The best single line from a song lyric ever:

[MineralMan]

"Still, a man hears what he wants to hear, and disregards the rest."

It applies to so much, so often, that it bears repeating from time to time, I think.

I can hear the echos of that song today...Thanks, Paul!

[Journeyman]

1. I quote that more than any other lyric I know. . .

[elocs]

2. Yes, because it applies to all of us. n/t

[MineralMan]

4. Indeed it does. It's pretty much universal.

Paul Simon is one of our best poets, really.

[elocs]

8. You know, I've thought about Paul Simon & other once popular & famous songwriters like him

who just seem to fade away. What's happened to them, have they run out of things to say, has their talent dried up, or are they just retired? It's like they just disappear.

[originalpckelly]

17. I don't know, I thought some of Simon's more recent stuff was pretty good.

I think the times just change and the style of music they knew best how to play goes out of fashion. The style changes to much for them to adapt. I can't really see Paul Simon doing a rap song.

That and I think some people's voices just aren't as good as when they were young. Finally, even if their voice is as good, they just have run out of talent. It's like you're most creative when you're young.

[Bluenorthwest]

28. His latest is wonderful actually

Best in some time in my opinion. Lovely.

[AlabamaLibrul]

61. Paul Simon's still around

He was just down at the beach for the Hangout Festival in May.

[Skip_In_Boulder]

3. I just listened to that song yesterday

and that line always gets my attention. Shows real insight on Paul's part.

[kwassa]

5. "Sunshine bores the daylights out of me."

Rolling Stones, Rocks Off.

[housewolf]

6. My local PBS station played a S&G concert documentary several times over their pledge break last mon

What a delight! Totally took me back to those days, and truthfully, those songs and their voices still have an appeal today. Loved it!

And yes, Paul Simon is a genius with words.

:applause:

[EC]

9. Not only with words...

but with seeing, understanding and recording reality...he has insight of the human psyche and documents it.

[postulater]

7. One of my favorites is "Money doesn't talk, it swears."

Not Simon but still.

[Swede]

10. "I thought reality influenced your politics,but it seems your politics influences your reality"

To paraphrase Jon Stewart.

[hvn_nbr_2]

11. Holy crap!

This post appeared on the greatest page with 5 votes when I clicked "refresh" but immediately when I came to the post, it had that quickly been unrec'ed down to 0 votes. Looks like it really hit home with the unrec crowd.

[MineralMan]

30. That's funny. A thread about a song lyric gets unrecced.

It all just goes to show that rec counts are worthless. I suppose some people just don't like the poster, so they unrec, no matter what it is. It's really a hoot!

The things people do to amuse themselves, eh?

[Smarmie Doofus]

31. Interesting. Any idea why? nt

[MineralMan]

35. It's impossible to tell, really. Suddenly, there will be a flurry

of unrecs, or a flurry of recs. I think sometimes that it's people we wouldn't even recognize, just doing that out of sheer boredom. I understand it when there's an issue being discussed in an OP. That makes sense. But unreccing something that is completely inoffensive always puzzles me.

Still, I don't consider the feature to be of any real use, anyhow, and will be glad to see it go in DU3. It's been a troublesome thing all along, I think.

Ratings for threads on a a discussion forum just seems extraneous to the function of a discussion forum to me. Now, I click the buttons sometimes, but only to comment on the actual content of something. A song lyric? I don't get the point, really.

[mythology]

51. Perhaps some don't feel that this subject is deep enough for the greatest page

Personally I don't think I've ever recced or unrecced more than a handful of threads, and I did neither for this thread. Different people will have different opinions of what belongs on the greatest page.

Why not just appreciate the thread as other than the greatest page, the number of recs or unrecs seems to be rather useless.

[hvn_nbr_2]

66. My surprise wasn't about a few random unrecs.

It was about so many happening so suddenly and so close together. Five unrecs within about two minutes, when a thread is not hot seems like an organized attempt to, in the theme of the thread, "kill it before it grows."

[originalpckelly]

12. "We are all just prisoners here, of our own device..."

Hotel California, Eagles.

