Ask Lemmy

"My hand to God

I didn't mean to

After all

Look what we've been through

Men come in different shades

That's how we're made

The little house on Ellis Drive

Is where I felt most alive

The oak tree covered that old Ford

I miss it Lord,

I miss it Lord

These blood red eyes

Don't see so good

But what's worse is if they could

Would I change my ways?

Wasted times and broken dreams

Violent colors so obscene

It's all I see these days

These days"

Just a deep and profound expression of regret for misconduct towards another, a special person, and the feeling of tremendous loss that comes from the inevitable, irrevocable, change there from.

I know it all too well.

Burn the land and boil the sea, You can't take the sky from me.

From Firefly. Sung by Sonny Rhodes, written by Joss Whedon

You know, suicide isn't painless,
When you leave everyone in pain.
NOFX - Doornails

Strangers passing in the street. By chance, two separate glances meet, and I am you and what I see is me

~ Pink Floyd - Echoes

Now Paul is a real estate novelist,
who never had time for a wife

(...)

"To defy the laws of tradition is a crusade only of the brave" Primus

https://youtu.be/AccbAu2KmFg

Let's put one classic here. One that is sadly more and more relevant these days...

Generals gathered in their masses, just like witches at black masses. Evil minds that plot destruction, sorcerers of death's construction. In the fields the bodies burning, as the war machine keeps turning. Death and hatred to mankind, poisoning their brainwashed minds...Oh lord yeah!

Politicians hide themselves away They only started the war Why should they go out to fight? They leave that role to the poor

Time will tell on their power minds Making war just for fun Treating people just like pawns in chess Wait `till their judgement day comes, yeah!

Now in darkness, world stops turning, as you hear the bodies burning. No more war pigs of the power, hand of god has struck the hour. Day of judgement, god is calling, on their knees the war pigs crawling. Begging mercy for their sins, Satan, laughing, spreads his wings...Oh lord, yeah!

• War Pigs, Black Sabbath

No, this is how it works
You peer inside yourself
You take the things you like
And try to love the things you took
And then you take that love you made
And stick it into some
Someone else's heart
Pumping someone else's blood
And walking arm in arm
You hope it don't get harmed
But even if it does
You'll just do it all again

Regina Spektor - On the Radio

In my life I hope I lie And tell everyone you were a good wife And I hope you die I hope we both die

No Children by The Mountain Goats.
The entire song is lyrically amazing. It's about a divorcing couple who were frankly broken to begin with. And while just reading the lyrics make it seem like a big downer of a song, it's in a major key, and there is catharsis to be found in its hatred.

My time is a piece of wax Falling on a termite Who's choking on the splinters

~Beck, "Loser"

Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose.

~Kris Kristofferson, Me and Bobby McGee

The people who love me still ask me, "When are you coming back to town?" I answer, "Quite frankly, when they stop building roads, And all God needs is gravity to hold me down."

~Alison Kraus, "Gravity"

Four hundred years later, I learned about my roots, And how they traded in their white sheets for badges and blue suits

~Onyx, "Getto Mentalitee"

Is your mother worried? Would you like us to assign someone to worry your mother?

~Chaise Longue by Wet Leg

You want me to love you in moderation Do I look moderate to you?

~Florence + The Machine, "Moderation"

And the salt in my wounds Isn't burning anymore than it used to. It's not that I don't feel the pain It's just I'm not afraid of hurting anymore.

~Paramore, "Last Hope"

the shit hasn't even begun to hit the fan.

~Incubus, from "Consequence"

I have a tendency to wear my mind on my sleeve. I have a history of losing my shirt.

~"One Week" by the Barenaked Ladies

Our hopes and expectations:

Black holes and revelations.

• Muse, Starlight

One of my absolute favorite lines in a song that doesn't require the entire song to understand the context and subtext.

Dying is easy it's living that scares me to death

Cold - Annie Lennox

I am not usually fond of slow ballads, but Annie Lennox has the depth to pull me in.

