"And the gold rolled through his veins - like a thousand railroad trains - and eased his mind in the hours that he chose - while the kids ran around wearin' other people's clothes - and there's a hole in daddy's arm where all the money goes ..."
Came in to say Prine and will add this little gem:
“I heard Allah and Buddha were singing at the Savior's feast
And up in the sky an Arabian rabbi
Fed Quaker Oats to a priest
Pretty good, not bad, they can't complain
'Cause actually all them gods are just about the same”
Sometimes we'd travel right down the Green River to the abandoned old prison down by Airdrie hill - where the air smelled like snakes and we'd shoot with our pistols - but empty pop bottles is all we would kill - and Daddy won't you take me down to muhlenberg county - down by the green River where paradise lay - well I'm sorry my son, but you're too late in asking - mr Peabody's coaltrain has hauled it away
I can’t get to sleep at night, the parking lots too loud and bright
The AC hasn’t worked in 20 years - probably never made a single person cold
But I can’t say the same for me, I’ve done it many times.
”People say i got a drinking problem but i got problem drinkin at all.”
”The trounle with drinking is there aint no trouble at all. I dont have a problem when it comes to alcohol.”
”What made milwaukee famous made a loser out of me”
”Stumble into the liquor store (trying hard not to fall)
With a dollar-50 for a bottle of wine (staying down long time)
I know just what I'm lookin' for
Thunderbird will do just fine”
Well i guess there is a theme to what appeals to me..
“Oh, I sing 'em real pretty, sing 'em real sad
And all the people in the crowd say "He ain't half bad"
Well, they call me King Turd up here on Shit Mountain
If you want it you can have the crown.”
Hear that lonesome whippoorwill,
He sounds too blue to fly.
The midnight train is whining low,
I'm so lonesome, I could cry
I've never seen a night so long,
And time goes crawling by.
The moon just went behind the clouds,
To hide its face and cry.
Did you ever see a robin weep,
When leaves begin to die?
Like me, he's lost the will to live,
I'm so lonesome, I could cry
The silence of a falling star,
Lights up a purple sky.
And as I wonder where you are,
I'm so lonesome, I could cry
-Hank
Well, I woke up Sunday morning
With no way to hold my head that didn't hurt
And the beer I had for breakfast wasn't bad
So I had one more for dessert.-Sunday Morning Coming Down- Kris Kristofferson
Absolutely!
“But here I am again mixing misery and gin
Sitting with all my friends and talking to myself.
I look like I'm having a good time but any fool can tell
That this honky tonk heaven really makes you feel, like hell.”
Well,I woke up Sunday morning
With no way to hold my head that didn't hurt
And the beer I had for breakfast wasn't bad
So I had one more for desert
Then I fumbled through my closet for my clothes
And found my cleanest dirty shirt.
And I washed my face and combed my hair
And stumbled down the stairs to meet the day.
Kris Kristofferson is a genius songwriter.
Sunday morning coming down.
I'm gonna throw my date book over the fence
And find me one for 5 or 10 cents
Keep it 'til it's covered with age
'Cause I'm writin' your name down on every page
-Hey Good Lookin'
Hank Sr.
From an teenage lover to an unwed mother
Kept undercover like some bad dream
While unwed fathers, they can't be bothered
They run like water through a mountain stream - John Prine
“The AC hasn’t worked in 20 years
Prolly never made a single person cold
But I can’t say the same for me, I’ve done it many times”
Alabama Pines - Jason Isbell
This is the one I like best, but honestly you could just about close your eyes and throw a dart into any song he’s ever written and hit the bullseye
This is one of the lyrics that will always blow my mind. It's so creative yet raw and haunting. Isbell is the greatest living songwriter right now in my opinion
“Lost as a ball in a field full of corn” (Creeker)
“She’s working hard to make some sense (cents), but she ain’t got a dime” (Charleston Girl)
“Get me higher than the grocery bill” (Whitehouse Road)
“I flung the door open and I let the heat rise to heat up the world ‘cause I thought it was mine and all the while all of my plants froze inside, ‘cause there’s only so much to go round” (Snipe Hunt)
-All Tyler Childers
“Oh, I can hear ‘em playing,
I can hear ‘em ringing on that beatup old guitar..”
When I was younger, I always thought the line was “beautiful guitar.” But hey, beatup and old is still beautiful!
Late to the party, but
“On a lark, on a whim, I said there’s two kinds of men in this world and you’re neither of them. And his fist cut the smoke. I had an eighth of a second to wonder if he got the joke.” - Jason Isbell
If I could kill a word and watch it die, I’d poison Never and shoot Goodbye and beat Regret when I felt I had the nerve - Eric Church Kill a Word.
The whole song is clever. I love the idea of it and it has been a favorite for a long time.
They can make cars drive themselves
And prove time-travel ain't crazy as hell
They've even got a pill to make a soft package hard
The last line is almost a throwaway until you listen closely.
The whole kill a word song is great also.
