Want to Hurt Meβ seemed too close to home at the mo-ment.
βCulture Club?β Now his mouth curled downward. βAnd you accuse me of practicing cruel and unusual punishment.
β
β
Jeaniene Frost (Once Burned (Night Prince, #1))
β
Phillip is a repository of random snatches of film dialogue and song lyrics. To make room for all of it in his brain, he apparently cleared out all the areas where things like reason and common sense are stored.
β
β
Jonathan Tropper (This is Where I Leave You)
β
But everything I have to give, I'll give to you
β
β
Ray LaMontagne
β
Loving you is like Listening to a song For the first time And somehow knowing all the lyrics
β
β
L.J. Shen (Pretty Reckless (All Saints High, #1))
β
Her quiet sobs were absorbed into the aria of their voices, their protection and love enveloping her pain and carrying her song.
β
β
Jennifer Wizbowski (Poinsettia Girl: The Story of Agata della Pieta)
β
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 ...
β
β
Eagles (Hotel California (Authentic Guitar-tab: Alfred's Classic Album Editions))
β
The vast open sea at night is a song being written; a rhyme, a mysterious and gentle arpeggiated work of Beethoven. It's sung by the waves as they travel on the face of the ocean, and their lyrics are the rhythm of the pounding surf.
β
β
Giselle V. Steele (Rivers Never Fill The Sea)
β
Where do babies come from? Don't bother asking adults. They lie like pigs. However, diligent independent research and hours of playground consultation have yielded fruitful, if tentative, results. There are several theories. Near as we can figure out, it has something to do with acting ridiculous in the dark. We believe it is similar to dogs when they act peculiar and ride each other. This is called "making love". Careful study of popular song lyrics, advertising catch-lines, TV sitcoms, movies, and T-Shirt inscriptions offers us significant clues as to its nature. Apparently it makes grown-ups insipid and insane. Some graffiti was once observed that said "sex is good". All available evidence, however, points to the contrary.
β
β
Matt Groening (Childhood Is Hell)
β
I touched my lips to hers again, and this time, it was a very different sort of kiss. It was six yearsβ worth of kissing, her lips coming to life under mine, tasting of orange and of desire. Her fingers ran through my sideburns and into my hair before linking around my neck, alive and cool on my warm skin. I was wild and tame and pulled into shreds and crushed into being all at once. For once in my human life, my mind didnβt wander to compose a song lyric or store the moment for later reflection. For once in my life, I was here and nowhere else. -Sam
β
β
Maggie Stiefvater (Shiver (The Wolves of Mercy Falls, #1))
β
And god damit,
I can barely say your name,
So I'll try to write it,
And fill the pen with blood from the sink.
β
β
Pierce the Veil
β
I'll stay awake
because the dark's not taking prisoner's tonight.
β
β
Twenty-One Pilots
β
Love is a hollow word which seems at home in song lyrics and greeting cards, until you fall in love and discover itβs disconcerting power. Depression means nothing more than the blues, commercially packaged angst, a hole in the ground; until you find itβs black weight settled inside your motherβs chest, disrupting her breathing, leaching her days, and yours, of colour and the nights of rest.
β
β
Jerry Pinto (Em and The Big Hoom)
β
We sang, nearly shouting the lyrics, the wind clipping at our voices. They say a song can be a bridge, Ma. But I say it's also the ground we stand on. And maybe we sing to keep ourselves from falling. Maybe we sing to keep ourselves.
β
β
Ocean Vuong (On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous)
β
For quiet times disappear listen to the ocean
β
β
Tupac Shakur
β
But
You
Don't
Know
What
It's
Like.
β
β
Pierce the Veil
β
I danced along a colored wind/
Dangled from a rope of sand
β
β
Tom Waits (Lyrics of Tom Waits: The Early Years, 1971-1983)
β
The sun will shine in my back door one day..
β
β
Jerry Garcia
β
The dilemma of the eighth-grade dance is that boys and girls use music in different ways. Girls enjoy music they can dance to, music with strong vocals and catchy melodies. Boys, on the other hand, enjoy music they can improve by making up filthy new lyrics.
β
β
Rob Sheffield (Love Is a Mix Tape: Life and Loss, One Song at a Time)
β
Oh you're in my blood like holy wine
You taste so bitter and so sweet
Oh I could drink a case of you darling
And I would still be on my feet
Oh I would still be on my feet
β
β
Joni Mitchell (Joni Mitchell: The Complete Poems and Lyrics)
β
I haven't changed, but I know I ain't the same.
β
β
Jakob Dylan
β
Am I the only one
wishing life away?
Never caught up in the moment
busy begging the past to stay
Memories painted with much brighter ink;
they tell me I loved, teach me how to think.
β
β
Dodie Clark
β
Put your faith in what you most believe in.
β
β
Phil Collins (Disney's Tarzan: Easy Piano)
β
Pray to your God, open your heart.
Whatever you do, don't be afraid of the dark.
β
β
Jared Leto
β
And baby, the way you move me it's crazy
β
β
Ray LaMontagne
β
I thought I could let you go
I thought that you could leave and know
The time we took would fade
But Iβm colder than the bed where we lay
You let go if you like, Iβll hold on
Say no all you want, Iβm not done
Baby, I promise you
Did you think Iβd let you go?
