Profound, Insightful or Humorous lyrics

[Indy Dave]

What are some of the insightful or profound lyrics that you've noted, have stuck in your head or have struck you at one time or another? Added: Or Humorous. I'm thinking about more of concise insight contained in a few lines or a verse, not an entire song - which can be  great thread in its own right!

 

EDIT: Context. The guitarist for the song I cite below just released a new solo disc, as I was listening to it last night as I walked the dog. In hearing some of his signature guitar style on his new disk, I thought back through their catalog and songs. And I remembered telling a buddy about Dada - and he to my surprise - had heard of them and mentioned this song and lyric. We would have been 4 or 5 years out of college, dreaming of bigger and better things at this time - and it seemed so relatable, and metaphor worked so well for us.  We've all had this sense at one time or another.

 

From my very long list, I'll start with something from a fav band of mine, Dada, from Puzzle, their debut album in 1992:

 

Can't this car go any faster
Can't this car go any faster
Can't this car go any faster
Faster, faster
Can't this car go cause I can still see where I am

 

Dim, By Dada

 

 

 

Edited December 20, 2020 by Indy Dave
added context

[AZgman]

Everybody Knows - Leonard Cohen

 

Everybody knows that the dice are loaded
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed
Everybody knows the war is over
Everybody knows the good guys lost
Everybody knows the fight was fixed
The poor stay poor, the rich get rich
That's how it goes
Everybody knows

Everybody knows that the boat is leaking
Everybody knows that the captain lied
Everybody got this broken feeling
Like their father or their dog just died
Everybody talking to their pockets
Everybody wants a box of chocolates
And a long-stem rose
Everybody knows

[Rougarou]

Cats in the Cradle, if you don’t know the lyrics by heart, congratulations, the song shouldn’t have had deep/real meaning to you. 

[Selden]

I don't know about profound, but this is certainly insightful. BTDT.   WORKIN' ON THE GOOD OLD CAR (Tom Dundee) Nothin' like workin on your good old car, Save yourself a little bit of dough, You start out not knowin' a lot, But you got the whole day don't you know, It's a beautiful day, not a cloud in the sky, Put the baseball on the radio, Nothin' like workin on your good old car, Save yourself a little bit of dough. What seems to be the matter with that stubborn old nut, certainly is on there good, Just a little twist, WHOOPS, cracked the sucker off, Just like you're scared you would, Ah but don't get mad, it's just a little thing, You can deal with it later, let's go, Nothin' like workin on your good old car, To save yourself a little bit of dough. Here come the neighbors with a bunch of stupid questions, full of even dumber advice, And just about the time you get a bead on the bugger, You get a dose of rust in the eye, And it's hard to take the pain as you try to bend your head, The way the Lord didn't mean it to go, Nothin' like workin' on your good old car, Save yourself a little bit of dough. Just enough room to jam your fool head, Layin' half into the street, Prayin' there ain't some Space Cadet, Come-a-drivin' across your feet, You get the bad claustrophobia with all that over ya, Hopin' that the jack don't go, Nothin' like workin' on your good old car, Save yourself a little bit of dough. You finally got it apart, now it's gettin' dark, Are you ready for your next surprise, The part you went to get, doesn't quite fit, 'Cause they don't still make that size, The shop'll come to get it in the mornin, but get fair warning, It'll take another 54 dollars to tow, Nothin' like workin' on your good old car, Save yourself a little bit of dough YEAH, Nothin' like workin' on your good old car, Save yourself a little bit of dough.

[John Ranalletta]

Sam Baker's "Ditch"

 

I am crawling back down in the ditch today
I got a crazy-ass wife
Got a baby on the way
Glad i got work
Glad i got pay
I’m crawling back down in the ditch today

The crew’s a bunch of stoners
The boss is a shit
Be a miracle if one of us
Does not get hit
By a ton of pipe
On a cheap ass chain
Swinging round the sky
In this pouring ass rain

I am crawling back down in the ditch today
I got a crazy-ass wife
Got a baby on the way
Glad i got work
Glad i got pay
I’m crawling back down in the ditch today

