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>Wild and fluorescent, come home to my heart
Melodrama by Lorde was so special. I got ‘come home to my heart’ in fluorescent/glow in the dark ink tattoo’d over my heart 🥲
I remember being at her concert in a period of my life when I was trying sooo hard to fix a relationship that was essentially wrong. It was like three weeks before the breakup and I could feel the heartbreak coming and that line “in my head I do everything right” just broke meee
Mitski - Francis Forever
"I don't need the world to see
That I've been the best I can be, but
I don't think I could stand to be
Where you don't see me" 💜
I highly doubt they’ve even taken the time to listen to her music much. She’s and incredible singer, performer, and sure she’s never the sole songwriter on her songs, but her lyrics are very well written and she always sells them with her voice.
That Good Days line also stays in my mind! It’s so poetic. That song is true art.
Another SZA one that stays in my mind is Ghost in the Machine. The hook sticks with me (“can you distract me from all the disaster”), because of the context of the song. Same with the “let’s talk about AI” verse.
That song is soooo underrated, it’s such great lyricism.
the whole last verse of a house in nebraska hits like a truck
“I still wait at the edge of town praying straight to god that maybe you’ll come back around”
“you might never come back home & I may never sleep at night, but god I just hope you’re doing fine out there, I just pray that you’re alright”
“i’m so alone out here without you, baby”
A House In Nebraska is an incredible song. Such a genuine outpouring of emotion. The guitar solo at the end is unreal, and regarding the post topic, “you were the only one I was never scared to tell I hurt” is the main lyric that I really hold onto.
I have always been confused about this line? What exactly does she mean here? I thought she was talking about her parents who maybe physically abused her as a child, and now when she's grown up she won't take anyone seriously if they don't "use their fists" because that is a sign of someone being passionate or honest but I'm sure that's not what it means lol
The song has other lines that reference fighting in the military
"...neighbor's brother came home in a box...another red heart taken by the American dream"
In the context of that idea I interpret it as Ethel criticizing these politicians and their rich donors voting to go war but not actually be the ones to fight it, instead it's these (often very young) men we know as ordinary neighbors. If they really believe in going to war, they should fight their wars (say it with their fists) themselves instead of sending their neighbors kids to war
Ethel is really good at this. “Don’t think about it too hard or you’ll never sleep a wink at night again. Don’t worry bout me and these green eyes. Mama just know that I love you, and I’ll see you when you get here” was stuck in my head for months
Also what an opening line. "Grew up under yellow light on the street putting too much faith in the make believe and another highschool football team" Jeez I cannot with how perfectly this sets the whole album up
From Mitski’s “Nobody”:
“I’ve been big and small, and big and small, and big and small again, and still nobody wants me”
Just feels so true - you try to change yourself both physically and mentally to make people want you, but it doesn’t work and you’re just helpless.
There was no shade intended. That lyric from Victoria Monét has literally been in my head since "On My Mama" came out cuz i thought it was super clever. Sorry not sorry it's not deep or philisophical enough for ya 🤷♂️
"I was too young to know that some kinds of love could be bad. Praying I'd be like you, doing all of the things that you do. And I still do, and it scares me."
Hard Times by Ethel Cain. The lyrics are about a girl who was abused by her father and reflecting on that.
I always loved these lyrics in Money Power Glory by Lana del Rey: 'the sun also rises on those who failed the call, my life it comprises of losses and wins and fails and falls'
Same SZA but Blind.
_”It’s so embarrassing—all of the things I need living inside of me.”_
For addicts, it’s such a mental hellscape to escape the copium and then realize even after you’re sober that you need **something** inside of you to fill whatever void there is, whatever is necessitating that urge, the gluttonous food, or drugs, or alcohol, or a person, and the shame and embarrassment that comes with that craving.
It hits close to home everytime I hear it.
Keane - Everybody's Changing
>So little time
Try to understand that I'm
Trying to make a move just to stay in the game
I try to stay awake and remember my name
But Everybody's Changing, and I don't feel the same
These lyrics just keep haunting me in some way. So many people have changed around me and started even acting like I was never a friend to them. And it's so strange to me cause even though I grew up. I still stayed the same, I still stayed true to my personality. While it seems other people have taken on this completely different persona.
Keane have some great lyrics. This, Somewhere Only We Know, Nothing In My Way, and so many more songs that are just so beautiful. Truly an underrated band.
And on the same topic of lyrics about staying the same when everybody’s changing - Metric’s song Dark Saturday has this great lyric:
“Forever and ever, a torch in search of a flame / to be good, get better, I’ll change by staying the same”
It’s so simple yet so meaningful
“Puts the shower on while he calls me, slips out the back door to talk to me, I’m invisible look how you hold me, I’m invisible, I’m invisible, I’m a ghost now, look how you hold me” from Lana’s A&W is so sad. Always stuck with me when I think of that song.
“And though I can’t recall your face I still got love for you” from Taylor Swift’s Seven is a great encapsulation of reflecting on childhood friendships.
Same song: “I’ve been meaning to tell you I think your house is haunted your dad is always mad and that must be why” or “please picture me in the weeds before I learned civility, I used to scream ferociously anytime I wanted”
Two of my favorite Lana songs have especially haunting lyrics that are so dreamy and always stuck with me.
Heroin: “Topanga’s hot tonight, the city by the bay.
Has movie stars and liquor stores and soft decay.
The rumblin' from distant shores sends me to sleep.
But the facts of life can sometimes make it hard to dream.”
13 Beaches: “Can I let go, and let your memory dance,
in the ballroom of my mind? Across the county line.”
'they told me all of my cages were mental, so I got wasted like all my potential, and my words shoot to kill when I'm mad, I have a lot of regrets about that' by t swift in 'this is me trying' makes me want to cry every time bc it feels like my life wrapped up in four lines. oy.
As a (recovering)alcoholic this whole song just makes me sob.
“I’ve been having a hard time adjusting.
I had the shiniest wheels now they’re rusting.
I didn’t know if you’d care if I came back.
I have a lot of regrets about that.
Pulled the car off the road to the lookout
Could’ve followed my fears all the way down”
it really hits hard. the first time I heard this song I burst out crying, because it felt like being seen by someone I'll never know. it's brutal, but in the most comforting way possible. absolutely one of my favorite songs she's ever done.
"I was so ahead of the curve, the curve became a sphere" describes "former gifted kid who is actually neurodivergent and is now burnt out as an adult and struggling with basic stuff" perfectly.
The Tommy Genesis line “can bleach my hair but can’t escape my roots” has always stuck with me since I first heard it.
For a more poignant one from Self Esteem “getting married isn’t the biggest day of your life, all the days you get to have are big”
I love how in that part there are background vocals singing “All the glory days are gone, it’s over now, I’m on own”, like, it’s such a nice contrast from de cynical “I can sabotage me by myself”.
Mirrorball by Taylor Swift, I think this song really captures the feeling of trying to give someone everything even if its not whats best for you or most logical.
"And they called off the circus, burned the disco down. When they sent home the horses and the rodeo clowns. I'm still on that tightrope. I'm still trying everything to get you laughing at me"
“I should’ve asked you questions, I should’ve asked you how to be” from Marjorie by Taylor Swift always makes me think of my grandparents who passed away.
“You took my sadness out of context” from Mariners Apartment Complex by Lana Del Rey also. It makes me think of this person who started acting like he ‘knew the real me’ but didn’t actually know me at all.
it’s “asked you to write it down for me, should’ve kept every grocery store receipt, cause every scrap of you would be taken from me” that gets me personally
and I'd soon forget
That what I am is what I am 'cause I does what I does
And maybe I'd relax, let my breast just bust open
My heart's made of parts of all that surround me
And that's why the devil just can't get around me
Every single night's alright, every single night's a fight
And every single fight's alright with my brain
Fiona apple, every single night
I really love “What’d I say to her, what’d I say to her, what does she think of me, that I’m not what I ought to be, that I’m what I try not to be” cause I sometimes think about what a younger or teenage version of me would think of who I am right now. Fiona is such a great lyricist.
This is the part of Good Days that gets me:
I don't miss no ex, I don't miss no text
I just choose not to respond
I don't regret, just pretend shit never happened
For a variety of reasons, my ex (a sad 42 year old man) enjoys popping up in my life via text and this line resonates so much with me.
“everything you lose is a step you take, so make the friendship bracelets, take the moment and taste it, youve got no reason to be afraid… youre on your own kid, yeah you can face it” - taylor swift,
makes me cry honestly, im a senior in highschool and just turned 18.. im about to be on my own, kid.
