Need Lyrical Help!

Swallow Poison

HELP!

I've been asked by the band I play bass for to start writing lyrics for our songs, so am in dire need of inspiration.

Please post your favourite PJ lyrics below (and why if you so wish) so that I might divine some inspiration from them.

Cheers.

I'll start:

"I'll swallow poison, until I grow immune". I love the imagery of this lyric. Hence my screen name...

Eraserhead

"I'm a thief, I'm a liar, here's my church I sing in the choir."

Swallow Poison

Eraserhead wrote:

"I'm a thief, I'm a liar, here's my church I sing in the choir."

True - excellent lyric.

Video is pretty amazing too...

Ms. Haiku

dirty frank dahmer he's a gourmet cook yeah
i got a recipe for anglo-saxin soup yeah
wanted a pass so she relaxed
now the little groupie's getting chopped up in the back
i got a cupboard full of fleshy fresh ingredients
a very careful at the same time quite expedient
eats meat a release
bus driving's harder on your head than on your feet
dirty frank
a dirty frank, yeah
a dirty frank
a dirty frank, yeah
keeps it clean a keeps it copaseptic
a-little boys and girls their heads are all collected
a-not crazy a per se
just a little strange when he gets hungry
city, state, your town, he will continue
a stadium, tiny clubs, every venue
a-his bus a-your trust
there goes another turned into crust
dirty frank
a dirty frank, yeah
a dirty frank
a dirty frank, yeah
oh middle of the night we're stopped the freeway shoulder
a-frank's shoveling to bury the leftovers
a-they're sunk he's drunk
now he's gonna drive, i'm hiding in my bunk oh
the band all knows we're too afraid to mention
a-don't want to be part of frank's luncheon
a-lose weight a-be safe
where's mike mccready?
my god he's been ate!
dirty frank
a dirty frank, yeah
dirty frank
a dirty frank, yeah
a dirty frank
a dirty frank, yeah
a dirty frank
a dirty frank, yeah
why that dirty frank was a bad mother...shut your mouth!
hey man, i'm just talking about dirty frank
ok i think that's enough


It's classic, gross, humorous, and yet socially timely

danielheyes

i hope someday you'll have a beautifull life, i hope you'll be a star,in somebody else's sky but why,why,why cant it be oh cant it be mine......

puts a lump in my throat everytime.........

smallocean

The one that inspired the nick:

Little secrets, tremors
Turned to quake
The smallest oceans still get big, big waves..

Fells like in a seastorm

angryyoungman

danielheyes wrote:

i hope someday you'll have a beautifull life, i hope you'll be a star,in somebody else's sky but why,why,why cant it be oh cant it be mine......

puts a lump in my throat everytime.........

agreed. one of the lyrics that really got me into the band
. . ."i am lost, im your guide, but im by your side, I AM RIGHT BY YOUR SIDE!!!"

danielheyes

angryyoungman wrote:

agreed. one of the lyrics that really got me into the band
. . ."i am lost, im your guide, but im by your side, I AM RIGHT BY YOUR SIDE!!!"

touche my friend!! another belter!! all from the greatest era of my life that i look back on with a wry smile!!!

guildenstern

all that's sacred comes from youth.

Jeremy1012

angryyoungman wrote:

. . ."i am lost, im your guide, but im by your side, I AM RIGHT BY YOUR SIDE!!!"

i may be wrong but i always thought it said "i am lost. i am NO guide". any light to be shed on that?

angryyoungman

Jeremy1012 wrote:

i may be wrong but i always thought it said "i am lost. i am NO guide". any light to be shed on that?

you may be right. i may be crazy. but it just may be a lunatic your looking for

Brisk.

"I'm a thief, I'm a liar, here's my church I sing in the choir."

what do those lyrics mean

danielheyes

I BrisK I wrote:

"I'm a thief, I'm a liar, here's my church I sing in the choir."

what do those lyrics mean

To me its an ironic sarcastic line about the hierarchy of the world promising a better world and getting the "choir"(other politicians) to sing it out loud.

The Evolution part of the song you should be able to relate to that if you listen to the rest of the song in comparison to your line......

spin spin

"There is no wrong or right but I'm sure there's good and bad"

So true. So simple.

U-R

for what it's worth, i'd imagine that if you don't write it yourself based on your own experiences, it won't read as well on paper and certainly won't sound as good when sung

red mos

Jeremy1012 wrote:

i may be wrong but i always thought it said "i am lost. i am NO guide". any light to be shed on that?

According to http://www.sing365.com it says "I am lost I am NO guide" but I could see how that could easily be misunderstood because it's a hard lyric to make out.

UpHereInMyTree500

do what Bobbie Dylan did and take inspiration from newspaper reports

Pearl Jam and toast

"I Got Memories, I Got Shit" from "I Got Shit"

perfectly symbolic of the anger, frustration, and regret the song is about.

Pearl Jam and toast

"i'm lost i'm no guide" makes a lot more sense.

that's how i hear it said.

we all know Ed screws up lines (both intentionally and unintentionally) so it could be both really.

plus.. gramatically..

if it was "i'm your guide" the next line would have to be "and i'm by your side"

but instead he says "but i'm by your side"

yes?

Innocent_Bystander

In the moonlight...

Gettin'. Wind out to get back. It's a...
Steady shore to her land.
It's gettin' closer to the fence.
In the moonlight...

Givin'. Two lost wings.
A beautiful star sea.
A wonderful sense of beauty.
In the moonlight...
It's a love drawn nearer.
Darkened days are spent in.

A night bird is followin' you all the time.

Under a star-lined ceiling...
And darkness, so sleep. Ah,...
Your sense is revealed...
In the moonlight...
It's a love drawn nearer.
Darkened days are spent in.

A night bird is followin' you all the time.

It's a love drawn nearer.
Darkened days are spent in.

A night bird is followin' you,... it's followin' you.
A night bird is followin' you all the time.

Gizmo

The lyrics is what got me into Pearl Jam in the first place ... they're amazing! So there's just too many ... and the one from black is very special to me also ... Other than that, here's some I can think of:

To myself I surrender, to the one I'll never please

We were but stones, your light made us stars

I turned my back, now there's no turning back

I let go of a rope, thinking that's what held me back
and in time I've realized, it's now wrapped around my neck ...

(Thumbing my way is just full of this kind of gems)

I could literally just go on and on ... there is a thread somewhere with people's favorite PJ verses ... might be worth checking out! Was a while ago though ...

escarina

"I know I was born and know that I'll die..
The in-between is mine
I am mine"

capybaralet

some of the best ways to start off a song:

Watched out the window, with a red mosquito, I was not allowed to leave the room!

All in all it's no one's fault
excuses turn to carbon walls,
blame it all on chemical intercourse

No one break for me
I just got a life
I'm in beer class
Every thursday night
I was choppered out of sea life
bad advice fills the air
valor ready, right,
go on get the mayor
(had to put the breeders in there )

joen

"dedications, naïve and true"

my favourite line, although you ought to see it in its context