My crazy-ass wife
She’s nutty as her brother
Supposed to marry rich
According to her mother
Supposed to marry up
Now she is knocked up down
By a poor man
Wrestling a pipe in the ground

I am crawling back down in the ditch today
I got a crazy-ass wife
Got a baby on the way
Glad i got work
Glad i got pay
Crawling back down in the ditch today

My wife god bless her and for what it is worth
Thinks she and taylor swift
Were twins at birth
Separated at birth
Earth to wife
Wife to earth

I am crawling back down in the ditch today
I got a crazy-ass wife
A baby on the way
Glad i got work
Glad i got pay
Crawling back down in the ditch today

I’m glad i got work
Glad i got pay
I’m crawling back down in the ditch today

 

 

 

[Indy Dave]

Building on the context I just added to my original post, I got to thinking about other lyrics that spoke to that restless sentiment of youth (which was when I first heard this) of longing for 'more or different'. These are not just the things of youth of course, and Rush deals quite effectively with similar notions and desires, and hints at the things that stop us from "walking out that door"... I was in college when this album came out and this song in particular hit home for me, as I couldn't not wait to graduate and get 'busy', and in a larger context, I knew adults who fit the different scenarios lyricist Neil Peart included in the song.

 

Middletown Dreams

 

 

The office door closed early
The hidden bottle came out
The salesman turned to close the blinds
A little slow now, a little stout

But he's still heading down those tracks
Any day now for sure
Another day as drab as today
Is more than a man can endure

 

Dreams flow across the heartland
Feeding on the fires
Dreams transport desires
Drive you when you're down
Dreams transport the ones
Who need to get out of town

 

The boy walks with his best friend
Through the fields of early May
They walk awhile in silence
One close, one far away
But he'd be climbing on that bus
Just him and his guitar
To blaze across the heavens
Like a brilliant shooting star

 

The middle-aged Madonna
Calls her neighbor on the phone
Day by day the seasons pass
And leave her life alone
But she'll go walking out that door
On some bright afternoon
To go and paint big cities
From a lonely attic room

 

It's understood
By every single person
Who'd be elsewhere if they could
So far so good
And life's not unpleasant
In their little neighborhood

 

They dream in Middletown. . .

 

by Rush

 

 

 

 

 

[John Ranalletta]

My last add, another Sam Baker tune resonates because I'm old and have been married to a wonderful woman for almost 53 years. 

 

So many years, so many hardships
So many laughs, so many tears
So many things to remember
'Cause they had 50 years

Now the kids, they got their own kids
Their own kids have grown
She told him not to worry
Say he'd be fine when she was gone
 

He walks down to the ocean
Bends to touch the water, kneels to pray
Writes her name in sand
Waves wash it away
 

There are seagulls circling shrimp boats
That turn inside the bay
There's an emptiness inside
That never goes away

He walks down to the ocean
Bends to touch the water, kneels to pray
He writes her name in the sand
Waves wash it away
 

So many years, so many hardships
So many laughs, so many tears
So many things he cannot remember
'Cause they had 50 years
 

He walks down to the ocean
Bends to touch kneels to pray
He writes her name in the sand
Waves wash it away
He writes her name in the sand
Waves wash it away

 

 

[Selden]

In the "insightful" category, "Portrait of My Wife." The version by The Full English is my favorite, but the only place I have found it online is Pandora.

 

In vain I try to dry a tear which falls down from my eyes,
It makes me think of one I love who in this cold grave lies;
My heart is very sad I vow, one thing cheers me through my life:
The only merit I have left, this portrait of my wife.

Roll away those lonely days,
Roll from up above.
Raise your glass to the one you love.

 

She gave it with a parting kiss, she gave it with a sigh,
And said, “Dear husband do take this before I say goodbye.
And let me place it round your neck while I've got one breath of life.
I hope you'll never once forget this portrait of your wife.”

Roll away those empty days,
Roll from up above.
Raise your glass to the one you love.

 

I see her in my dreams at night, I think of her by day,
To me she was an angel bright but now she's far away.
I wear her portrait near my heart, I'll honour it through life,
And I will never be apart from this portrait of my wife.