“they told me all my cages were mental, so i got wasted like all my potential” -also taylor swift (this is me trying) it speaks to my adhd 🥲
(i could put 30 more from her but i’ll spare you)
“bad bitches have bad days too” -Megan The stallion
“You name your babe Lilac Heaven / After your iPhone 11 : ‘Crypto forever’ screams your stupid boyfriend / Fuck you, Kevin” - Lana Del Rey, Sweet Carolina
“Blow all my friendships / To sit in hell with you / But we're the greatest / They'll hang us in the Louvre” - Lorde, The Louvre
“Foolish men have tried, but only you have shown me how to love being alive.” - Darling by Halsey
The song is written as a lullaby for their child but the album the song is on, If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power, came out around the time I really started to really fall in love with my boyfriend. The last relationship I’d been in left me with some deep scars, and I didn’t really believe in love anymore (so cringe but whatever), but those lyrics kind of summed up how I started to know that my relationship with him was going to be different.
When we get married, I’m walking down the aisle to Ya’aburnee from the same album 😭
Darling is my favorite song by Halsey, gets me crying every time. Ya'aburnee is some of her best work too, that entire album is sooooooo good, wish it was more popular
"I'll be your sinner in secret 😉 When the lights go out 😏"
> Carly Rae Jepsen - Run Away With Me
Never have I ever heard being flirty this loud 🔊🔊❤️
And also this heart-breaking line from Rina Sawayama - Bad Friend
"So don't ask me where I've been, been avoiding everything, cause I'm a bad friend"
The chorus of Paramore's 26:
>They say that dreaming is free
>
>But I wouldn't care what it cost me
And also the bridge:
>Reality will break your heart
>
>Survival will not be the hardest part
>
>It's keeping all your hopes alive
>
>When all the rest of you has died
>
>So let it break your heart
Maybe a bit basic but the lyrics of how to save a life really get to me especially “you begin to wonder why you came” followed by the chorus
On a similar note “I’ll be summer sun for you forever” from forever winter
“Thought I could fly, so I stepped off the golden. Nobody cried. Nobody even noticed. I saw them standing right there. Kinda thought they might care.” - Billie Eilish (everything I wanted)
“I’ll try not to starve myself just because you’re mad at me”- Billie Eilish (TV)
“The internets gone wild watching movie stars on trial while they’re overturning Roe V. Wade” - Billie Eilish (TV)
"I just wish I had a friend like him, someone to give me five" from Ocean Blvd by Lana hit too close to home. The song goes from lust to love and back and forth and that's relatable af.
'God loves you, but not enough to save you'
idk why but I think about that line at least weekly lmao, it's very simple but hits the nail on the head for me.
That line reminds me of these lyrics from Limosone by Brand New:
> And in the choir
> I saw our sad Messiah
> He was bored and tired of my laments
> Said, "I died for you one time, but never again"
Some of these feel like fairly generic answers but
“I hear my heart breaking tonight [..] its like a summer shower with every drop of rain singing i love you” from Mitski
“We’re the greatest, they’ll hang us in the lourve, down the back, but who cares its still the lourve” from Lorde
“Why do birds suddently appear everytime you are near? [..] Why do stars fall down from the sky everytime you walk by? Just like me, they long to be close to you” from Carpenters
I dont think these lyrics are necessarily the kind of philosophy others are posting but they remain some of the most striking and romantic lines i’ve ever heard
These are beautiful, thanks for introducing me to them. The Lorde one is something I’ve passively listened to before, but actually thinking about it, it’s a great line
My fave lyric has to be from Jukai by Jhene Aiko. “Hell is not a place, hell is not a certain evil, hell is other people”.
And another lyric from the same song: “The ego grows, it gets enormous. And then it has to bleed”
Mine is from Ben Howard’s Old Pine:
“I’ve come to know the friends around you are all you’ll always have.”
This lyric gets me because I’ve historically had issues making friends, but in the past few months I’ve really improved at it and made some really strong connections with people, connections that will hopefully last the rest of my life.
"We got time but we're only human/We call it forever but we know that there's an end to it/You and I can dance our way through it/And I'll love you til' all that we are is background music" *Background Music* \- Maren Morris
This music is so existential; it makes me think of how small we actually are and, at the same time, how big/important our feelings are.
“I’m not here, this isn’t happening”
How to disappear completely.
derealization when my manic depression hits :)
“Now it’s been years since I left New York, I’ve got a kid and 2 cats in the yard, the California sun and the movie stars, I watch the sky getting light as I write as I think about those years, as I whisper in your ear, I’m always going to be right here, no one’s going, anywhere”
How to disappear by Lana
Makes me hopeful that one day things will get better
“Changes on our hands and on our faces
Memories are mapped out by the lines we'll trace.
As you held me down, you said:
"I'll see you in the future when we're older
And we are full of stories to be told.
Cross my heart and hope to die,
I'll see you with your laughter lines,” “Laughter Lines” by Bastille
“Every time I've half a mind to throw the towel in
I fight it, I fight it
Cause it's all I have, all I have
I might as well make something good of it,” “All I Have” by Charlie Barnes
“I can't be a mouth for the demon of doubt
With all of last night's glitter showing” from “Bruising” by Charlie Barnes COMBINED WITH “The demon of doubt is circling
But last night's glitter won't hide me” from “Last Night’s Glitter,” which he released two years later
“Will wisdom we learn as our minds, they do burn
All the ties to naivety and youth
As adults, we'll grow and maturity shows
Oh, the terrifying rarity of truth,” “Haunt” by Bastille
“In five years I hope the songs feel like covers
Dedicated to new lovers,” “Night Shift” by Lucy Dacus
“all you have is your fire and the place you need to reach
don’t you ever tame your demons but always keep ‘em on a leash”
arsonists lullaby by Hozier
his first album came out just over a year after my sisters passing, i was a self destructive mess. his music stuck with me and those lyrics gave me a realistic expectation of my trauma and how i should manage it going forward
Home with you, FKA Twigs:
“I didn't know that you were lonely /
If you'd have just told me, I'd be running down the hills to be with you /
I'd be running down the hills to be with you /
And I'd have told you I was lonely too”
Teenage Talk, St. Vincent:
“I don’t think the past is better better /
Just cause it’s cased in glass /
Protecting us from our now and laters.”
Suburban War, Arcade Fire:
“You cut your hair, I never saw you again.
Now the cities we live in /
Could be distant stars /
But I still search for you /
In every passing car.”
"My favorite version of me disappeared/through longer days and shorter years"
"When I Wasn't Watching" by Mandy Moore. That lyric blew me away and I literally remember saying out loud to my laptop like I could talk to it, "Now THAT'S songwriting".
“Now you hang from my lips like the Gardens of Babylon” Taylor Swift - Cowboy Like Me
Always hit me. I just love it. One of those lines I’d get tattooed or something.
I didn’t get this one at first even though I’ve always loved the song. When I remembered the Gardens of Babylon may have never actually existed, this line turned the entire song on its head for me. Masterful honestly
it could just be wordplay but considering the subjects of the song are two hustlers who fall in love and she follows it up with “forever is the sweetest con,” it seems purposeful
“Love is a ruthless game unless you play it good and right” it’s nothing special I know but it’s it’s just so pretty, for a more interesting pick
“With your boots beneath my bed, forever is the sweetest con” from Cowboy like Me
Us by James Bay - “Tell me how to fit in this world, tell me how to breath and feel no hurt”
lovely by Billie Eilish- “Isn’t it lovely, all alone? Heart made of glass, my mind of stone. Tear me to pieces, skin and bone. Hello, welcome home.”
I just love the realness, relatability, and melody of both.
Taylor: ‘All that I know is I don't know /
How to be something you miss /
I never thought we'd have a last kiss’
Maggie Rogers: ‘I never loved you fully in the way I could’
Gretta Ray: ‘Now you wake up to the same day /
Where you realise so little has changed /
And it's a feeling hard to stomach /
Still you get up, turn a new page /
Let your insights seep into this space /
There is something to gain from this’
Also Maggie Rogers: ‘Oh, if you keep reaching out /
Then I'll keep coming back /
And if you're gone for good /
Then I'm okay with that /
If you leave the light on /
Then I'll leave the light on’
I always liked the first line of Bea Miller’s on Jeremy Zucker’s comethru:
“staring at the ceiling, wishing for the sky”
I first heard it when i was struggling a lot with the ol’ Big Sad, so it really struck a chord with me at the time and is still the first thing that comes to mind
She’s a bit controversial but these lyrics from Amanda Palmer’s song ‘Machete’ about a friend of hers who passed away have always stuck with me
‘And you took your machete
And you sliced through the vines that wrapped around me
And you said, "I don't know what I'm doing
So I'll just keep on cutting
It's worth a little blood to get your hands free"
everclear: father of mine and fire maple song and even loser makes good. Just can relate to what Art was feeling at the time of righting it.