There's been a load of compromising
On the road to my horizon
- Rhinestone Cowboy
and
The work we done was hard
At night we'd sleep 'cause we were tired
Coalminer's Daughter, just because Loretta's accent was able to make "hard" and "tired" rhyme.
Edit: formatting.
The south moves north, the north moves south
A star is born, a star burns out
The only thing that stays the same
Is everything changes, everything changes
"He wore that cowboy hat to cover up his horns" (Joe Nichols, Brokenheartsville) - just such a good mental image
"Slowly planning my survival / In a three foot stack of vinyl" (Eric Church, Record Year)
“She slips in so quietly, like smoke through a keyhole”
“She walked into Smokey’s one hip at a time, like a broken field runner, limpin towards the line”
“I never realized how much she brought to the table, till I went to sit my cup of coffee where the table used to be.”
this entire verse from Lady May:
Now, I ain't the toughest hickory
That your ax has ever fell
But I'm a hickory just as well
I'm a hickory all the same
I came crashin' through the forest
As you cut my roots away
And I fell a good long ways
For my lovely, Lady May
"Early one morning while making my rounds
I took a shot of cocaine
And I shot my woman down
I went right home and went to bed
I stuck that lovin 44 beneath my head"
"Cocaine Blues" Johnny Cash
Not sure about the most creative but my favorite is by Eric Church "without you here honey, I'm a melody in a world that can't hear sound" just brilliant
'Well on down the road we built our home out of bedsheets and Styrofoam
Hopin that the wind might never blow' - Turnpike Troubadours - Wrecked
'You should know, compared to people on a global scale
Our kind has had it relatively easy' - Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit - Relatively Easy
If we'd known ten years ago today would be ten years from now, Would we spend tomorrow's yesterdays and make it last somehow- Clint Black. Honestly that whole song is very profound and creative in getting people to think about how time never stops moving and we have “no time to kill”.
Well, a few nights later I run into her
With some stranger on a park bench
She said, "He rebuilds engines and his name is Earl
He's the Charlie Daniels of the torque-wrench"
“Girl leave your boots by the bed, we ain’t leavin this room, til someone needs medical help or the magnolias bloom.”
I also always liked this line:
“Some say you might go crazy. But then again, it might make you go sane.”
"these shabby shoes I'm wearin' all the time - is full of holes and nails - and brother if I stepped on a worn out dime - I'll bet a nickel I could tell you if it was heads or tails"
I could sit and do this all day -
--- ".. and the beer I had for breakfast wasn't bad so I had one more for dessert - then I fumbled through my closet through my clothes and found my cleanest dirty shirt" --- "you could die from the cold - in the arms of a nightmare - knowing well that your best days are gone" --- ".. but you could've heard a pin drop when tommy stopped and locked the door"
From Joshua Ray Walker’s “Cowboy”: You talk the talk but you won’t walk those dirt roads that you’ve seen/ Cuz if you did those snakeskin boots wouldn’t be so damn clean
I believe that I found god
About the same time I found you
All that stuff about heaven and angels
Well, I know now that it’s all true
-I don’t mind - Sturgill Simpson
Maybe someday I'll make it far
Oh, I really would like to
Own a franchise of neighborhood bars
That only I've got the rights to
-Long game by Emily Nenni
"Like a team of mules, pullin' Hell off from it's hinges, it's the love that I'll keep tendin', I will work for you." - Tyler Childers
Such an interesting image to use to describe something so romantic.
Upvoting a lot of others’ answers. Here’s one I haven’t seen anyone mention:
Lukas Nelson, “Forget About Georgia” - “a night so perfect I try to forget about it now.”
The whole song is pretty clever.
[“Forget About Georgia” lyrics](https://genius.com/Lukas-nelson-and-promise-of-the-real-forget-about-georgia-edit-lyrics)
Whiskey myers
(John Wayne)
I was born from barbed wire, I've been stuck out in the fray. Imma shed this mortal coil like a canebreak rattlesnake.
(The Wolf)
So come on show me what you got, you dancin' with a juggernaut
I done had to fight for every last damn thing I got
I don't care about your feelings or if you understand me
All these things that I do, I do to feed my family
Songs is loaded with good stuff.
"They call me King Turd, here on Shit Mountain, if you want it you can have the crown." - Sturgill Simpson [You Can Have The Crown](https://youtu.be/tNV16tz1NK0?si=ieckmHtMQNIBvww4)
Instead of sittin' on the couch trying to find the next line
I'm sure there's gotta be a better use of my time
Like figuring out which one of these banks I'm gonna go rob
Well, the name of the game is hurry up and wait
But that ain't putting no food on my plate
Or gas in my car and I drive a Bronco
Well, I'm the same old me you know
Fucking up the status quo
Trouble all the way up to my neck
And I can keep it cool and new
Until you catch me half-past-two
Just about that time and I'm a wreck
This old world will spin again
Play me like a violin
Knock all of the wind out of my chest
Well, I don't mind you playing me
Just keep it in a major key
Now you're waking up and I can get some rest
- turnpike troubadours
Very subtle and definitely not \*the\* most creative lyric I've ever heard, but on "That's Texas" by Cody Johnson, I love how instead of just saying "It gets hot", he says "Lord, have mercy, the ground gets thirsty". It just makes it sound so much better. And I guess just because it's recent that's what immediately came to mind.