[hfojvt]

13. that's not nearly as good as

excuse me, while I kiss this guy

[originalpckelly]

15. Oi vey.

No, it's not about that, although I wish it was. No, it's about being high and "kissing the SKY" is a reference to that. Or perhaps you already knew that and this is humor. Pardon me if it is true.

[hfojvt]

23. yeah

well I heard what I wanted to hear and disregarded the rest

now, if you will excuse me, I have to go kiss this guy

you know the guy, he's wrapped up like a douche, another runner in the night, over there by the light that is blinding me.

[originalpckelly]

26. No, it's:

"Wrapped up like a douche, another rubber in the night."

[hfojvt]

34. stop the cat box

of course.

No wonder Shareef don't like it.


eidt: sopt? I am experiencing attacks of dsyliaex

[pinboy3niner]

37. And (from 'Bad Moon Rising')...

"There's a bathroom on the right."

[pipi_k]

54. Then there was Terry Stafford singing "Suspicion"....

"Wipe out your ears..."



And Shocking Blue...."I'm your penis..."



Best of all, though... "Louie, Louie" by the Kingsmen

Nobody could understand the lyrics in 1963, but everyone was sure they must be vulgar...

[saras]

40. Hendrix sang it both ways - there's videos of him making kissy-face at his bass player while singing

[proud2BlibKansan]

21. +1

[Drale]

14. I always felt this rang the truth is almost all situations as well.

"They hate you if you're clever and they despise a fool"

[boomerbust]

Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way

Time - Pink Floyd

[boomerbust]

16. Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way

Time - Pink Floyd

[originalpckelly]

18. Definitely a good line.

:P

[gauguin57]

19. I'm partial to "... hate your next-door neighbor, but don't forget to say grace ..."

... from "Eve of Destruction" by Barry McGuire.

I know a helluva lot of people who fit that description.

[originalpckelly]

22. I have some family members like that.

I always love what I'm pretty are timpani in that song. We need more of that today. It's like we're totally forgetting all the instruments.

[21st Century FDR]

29. Funny thing about that line

I always thought it was "EAT your next door neighbor, but don't forget to say grace"

You know, since people who say grace usually do so right before a meal. :rofl:

[sweetloukillbot]

47. And then Barry went on to become a Jesus freak...

[Tikki]

20. Another: "You may see them drowning as you stroll on the beach, but...

...don't throw out the lifeline till they're clean out of reach"...

From 'Waiting For The End Of The World'..Elvis Costello & the Attractions



Tikki

[Bluenorthwest]

24. Not even close to

"no short-haired, yellow-bellied, son of tricky dicky ' s gonna mother hubbard soft soap me with just a pocketful of hope."
John Winston Lennon

[road2000]

25. Not only a great lyric, but a great song.

Another that resonates with me:

People walking up to ya,
Singin' Glory Hallelujah,
And they try to sock it to ya
In the name of the Lord.

[InvisibleTouch]

48. "Games People Play" - that's a great song too. n/t

[Smarmie Doofus]

27. It's good. John Mayer took the idea a bit further:

Is there ever anyone who ever remembers changing their mind from
The paint on a sign?
Is there anyone who really recalls
Ever breaking rank at all
For something someone yelled real loud one time

Everyone believes
In how they think it ought to be
Everyone believes
And they're not going easily

Belief is a beautiful armor
But makes for the heaviest sword
Like punching under water
You never can hit who you're trying for

Some need the exhibition
And some have to know they tried
It's the chemical weapon
For the war that's raging on inside

Everyone believes
From emptiness to everything
Everyone believes
And no one's going quietly

We're never gonna win the world
We're never gonna stop the war
We're never gonna beat this
If belief is what we're fighting for

What puts a hundred thousand children in the sand
Belief can
Belief can
What puts the folded flag inside his mother's hand
Belief can
Belief can


K and R, in any case.

[MineralMan]

33. That's very good. I'm a real admirer of one line things, though, but

I like that lyric, too.

[Blue-Jay]

43. "Belief is a beautiful armor" - I like that.

[tularetom]

32. "Send lawyers guns and money...

...the shit has hit the fan".

[PurityOfEssence]

74. Little old lady got mutilated late last night, werewolves of London again

Always thought that was just poetic perfection...