Roll away those hollow days,
Roll from up above.
Raise your glass to the one you love.

 

This is the composer's (Seth Lakeman) version:

 

 

[ltljohn]

 

Because I have been with the most wonderful woman for for 25+ years

The Seekers

I'll never find another you

There's a new world somewhere
They call the promised land
And I'll be there someday
If you could hold my hand
I still need you there beside me
No matter what I do
For I know I'll never find another you

There is always someone
For each of us, they say
And you'll be my someone
Forever and a day
I could search the whole world over
Until my life is through
But I know I'll never find another you

It's a long, long journey
So stay by my side
When I walk through the storm
You'll be my guide, be my guide
If they gave me a fortune
My pleasure would be small
I could lose it all tomorrow
And never mind at all
But if I should lose your love, dear
I don't know what I'd do
For I know I'll never find another you

But if I should lose your love, dear
I don't know what I'd do
For I know I'll never find another you
Another you, another you

 

[Indy Dave]

And I need you more than want you

And I want you for all time . . .

 

https://youtu.be/AxSarBcsKLU

 

[Rougarou]

While the song is about a different reason, it resonates with me.  12 years of one daughter and 11 years of another daughter and of those years, I was gone,....alot.  My oldest is my stepdaughter, but might as well be mine as she's been with me since she was five.  So, from 1997-2009, I missed a good chunk of them growing up due to deployments, field ops, contingency ops, etc.

 

 

[Rinkydink]

The Sphere: A Kind of Dream

 

We can walk our road together
If our goals are all the same.
We can run alone and free
If we pursue a different aim.
Let the truth of love be lighted,
Let the love of truth shine clear.
Sensibility, armed with sense and liberty,
With the Heart and Mind united in a single perfect Sphere.

 

NEP

[Sonor]

Well oops ... when ya say insightful or profound, my mind went elsewhere ...

 

Something like Tool calling California, "Arizona Bay" in one of their songs or Pantera's, "You keep this love" -

 

So, okay, I'll not contribute

[Chris K]

I have always loved this line:

I saw a werewolf drinking a pina colada at Trader Vic's,
His hair was perfect

[taylor1]

You could probably pick every other McCartney / Lennon  tune.   Imagine ,   Yesterday ,    to name a few

[Indy Dave]

Yes, and that might fall into another thread? Sometimes posting the lyrics to an entire song here for context is ok, my intent was on a smaller scale, focusing on a few lines of lyrics that can be thought provoking. 

 

 

Time was my girl
Timeless white pearl
But she left me on the shoreline
I'll think of her
She's forever
After and before time 

 

Dada, Time is your friend

 

 

 

[Sonor]

Okay Indy Dave, here's a snip it ...

"If consequences dictate a course of action

it doesn't matter whats right, it's only wrong if you get caught," Tool

 

and another, just because it keeps floating around in my head as I get closer to thinking about retirement:

"Another animal has left his cage today, in search of better things so it seems to be," Primus

[Indy Dave]

Those are great!

[Selden]

4 hours ago, Chris K said:

I have always loved this line:

I saw a werewolf drinking a pina colada at Trader Vic's,
His hair was perfect

 

My favorite Warren Zevon song.

[wbw6cos]

First verse from Shinedown song Crying Out:

 

Don't use a weakness
Don't change the subject
Don't ask the questions if you fear the answer
You look distorted, lets make you clearer
Lets flip the switch and use the smoke and mirrors
Re-invent yourself today
Re-invent your world today

 

That line in bold always comes to my mind when I witness situations involving conflict in life, movies, news stories, etc.  Pretty catchy, especially when sung by Brent Smith.

[TEDZ]

I don't have digital

I dont have squat

it's not getting what you want

its wanting what you've got

 

Sheryl Crow  Soak up the sun.

I've somehow always related this to the idea of delayed gratification.  Worked out well for me.

It is ironic though when successful artists sing about living a simple life.

[walton66]

They say that patriotism is the last refuge to which a scoundrel clings,

steal a little and they throw you in jail, steal a lot and they make you a king. 
 

