Most EMOTIONAL line from any song?

[Bossy Monkey]

Or maybe I should say "most emotionally resonant" line, 'cause the one I'm thinking of is the one where when I was at a party in college and it played, I looked around the room and EVERYBODY was mouthing it. From "Space Oddity" by David Bowie:
"Tell my wife I love her very much
--She knows."

From the ones fewer people know, I return to Peter Case's "Poor Old Tom" (since somebody had actually heard of it the last time I mentioned it), the best song ever about a homeless lobotomized veteran (sorry to sound flippant; it really is): "The worst disease in the world is to be unwanted/ to be used up and cast away."

My heroes Too Much Joy check in with a tune about being on the wrong side of the country from the person you love but still able to get in touch via phone. It's called "Drunk and in Love" and features: "I'll tell her all about the silk purse/ that was going to be a surprise/ Tell her what I want for Christmas/ I'll sing a song about her eyes" and I lose it every time, including now just typing it.

Ok, obviously I'm defining line pretty loosely. A verse, a stanza, whatever; what's yours?

[getoffmytrain]

1. There's...

"There's a tear in my beer because I'm crying for ya dear"... seriously, that about sums it up for me.... C'mon guys, how many times have you gotten hammered over a chick? TONS! :-)

[The Traveler]

2. Flaw -- Only the Strong

"It's mine
It's pure
It's as decent as I can make myself
Inside
We all know
Only the strong survive"

For me, it captures the human condition ... the quest for decency within the context of the savage garden that is the world.

[HEyHEY]

3. "I can't believe the new today."

The first sentence from Bloody Sunday - always sends a chill up my spine. It really captures the moment of seeing a terrible thing in the paper or on TV

[Kenneth ken]

19. good choice

but from the same song, I am moved more by:

How Long? How long must we sing this song?

[Bossy Monkey]

97. Or for that matter, the same line in '40' when he really howls it n/t

[tridim]

4. This one from Beck's "We Live Again" really got to me..

I first heard it after a year-long relationship ended.

love is a plague in a mix-matched parade
where the castaways look so deranged
when will children learn to let their wildernesses burn
and love will be new, never cold and vacant

Edit: This one gives me chills..

And it’s the same the whole world ’round.
The hurt I see helps to compound,
That the father, son and holy ghost,
Is just somebody’s unholy hoax,
And if you’re up there you’ll perceive,
That my heart’s here upon my sleeve.
If there’s one thing I don’t believe in...

It’s you,
Dear god.

[BigMcLargehuge]

5. marillion, from "the last straw" on Clutching at Straws

And if you ever come across us don't give us your sympathy
You can buy us a drink and just shake our hands
And you'll recognise by the reflection in our eyes
That deep down inside we're all one and the same

We're clutching at straws
We're still drowning Clutching at straws

And of course from my favs, Too Much Joy ( :) )

"Making fun of bums... Bad karma thing to do"

[xray s]

6. "I don't believe in Beatles, I just believe in me"

From "God" J. Lennon

I grew up with the Beatles. Those lyrics closed a door to something we'll never get back. I understand why John had to close the door. But it still leaves me sad.

[Bossy Monkey]

25. Oh Jesus

I didn't even hear the song until at least 10 years after the fact, and still found this line shattering, and still do.

[ET Awful]

80. yoko and me, now that's reality.

The dream is over what can I say?
The dream is over, yesterday
I was the dreamweaver
Now I'm reborn
I was the walrus
now I'm John.
So dear friends, you'll just have to carry on.
The dream is over.

[rumguy]

7. I dig the opening lines of 'Tangled Up in Blue'

Early one mornin' the sun was shinin',
I was layin' in bed
Wond'rin' if she'd changed at all
If her hair was still red.

http://bobdylan.com/songs/tangled.html

[Dogmudgeon]

8. I'm a connoiseur of "suicide music"

:)

Found Out About You (Gin Blossoms) and Someday We'll Know (New Radicals) are two of the saddest pop songs in recent memory.

Kilkelly Ireland (The Dubliners) is another profoundly sad song about a man writing to his son who left Ireland for "Americay" in 1860. The stanzas are from letters written over a period of years.

A Taste of Honey (several; Tom Jones' was the best) used to get to me when I was a kid; so did Once Upon A Time (Sinatra) and Yellow Days (several, especially Willie Bobo's version).

Following by the Bangles is a sad and deep song, a Michael Steele acoustic guitar solo. I Feel Good (Today) (the dB's) is one of the spookiest "Southern Gothic" songs from the 1980s.