[tularetom]

76. Especially as sung by Tom Brokaw

[robdogbucky]

36. May the lights in the land of plenty shine on the truth one day

Leonard Cohen

[QC]

38. The sun'll come out, tomorrow!

Bet your bottom dollar there'll be sun!

[grasswire]

39. of modern popular song, this always hits home

Billy Joel:

I don't care what consequence it brings
I have been a fool for lesser things

.........

but it's not the greatest one line ever

I sense that you are thinking profundity rather than elegantly crafted lyric, or sentimental. Of course Ira Gershwin, Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, and others of that era wrote the most clever and elegant lyrics.

And then there's Tom Lehrer.

[road2000]

67. Agreed.

Although if we take it out of context, it could very well apply to politics.

[grasswire]

70. yeah, I think of it in the broader context.

And I HAVE been a fool for *lesser things*.

[dembotoz]

41. from kathleen edwards--hockey skates

something like

i'm always on the defense and i don't even have hockey skates

[Kceres]

42. Especially my hubby. n/t

[ArnoldLayne]

44. Roger Waters of Pink Floyd from the song "The Happiest Days of Our Lives"

"But in the town it was well known when they got home at night their fat and Psychopathic wives would thrash them within inches of their lives"

[NNN0LHI]

45. White-collar conservatives flashing down the street - Pointing their plastic finger at me

If 6 Was 9 by Jimi Hendrix

[Warren DeMontague]

46. The biggest wagon is the empty wagon is the noisiest, the consul a horse

Jefferson, I think we're lost.

[InvisibleTouch]

49. Great song, great line, great songwriter. n/t

[Dulcinea]

50. "Poor man wanna be rich, Rich man wanna be king...

...And a king ain't satisfied till he rules everything."

--Bruce Springsteen

[Jakes Progress]

52. "Slip sliding away. Slip sliding away. You know the nearer

your destination, the more you slip sliding away."

Still Paul.

Hell, the last verse too:

Whoah God only knows, God makes his plan
The information's unavailable to the mortal man
We're workin' our jobs, collect our pay
Believe we're gliding down the highway, when in fact we're slip sliding away

[Morning Dew]

53. You can't overlook the lack Jack, of any other highway to ride . . .

You can't overlook the lack Jack
of any other highway to ride
It's got no signs or dividing lines
and very few rules to guide

from
New Speedway Boogie
- Grateful Dead -


Aw, hell, the whole thing is gold:

"New Speedway Boogie"
Words by Robert Hunter; music by Jerry Garcia
Copyright Ice Nine Publishing; used by permission

Please don't dominate the rap Jack
if you got nothing new to say
If you please don't back up the track
This train got to run today

Spent a little time on the mountain
Spent a little time on the hill
Heard some say better run away
Others say you better stand still

Now I don't know but I been told
it's hard to run with the weight of gold
Other hand I heard it said
it's just as hard with the weight of lead

Who can deny? Who can deny?
it's not just a change in style
One step done and another begun
in I wonder how many miles?

Spent a little time on the mountain
Spent a little time on the hill
Things went down we don't understand
but I think in time we will

Now I don't know but I been told
in the heat of the sun a man died of cold
Do we keep on coming or stand and wait
with the sun so dark and the hour so late?

You can't overlook the lack Jack
of any other highway to ride
It's got no signs or dividing lines
and very few rules to guide

Spent a little time on the mountain
Spent a little time on the hill
I saw things getting out of hand
I guess they always will

I don't know but I been told
if the horse don't pull you got to carry the load
I don't know whose back's that strong
Maybe find out before too long

One way or another
One way or another
One way or another
this darkness got to give
One way or another
One way or another
One way or another
this darkness got to give

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVsSKuxyaro&feature=related

[LaydeeBug]

55. is.."and every time I scratch my nails down someone else's back, I hope you feel it"

although Paul Simon is AWESOME!!!

:hi:

[Danmel]

56. From Masters of War by Bob Dylan

"let me ask you one question, is your money that good? Will it buy back your soul, did you think that it could?"

[wizstars]

57. "And the Lord uses the good ones, and the bad ones use the Lord."

"Let's Get the Show On the Road", Michael Stanley Band

That line has been on my mind a lot.

[Skidmore]

58. My all time favorite song.

When I was younger, in times of hardship or frustration I used to play "The Boxer" as loud as I could. An anthem of defiance against the capriciousness of the universe.