Bob Dylan

song: Sweetheart Like You

album: Infidels

[walton66]

5 hours ago, Selden said:

 

My favorite Warren Zevon song.

Grateful Dead did a great cover of this

[Hosstage]

"When I'm at the beach I wear a speedo to tan my cheeks!"

And also:

"No shirt no shoes and I still get service (why?)

Girl , look at that body!"

 

"I'm sexy and I know it"  by LMFAO 

 

Kind of life mottos for me...

Music isn't always deep and filled with meaning, sometimes it's just damn fun!

[Bill_Walker]

And so on, and so on

And scooby dooby dooby

 

- Sly and the Family Stone, "Everyday People"

[Rougarou]

9 hours ago, Hosstage said:

"When I'm at the beach I wear a speedo to tan my cheeks!"

And also:

"No shirt no shoes and I still get service (why?)

Girl , look at that body!"

 

"I'm sexy and I know it"  by LMFAO 

 

Kind of life mottos for me...

Music isn't always deep and filled with meaning, sometimes it's just damn fun!

 

Yep

 

"I don't like golf

I don't like swimmin

I just like chasin

Dem big butt women"

 

 

Horace Trahan

That Butt Thing

[Sonor]

Speaking of Shinedown here's my favorite by them.

 

"You can put a man on trial, but you can't make the guilty pay

You can cage an animal but you can't take away the rage"

[Indy Dave]

 

Sometimes it's hard to say the things 

I want to say 

(But I'll try)

 

I - I - I - I ....   I Love your guitar

 

Michael Gurley - I love your guitar

 

 

 

[roadscholar]

Bob Dylan's 115th Dream (1965)

 

I was riding on the Mayflower
When I thought I spied some land
I yelled for Captain Arab
I have yuh understand
Who came running to the deck
Said, "Boys, forget the whale
Look on over yonder
Cut the engines
Change the sail
Haul on the bowline"
We sang that melody
Like all tough sailors do
When they are far away at sea.

"I think I'll call it America"
I said as we hit land
I took a deep breath
I fell down, I could not stand
Captain Arab he started
Writing up some deeds
He said, "Let's set up a fort
And start buying the place with beads"
Just then this cop comes down the street
Crazy as a loon
He threw us all in jail
For carryin' harpoons.

Ah me I busted out
Don't even ask me how
I went to get some help
I walked by a Guernsey cow
Who directed me down
To the Bowery slums
Where people carried signs around
Saying, "Ban the bums"
I jumped right into line
Sayin' "I hope that I'm not late"
When I realized I hadn't eaten
For five days straight.

I went into a restaurant
Lookin' for the cook
I told him I was the editor
Of a famous etiquette book
The waitress he was handsome
He wore a powder blue cape
I ordered some suzette, I said
"Could you please make that crepe"
Just then the whole kitchen exploded
From boillin' fat
Food was flying everywhere
And I left without my hat.

Now, I didn't mean to be nosy
But I went into a bank
To get some bail for Arab
And all the boys back in the tank
They asked me for some collateral
And I pulled down my pants
They threw me in the alley
When up comes this girl from France
Who invited me to her house
I went, but she had a friend
Who knocked me out
And robbed my boots
And I was on the street again.

Well, I rapped upon a house
With the US flag upon display
I said, "Could you help me out
I got some friends down the way
" The man says, "Get out of here
I'll tear you limb from limb"
I said, "You know they refused Jesus, too"
He said, "You're not Him
Get out of here before I break your bones
I ain't your pop"
I decided to have him arrested
And I went lookin for a cop.

I ran right outside
And I hopped inside a cab
I went out the other door
This Englishman said, "Fab"
As he saw me leap a hot dog stand
And a chariot that stood
Parked across from a building
Advertising brotherhood
I ran right through the front door
Like a hobo sailor does
But it was just a funeral parlor
And the man asked me who I was.

I repeated that my friends
Were all in jail, with a sigh
He gave me his card
He said, "Call me if they die"
I shook his hand and said goodbye
Ran out to the street
When a bowling ball came down the road
And knocked me off my feet
A pay phone was ringing
It just about blew my mind
When I picked it up and said hello
This foot came through the line.