Thatβs never happening and now you know
Take your time, Iβll wait
Regretting every last thing I said
β
β
Kylie Scott (Lick (Stage Dive, #1))
β
Will sat where he was, gazing at the silver bowl in front of him; a white rose was floating in it, and he seemed prepared to stare at it until it went under. In the Kitchen Bridget was still singing one of her awful sad songs; the lyrics drifted in through the door:
"Twas on an evening fair I went to take the air,
I heard a maid making her moan;
Said, 'Saw ye my father? Or ye my mother?
Or saw ye my brother John?
Or saw ye the lad that I love best,
And his name it is Sweet William?"
I may murder her, Tessa thought. Let her make a song about that.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (Clockwork Prince (The Infernal Devices, #2))
β
maybe memories are like karaoke-where you realize up on the stage, with all those lyrics scrawling across the screen's bottom, and with everybody clapping at you, that you didn't know even half the lyrics to your all-time favourite song. Only afterwards, when someone else is up on stage humiliating themselves amid the clapping and laughing, do you realize that what you liiked most about your favourite song was precisely your ignorance of its full meaning- and you read more into it than maybe existed in the first place. I think it's better to not know the lyrics to your life.
β
β
Douglas Coupland (The Gum Thief)
β
Your life is a movie. You are the main character. You say your scripts and act to your lines. Of course you do your lines in each scene. There is a hidden camera and a director who you can ask for help anytime up above.
β
β
Diana Rose Morcilla
β
Yes, and only if my own true love was waiting
If I could hear his heart softly pounding
Yes, and only if he was lying by me
Would I lie in my bed once again.
β
β
Bob Dylan
β
Other memories stick, no matter how much you wish they wouldnβt. Theyβre like a song you hate but canβt ever get completely out of your head, and this song becomes the background noise of your entire life, snippets of lyrics and lines of music floating up and then receding, a crazy kind of tide that never stops.
β
β
Sara Zarr (Sweethearts)
β
I'm a wanderess
I'm a one night stand
Don't belong to no city
Don't belong to no man
(Note: These lyrics were inspired by Roman Payne's quote from his novel "The Wanderess".)
β
β
Halsey
β
Jason took me by the shouldersβnot out of anger, or in a clinging way, but as a brother. βPromise me one thing. Whatever happens, when you get back to Olympus, when youβre a god again, remember. Remember what itβs like to be human.β
A few weeks ago, I would have scoffed. Why would I want to remember any of this?
At best, if I were lucky enough to reclaim my divine throne, I would recall this wretched experience like a scary B-movie that had finally ended. I would walk out of the cinema into the sunlight, thinking Phew! Glad thatβs over.
Now, however, I had some inkling of what Jason meant. I had learned a lot about human frailty and human strength. I feltβ¦different toward mortals, having been one of them. If nothing else, it would provide me with some excellent inspiration for new song lyrics!
β
β
Rick Riordan (The Burning Maze (The Trials of Apollo, #3))
β
And givin' yourself to me can never be wrong
β
β
Marvin Gaye
β
Who Knew I'd Make Her So Blue.
β
β
Kathleen Glasgow (Girl in Pieces)
β
Songs can be incredibly prophetic, like subconscious warnings or messages to myself, but I often don't know what I'm trying to say till years later. Or a prediction comes true and I couldn't do anything to stop it, so it seems like a kind of useless magic.
β
β
Florence Welch (Useless Magic: Lyrics and Poetry)
β
Written up in marker on a factory sign:
I struggle with the feeling that my life isn't mine
β
β
Coldplay (Mylo Xyloto #2: Cover-Up)
β
They call her love, love, love, love, love. She is love, and she is all I need.
β
β
Parachute Band
β
The nights were mainly made for saying things you can't say tomorrow day.
β
β
Alex Turner
β
Get up, get out, get away from these liars
'Cause they don't get your soul or your fire
Take my hand, knot your fingers through mine
And we'll walk from this dark room for the last time
β
β
Snow Patrol
β
Lost in a daydream.
β
β
Jared Leto
β
Music replays the past memories, awaken our forgotten worlds and make our minds travel.
β
β
Michael Bassey Johnson
β
Maybe I didn't treat you
Quite as good as I should have
Maybe I didn't love you
Quite as often as I could have
Little things I should have said and done
I just never took the time
You were always on my mind
You were always on my mind
β
β
Elvis Presley
β
I thought I was a fool for no one;
But ooh baby I'm a fool for you;
You're the queen of the superficial;
how long before you tell the truth?
β
β
Matthew Bellamy
β
I feel the hate,
Welling up inside,
And it's to late,
Nowhere to run and hide.
β
β
falling in reverse
β
Good authors, too, who once knew better words now only use four-letter words writing prose... anything goes.
β
β
Cole Porter
β
I am not afraid, said Noah
I was born for this".
β
β
Alice Oseman (I Was Born for This (I Was Born for This, #1))
β
All your children are poor unfortunate victims of systems beyond their control
β
β
Frank Zappa
β
Dreams that last hold secrets from the past.
Out of reach. Impossible to breach.
Fragile to clutch. Fleeting to touch.
