It ain't great until it risks being both pretentious and sentimental. If it only risks pretentiousness, yech. If it only risks sentimental, yech. if it risks both, great.

I know Stardust Melody is old school, but I'm always dumbfounded when I hear it.

And now the purple dusk of twilight time
Steals across the meadows of my heart
High up in the sky the little clouds climb,
Always reminding me that we're apart.
You wandered down the lane and far away,
Leaving me a song that will not die.
Love is now the stardust of yesterday,
The music of the years gone by.

Sometimes I wonder why I spend
The lonely night dreaming of a song.
The melody haunts my reverie,
And I am once again with you
When our love was new,
And each kiss an inspiration.
But that was long ago;
Now my consolation is
In the stardust of a song.
Beside a garden wall
When stars are bright,
You are in my arms.
The nightingale
Tells his fairy tale
Of paradise where roses grew.
Though I dream in vain
In my heart it will remain:
My stardust melody
The memory of love's refrain.

Two from Neutral Milk Hotel:

Daddy please hear this song that I sing
In your heart there's a spark that just screams
For a lover to bring a child to your chest that could lay as you sleep
And love all you have left like your boy used to be
Long ago wrapped in sheets warm and wet

And here's where your mother sleeps
And here is the room where your brothers were born
Indentions in the sheets
Where their bodies once moved but don't move anymore
And it's so sad to see the world agree
That they'd rather see their faces fill with flies
All when I'd want to keep white roses in their eyes

Another Nick Cave line:

nick cave wrote:Love letter, love letter
Go get her, go get her

The first time I heard this song ("love letter") was the first time I saw him live. It was a fantastic show, with the grand piano and the guys from Dirty Three. I was convinced this song was a cover, both because it was so beautiful, and because it had that simple lyric in the chorus that sounds like it was written long ago.

i am only recently being exposed to his music, but ted leo has some insane rhymes and vocabulary.

also: silkworm. especially andy. i'll be back later with examples.

talking heads, "the naive melody (this must be the place.)"

Home is where I want to be
Pick me up and turn me round
I feel numb - burn with a weak heart
(So I) guess I must be having fun
The less we say about it the better
Make it up as we go along
Feet on the ground
Head in the sky
It's ok I know nothing's wrong . . nothing

Hi yo I got plenty of time
Hi yo you got light in your eyes
And you're standing here beside me
I love the passing of time
Never for money
Always for love
Cover up + say goodnight . . . say goodnight

Home - is where I want to be
But I guess I'm already there
I come home - -she lifted up her wings
Guess that this must be the place
I can't tell one from another
Did I find you, or you find me?
There was a time Before we were born
If someone asks, this where I'll be . . . where I'll be

Hi yo We drift in and out
Hi yo sing into my mouth
Out of all tose kinds of people
You got a face with a view
I'm just an animal looking for a home
Share the same space for a minute or two
And you love me till my heart stops
Love me till I'm dead
Eyes that light up, eyes look through you
Cover up the blank spots
Hit me on the head Ah ooh


it's just a beautiful song.

I second "This Must be the Place". I just remembered another:

Everything but the Girl wrote:The Night I Heard Caruso Sing

The highlands and the lowlands are the roots my fathers knows:
The holidays at Oban and the towns around Montrose.
But even as he sleeps, they're loading bombs into the hills,
And the water in the lochs can run deep but never still.

I've thought of having children but I've gone and changed my mind;
It's hard enough to watch the news let alone explain it to a child,
To cast your eye 'cross nature, over fields of rape and corn,
And tell him without flinching not to fear where he's been born.

Then someone sat me down last night and I heard Caruso sing!
He's almost as good as Presley, and if I only do one thing
I'll sing songs to my father, I'll sing songs to my child.
It's time to hold your loved ones while the chains are loosed
And the world runs wild

And even as we speak they're loading bomb onto a white train
How can we afford to ever sleep so sound again?

I think a lot of my favorite songs are antiwar songs or similar: Born in the USA, Shipbuilding, War, 99 Luftballons come to mind. And that line from "When I Win the Lottery":

Camper van Beethoven wrote:Now I can walk into any old bar
Find a fight without looking too hard
But I never killed someone I don't know just 'cause someone told
me to.

Always controversial in these parts.... But here's the lyrics to Prince's "Sister". Astounding....

I was only 16 but I guess that's no excuse
My sister was 32, lovely and loose
She don't wear no underwear
She said it only gets in her hair
And it's got a funny way of stoppin' the juice

My sister never made love 2 anyone else but me
She's the reason 4 my, uh, sexuality
She showed me where it's supposed 2 go
A blowjob doesn't mean blow
Incest is everything it's said 2 be

Oh sister - don't put me on the street again
Oh sister - I just wanna be your friend

I was only 16 and only half a man
My sister didn't give a goddamn
She only wanted 2 turn me out
She'd take a whip 2 me until I shout
Oh motherfucker, she's a motherfucker, can't U understand?

Oh sister - don't put me on the street again
Oh sister - I just wanna be your friend

I know what U want me 2 do
Put me on the street and make me blue

Oh sister!
Oh sister!
Oh!

Now run and tell your mama 'bout that!

"Lately I've Let Things Slide" -- Nick Lowe

With a growing sense of dread
and a hammer in my head
fully clothed upon the bed
I wake up to the world
That lately I've been living in

There's a cut upon my brow
Must have banged myself somehow
But I can't remember now
And the front door's open wide
Lately I've let things slide

I go to the bin, I throw the laundry in
And pick out the cleanest shirt
Then I tell myself again
I don't really hurt

Smoking I once quit
Now I got one lit
I just fell back into it
Along with my pride
Lately I've let things slide

I go to the bin, I throw the laundry in
Dig out the cleanest shirt
When all at once I'm seized again
By exquisite hurt

That untouched takeaway
I brought home the other day
Has quite a lot to say
The evidence is clear,
Only resign, piled high and wide,
About how lately I've let things slide
I'm just about holding on
But lately I've let things slide

* * *

The loupe-de-loupe of metrical verse is pulling off a triple rhyme and being successfully engaging instead of just goofy or bombastic. This one does it by being ridiculous and true at the same time. I love the complete absence of metaphor or hyperbole -- he's just describing things and how they make him feel.

From 'Crabwalk' by American Music Club.

He reels around the nightclub
like the hubcaps off of a car
That just crashed into a sign that said
"This way to the nightclub."

Boudleaux Bryant wrote:Dream, dream dream dream,
Dream, dream dream dream.

When I want you in my arms,
When I want you and all your charms,
Whenever I want you,
All I have to do, is
Dream, dream dream dream.

When I feel blue in the night,
And I need you to hold me tight,
Whenever I want you,
All I have to do, is
Dream, dream.

I can make you mine,
Taste your lips of wine,
Any time, night or day.
Only trouble is, gee whiz,
I'm dreamin' my life away.

I need you so that I could die,
I love you so, and that is why,
Whenever I want you,
All I have to do, is
Dream, dream.

I can make you mine,
Taste your lips of wine,
Any time, night or day.
Only trouble is, gee whiz,
I'm dreamin' my life away.

I need you so that I could die,
I love you so, and that is why,
Whenever I want you,
All I have to do, is
Dream, dream dream dream.
Dream, dream dream dream, dream.

This is an Everly Brothers song that is happy and sad at the same time.


-Noah