Friday, August 17

The best lyrics ever…

Mark Nelson at 8:55 AM 14comments

14 Comments

at 1:07 PM  ragamuffinminister said...

Favorites are hard to determine, and you named some on my own list, but here's a few more...

"I am a family man,
traded in my mustang
for a mini-van."
- Andrew Peterson, "Family Man"

"And so it began,
in glorious harmony,
softly and tenderly,
calling for you and me,
with the interstate whining
way off in the distance,
and the sun going down
through the bars of the prison."
- Richard Shindell, "Transit"

"Sweet Lorraine was fiery head,
brown eyed schemer,
who came from a long line of
drinkers and dreamers."
- Patti Griffin, "Sweet Lorraine"

 

at 1:30 PM  Anonymous said...

"And I will stroll the merry way and jump the hedges first."
--Van Morrison, "Sweet Thing"

 

at 3:28 PM  jason said...

After 14 years, I still can't sing along with this song without crying:

May peace rain down from Heaven
Like little pieces of the sky
Little keepers of the promise
Falling on these souls
This drought has dried
In His Blood and in His Body
In the Bread and in this Wine
Peace to you
Peace of Christ to you

-- Rich Mullins, "Peace"

 

at 3:51 PM  The Anonymous Human said...

"In the gas station bathroom by the condom machine
I heard the word of the Lord
He said “Take off your shoes,
This is holy ground too
You know I came for the sick and the bored.”
Beneath the selling of beers
And the welling up of tears
Out beyond the beam of the remote control
There’s a whispering voice
That the humble ear ears
That says “I am still waiting
For you to ask just to be made whole.”

And the bush it was burning on the mountain top
And though the leaves never blackened, the fire didn’t stop
That’s the way that it works in this old life of sin
You gotta let the fire burn you just to get clean within

I am so often deterred from my actual intent
By distractions in a cellophane wrap
And the cruel voice that taunts me when I open them up
to find just one more box full of crap
It’s where you’re mocked while you abstain
And then cursed when you give in
It’s all a game that’s impossible to beat
But there’s a peaceful refrain God’ll sing in your brain
When you put the nails to your hands and your feet

And the smell of our sacrifices
Still fills up my head
There’s just a few left at the altar, Lord
All the rest of them fled
And we’ve cried and we’ve tried
We’ve sweat and we’ve bled
But we don’t just need atonement
We need to be raised from the dead

When they took down the cross from that dark hillside
The blood on their hands was the blood from his side
That’s the way that it works, that’s the way it must be
You gotta let His blood stain you of you want to get free
If you want to get free
Don’t you want to get free
I think you want to be free"
--"If you want to get free" Waterdeep.

Sorry to be so long, I just can't narrow down my favorite parts of this song.

 

at 8:26 PM  dburn said...

"And is the juice in the joints of the motion of life
And is the love that is between God and his beautiful wife
And has two hands and two feet and a long lovely side
And rose three days after he was crucified"
--- And by Waterdeep

Take me where love is not for sale
Take me where our hearts are not so frail
Take me where the fire still owns it's spark
There's only one way to mend a broken heart
Teach me how to see when I close my eyes
Teach me to forgive and to apologize
Show me how to love in the darkest dark
There is only one way to mend a broken heart
--- Beautiful Dawn by
The Wailin'Jennys

Put me in coach
I'm ready to play
today
Put me in coach
I'm ready to play
today
Look at me
I can be
Centerfield
--- Centerfield by John Fogerty

 

at 1:53 AM  Nicole said...

Pour me a glass of wine
Talk deep into the night
Who knows what we'll find

Intuition, deja vu
The Holy Ghost haunting you
Whatever you got
I don't mind

Put your elbows on the table
I'll listen long as I am able
There's nowhere I'd rather be
--Over The Rhine, "Born"

beloved listen to me
don’t believe all that you see
and don’t you ever let anyone tell you that there’s anything that you need but me
--Derek Webb, "Beloved"

i am my beloveds and my beloved’s mine
so you bring all your history and i’ll bring the bread and wine
and we’ll have us a party where all the drinks are on me
then as surely as the rising sun you will be set free
--Derek Webb, "Lover"

Cause if it isn't making dollars
Then it isn't making sense
If you aren't moving units
Then you're not worth the expense
If you really want to make it
You had best remember this
If it isn't penetration
Then it isn't worth a kiss
--Pedro the Lion, "Penetration"

