Song lyrics?

Question

I need to bring in a song tomarrow to school for writers craft, and show the class a song of my choice, that demonstrates well written lyrics, maybe something with imagery? Any suggestions?

Answer 1

Bob Dylan is one of the kings of songwriting imagery. Here's a couple of my personal favorites, but lyrics to all his songs are on his web site: http://www.bobdylan.com/moderntimes/lyrics/main.html

A HARD RAIN'S GONNA FALL by Bob Dylan

Oh, where have you been, my blue-eyed son?
Oh, where have you been, my darling young one?
I've stumbled on the side of twelve misty mountains,
I've walked and I've crawled on six crooked highways,
I've stepped in the middle of seven sad forests,
I've been out in front of a dozen dead oceans,
I've been ten thousand miles in the mouth of a graveyard,
And it's a hard, and it's a hard, it's a hard, and it's a hard,
And it's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.

Oh, what did you see, my blue-eyed son?
Oh, what did you see, my darling young one?
I saw a newborn baby with wild wolves all around it
I saw a highway of diamonds with nobody on it,
I saw a black branch with blood that kept drippin',
I saw a room full of men with their hammers a-bleedin',
I saw a white ladder all covered with water,
I saw ten thousand talkers whose tongues were all broken,
I saw guns and sharp swords in the hands of young children,
And it's a hard, and it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard,
And it's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.

And what did you hear, my blue-eyed son?
And what did you hear, my darling young one?
I heard the sound of a thunder, it roared out a warnin',
Heard the roar of a wave that could drown the whole world,
Heard one hundred drummers whose hands were a-blazin',
Heard ten thousand whisperin' and nobody listenin',
Heard one person starve, I heard many people laughin',
Heard the song of a poet who died in the gutter,
Heard the sound of a clown who cried in the alley,
And it's a hard, and it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard,
And it's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.

Oh, who did you meet, my blue-eyed son?
Who did you meet, my darling young one?
I met a young child beside a dead pony,
I met a white man who walked a black dog,
I met a young woman whose body was burning,
I met a young girl, she gave me a rainbow,
I met one man who was wounded in love,
I met another man who was wounded with hatred,
And it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard,
It's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.

Oh, what'll you do now, my blue-eyed son?
Oh, what'll you do now, my darling young one?
I'm a-goin' back out 'fore the rain starts a-fallin',
I'll walk to the depths of the deepest black forest,
Where the people are many and their hands are all empty,
Where the pellets of poison are flooding their waters,
Where the home in the valley meets the damp dirty prison,
Where the executioner's face is always well hidden,
Where hunger is ugly, where souls are forgotten,
Where black is the color, where none is the number,
And I'll tell it and think it and speak it and breathe it,
And reflect it from the mountain so all souls can see it,
Then I'll stand on the ocean until I start sinkin',
But I'll know my song well before I start singin',
And it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard,
It's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.

MY BACK PAGES by Bob Dylan

Crimson flames tied through my ears
Rollin' high and mighty traps
Pounced with fire on flaming roads
Using ideas as my maps
"We'll meet on edges, soon," said I
Proud 'neath heated brow.
Ah, but I was so much older then,
I'm younger than that now.

Half-wracked prejudice leaped forth
"Rip down all hate," I screamed
Lies that life is black and white
Spoke from my skull. I dreamed
Romantic facts of musketeers
Foundationed deep, somehow.
Ah, but I was so much older then,
I'm younger than that now.

Girls' faces formed the forward path
From phony jealousy
To memorizing politics
Of ancient history
Flung down by corpse evangelists
Unthought of, though, somehow.
Ah, but I was so much older then,
I'm younger than that now.

A self-ordained professor's tongue
Too serious to fool
Spouted out that liberty
Is just equality in school
"Equality," I spoke the word
As if a wedding vow.
Ah, but I was so much older then,
I'm younger than that now.

