Favorite Lyrics by Decade

Favorite lyrics by decade: Lyrics all come from 1960-2010, no musicals or classical. Probably forgetting a great many, but here are the first 55 I came up with:

00s

Sam Phillips, Taking Pictures:

“Nostalgia isn’t what it used to be.”

Daft Punk, Something About Us:

“It might not be the right time. I might not be the right one. But there's something about us I want to say,
‘cause there's something between us anyway.”

The Streets, Weak Become Heroes:

“Then the girl in the cafe taps me on the shoulder. I realize five years went by and I'm older: Memories smolder, winter's colder. But that same piano loops over and over and over.”

Sufjan Stevens, Chicago:

“If I was crying in the van, with my friend, it was for freedom: from myself and from the land.”

PJ Harvey, This Is Love:

“I can’t believe that life’s so complex, when I just want to sit here and watch you undress.”

Tim Minchin, Guilt Song:

“Fuck the poor. I'm not pretending anymore that I really give two shits about some kids in Bangalore. I'm more interested in footy than seeing the Solomons rebuilt, but I'll give you fifty bucks to take away my guilt.”

Maurissa Tancharoen, Nobody’s Asian in the Movies:

“Without the Asians in the movies, without Asians on TV, who’d play the goofy mathematician, the computer technician? A wise old healer from Japan? A short but wealthy businessman? Sell Korean groceries? Do your laundry thank you, prrease? We’re the victims of a crime, we’ll be loving you long time: If your movie is a bore just watch the groupie in the chorus – That’s me.”

The Decemberists, Summersong:

“Ramblin', where to begin? I taste the summer on your peppery skin.”

Santigold, LES Artistes:

“You don't know me I am an introvert, an excavator. I'm duckin' out for now: A face in dodgy elevators. Creep up and suddenly I found myself an innovator.”

Madvillain, All Caps:

“Sometimes he rhyme quick, sometimes he rhyme slow, or vice versa. Whip up a slice of nice verse pie,
hit it on the first try. Villain: the worst guy. Spot hot tracks like spot a pair of fat asses. Shots of the scotch from out of square shot glasses. And he won't stop 'til he got the masses and show 'em what they know not through flows of hot molasses. Do it like the robot, to headspin to boogaloo, took a few minutes to convince the average bug-a-boo. It's ugly, like look at you: It's a damn shame. Just remember ALL CAPS when you spell the man name.”

90s

Fiona Apple, Paper Bag:

“He said ‘It's all in your head.’ And I said ‘So's everything,’ but he didn't get it. I thought he was a man but he was just a little boy.”

Nas, NY State of Mind:

“It drops deep as it does in my breath. I never sleep, ‘cause sleep is the cousin of death.”

The Magnetic Fields, The Death of Ferdinand de Saussure:

“But I lost my composure, and I shot Ferdinand. Crying ‘It’s well and kosher to say you don’t understand. But this is for Holland Dozier Holland!’”

Liz Phair, Flower:

“You're probably shy and introspective. That's not part of my objective.” Rest of the song redacted…

Everlast, What It’s Like:

“And she asks for the clinic and she gets some static walking through the door. They call her a killer, and they call her a sinner, and they call her a whore. God forbid you ever have to walk a mile in her shoes: ‘Cause then you really might know what it’s like to have to choose.”

Belle and Sebastian, Expectations:

“And the head said that you always were a queer one from the start. For careers you say you went to be remembered for your art.”

Red Hot Chili Peppers, Californication:

“Space may be the final frontier, but it's made in a Hollywood basement. Cobain can you hear the spheres singing songs off Station to Station?”

Ted Hawkins, Big Things:

“I’ve got big things to do: Too soon my life will be through. Got no time to stop and pick up the flowers –  I’ve got catching up to do, yes, I’ve got big things to do. I’ve got a song here to write, I work on it most every night. Creating with hope they will live on forever, yes, I’ve got big things to do. I’ve got so much to do.”

Peter Rowan, Barefoot Country Road:

“And the dust as fine as powder comes up between my toes, bringing back the memories of a barefoot country road.”

80s

Billy Joel, And So It Goes:

“But if my silence made you leave then that would be my worst mistake. So I will share this room with you, and you can have this heart to break.”

Pink Floyd, Comfortably Numb:

“When I was a child I had a fever. My hands felt just like two balloons. Now I’ve got that feeling once again – I can’t explain. You would not understand. This is not how I am. I have become comfortably numb.”

The Smiths, Cemetery Gates:

“Keats and Yeats are on your side – but you lose. ‘Cause weird lover Wilde is on mine.”

Guns n Roses, Sweet Child o Mine:

“Her hair reminds me of a warm, safe place where as a child I’d hide, and pray for the thunder and the rain to quietly pass me by.”

Elvis Costello, Beyond Belief:

“History repeats the old conceits: The glib replies, the same defeats. Keep your finger on important issues with crocodile tears and a pocketful of tissues.”

The Replacements, I Will Dare:

“How young are you? How old am I? Let’s count the rings around my eyes.”

70s

Television, Venus:

“‘Did you feel low?’ ‘No.’ ‘Huh?’ ‘I fell right into the arms of the Venus de Milo.’”