I could go on at length ...

I do love Too Much Joy. My favorite TMJ song, though, is Donna Everywhere.

--bkl

[Bossy Monkey]

93. I guess you know Tim actually married Donna n/t

[The Straight Story]

9. "Will you remember me?"

Sarah McLachlan. Always makes me think about friends now lost.
Best friend killed in a car crash at 27, left pregnant wife behind with their first child.

A good friend in Tehachapi who OD'ed on accident with some pain meds someone gave him (he was at their house for thanksgiving, had left his meds at home.) One of the nicest guys I ever met.

X-girlfriends mom, to breast cancer. I drove out to see my X and our daughter (from ohio to cali). 10 min after I showed up my X called and said her mom had just died. She was well known in liked in the Tehachapi area, and she was very kind to me over the years.

Judy in Ridgecrest, california. Her and her husband were like parents to me while I lived there, her husband and I are still friends. Damn good woman, liver cancer.

Lady and her husband across the street, she went in for stomach pain - had cancer and died a few months later. Her husband soon followed.

Some friends (including the first one mentioned) from the neighborhood - Scott (car wreck), Brian (heart attack), Blair (aids), Jim (heart problems), Mr and Mrs Herdman (cancer and heart problems, I bought their house which is where I am now - good folks, very missed here in the area), Tommy (murdered - his brother got back at the guy by torching his house and then later killing him by running over him, did 6 years).

Seems too many to remember at times. There were others I only knew a short while and not real well, one was a couple in california who died in a car crash, leaving their two children behind.

[montana_hazeleyes]

29. They played that

at the end of Walter Peyton's televised memorial as clips from his personal life and football career were shown. It was very powerful. I was crying like a baby.

[BlueJazz]

10. They're writing songs of Love but not for me.

the rest is:

A lucky star's above but not for me
With love to lead the way I've found more sky's of grey that any Russian play could ever see...

[BigMcLargehuge]

11. Pink Floyd - When the Tigers Broke Free (the whole song...

but especially the end)


One miserable morning in black 'forty four.
When the forward commander
Was told to sit tight
When he asked that his men be withdrawn.
And the Generals gave thanks
As the other ranks held back
The enemy tanks for a while.
And the Anzio bridgehead
Was held for the price
Of a few hundred ordinary lives.

And old King George
Sent Mother a note
When he heard that father was gone.
It was, I recall,
In the form of a scroll,
With gold leaf and all.
And I found it one day
In a drawer of old photographs, hidden away.
And my eyes still grow damp to remember
His Majesty signed
With his own rubber stamp.

It was dark all around.
There was frost in the ground
When the tigers broke free.
And no one survived
From the Royal Fusiliers Company C.
They were all left behind,
Most of them dead,
The rest of them dying.
And that's how the High Command
Took my daddy from me.

[Bossy Monkey]

23. Somehow calls to mind the last stanza of Gilmour's "Murder"

I don't want this anger that's burning in me
It's something from which it's so hard to be free
But none of the tears that we cry in sorrow or rage
Can make any difference, or turn back the page

Not implying that Gilmour wrote the former; I guessed and Google confirms that it was Waters. But still.

[Dookus]

12. A long long time ago

I can still remember how the music used to make me smile.

[ET Awful]

82. and I knew that if I had the chance, then I could make thet people dance

and maybe they'd be happy for a while

[TexasBushwhacker]

13. Pretty much all of "My Immortal"

I know that Amy Lee wrote the lyrics about something entirely different, but I can't listen to the song without thinking about my mother. She died in January after a long hideous battle with breast cancer.


i'm so tired of being here
suppressed by all of my childish fears
and if you have to leave
i wish that you would just leave
because your presence still lingers here
and it won't leave me alone

these wounds won't seem to heal
this pain is just too real
there's just too much that time cannot erase

when you cried i'd wipe away all of your tears
when you'd scream i'd fight away all of your fears
and i've held your hand through all of these years
but you still have all of me

you used to captivate me
by your resonating light
but now i'm bound by the life you left behind
your face it haunts my once pleasant dreams
your voice it chased away all the sanity in me

these wounds won't seem to heal
this pain is just too real
there's just too much that time cannot erase

when you cried i'd wipe away all of your tears
when you'd scream i'd fight away all of your fears
and i've held your hand through all of these years
but you still have all of me

i've tried so hard to tell myself that you're gone
and though you're still with me
i've been alone all along

[politicat]

76. yep... I've got it on... in the coffee shop... and trying not to cry.