[Cereal Kyller]

59. "Wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then."

Bob Seger, Against the Wind.

It applies more to women than politics, but what the hey!

[Bonobo]

60. I hope you don't imagine that this doesn't apply equally well to you. nt

[MineralMan]

64. It applies to everybody. That's why I posted it.

[hobbit709]

62. The fate of all mankind, I see, is in the hands of fools.

[radiclib]

63. Everything is not enough

Nothing is too much to bear
Where you been is good and gone
All you keep's the gettin' there

--Townes Van Zandt

[craigmatic]

65. I like the Elvis line from Public Enemy's fight the power.

[road2000]

68. Let's give CEOs some space here...

With his fool's gold stacked up all around him
From a killing in the market on the war,
The children left King Midas there, as they found him,
In his counting house where nothing counts but more.

From "The Door Into Summer." Yeah, I know the Monkees sang it, so go ahead and laugh. ;-)

[pinboy3niner]

69. Simon gave them space in another song: Richard Cory

They say that Richard Cory owns one half of this whole town,
With political connections to spread his wealth around.
Born into society, a banker's only child,
He had everything a man could want: power, grace, and style.

But I work in his factory
And I curse the life I'm living
And I curse my poverty
And I wish that I could be,
Oh, I wish that I could be,
Oh, I wish that I could be
Richard Cory.

The papers print his picture almost everywhere he goes:
Richard Cory at the opera, Richard Cory at a show.
And the rumor of his parties and the orgies on his yacht!
Oh, he surely must be happy with everything he's got.

But I work in his factory
And I curse the life I'm living
And I curse my poverty
And I wish that I could be,
Oh, I wish that I could be,
Oh, I wish that I could be
Richard Cory.

He freely gave to charity, he had the common touch,
And they were grateful for his patronage and thanked him very much,
So my mind was filled with wonder when the evening headlines read:
"Richard Cory went home last night and put a bullet through his head."

But I work in his factory
And I curse the life I'm living
And I curse my poverty
And I wish that I could be,
Oh, I wish that I could be,
Oh, I wish that I could be
Richard Cory.

Edited to add that the song was based on a poem by Edwin Arlington Robinson:


Richard Cory

Whenever Richard Cory went down town,
We people on the pavement looked at him:
He was a gentleman from sole to crown,
Clean-favoured and imperially slim.

And he was always quietly arrayed,
And he was always human when he talked;
But still he fluttered pulses when he said,
"Good Morning!" and he glittered when he walked.

And he was rich, yes, richer than a king,
And admirably schooled in every grace:
In fine -- we thought that he was everything
To make us wish that we were in his place.

So on we worked and waited for the light,
And went without the meat and cursed the bread,
And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,
Went home and put a bullet in his head.


--Edwin Arlington Robinson (Poem published in 1897)

[grasswire]

75. thanks for adding the Robinson poem -- I was going to do it.

And I hope other readers here know the S&G is an interpretation of Robinson's work.

My mom had an LP of the folksinger group 3Ds long ago, and it contained this poem set to music, along with other classic poems. It was really, really good.

[LynneSin]

71. Damnit - I wish I saw this yesterday so I could K&R

It could be the official DU motto of GD/GDP don't you think?

[Erose999]

72. "You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows".

[maxrandb]

73. "Hope I die before I get old"

nuff said

[pinboy3niner]

77. Easy to Be Hard (from the musical, 'Hair')

How can people be so heartless
How can people be so cruel
Easy to be hard
Easy to be cold

How can people have no feelings
How can they ignore their friends
Easy to be proud
Easy to say no

And especially people
Who care about strangers
Who care about evil
And social injustice
Do you only
Care about the bleeding crowd?
How about a needing friend?
I need a friend

How can people be so heartless
You know I'm hung up on you
Easy to give in
Easy to help out

And especially people
Who care about strangers
Who say they care about social injustice
Do you only
Care about the bleeding crowd
How about a needing friend?
I need a friend

How can people have no feelings
How can they ignore their friends
Easy to be hard
Easy to be cold
Easy to be proud
Easy to say no

Three Dog Night performance, 1970 (5:05)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCMyd8kuZvc