Do you remember the first lyrics that really lit up for you?

axisus

I've never been much into lyrics. I rarely pay enough attention to know what a song is about to be honest. Having said that, I just remembered the first time that I really sat up and thought 'wow, those words are amazing'. I was at the grand old age of 17 and Rush's Spirit of radio hit the top 40. I still think that it is a beautifully crafted set of words.

Begin the day
With a friendly voice
A companion, unobtrusive
Plays that song that's so elusive
And the magic music makes your morning mood

Off on your way
Hit the open road
There is magic at your fingers
For the spirit ever lingers
Undemanding contact
In your happy solitude

Invisible airwaves 
Crackle with life 
Bright antennae bristle 
With the energy 
Emotional feedback 
On a timeless wavelength 
Bearing a gift beyond price 
Almost free

All this machinery
Making modern music
Can still be open-hearted
Not so coldly charted
It's really just a question
Of your honesty, yeah your honesty

One likes to believe
In the freedom of music
But glittering prizes
And endless compromises
Shatter the illusion
Of integrity,…

starwarsnosebleed

Hey I was just a skinny lad
Never knew no good from bad
But I knew life before I left my nursery
Left alone with big fat Fanny
She was such a naughty nanny
Heap big woman you made a bad boy out of me
Hey hey!

I've been singing with my band
Across the wire across the land
I seen ev'ry blue eyed floozy on the way
But their beauty and their style
Went kind of smooth after a while
Take me to them dirty ladies every time

Oh won't you take me home tonight?
Oh down beside your red firelight
Oh and you give it all you got
Fat bottomed girls you make the rockin' world go round
Fat bottomed girls you make the rockin' world go round

munckee

I'm not really into lyrics, most vivid lyrical memory was being sixteen and a mate of mine and I decided to change the stereo in his mum's fiat 127.  To test the new stereo he put in a cassette of the byrds and played Hey Mr Spaceman.  When I heard the lyrics

"Woke up this morning, I was feeling quite weird
Had flies in my beard, my toothpaste was smeared"

I was hooked on the byrds for life.  

Later that day the new stereo caught fire while she was driving....

ICBM

Ground Control to Major Tom
Ground Control to Major Tom
Take your protein pills and put your helmet on
Ground Control to Major Tom
Commencing countdown, engines on
Check ignition and may God's love be with you

This is Ground Control to Major Tom
You've really made the grade
And the papers want to know whose shirts you wear
Now it's time to leave the capsule if you dare

This is Major Tom to Ground Control
I'm stepping through the door
And I'm floating in a most peculiar way
And the stars look very different today
For here am I sitting in a tin can
Far above the world
Planet Earth is blue and there's nothing I can do

Though I'm past one hundred thousand miles, I'm feeling very still

And I think my spaceship knows which way to go
Tell my wife I love her very much, she knows
Ground Control to Major Tom
Your circuit's dead, there's something wrong
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Can you

Here am I floating round my tin can
Far above the moon
Planet Earth is blue and there's nothing I can do

equalsql

The Last Chance Texaco by Rickie Lee Jones
Comparing a failed relationship to a broken down car.. utter genius

A long stretch of headlights
Bends into I-9
Tiptoe into truck stops
And sleepy diesel eyes
Volcanoes rumble in the taxi
And glow in the dark
Camels in the driver's seat
A slow, easy mark

But you ran out of gas
Down the road a piece
Then the battery went dead
And now the cable won't reach...

It's your last chance
To check under the hood
Last chance
She ain't soundin' too good,
Your last chance
To trust the man with the star
You've found the last chance Texaco

Well, he tried to be Standard
He tries to be Mobil
He tried living in a world
And in a shell
There was this block-busted blonde
He loved her - free parts and labor
But she broke down and died
And threw all the rods he gave her

But this one ain't fuel-injected
Her plug's disconnected
She gets scared and she stalls
She just needs a man, that's all

It's her last chance
Her timing's all wrong
Her last chance
She can't idle this long
Her last chance
Turn her over and go
Pullin' out of the last chance Texaco
The last chance

zepp76

Shall I tell you about my life
They say I'm a man of the world
I've flown across every tide
And I've seen lots of pretty girls

I guess I've got everything I need
I wouldn't ask for more
And there's no one I'd rather be
But I just wish that I'd never been born

And I need a good woman
To make me feel like a good man should
I don't say I'm a good man
Oh, but I would be if I could

I could tell you about my life
And keep you amused I'm sure
About all the times I've cried
And how I don't want to be sad anymore
And how I wish I was in love.

randella

As a child I always thought Dire Straits' 'Tunnel Of Love' sounded all foreign and romantic.