Like stars and snowflakes and visions all aglow.
Time is endless in our youth. Our dreams are rustproof.
Our time to chase is aloof.
From the horizon of hope comes the challenge to dare.
Our time to dream has changed in midair.
Dreams that last hold secrets from the pastβ
βuniquely ours to share if we so care.
Starla Jordan's therapy - writing song lyrics or poetry.
β
β
JoDee Neathery (A Kind of Hush)
β
In My Daughter's Eyes Lyrics
In my daughter's eyes I am a hero
I am strong and wise and I know no fear
But the truth is plain to see
She was sent to rescue me
I see who I want to be
In my daughter's eyes
In my daughter's eyes
Everyone is equal
Darkness turns to light
And the world is at peace
This miracle God gave to me
Gives me strength when I'm weak
I find reason to believe
In my daughter's eyes
And when she wraps her hand around my finger
Oh it puts a smile in my heart
Everything becomes a little clearer
I realize what life is all about
It's hangin' on when your heart
Is had enough
It's givin' more when you feel like givin' up
I've seen the light
It's in my daughter's eyes
In my daughter's eyes
I can see the future
A reflection of who I am
And what we'll be
And though she'll grow and someday leave
Maybe raise a family
When I'm gone
I hope you'll see
How happy she made me
For I'll be there
In my daughter's eyes
β
β
Martina McBride
β
It's better to regret something you have done than to regret something you HAVEN'T done.
β
β
the butthole surfers
β
Light a candle for the sinners set the world on fire
β
β
Marilyn Manson
β
You win some, you learn some.
β
β
Jason Mraz
β
What if I can't forget you?
I'll burn your name into my throat,
I'll be the fire that'll catch you.
What's so good about picking up the pieces?
What if I don't even want to?
β
β
Caraphernelia by Pierce The Veil
β
When I sew you up...
Don't let me,
Stop bleeding,
Tiny stitches that you placed into my skin,
Won't let me go,
And they're ruining the mood.
β
β
Pierce the Veil
β
Now I'm a warrior
Now i've got thicker skin
I'm a warrior
I'm stronger than i've ever been
And my amor
Is made of steel you can't get in
i'm a warrior
And you can never hurt me again
β
β
Demi Lovato (Demi)
β
I feel the madness creeping slowly,
Loved by many,
I'm still lonely,
Paid the price for your mistakes,
The music died the day I walked away.
β
β
falling in reverse
β
the poets down here don't write nothin' at all, they just stand back and let it all be...
β
β
Bruce Springsteen
β
We ache with the yearning
that turns half into whole
and offer no excuses
for the beauty of our souls.
β
β
Aberjhani (Songs from the Black Skylark zPed Music Player)
β
The life I walk binds my hands
it makes me take things that I donβt understand I walk this dark world unknowing of what they hold true,
forgetting the me I once knew,
until you.
The life I walk eternally was all I knew nothing more held me here to this earth until you.
I feel the pain of every heart I take I feel the desire to replace all that I have grown to hate Darkness holds me close but the light still draws my empty soul
The emptiness where I used pain to fill the hole no longer controls me, no longer calls me because of you.
β
β
Abbi Glines (Existence (Existence, #1))
β
You've gone and sewn me to this bed,
The taste of you and me,
Will never leave my lips again,
Under the blinding rain,
I wanna hold your hand so tight,
I'm gonna break my wrist,
And when the vultures sing tonight,
I'm gonna join right in.
β
β
Pierce the Veil
β
I shouldnβt want the song to end. I always think of each night as a song. Or each moment as a song. But now Iβm seeing we donβt live in a single song. We move from song to song, from lyric to lyric, from chord to chord. There is no ending here. Itβs an infinite playlist.
β
β
David Levithan (Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist)
β
Closing up. Finally spent.
You are gone.
And now you're moving along.
Heavy now. Tears remain.
Hard pressed to rest.
When all I feel like is a mess.
Now, don't you worry your head.
You're not my one and only friend.
And I don't need you anymore.
To leave me bruised and broken on the floor.
You left me bruised. You left me broken.
You left me bruised. You left me broken.
β
β
K.A. Linde (Avoiding Commitment (Avoiding, #1))
β
Because there arenβt thousands of books and poems and movies out there to describe exactly what Iβm feeling, or lyrically beautiful songs for me to cry to and sing along with in the car. Thereβs no guidebook on how to survive this kind of fallout, no prescribed remedy to soothe this particular kind of pain. Romantic breakups are romanticized
constantly, talked about everywhere by everyone, but platonic breakups are
swept to the side, suffered in secret, as if theyβre somehow less important.
β
β
Ann Liang (This Time It's Real)
β
With your silhouette when the sunlight dims
Into your eyes where the moonlight swims,
And your match-book songs and your gypsy hymns,
Who among them would try to impress you?
-Bob Dylan, "Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlandsβ (1966)
β
β
Bob Dylan (Lyrics, 1962-2001)
β
The moment that's where I,
Kill the conversation wrap this up a lie that I'm enjoying every minute with myself,
And she could make hell feel just like home,
So I'm never leaving her alone,
But if your lightning lips aren't mine,
Then I don't know the awkward stranger to my right,
( but she's crying )
β
β
Pierce the Veil
β
Remind me again what's wrong with Dave Matthews?"