My beloved who died just over ten years ago... I still miss her... but there are times I wish her memory would just let me go.

pcat

[TexasBushwhacker]

87. Isn't it amazing

That someone so young can write such haunting lyrics. I think Amy Lee is a major talent. I just hope the music business doesn't mess her up.

[Streetdoc270]

14. Evanescence - Hello

Soon I know I'll wake from this dream.
Don't try to fix me I'm not Broken, hello I'm the Lie living for you so you can hide... don't cry



Also the last line of Tourniquet, the way its delivered
"My wounds cry for the Grave, my Soul crys, for Deleverence. Will I be denied?, Christ... Tournequet... my Salvation?

[Knurled99]

15. From "Corcovadu" by Stan Getz/Joao Gilberto

I who was lost and lonely,
believing life was only
a bitter, tragic joke
I found with you
the meaning of existence
oh, my love

That one gets me every time... kind of has sentimental value with an old girlfriend that got away.

[Knurled99]

17. Also in the song "Creep" by Radiohead

I don't care if it hurts
I want to have control
I want a perfect body
I want a perfect soul

But Im a creep
Im a widow
What the hell am I doin here
I dont belong here

[GoddessOfGuinness]

16. Touch A Name On The Wall

by Joel Mabus

Well, I guess you could call it our summer of freedom,
the year that we both turned eighteen -
We hitch-hiked to Denver, straight out of high school
man, we were sights to be seen.
And that was the year that you dated my cousin, 'til
they took us away in the fall.
Now I dearly wish you were standing here with me as
I touch your name on the wall.

Touch a name on the wall,
Touch a name on the wall.
God help us all
Touch a name on the wall.

Every time I come here I wear my fatigues, to honor
the men that I knew.
I touch every name that came from my outfit, and I
read them out loud when I do.
Now some people say that they all died for nothing,
but I don't completely agree -
'Cause this brother here didn't die for no country - He
died for me.



Now, usually walls are made for division
- to separate me from you.
But God bless the wall that brings us together,
and reminds us of what we've been through.
And God damn the liars and the tin-plated heroes who
trade on the blood of such men.
God give us the strength to stand up and tell them -
Never again!

[JimmyJazz]

60. Wow - that's powerful even without the music n/t

[MnFats]

18. "I met a gin-soaked barroom queen in Memphis..."

..."She tried to take me upstairs for a ride."

[Jean Louise Finch]

20. Cry Cry Cry

Cry Cry Cry (Dar Williams, Lucy Kaplansky and Richard Shindell) have put out this one record of covers, and one this cover of James Keelaghan's "Cold Missouri Waters", which is about the first firefighter to save his own life by scorching the ground around him in the middle of a forest fire, and the whole thing is incredibly and weirdly poignant, but this verse (and bold line) in particular:

Sky had turned red, smoke was boiling
Two hundred yards to safety, death was fifty yards behind
I don't know why I just thought it
I struck a match to waist high grass running out of time
Tried to tell them, Step into this fire I set
We can't make it, this is the only chance you'll get
But they cursed me, ran for the rocks above instead

There are heaps of others, but this one sprung to mind. Takes my breath away every time I hear it.

[Lindsey]

21. "I was alright, for awhile, for awhile I could smile

but when I saw you last night you held my hand so tight
when I stopped.. to say.. hello....
and though you wished me well
you couldn't tell....
that I'd been cryiiiing over you
cryiiiing over you
Then you... said so long
left me standin' all alone
alone and cryin', cryin', cryin'
it's hard to understand...that the touch of your hand
can start me cryin' (KD Lang does this song in such a way it's truly astounding)

[Dookus]

22. oh god yeah, she does

I saw her in concert last year. She sang that song. Amazing.

[Bossy Monkey]

24. Also on the fire theme, the last stanzas of "What Made America Famous?"

by Harry Chapin:

It was the scene that made America famous.
If not the love that made America great.
You see we spent the rest of that night in the home of a man I'd never known before.
It's funny when you get that close it's kind of hard to hate.

I went to sleep with the hope that made America famous.
I had the kind of a dream that maybe they're still trying to teach in school.
Of the America that made America famous...and
Of the people who just might understand
That how together yes we can
Create a country better than
The one we have made of this land,
We have a choice to make each man
who dares to dream, reaching out his hand
A prophet or just a crazy God damn
Dreamer of a fool - yes a crazy fool

There's something burning somewhere.
Does anybody care?
Is anybody there?