There are ghosts from my past who've owned more of my soul
Than I thought I had given away
They linger in closets and under my bed
And in pictures less proudly displayed
A great fool in my life I have been
Have squandered till pallid and thin
Hung my head in shame and refused to take blame
For the darkness I know I've let win.
--Jennifer Knapp, "Martyrs and Thieves"

but i can envision the mediocrity
of my finest hour
it's the failed america in me
it's the fear that lives
in a forest of stone
underneath the corporate canopy
where the sun
rarely
filters
down
and the ground
is not so soft
--Ani DiFranco, "Not So Soft"

so this is how to make a Sunsphere Shot — start engagingother people in your neighborhood and putting names to faces
and there's beauty hereso praise itand there's sun behind the haze an
there's some people here give sweat and tears to work for living wages
and there's vegans and there's pagans and there's saints who picket jailers
and there's women out in trailers who put all their faith in angels
and a stadium named neyland and there's downtown renovation
and there's actors blazing stages and there's poets
penning pages
and there's kids in juvy ragin and their anger's close to sacred
and there's lots of things worth hatin
I believe that we can change it
--Daniel Roop, "Sunsphere Shots"

They got this and that
With a rattle a tat
Testing one, two
Now what you gonna do?
Bad news, misused, give me some truth
You got too much to lose
Whose side are we on today, anyway?
OK, whatever you say.
Wrong and resolute but in the mood to obey
Station to station desensitizing the nation
Going, going, gone.
--Jack Johnson, "Good People"

 

at 8:56 AM  Anonymous said...

Well, I had two weeks of vacation time coming
After workin' all year down at Big Roy's Heating and Plumbing.
So one night, when my family and I were gathered round the dinner table, I said,
"Kids...If you could go anywhere in this great big world,
now Where'd you like to go to?"
They said, "Dad, We wanna see the biggest ball of twine in Minnesota."
They picked the biggest ball of twine in Minnesota.

So the very next day we loaded up the car with potato skins and pickled weiners,
Crossword puzzles, Spiderman comics and mama's homemade rhubarb pie,
Pulled out of the driveway, and the neighbors, they all waved goodbye
And so began our three-day journey.
We picked up a guy holdin' a sign that said "Twine Ball or Bust,"
He smelled real bad, and he said his name was Bernie.

I put in a Slim Whitman tape
my wife put on a brand new hair net
The kids were in the back seat jumpin' up and down
yellin' "Are we there yet?"
And all of us were joined together in one common thought
As we rolled down the long and winding Interstate in our '53 DeSota
We're gonna see the biggest ball of twine in Minnesota!!
We're headin' for the biggest ball of twine in Minnesota!!

Oh, we couldn't wait to get there, so we drove straight through
for three whole days and nights
(Of course, we stopped for more pickled weiners now and then).
The scenery was just so pretty,
Boy, I wish the kids could've seen it
But you can't see out of the side of the car
because the windows are completely covered
with the decals from all the places where we've already been.

Like Elvis-a-Rama, the Tupperware Museum,
The Boll Weevil Monument, and Cranberry World,
The Shuffleboard Hall of Fame, Poodle Dog Rock,
And the Mecca of Albino Squirrels.
We've been to ghost towns, steam parks, wax museums,
And a place where you can drive through the middle of a tree.
Seen alligator farms and tarantula ranches,
But there's still one thing we've gotta see.

Well, we crossed the state line about 6:39
And we saw the sign that said, "Twine Ball Exit - fifty miles."
The kids were so happy, they started singing "99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall" for the 27th time that day.
So we pulled off the road at the last chance gas station
Got a few more pickled weiners and a diet chocolate soda,
On our way to see the biggest ball of twine in Minnesota.
We're gonna see the biggest ball of twine in Minnesota.

Finally at 7:37 early Wednesday evening, as the sun was setting in the Minnesota sky,
Out in the distance, on the horizon it appeared to me
like a vision before my unbelieving eyes.
We parked the car and walked with awe-filled reverence toward that glorious huge, majestic sphere.
I was just so overwhelmed by its sheer immensity, I had to pop myself a beer.
Yes on these hallowed grounds, open 10 to 8 on weekdays,
in a little shrine under a makeshift pagoda,
There sits the biggest ball of twine in Minnesota.
I tell you, it's the biggest ball of twine in Minnesota.

Ohhh, what on Earth would make a man decide to do that kind of thing?
Ohhh, windin' up twenty-one thousand, one hundred forty pounds of string!
What was he tryin' to prove?
Who was he tryin' to impress?
Why did he build it? How did he do it?
It's anybody's guess.
Where did he get the twine? What was goin' through his mind?
Did it just seem like a good idea at the time?