"Basically everything, except technical proficiency," Walter said.
"Right."
"But maybe especially the banality of the lyrics. 'Gotta be free, so free, yeah, yeah, yeah. Can't live without my freedom, yeah yeah.' That's pretty much every song.
β
β
Jonathan Franzen (Freedom)
β
The song was about a girl who didn't fit in and she didn't care and she was different than everyone else. I think there's a long chorus of me singing "Do do do do do do do do do do". It's very young and I look back and it's kind of interesting to hear those kind of storylines and the lyrics that I used to write compared to the lyrics that I write now.
β
β
Taylor Swift
β
It may not feel too classy, begging just to eat
But you know who does that?
Lassie, and she always gets a treat
So you wonder what your part is
Because you're homeless and depressed But home is where the heart is
So your real home's in your chest
Everyone's a hero in their own way Everyone's got villains they must face
They're not as cool as mine
But folks you know it's fine to know your place
Everyone's a hero in their own way
In their own not-that-heroic way
So I thank my girlfriend Penny
Yeah, we totally had sex
She showed me there's so many different muscles I can flex
There's the deltoids of compassion,
There's the abs of being kind
It's not enough to bash in heads
You've got to bash in minds
Everyone's a hero in their own way Everyone's got something they can do Get up go out and fly
Especially that guy, he smells like poo
Everyone's a hero in their own way
You and you and mostly me and you
I'm poverty's new sheriff
And I'm bashing in the slums
A hero doesn't care if you're a bunch of scary alcoholic bums
Everybody!
Everyone's a hero in their own way Everyone can blaze a hero's trail
Don't worry if it's hard
If you're not a friggin 'tard you will prevail
Everyone's a hero in their own way Everyone's a hero in their...
β
β
Joss Whedon (Dr. Horribleβs Sing-Along Blog: The Book)
β
So Jason, in England, do you eat these βFarmer burgers?ββ Wong Tong asked.
βFarmer burgers? I donβt know what they are?β
βMaybe I have the name wrong. I remember the name from the song,β Wong Tong explained.
βWhat song?β Jason asked.
βYou know the βE, I, E, I, Oβ song.β
βE, I, E, I, Oβ song?
Jason started to roar with laughter. He tried to speak but was laughing, much to the annoyance of Wong Tong. He held his chest, laughing still hurt his ribs.
βYou mean the βOld Macdonald had a farmβ song. You mean Macdonaldβs burgers,β he said, laughing. βYes, I have had them. Theyβre good.
β
β
Mark A. Cooper (Revenge (Jason Steed, #2))
β
If you really want me to be safe, maybe it's time."
"I'd just feel safer if you'd start sleeping in a coffin."
Just then my door creaked open.
Billy's expression turned to surprise.
"Get out!" I said, hopping off the bed. "Uh...we are making up lyrics to a song."
But that didn't keep Billy out. Instead he was totally interested.
"You're writing a song? That's so cool. I want to hear it."
"It goes, 'Safer in a coffin, and if your brother doesn't leave, he'll be in one too.
β
β
Ellen Schreiber (Cryptic Cravings (Vampire Kisses, #8))
β
Did I live the spring Iβd sought?
Itβs true in joy, I walked along,
took part in dance,
and sang the song.
and never tried to bind an hour
to my borrowed garden bower;
nor did I once entreat
a day to slumber at my feet.
Yet days arenβt lulled by lyric song,
like morning birds they pass along,
oβer crests of trees, to none belong;
oβer crests of trees of drying dew,
their larking flight, my hands, eschew
Thus Iβll say it once and trueβ¦
From all that I saw,
and everywhere I wandered,
I learned that time cannot be spent,
It only can be squandered.
β
β
Roman Payne (Rooftop Soliloquy)
β
And you've screwed me up, Lib, because now I'm thinking in lyrics instead of original thoughts. I'm look at you and trying to find the words to convince you to be with me, and do you know what comes into you head? You showed me colors you know I can't see with anyone else. They aren't my words, I don't even know what song of album they're from, for God's sake, but it's exactly how I feel. And you taught me a secret language I can't speak with anyone else-like, I can't remember who wrote that, but I feel it down to the marrow in my bones. Being with you has changed the threads of my existence, I swear to God, so now being without you makes everything quieter, dimmer and duller. So. Much. Smaller.
β
β
Lynn Painter (Nothing Like the Movies (Better Than the Movies, #2))
β
Are you, are you
Coming to the tree
They strung up a man
They say who murdered three.
Strange things did happen here
No stranger would it be
If we met at midnight
In the hanging tree.
Are you, are you
Coming to the tree
Where the dead man called out
For his love to flee.
Strange things did happen here
No stranger would it be
If we met at midnight
In the hanging tree.
Are you, are you
Coming to the tree
Where I told you to run,
So we'd both be free.
Strange things did happen here
No stranger would it be
If we met at midnight
In the hanging tree.
Are you, are you
Coming to the tree
Wear a necklace of rope,
Side by side with me.
Strange things did happen here
No stranger would it be
If we met at midnight
In the hanging tree.