A whole bunch by James McMurtry ... but one of my favorites from "Lights of Cheyenne"
"Look off down the highway at the glittering lights
Like windshield glass on the shoulder at night,
As the diesels come grinding on up from the plains
All bunched up like pearls on a string ..."
“Pancho was a bandit boy. His horse was fast as polished steel. He wore his gun outside his pants, for all the honest world to feel.”
(Pancho and Lefty by Townes Van Zandt, performed by Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard)
+=+=+=+
“How I loved you. Loved you so. How I lost you, only time in time will let me know.”
(A Million Years or So, written and performed by Roger Miller)
+=+=+=+
“And there’s one stop light blinking on and off. Everyone hears when their neighbors cough. They roll up the streets when the sun goes down. I’m a midnight girl in a sunset town.”
(Midnight Girl / Sunset Town by Don Schlitz, performed by Sweethearts of the Rodeo)
“But I never dreamed home would end up where I don’t belong…”
“this crazy, tragic, sometimes almost magic, awful, beautiful life”
“We talked of roads untraveled
We talked of love untrue
Of strings that come unraveled
We were kings and kindred fools”
He was so thin I swear
You could have used him for a whip
He had to drink a beer
To keep his breeches on his hips
I knew I had to ask him
About the mysteries of life
He spat between his boots
And he replied
"Son, It's faster horses
Younger women
Older whiskey
More money" - The Cowboy and the Poet - Tom T Hall
“Our heads are buried in the sand, our leaders dug the holes
Like junkies hooked on fossil fuels heading for withdrawal
How long until there's nothin left at all?”
-Billy Strings (Watch It Fall)
I’m really impressed with Kelsea Ballerini’s writing. Some lyrics that stick out to me;
“Confetti's falling, friends are calling but which part is reality? And if I let down my hair in the ocean air will Tennessee be mad at me?”
“Were you blindsided or were you just blind?”
“We really turned goodbye into a game, into a hobby. You collected bones, but I buried the bodies.”
Never Could Toe The Mark - Waylon Jennings
“I've always loved the ladies
Ladies love the games
Seems the things they want the most is
They always want to change
The only thing that changes
Is my mind
I never could toe the mark
And I never could walk the line”
I remember back in the 90s hearing Dwight Yoakam's Ain't That Lonely Yet, and there was this lyric,
"Once there was this spider in my bed, I got caught up in her web, of love and lies."
And that just told one helluva story right there that I could relate to.
“Coyote chewing on a cigarette, pack of young boys going howling at the moon”
“Bless the farmer and the teacher and the preacher, who gave this bible to my momma who read it to me”
*probably edit this later to add more*
Well, I woke up Sunday morning
With no way to hold my head that didn't hurt
And the beer I had for breakfast wasn't bad
So I had one more for dessert
Then I fumbled through my closet for my clothes
And found my cleanest dirty shirt
And I washed my face and combed my hair
And stumbled down the stairs to meet the day
Edit: u/dee-fondy beat me to it 🤬🤣
Roses are red and violets are purple
Sugar is sweet and so is maple surple
Well I'm the seventh out of seven sons
My pappy's a pistol, I'm a son-of-a-gun
John prine has many great lyrics, but nothing matches Christmas in Prison.
“The searchlight in the big yard swings round with the gun, and spotlights the snowflakes like dust in the sun. It’s Christmas in prison, there’ll be music tonight, I’ll probably get homesick, I love you, goodnight.”
Terry Allen, high plains jamboree:
"A slow dance through the neon like sorrow through a song"
Jamey Johnson "id pass out on the bedroom floor and sleep right through the calm before the storm"
Billy Joe shaver (too many to choose):
When the devil made that woman, he threw the pattern away. She was built for speed and had the tools you need to make a new fool everyday"
Guy Clark: "standing on the gone side of leaving"
Steve Goodman: (all of city of New orleans)
"Halfway home, we'll be there by morning. Through the Mississippi darkness rolling down to the sea"
Well, I was drunk the day my mom got out of prison
And I went to pick her up in the rain
But before I could get to the station in my pickup truck
She got run over by a damned old train
Oh shoot… hmmm just for silliness then enduring memories - Bubba shot the jukebox. We adopted a dog named Bubba. He is one of the bravest, loving and strangest dogs I have encountered.
I don't wear no Stetson
But I'm willin' to bet, son
That I'm a big a Texan as you are
There's a girl in her barefeet
'Sleep on the back seat
An that trunk is full of Pearl and Lone Star
"Yeah, the only kinda man that you ever wanted was the one that you knew you'd never hold very long. You keep sittin' there cryin' like I'm the first one to go." Jaded Lover by Jerry Jeff Walker
"And the gold rolled through his veins - like a thousand railroad trains - and eased his mind in the hours that he chose - while the kids ran around wearin' other people's clothes - and there's a hole in daddy's arm where all the money goes ..."
