Top 20 Lyric snippets of all-time

[cartman]

This was an interesting poll. I hadn't seen this concept before.

hxxp://www.irishexaminer.com/breaking/story.asp?j=207404460&p=zx74x5z75&n=207405346

U2's One voted favourite pop lyric

U2 song One contains music lovers' favourite lyric – “One Life, with Each Other Sisters, Brothers” – it was revealed today.

The 1992 song, recently re-released in collaboration with R&B singer Mary J Blige, beat lyrics from legends like the Beatles and David Bowie to newcomers such as the Arctic Monkeys.

The Smiths’ angst-ridden lyric “So You Go, And you Stand On Your Own. And you Leave on Your Own” from the track How Soon is Now?” took second place in the poll of over 13,000 music fans.

Cult band Nirvana follows in third place with Smells Like Teen Spirit and the line “I Feel Stupid and Contagious, Here we are Now, Entertain Us“.

Industry professionals and musicians, from Noel Gallagher to Jon Bon Jovi, chose their personal favourites in the countdown for TV music channel VH1.

Artists from Stevie Wonder and Johnny Cash to Madonna and The Streets, and lyrics on everything from love, loss and hope to the drug LSD, lager and angels featured in the longlist.

“Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery, None but ourselves can free our minds, Have no fear for atomic energy, Cause none of them can stop the time” from Bob Marley’s Redemption Song came fourth, followed by Coldplay’s Yellow “Look At The Stars, Look How They Shine For You” .

Eminem’s Lose Yourself “Look, If You Had One Shot Or One Opportunity, To Seize Everything You Ever Wanted, One Moment, Would You Capture It Or Just Let It Slip?” is next.

Robbie Williams’ Angels takes seventh place, with the lyric “And Through It All She Offers Me Protection, A Lot Of Love And Affection, Whether I’m Right Or Wrong“.

U2 classic One is often played at weddings, but guitarist Edge has in the past said: “It’s not that kind of song”.

The three videos that the band made for the single – depicting everything from the band in drag, Bono singing at a restaurant table, and buffalos running across a plain – shed no light on the meaning of the song either.

X Factor judge and Girls Aloud manager Louis Walsh said: “One is a timeless classic song. I think the lyrics are just fantastic, one life – because everybody only has one life.”

The Top 100 in the Nation’s Favourite Lyric is on VH1 on Easter Monday from 4pm.

The Top 20:
1. U2 – One
“One Life, With Each Other Sisters, Brothers”

2. The Smiths – How soon is Now
“So You Go, And You Stand On Your Own, And You Leave On Your Own, And You Go Home, And You Cry, And You Want To Die”

3. Nirvana – Smells Like Teen Spirit
“I Feel Stupid And Contagious, Here We Are Now, Entertain Us”

4. Bob Marley – Redemption Song
“Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery, None but ourselves can free our minds, Have no fear for atomi energy, Cause none of them can stop the time”

5. Coldplay – Yellow
“look At The Stars, Look How They Shine For You”

6. Eminem – Lose Yourself
“Look, If You Had One Shot Or One Opportunity, To Seize Everything You Ever Wanted, One Moment, Would You Capture It Or Just Let It Slip?”

7. Robbie Williams – Angels
“And Through It All She Offers Me Protection, A Lot Of Love And Affection, Whether I’m Right Or Wrong”

8. The Who – My Generation
“Hope I Die Before I Get Old”

9. Radiohead – Creep
“I’m A Creep, I’m A Weirdo, What The Hell Am I Doing Here? I Don’t Belong Here”

10. Marvin Gaye – What’s Going On
“Father, Father, We Don’t Need To Escalate, You See, War Is Not The Answer, For Only Love Can Conquer Hate”

11. U2 – Where The Streets Have No Name
“I Want To Run, I Want To Hide, I Want To Tear Down The Walls, That Hold Me Inside”

12. Abba – The Winner Takes It All
“The Winner Takes It All, The Loser Standing Small, Beside The Victory, That’s Her Destiny”

13. The Kinks – Waterloo Sunset
“Every Day I Look At The World From My Window, But Chilly, Chilly Is Evening Time. Waterloo Sunset’s Fine”

14. Pink Floyd – Another Brick in the Wall
“We Don’t Need No Education, We Don’t Need No Thought Control. No Dark Sarcasm In The Classroom, Teachers, Leave Them Kids Alone.”