I repeat myself when under stress

I repeat myself when under stress

I repeat myself when under stress

I repeat myself when under stress

-Indiscipline by King Crimson

Also:

The music of rebellion makes you wanna rage

But it's made by millionaires who are nearly twice your age

-The Sound of Muzak by Porcupine Tree

Kill him. Fucking kill him. Kill him already kill him. Kill him already. Kill him already. Kill him. JUST FUCKING KILL HIM. FUCKING KILL HIM.

Shellac - Prayer to god

I sing this almost daily when I read the news.

(Don't have to be) a big bucks Hollywood star
(Don't have to drive) a super car to get far
(Don't have to live) a life of power and wealth
(Don't have to be) beautiful, but it helps

The Goats, I forget which track from the album Tricks of the Shade:

Not forgotten like the Arawaks We mowed down a race so an engine could ride a pair of tracks Who cares about the facts we got food on the table Saying thanks because the giving was the reason for the fable

And from another track, same album:

Columbus destroyed more Indians than Hitler killed Jews But on his birthday you get sales on shoes And this is all old news but I'm afraid you can't find it You snooze you lose so I choose to rewind it Offer gun for gold but behold a real plan Using shady treaties trading trickies for land They should've scalped his ass before he even touched sand

Kismat, Bloodywood

The paths that destiny leads to

There is sunlight in some places and shade in other (Shade in other)

Weight of these responsibilities

Time, a blind blacksmith

Has crafted this shield, has crafted this shield of mine

The rivers are full of crocodile nasties And he who made kittens put snakes in the grass - Bungle in the Jungle - Jethro Tull

Some rich men came and raped the land. Nobody caught 'em. Put up a bunch of ugly boxes, and, Jesus, people bought 'em - The Last Resort - Eagles

Two songs come to mind for me off the same album (therapy, by radical face):
Dead ends:

There ain't no fixing this, but I like that you tried 
Sometimes the hardest part is being right 
There ain't no helping me, but I like that you lied 
Sometimes it's worth the burn marks to feel the light

There’s two versions of this album, a regular one and an “alternate reality” one with the same lyrics but a bit more uplifting of a take on them. The regular version of this verse is fucking crushing, I love it so much

Hard of hearing:

Another evening spent 
In the corners of my brain 
Where I wander off into the dark 
And I close my eyes and hope 
The wolves won't follow me 
But hope's hard of hearing 
So I'm waiting for the teeth

I had to learn that the helping hand 
Can be the same that holds the knife 
I know I'm not well but I'm alright 
You gotta learn how to take your hits 
When your hands are always tied 
I know I'm not well but I'm alright

This one I think I prefer the alternate reality version, it’s just the perfect melancholy song

She could have turned out to be almost anything, with the possible exception of what I wanted her to be. Jackson Browne

For the Dutch: Bokkers - Jezus Ze lup noe met Jezus en dat vin ik gemeen Want zo’n keerl zo as Jezus, doarvan is er maar één Ze lup noe met Jezus, want zien liefde is groot Moar as ik Jezus ooit teeg'n kom, oe dan hou ik um dood

The song is about a guy who's girlfriend/wife has found Jesus, but the guy seems to think Jesus is just another guy. Translation: She now walks with Jesus, and I think that's mean Because a guy like Jesus, there's only one of him She now walks with Jesus, because his love is great But if I ever come across Jesus, oh then I'l beat him to death

I came to the club drunk with a fake ID
Don't you wanna grow up to be just like me?
I've been with ten women who got HIV
Now, don't you wanna grow up to be just like me?
I got genital warts and it burns when I pee
Don't you wanna grow up to be just like me?
I tie a rope around my penis and jump from a tree
You probably wanna grow up to be just like me
Eminem - Role Model

"the dreams in which I'm dying are the best I've ever had" - Bad Word (Tears for Fears)

"Well, Americans don't care for much of anything
Land and water the least
And animal life is low on the totem pole
With human life not worth more than infected yeast,"