[Quahog]

71. That song could have been hokey

But it isn't. You're right, "Cold Missouri Waters" is a startling narrative, filled with surreal imagery and bare emotions. Powerful piece of work.

[Duncan Grant]

26. Indigo Girls - "Ghost"

and there's not enough room in this world for my pain
signals cross
and love gets lost

and time passed makes it plain -
of all my 'demon' spirits
I need you the most

I'm in love with your ghost


(Anyone else know this one? - 9_S_F)

[gollygee]

74. That's one of my favorites :) n/t

[Duncan Grant]

77. You have excellent taste in music, Michigan Voter.

;) :hi:

[Skittles]

27. "The Living Years" (Mike and the Mechanics)

referring to his dad who had passed away:

I think I caught his spirit
Later that same year
I’m sure I heard his echo
In my baby’s new born tears
I just wish I could have told him in the living years

[patcox2]

52. Paul Carrack is awesome.

Saw him with the Ringo Starr travelling all-stars and realized that he is the most famous man ever who was never famous. He sang so many hits, "How Long," for Ace, Black Coffee in Bed, for Squeeze, I think he was in genesis and he was in Pink Floyd, too, or at least he toured with one of them, he can sing.

[DemWitch]

28. Second verse from Meatloaf's

Objects in the rear view mirror may appear cloaer than they are...

And when the sun descended and the night arose
I heard my father cursing everyone he knows
He was dangerous and drunk and defeated
And corroded by failure and evny and hate
There were endless winters and the dreams would freeze
No where to hide and no leaves on the trees
And my fathers eyes were blank as he hit me again and again and again
I know I still believe he'd never let me leave
I had to run away alone
So many threats and fears so many years
Before my life became my own
And though the nightmares should be over
Somehow some of the terrors are still intact
I'll hear that ugly coarse and violent voice
And then he grabs me from behind
and then pulls me back

But it was long ago and it was far away
Oh God it seems so very far...

First time I heard this verse, I felt like someone was choking me... driving through hte city and just uncontrollably balling my head off... Hit a little to close to home...

[Swamp Rat]

30. "Jambalaya and a crawfish pie and fillet gumbo..."

We feel with our stomachs here in New Orleans.

*******

Goodbye Joe, me gotta go, me oh, my oh,
Me gotta go, pole the pirogue down the bayou.
My Yvonne, the sweetest one, me oh, my oh.
Son of a gun, we're gonna have big fun on the bayou.

Jambalaya and a crawfish pie and fillet gumbo,
'Cause tonight I'm gonna see my ma cher amio.
Pick guitar, fill fruit jar and be gay oh.
Son of a gun, gonna have big fun on the bayou.

Thibodeaux, Fontaineaux, the place is buzzin'.
Kinfolk come to see Yvonne by the dozen.
Dress in style an' go hog wild, me oh, my oh.
Son of a gun, we're gonna have big fun on the bayou.

Jambalaya and a crawfish pie and fillet gumbo,
'Cause tonight I'm gonna see my ma cher amio.
Pick guitar an' fill fruit jar and be gay oh.
Son of a gun, we're gonna have big fun on the bayou.

Yeah, settle down, far from town, get me a pirogue,
An' I'll catch all the fish in the bayou.
Twice a month, we'll buy Yvonne what she need oh.
Son of a gun, we're gonna have big fun on the bayou.

Jambalaya and a crawfish pie and fillet gumbo,
'Cause tonight I'm gonna see my ma cher amio.
Pick guitar and fill fruit jar and be gay oh.
Son of a gun, we're gonna have big fun on the bayou.

[Chomskyite]

31. Also from Lennon

"Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii needed you . . . . you didn't need meeeeeeeeeeeeee!"

[wickerwoman]

32. "I've just closed my eyes again"

The first line of Dream Weaver. It looks pretty daffy printed out, but the way it's sung gets me every time. Maybe it's the commercial from People vs. Larry Flynt (which makes it even sadder in a way.) Anyway, I was close to tears the whole time I was learning webpage design.

Also, "Nothing's true and nothing's right
So let me be alone tonight
Cause you can't change the way I am
Are you strong enough to be my man?

Lie to me
I promise I'll believe
Lie to me
But please don't leave"

Sheryl Crow gets me every time- the song reminds me of my dad. Sniff...