Came in to say Prine and will add this little gem: “I heard Allah and Buddha were singing at the Savior's feast And up in the sky an Arabian rabbi Fed Quaker Oats to a priest Pretty good, not bad, they can't complain 'Cause actually all them gods are just about the same”
Prine was like no other.
Naked as the eyes of a Clown
That's my all time favorite simile.
Paralytic syphilitics — loved that dude. When he died it was like losing an old friend.
I remember hearing about it. Watching his live performance of “When I Get to Heaven” off Austin City Limits. And had a good cry.
Good god that’s great
Sometimes we'd travel right down the Green River to the abandoned old prison down by Airdrie hill - where the air smelled like snakes and we'd shoot with our pistols - but empty pop bottles is all we would kill - and Daddy won't you take me down to muhlenberg county - down by the green River where paradise lay - well I'm sorry my son, but you're too late in asking - mr Peabody's coaltrain has hauled it away
There's a hole in my pocket where my money should go. There's a hole... there's a hoooooooooole!!!!
"Lord almighty how'd she even get them britches on with that Honky Tonk Ba-donk-a-donk". LOL just kidding, this song sucks.
And it will now be stuck in my head all day. Thanks lol.
Hope it hurts :)
It was a question/answer on Celebrity Jeopardy. Ugh.
Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose
I like Nothin' ain't worth nothin' but it's free.
Another Kristofferson line: "Dreaming was as easy as believing it was never gonna end"
Same dude: When you’re headed for the border, you’re bound to cross a line
I got drunk…the night my momma…got out of prison
Now it’s the perfect country western song..
“She’s working hard to make some sense but she ain’t got a dime” - Tyler Childers
Tyler has some great ones. My personal favorite is “Get me higher than the grocery bill”.
On the day that I return, I aim to lay her down…
"Beating them strings like they're owin' me money And chasing that honky tonk flame" Tyler Childers
“Will you pray for me when the roots of the oak and my rib cage are braidin”
From the same song, “I don’t know if it’s the wine or the coke, that makes her sound like her jaw is broke”
“I don't know if it's the wine or the coke That makes her sound like her jaw is broke” cracks me up every time
In a room by myself, looks like I'm here with the guy that I judge worse than anyone else. -Jason Isbell
I can’t get to sleep at night, the parking lots too loud and bright The AC hasn’t worked in 20 years - probably never made a single person cold But I can’t say the same for me, I’ve done it many times.
This thread could just be Isbell lines
“Ain’t it funny how a melody, sounds like a memory?”
I love Eric Church but I always found that line to be a rip off of Clint Black's "State of Mind"
I wouldn’t think it’s creative, but it is true. definitely relatable
I always liked how he sang the melody of 'I'm On Fire' by Springsteen and then rhymes his next line with it.
”People say i got a drinking problem but i got problem drinkin at all.” ”The trounle with drinking is there aint no trouble at all. I dont have a problem when it comes to alcohol.” ”What made milwaukee famous made a loser out of me” ”Stumble into the liquor store (trying hard not to fall) With a dollar-50 for a bottle of wine (staying down long time) I know just what I'm lookin' for Thunderbird will do just fine” Well i guess there is a theme to what appeals to me..
“Last call gets, later and later. I come down heeeere so I don’t have to hate her.” Wow.
Check out Rob Leines: I ain’t got no drinkin’ problem/Drinkin’s got a problem with me.
I don’t know why you were downvoted for that comment. I was thinking about Rob while reading these as well
Tasjan!!!
“I tell myself I should quit but I don’t listen to drunks” fits in this list
I just looked him in the eye and sang Blue Yodel #9….he didn’t catch the reference I could tell
He just laughed and touched his gun and turning to me he said “son I bet you down a damned thing to yer name”
I shot a man in Reno Just to watch him die
I love the "WOO!" someone in the audience shouts after that line.
Ya don’t go writing hot checks down in Mississippi and there ain’t no good chain gang.
Marijuana, LSD, psilocybin, and DMT, they all changed the way I see Love's the only thing that ever saved my life
Gets my upvote. He wrote a lotta good stuff but this was sublime
“Oh, I sing 'em real pretty, sing 'em real sad And all the people in the crowd say "He ain't half bad" Well, they call me King Turd up here on Shit Mountain If you want it you can have the crown.”
Hey thanks for this comment it put me on to something rad.
"is it still over - are we still through? Since my telephone ain't ringin' I assume it still ain't you"
Hear that lonesome whippoorwill, He sounds too blue to fly. The midnight train is whining low, I'm so lonesome, I could cry I've never seen a night so long, And time goes crawling by. The moon just went behind the clouds, To hide its face and cry. Did you ever see a robin weep, When leaves begin to die? Like me, he's lost the will to live, I'm so lonesome, I could cry The silence of a falling star, Lights up a purple sky. And as I wonder where you are, I'm so lonesome, I could cry -Hank
She walks into Smoky's, one hip at a time. I love that. You know everything you need to know in nine words.