"Americans don't care too much for beauty
They'll shit in a river, dump battery acid in a stream
They'll watch dead rats wash up on the beach Complain if they can't swim" - Last Great American Whale (Lou Reed)

the entire songs is magnificent

And if you choose not to decide you still have made a choice

~ Rush- Freewill

That line helped kick my ass into gear and actually start living the life I wanted instead of sitting paralyzed by my fears

Love is watching someone die

~ Death Cab for Cutie - What Sarah Said

That song just kinda broke me after watching my mom slowly die of cancer

so practically this whole song (sorta half and really half of a half. its complicated) from jethro tull just becomes more and more relevant every year as the dystopia increases:

There's the stillness of death on a deathly unliving sea
And the motor car magical world long since ceased to be
When the Eve-bitten apple returned to destroy the tree

Incestuous ancestry's charabanc ride
Spawning new millions throws the world on its side
Supporting their far-flung illusion, the national curse
And those with no sandwiches please get off the bus

The excrement bubbles
The century's slime decays
And the brainwashing government lackeys
Would have us say
It's under control and we'll soon be on our way
To a grand year for babies and quiz panel games
Of the hot hungry millions you'll be sure to remain

The natural resources are dwindling and no one grows old
And those with no homes to go to, please dig yourself holes

Tally Hall's song "Ruler of Everything" is a "nothing matters and that's terrifying" song. Contrasting that song, though, earlier in the album is "Spring and a Storm", imo a "nothing matters and that's okay and special" song. It ends with:

Create until nothing is left to create

And the Universe bursts with an overworked sigh

Then pretend to, pretend to recrown the creation

And sing the same thing 'til the clouds start to cry

And then over and over and over again

And then over and over and-- never again...

In my opinion, a commentary on how everything has already been done and it's all recycled, but it's special because we're here now, and eventually, on a personal and a universal level, there'll be a last time.

I must fight this sickness
Find a cure
I must fight this sickness

From The Cure - Pornography

I love how the lyrics are strangely optimistic compared to the rest of the album (in that they recognize that the horrific self-loathing and depressing thoughts presented in the other tracks on the album must come to an end). I also like how they reference the band's name at the perfect moment. Truly some of the best closing lines of all time.

Insanity laughs under pressure we're breaking

Queen - Under Pressure

A gift shop at the gun range, a mass shooting at the mall

Bo Burnham - That Funny Feeling

(Honestly every line in that song is golden)

Fuck you all, fuck everyone and everything, you don't know me and you wouldn't want to anyway forced into the end, I fucked myself, I fucked myself again again, I am nothing, again, fuck everything

• F.E. - 40 Below Summer

"With the heart of a child and the wit of a fool It's a wonder why i don't try to build a wall around you"

Full Circle by Half Moon Run

Can be applied to so many people, though I initially heard it as "...why China don't build a wall around you", which I think also works well!

"I would give my life to get some rest

But I'll do anything that Simon says"

Just all of "Common People" really

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ainyK6fXku0

"Rising up from the land of the gator

He's a modern day gladiator

Six foot six angry and mean, a living breathing war machine

Made his name in the rising sun with blood soaked battles that he won

Time and time his hand was raised

As all his victims felt his rage"

"They pass you on the road with a

Smile and you have to look twice

And you wonder to yourself

"Could a woman really look that nice?"

Girls in cars girls in cars

I love girls in cars girls in cars

Girls in cars"

ARE WE HUMAN OR ARE WE DANCER? - THE KILLERS

THEY CALL ME TWO CHAINS CUZ I GOT 2 CHAINS - 2 CHAINZ

BABY SHARK DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO - I DUNNO

A few of my favorites from Modest Mouse:

Working on living, I'm working on leaving I'm working on leaving the living Love you more than everything, loved it more than anything Loved everything more than anything Working on drinking, I'm working on driving, I'm working on driving my dreams Working on living, I'm working on leaving I'm working on leaving the living

• Workin’ on Leavin’ the Livin'

The third planet is sure that they're being watched By an eye in the sky that can't be stopped When you get to the promised land You're gonna shake the eye's hand