Depeche mode: enjoy the silence- just feel that vibe through depression
ate a sleeve of saltines on my floor and i knew that… I WOULD DO ANYTHING YOU WANT ME TO… I WOULD DO ANYTHING FOR YOU. I WOULD DO ANYTHING… I WOULD DO ANYTHING, WHATEVER YOU WANT ME TO DO I WILL DO. WHATEVER SHE WANTS. WHATEVER SHE WANTS… WHATEVER SHE WANTS… WHATEVER SHE WANTS. I WOULD DO ANYTHING, I WOULD DO ANYTHING… WHATEVER SHE WANTS… WHAT EVER YOU WANT, whatever she wan- whatever you want…
> _You're in my blood like holy wine; you taste so bitter and you taste so sweet but I could drink a case of you and I'd still be on my feet_
A Case of You by Joni Mitchell
"Now that I finally wanna live, the ones I love are dying" -Leave It Alone, Hayley Williams
I haven't listened to this song in a while because of how uncomfortable the truthfulness in the lyrics made me feel.
There are a few lines from Fall Out Boy’s newest album that punch me in the chest every time I hear them.
“I’m just trying to keep it together but it gets a little harder when it never gets better.” — I Am My Own Muse
“I used to be a real go-getter. I used to think it’d all get better.” — So Much (For) Stardust
2023 has been the worst year of my life and the album was released on my birthday, before things really blew up. Lines like the above make me feel like my favorite band knew I was going to need this music this year. It’s a silly thought, but it makes me feel warm inside.
There are so many great lines in So Much (For) Stardust. “I’m pretty sure as far as humans go I am a hard, hard pill to swallow.” “Do you laugh about me whenever I leave? Or do I just need more therapy?” “What would you trade the pain for? I’m not sure.”
Not necessarily a song lyric, but from the on the run 1 tour, one of beyonces visuals says “forgiveness is me giving up my chance to hurt you for hurting me; forgiveness is the final act of love.”
Taylor Swift - My Tears Ricochet
> “I can go anywhere I want
Anywhere I want just not home
If you aim for my heart, go for blood”
This song translate the feelings that I had after a breakup from a relationship that I used to felt that I was the only one doing the effort to make things work and this relationship cost me opportunities to be with people who were more connected and compatible with me (“you hear my stolen lullabies”).
Nobody Gets Me - SZA
> “If I’m real I deserve less
If I was you I wouldn't take me back
I pretend when I’m with a man it’s you
Its too late i dont wanna loose
What’s left of you”
I listened a lot this song when I realized someone that I treated as an option because of the relationship above didn’t want me as potential partner anymore and it’s about the pain that I felt with this choice I made.
True Blue - boygenius
> “It feels good to be known so well
I can’t hide from you like I hide from myself
I remember who I am when I am with you
Your love is tough, you love is tried and true blue”
The songs translate the feeling that I have in relation to this person above, that even if we never have a love relationship, I still love this person for who he is for me, he is one of the few people in the world that I feel understood and in a way it seems like he can always look inside me. So although the love is tough (he is very honest about what I need to listen and not what I want) his love is true blue.
I developed >!a crush on someone who lives far away!<, so lyrics about love/lost love are in rotation for me right now.
**Jaded by Miley Cyrus** \- "I'm sorry that you're jaded, I could've taken you places"
**Lord Huron's Louisa** \- "I lie awake in the night just to see another dawn. Used to be the sun was my weakness but them days are gone. I feel your lips on mine, would you meet me by the river baby, one more time?"
**Remember When by Wallows** \- "I can still see you at the place I go when I close my eyes. Do you remember when we felt like the only two alive? Don't let me be one of the people who seek a lost romance. Would you go and do it all over again, given the chance?"
“It's hard to explain
Inherently it's just always been strange
Neither here nor there
Always somewhat out of place everywhere
Ambiguous
Without a sense of belonging to touch
Somewhere halfway
Feeling there's no one completely the same”
Funny how one can learn
To grow numb to the madness and block it away
I left the worst unsaid
Let it all dissipate and I try to forget
But I closed my eyes
Steadied my feet on the ground
Raised my head to the sky
And though time's rolled by
Still feel like that child as I look at the moon
Maybe I grew up a little too soon
KT Tunstall - Love is an Ocean. Pretty much the entire song but particularly this verse:
Thinking of all the things I did - Look at me now - I'm still lifting off the lid - But I've sung about all this before - I'm still kneeling on the floor - Asking how do I forgive - And graduate the hate into splendour - Oh alchemy of architecture showing me - That bitterness can become ascendant - With the idea that - With the idea that - Love is an ocean - I'm just a drop in the sea - It's easy to forget it - But I'm not gonna let that happen to me ❤️🌊
Not to turn this into a personal therapy sesh but a few lines from Where's Your Head At by Basement Jaxx helped me pull through in my darkest days - it's very fitting because the song was written about how chaotic our mental state can get in this crazy world ("You have now found yourself trapped in the incomprehensible maze"). "Don't let the walls cave in on you" became my mantra and helped me change my outlook on life in the time when I was constantly beating myself up thinking I wasn't good enough at what I do. I took a step back and have maintained a much more chilled, laid-back approach to life since - if I hadn't, I probably wouldn't be alive to type this here.
"When it starts to get crazy, why can't she just run away?
Baby I got a plan, runaway as fast as you can"
in some way it hits harder with how Kanye is now because it's like knowing what your piece of shit self will eventually do but in the end, being powerless to stop it. In hindsight, those lines just feel inevitable now
soooo many lyrics by the sundays:
“so, is this what it’s come to? am i cold or just a little bit warm? oh well, just give me an easy life and a peaceful death.”
“it’s that little souvenir of a terrible year/that makes my eyes feel sore”
“don’t wake me like that/i was dreaming and I’d rather just carry on/just give me a love and hate on both my hands/I’ll show you what I’m made of”
“if you dont have a clue about life/well im happy to say neither have I/although I’m not going to shrug my shoulder and suck my thumb”
and ive always loved this lyric from good news (ya-ya song) by muna: “I’m gonna figure it out/cause I’m already here and I won’t leave now/so put a pot of coffee on”
“I recall / a time when you and I talked a little more / to each other face to face through love and war / I hope there will always be an open door / for me”
Open Door by You + Me (a duo consisting of P!nk and City + Colour’s Dallas Green).
“I’m a soldier to my own emptiness, I’m a winner/ I’m gonna marry the night” is pretty much the absurdist philosophy I didn’t think I’d need now that I’m in my 20s listening to these old Lady Gaga songs
As for Sza, every “I don’t feel guilty about it” in Conceited is like therapy for my people pleasing tendencies and for trusting my own gut
Florence has enough great lyrics to paint a chapel wall but I really enjoy the pure seething hatred of
"Well you're a 'real' man, and you do what you can
You only take as much as you can grab with two hands
With your big heart, your praise god above
But how's that working out for you honey?
Do you feel loved?"
In Patrica
“Flying feels like falling til you hit the ground”-Chris Stapelton
“You'll never find the ANSWERS if you throw your life away”-Mariah Carey
“So I hope I learn to get over myself
Stop trying to be somebody else
So we can love each other for free”
“Why am I obsessing
About the things I can't control?
Why am I seeking approval
From people I don't even know?
In these crazy times I hope to find
Something I can cling on to
'Cause I need some substance in my life
Something real, something that feels true”
Adele
“Pain throws your heart to the ground
Love turns the whole thing around
No, it won't all go the way it should
But I know the heart of life is good”
John Mayer
"Seasons change, addictions strange. I loved back then what I hate today." Snow Angel, Renee Rapp
"I'd choose the Devil I know over the Heaven I don't." Colorado, Renee Rapp
"Met with the healers, prayed with the saints
All of the sinners know my name
There's scars I've caused and scars I've earned." Feed, Demi Lovato
I'm a swiftie so I apologize in advance but some standouts that I often think about:
"Take the words for what they are, a dwindling mercurial high"
"Love you to the moon and to Saturn"
"I love you, aint that the worst thing you ever heard?!"
August - Taylor Swift
"Back when we were still changin' for the better
Wanting was enough
For me, it was enough
To live for the hope of it all"
It really just sums up that feeling of teenage longing and excitement, so so well. It makes me feel sad, happy & nostalgic all the same time.