15. Tupac ft Snoop – California Love
“Now Let Me Welcome Everybody To The Wild, Wild West, A State That’s Untouchable Like Elliot Ness”

16. Queen – Bohemian Rhapsody
“Is This The Real Life? Is This Just Fantasy? Caught In A Landslide, No Escape From Reality”

17. Bob Dylan – Subterranean Homesick Blues
“Johnny’s In The Basement Mixing Up The Medicine. I’m On The Pavement Thinking About The Government”

18. Kaiser Chiefs – I Predict A Riot
“Watching The People Get Lairy, Is Not Very Pretty I Tell Thee, Walking Through Town Is Quite Scary, And Not Very Sensible Either”

19. David Bowie – Heroes
“We Can Be Heroes, Just For One Day”

20. The Police – Every Breath You Take
“Every Single Day, Every Word You Say, Every Game You Play, Every Night You Stay, I’ll Be Watching You”

[Franklinnoble]

Bah. No list like this is complete without Joe Walsh:

"I can't complain, but sometimes I still do..."

[rkmsuf]

I once got busy in a Burger King bathroom

[sachmo71]

I'm goin' off the rails on a crazy train...

[Coffee Warlord]

C'mon, what's a list like this without at least one Zappa line?

"Gimme that paper, bet your ass I will sign, 'cause I need a beer and it's titty squeezing time!"

[st.cronin]

Originally Posted by Coffee Warlord

C'mon, what's a list like this without at least one Zappa line?

"Gimme that paper, bet your ass I will sign, 'cause I need a beer and it's titty squeezing time!"

no no no

"Why does it hurt when I pee?"

[Coffee Warlord]

Originally Posted by st.cronin

no no no

"Why does it hurt when I pee?"

No.

Ram it, ram it, ram it up the poop chute!

[oykib]

"...Poppa been smooth since days of underoos..."

[Pumpy Tudors]

"my hump my hump my hump"

wait no

[tanglewood]

Nice to see Bob Marley get two in the top 5.

[GreenMonster]

You know where you are You're in the jungle baby You're gonna die..

GNR

[Raven Hawk]

"Momma's got a squeezebox, Daddy never sleeps at night."

[JonInMiddleGA]

As far as I can tell, I've ever heard 7 of the 20 lines.
And could have matched artist/song to only 4 of those without prompting.

[Captain2711]

LA Face with an Oakland Booty.

All hail Sir-Mix-ALOT

[Karlifornia]

Was the poll conducted by irishexaminer? That would explain why U2 is #1. ABBA and the Kaiser Chiefs? Meh.

[cuervo72]

These people try to be too deep.

[Maple Leafs]

Since When Does a Line From a Song Need to be Capitalized?

[Lathum]

"kiss me I'm shitfaced..."

[Bearcat729]

Originally Posted by cartman

This was an interesting poll. I hadn't seen this concept before.

18. Kaiser Chiefs – I Predict A Riot
“Watching The People Get Lairy, Is Not Very Pretty I Tell Thee, Walking Through Town Is Quite Scary, And Not Very Sensible Either”

I liked the Kaiser Chiefs album, but there is no way that this belongs on any top 20 list.

[WSUCougar]

Yes, I like pina coladas...and gettin' caught in the rain.

[cthomer5000]

Probably my favorite song line of all time:

I was strapped with gats when you were cuddling a Cabbage Patch.

[dixieflatline]

Originally Posted by cartman

9. Radiohead – Creep
“I’m A Creep, I’m A Weirdo, What The Hell Am I Doing Here? I Don’t Belong Here”

IMO there are better Dylan and Police lyrics. Anyway, got free tickets to see Radiohead opening for someone in a small venue many, many, years ago. They rocked the house and when I heard Creap for the first time I left thinking they were going to make it big. Good times.

[Schmidty]

How in the hell is Don McLean's "American Pie" not at least in the top 10? It's not even on the stupid list.

Music lists like this that proclaim to choose "the greatest" whatever of all time, yet only look at songs from a select few known bands, are just silly. It's fine to do for fun, but to say it's even remotely credible would be ridiculous.

There are/were so many awesome songs and lyrics that never even came close to the limelight, so they aren't even looked at. For example, I can think of more than a dozen Eels songs alone that have better lyrics than "One".

I guess it'd be a cool list if they called it "The Top 100 Pop Lyrics", I'd have no problem with it.

[Schmidty]

Originally Posted by Schmidty

How in the hell is Don McLean's "American Pie" not at least in the top 10? It's not even on the stupid list.

Music lists like this that proclaim to choose "the greatest" whatever of all time, yet only look at songs from a select few known bands, are just silly. It's fine to do for fun, but to say it's even remotely credible would be ridiculous.

There are/were so many awesome songs and lyrics that never even came close to the limelight, so they aren't even looked at. For example, I can think of more than a dozen Eels songs alone that have better lyrics than "One".

I guess it'd be a cool list if they called it "The Top 100 Pop Lyrics", I'd have no problem with it.

Dude. Lighten the hell up.

[st.cronin]

Boy, the Detroit Lions have apparently driven Schmidty insane.

[Hurst2112]

Top 20 Lyric snippets of all-time

"Learn to swim..."

[Franklinnoble]

Not one Billy Joel snippet. Not one!

[ahbrady]

I'm not sure which of these I like better but at least one of the two has to be in a top 20 list.