β
β
Suzanne Collins (Mockingjay (The Hunger Games, #3))
β
Words Are Windows (or Theyβre Walls)
I feel so sentenced by your words,
I feel so judged and sent away,
Before I go Iβve got to know,
Is that what you mean to say?
Before I rise to my defense,
Before I speak in hurt or fear,
Before I build that wall of words,
Tell me, did I really hear?
Words are windows, or theyβre walls,
They sentence us, or set us free.
When I speak and when I hear,
Let the love light shine through me.
There are things I need to say,
Things that mean so much to me,
If my words donβt make me clear,
Will you help me to be free?
If I seemed to put you down,
If you felt I didnβt care,
Try to listen through my words,
To the feelings that we share.
-βRuth Bebermeyer
β
β
Marshall B. Rosenberg
β
Sad Songs
Once there was a boy who couldn't speak but owned a music box that held every song in all the world. One day he met a girl who had never heard a single melody in her entire life and so he played her his favorite song. He watched while her face lit up with wonder as the music filled the sky and the poetry of lyrics moved her in a way she had never felt before.
He would play his songs for her day after day and she would sit by him quietlyβnever seeming to mind that he could only speak to her through song. She loved everything he played for her, but of them allβshe loved the sad songs best. So he began to play them more and more until eventually, sad songs were all she would hear.
One day, he noticed it had been a very long time since her last smile. When he asked her why, she took both his hands in hers and kissed them warmly. She thanked him for his gift of music and poetry but above all elseβfor showing her sadness because she had known neither of these things before him. But it was now time for her to go awayβto find someone who could show her what happiness was.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Do you remember the song that was playing the night we met?
No, but I remember every song I have heard since you left.
β
β
Lang Leav (Love & Misadventure)
β
Her close friends have gathered.
Lord, ain't it a shame
Grieving together
Sharing the blame.
But when she was dying
Lord, we let her down.
There's no use cryin'
It can't help her now.
The party's all over
Drink up and go home.
It's too late to love her
And leave her alone.
Just say she was someone
Lord, so far from home
Whose life was so lonesome
She died all alone
Who dreamed pretty dreams
That never came true
Lord, why was she born
So black and blue?
Oh, why was she born
So black and blue?
Epitaph (Black And Blue)
Written by: Kris Kristofferson
Note: "Epitaph" is about Janis Joplin.
β
β
Kris Kristofferson
β
When she awoke there was a melody in her head she could not identify or recall ever hearing before. 'Perhaps I made it up,' she thought. Then it came to her - the name of the song and all its lyrics just as she had heard it many times before. She sat on the edge of the bed thinking, 'There aren't any more new songs and I have sung all the ones there are. I have sung them all. I have sung all the songs there are.
β
β
Toni Morrison (Sula)
β
You werenβt meant for the ice, you werenβt made for the pain.
The world that lives inside of me was not the world you were meant to contain.
You were meant for castles and living in the sun. Thecold running through me should have made you run.
Yet you stay. Holding onto me, yet you stay, reachingout a hand that I push away. The cold is not meant for you yet you stay, you stay, you stay. When I know itβs not right for you.
The ice fills my veins and I canβt feel the pain, yet youβre there like the heat that sends me screaming in fear.
I canβt feel the warmth I need to feel the ice. I want to hold it all in and numb it till I canβt feel the knife.
Your heat threatens to melt it all and I know I canβt bear the pain if the ice melts away.
So I push you away and I scream out your name and I know I canβt need you yet you give anyway and I run wishing you would run too.
Yet you stay. Holding onto me yet you stay reaching out a hand that I push away. The cold is not meant for you yet you stay, you stay, you stay. When I know itβs not right for you.
The blackness is my shield. I pull it closer still.
Youβre the light that I hide from, the light that I hate.
Youβre the light to this darkness and I canβt let you stay.
I need the dark around me like I need the ice in my veins.
The cold is my healer. The cold is my safe place. Youarenβt welcome with your heat you donβt belong beside me.
I hate you yet I love, I donβt want you yet I need you.
The dark will always be my cloak and you are the threat to unveil my pain, so leave. Leave and erase the memories.
I need to face the life thatβs meant for me. Donβt stay and ruin all my plans.
You canβt have my soul Iβm not a man.
The empty vessel I dwell in is not meant to feel the heat you bring. I push you away and I push you away.
Yet you stay.
β
β
Abbi Glines (Existence (Existence, #1))
β
Ridge: I'm only going to say this once, Sydney. Are you ready? Me: Oh, God. No. I'm turning off my phone. Ridge: I know where you live. Me: Fine. Ridge: You're incredible. Those lyrics. I can't even describe to you how perfect they are for the song. How in the hell does that come out of you? And why can't you see that you need to LET it come out of you? Don't hold it in. You're doing the world a huge disservice with your modesty. I know I agreed not to ask you for more, but that was because I really didn't expect to get what I got from you. I need more. Give me, give me, give me.