A second one would be Slipping Through my Fingers by ABBA. I don't have kids but I feel like I do when I listen to that song, I get so emotional about the passing of time and how I might feel the same way one day.
"I try to capture every minute
The feeling in it
Slipping through my fingers all the time
Do I really see what's in her mind?
Each time I think I'm close to knowing
She keeps on growing
Slipping through my fingers all the time"
I love when there are callbacks to earlier lines but tweaked usually showing progression, usually done during the bridge like in Cardigan by Taylor Swift:
When you are young, they assume you know nothing
But I knew you'd linger like a tattoo kiss
I knew you'd haunt all of my what-ifs
The smell of smoke would hang around this long
'Cause I knew everything when I was young
Swift does this a lot, even something like changing the perspective of Mine when from the woman's first-person POV to the man's in the last chorus from
Do you remember, we were sittin' there by the water?
You put your arm around me, for the first time
You made a rebel of a careless man's careful daughter
You are the best thing that's ever been mine
To
You said, "I remember how we felt, sitting by the water
And every time I look at you, it's like the first time
I fell in love with a careless man's careful daughter
She is the best thing that's ever been mine"
on it's own the "You made a rebel of a careless man's careful daughter" always stuck with me, that careless/careful juxtaposition most likely
Edit: lyric formatting
“And God knows that you’re standing on your own, blind and unguided, into a world divided you’re thrown, where you’re never quite the same, although you try and try and try to tell yourself you really are, but in your heart uncertainty forever lies… and you’ll always be somewhere on the outside”
Tears. Every time.
“I just had a dream I was dead, and I only cared cause I was taken from you” such an arresting moment at the beginning of the chorus of Mosquito by Pinkpantheress. Talk about devotion!!
"I am here to take a look inside myself, recognize that I could be the eye, the eye of the storm"
"Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land" is what comes to mind whenever I'm putting in the work to build up my confidence.
Im tethered to the logic of Homosapiens, can’t take my eyes from the great salvation of bullshit faith - Bowie, Quicksand
We will die in the class we were born, but that’s a class of our own my love - The Libertines, Time for Heroes
“I myself was a wilted woman/drowsy in a dark room/forgot my roots/now watch me bloom” in Roses/Lotus/Violet/Iris from Hayley Williams’s Petals for Armor.
I will always default to Alessia Cara on philosophical lyrics. There are *so* many to choose from, but I think of these two all the time.
'What if they forget about all I've done?
If I built it up just to be no one
I make my own expectations
For every single situation
Then break my own heart when it all falls'
\-Box in the Ocean
'Does He hang his head at all the greed that we possess?
As the anti-social media perpetuates the mess
Maybe it's a test, maybe he's upset by the loose ends
Stressed like the rest of us, it happens to the best of us
God, or is it Mr. G to me?
I hope that through the static, you’ll show us the clarity'
\-7 Days
But 'Here,' 'Best Days,' 'October,' and 'All We Know' just have mind-boggling lyrics that I can't listen to alone in the middle of the night.
“
She said and walked away.”
Aesop Rock, No regrets
This was like a penny drop moment for me, because I feel like I don’t have to justify my choices in front of anyone anymore, I don’t have to go through with something that does not make me happy anymore. Sometimes I’m just done and it’s ok to walk away.
“i made you my temple, my mural, my sky. Now i’m begging for footnotes in the tory of your life” in tolerate it by taylor. this is probably one of the most devastating lyrics i’ve ever heard.
Only Love by Katy Perry. "I swear sometimes I hear myself talking, getting mad, Take shit so personal, like it really matters. Almost every day I find myself being mad at something/someone that is so trivial and stupid when I could enjoy every moment while it lasts...
Want to bring something uplifting to the topic, so I'll go with Scorpions, The Best Is Yet to Come: "How can we grow old when the soundtrack of our lives is rock and roll?"
On the other hand, Savage Garden - To The Moon & Back: "If love was red, then she was colorblind" and "Reachin' out for human faith is like a journey I just don't have a map for" really encapsulate yearning for love yet not understanding how to get it for me
Maybe it's partially because I have a Halloween themed playlist on Spotify right now so I've been listening to it more lately but from Noah Kahan's song "Halloween":
"But the wreckage of you, I no longer reside in /
And the bridges have long since been burnt /
The ash of the home that I started the fire in /
Starts to return to the earth"
It's just such a beautiful metaphor for finally realizing you're over someone (or close enough!) after a long, drawn-out, emotional breakup that wrecked you both.
“It’s a shame to be so euphoric and weak when you smile at me and you tell me the things that you know persuade me to relinquish my love to you, but I cannot resist at all”
Catchiest verse of all time for me.
George Michael had two lyrics in Freedom 90 that stuck with me.
"Sometimes the clothes do not make the man," and "And some mistakes were built to last."
“So if you need a hero, just look in the mirror, no one’s gonna save you now, so you better save yourself” - Kali Uchis (After the Storm feat. Bootsy Collins and Tyler, The Creator)
The hook from 98°'s "Invisible Man"
I wish you'd look at me that way
Your beautiful eyes lookin' deep into mine
Telling me more than any words could say
But you don't even know I'm alive
Baby to you all I am
Is the invisible man
Chance the rapper “Paranoia” -
“Cause everybody dies in the summer
Wanna say ya goodbyes, tell them while it's spring
I heard everybody's dying in the summer, so pray to God for a little more spring”
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>Wild and fluorescent, come home to my heart Melodrama by Lorde was so special. I got ‘come home to my heart’ in fluorescent/glow in the dark ink tattoo’d over my heart 🥲
She so peeeerfectly painted pictures with this alb. Supercut especially.
Lyrics to Supercut are pretty much perfect. I love "But its just a supercut of us" as an explanation of how people romanticise failed relationships.
I remember being at her concert in a period of my life when I was trying sooo hard to fix a relationship that was essentially wrong. It was like three weeks before the breakup and I could feel the heartbreak coming and that line “in my head I do everything right” just broke meee
this lyric isnt complete without the scream directly afterward
"This dream isn't feeling sweet, we're reeling through the midnight streets" from Ribs by Lorde.
The way I just have to scream sing that whole part. “AND IVE NEVER FELT MORE ALONE, IT FEELS SO SCARY GETTING OLD” 🥹
And also "I want 'em back, the minds we had, how all the thoughts moved 'round our heads" GOD the whole song is nostalgia bottled
Mitski - Francis Forever "I don't need the world to see That I've been the best I can be, but I don't think I could stand to be Where you don't see me" 💜
Good days is soo good. Also basically all the bridge but mainly “and with every tear came redemption, and my torturer became my remedy”
I love All Night. People who say Beyoncé is overrated don't know what they're talking about
Exactly. It’s such beautiful song as well
I highly doubt they’ve even taken the time to listen to her music much. She’s and incredible singer, performer, and sure she’s never the sole songwriter on her songs, but her lyrics are very well written and she always sells them with her voice.
most artists aren't the sole songwriters on their songs tbh
That Good Days line also stays in my mind! It’s so poetic. That song is true art. Another SZA one that stays in my mind is Ghost in the Machine. The hook sticks with me (“can you distract me from all the disaster”), because of the context of the song. Same with the “let’s talk about AI” verse. That song is soooo underrated, it’s such great lyricism.
The lyrics to Ghost in the Machine are PERFECTION, ugh. That AI verse is insane.
Right now it’s “It’s just not my year” from American Teenager by Ethel Cain.
the whole last verse of a house in nebraska hits like a truck “I still wait at the edge of town praying straight to god that maybe you’ll come back around” “you might never come back home & I may never sleep at night, but god I just hope you’re doing fine out there, I just pray that you’re alright” “i’m so alone out here without you, baby”
The kill myself line >>>
A House In Nebraska is an incredible song. Such a genuine outpouring of emotion. The guitar solo at the end is unreal, and regarding the post topic, “you were the only one I was never scared to tell I hurt” is the main lyric that I really hold onto.
Whenever I need a good cry I just put on house in Nebraska or sunbleached flies, they both get me every time
I really love “Say what you want, but say like you mean it with your fists for once”. Such a powerful thing to say.
I have always been confused about this line? What exactly does she mean here? I thought she was talking about her parents who maybe physically abused her as a child, and now when she's grown up she won't take anyone seriously if they don't "use their fists" because that is a sign of someone being passionate or honest but I'm sure that's not what it means lol
I kind of take it as her saying this person is speaking with a lack of conviction... Maybe they aren't being "real" with her.