"Something grabs a hold of me tightly, flow like a harpoon daily and nightly."

"To the extreme I rock the mike like a vandal, light up the stage I wax a chump like a candle."

[BrianD]

No love for the Snowman?

"When the destination reached it was the east detention
Where them whipped down me pants looked up me bottom"

"A licky boom boom down"

[Rizon]

No love for Master P?

"Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh UHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"

[Hurst2112]

"You get nothin for nothin, if that's what you do. Turn around bitch I gotta use for you. Besides, you ain't got nothin' better to do...and I'm bored."

Also, anything from Nugent's 'Wango Tango'

[Vince]

"Would you not like to be
sittin' on top of the world
with your legs hangin' free?"

[kcchief19]

Originally Posted by rkmsuf

I once got busy in a Burger King bathroom

Damn, my first thought was:

My name is Humpty, pronounced with a Umpty.
Yo ladies, oh how I like to hump thee.

[DeToxRox]

A little bit of you makes me your man

[Hurst2112]

"Take this job and shove it. I ain't a workin here no more"

[johnnyshaka]

" He said 'I don't know man, ah she kinda funny, you know'
I said 'I know, everybody funny, now you funny too' "

[BYU 14]

"Heard it in a love song..........................Can't be wrong"

[Crim]

"An ounce of perception -- a pound of obscure" - Rush

"I've been to hell and I spell it - spell it DMV" - Primus

"And then one day you find ten years have got behind you. Noone told you when to run; you missed the starting gun" - Pink Floyd

"Yours is the cloth, mine is the hand that sews time
his is the force that lies within
Ours is the fire, all the warmth we can find
He is a feather in the wind" - Led Zeppelin

"But I'm more than just a little curious how you're planning to go about making your amends to the dead" - A Perfect Circle

"Men of iron, etched in stone. Gathered together, they remain alone" - Gone Tomorrow

"Flash! Ahh-ahh!" - Queen (okay, someone had to do it!)

Crim

[Young Drachma]

No doubt that list stinks

[Groundhog]

"Trying to be two hundred thousand years younger, so I could excuse myself from human kind." - Something For Kate

[Glengoyne]

"I'm a bitch I'm a lover, I'm a Goddess on my Knees" -- Meredith Brooks' I'm a Bitch

I rest my case.

[Young Drachma]

i think that it's brainless to assume that making changes to your window's view will give a new perspective. -- Death Cab for Cutie

[Marc Vaughan]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

As far as I can tell, I've ever heard 7 of the 20 lines.
And could have matched artist/song to only 4 of those without prompting.

Must have been a UK poll as a lot of the artists/bands haven't really made it to America in a big way ...

(although a fair few of them deserve to imho)

[Abe Sargent]

Originally Posted by Schmidty

How in the hell is Don McLean's "American Pie" not at least in the top 10? It's not even on the stupid list.

Music lists like this that proclaim to choose "the greatest" whatever of all time, yet only look at songs from a select few known bands, are just silly. It's fine to do for fun, but to say it's even remotely credible would be ridiculous.

There are/were so many awesome songs and lyrics that never even came close to the limelight, so they aren't even looked at. For example, I can think of more than a dozen Eels songs alone that have better lyrics than "One".

I guess it'd be a cool list if they called it "The Top 100 Pop Lyrics", I'd have no problem with it.

Agreed on both counts. There are very poetic lyrics from Christian hymns for example, but I bet they weren't included. My favorite lyric of all time is "Hope casts me headlong into you," which is ironically from my favorite song, Drop, off my favorite album, Brightblur, by Massivivid. Anybody who knows who Massivivid is without looking it up knows about some very esoteric groups.

Would country lyrics count? Jazz? (As mentioned above) Hymns? Swing?

I doubt that unless an artist has entered the pop consciousness, that it would not even be considered. Plus, you can't seperate the lyric from the song or the artist. I can think of fifty lines better than Robbie Williams' (and I even have this album of his too).


-Anxiety

[Karlifornia]

"I really really really wanna zig-a-zig-ah" -Spice Girls

"I did it all for the nookie, so you can take that cookie, and stick it up your yeah"- Limp Bizkit

""My Girlfriend died, from carbon monoxide what should I do?" MC Face

[Izulde]

Also these are all English lyrics, entirely ignoring the rest of the languages of the world.

[Ragone]

Originally Posted by Franklinnoble

Bah. No list like this is complete without Joe Walsh:

"I can't complain, but sometimes I still do..."

or

"Its hard to leave when you can't find the door"

[Fonzie]

"I thought that they were angels, but to my surprise...they're climbing aboard their starship, we're headed for the skies..."

[Craptacular]

No Weird Al???

[Ksyrup]

"Droplets of yes and no in an ocean of maybe"

"My face feels the wet, my mind the storm"

About 75% of the lines from Jellyfish's Bellybutton