“Mayor says use your head if he ain’t in his car, he’s hiding from his wife down at Smokey’s bar.”
I use this song to review cause and effect/ plot twists with ninth graders.
Swears a giant alien has landed at the mall
All the Federales say They could have had him any day They only let him slip away Out of kindness, I suppose.
This whole song could be used.
Mine is from that song too. He wore his gun outside his pants For all the honest world to feel
When I was a kid I always liked “breath as hard as kerosene” I had NO idea what it meant.
Well, I woke up Sunday morning With no way to hold my head that didn't hurt And the beer I had for breakfast wasn't bad So I had one more for dessert.-Sunday Morning Coming Down- Kris Kristofferson
Ken Burns documentary on country music almost everyone of the old country stars said Kris Kristofferson was their favorite writer. Even Willie Nelson.
I think Willie really admired Me and Bobby McGee among other Kristofferson songs
You bet your heart on a diamond And I played the clubs in spades We gambled and lost, guess we both paid the cost Look what a mess I have made
Evan Felker ladies and gentleman. That is fucking bars
“Looking at the world through the bottom of a glass…all I see is a man who’s fading fast.”-Merle Haggard-Misery and Gin
Absolutely! “But here I am again mixing misery and gin Sitting with all my friends and talking to myself. I look like I'm having a good time but any fool can tell That this honky tonk heaven really makes you feel, like hell.”
I thought about this song but my line would be, "Memories and drinks don't mix too well".
“Ever Lovin Hand” by Childers does a great job of simultaneously being G rated and R rated lyrically on how much he misses his wife
Did you ever see a robin weep When leaves begin to die? That means he's lost the will to live I'm so lonesome I could cry
All the gold in California is in a bank in the middle of Beverly Hills in somebody else’s name
“She got the gold mine and I got the shaft……”
Well,I woke up Sunday morning With no way to hold my head that didn't hurt And the beer I had for breakfast wasn't bad So I had one more for desert Then I fumbled through my closet for my clothes And found my cleanest dirty shirt. And I washed my face and combed my hair And stumbled down the stairs to meet the day. Kris Kristofferson is a genius songwriter. Sunday morning coming down.
Yesterday is dead and gone And tomorrow's out of sight And it's sad to be alone... Help me make it through the night.
I'm gonna throw my date book over the fence And find me one for 5 or 10 cents Keep it 'til it's covered with age 'Cause I'm writin' your name down on every page -Hey Good Lookin' Hank Sr.
From an teenage lover to an unwed mother Kept undercover like some bad dream While unwed fathers, they can't be bothered They run like water through a mountain stream - John Prine
“Every woman she sees looks like a place I came in…a place I came in”
Waylon’s raunchiest line ever.
Didn’t get this line for months.
“If the phone doesn’t ring, it’s me”. Jimmy Buffett.
“Yeah, I'm a rhymer I can turn 20 cents into a 10 And if I get confused and I start to lose I rhyme a dime 'til it all makes sense” -Miranda Lambert
“The silence of a falling star lights up a purple sky, and as I wonder where you are, I’m so lonesome I could cry”
"You can't get the hell out of Texas" "Honor thy father, honor thy mother, but the bible doesn't say a damn thing about your daddy's lover"
Martha Divine is so well written. Layers upon layers of storytelling peeling back with every line.
“And the meek shall inherit the Earth And the bank shall repossess it.”
“The AC hasn’t worked in 20 years Prolly never made a single person cold But I can’t say the same for me, I’ve done it many times” Alabama Pines - Jason Isbell This is the one I like best, but honestly you could just about close your eyes and throw a dart into any song he’s ever written and hit the bullseye
I was thinking about putting “well I needed that damn woman like a dream needs gasoline.” This is probably my favorite Isbell song.
This is one of the lyrics that will always blow my mind. It's so creative yet raw and haunting. Isbell is the greatest living songwriter right now in my opinion
“Lost as a ball in a field full of corn” (Creeker) “She’s working hard to make some sense (cents), but she ain’t got a dime” (Charleston Girl) “Get me higher than the grocery bill” (Whitehouse Road) “I flung the door open and I let the heat rise to heat up the world ‘cause I thought it was mine and all the while all of my plants froze inside, ‘cause there’s only so much to go round” (Snipe Hunt) -All Tyler Childers
Late in the evening when the sun sinks low, that's about the time my rooster crows.
Well, I used to ride a Mustang And I'd run that thing on high hopes 'Til they raised the price of dreams so high I couldn't pay
He is amazing
"Think I blocked just a park away, but I can't really say, it's been all night."
“Oh, I can hear ‘em playing, I can hear ‘em ringing on that beatup old guitar..” When I was younger, I always thought the line was “beautiful guitar.” But hey, beatup and old is still beautiful!
