From my favorite REK song, and one of his oldest:

Quote:

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And I tried hard to tell you I was no kinda dancer
'Took my hand to prove I was wrong
You guided me gently
Though I thought I could never
We were dancing together at the end of the song

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Fast Fred would have liked this thread.

Roses are red and violets are purple,
Sugar is sweet and so is maple surple.

- Roger Miller, Dang Me

Tanya 93 said:

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I spent four years prostrate to the higher mind
Got my paper and I was free

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I stopped by the bar at 3 A.M
To seek solace in a bottle or possibly a friend
And I woke up with a headache like my head against a board
Twice as cloudy as I'd been the night before
And I went in seeking clarity

Indigo's gots lyrics for days.


If you could read my mind love
What a tale my thoughts could tell
Just like an old time movie
About a ghost from a wishing well
In a castle dark or a fortress strong
With chains upon my feet
You know that ghost is me
And I will never be set free
As long as I'm a ghost you can see.


You can choose a ready guide in some celestial voice.
If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.
You can choose from phantom fears and kindness that can kill;
I will choose a path that's clear-
I will choose Free Will.


I am the son
And the heir
Of a shyness that is criminally vulgar
I am the son and heir
Of nothing in particular

Cash rules everything around me, CREAM, get the money, dolla dolla bill yall

Your own personal Jesus. Pick up the receiver; I'll make you a believer.

I am the eye in the sky, looking at you, I can read your mind.
I am the maker of rules, dealing with fools, I can cheat you blind.

...here in this hopeless fcknig hole we call LA
The only way to fix it is to flush it all away.
Any fcking time, any fcking day.
Learn to swim, I'll see you down in Arizona Bay.

Your black cards can make you money, so you hide them when you're able
In the land of milk and honey, you must put them on the table.

They could hear the riders coming
he said, "this is my last fight"
if they take me back to Texas, they won't take me back alive.

And she knew the gun was empty
and she knew she could not win.
but her final prayer was answered, when the rifles fired again.

I could do this all day...

The op clearly says "line"
Not lines. Not verse. Not chorus. Not song.

But line.

Quote:

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**** you, I won't do what you tell me

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Quote:

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And the poets down here don't write nothing at all

They just stand back and let it all be

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-Bruce Springsteen

What makes the sun set in the west
And birds fly in the sky
And what makes a woman beat her breast
When her children start to cry
And what makes those little ones grow old
To find eternity
And what takes the wise
And leaves behind
A foolish one like me

Baltimore - Lyle Lovett

Blink 182 - Family Reunion

**** piss **** **** ********** mother****er tit fart turd and ****
**** piss **** **** ********** mother****er tit fart turd and ****
**** piss **** **** ********** mother****er tit fart turd and ****
**** piss **** **** ********** mother****er tit fart turd and ****
I ****ed your mom

You can't always get what you want.

schmendeler said:

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Fast Fred would have liked dominated this thread.

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fixed

Like a beetle on its back
I've got to get back on track
-Kaiser Chiefs, Tomato in the Rain

I asked him before he died "What made him cross the line?"
He asked me "Did I mean the line I just stepped across?"

John Prine - Hello in there
"You know old trees just grow stronger. And old rivers grow wilder every day. Old people just grow lonesome, waiting for someone to say 'Hello in there. Hello."

Hagen95 said:

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Quote:

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**** you, I won't do what you tell me

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Well done

Too many Isbell lyrics to spout off without starting a dedicated thread...

Elephants - The entire song is incredible but the last verse sums it up pretty well
I've buried her a thousand times, given up my place in line
But I don't give a damn about that now
There's one thing that's real clear to me: No one dies with dignity
We just try to ignore the elephant somehow

Never Gonna Change - Not real deep but I love these couple lines
My brother got picked up at Parker's, got him a ride in a new Crown Vic.
They said that he was movin' on a federal level but they couldn't really make it stick.
Take it from me

Stockholm
Ships in the harbor and birds on the bluff
Don't move an inch when their anchor goes up
And the difference with me is I've fallen in love
Stockholm let me go home

Live Oak - When taken in the context of his sobreity and the life he used to live this is perfect. Goes for anyone who's made changes or done things in the past they aren't proud of
There's a man who walks beside me
It is who I used to be
And I wonder if she sees him
and confuses him with me
And I wonder who she's pinin' for
on nights I'm not around
Could it be the man who did the things
I'm living now?

