Best Lyrical One Liners

Music and lyrics, music and lyrics, go together like beers and spirits, ask the local...

Never mind.

I love music, and the kind of music I listen too would be sadly lacking without lyrics. Whether the have a message behind them or they're just said for effect, lyrics are what I love most in music. A good lyric will at the very least stay in your head forever and at best, a good lyric will make you think, feel, react and possibly change the way you see the world.

Here, I've compiled some of my favorite lyrical one liners. These, of all my favorite lyrics, pop out and stay with me the longest, or at least long enough for me to remember them as I compile this list. Some may not be as profound as they are in the context of the music and the rest of the sung material but I think you'll agree that they are quite the statements, ramblings or intoxicated slurs.

"And God's name is smack for some"
- Lane Staley in 'God Smack', Alice In Chains, Dirt (1992)

"You know you can not hide, when the Devil's your only friend"
- Beck in 'Steal My Body Home', Beck, Mellow Gold (1994)

"Cause I could give two shits and a fuck"
- Shaggy 2 dope in 'Hokus Pokus', Insane Clown Posse, Great Milenko (1997)

"You're going to reap just what you sow"
- Lou Reed in 'Perfect Day', Lou Reed, Transformer (1972)

"Could you stop the meat from thinking before I swallow all of it, could you please?"
- Marilyn Manson in 'A Place In The Dirt', Marilyn Manson, Holy Wood (2000)

"We'll lets take this potted plant to the woods and set if free"
- Isaac Brock in 'The Devils Work Day', Modest Mouse, Good News For People Love Bad News (2004)

"We would lay and learn what each others bodies were for"
- Jeff Mangum in 'King Of Carrot Flowers Pt. One', Neutral Milk Hotel, In The Aeroplane Over The Sea (1998)

"So much potential, or so we used to say"
- Trent Reznor in 'The Warning', Nine Inch Nails, Year Zero (2007)

"I'm not like them, but I can pretend"
- Kurt Cobain in "Dumb". Nirvana, In Utero (1992)

"Safe from pain, and truth, and choice"
- James Maynard Keenan in "Counting Bodies Like Sheep To The Rhythm Of The War Drums ", A Perfect Sleep, eMOTIVe (2004)

"I think you're great, you make me hard, your Irish skin, looks Mexican"
- Frank Black & Kim Deal in "Bone Machine", The Pixies, Surfer Rosa (1988)

"Where you goin' city boy?"
- Les Claypool in "My Name Is Mud", Primus, Pork Soda (1993)

"You don't find the way, the way finds you"
- Josh Homme in "Someone's In The Wolf", Queens of the Stone Age, Lullabies to Paralyze (2005)

"I don't care if it hurts, I wanna have control"
- Thom Yorke in "Creep", Radiohead, Pablo Honey (1993)

"Second verse, same as the first"
- Joey Ramone in "Judy Is A Punk", The Ramones, Ramones (1976)

"You can't see California without Marlon Brando's eyes"
- Corey Taylor in "Eyeless", Slipknot, Slipknot (1999)

"In our dreams we're both connected, siamese twins, at the wrist"
- Billy Corgan in "Geek U.S.A.", Smashing Pumpkins, Siamese Dream (1988)

"The words we say never seem to live up to the ones inside our head"
- Chris Cornell in "The Day I Tried To Live", Soundgarden, Superunknown (1994)

"I want to fuck my way to the garden"
- Serj Tankian in "Suite-Pee", System Of A Down, System Of A Down (1998)

"The last thing he said on earth was 'God is great and God is good', and blew them all to kingdom come, upon the road to peace"
- Tom Waits in "Road To Peace", Tom Waits, Orphans (2006)

"I sold my soul to make a record, dipshit, and you bought one"
- James Maynard Keenan in "Hooker With A Penis", Tool, Ænima (1996)

"Hey little boy, whatcha got there? Kind sir, it's a mollusk I found"
- Dean and Gene Ween in "The Mollusk", Ween, The Mollusk (1997)

(Written under the influence of Ween)

Music Causes Violence? (And Why Martin Bashir Is An Asshole)

The Insane Clown Posse is a guilty pleasure of mine, I went to a Job Corps and this is where I was introduced to them. Their fans seemed a bit dorky in their obsession but, all around, were not bad guys and gals. Actually, some of the kindest people I've met in recent years have all been Juggalos. So to my surprise the Job Corps staff, in their infinite wisdom decided to ban all ICP CD's, merchandise and "Paraphernalia" because as we all know violent music, especially those of two men painted as clowns, would not only cause violent behavior in fans but organize them into a massive and covert crime syndicate that every High School in the America fears.

"Its the question they've been asking since day one [does music cause violence?]" said Violent J to Martin Bashir, at this point Bashir, the guy who did the infamous Michael Jackson interview a few years back ("I am peter pan") has been trying to connect the music of Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope to the violent actions of a tiny minority of their fan base for about 20 minutes. Im glad ICP had the presence of mind to record the interview for themselves, the interview as a whole reeked on Bashir's part of intent to run off with the footage and cut the shit out of it to make ICP seem like the ringleaders of the crime empire middle America wants them to be, or at the very least stupid.

That would be just perfect, right? If it turned out that ICP really were the reason kids smoke pot, drink on the weekends, have premarital sex and fight, steal and commit crime? If Marilyn Manson really was the reason two teenagers killed 13 people at their high school then themselves? If the Beatles really were the reason Charlie Manson had a bunch of brainwashed kids murder several people?

Something about the American way of thinking makes us blame. As a knee jerk reaction Americans see teenagers committing crime, they don't pay attention to the school they go to, their grades, their home life or dozens of other sociological explanations: they pay attention to the t-shirt the kid is wearing.

It seems Americans can be short sighted and stupid when it comes to these things. Take Columbine for example: we have two teenagers, two painfully average kids, who after an early morning bowling session go to school and kill a whole bunch of people. Oh, my! how could this be? was it because they wore trench coats? was it because they may or may not of been fans of Marilyn Manson? No, you Ignorant fuck, where do you think you are? The fifties? Elvis Presley caused as big of a shit storm back in the day then Marilyn Manson ever did in the 90's. Maybe it was the fact that these kids had been chronically bullied? on top of severe undiagnosed personality disorders? on top of the fact that their fucking parents weren't paying any attention? No, that would mean personal accountability of the community that let it happen. Didn't reach out to these kids. Didn't try and help them.

Now, that might have struck you as mightily insensitive. No one deserves a mass murder in their home town. But really, do we honestly believe we can can blame music for all the shitty things about our society? Martin Bashir would have you believe so. But then again, he's just selling ad space.

"Raise your kids better or I’ll be raising them for you."
- Marilyn Manson

You Tube video of the ICP interview

(Written under the influence of Soundgarden and Nine Inch Nails)