Elton John, Bitter Fingers:

“I’m sick of ‘tra la las’ and ‘la dee das’. (Background singers): La dee daaaah!”

Joni Mitchell, Big Yellow Taxi:

“They took all the trees and put them in a tree museum. And they charged all the people a dollar and a half to see 'em.”

Patti Smith, Gloria:

“Jesus died for somebody’s sins – but not mine.”

Bruce Springsteen, Born to Run:

“Wendy, let me in, I want to be your friend. I want to guard your dreams and visions. Just wrap your legs ‘round these velvet rims and strap your hand ‘cross my engines.”

John Lennon, Imagine:

“Imagine there's no heaven. It's easy if you try. No hell below us, above us only sky. Imagine all the people living for today.”

The Clash, Lost in the Supermarket:

“I’m all lost in the supermarket. I can no longer shop happily. I came in here for a special offer: A guaranteed personality.”

Nick Drake, Road:

“You can take the road that takes you to the stars now. I can take the road that will see me through.”

Neil Young, Old Man:

“Old man, take a look at my life, I’m a lot like you. I need someone to love me the whole day through.”

America, Ventura Highway:

“Seasons crying, no despair. Alligator lizards in the air.”

The Who, Behind Blue Eyes:

“Nobody knows what it’s like to be the bad man – to be the sad man – behind blue eyes.”

Led Zeppelin, Stairway to Heaven:

“And it's whispered that soon, if we all call the tune, then the piper will lead us to reason. And a new day will dawn for those who stand long: and the forests will echo with laughter.”

Jethro Tull, Wind Up:

“So to my old headmaster, and to anyone who cares, before I'm through I'd like to say my prayers. Well, you can excommunicate me on my way to Sunday school, and have all the bishops harmonize these lines. I don't believe you, you had the whole damn thing all wrong, he's not the kind you have to wind up on Sundays.”

60s

The Kinks, Shangri-La:

“And all the houses in the street have got a name. ‘Cause all the houses in the street they look the same. Same chimney pot same little car same window panes.”

Simon and Garfunkel, Sound of Silence:

“And the people bowed and prayed to the neon god they made. And the sign flashed out its warning in the words that it was forming. And the sign said ‘The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls.’”

Peter, Paul, and Mary, Autumn to May:

“Oh once I had a downy swan – she was so very frail. She sat upon an oyster shell, and hatched me out a snail. The snail it changed into a bird, the bird to butterfly. And he who tells a bigger tale would have to tell a lie.”

Bob Dylan, Masters of War:

“And I hope that you die; and your death will come soon. I’ll follow your casket by the pale afternoon. I’ll watch while you’re lowered down to your deathbed. And I’ll stand over your grave to make sure that you’re dead.”

Buffalo Springfield, For What It’s Worth:

“There’s battle lines being drawn. Nobody’s right if everybody’s wrong. Young people speaking their minds, getting so much resistance from behind.”

The Zombies, Changes:

“I knew her when summer was her crown, and autumn sad, how brown her eyes… Now, see her walk by, peppermint coat, button-down clothes, buttoned up high.”

The Beach Boys, God Only Knows:

“If you should ever leave me, though life would still go on – believe me – the world could show nothing to me. So what good would living do me?”

The Doors, The End:

“Can you picture what will be so limitless and free? Desperately in need of some stranger’s hand, in a desperate land.”

Country Joe MacDonald, Fixin’ to Die Rag:

“Now come on mothers, throughout the land, pack your boys off to Vietnam. Come on fathers, don’t hesitate, send your boys off before it’s too late. Be the first one on the block to have your boy come home in a box.”

The Animals, House of the Rising Sun:

“Oh mother, tell your children not to do what I have done: spend your lives in sin and misery in the House of the Rising Sun. I got one foot on the platform, the other foot on the train. I’m going back to New Orleans, to wear that ball and chain.”

The Beatles, In My Life:

“There are places I'll remember all my life, though some have changed. Some forever, not for better, some have gone and some remain. All these places have their moments, with lovers and friends, I still can recall. Some are dead and some are living: In my life, I loved them all.”

Crosby, Stills, and Nash, You Don’t Have to Cry:

“Are you thinkin' of telephones, and managers, and where you got to be at noon? You are living a reality I left years ago, it quite nearly killed me. In the long run it will make you cry, make you crazy, and old before your time.”

Phil Ochs, There But for Fortune:

“Show me the whiskey stains on the floor, show me the drunken man as he stumbles out the door, and I'll show you a young man with so many reasons why, there but for fortune, may go you or go I.”

The Mamas and the Papas, California Dreamin’:

“You know the preacher likes the cold. He knows I’m going to stay California’ dreaming, on such a winter’s day.”

Tim Buckley, Hallucinations:

“I saw you walking only yesterday. When I ran to catch you, you disappeared and the street was gray. The candle died, now you are gone, for the flame was too bright: Now you are gone.”

Pete Seeger, My Ramblin’ Boy:

“Late one night, in a jungle camp, the weather was cold and it was damp. He got the chills, and he got ‘em bad: I lost the only friend I had. So here's to you, my ramblin' boy: May all your rambles bring you joy.”

Joan Baez, Silver Dagger:

“Go court another tender maiden, and hope that she will be your wife. For I've been warned, and I've decided to sleep alone all of my life.”