Vampires - What I consider to be one of the most well written and beautiful songs I've ever heard
If we were vampires and death was a joke
We'd go out on the sidewalk and smoke
And laugh at all the lovers and their plans
I wouldn't feel the need to hold your hand
Maybe time running out is a gift
I'll work hard 'til the end of my shift
And give you every second I can find
And hope it isn't me who's left behind

Quote:

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"Then it comes to be that the soothing light at the end of your tunnel

Is just a freight train coming your way"

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One of the few Metallica songs i actually like..

Agreed you can pretty much pick any of his songs, I think he's the John Prine of this generation...here's a couple more.

Speed Trap Town:
"Was a tough state trooper 'til a decade back
When that girl who wasn't mama caused his heart attack
He didn't care about us when he was walking around
Just pulling women over in a speed trap town"

Dress Blues:
"There's red, white and blue in the rafters
And there's silent old men from the Corps
What did they say when they shipped you away
To fight somebody's Hollywood war?"

Thinking about it a little more...

Quote:

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And if I'm half the man he is when I die
I don't know if I could ask for too much more
He taught me you only need one hand
To count your real friends in this life
But if you find true love you better take both arms
And hold on 'til you're sore

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Almost all of Isbell's songs have great lyrics.

Songs That She Sang in the Shower

In the room by myself
Looks like I'm here with a guy that I judge worse than anyone else
So I pace and I pray
And I repeat the mantras that might keep me clean for the day

And the songs that she sang in the shower all ring in my ears
Like "Wish You Were Here"
How I wish you were here
And experience robs me of hope that you'll ever return
So I breathe and I burn
I breathe and I burn

I forgot how sad that song is. Isbell can write with the best of them.

Straight outta Compton, crazy mother****er named Ice Cube
From the gang called *****s With Attitudes

John Mayer (judge me): "this is the deep and dying breath of the love that we've been working on"

Notorious BIG: "there's gonna be a lot of slow singing, and flower bringing, if my burgalar alarm starts ringing"

Couple More favs that came to mind

Baby's Got a Whole More - Reckless Kelly
Half my life has passed me by and I never stopped to wonder why
I always felt I had to roam and I never felt like I had a home
Yea but failure's got what victory's got
Repetition's what history's taught
So I guess we all know what's in store
Baby's gotta whole lot more

It Ain't All Flowers - Sturgill Simpson
But it ain't all flowers
Sometimes you gotta feel the thorns
And when you play with the Devil
You know you gonna get the horns

You Can Have the Crown - Sturgill Simpson
Well now Lord if you can hear me won't you throw a damn dog a bone
Cause if the Devil shows up with a better deal this old soul's going down

Feelin Good Again - REK
I wished I had some money with which to buy a round
I wished I cashed my paycheck before I came to town
But I reached into my pocket and found three twenties and a ten
It feels so good feelin good again

And then one day you find ten years have got behind you.
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun.

I'll Go on Downtown - REK
"Well I gave up on smokin' two years ago
And I ain't been drinkin' for a month now or so
And I tell everybody that I've nothin' to hide
While I keep the devil locked deep down inside"

The Late Show - Jackson Browne


You go and pack your sorrow
The trash man comes tomorrow
Leave it at the curb and we'll just roll away

TexjbA&M said:

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John Prine - Hello in there
"You know old trees just grow stronger. And old rivers grow wilder every day. Old people just grow lonesome, waiting for someone to say 'Hello in there. Hello."

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Came on here to post that. Would add another line from that song, "So if you're walking down the street sometime and spot some hollow ancient eye, please don't pass them by and stare, as if you didn't care, say hello in there, hello."

Guy Clark comes to mind also. From "Picasso's Mandolin": I load my brush and fire away, gonna paint me a hole in the light of day. Then from "Boats to Build":

I'm gonna build me a boat
With these two hands
It'll be a fair curve
From a noble plan
Let the chips fall where they will
Cause I've got boats to build

Ok, the last one is more than one line, but there's not a good break point for me there.

The Entirety of LA County by Lyle Lovett

"Looks like it's me and you again tonight, Rosie"

TexjbA&M said:

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Tyler Childers - Feathered Indians (currently really into this song)
"Well my buckle makes impressions
On the inside of her thigh
There are little feathered Indians
Where we tussled through the night
If I'd known she was religious
Then I wouldn't have came stoned
To the house of such an angel
Too f****d up to get back home"

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Listening to this song right now.

Old 97s:

Love feels good when it sits right down
Puts its feet up on the table it and sends a bowl around.

Rancid:

The radio was playin' Desmond Dekker was singin'
on the 43 bus as we climb up the hill
Nothin' incoming but the reggae drummin',
and we all come from unloving homes.

And another Rancid:

i was so full of scotch i could not stand up
i was hittin the shots and i moved to a cup

One I've just heard recently:

She likes to lay naked and be gazed upon