[More Than A Feeling]

33. Show me the way/ Take me tonight, to the river and wash my confusion away/

Show Me the Way by Styx. The perfect song for troubled times.

[DoNotRefill]

34. I swore I'd love you till the end of time.

So now I'm praying for the end of time to hurry up and arrive. 'Cause if I gotta spend another minute with you I don't think that I could really survive....

Mmmmmm.....Meatloaf!!!

[DoNotRefill]

35. If you're really angry...

listen to "Binge and Purge" by Clutch. It's cathartic. But don't listen to it near the person who angered you, lest you end up in jail. It's fun to dance to, at least the last half of it...

[Gildor Inglorion]

36. "If I'd never loved, I never would have cried..."

"I am a rock, I am an island."

[chefgirl]

37. "Met my old lover in a grocery store,

the snow was falling, Christmas Eve."

From the same song, the last line:

"and as I turned to make my way back home, the snow turned into rain"

:cry:

-chef-

[Blue-Jay]

38. "Tie me to the bedpost" - Eve 6

[Lady Effingbroke]

39. Strangely enough, a couple of Tom Petty songs.

Several songs on his album "Long After Dark" have a marked spiritual connotation (at least to me):

"Deliver Me"

"Every woman and every man,
Knows the feeling so well.
Those times when the heart just can't understand,
The times when you never can tell.

(Chorus)
So deliver me, deliver me,
Baby take this heart, set it free.
Take this chance, take this dream,
Baby take this heart,
Deliver me.

I was born with something down inside of me,
And it's carried me over, delivered me.
Yeah delivered me, I'm standin' at your gate,
Just out of reach of the hands of fate.

(Chorus)

Sometimes I wonder if this is worth the trouble,
Sometimes I wonder if this is worth the fight.
I never have made my mind up about it,
I've just decided to let it all ride."


"Straight Into Darkness"

"There was a little girl, I used to know her,
I still think about her, time to time.
There was a moment when I really loved her,
Then one day the feeling just died.

(Chorus)
We went straight into darkness,
Out over the line.
Yeah straight into darkness,
Straight into night.

I remember flying out to London,
I remember the feeling at the time.
Out the window of the 747,
Man there was nothin', just the black sky.

(Chorus)

Oh give it up to me I need it.
Girl, I know a good thing when I see it,
Baby wrong or right I mean it.
I don't believe the good times are over,
I don't believe the thrill is all gone.
Real love is a man's salvation,
The weak are destroyed, the strong carry on.

Straight into darkness,
Out over the line.
Yeah straight into darkness,
Straight into night."


Nice imagery from 'ol Tom, there.

[KDLarsen]

40. Pearl Jam's "Love Boat Captain"

"Lost 9 friends we'll never know,
.. 2 years ago today"

That particular line is about the 9 young men who died in front of the Orange stage at Roskilde Festival in 2000, during a Pearl Jam set. The tragedy really shook the festival community, because Roskilde Festival for a long time was considered to be the safest festival around.


The memorial that was created in front of the Orange stage by festival-goers, what you can't see is a cross made from beer cans which I think was the most touching piece.


At the opening of the 2001 Roskilde Festival, an official memorial was opened, with 9 young birch trees placed in a circle around a stone with the inscription "... how fragile we are".

[patcox2]

53. How about "Can't find a better man?"

Whole song. She cries and says she's in love with him, can't find a better man."

[Mizmoon]

41. "I woke up this morning, and all my shrimps was dead and gone"

o/k

[arwalden]

42. The church bell chimed, 'til it rang 29 times...

The church bell chimed,
'til it rang 29 times,
for each man on the Edmund Fitzgerald

[Corgigal]

43. Clarence Carter's song Patches

thought someone would have it already posted



Patches
Clarence Carter


I was born and raised down in Alabama
On a farm way back up in the woods
I was so ragged that folks used to call me Patches
Papa used to tease me about it
'Cause deep down inside he was hurt
'Cause he'd done all he could

My papa was a great old man
I can see him with a shovel in his hands, see
Education he never had
He did wonders when the times got bad
The little money from the crops he raised
Barely paid the bills we made

For, life had kick him down to the ground
When he tried to get up
Life would kick him back down
One day Papa called me to his dyin' bed
Put his hands on my shoulders
And in his tears he said

He said, Patches
I'm dependin' on you, son
To pull the family through
My son, it's all left up to you

Two days later Papa passed away, and
I became a man that day
So I told Mama I was gonna quit school, but
She said that was Daddy's strictest rule