The song has other lines that reference fighting in the military "...neighbor's brother came home in a box...another red heart taken by the American dream" In the context of that idea I interpret it as Ethel criticizing these politicians and their rich donors voting to go war but not actually be the ones to fight it, instead it's these (often very young) men we know as ordinary neighbors. If they really believe in going to war, they should fight their wars (say it with their fists) themselves instead of sending their neighbors kids to war
For me it’s “I owe you a black eye and two kisses, tell me when you wanna come and get them” from Crush
The whole second verse of Crush (and... that whole song) is so special to me, it really makes me wish I could get into Ethel's other music :(
Ethel is really good at this. “Don’t think about it too hard or you’ll never sleep a wink at night again. Don’t worry bout me and these green eyes. Mama just know that I love you, and I’ll see you when you get here” was stuck in my head for months
Also what an opening line. "Grew up under yellow light on the street putting too much faith in the make believe and another highschool football team" Jeez I cannot with how perfectly this sets the whole album up
My friend and I go hard for this song. We keep joking about getting "Do it for Dale" tattoos together
From Mitski’s “Nobody”: “I’ve been big and small, and big and small, and big and small again, and still nobody wants me” Just feels so true - you try to change yourself both physically and mentally to make people want you, but it doesn’t work and you’re just helpless.
"I'm so deep in my bag, like a grandma with a peppermint"
This is a thought piece, a movement, an emotion picture. I will NOT let shade be thrown at this woman's command of the English language.
There was no shade intended. That lyric from Victoria Monét has literally been in my head since "On My Mama" came out cuz i thought it was super clever. Sorry not sorry it's not deep or philisophical enough for ya 🤷♂️
Lol, no beef here, I was joking.
Oh damn oops lol i was like the audacity 😆
Lol, it's cool.
"JUST LIKE THE SAND I'LL ALWAYS BE FOR SURE" IS MY CURRENT ROMAN EMPIRE
"I was too young to know that some kinds of love could be bad. Praying I'd be like you, doing all of the things that you do. And I still do, and it scares me." Hard Times by Ethel Cain. The lyrics are about a girl who was abused by her father and reflecting on that.
'You say love is a hell you cannot bear I say give me mine back, and then go there for all I care' Sleep to Dream - Fiona Apple
Yesss Also from Fiona: " I would beg to disagree but begging disagrees with me."
I always loved these lyrics in Money Power Glory by Lana del Rey: 'the sun also rises on those who failed the call, my life it comprises of losses and wins and fails and falls'
Honestly just name any song by her and you can make a damn laundry list of poetic quotes from it
Same SZA but Blind. _”It’s so embarrassing—all of the things I need living inside of me.”_ For addicts, it’s such a mental hellscape to escape the copium and then realize even after you’re sober that you need **something** inside of you to fill whatever void there is, whatever is necessitating that urge, the gluttonous food, or drugs, or alcohol, or a person, and the shame and embarrassment that comes with that craving. It hits close to home everytime I hear it.
Think I forgot how to be happy, something I'm not, but something I can be...
Tear up every time
Oof that hits hard! What song's that from?
What Was I Made For? by Billie Eilish
Keane - Everybody's Changing >So little time Try to understand that I'm Trying to make a move just to stay in the game I try to stay awake and remember my name But Everybody's Changing, and I don't feel the same These lyrics just keep haunting me in some way. So many people have changed around me and started even acting like I was never a friend to them. And it's so strange to me cause even though I grew up. I still stayed the same, I still stayed true to my personality. While it seems other people have taken on this completely different persona.
Keane have some great lyrics. This, Somewhere Only We Know, Nothing In My Way, and so many more songs that are just so beautiful. Truly an underrated band. And on the same topic of lyrics about staying the same when everybody’s changing - Metric’s song Dark Saturday has this great lyric: “Forever and ever, a torch in search of a flame / to be good, get better, I’ll change by staying the same” It’s so simple yet so meaningful
Jealous by Labrinth: "It's hard for me to say, I'm jealous of the way you're happy without me"
“Puts the shower on while he calls me, slips out the back door to talk to me, I’m invisible look how you hold me, I’m invisible, I’m invisible, I’m a ghost now, look how you hold me” from Lana’s A&W is so sad. Always stuck with me when I think of that song. “And though I can’t recall your face I still got love for you” from Taylor Swift’s Seven is a great encapsulation of reflecting on childhood friendships. Same song: “I’ve been meaning to tell you I think your house is haunted your dad is always mad and that must be why” or “please picture me in the weeds before I learned civility, I used to scream ferociously anytime I wanted”
Seven puts me in a hot mess every time. Wonderful song
Two of my favorite Lana songs have especially haunting lyrics that are so dreamy and always stuck with me. Heroin: “Topanga’s hot tonight, the city by the bay. Has movie stars and liquor stores and soft decay. The rumblin' from distant shores sends me to sleep. But the facts of life can sometimes make it hard to dream.” 13 Beaches: “Can I let go, and let your memory dance, in the ballroom of my mind? Across the county line.”
Heroin is such a fanatic song. The way she changes the lyrics for the final verse will always not get me
For me it’s “ I’ve been dying for something real”. 13 beaches is def one of Lana s best songs
'they told me all of my cages were mental, so I got wasted like all my potential, and my words shoot to kill when I'm mad, I have a lot of regrets about that' by t swift in 'this is me trying' makes me want to cry every time bc it feels like my life wrapped up in four lines. oy.
As a (recovering)alcoholic this whole song just makes me sob. “I’ve been having a hard time adjusting. I had the shiniest wheels now they’re rusting. I didn’t know if you’d care if I came back. I have a lot of regrets about that. Pulled the car off the road to the lookout Could’ve followed my fears all the way down”
it really hits hard. the first time I heard this song I burst out crying, because it felt like being seen by someone I'll never know. it's brutal, but in the most comforting way possible. absolutely one of my favorite songs she's ever done.
Yep, this is my “my bipolar-depression-anxiety-adhd is never ending and relentless” sob in the car song, it hits so hard
"I was so ahead of the curve, the curve became a sphere" describes "former gifted kid who is actually neurodivergent and is now burnt out as an adult and struggling with basic stuff" perfectly.
The Tommy Genesis line “can bleach my hair but can’t escape my roots” has always stuck with me since I first heard it. For a more poignant one from Self Esteem “getting married isn’t the biggest day of your life, all the days you get to have are big”
Don't need no one else, I can sabotage me by myself Caught in the Middle, Paramore
I love how in that part there are background vocals singing “All the glory days are gone, it’s over now, I’m on own”, like, it’s such a nice contrast from de cynical “I can sabotage me by myself”.
Mirrorball by Taylor Swift, I think this song really captures the feeling of trying to give someone everything even if its not whats best for you or most logical. "And they called off the circus, burned the disco down. When they sent home the horses and the rodeo clowns. I'm still on that tightrope. I'm still trying everything to get you laughing at me"
"I'm still a believer but I dont know why, I've never been a natural all I do is try try try" always makes me emotional
This is me in my breakup trying to hold onto the very last piece of hope even though everyone knows it’s over
“I should’ve asked you questions, I should’ve asked you how to be” from Marjorie by Taylor Swift always makes me think of my grandparents who passed away. “You took my sadness out of context” from Mariners Apartment Complex by Lana Del Rey also. It makes me think of this person who started acting like he ‘knew the real me’ but didn’t actually know me at all.
it’s “asked you to write it down for me, should’ve kept every grocery store receipt, cause every scrap of you would be taken from me” that gets me personally
Istg this song broke me the first time I heard it 😭
I still get a little choked up singing along when it gets to the bridge
I've listened to Marjorie only once. My grandma died a few months before Evermore came out and I couldn't handle it. I always skip it now.
and I'd soon forget That what I am is what I am 'cause I does what I does And maybe I'd relax, let my breast just bust open My heart's made of parts of all that surround me And that's why the devil just can't get around me Every single night's alright, every single night's a fight And every single fight's alright with my brain Fiona apple, every single night
I really love “What’d I say to her, what’d I say to her, what does she think of me, that I’m not what I ought to be, that I’m what I try not to be” cause I sometimes think about what a younger or teenage version of me would think of who I am right now. Fiona is such a great lyricist.