Well, by this time I was fed up
At tryin'g to make a stab
At bringin' back any help
For my friends and captain Arab
I decided to flip a coin
Like either heads or tails
Would let me know if I should go
Back to the ship or back to jail
So I hocked my sailor suit
And I got a coin to flip
It came up tails
It rhymed with sails
So I made it back to the ship.

Well, I got back and took
The parkin' ticket off the mast
I was ripping it to shreds
When this coastguard boat went past
They asked me my name
And I said, "Captain Kidd"
They believed me but
They wanted to know
What exactly that I did
I said for the Pope of Eruke
I was employed
They let me go right away
They were very paranoid.

Well, the last I heard of Arab
He was stuck on a whale
That was married to the deputy
Sheriff of the jail
But the funniest thing was
When I was leavin' the bay
I saw three ships a-sailin'
There were all heading my way
I asked the captain what his name was
And how come he didn't drive a truck
He said his name was Columbus
I just said, "Good luck".

 

 

[Indy Dave]

On 12/17/2020 at 1:02 PM, Selden said:

 

My favorite Warren Zevon song.

 

My Favorite Zevon

 

Patty Hearst heard the burst

of Roland's Thompson gun

and bought it

 

 

Edited December 19, 2020 by Indy Dave
added lyrics

[Indy Dave]

On 12/17/2020 at 9:39 PM, Hosstage said:

"When I'm at the beach I wear a speedo to tan my cheeks!"

And also:

"No shirt no shoes and I still get service (why?)

Girl , look at that body!"

 

"I'm sexy and I know it"  by LMFAO 

 

Kind of life mottos for me...

Music isn't always deep and filled with meaning, sometimes it's just damn fun!

 

True enough - humorous works too - and added to OP.

 

Look
I understand too little too late
I realize there are things you say and do
You can never take back
But what would you be if you didn't even try
You have to try
So after a lot of thought
I'd like to reconsider
Please..
If it's not too late...

 

Make it a cheeseburger

 

Lyle Lovett - Here I am

 

[wbw6cos]

Some of my favorite lines:

 

Long before the white man and long before the wheel
When the green dark forest was too silent to be real

 

....and

 

Livin' on stew and drinkin' bad whiskey

 

 

[Hosstage]

In the song "Somebody I Used to Know" by Gotye, after the boyfriend opines for a while about how bad she treated him, her first line,

"Now and then, I think of all the times you screwed me over."

Classic.

[TestPilot]

Two lines from "Silent Running" by Mike and the Mechanics:

 

"Don't believe the church and state and everything they tell you."

 

"For some day sons and daughters will rise up and fight while we stood still."

 

 

[scout6]

I Drive Your Truck.

Background  

 

 

 

Eighty-nine cents in the ashtray
Half empty bottle of Gatorade
Rollin' in the floorboard

That dirty Braves cap on the dash
Dogtags hangin' from the rear view
Old Skoal can and cowboy boots
And a "Go Army" shirt folded in the back

This thing burns gas like crazy
But that's all right
People got their ways of copin'
Oh, and I've got mine

I drive your truck
I roll every window down
And I burn up
Every back road in this town
I find a field, I tear it up
'Till all the pain is a cloud of dust
Yes, sometimes, I drive your truck

I leave that radio playin'
The same ole country station
Where you left it

Yeah, man, I crank it up
You'd probably punch my arm right now
If you saw this tear rollin' down my face
Hey, man, I'm tryin' to be tough

And Mama asked me this mornin'
If I'd been by your grave
But that flag of stone
Ain't where I feel you, anyway

I drive you truck
I roll every window down
And I burn up
Every back road in this town
I find a field, I tear it up
'Till all the pain is a cloud of dust
Yes, sometimes, I drive your truck

I've cussed, I've prayed, I've said goodbye
I've shook my fist and asked God why
These days, when I'm missin' you this much

I drive your truck
I roll every window down
And I burn up
Every back road in this town
I find a field, and I tear it up
'Till all the pain is a cloud of dust sometimes
Brother, sometimes, I drive your truck

I drive your truck
I hope you don't mind
I hope you don't mind
I drive your truck

[Indy Dave]

Lots of great stuff here, thanks one and all! 