So ev'ry mornin' 'fore I went to school
I fed the chickens and I chopped wood too
Sometimes I felt that I couldn't go on
I wanted to leave, just run away from home
But I would remember what my daddy said
With tears in his eyes on his dyin' bed

He said, Patches
I'm dependin' on you, son
I tried to do my best
It's up to you to do the rest

Then one day a strong rain came
And washed all the crops away
And at the age of 13 I thought
I was carryin' the weight of the
Whole world on my shoulders
And you know, Mama knew
What I was goin' through, 'cause

Ev'ry day I had to work the fields
'Cause that's the only way we got our meals
You see, I was the oldest of the family
And ev'rybody else depended on me
Ev'ry night I heard my Mama pray
Lord, give him the strength to face another day

So years have passed and all the kids are grown
The angels took Mama to a brand new home
Lord knows, people, I shedded tears
But my daddy's voice kept me through the years

Sing
Patches, I'm dependin' on you, son
To pull the family through
My son, it's all left up to you

Oh, I can still hear Papa's voice sayin'
Patches, I'm dependin' on you, son
I've tried to do my best
It's up to you to do the rest

I can still hear Papa, what he said
Patches ...

[Beware the Beast Man]

47. Personally, the end of "Strokin'" always gets me weepy-eyed.

:P

[Corgigal]

62. you're a bad bad

human. HA

[Z_I_Peevey]

57. I just went through a little 'Patches' phase,

playing that song on vinyl every day for a week. Now I have to reverse the effect with multiple playings of 'Mighty Clouds of Joy.'

And my vote for most emotional line is: The moon just went behind a cloud, and I'm so lonesome I could cry.

[Bridget Burke]

44. "While riding on a train going west,

I fell asleep for to take my rest.
I dreamed a dream that made me sad
Concerning myself & the first few friends I had."

--B Dylan

[mac56]

46. Oh, absolutely.

I was in tears when I first heard that song.

Great post, BB.

[mac56]

45. "I wonder if she's sorry

For leavin' what we'd begun
There's someone for me somewhere
And I still miss someone."

Johnny Cash. Gets me every time.

Runner-up, from 10,000 Manaics:

"How I've learned to please
To doubt myself in need
You'll never, you'll never know...
How I've learned to hide
How I've locked inside
You'd be surprised if shown
But you'll never, you'll never know."

[mac56]

48. one from John Prine

Lately I feel that I can't pretend
I may never ever see the likes of you again
I take a walk, I come back home, then I sit a spell
Watch the ponies dance around the empty wishing well.

Night has fallen -
I've said the things I did
The only baby sleeping is when I was a kid
Do you remember when you were my friend?
That's the way I'd like things -
Just like way back then.

[japple]

49. A Tom Waits song does it for me

Tom Traubert's Blues (Four Sheets to the Wind in Copenhagen)

Wasted and wounded, it ain't what the moon did
I've got what I paid for now
see ya tomorrow, hey Frank, can I borrow
a couple of bucks from you, to go
Waltzing Mathilda, waltzing Mathilda, you'll go waltzing
Mathilda with me

I'm an innocent victim of a blinded alley
and I'm tired of all these soldiers here
no one speaks English, and everything's broken
and my Stacys are soaking wet
to go waltzing Mathilda, waltzing Mathilda, you'll go waltzing Mathilda with me

now the dogs are barking
and the taxi cab's parking
a lot they can do for me
I begged you to stab me
you tore my shirt open
and I'm down on my knees tonight
Old Bushmill's I staggered, you buried the dagger in
your silhouette window light go to go
waltzing Mathilda, waltzing Mathilda, you'll go waltzing
Mathilda with me

now I lost my Saint Christopher now that I've kissed her and the one-armed bandit knows, and the maverick Chinamen, and the cold-blooded signs
and the girls down by the strip-tease shows go
waltzing Mathilda, waltzing Mathilda, you'll go waltzing Mathilda with me

no, I don't want your sympathy, the fugitives say that the streets aren't for dreaming now
manslaughter dragnets and the ghosts that sell memories
they want a piece of the action anyhow go
waltzing Mathilda, waltzing Mathilda, you'll go waltzing Mathilda with me

and you can ask any sailor, and the keys from the jailor
and the old men in wheelchairs know
that Mathilda's the defendant, she killed about a hundred
and she follows wherever you may go
waltzing Mathilda, waltzing Mathilda, you'll go waltzing
Mathilda with me

and it's a battered old suitcase to a hotel someplace
and a wound that will never heal
no prima donna, the perfume is on
an old shirt that is stained with blood and whiskey
and goodnight to the street sweepers
the night watchman flame keepers
and goodnight to Mathilda too

--------------------------------------------------------------

Also, as a child, I remember weeping when I heard Ole' Shep. Can't remember who sang/wrote it, but I know that Elvis Presley won a high school talent show singing that song.