Then my wife, who's from the north-east, pointed out that the 'Spanish City' is an amusement arcade in Whitley Bay, just outside Newcastle.

JAYJO

First time i got into listening to lyrics was when i got my first Bob Dylan Album. I used to sing along to lots of tracks eg Beatles or any pop track you could think of but i didn't take any notice of the lyrics. If i didn't know the words i would just adlib. With Dylan i went out of my way to get hold of the lyrics. I was lucky my first album was a greatest hits album and this set me on my way to get every other album he made.He is also the only artist i have been to see more than once. Funny thing is i cant understand him half the time. Blood on the Tracks is right up there imo. 

breakstuff

Probably this,from How Soon Is Now by The Smiths,

There's a club if you'd like to go
You could meet somebody who really loves you
So you go and you stand on your own
And you leave on your own
And you go home and you cry
And you want to die

Seemed to sum up my teenage years.Seeing all my mates pull girls so easily while I was too scared to even approach them really tore me apart at the time.Seems daft looking back,as they all struggled to maintain relationships whereas I've been with my wife for twenty five years now (married eighteen).

welshboyo

Eagles - New Kid in Town - the whole song, the sentiment and the harmonies captured me from a young age and still gives me goosebumps now..

There's talk on the street
It sounds so familiar
Great expectations, everybody's watching you
People you meet
They all seem to know you
Even your old friends treat you like you're something new

Johnny come lately, the new kid in town
Everybody loves you, so don't let them down

You look in her eyes
The music begins to play
Hopeless romantics, here we go again
But after awhile
You're lookin' the other way
It's those restless hearts that never mend

Johnny come lately, the new kid in town
Will she still love you when you're not around?

There's so many things you should have told her
But night after night you're willing to hold her
Just hold her
Tears on your shoulder

There's talk on the street
It's there to remind you
It doesn't really matter which side you're on
You're walking away
And they're talking behind you
They will never forget you 'til somebody new comes along

Where you've been lately? There's a new kid in town
Everybody loves him
Don't they?
Now he's holding her, and you're still around

blobb

If a double de-cker bus, crashes into us.....

...and if a ton ton truck, kills the both of us.......

(you know the rest)

kin

She said "Andy, your better than your past"
 Winked at me and drained her glass
 cross-legged on a bar stool like nobody sits anymore
 She said "Andy, your taking me home"
 but i knew she planned to sleep alone
 I'd carry her to bed and sweep up the hair from her floor.

 If i'd fucked her before she got sick, i'd never hear the end of it
 she don't have the spirit for that now
 we just drink our drinks and laugh out loud
 and bitch about the weekend crowd
 and try to ignore the elephant somehow,somehow


 She said "Andy, you crack me up"
 seagram's in a coffee cup
 sharecropper eyes and the hair almost all gone
 when she was drunk, she made cancer jokes
 made up her own doctors notes
 surrounded by her family, i saw that she was dying alone

 But i'd sing her classic country songs and she'd get high and sing along
 she don't have a voice to sing with now
 we burn these joints in effigy and cry about what we used to be
 and try to ignore the elephant somehow, somehow

 I've buried her a thousand times, given up my place in line
 but i don't give a damn about that now
 there's one thing that's real clear to me, no one dies with dignity
 we just try to ignore the elephant somehow
 we just try to ignore the elephant somehow
 we just try to ignore the elephant somehow
 somehow
 somehow

Jason Isbell - Elephant

57Deluxe

#Touch the fullness of her breast
Feel the love of her caress...
She will be your living end#

David Bowie 1973

FatPete

At 11 years old I didn't even understand half of it. Fan ever since.