In a soldier's stance, I aimed my hand
At the mongrel dogs who teach
Fearing not that I'd become my enemy
In the instant that I preach
My pathway led by confusion boats
Mutiny from stern to bow.
Ah, but I was so much older then,
I'm younger than that now.

Yes, my guard stood hard when abstract threats
Too noble to neglect
Deceived me into thinking
I had something to protect
Good and bad, I define these terms
Quite clear, no doubt, somehow.
Ah, but I was so much older then,
I'm younger than that now.

Or if you prefer something more obscure, try Peter Blegvad. Many of his songs are almost like short stories set to music. The albums "King Strut" and "Just Woke Up" are worth seeking out.

GOLD by Peter Blegvad

Gold would be worthless if it didn’t require
Such heartbreak to seek it, to find it and mine it
Things remain precious as long as they’re rare
If gold could be found lying round everywhere

It’d be the lowliest of metals
Too soft for serious use
Pretty, of course, and warm to the touch
But no longer alluring when you’ve handled so much

Will you come with me through the ice and the snow?
She thought for a minute; then she said, “Let’s go”
I rode behind her, and she rode ahead
And all through that winter, I’d lose her and find her
Our rations ran out, our horses were dead
She forgot what gold was, and I had to remind her

The lowliest of metals
Too soft for serious use
Pretty, of course, and warm to the touch
But no longer alluring when you’ve handled so much

In a prospector’s shack, she lay out of her mind
As the fever raged in her, and the storm raged outside
She said, “Now we are rich!”
I told her the truth -- all the gold we had found could not crown a tooth
She said “These things I know, without being told. We are rich in each other. Now what good is gold?”

It’s the lowliest of metals

Sometimes I dream the world is reversed
I dream that accountants are rarer than poets
That things will get better, they can’t get any worse
That a rich man has nothing but dirt in his purse

And gold is the lowliest of metals
Too soft for serious use
Pretty, of course, and warm to the touch
But no longer alluring when you’ve handled so much

The lowliest of metals
The lowliest of metals

Answer 2

Silent Lucidity by Queensryche

Hush now, don't you cry
Wipe away the teardrop from your eye
You're lying safe in bed
It was all a bad dream
Spinning in your head
Your mind tricked you to feel the pain
Of someone close to you leaving the game of life
So here it is, another chance
Wide awake you face the day
Your dream is over... or has it just begun?

There's a place I like to hide
A doorway that I run through in the night
Relax child, you were there
But only didn't realize it and you were scared
It's a place where you will learn
To face your fears, retrace the years
And ride the whims of your mind
Commanding in another world
Suddenly you hear and see
This magic new dimension

I- will be watching over you
I- am gonna help you see it through
I- will protect you in the night
I- am smiling next to you, in Silent Lucidity

[spoken during solo]
(Visualize your dream)
(Record it in the present tense)
(Put it into a permanent form)
(If you persist in your efforts)
(You can achieve dream control)
(Dream control)
(How's that then, better?)
(Hug me)

If you open your mind for me
You won't rely on open eyes to see
The walls you built within
Come tumbling down, and a new world will begin
Living twice at once you learn
You're safe from the pain in the dream domain
A soul set free to fly
A round trip journey in your head
Master of illusion, can you realize
Your dream's alive, you can be the guide but...

I- will be watching over you
I- am gonna help to see it through
I- will protect you in the night
I- am smiling next to you....

Answer 3

I'd suggest the following:
Iris-Goo Goo Dolls
Funky Town-Shrek 2, or &0's Music.
Sk8er Boi-Avril Lavinge
Can't touch this-MC Hammer
Bad Boy & Everytime We Touch-Cascada
My Heart Will Go On-Titanic Soundtrack/Celine Dione
We're In Heaven-DJ Sammy
Dragostea Din Tei-O-zone [Known as the numa numa song]
Disco Inferno[I luv this song]-The Tramps