[DelawareValleyDem]

50. Allman Bros - Win, Lose or Draw

There's two men in one room for ten long years
Still strangers that talk away the time
'cause each time i think of your soft hand in mine
I lay here and die one more time

Powerful words and a great voice signing them.

[patcox2]

51. The Call, "I Don't Want To," the line: "I just know it"

Okay, osbcure band, obscure song, but the whole song from beginning to end is the most emotional song ever, and it gradually drives to a crescendo where the singer tells the woman "I'm not gonna beg for you to love me, because I know you will, I just know it."

Gore used one of this band's songs as a campaign song in 2000, that was "Let the Day Begin," beautiful benediction of a song.

[Red State Rebel]

54. I'd fall down on myknees, kiss the ground that you walk on

if I could just hold you again....

At This Moment - Billy Vera & the Beaters

[Red State Rebel]

55. George Jones classic...He stopped loving her today

they placed a wreath upon his door, and soon they'll carry him away, he stopped loving her today.

[Bridget Burke]

59. The first time I heard that song...

It came over the car radio.

I got to my destination, parked & didn't turn off the radio until the song was done.

It was an absolutely perfect performance of a great song.

[Courtesy Flush]

69. That is a great one

There's nothing in it that hasn't been said in a thousand other country songs, but it hurt when Jones sang it.

[Lavender Brown]

56. That song makes me think of "Family Ties"

[JimmyJazz]

58. Please remember Victor Jara in the Santiago Stadium..

Washington Bullets from Sandinista

It's a reference to the socialist musician who played in the Stadium days before Pinochet's coup. He was imprisoned as a result of his political beliefs and later returned to the Stadium by the soldiers. They SMASHED HIS HANDS and taunted him to play his guitar. Afterward, they killed him.

(I know I posted this story when the Pinochet coup was discussed on September 11, but I think it bears repeating)

My second one has to be "I can't cry hard enough for you to hear me now." Victoria Williams

[noonwitch]

61. "How many times can a man turn his head..."

"and pretend that he just doesn't see?".

[pagerbear]

63. I believe that since my life began...

....the most I've had is just a talent to amuse.

Noel Coward
Bittersweet

[Magrittes Pipe]

64. Everywhere you look there's a heart, a hand to hold onto.

:cry:

[redqueen]

65. Almost Blue

Can't choose just one part:

almost blue
almost doing things we
used to do
there's a girl here and she's almost you,
almost...
all the things
that your eyes once promised
I see in hers too
now your eyes are red
from crying
almost blue
flirting with this disaster became me
it named me as the fool
who only aimed to be

almost blue
it's almost touching
it will almost do
there's a part of me that's always true...
always

[eyesroll]

66. Forgive me, baby but don't worry

Love is always having to
say you're sorry
And I am, from my head
down to my shoes
I'm sorry that I'm always pissed
I'm sorry that I exist
And when I look into your eyes
I can see you're sorry too

(Nick Cave, "Thirsty Dog")

[Courtesy Flush]

67. "I'd trade all of my tomorrows for one single yesterday"

Janis Joplin, of course.

That line always got to me.

[Marnieworld]

81. Yup that's mine too

I have my own Bobby McGee. <sigh>

[WilliamPitt]

68. "But I always thought that I'd see you again"

[VelmaD]

88. Holy shit, Will...

dead on. One of the things I really missed for my birthday this year was going to see James Taylor with my best friend (he often plays Dallas right around this time of year). I'm gonna go find a quiet spot to cry now. :)

[CornField]

70. "really like your peaches, wanna shake your tree"

Okay, it does great things for me... your mileage may vary.

[chenGOD]

72. Husker Du - I Will Always Love You...

The most powerful, poignant love song ever. Well at least to me.

[Quahog]

73. I like this one from Joni Mitchell

"You give me such pleasure
You bring me such pain
Who left that long black hair in our bathtub drain?"

From "Off Night Back Street."

[Quahog]

75. Oh, my favorite ANGRY line:

"You can all go take a fuckin' walk."