β
β
Colleen Hoover (Maybe Someday (Maybe, #1))
β
Everybody Hurts
When the day is long and the night, the night is yours alone,
When you're sure you've had enough of this life, well hang on
Don't let yourself go, 'cause everybody cries and everybody hurts sometimes
Sometimes everything is wrong. Now it's time to sing along
When your day is night alone, (hold on, hold on)
If you feel like letting go, (hold on)
When you think you've had too much of this life, well hang on
'Cause everybody hurts. Take comfort in your friends
Everybody hurts. Don't throw your hand. Oh, no. Don't throw your hand
If you feel like you're alone, no, no, no, you are not alone
If you're on your own in this life, the days and nights are long,
When you think you've had too much of this life to hang on
Well, everybody hurts sometimes,
Everybody cries. And everybody hurts sometimes
And everybody hurts sometimes. So, hold on, hold on
Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on
Everybody hurts. You are not alone
β
β
R.E.M.
β
Mariah Careyβs βObsessedβ is blaring from all angles around me.Β Kai barks a laugh from the bench, but other than him, no one questions his brotherβs song choice. Instead, the entire stadium is bursting, singing along with the lyrics while Isaiahβs teammates are joining right in with their own karaoke renditions. Our wedding song is on full blast as Isaiah makes his way to the plate, but before he gets there, he turns back in my direction. With the entire stadium singing the song I walked down the aisle to, Isaiah extends his bat, points at me, and winks. He fucking winks. Itβs the moment reality hits meβ¦ Miller was right. I think I might have a crush on my husband.
β
β
Liz Tomforde (Play Along (Windy City, #4))
β
I have always seen great value in practicing kindness. Although I had no money to buy gifts as a child, I gave my friends the gift of song to cheer them up. Depending on the situation, Iβd sing to them and make up melodies and lyrics on the spot about whatever was going on in their lives. If a girlfriend was lonely or heartbroken, Iβd make up a song about the handsome and adoring boyfriend I imagined coming into her life. Or if a friend felt deprived or neglected, Iβd make up a song about a gift of a shiny new doll, or a velvet party dress, that I knew would make her happy.
β
β
Tina Turner (Happiness Becomes You: A Guide to Changing Your Life for Good)
β
It was the way he wore the place. You expected him any moment to break into the kind of song that has suspicious rhymes and phrases like "my kind of town" and "I wanna be a part of it" in it; the kind of song where people dance in the street and give the singer apples and join in and a dozen lowly matchgirls suddenly show amazing choreographical ability and everyone acts like cheery lovable citizens instead of the murderous, evil-minded, self-centered people they suspect themselves to be. But the point was that if Carrot had erupted into a song, people WOULD have joined in. Carrot could have jollied up a circle of standing stones to form up behind him and do a rumba.
β
β
Terry Pratchett (Men at Arms: The Play)
β
A Kite is a Victim
A kite is a victim you are sure of.
You love it because it pulls
gentle enough to call you master,
strong enough to call you fool;
because it lives
like a desperate trained falcon
in the high sweet air,
and you can always haul it down
to tame it in your drawer.
A kite is a fish you have already caught
in a pool where no fish come,
so you play him carefully and long,
and hope he won't give up,
or the wind die down.
A kite is the last poem you've written
so you give it to the wind,
but you don't let it go
until someone finds you
something else to do.
A kite is a contract of glory
that must be made with the sun,
so you make friends with the field
the river and the wind,
then you pray the whole cold night before,
under the travelling cordless moon,
to make you worthy and lyric and pure.
Gift
You tell me that silence
is nearer to peace than poems
but if for my gift
I brought you silence
(for I know silence)
you would say
This is not silence
this is another poem
and you would hand it back to me
There are some men
There are some men
who should have mountains
to bear their names through time
Grave markers are not high enough
or green
and sons go far away to lose the fist
their fatherβs hand will always seem
I had a friend he lived and died
in mighty silence and with dignity
left no book son or lover to mourn.
Nor is this a mourning song
but only a naming of this mountain
on which I walk
fragrant, dark and softly white
under the pale of mist
I name this mountain after him.
-Believe nothing of me
Except that I felt your beauty
more closely than my own.
I did not see any cities burn,
I heard no promises of endless night,
I felt your beauty
more closely than my own.
Promise me that I will return.-
-When you call me close
to tell me
your body is not beautiful
I want to summon
the eyes and hidden mouths
of stone and light and water
to testify against you.-
Song
I almost went to bed
without remembering
the four white violets
I put in the button-hole
of your green sweater
and how i kissed you then
and you kissed me
shy as though I'd
never been your lover
-Reach into the vineyard of arteries for my heart.
Eat the fruit of ignorance and share with me the mist and
fragrance of dying.-
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Leonard Cohen (The Spice-Box of Earth)
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There are monsters all around us
They can be so hard to see
hey don't have fangs, no blood-soaked claws
They look like you and me.
But we're not defenseless
We're no damsels in distress
Together we can fend off the attack
All we gotta do is watch our backs.
Your body is beautiful how it is
Who you love is nobody's business
We all contemplate life and death
It's the poet who gives these thoughts
breath.
The monster is strong, don't be mistaken
It thrives on fear-keeps us isolated
But together we can fend off its attack
All we gotta do is watch our backs.
In your darkest hour
When the fight's made you weary
When you think you've lost your power
When you can't see clearly
When you're ready to surrender
Give in to the black
look over your shoulder
I've got your back.