Answer 4

I Don't Care

awaking in my bed
with a phone next to my head
time fades but you don't call
do you care for me at all

waiting for a call, what's happening to you
i thought the we were friends

there's something you told me i can't believe
it's so hard to undertand
escaping not easy you're gone away

i am crying you're denying and it breaks my heart
honestly i don't agree so where's the use

i don't care at all
this won't break my heart
tumbling in my thoughts
this will break my heart

wishing it would be true
saying i don't care but i do


(from a well known german rock-band... if u use it plz let me know the reactions !!! )

Answer 5

undying by demon hunter

Ever since the day that I was made I've been deciding the end
And I was made of wood and stone and won't diminish or bend
So when the heavy hand of death is here to take me away
I'll be the solid grip of time, forever holding my stay
Nobody ever made a force that took a beating like me
I call the earth and every scum to come and try to fight me
Cus when I made the choice to live beyond the dirt that we tread
I felt the curse of mortal limit fall before it was said

[Pre-chorus:]
When this season ends

[Chorus:]
One final heart-break
And blinding lights will guide our way
Free us our blind state
They will call us by our name
Undying

Tearing through these days I find
The tolerance to strive and push on
I know what lies beyond this life for me is already won
No one can take away the blood that covers over my fall
Without the blood of perfect life
I know I'm nothing at all
So now I reign forever hallowed in eternity's hand
No man can shake me from the everlasting ground that I stand

[Pre-chorus]

[Chorus]

We are the ones who will still remain when all is laid to waste
We are the ones who, when angels cry, will see them face to face
We are the ones

[Chorus]

Answer 6

LUCY IN THE SKY WITH DIAMONDS
(Lennon & McCartney)

Picture yourself in a boat on a river
With tangerine trees and marmalade skies
Somebody calls you, you answer quite slowly
A girl with kaleidoscope eyes

Cellophane flowers of yellow and green
Towering over your head
Look for the girl with the sun in her eyes
and she's gone

Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds, ah

Follow her down to a bridge by a fountain
Where rocking horse people eat marshmallow pies
Everyone smiles as you drift past the flowers
that grow so incredibly high

Newspaper taxies appear on the shores
Waiting to take you away
Climb in the back with your head in the clouds
and you're gone

Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds, ah

Picture yourself on a train in a station
With plasticine porters with looking glass ties
Suddenly someone is there at the turnstile
The girl with kaleidoscope eyes

Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds, ah
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds, ah

Answer 7

"Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)" By Green Day

Another turning point, a fork stuck in the road
Time grabs you by the wrist, directs you where to go
So make the best of this test, and don't ask why
It's not a question, but a lesson learned in time

It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right.
I hope you had the time of your life.

So take the photographs, and still frames in your mind
Hang it on a shelf in good health and good time
Tattoos of memories and dead skin on trial
For what it's worth it was worth all the while

It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right.
I hope you had the time of your life.

It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right.
I hope you had the time of your life.

It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right.
I hope you had the time of your life.

Answer 8

Hotel California...Eagles

Answer 9

seventy times 7-brand new
where did you go-Ashley Parker Angel
Apology-Ashley parker Angel
daughter-Pearl Jam
Last Kiss-Pearl Jam
wishlist-Pearl Jam
snowflakes-Katy Rose
glow-Katy Rose
teachin myself to dream-Katy Rose
Original skin-Katy Rose
Lemon-Katy Rose
Because I can-Katy Rose
Breakaway-Kelly Clarkson
going under-Evanescence
Bring me to life-Evanescence
everybody’s fool-Evanescence
my Immortal-Evanescence
Tourniquet-Evanescence
taking over me-Evanescence
Hello-Evanescence
I want my life-smile empty soul
with this knife-smile empty soul
No seatbelt-brand new(my favorite song)

Answer 10

How about...

Bob Dylan - Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts


Regards

Answer 11

I had a similar assisgnment a million years ago in high school. I used "Forgiven" by Alanis Morrisette.

If your looking for something more modern.. Uhm...My humps by the BEP. JK!!!!!!!!

Good Luck