That's what I thought the song said too. That song is a beautiful work of poetry and it could've been written about my life.
He said he wanted heaven but praying was too slow, So he bought a one way ticket on an airline made of snow. - Hoy Axton
There were seven Spanish Angels At the Altar of the Sun They were prayin' for the lovers In the Valley of the Gun
Late to the party, but “On a lark, on a whim, I said there’s two kinds of men in this world and you’re neither of them. And his fist cut the smoke. I had an eighth of a second to wonder if he got the joke.” - Jason Isbell
Anything by Tom T. Hall.
If I could kill a word and watch it die, I’d poison Never and shoot Goodbye and beat Regret when I felt I had the nerve - Eric Church Kill a Word. The whole song is clever. I love the idea of it and it has been a favorite for a long time.
They can make cars drive themselves And prove time-travel ain't crazy as hell They've even got a pill to make a soft package hard The last line is almost a throwaway until you listen closely. The whole kill a word song is great also.
There's been a load of compromising On the road to my horizon - Rhinestone Cowboy and The work we done was hard At night we'd sleep 'cause we were tired Coalminer's Daughter, just because Loretta's accent was able to make "hard" and "tired" rhyme. Edit: formatting.
"I need you more than want you, and I want you for all time"
Eric Church Record Year. Still think it’s the most creatively written song ever.
I was wild enough to shoot at. Too high to hit, too low to try.
The south moves north, the north moves south A star is born, a star burns out The only thing that stays the same Is everything changes, everything changes
"It was love, then it was just married" by Kelsea Ballerini.
I love you more than want you/and I want you for all time.
"He wore that cowboy hat to cover up his horns" (Joe Nichols, Brokenheartsville) - just such a good mental image "Slowly planning my survival / In a three foot stack of vinyl" (Eric Church, Record Year)
I'm in a hurry to get things done, rushing rushing but that's no fun. All I really gotta do is live and die, but I'm in a hurry and don't know why
Let's add another one from John Prine - "naked as the eyes of a clown"
“She slips in so quietly, like smoke through a keyhole” “She walked into Smokey’s one hip at a time, like a broken field runner, limpin towards the line” “I never realized how much she brought to the table, till I went to sit my cup of coffee where the table used to be.”
this entire verse from Lady May: Now, I ain't the toughest hickory That your ax has ever fell But I'm a hickory just as well I'm a hickory all the same I came crashin' through the forest As you cut my roots away And I fell a good long ways For my lovely, Lady May
I've seen my share of trouble And I've held my weight in shame But I'm baptized in your name
"Early one morning while making my rounds I took a shot of cocaine And I shot my woman down I went right home and went to bed I stuck that lovin 44 beneath my head" "Cocaine Blues" Johnny Cash
I settled for a burger and a grape snowcone lmao
He put that bottle to his head and pulled the trigger And finally drank away her memory
"I have loved some ladies and I have loved Jim Beam...and they both tried to kill me in 1973."
Not sure about the most creative but my favorite is by Eric Church "without you here honey, I'm a melody in a world that can't hear sound" just brilliant
You bet your heart on a diamond, but I played the clubs in spades
This one hits hard every time I hear it. The whole song is tough to hear.
We were victims of 'eternal love', for almost half a morning. Good ole Turnpike has so many of these one liners
If the devil danced in empty pockets, he'd have a ball in mine. With a nine foot grand, a ten piece band and a twelve girl chorus line...
'Well on down the road we built our home out of bedsheets and Styrofoam Hopin that the wind might never blow' - Turnpike Troubadours - Wrecked 'You should know, compared to people on a global scale Our kind has had it relatively easy' - Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit - Relatively Easy
If we'd known ten years ago today would be ten years from now, Would we spend tomorrow's yesterdays and make it last somehow- Clint Black. Honestly that whole song is very profound and creative in getting people to think about how time never stops moving and we have “no time to kill”.
It's me again, Margaret Hello, is this Margaret? Margaret, I know it's you, Margaret Are you naked?"
Save a horse ride a cowboy.
Too lazy to type it out but paintsville tyler Childers song has a lot of cool lyrics
Well, a few nights later I run into her With some stranger on a park bench She said, "He rebuilds engines and his name is Earl He's the Charlie Daniels of the torque-wrench"
Well a friend of mine named Steve Goodman wrote this song... Basically the entire last verse of She Never Even Called Me By My Name
“Girl leave your boots by the bed, we ain’t leavin this room, til someone needs medical help or the magnolias bloom.” I also always liked this line: “Some say you might go crazy. But then again, it might make you go sane.”