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Gayle Forman (Sisters in Sanity)
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There is evidence that the honoree [Leonard Cohen] might be privy to the secret of the universe, which, in case you're wondering, is simply this: everything is connected. Everything. Many, if not most, of the links are difficult to determine. The instrument, the apparatus, the focused ray that can uncover and illuminate those connections is language. And just as a sudden infatuation often will light up a person's biochemical atmosphere more pyrotechnically than any deep, abiding attachment, so an unlikely, unexpected burst of linguistic imagination will usually reveal greater truths than the most exacting scholarship. In fact. The poetic image may be the only device remotely capable of dissecting romantic passion, let alone disclosing the inherent mystical qualities of the material world.
Cohen is a master of the quasi-surrealistic phrase, of the "illogical" line that speaks so directly to the unconscious that surface ambiguity is transformed into ultimate, if fleeting, comprehension: comprehension of the bewitching nuances of sex and bewildering assaults of culture. Undoubtedly, it is to his lyrical mastery that his prestigious colleagues now pay tribute. Yet, there may be something else. As various, as distinct, as rewarding as each of their expressions are, there can still be heard in their individual interpretations the distant echo of Cohen's own voice, for it is his singing voice as well as his writing pen that has spawned these songs.
It is a voice raked by the claws of Cupid, a voice rubbed raw by the philosopher's stone. A voice marinated in kirschwasser, sulfur, deer musk and snow; bandaged with sackcloth from a ruined monastery; warmed by the embers left down near the river after the gypsies have gone.
It is a penitent's voice, a rabbinical voice, a crust of unleavened vocal toasts -- spread with smoke and subversive wit. He has a voice like a carpet in an old hotel, like a bad itch on the hunchback of love. It is a voice meant for pronouncing the names of women -- and cataloging their sometimes hazardous charms. Nobody can say the word "naked" as nakedly as Cohen. He makes us see the markings where the pantyhose have been.
Finally, the actual persona of their creator may be said to haunt these songs, although details of his private lifestyle can be only surmised. A decade ago, a teacher who called himself Shree Bhagwan Rajneesh came up with the name "Zorba the Buddha" to describe the ideal modern man: A contemplative man who maintains a strict devotional bond with cosmic energies, yet is completely at home in the physical realm. Such a man knows the value of the dharma and the value of the deutschmark, knows how much to tip a waiter in a Paris nightclub and how many times to bow in a Kyoto shrine, a man who can do business when business is necessary, allow his mind to enter a pine cone, or dance in wild abandon if moved by the tune. Refusing to shun beauty, this Zorba the Buddha finds in ripe pleasures not a contradiction but an affirmation of the spiritual self. Doesn't he sound a lot like Leonard Cohen?
We have been led to picture Cohen spending his mornings meditating in Armani suits, his afternoons wrestling the muse, his evenings sitting in cafes were he eats, drinks and speaks soulfully but flirtatiously with the pretty larks of the street. Quite possibly this is a distorted portrait. The apocryphal, however, has a special kind of truth.
It doesn't really matter. What matters here is that after thirty years, L. Cohen is holding court in the lobby of the whirlwind, and that giants have gathered to pay him homage. To him -- and to us -- they bring the offerings they have hammered from his iron, his lead, his nitrogen, his gold.
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Tom Robbins
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Being older, I began to understand the lyrics. At the beginning, it sounds like a guy is trying to get his girlfriend to secretly meet up with him at midnight. But itβs an odd place for a tryst, a hanging tree, where a man was hung for murder. The murdererβs lover must have had something to do with the killing, or maybe they were just going to punish her anyway, because his corpse called out for her to flee. Thatβs weird obviously, the talking-corpse bit, but itβs not until the third verse that βThe Hanging Treeβ begins to get unnerving. You realize the singer of the song is the dead murderer. Heβs still in the hanging tree. And even though he told his lover to flee, he keeps asking if sheβs coming to meet him. The phrase Where I told you to run, so weβd both be free is the most troubling because at first you think heβs talking about when he told her to flee, presumably to safety. But then you wonder if he meant for her to run to him. To death. In the final stanza, itβs clear that thatβs what he was waiting for. His lover, with her rope necklace, hanging dead next to him in the tree.
I used to think the murderer was the creepiest guy imaginable. Now, with a couple of trips to the Hunger Games under my belt, I decide not to judge him without knowing more details. Maybe his lover was already sentenced to death and he was trying to make it easier. To let her know heβd be waiting. Or maybe he thought the place he was leaving her was really worse than death. Didnβt I want to kill Peeta with that syringe to save him from the Capitol? Was that really my only option? Probably not, but I couldnβt think of another at the time.
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Suzanne Collins (Mockingjay (The Hunger Games, #3))
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The lions of hard rock, guys like Robert Plant, Roger Daltrey, Brian Johnson, Rob Halford, these monsters feel completely timeless, iconic, eternal. They simply shall not, will not, do not die. It's almost impossible to imagine a musical world without Robert Plant. No metal fan of any stripe can imagine a day when, say, Iron Maiden shuts it all down because Bruce Dickinson turned 85 and suddenly can't remember the lyrics to "Hallowed Be Thy Name." Metal revels in the raw energy and unchecked phantasmagorical ridiculousness of youth. It is all fire and testosterone and rebellious fantasy. It doesn't go well with reality.
