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50 Of The Best Lyrical Moments In Rock And Pop Music is just that, it’s that moment in the song when the lyrics, the melody, the arrangement, the mood and the vocals all work together perfect to create a stanza that becomes legendary. It’s not just the lyrics, although that is the most important part, it’s the way the lyric is delivered and how you felt the first time you heard it and never forgot it. There are thousands of those moments in rock and pop history. Some of these are are just a couple of words while others are a long sentence or phrase. In the end it’s a moment that became classic because you couldn’t stop singing it, remembering it, living it, loving it. Here are 50 of our favorites in no particular order except for numbers 1 and 2. We could have done a few hundred of these, but we got other articles to write, so help us our and tell us yours in the comments…
# 50 – Harry Nilsson – Coconut Song
“She put de lime in de coconut, she drank ’em bot’ up
She put de lime in de coconut, she called de doctor, woke ‘im up.”
# 49 – Ringo Starr – The No No Songs
“I said No no no no, I don’t smoke it no more
I’m tired of waking up on the floor.”
# 48 – Charlie Daniels Band – Uneasy Rider
“Jes’ when I thought I’d get outta there with my skin
These five big dude come strollin’ in
With this one old drunk chick and some fella with green teeth.”
# 47 – Led Zeppelin – Thank You
“If the sun refused to shine, I would still be loving you.”
# 46 – Joni Mitchell – Big Yellow Tax1
“They paved paradise, put up a parking lot.”
# 45 – Procol Harum – A Whiter Shade Of Pale
We skipped the light fandango,Turned cartwheels ‘cross the floor
I was feeling kinda seasick, The crowd called out for more
# 44 – Nirvana – Lithium
“I’m so ugly, that’s okay, ’cause so are you.”
# 43 – Bruce Springsteen – Racing In The Street
“Some guys they just give up living, And start dying little by little, piece by piece
Some guys come home from work and wash up………And go racin’ in the street.”
# 42 – Neil Young – The Needle And The Damage Done
“I caught you knockin’ at my cellar door, I love you, baby, can I have some more?”
# 41- Tom Waits – Blue Valentine
“She sends me blue valentines, All the way from Philadelphia
To mark the anniversary, Of someone that I used to be.”
# 40 – The Doors – Soul Kitchen
“Let me sleep all night in your soul kitchen,”
# 39 – Stevie Nicks – Wild Heart
” I wear my boots all summer long.”
# 38 – Billy Joel – Keeping The Faith
“I thought I was the duke of earl When I made it with a red-haired girl
In the chevrolet.”
# 37 – Elvis Costello – Alison
“But I heard you let that little friend of mine, Take off your party dress.”
# 36 – Warren Zevon – Lawyers Guns and Money
“I went home with the waitress, the way I always do
How was I to know, she was with the Russians, too?
# 35 – Elton John – Bennie And The Jets
“She’s got electric boots a mohair suit, You know I read it in a magazine oh
B-B-B-Bennie and the Jets.”
# 34 – Bruce Springsteen – Lost In The Flood
“He lays on the street holding his leg screaming something in Spanish……..
Still breathing when I walked away.”
# 33 – Creedence Clearwater Revival – Have You Ever Seen The Rain
“I want to know, have you ever seen the rain……coming down on a sunny day.”
# 32 – Lou Reed – Walk On The Wild Side
“Holly came from Miami, F.L.A., Hitch-hiked her way across the U.S.A.
Plucked her eyebrows on the way, Shaved her legs and then he was a she.”
# 31 – Marshall Tucker Band – Can’t You See
“I am gonna take a freight train, Down at the station and I don’t care where it goes.”
# 30 – Meat Loaf – Paradise By The Dashboard Light
“Ain’t no doubt about it we were doubly blessed, ‘Cause we were barely seventeen
And we were barely dressed.”
# 29- Black Sabbath – Iron Man
“Nobody wants him, They just turn their heads, Nobody helps him , Now he has his revenge.”
# 28 – Van Halen – Panama
“Ah, you reach down, between my legs……………… and ease the seat back.”
# 27- Pink Floyd – Another Brick In The Wall
“Hey! Teachers! Leave them kids alone!”
# 26- Harry Chapin – Taxi
“And she said, “How are you Harry?”I said, “How are you Sue?
Through the too many miles and the too little smiles………. I still remember you.”
# 25 – Bob Dylan – Hurricane
“The wounded man looks up through his one dying eye
Says, “Why’d you bring him in here for? He ain’t the guy!”
# 24 – Jethro Tull – Aqualung
“Sitting on a park bench.”
# 23 – Led Zeppelin – Black Dogs
Gonna make you sweat, gonna make you groove.”
# 22 – Rolling Stones Memory Motel
“What’s all this laughter on the 22nd floor, It’s just some friends of mine
And they’re busting down the door.”
# 21 – The Eagles – Last Resort
“They call it paradise, I don’t know why, You call someplace paradise
Kiss it goodbye.”
# 20 – Robert Palmer – Bad Case Of Loving You
“I know you like it, you like it on top.”
# 19 – The Beatles – Let It Be
“And when the brokenhearted people, Living in the world agree, There will be an answer, let it be”
# 18 – Frank Zappa – Yellow Snow
“Watch out where the huskies go, and don’t you eat that yellow snow”
# 17 – The Ramones – Rock And Roll High School
“Well I don’t care about history, because that’s not where I want to be.”
# 16 – Bruce Springsteen – Backstreets
“Remember all the movies, Terry We’d go see, Trying to learn to walk like the heroes
We thought we had to be.”
# 15 – The Doors – Roadhouse Blues
“Well, I woke up this morning, and I got myself a beer.”
# 14 – Fleetwood Mac – Rhiannon
Would you stay if she promised you heaven? Will you ever win? Will you ever win?
# 13 – The Band – The Weight
“I said, “Hey, Carmen, come on let’s go downtown”
She said, “I gotta go but my friend can stick around”
# 12 – Emerson Lake & Palmer
“Welcome back my friends, to the show that never ends.”
# 11- Billy Joel – The Longest Time
“If you said goodbye to me tonight, There would still be music left to write.”
THE TOP TEN
# 10 – Jim Croce – Operator
“She’s living in L. A. with my best old ex-friend Ray.”
# 9 – Elton John – Levon
“He was born a pauper to a pawn on a Christmas day when the New York Times said, “God is dead and the war’s begun.”
# 8 – Paul Simon – The Boxer
“A man hears what he wants to hear, and disregards the rest.”
# 7 – The Beatles – The End
“And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make”
# 6 – Bruce Springsteen – Thunder Road
“You ain’t a beauty but hey you’re alright, oh and that’s alright with me.”
# 5 – Jimi Hendrix – Purple Haze
” Scuse Me While I Kiss The Sky”
# 4- Led Zeppelin – The Lemon Song
” Squeeze my lemon until the juice runs down my leg”
# 3 – The Who – Won’t Get Fooled Again’
” Meet the new boss, same as the old boss!”
# 2 – Harry Nilsson – You’re Breakin’ My Heart
” Your Breaking my heart, you’re tearing it apart so F#ck You.”
# 1 – David Bowie – Suffragette City
“Wham Bam, Thank You Mam!
50 Of The Best Lyrical Moments In Rock And Pop Music article published on Classic RockHistory.com© 2024