Nice girls, not one with a defect

Cellophane shrink-wrapped, so correct

Red dogs under illegal legs

She looks so good that he gets down and begs

She is watching the detectives

"Ooh, it's so cute"

She's watching the detectives

When they shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot

They beat him up until the teardrops start

But he can't be wounded 'cause he's got no heart

Long shot at that jumping sign

Invisible shivers running down my spine

Cut to baby taking off her clothes

Close-up of the sign that says "We never close"

You snatch a tune and you match her cigarette

She pulls the eyes out with a face like a magnet

I don't know how much more of this I can take

She's filing her nails while they're dragging the lake

She is watching the detectives

"Oh, he's so cute"

She is watching the detectives

Oh, when they shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot

They beat him up until the teardrops start

But he can't be wounded 'cause he's got no heart

You think you're alone until you realize you're in it

Now baby's here to stay, love is here for a visit

They call it instant justice when it's past the legal limit

Someone's scratching at the window, I wonder, who is it?

The detectives come to check if you belong to the parents

Who are ready to hear the worst about their daughter's disappearance

Though it nearly took a miracle to get you to stay

It only took my little fingers to blow you away

Just like watching the detectives

Don't get cute

Just like watching the detectives

I get so angry when the teardrops start

But he can't be wounded 'cause he's got no heart

Watching the detectives

It's just like watching the detectives

Watching the detectives...

lasermonkey

Scarred
Your back was turned
Curled like an embryo
Take another face
You will be kissed again
I was cold as l mouthed the words
And crawled across the mirror
I wait, await the next breath
Your name like ice into my heart

A shallow grave
A monument to the ruined age
Ice in my eyes
And eyes like ice don't move
Screaming at the moon
Another past time
Your name like ice into my heart


Everything as cold as life
Can no one save you?
Everything as cold as silence
And you never say a word


Your name like ice into my heart
Your name like ice into my heart

Phil_aka_Pip

I've never been much into lyrics either (they strike me as being wasted space between the guitar solos). However on just a few occasions I think that lyrics have been capable of evoking a feeling (whatever that is). It has occurred with The Beatles (mainly their later stuff), James Taylor (mainly his earlier stuff), and Lindisfarne.

fandango

The first lyrics that set my world alight?

Yeah ... The Doors:

"Come on baby, light my fire 
Come on baby, light my fire 
Try to set the night on fire"

blobb

Not sure this counts in the same way, but Jilted John's True Love Stories has some of the finest wordsmithery you will ever hear.

'Fancy mice' and 'Shirley' for me, but they are are lyrical classics. 

Kilgore

Admittedy, I was only 6 but still...


When the sun doesn't shine and it's cloudy and grey
And it's only the beginning of the wombling day
And you've got to do the washing up for Madame Cholet

Remember, remember
Remember, remember
Remember, remember, remember (member-member)

Remember you're a Womble (remember you're a Womble)
Remember you're a Womble (remember you're a Womble)
Remember you're a Womble (remember you're a Womble)
Remember you're a Womble (remember you're a Womble)
Remember-member-memberWhat a Womble, Womble, Womble you are

When it's foggy on the common and you just can't see
And I womble into you and you womble into me
Just remember we're so lucky to be wombling free

Remember, remember
Remember, remember
Remember, remember, remember (member-member)

Remember you're a Womble (remember you're a Womble)
Remember you're a Womble (remember you're a Womble)
Remember you're a Womble (remember you're a Womble)
Remember you're a Womble (remember you're a Womble)
Remember-member-member
What a Womble, Womble, Womble you are

Remember, remember

Remember, remember
Remember, remember, remember (member-member)

Remember you're a Womble (remember you're a Womble)
Remember you're a Womble (remember you're a Womble)
Remember you're a Womble (remember you're a Womble)
Remember you're a Womble (remember you're a Womble)
Remember-member-member
What a Womble, Womble, Womble you are

Remember-member-member
What a Womble, Womble, Womble you are

Remember-member-member
What a Womble, Womble, Womble you are

p90fool

"She stole George's watch just like they always do,
Wahoo wahoo-oo."

skunkwerx

Diamond rings get you nothing but a life long lesson. - P roach.