Well we walked up beside it and I warned the kids,
"Now you better not touch it, those ropes are there for a reason."
I said, "Maybe if you're good, I'll tie it to the back of our car, and we can take it home."
But I was only teasin'.
Then we went to the gift shop and stood in line
bought a souvenir miniature ball of twine,
Some window decals, and anything else they'd sell us.
And I bought a couple postcards: "Greetings from the Twine Ball, wish you were here."
Won't the folks back home be jealous.

I gave our camera to Bernie and we stood by the ball,
And we all gathered around and said, "Cheese."
Then Bernie ran away with my brand new Instamatic,
But at least we've got our memories.

So we all just stared at the ball for awhile
And my eyes got moist, but I said with a smile,
"Kids, this here's what America's all about."
Then I started feelin' kinda gooey inside,
And I fell on my knees and I cried and cried.
And that's when those security guards threw us out.
You know, I bet if we unravelled that sucker, it'd roll all the way down to Fargo, North Dakota.
'Cause it's the biggest ball of twine in Minnesota.
I'm talkin' 'bout the biggest ball of twine in Minnesota.

We stayed that night at the Twine Ball Inn
In the morning we were on our way home again
But we really didn't wanna leave, that was perfectly clear.
I said, "Folks, I can tell you're all sad to go"
Then I winked my eye and I said, "You know,
I got a funny kinda feeling we'll be coming back again next year."
'Cause I've been all around this great big world and I can't think of anywhere else I'd rather go to
Than the biggest ball of twine in Minnesota.
I said the biggest ball of twine in Minnesota!!!
Minnesota!!
Minnesota!!!
Minnesota!!!!!

Weird Al Yankovic - "The Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota"

 

at 11:10 AM  Mark Nelson said...

Ooooh....my bad...I missed Weird Al on my list...

Thanks for bringing up that memory Greg...

 

at 7:21 PM  Anonymous said...

I have a hard time picking favorites, but here are a few with language that paints a great picture:

"She travels outside of karma."
(U2--"Grace")

"Jesus stares at me in my chair
with his big blue eyes and his funny brown hair."
(Patty Griffin--"Makin' Pies")

"And the waitress is practicing politics
as the businessmen slowly get stoned
Yes, they're sharing a drink they call loneliness
but it's better than drinkin' alone."
(Billy Joel--"Piano Man")

"Let it go
Daisy, let it go
upen up your fist
this fallen world
doesn't hold your interest
doesn't hold your soul
Daisy let it go."
(Switchfoot--"Daisy")

 

at 11:19 PM  Betsy said...

i would just like to say that in the midst of these beautiful lyrics, dburn's (dustin's) last lyrics made me laugh very very hard.

 

at 9:17 PM  Anonymous said...

10. "I will walk by faith. Even when I can not see. Cause I know this broken road. Prepares your will for me." Jeremy Camp

9. "Come on understanding visit me for once today. I'll be greatful you don't even have to stay." MXPX

8. "So know one told you life was gonna be this way." The rembrandts.

7. "Simpson. Homer Simpson. He's the greatest guy in history. From the, town of springfield. He's about to hit a chest nut tree." Homer simpson

6. "You can rap about anything except for Jesus." Kanye West..I don't like him that much either, but this song had a good point in this part.

5. "Have Mercy on me oh God. According to your unfailing love." PCCH/Psalm 51

4. "I know you didn't bring out here to drown. So why am I 10 feet under and upside down." Lifehouse

3. "I so hate consequences. Runnin from you is what my best defense is. God please don't make me face up to that." Relient K

2. "I begged you for some proof for my coloused eyes to see. Slithering staff, a leperous hand, and lions resting lazily. A glimpse of your backside glory and this soaked alter going ablaze. But you know I've seen so much. I explained it away. My faith is like shifting sand changed by every wave. My faith is like shifting sand, so I stand on grace." Caedmon's Call

1. "Lord didn't you see me crying. Didn't you hear me call your name. Wasn't it you I gave my heart to. I wish you'd remember where you sat it down." David Crowder

 

at 7:46 PM  Paula Clare said...

All of mine ARE Rich Mullins Lyrics:

There's a wideness in God's mercy
I cannot find in my own
And He keeps His fire burning
To melt this heart of stone
Keeps me aching with a yearning
Keeps me glad to have been caught
In the reckless raging fury
That they call the love of God

"The Love of God" Never Picture Perfect

And the prayers stand where the fighters fell
And time testifies with the tale that it tells
That the meek shall inherit the earth
And the Church advances on the gates of hell
And she clings to a light that will not be quelled
By the kingdoms of this world

I'm telling you the just shall live
I know the just shall live
I know the just shall live
By faith

And You will raise them up
I know that You will raise them up
You will raise them up
On the last day

"The Just Shall Live" "The World As Best as I Remember It" Vol. 2


And here we are,
In a light that showers
From things unseen.
Drawn from earth, dropped from the sky,
They have crept into our lives
And called us to believe.
In the one of whom the distant clouds bear witness,
He was wounded.
He was raised and glorified.
And His voice thunders in the heavens,
And it pulses through our veins.
And we can find salvation
In the One, the Name.