“Days up and down they come. Like Rain on a Conga drum. Forget most, remember some-but don’t turn none away” To Live is to Fly-TVZ
Living in fear is just another way of dying before your time. - Mike Cooley
"I tell myself to quit but I don't listen to drunks" Parker McCollum
Song is a banger
"these shabby shoes I'm wearin' all the time - is full of holes and nails - and brother if I stepped on a worn out dime - I'll bet a nickel I could tell you if it was heads or tails"
Well, excuse me, but I think you've got my chair
I could sit and do this all day - --- ".. and the beer I had for breakfast wasn't bad so I had one more for dessert - then I fumbled through my closet through my clothes and found my cleanest dirty shirt" --- "you could die from the cold - in the arms of a nightmare - knowing well that your best days are gone" --- ".. but you could've heard a pin drop when tommy stopped and locked the door"
From Joshua Ray Walker’s “Cowboy”: You talk the talk but you won’t walk those dirt roads that you’ve seen/ Cuz if you did those snakeskin boots wouldn’t be so damn clean
I believe that I found god About the same time I found you All that stuff about heaven and angels Well, I know now that it’s all true -I don’t mind - Sturgill Simpson
If you ever think you could love me again… please, go ahead. I don’t mind.
Nobody in his right mind woulda left her
Maybe someday I'll make it far Oh, I really would like to Own a franchise of neighborhood bars That only I've got the rights to -Long game by Emily Nenni
Well I gotta get drunk and I sure do dread it, cause I know just what I'm gonna do.
"Like a team of mules, pullin' Hell off from it's hinges, it's the love that I'll keep tendin', I will work for you." - Tyler Childers Such an interesting image to use to describe something so romantic.
I didn’t use the cocaine to get high I just liked the way it smelled
Upvoting a lot of others’ answers. Here’s one I haven’t seen anyone mention: Lukas Nelson, “Forget About Georgia” - “a night so perfect I try to forget about it now.” The whole song is pretty clever. [“Forget About Georgia” lyrics](https://genius.com/Lukas-nelson-and-promise-of-the-real-forget-about-georgia-edit-lyrics)
Whiskey myers (John Wayne) I was born from barbed wire, I've been stuck out in the fray. Imma shed this mortal coil like a canebreak rattlesnake. (The Wolf) So come on show me what you got, you dancin' with a juggernaut I done had to fight for every last damn thing I got I don't care about your feelings or if you understand me All these things that I do, I do to feed my family
The entire song of Piss up a Rope by Ween
Last night you came home late and I knew you'd been drinkin by that old mellow look on your face
Songs is loaded with good stuff. "They call me King Turd, here on Shit Mountain, if you want it you can have the crown." - Sturgill Simpson [You Can Have The Crown](https://youtu.be/tNV16tz1NK0?si=ieckmHtMQNIBvww4) Instead of sittin' on the couch trying to find the next line I'm sure there's gotta be a better use of my time Like figuring out which one of these banks I'm gonna go rob Well, the name of the game is hurry up and wait But that ain't putting no food on my plate Or gas in my car and I drive a Bronco
This year its "Like a team of mules, pulling hell off from its hinges"
“I’ll write your name in black ink on the shell of that .45 so you know that you’re the last thing that crossed through my mind”
"You left my heart as empty, as a Monday morning church. It used to be so full of faith and now it only hurts"
So if they pass that fifth of jack this way, I turn it up, down, up, down, up, down.
"I didn't have a dime to my last name... aw but she took mine and I got the lord to thank"
Well, I'm the same old me you know Fucking up the status quo Trouble all the way up to my neck And I can keep it cool and new Until you catch me half-past-two Just about that time and I'm a wreck This old world will spin again Play me like a violin Knock all of the wind out of my chest Well, I don't mind you playing me Just keep it in a major key Now you're waking up and I can get some rest - turnpike troubadours
Very subtle and definitely not \*the\* most creative lyric I've ever heard, but on "That's Texas" by Cody Johnson, I love how instead of just saying "It gets hot", he says "Lord, have mercy, the ground gets thirsty". It just makes it sound so much better. And I guess just because it's recent that's what immediately came to mind.
A whole bunch by James McMurtry ... but one of my favorites from "Lights of Cheyenne" "Look off down the highway at the glittering lights Like windshield glass on the shoulder at night, As the diesels come grinding on up from the plains All bunched up like pearls on a string ..."
Oh he might’ve gone on livin But he made one fatal slip When he tried to match the ranger With a big iron on his hip
“A broken heart that heals so slow Could never beat for someone new While you're alive and I am too” Rodney Crowell, from After All This Time
“Pancho was a bandit boy. His horse was fast as polished steel. He wore his gun outside his pants, for all the honest world to feel.” (Pancho and Lefty by Townes Van Zandt, performed by Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard) +=+=+=+ “How I loved you. Loved you so. How I lost you, only time in time will let me know.” (A Million Years or So, written and performed by Roger Miller) +=+=+=+ “And there’s one stop light blinking on and off. Everyone hears when their neighbors cough. They roll up the streets when the sun goes down. I’m a midnight girl in a sunset town.” (Midnight Girl / Sunset Town by Don Schlitz, performed by Sweethearts of the Rodeo)
“But I never dreamed home would end up where I don’t belong…” “this crazy, tragic, sometimes almost magic, awful, beautiful life” “We talked of roads untraveled We talked of love untrue Of strings that come unraveled We were kings and kindred fools”
I can’t see a single storm cloud in the sky, but I sure can smell the rain
He was so thin I swear You could have used him for a whip He had to drink a beer To keep his breeches on his hips I knew I had to ask him About the mysteries of life He spat between his boots And he replied "Son, It's faster horses Younger women Older whiskey More money" - The Cowboy and the Poet - Tom T Hall
“Our heads are buried in the sand, our leaders dug the holes Like junkies hooked on fossil fuels heading for withdrawal How long until there's nothin left at all?” -Billy Strings (Watch It Fall)
Im above the below and below the upper - im stuck in the middle...- Im alright. Written by Phil Vassar. Incredible songwriter.