 

Going forward, for this thread  I wasn't very clear   - What I was after and thinking about for this thread was the concise insight contained in a few lines or a verse, not an entire song. Something quick, to the point, boiled down. I think a thread on entire song lyrics would make a good thread if someone wants to start one. I have added this to the original post.

 

I can resist

anything but temptation

Neil Peart "Resist"

 

 

[Rougarou]

Tupac-Only God Can Judge Me

 

And they say it's the White man I should fear
But it's my own kind doin' all the killin' here

 

 

[Indy Dave]

They shoot without shame
In the name of a piece of dirt
For a change of accent
Or the colour of your shirt
Better the pride that resides
In a citizen of the world
Than the pride that divides
When a colourful rag is unfurled

 

Neil Peart, Territories

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvM387NJTYg

 

 

[Rougarou]

Far away from the land of our birth
We fly a flag in some foreign earth
We sailed away like our fathers before
These colours don't run, from a cold bloody war

 

These Colours Don't Run-Iron Maiden

[Red]

Dropkick me Jesus through the goalposts of life
And over end neither left nor the right
Straight through the heart of them righteous uprights
Dropkick me Jesus through the goalposts of life

Make me, oh make me Lord more than I am
Make a piece in your master game plan
Free from the earthly tempestion below
I've got the will Lord if you've got the toe. 

Bobby Bare

[Indy Dave]

Wheels within wheels
In a spiral array
A pattern so grand
And complex
Time after time
We lose sight of the way
Our causes can't see
Their effects.

 

Natural Science  Rush, Lyrics by Neil Peart

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xe3It9DFDQ

[ESokoloff]

You can go to church and sing a hymn
You can judge me by the color of my skin
You can live a lie until you die
One thing you can't hide
Is when you're crippled inside

[Dennis Andress]

That big ol' building was the textile mill
It fed our kids and it paid our bills
But they turned us out and they closed the doors
We can't make it here anymore

 

James McMurty - We Can't Make Here Anymore

[walton66]

The wheel is turning 
and you can't slow down
You can't let go 
and you can't hold on
You can't go back 
and you can't stand still
If the thunder don't get you 
then the lightning will

 

Grateful Dead - the wheel

lyrics- Robert Hunter

Music - Jerry Garcia, Bill Kreutzmann

 

[Indy Dave]

All this time we're talking and sharing our Rational View
A billion other voices are spreading other news
All this time we're living and trying to understand
Why a billion other choices are making their demands

Talk of a Peaceable Kingdom
Talk of a time without fear
The ones we wish would listen
Are never going to hear

 

Peaceable Kingdom by Rush; Lyrics by Neil Peart

 

* * Some Neil Peart trivia - Neil gives a nod to fellow riders in the opening and closing of this song:

A wave toward the clearing the sky

and

A homeward angel on the fly
A wave toward the clearing sky

 

 

 

[lawnchairboy]

Quick to judge

Quick to anger

Slow to understand

 

Ignorance and prejudice

And fear

Walk hand in hand

 

NP

[Indy Dave]

pound the drums with martial beat
pound the streets with marching feet
wounded pride, distorted eyes
paint the night with battlecries

 

all puffed up with vanity
we see what we want to see
to the powerful and the wise
the mirror always lies

 

War Paint by Rush, Lyrics by Neil Peart

 

 

 

[Rougarou]

It's over, it's done
The end is begun
If you listen to fools...
The Mob Rules

 

 

Black Sabbath

[scout6]

Within the valley of shadowless death
They pray for thunderclouds and rain
But to the multitude who stand in the rain
Heaven is where the sun shines.

Genesis

[Sonor]

Well today is my last day of work. I am retiring - earlier than I had thought I would, but our fiduciary swears we are stable with my pension. So while I fully dislike my employer, I decided to go out and not look back.  So in light of that, a Primus song or two comes to mind.

 

Another animal has left his cage today, in search of better things so it seems to be.

 

and

 

Weekends don't mean quite so much when you're unemployed, sept you get to hang out with your working friends.