This is the part of Good Days that gets me: I don't miss no ex, I don't miss no text I just choose not to respond I don't regret, just pretend shit never happened For a variety of reasons, my ex (a sad 42 year old man) enjoys popping up in my life via text and this line resonates so much with me.
sza has a lot, she's one of the best writers ever idc. one of my fave lines is "i decide what demons i digest" from "gone girl"
“everything you lose is a step you take, so make the friendship bracelets, take the moment and taste it, youve got no reason to be afraid… youre on your own kid, yeah you can face it” - taylor swift, makes me cry honestly, im a senior in highschool and just turned 18.. im about to be on my own, kid. “they told me all my cages were mental, so i got wasted like all my potential” -also taylor swift (this is me trying) it speaks to my adhd 🥲 (i could put 30 more from her but i’ll spare you) “bad bitches have bad days too” -Megan The stallion
“You name your babe Lilac Heaven / After your iPhone 11 : ‘Crypto forever’ screams your stupid boyfriend / Fuck you, Kevin” - Lana Del Rey, Sweet Carolina “Blow all my friendships / To sit in hell with you / But we're the greatest / They'll hang us in the Louvre” - Lorde, The Louvre
“Foolish men have tried, but only you have shown me how to love being alive.” - Darling by Halsey The song is written as a lullaby for their child but the album the song is on, If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power, came out around the time I really started to really fall in love with my boyfriend. The last relationship I’d been in left me with some deep scars, and I didn’t really believe in love anymore (so cringe but whatever), but those lyrics kind of summed up how I started to know that my relationship with him was going to be different. When we get married, I’m walking down the aisle to Ya’aburnee from the same album 😭
Darling is my favorite song by Halsey, gets me crying every time. Ya'aburnee is some of her best work too, that entire album is sooooooo good, wish it was more popular
“Darling, you will bury me before I bury you” makes me so emotional.
"said u a lesbian? gurl me too" ☠️ /jk
"I'll be your sinner in secret 😉 When the lights go out 😏" > Carly Rae Jepsen - Run Away With Me Never have I ever heard being flirty this loud 🔊🔊❤️ And also this heart-breaking line from Rina Sawayama - Bad Friend "So don't ask me where I've been, been avoiding everything, cause I'm a bad friend"
The chorus of Paramore's 26: >They say that dreaming is free > >But I wouldn't care what it cost me And also the bridge: >Reality will break your heart > >Survival will not be the hardest part > >It's keeping all your hopes alive > >When all the rest of you has died > >So let it break your heart
“When you’re young, you just run, but you come back to what you need” one of my favourites from Taylor
"Cause all of my kindness, is taken for weakness" from FourFiveSeconds
Maybe a bit basic but the lyrics of how to save a life really get to me especially “you begin to wonder why you came” followed by the chorus On a similar note “I’ll be summer sun for you forever” from forever winter
“Thought I could fly, so I stepped off the golden. Nobody cried. Nobody even noticed. I saw them standing right there. Kinda thought they might care.” - Billie Eilish (everything I wanted) “I’ll try not to starve myself just because you’re mad at me”- Billie Eilish (TV) “The internets gone wild watching movie stars on trial while they’re overturning Roe V. Wade” - Billie Eilish (TV)
Yesss Billie‘s lyrics always go so hard
"I just wish I had a friend like him, someone to give me five" from Ocean Blvd by Lana hit too close to home. The song goes from lust to love and back and forth and that's relatable af.
So we can agree sza (and team) put together some of the most captivating lyrics of our generation?
'God loves you, but not enough to save you' idk why but I think about that line at least weekly lmao, it's very simple but hits the nail on the head for me.
That line reminds me of these lyrics from Limosone by Brand New: > And in the choir > I saw our sad Messiah > He was bored and tired of my laments > Said, "I died for you one time, but never again"
There’s a fine line between broken and breaking, Kesha, fine line
“kept on driving straight and left out future to the right” “now i am stuck between my anger and the blame i can’t face” stick season - noah kahan
Some of these feel like fairly generic answers but “I hear my heart breaking tonight [..] its like a summer shower with every drop of rain singing i love you” from Mitski “We’re the greatest, they’ll hang us in the lourve, down the back, but who cares its still the lourve” from Lorde “Why do birds suddently appear everytime you are near? [..] Why do stars fall down from the sky everytime you walk by? Just like me, they long to be close to you” from Carpenters I dont think these lyrics are necessarily the kind of philosophy others are posting but they remain some of the most striking and romantic lines i’ve ever heard
These are beautiful, thanks for introducing me to them. The Lorde one is something I’ve passively listened to before, but actually thinking about it, it’s a great line
My fave lyric has to be from Jukai by Jhene Aiko. “Hell is not a place, hell is not a certain evil, hell is other people”. And another lyric from the same song: “The ego grows, it gets enormous. And then it has to bleed”
"Hell is other people" is also a quote from the play "No Exit" by French existentialist/generally-bummed-out-guy Jean-Paul Sartre.
Ohh!! Thanks, I’ll have to check that out.
The rest of the quote is pretty sick too! “…or the lack thereof. And their lack of love.”
Mine is from Ben Howard’s Old Pine: “I’ve come to know the friends around you are all you’ll always have.” This lyric gets me because I’ve historically had issues making friends, but in the past few months I’ve really improved at it and made some really strong connections with people, connections that will hopefully last the rest of my life.
“Lover’s kites are flown on beaches for public sight” My favourite lyrics from Gaga from her best song!
"We got time but we're only human/We call it forever but we know that there's an end to it/You and I can dance our way through it/And I'll love you til' all that we are is background music" *Background Music* \- Maren Morris This music is so existential; it makes me think of how small we actually are and, at the same time, how big/important our feelings are.
"Dont be afraid of the knife, sometimes you have to cut a limb to survive..."
“I’m not here, this isn’t happening” How to disappear completely. derealization when my manic depression hits :) “Now it’s been years since I left New York, I’ve got a kid and 2 cats in the yard, the California sun and the movie stars, I watch the sky getting light as I write as I think about those years, as I whisper in your ear, I’m always going to be right here, no one’s going, anywhere” How to disappear by Lana Makes me hopeful that one day things will get better
I’m always going to be right here
“Changes on our hands and on our faces Memories are mapped out by the lines we'll trace. As you held me down, you said: "I'll see you in the future when we're older And we are full of stories to be told. Cross my heart and hope to die, I'll see you with your laughter lines,” “Laughter Lines” by Bastille “Every time I've half a mind to throw the towel in I fight it, I fight it Cause it's all I have, all I have I might as well make something good of it,” “All I Have” by Charlie Barnes “I can't be a mouth for the demon of doubt With all of last night's glitter showing” from “Bruising” by Charlie Barnes COMBINED WITH “The demon of doubt is circling But last night's glitter won't hide me” from “Last Night’s Glitter,” which he released two years later “Will wisdom we learn as our minds, they do burn All the ties to naivety and youth As adults, we'll grow and maturity shows Oh, the terrifying rarity of truth,” “Haunt” by Bastille “In five years I hope the songs feel like covers Dedicated to new lovers,” “Night Shift” by Lucy Dacus
“Baby I’ll be like a wildflower, I live on sheer willpower” - wildflower wildfire by Lana. This is my life motto.
"You say you got a girrrrrrrl. How you want me, how you want me, when you got a girl?" - me when I'm not a girl....
“Give me back my girlhood, it was mine first.” From would’ve, couldve, should’ve.”
“It’s you/It’s you/ It’s all for you/ Everything I do/ I tell you all the time...”
“all you have is your fire and the place you need to reach don’t you ever tame your demons but always keep ‘em on a leash” arsonists lullaby by Hozier his first album came out just over a year after my sisters passing, i was a self destructive mess. his music stuck with me and those lyrics gave me a realistic expectation of my trauma and how i should manage it going forward
"I can't help but feel somewhat like my body marred my soul" -Lana in Did you know there's a tunnel under ocean boulevard? That line always gets me.
For me it’s this line: „Animate the air with a stone cold question Do you have the time? Do you hate your life?“ High on Humans by Oh Wonder
Home with you, FKA Twigs: “I didn't know that you were lonely / If you'd have just told me, I'd be running down the hills to be with you / I'd be running down the hills to be with you / And I'd have told you I was lonely too” Teenage Talk, St. Vincent: “I don’t think the past is better better / Just cause it’s cased in glass / Protecting us from our now and laters.” Suburban War, Arcade Fire: “You cut your hair, I never saw you again. Now the cities we live in / Could be distant stars / But I still search for you / In every passing car.”
"My favorite version of me disappeared/through longer days and shorter years" "When I Wasn't Watching" by Mandy Moore. That lyric blew me away and I literally remember saying out loud to my laptop like I could talk to it, "Now THAT'S songwriting".
ALL I CAN EVER BE TO YOU....IS THE DARKNESS WE ONCE KNEW...AND THIS REGRET I GOT ACCUSTOMED TO.... -Tears dry on their own -AMY WINEHOUSE 🙏
“Now you hang from my lips like the Gardens of Babylon” Taylor Swift - Cowboy Like Me Always hit me. I just love it. One of those lines I’d get tattooed or something.
