Lyrical Snippet of the Moment: Synchronicity II by The Police

Every time I'm coming home from work on the subway I hear Sting singing the lyric "Another working day has ended. Only the rush hour hell to face. Packed like lemmings into shiny metal boxes. Contestants in a suicidal race" from "Synchronicity II". That song was on their last album, 1983's Synchronicity.

I also think of a friend's father who told a story about a particularly unhinged individual who approached him on a subway platform and urged him, "Don't have a mental moment!" and decide to jump!

Lyrical Snippet of the Moment: Soul Coughing

"When the gas runs out just wreck it, you insured the thing"

"Circles" by Soul Coughing

Love the off kilter vibe these guys produced.

Lyrical snippet of the moment: Thomas Dolby Dissidents

Thomas Dolby is one of those artists who had a giant hit in the 80s and some might assume he was a one hit wonder. However, this couldn't be further from the truth. He's never stopped releasing wonderful music.

Here's one of my favourite tunes from his early days, "Dissidents", from his 1980 album The Flat Earth.

"There's an iron fist, in a glove full of Vaseline, dip the fuse in the kerosene, I too became a Dissident"

Lyrical Snippet of the Moment: Detachable Penis by King Missile

Back in the grungy early 90s, I got some compilation album and heard "Detachable Penis" by King Missile. It may be NSFW, but it's a classic.

"Even though sometimes it's a pain in the ass, I like having a detachable penis"

Lyrical snippet of the moment: The Verve Pipe's Freshmen

"When I was young I knew everything"

In 1996, The Verve Pipe released Villains. It's a fantastic album featuring the songs "Freshmen", "Photograph" and "Penny is Poison" among others.

Lyrical Snippet of the Moment: Odds

"Try on your lipstick, try on your clothes
I wanna be you for a little while, and
I'm freaked out enough to bloody my own nose."

Odds, "Oh Sorrow, Oh Shame" from 1995's Good Weird Feeling.

Lyrical Snippet of the Moment: Stone Temple Pilots

"Where ya going for tomorrow?
Where ya going with the mask I found?
And I feel, And I feel
When the dogs begin to smell her - will she smell alone?"

WTF?

Lyrical snippet of the moment: Bowie's Ghost by Exit International

"La la la la la la la la la la"

"Bowie's ghost came from the future to tell us it's aaaaaa..."

Exit International "Bowie's Ghost"

Lyrical snippet of the moment: Guttering by Ron Hawkins

This song came up on my iPod and reminded me what a wonderful song writer Ron Hawkins is. One of Canada's best for sure.

The song is called "Guttering" from 2000's Crackstatic and it's a painfully beautiful song with lyrics to match. This post is not so much a snippet since I'm posting the full lyric.

Guttering

Oh I must be getting old
'Cause I can't hold a grudge like I used to
A sudden, patient virtue
Grace impromptu
And all this matchbox bitterness
Goes up in dancing flame, orange and mandarin
Arabesquing ashen glowing ember
Dead to the world, read like the stars
New to the moments we are
Oh and it's painful to be born when you're thirty-four
Kicking, screaming, bleeding and believing
Shallow breathing
Oh, I must be getting old 'cause I can't hold a grudge
Like I used to...

Lyrical Snippet of the Moment: The National

The National write some of my favourite songs. They write fantastic songs and come up with a great lyric too.

"I was afraid I'd eat your brains because I'm evil"