Lord, You are all that the world could not be.
You are great and strong.
You are good.
Lord, You are all,
And everything that I could ever need.
You are faith.
You are hope.
You are love.
Yes, You are love.
You are peace.
You're my most high,
So now I fall down on my knees and cry.
You are all. "Canticle of the Plains"

And I know you bore our sorrows
And I know you feel our pain
And I know it would not hurt any less
Even if it could be explained

And I know that I am only lashing out
At the One who loves me most
And after I figured this, somehow
All I really need to know

Is if You who live in eternity
Hear the prayers of those of us who live in time
We can't see what's ahead
And we can not get free of what we've left behind
I'm reeling from these voices that keep screaming in my ears
All the words of shame and doubt, blame and regret

I can't see how You're leading me unless You've led me here
Where I'm lost enough to let myself be led
And so You've been here all along I guess
It's just Your ways and You are just plain hard to get

"Hard to Get" Jesus Record

Well, who's that man who says He's a prophet?
Well, I wonder if He's got something up His sleeve
Where's He from? Who is His daddy?
There's rumors He even thinks Himself a king
Of a kingdom of paupers
Simpletons and rogues
The whores all seem to love Him
And the drunks propose a toast

And they say, "Surely God is with us.
Surely God is with us."
They say, "Surely God is with us today!"

"Surely God is With Us" Jesus Record

So if I stand let me stand on the promise
That you will pull me through
And if I can't, let me fall on the grace
That first brought me to You
And if I sing let me sing for the joy
That has born in me these songs
And if I weep let it be as a man
Who is longing for his home

"If I Stand" Winds of Heaven, STuff of EArth

And I believe what I believe is what makes me what I am
I did not make it, no it is making me
I did not make it, no it is making me
I said I did not make it, no it is making me
It is the very truth of God and not the invention of any man

I believe it, I believe
I believe it, I believe
I believe it, I believe it
I believe it, I believe it
I believe it, I believe it
I believe it

"Creed" "A Liturgy, A Legacy and a Ragamuffin Band"

I used to wake up angry
Knowing the sun would shine
But the light would get lost in the clouds
I used to be so lonely
Wishing that love was mine
But never knowing where that it was found

And then there was You, Lord
Though You had always been
I'd never opened up to You
And then I was through, Lord
Through with the empty games
Now I know I want to live my life out loving You

I never heard the music 'til the day I met You Lord
I never heard the music 'til the day I met You Lord
Now I bless You for the songs that each day brings
And for how they taught me how to sing anew

I used to feel so empty
I'd listen to the radio
But never hear a thing within my heart
The days went on unending
With nowhere new to go
Just hang around and play out the same, old part

But dreams don't come true Lord
Though I wish them on the stars
I'd never given up to You
And what can I do, Lord?
I'd wait for the songs to start
And now I know the music that comes from loving You

I never heard the music 'til the day I met You Lord
I never heard the music 'til the day I met You Lord
Now I bless You for the songs that this day brings
And for how they taught me how to sing anew

"Never Heard the Music" "Here in America"

And the moon is a sliver of silver
Like a shaving that fell on the floor of a Carpenter's shop
And every house must have it's builder
And I awoke in the house of God
Where the windows are mornings and evenings
Stretched from the sun
Across the sky north to south
And on my way to early meeting
I heard the rocks crying out
I heard the rocks crying out

Be praised for all Your tenderness by these works of Your hands
Suns that rise and rains that fall to bless and bring to life Your land
Look down upon this winter wheat and be glad that You have made
Blue for the sky and the color green that fills these fields with praise

"The Color Green" "A Liturgy, A LEgacy and a Ragamuffin Band"

When I leave I want to go out like Elijah
With a whirlwind to fuel my chariot of fire
And when I look back on the stars
It'll be like a candlelight in Central Park
And it won't break my heart to say goodbye

"Elijah" Rich Mullins

 

at 5:11 PM  Brad Smith said...

Would you open up my eyes so i can see
Would you open up my ears so i can hear
Would you open up my mind so i can know
Would you open up my heart so i can love you more

I want to serve you my God
I want to give you everything

Jesus won't you make me like you

Open Me - Shawn McDonald

 

at 5:24 PM  Anonymous said...

"But the beauty of grace is that it makes life not fair"
Relient K

 

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