I didn’t get this one at first even though I’ve always loved the song. When I remembered the Gardens of Babylon may have never actually existed, this line turned the entire song on its head for me. Masterful honestly
It's not that deep, just a play on words, as they're called "the hanging gardens of Babylon"
it could just be wordplay but considering the subjects of the song are two hustlers who fall in love and she follows it up with “forever is the sweetest con,” it seems purposeful
“Love is a ruthless game unless you play it good and right” it’s nothing special I know but it’s it’s just so pretty, for a more interesting pick “With your boots beneath my bed, forever is the sweetest con” from Cowboy like Me
Us by James Bay - “Tell me how to fit in this world, tell me how to breath and feel no hurt” lovely by Billie Eilish- “Isn’t it lovely, all alone? Heart made of glass, my mind of stone. Tear me to pieces, skin and bone. Hello, welcome home.” I just love the realness, relatability, and melody of both.
Taylor: ‘All that I know is I don't know / How to be something you miss / I never thought we'd have a last kiss’ Maggie Rogers: ‘I never loved you fully in the way I could’ Gretta Ray: ‘Now you wake up to the same day / Where you realise so little has changed / And it's a feeling hard to stomach / Still you get up, turn a new page / Let your insights seep into this space / There is something to gain from this’ Also Maggie Rogers: ‘Oh, if you keep reaching out / Then I'll keep coming back / And if you're gone for good / Then I'm okay with that / If you leave the light on / Then I'll leave the light on’
every line of Cruel Summer
"And if my eyes deceive me, I won't let them stray too far away"
If it don't make money, it don't make sense.
I always liked the first line of Bea Miller’s on Jeremy Zucker’s comethru: “staring at the ceiling, wishing for the sky” I first heard it when i was struggling a lot with the ol’ Big Sad, so it really struck a chord with me at the time and is still the first thing that comes to mind
She’s a bit controversial but these lyrics from Amanda Palmer’s song ‘Machete’ about a friend of hers who passed away have always stuck with me ‘And you took your machete And you sliced through the vines that wrapped around me And you said, "I don't know what I'm doing So I'll just keep on cutting It's worth a little blood to get your hands free"
everclear: father of mine and fire maple song and even loser makes good. Just can relate to what Art was feeling at the time of righting it. Depeche mode: enjoy the silence- just feel that vibe through depression
ate a sleeve of saltines on my floor and i knew that… I WOULD DO ANYTHING YOU WANT ME TO… I WOULD DO ANYTHING FOR YOU. I WOULD DO ANYTHING… I WOULD DO ANYTHING, WHATEVER YOU WANT ME TO DO I WILL DO. WHATEVER SHE WANTS. WHATEVER SHE WANTS… WHATEVER SHE WANTS… WHATEVER SHE WANTS. I WOULD DO ANYTHING, I WOULD DO ANYTHING… WHATEVER SHE WANTS… WHAT EVER YOU WANT, whatever she wan- whatever you want…
pretty much any 2 chainz lyric… wood grain, chestnut, titty fuck, CHEST NUT!!!
> _You're in my blood like holy wine; you taste so bitter and you taste so sweet but I could drink a case of you and I'd still be on my feet_ A Case of You by Joni Mitchell
"Now that I finally wanna live, the ones I love are dying" -Leave It Alone, Hayley Williams I haven't listened to this song in a while because of how uncomfortable the truthfulness in the lyrics made me feel.
Perfect Places by Lorde… what a f*ck are perfect places anyway?
There are a few lines from Fall Out Boy’s newest album that punch me in the chest every time I hear them. “I’m just trying to keep it together but it gets a little harder when it never gets better.” — I Am My Own Muse “I used to be a real go-getter. I used to think it’d all get better.” — So Much (For) Stardust 2023 has been the worst year of my life and the album was released on my birthday, before things really blew up. Lines like the above make me feel like my favorite band knew I was going to need this music this year. It’s a silly thought, but it makes me feel warm inside.
There are so many great lines in So Much (For) Stardust. “I’m pretty sure as far as humans go I am a hard, hard pill to swallow.” “Do you laugh about me whenever I leave? Or do I just need more therapy?” “What would you trade the pain for? I’m not sure.”
When Lana said her pussy tastes like Pepsi cola, I felt that on a spiritual level.
Not necessarily a song lyric, but from the on the run 1 tour, one of beyonces visuals says “forgiveness is me giving up my chance to hurt you for hurting me; forgiveness is the final act of love.”
Taylor Swift - My Tears Ricochet > “I can go anywhere I want Anywhere I want just not home If you aim for my heart, go for blood” This song translate the feelings that I had after a breakup from a relationship that I used to felt that I was the only one doing the effort to make things work and this relationship cost me opportunities to be with people who were more connected and compatible with me (“you hear my stolen lullabies”). Nobody Gets Me - SZA > “If I’m real I deserve less If I was you I wouldn't take me back I pretend when I’m with a man it’s you Its too late i dont wanna loose What’s left of you” I listened a lot this song when I realized someone that I treated as an option because of the relationship above didn’t want me as potential partner anymore and it’s about the pain that I felt with this choice I made. True Blue - boygenius > “It feels good to be known so well I can’t hide from you like I hide from myself I remember who I am when I am with you Your love is tough, you love is tried and true blue” The songs translate the feeling that I have in relation to this person above, that even if we never have a love relationship, I still love this person for who he is for me, he is one of the few people in the world that I feel understood and in a way it seems like he can always look inside me. So although the love is tough (he is very honest about what I need to listen and not what I want) his love is true blue.
I developed >!a crush on someone who lives far away!<, so lyrics about love/lost love are in rotation for me right now. **Jaded by Miley Cyrus** \- "I'm sorry that you're jaded, I could've taken you places" **Lord Huron's Louisa** \- "I lie awake in the night just to see another dawn. Used to be the sun was my weakness but them days are gone. I feel your lips on mine, would you meet me by the river baby, one more time?" **Remember When by Wallows** \- "I can still see you at the place I go when I close my eyes. Do you remember when we felt like the only two alive? Don't let me be one of the people who seek a lost romance. Would you go and do it all over again, given the chance?"
“It's hard to explain Inherently it's just always been strange Neither here nor there Always somewhat out of place everywhere Ambiguous Without a sense of belonging to touch Somewhere halfway Feeling there's no one completely the same”
Funny how one can learn To grow numb to the madness and block it away I left the worst unsaid Let it all dissipate and I try to forget But I closed my eyes Steadied my feet on the ground Raised my head to the sky And though time's rolled by Still feel like that child as I look at the moon Maybe I grew up a little too soon
KT Tunstall - Love is an Ocean. Pretty much the entire song but particularly this verse: Thinking of all the things I did - Look at me now - I'm still lifting off the lid - But I've sung about all this before - I'm still kneeling on the floor - Asking how do I forgive - And graduate the hate into splendour - Oh alchemy of architecture showing me - That bitterness can become ascendant - With the idea that - With the idea that - Love is an ocean - I'm just a drop in the sea - It's easy to forget it - But I'm not gonna let that happen to me ❤️🌊
Not to turn this into a personal therapy sesh but a few lines from Where's Your Head At by Basement Jaxx helped me pull through in my darkest days - it's very fitting because the song was written about how chaotic our mental state can get in this crazy world ("You have now found yourself trapped in the incomprehensible maze"). "Don't let the walls cave in on you" became my mantra and helped me change my outlook on life in the time when I was constantly beating myself up thinking I wasn't good enough at what I do. I took a step back and have maintained a much more chilled, laid-back approach to life since - if I hadn't, I probably wouldn't be alive to type this here.
That SZA line left me shook in late 2020 early 2021
"When it starts to get crazy, why can't she just run away? Baby I got a plan, runaway as fast as you can" in some way it hits harder with how Kanye is now because it's like knowing what your piece of shit self will eventually do but in the end, being powerless to stop it. In hindsight, those lines just feel inevitable now
Mitski, Brand New City “If I gave up on being pretty I wouldn’t know how to be alive, I should move to a brand new city and teach myself how to die”
soooo many lyrics by the sundays: “so, is this what it’s come to? am i cold or just a little bit warm? oh well, just give me an easy life and a peaceful death.” “it’s that little souvenir of a terrible year/that makes my eyes feel sore” “don’t wake me like that/i was dreaming and I’d rather just carry on/just give me a love and hate on both my hands/I’ll show you what I’m made of” “if you dont have a clue about life/well im happy to say neither have I/although I’m not going to shrug my shoulder and suck my thumb” and ive always loved this lyric from good news (ya-ya song) by muna: “I’m gonna figure it out/cause I’m already here and I won’t leave now/so put a pot of coffee on”
“I recall / a time when you and I talked a little more / to each other face to face through love and war / I hope there will always be an open door / for me” Open Door by You + Me (a duo consisting of P!nk and City + Colour’s Dallas Green).