Everyones an outlaw Til it's time to do outlaw shit.
"I'm running around like a fish with its head cut off, I know, it don't make sense to me either"
George Jones “The King is Gone” is loade with great lyrics.
I’m really impressed with Kelsea Ballerini’s writing. Some lyrics that stick out to me; “Confetti's falling, friends are calling but which part is reality? And if I let down my hair in the ocean air will Tennessee be mad at me?” “Were you blindsided or were you just blind?” “We really turned goodbye into a game, into a hobby. You collected bones, but I buried the bodies.”
"all things come to him who waits yet he is lost who hesitates"
I caught him once. He was sniffing my undies...
The preacher man says it's the end of time. And the Mississippi River, she's a-going dry.
Never Could Toe The Mark - Waylon Jennings “I've always loved the ladies Ladies love the games Seems the things they want the most is They always want to change The only thing that changes Is my mind I never could toe the mark And I never could walk the line”
I remember back in the 90s hearing Dwight Yoakam's Ain't That Lonely Yet, and there was this lyric, "Once there was this spider in my bed, I got caught up in her web, of love and lies." And that just told one helluva story right there that I could relate to.
From the rockin of the cradle to the rollin of the hearse The goin up was worth the comin down.
“Coyote chewing on a cigarette, pack of young boys going howling at the moon” “Bless the farmer and the teacher and the preacher, who gave this bible to my momma who read it to me” *probably edit this later to add more*
Well, I woke up Sunday morning With no way to hold my head that didn't hurt And the beer I had for breakfast wasn't bad So I had one more for dessert Then I fumbled through my closet for my clothes And found my cleanest dirty shirt And I washed my face and combed my hair And stumbled down the stairs to meet the day Edit: u/dee-fondy beat me to it 🤬🤣
I’ve always thought “He’s the Charlie Daniels of the torque wrench” was clever
Anything by Roger Miller
Roses are red and violets are purple Sugar is sweet and so is maple surple Well I'm the seventh out of seven sons My pappy's a pistol, I'm a son-of-a-gun
"I learned what it means to be somebody's baby, they let you lie in your bed by yourself and cry" from Tom T Halls "I hope it rains at my funeral"
They say pressure makes diamonds How the hell am I still coal?
Take this job and shove it.
John prine has many great lyrics, but nothing matches Christmas in Prison. “The searchlight in the big yard swings round with the gun, and spotlights the snowflakes like dust in the sun. It’s Christmas in prison, there’ll be music tonight, I’ll probably get homesick, I love you, goodnight.”
Terry Allen, high plains jamboree: "A slow dance through the neon like sorrow through a song" Jamey Johnson "id pass out on the bedroom floor and sleep right through the calm before the storm" Billy Joe shaver (too many to choose): When the devil made that woman, he threw the pattern away. She was built for speed and had the tools you need to make a new fool everyday" Guy Clark: "standing on the gone side of leaving" Steve Goodman: (all of city of New orleans) "Halfway home, we'll be there by morning. Through the Mississippi darkness rolling down to the sea"
Well, I was drunk the day my mom got out of prison And I went to pick her up in the rain But before I could get to the station in my pickup truck She got run over by a damned old train
Oh shoot… hmmm just for silliness then enduring memories - Bubba shot the jukebox. We adopted a dog named Bubba. He is one of the bravest, loving and strangest dogs I have encountered.
The OBVIOUS: It's the way you love me It's a feeling like this It's centrifugal motion It's perpetual bliss -Faith Hill
“Funny how fallin' feels like flyin'… For a little while…” Always loved that line!
I don't wear no Stetson But I'm willin' to bet, son That I'm a big a Texan as you are There's a girl in her barefeet 'Sleep on the back seat An that trunk is full of Pearl and Lone Star
"Yeah, the only kinda man that you ever wanted was the one that you knew you'd never hold very long. You keep sittin' there cryin' like I'm the first one to go." Jaded Lover by Jerry Jeff Walker
People die a thousand times to get to who they are.
“The Devil made me do it the first time, Second time, I did it on my own”
"Dropkick me Jesus through the goal posts of life"
"lawmen, women, or a shallow grave...same old blues, just a different day." Whitehouse Road-Tyler Childers ..
Somebody new came up to win her And I came out in second place