"I've heard you say many times that you're better than no one, and no one is better than you."

Linguistically, these two should be the opposite of each other. But in our screwy language, they kind of mean the same thing. I'd rather quote the entire first verse as one of the most articulate and downright beautiful summaries of grief; but rules are rules, right?

I momentarily decided that Noel Gallagher wasn't utterly talentless when he coined the very clever line "You said that the brains I had went to my head", and then I read somewhere that he nicked it from an unreleased John Lennon song. Is this true, and if so which song is it from?

'It's so hard to understand
Why the world is your oyster but your future's a clam'

"Does the extinguished candle care about the darkness?"

"She starts to shake & cough
Just like the
old man in
that book by Nabokov"
An eloquent and touching comment on the attractiveness of a be-jumpered Geordie schoolteacher to a flu-riddled adolescent pupil. The witty inclusion of the Russian author's name cleverly anticipated the then unforeseen resurgence of shattered Russia as a world player in the next century. Sting - a romantic & a prophet. It brings me to tears evertime I hear it.

"I don't want to see a ghost
It's the sight that I fear most
I'd rather have a piece of toast
Watch the evening news"
A stunning verse, acknowledging our inherent fear of the afterworld, coupled with a brave rejection of the Atkins Diet and a sympathetic nod to the talents of Sir Trevor McDonald. Des'Ree truly touched all of us with this one.

I'll be back later with the the Pushbike Song.

"Don't you know that it's the fool who play's it cool, by making the world a little colder." A Paul McCartney lyric that must have made John Lennon green with envy.

cough... you're absolutely right, Em.
I have the dunce cap on and I'm standing in the corner until home time.

Pretty little shoes,cheap perfume,
creaking bed in a hotel room,
Oh you cant hide from the turning of the tide.

Genius from Mr Richard Thompson who in my opinion deserves poet laureate status in addition to his accolades as a belting guitar player.

you're breakin' my heart
but you're stealin' my tart
shut up

Stewart/Wood

It doesn't really get any better or more profound than that.

...are clearly not as impressive as Mr Penniman's. I personally blame the Hoegaarden. ( Or should that be Hooegaarden?? ) Hic.

"I can understand why you want a better man,
But why do you want to make him out of me?"

- Spitting in the Wind by The Db's

"She had a dimple in her favour" - just brilliant. Rather underrated songwriter, I think.

"She had a dimple in her favour" - just brilliant. Rather underrated songwriter, I think.

"Between Marx and marzipan in the dictionary
There was Mary"
in fact the entire lyric of The Short Answer.
" The chain that fell off my bike last night
Is now wrapped round my heart." from The Only One.

If truth is beauty & beauty truth, 'Against the Wind's, "Wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then" qualifies. We've all been there.

"Looking through some photographs I found inside a drawer/I was taken by a photograph of you"

Now that's clever. I've a mind to quote the whole song, but best not. Let's have one more line, though:

"And while the future's there for anyone to change, still you know its seems/It would be easier sometimes to change the past"

God, I've been there. Arguably still am.

there a plenty of examples in the Pavement canon really, this is from Spit on a Stranger,

"Honey I'm a prize and you're a catch, and we're a perfect match".

What a great chat up line. If using it, just remember to stop before the bit about spitting.

Pretty much the whole of Mojo Pin, in particular the Chocolate version intro.

Joni:
I pulled into the Cactus Tree Motel, to shower off the dust
And slept on strange pillows of my wanderlust
I dreamed on 747s over geometric farms
Dreams Amelia, dreams and false alarms

Paul Westerberg:
When you wish upon a star
That turns into a plane

"If fate should break my stride, I'll give you my Vincent to ride"
...perfect in it's own way.

The Bard of Barking also comes to mind with:
"I am the milkman of human kindness (and I will leave an extra pint)"
and "I said I'm the most illegible bachelor in town. Yeah, she said that's why I can't read any of those silly letters you send".

And Smokey could pen a decent line or two - I'd vote for "If there's a smile on my face, it's only there just to fool the public" as one of the best opening lines in popular music. Admittedly it's not clever, but it both introduces and encapsulates the whole song.

"He'll be tucked up in his bed tonight with his dirty pictures girl,
saying "you're some mother's daughter you know or is it immaterial girl?"

so much in that song, you could mine it for meaning almost indefinitely.

"A New England" - "I saw two shooting stars last night and wished on then, but they were only satellites, It's wrong to wish on space hardware, I wish, I wish, I wish you'd care".

Poetic, mundane and slightly geeky - what's not to like?

The whole of Thunder Road surely qualifies, but if pushed I'll go for:

There were ghosts in the eyes
Of all the boys you sent away
They haunt this dusty beach road
In the skeleton frames of burned out Chevrolets

I can see that road in my mind's eye right now...

I'll always weigh in with Tom Lehrer and, in particular, the Vatican Rag

First you get down on your knees,
Fiddle with your rosaries,
Bow your head with great respect
And, genuflect, genuflect, genuflect

The man was a comedy genius.

Alternatively, given that she's in the news at the moment, can I put forward Dolly Parton's opener to 9-to-5

Tumble outta bed, stumble to the kitchen
Pour myself a cup of ambition

And to round this post off, the wondrous Joni Mitchell and The Last Time I Saw Richard:

Richard got married to a figure skater
He bought her a dishwasher and a coffee percolator

This is about clever words, after all!

Well, here's two for starter. Up her in Heaven without you (edited). Just a great re-writing of Romeo and Juliet - suicide pact but the girl lets the guy go first and then doesn't follow through:

Juliet, you broke our little pact
Juliet, I'm never coming back
Up here in Heaven without you
It is Hell knowing that your health will keep you out of here
For years and years and years
Do I qualify as dearly departed or am I
That sucker in the sky
The fall guy for the first and the last time
Juliet, I thought we had agreed
Now I know why you let me take the lead

From Talent is an asset (works written and sung):
We are his relatives
(That's parenthetical)

I may not always love you
But long as there are stars above you
You never need to doubt it
I'll make you so sure about it
God only knows what I'd be without you

Great.

Nothing lasts forever, except you and me. You are my mountain, you are my sea.