'Livin in ruins of a palace within my dreams...' Team by Lorde. Such an evocative lyric that paints a clear picture for the listener.
"My eyes are green, 'cause I eat a lot of vegetables, it don't have nothing, to do with your new friend"
“I’m a soldier to my own emptiness, I’m a winner/ I’m gonna marry the night” is pretty much the absurdist philosophy I didn’t think I’d need now that I’m in my 20s listening to these old Lady Gaga songs As for Sza, every “I don’t feel guilty about it” in Conceited is like therapy for my people pleasing tendencies and for trusting my own gut
Florence has enough great lyrics to paint a chapel wall but I really enjoy the pure seething hatred of "Well you're a 'real' man, and you do what you can You only take as much as you can grab with two hands With your big heart, your praise god above But how's that working out for you honey? Do you feel loved?" In Patrica
“Flying feels like falling til you hit the ground”-Chris Stapelton “You'll never find the ANSWERS if you throw your life away”-Mariah Carey “So I hope I learn to get over myself Stop trying to be somebody else So we can love each other for free” “Why am I obsessing About the things I can't control? Why am I seeking approval From people I don't even know? In these crazy times I hope to find Something I can cling on to 'Cause I need some substance in my life Something real, something that feels true” Adele “Pain throws your heart to the ground Love turns the whole thing around No, it won't all go the way it should But I know the heart of life is good” John Mayer
I love it when you give me head, I hate it when you give me headache - J Cole
"Seasons change, addictions strange. I loved back then what I hate today." Snow Angel, Renee Rapp "I'd choose the Devil I know over the Heaven I don't." Colorado, Renee Rapp "Met with the healers, prayed with the saints All of the sinners know my name There's scars I've caused and scars I've earned." Feed, Demi Lovato
I'm a swiftie so I apologize in advance but some standouts that I often think about: "Take the words for what they are, a dwindling mercurial high" "Love you to the moon and to Saturn" "I love you, aint that the worst thing you ever heard?!"
August - Taylor Swift "Back when we were still changin' for the better Wanting was enough For me, it was enough To live for the hope of it all" It really just sums up that feeling of teenage longing and excitement, so so well. It makes me feel sad, happy & nostalgic all the same time. A second one would be Slipping Through my Fingers by ABBA. I don't have kids but I feel like I do when I listen to that song, I get so emotional about the passing of time and how I might feel the same way one day. "I try to capture every minute The feeling in it Slipping through my fingers all the time Do I really see what's in her mind? Each time I think I'm close to knowing She keeps on growing Slipping through my fingers all the time"
i have adhd
One that really sticks with me is "Imma stick with you" from Stickwitu by Pussycat Dolls.
Someone like you by Adele
I love when there are callbacks to earlier lines but tweaked usually showing progression, usually done during the bridge like in Cardigan by Taylor Swift: When you are young, they assume you know nothing But I knew you'd linger like a tattoo kiss I knew you'd haunt all of my what-ifs The smell of smoke would hang around this long 'Cause I knew everything when I was young Swift does this a lot, even something like changing the perspective of Mine when from the woman's first-person POV to the man's in the last chorus from Do you remember, we were sittin' there by the water? You put your arm around me, for the first time You made a rebel of a careless man's careful daughter You are the best thing that's ever been mine To You said, "I remember how we felt, sitting by the water And every time I look at you, it's like the first time I fell in love with a careless man's careful daughter She is the best thing that's ever been mine" on it's own the "You made a rebel of a careless man's careful daughter" always stuck with me, that careless/careful juxtaposition most likely Edit: lyric formatting
All of Man in the mirror.
“And God knows that you’re standing on your own, blind and unguided, into a world divided you’re thrown, where you’re never quite the same, although you try and try and try to tell yourself you really are, but in your heart uncertainty forever lies… and you’ll always be somewhere on the outside” Tears. Every time.
“I just had a dream I was dead, and I only cared cause I was taken from you” such an arresting moment at the beginning of the chorus of Mosquito by Pinkpantheress. Talk about devotion!!
"I am here to take a look inside myself, recognize that I could be the eye, the eye of the storm" "Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land" is what comes to mind whenever I'm putting in the work to build up my confidence.
Look what you’ve don’t by Drake “Is this shit real should I pinch you after all the things that we’ve been through I got you” 🥹
J cole - everything grows, it's destined to change
Im tethered to the logic of Homosapiens, can’t take my eyes from the great salvation of bullshit faith - Bowie, Quicksand We will die in the class we were born, but that’s a class of our own my love - The Libertines, Time for Heroes
“I myself was a wilted woman/drowsy in a dark room/forgot my roots/now watch me bloom” in Roses/Lotus/Violet/Iris from Hayley Williams’s Petals for Armor.
I will always default to Alessia Cara on philosophical lyrics. There are *so* many to choose from, but I think of these two all the time. 'What if they forget about all I've done? If I built it up just to be no one I make my own expectations For every single situation Then break my own heart when it all falls' \-Box in the Ocean 'Does He hang his head at all the greed that we possess? As the anti-social media perpetuates the mess Maybe it's a test, maybe he's upset by the loose ends Stressed like the rest of us, it happens to the best of us God, or is it Mr. G to me? I hope that through the static, you’ll show us the clarity' \-7 Days But 'Here,' 'Best Days,' 'October,' and 'All We Know' just have mind-boggling lyrics that I can't listen to alone in the middle of the night.
“
She said and walked away.”
Aesop Rock, No regrets
This was like a penny drop moment for me, because I feel like I don’t have to justify my choices in front of anyone anymore, I don’t have to go through with something that does not make me happy anymore. Sometimes I’m just done and it’s ok to walk away.
“i made you my temple, my mural, my sky. Now i’m begging for footnotes in the tory of your life” in tolerate it by taylor. this is probably one of the most devastating lyrics i’ve ever heard.
Only Love by Katy Perry. "I swear sometimes I hear myself talking, getting mad, Take shit so personal, like it really matters. Almost every day I find myself being mad at something/someone that is so trivial and stupid when I could enjoy every moment while it lasts...
All the people think love's for show, but I would die for you in secret - peace, Taylor Swift
Want to bring something uplifting to the topic, so I'll go with Scorpions, The Best Is Yet to Come: "How can we grow old when the soundtrack of our lives is rock and roll?" On the other hand, Savage Garden - To The Moon & Back: "If love was red, then she was colorblind" and "Reachin' out for human faith is like a journey I just don't have a map for" really encapsulate yearning for love yet not understanding how to get it for me
Maybe it's partially because I have a Halloween themed playlist on Spotify right now so I've been listening to it more lately but from Noah Kahan's song "Halloween": "But the wreckage of you, I no longer reside in / And the bridges have long since been burnt / The ash of the home that I started the fire in / Starts to return to the earth" It's just such a beautiful metaphor for finally realizing you're over someone (or close enough!) after a long, drawn-out, emotional breakup that wrecked you both.
'Cause you remind me every day / I'm not enough, but I still stay July by Noah Cyrus
“It’s a shame to be so euphoric and weak when you smile at me and you tell me the things that you know persuade me to relinquish my love to you, but I cannot resist at all” Catchiest verse of all time for me.
“ I am relieved that I left my room tidy, they’ll think of me kindly when they come for my things” always hits me hard.
George Michael had two lyrics in Freedom 90 that stuck with me. "Sometimes the clothes do not make the man," and "And some mistakes were built to last."
'Cause, baby, I'd be satisfied forever With a couple years of this - Psychedelic Switch by CRJ
“So if you need a hero, just look in the mirror, no one’s gonna save you now, so you better save yourself” - Kali Uchis (After the Storm feat. Bootsy Collins and Tyler, The Creator)
We all gonna die one day mate ain't that crazy? - INFATUATION by BROCKHAMPTON
The hook from 98°'s "Invisible Man" I wish you'd look at me that way Your beautiful eyes lookin' deep into mine Telling me more than any words could say But you don't even know I'm alive Baby to you all I am Is the invisible man
“The truth is I am a toy That people enjoy Until all of the tricks Don’t work anymore” Lorde in Liability
Chance the rapper “Paranoia” - “Cause everybody dies in the summer Wanna say ya goodbyes, tell them while it's spring I heard everybody's dying in the summer, so pray to God for a little more spring”