So it is for hard rock and a guy like Dio, an elfin titan with an undying love for lasers and sorcery, dragons and kings. The man wrote some terribly corny metal songs, but he sang every one with a ferocity and love and total honesty. He also wrote some of the finest hard rock melodies of all time, sang them with a precision and love unmatched by any hard rock singer since. It's a rare thing to give metal some heartfelt props. It is time. Raise your devil horns and salute.
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Mark Morford
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I had no songs in my repertoire for commercial radio anyway. Songs about debauched bootleggers, mothers that drowned their own children, Cadillacs that only got five miles to the gallon, floods, union hall fires, darkness and cadavers at the bottom of rivers weren't for radiophiles. There was nothing easygoing about the folk songs I sang. They weren't friendly or ripe with mellowness. They didn't come gently to the shore. I guess you could say they weren't commercial.
Not only that, my style was too erratic and hard to pigeonhole for the radio, and songs, to me, were more important that just light entertainment. They were my preceptor and guide into some altered consciousness of reality, some different republic, some liberated republic. Greil Marcus, the music historian, would some thirty years later call it "the invisible republic."
Whatever the case, it wasn't that I was anti-popular culture or anything and I had no ambitions to stir things up. i just thought of popular culture as lame as hell and a big trick. It was like the unbroken sea of frost that lay outside the window and you had to have awkward footgear to walk on it.
I didn't know what age of history we were in nor what the truth of it was. Nobody bothered with that. If you told the truth, that was all well and good and if you told the un-truth, well, that's still well and good. Folk songs taught me that.
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Bob Dylan (Chronicles, Volume One)
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I detest love lyrics. I think one of the causes of bad mental health in the United States is that people have been raised on 'love lyrics'.
You're a young kid and you hear all those 'love lyrics', right? Your parents aren't telling you the truth about love, and you can't really learn about it in school. You're getting the bulk of your 'behaviour norms' mapped out for you in the lyrics to some dumb fucking love song. It's a subconscious training that creates desire for an imaginary situation which will never exist for you. People who buy into that mythology go through life feeling that they got cheated out of something.
What I think is very cynical about some rock and roll songs -- especially today -- is the way they say: "Let's make love." What the fuck kind of wussy says shit like that in the real world? You ought to be able to say "Let's go fuck", or at least "Let's go fill-in-the-blank" -- but you gotta say "Let's make love" in order to get on the radio. This creates a semantic corruption, by changing the context in which the word 'love' is used in the song.
When they get into drooling about love as a 'romantic concept' -- especially in the lyrics of sensitive singer/songwriter types -- that's another shove in the direction of bad mental health.
Fortunately, lyrics over the last five or six years have gotten to be less and less important, with 'art rock groups' and new wavers specializing in 'nonjudgemental' or 'purposely inconsequential' lyrics. People have stopped listening to the lyrics -- they are now only 'pitched mouth noises'.
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Frank Zappa (The Real Frank Zappa Book)
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He was rowed down from the north in a leather skiff manned by a crew of trolls. His fur cape was caked with candle wax, his brow stained blue by wine - though the latter was seldom noticed due to the fox mask he wore at-all times. A quill in his teeth, a solitary teardrop a-squirm in his palm, he was the young poet prince of Montreal, handsome, immaculate, searching for sturdier doors to nail his poignant verses on.
In Manhattan, grit drifted into his ink bottle. In Vienna, his spice box exploded. On the Greek island of Hydra, Orpheus came to him at dawn astride a transparent donkey and restrung his cheap guitar. From that moment on, he shamelessly and willingly exposed himself to the contagion of music. To the secretly religious curiosity of the traveler was added the openly foolhardy dignity of the troubadour. By the time he returned to America, songs were working in him like bees in an attic. Connoisseurs developed cravings for his nocturnal honey, despite the fact that hearts were occasionally stung.
Now, thirty years later, as society staggers towards the millennium - nailing and screeching at the while, like an orangutan with a steak knife in its side - Leonard Cohen, his vision, his gift, his perseverance, are finally getting their due. It may be because he speaks to this wounded zeitgeist with particular eloquence and accuracy, it may be merely cultural time-lag, another example of the slow-to-catch-on many opening their ears belatedly to what the few have been hearing all along. In any case, the sparkle curtain has shredded, the boogie-woogie gate has rocked loose from its hinges, and here sits L. Cohen at an altar in the garden, solemnly enjoying new-found popularity and expanded respect.
From the beginning, his musical peers have recognized CohenΒ΄s ability to establish succinct analogies among lifeΒ΄s realities, his talent for creating intimate relationships between the interior world of longing and language and the exterior world of trains and violins. Even those performers who have neither "covered" his compositions nor been overtly influenced by them have professed to admire their artfulness: the darkly delicious melodies - aural bouquets of gardenia and thistle - that bring to mind an electrified, de-Germanized Kurt Weill; the playfully (and therefore dangerously) mournful lyrics that can peel the apple of love and the peach of lust with a knife that cuts all the way to the mystery, a layer Cole Porter just could`t expose. It is their desire to honor L. Cohen, songwriter, that has prompted a delegation of our brightest artists to climb, one by one, joss sticks smoldering, the steep and salty staircase in the Tower of Song.
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Tom Robbins