• 3rd Planet

And it occurred to me that the animals are swimming Around in the water, in the oceans, in our bodies And another had been found, another ocean on the planet Given that our blood is just like the Atlantic, and how Well the universe is shaped exactly like the earth If you go straight long enough you'll end up where you were And the universe is shaped exactly like the earth If you go straight long enough you'll end up where you were The universe is shaped exactly like the earth

• 3rd Planet

Two-eyed lie, is it fight or fly?
I wanna be the shoelace that you tie
'Til the end, will you be my friend?
I wanna be the mountain, kiss the sky
Yeah, I wanna be the vapor gets you high
Yeah, I wanna feel so happy that I cry
Yeah, I wanna be the shoelace that you tie
Yeah, I wanna live forever 'til I die
Yeah, I wanna live forever 'til I die

Big Thief - Blue Lightning

It's a verb! It's a verb!
Freedom is a verb
Something never finished, never done
It's something you must make
It's something you must take
It's something you must constantly become

Daniel Kahn and the Painted Bird - Freedom is a Verb

I got a houseboat docked at the Himbo Dome
And a wristwatch that's a pocket knife and a megaphone
And a wristwatch that tells me I'm on my own

MJ Lenderman - Wristwatch

Sorry for just pasting these, the band always post lyrics in wall of text format because that’s kind of how the vocals come off…

Thou - Death to the King and All His Loyal Subjects

Ascending through the hive of the ancients, crafting candles of ethereal dissent, we are the heirs and masters to the grey throne of melancholia. We are so very worthless, and everything we do is meaningless. Towering, gilded, white pedestals erected in supplication to these raise'ed demigods, detached and preening with conceit. We are so very worthless, and everything we do is meaningless. Everything we've ever done--everything we'll ever do--is meaningless. Attend our needs. Servants, lie in debasement, sustained on the crumbs of pseudo intellect, dime store wisdom disguised as politico philosophy. The illusion of ideology. The imposition of precious ego. No room for opposition. One view rules all. One view ruins all. What was once a strength is now an affectation, a glamour cast over unsuspecting acolytes. But straddling mystery and candor leaves the bloody lips exposed. Reticence abandoned. Mythos dismantled. Blustering malcontents, so pedestrian, so very mundane. Childish bores talking and talking and talking in circles. Oh, you treacherous swine. Self entitled scum hiding in the fog of poverty, the veil of the oppressed. Self righteous ire. Self absorbed privilege. Self aggrandizing dribble. Tribulations contrived amidst vacillating abstraction reeking of guilt and greed. Fecund ambivalence from ostentatious parasites. Deluded vanity inextricably entwined. Instability, insecurity. Flagellants revealed. We are so very worthless, and everything we do is meaningless. Go now to the scourge pits to atone.

Kind of niche music (blackened sludge/doom metal) but Thou are pretty much my favorite band. These lyrics are in my head a lot. The disgust of the vocalist is a form of expression I would make if I had the ability. Cathartic, imo.

https://thou.bandcamp.com/track/death-to-the-king-and-all-his-loyal-subjects

Sleep Token - Look to Windward

Oh and I, I used to know myself.

Oh and you, you used to know me well.

Oh and I, I wish I could leave myself alone.

Oh and you, you wish you could make me whole.

Sleep Token - Gethsemane

What might be good for your heart, might not be good for my head.

What was there at the start, might not be there in the end.

Do you want to hurt me? Do you want to hurt me? Because nobody hurts me better.

Sleep Token - Infinite Baths

Drift with me, drift with me.

All this glory you did not earn, all these lessons you did not learn. You will drown in an endless sea.

If it's blood that you want from me, you can empty my arteries. Will you halt this eclipse in me? Will you halt this eclipse in me? In me?

Teeth of god, blood of man, I will be, what I am.

Tom Waits and Massive Attack - Boots on the Ground [paraphrased]

Boots on the ground

Cut you off at the ankles

Throw the rest away

And I hope that you die

And your death will come soon

I'll follow your casket

On a pale afternoon

And I'll watch while you're lowered

Down to your deathbed

And I'll stand over your grave

'Til I'm sure that you're dead