From Lou Reed's "Heroin." That's a difficult song all the way around, but the way he spits that line out on "Rock and Roll Animal" is just whithering.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

78. "The weak will seek the weaker 'til they've broken them"

From Simon by Lifehouse. LOVE that song, it got me through highschool.

Here are some more from that song.

"Fulfillment to their lack of strength at your expense
Left you with no defence
They tore it down"


"Locked inside the only place where you feel sheltered where you feel safe
You lost yourself in your search to find something else to hide behind
The fearful always preyed upon your confidence
Did they see the consequence
They pushed you around"

"you don't know why they had to go this far
traded your worth for these scars
for your only company
don't believe the lies that they told to you
not one word was true"

[ET Awful]

79. Inspiration, move me brightly

light the song with sense and color
hold away despair
more than this I will not ask
faced with mysteries dark and vast
statements just seem vain at last.

Some rise
Some fall
Some climb
to get to Terrrapin.



From Terrapin Station by the Dead. A good live version of this song will send chills down your spine :)

[redqueen]

83. Genesis - Dusk

See my hand is moving
touching all that's real
And once it stroked love's body
now it claws the past.

[redqueen]

84. One more... Genesis - Knife

Tell me my life is about to begin
Tell me that I am a hero,
Promise me all of your violent dreams
Light up your body with anger.
Now, in this ugly world
it is time to destroy all this evil.
Now, when I give the word
get ready to fight for your freedom
Now -

This whole album is amazing...

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

85. "No, it's not like any other love. This one's different because it's us."

"Hand in Glove" by The Smiths

[pdx_prog]

86. It's about time.....from John Denver

There's a man who is my brother....I just don't know his name..

But I know his home and family beacuse I know we feel the same...

and it hurts me when he's hungry, and when his children cry...

I too am a father, that little one is mine....




I'm tearing up just typing this...lol

[Aristus]

89. "I gave my life away..." from 'Under The Bridge' by the RHCP.

Hands down, the saddest line of any song I've heard.

[VelmaD]

90. "I'd sell my soul, my self esteem...

a dollar at a time; for one chance, one kiss, one taste of you..."

From "Magdalena" by A Perfect Circle. Describes too many of my relationships in the past.

[IconoclastIlene]

91. This is the end, my only friend, the end.....of our elaborate plans..

the end...I'll never look into your eyes---------again.

[tsakshaug]

92. someone...

left the cake out in the rain...

[tjdee]

94. "Angel, don't take your life tonight."

Angel
Don't take your life
Tonight
I know they take and that they take in turn
And they give you nothing real for yourself in return
And when they've used you and they've broken you and wasted all your money, and cast your shell aside
And when they've bought you and they've sold you and they've billed you for the pleasure
And made your parents cry
I will be here
Believe me

I will be here
Believe me

Angel
Don't take your life
Some people have got no pride
They do not understand the urgency of life
But I love you more than life
I love you more than life
I love you more than life
I love you more than life


Morrissey. Awesome.

[Minstrel Boy]

95. "And she never done nothing to William Zanzinger"

From The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll, by

[Beaverhausen]

96. Dar Williams- When I was a Boy

the song is about when girls are young they can act like "boys" and no one cares.

the last verse is a man relating his memories of when he is young:

When I was a girl, my mom and I we always talked
And I picked flowers everywhere that I walked
And I could always cry, now even when I'm alone I seldom do
And I have lost some kindness
But I was a girl too
And you were just like me, and I was just like you"


that really gets to me!

[Chovexani]

98. Annie Lennox - Love Song For a Vampire

Let me be the only one
To keep you from the cold
Now the floor of heaven's lain
With stars of brightest gold

They shine for you - they shine for you
They burn for all to see
Come into these arms again
And set this spirit free

My favorite song. Heartbreakingly beautiful.

[samplegirl]

99. War what is it good for

Absolutely Nothing!

[MiddleRiverRefugee]

100. From an old Don McLean song - "Oh My What a Shame"

And I watch the river flow
And I know I must let go
But it's oh so hard
For the waves are all around my small canoe
I had always hoped this boat could carry two

A great songwriter who this ubp is proud to name as a Major Influence.

[truthbetold]

101. Not a line, a single word.

Listen to "You Know You're Right" by Nirvana. When Kurt screams the word "pain", chills just shoot down my spine. What makes it even more poignant is that this is the very last song he recorded before his suicide.
Also, "Hurt" by Nine Inch Nails always drives me to tears.