Re: One single line of lyrics makes the song much better
 

Have to echo some previous comments.

"I've been on the town washing the bullshit down" adds a sort of kicker to a pretty plain, though one I like a lot, song.

Also, "heroes often fail" is such an intense line. Pretty mature too.

Race Among The Ruins is full of them for me though, so many sections just speak to me like, "The road to love is littered by the bones of other ones, who by the magic of the moment were mysteriously undone". Just great!

Re: One single line of lyrics makes the song much better
 

Hi all. Like this thread. Finally made my way back here. Some of you may know me as Gardendor. I switched servers and found that only way to post was to register under different user name. So here I am and here is my contribution:

from LOOKING AT THE RAIN - "Feeling the pain of love lost running through my brain." and "Looking at the dawn, knowing it's wrong still
thinking of your love that's gone."
IF I COULD - "If I could tame all the fleeting perceptions I hold"
TATTOO - "You know time doesn't wait for nobody to find what they're after."
ALL I'M AFTER - "... is to be the flame in your tattoo.

There are so many more, but I need to go now.

Dorothea

Re: One single line of lyrics makes the song much better
 

That DMD3 who started this thread was a nice young fella. Wonder what he's up to these days ? A few lines that light my fire, and show another side of GL, from Baby Step Back...

Still I don't kneel down
I was born to fight
So you'd best leave me alone
Maybe I'll get much more than I need
Or much less than I should own

I love his love songs as much as the next person but I also enjoy the songs that allow us a glimpse of the 'total package'. He is not a one dimensional artist and that's why we love him.

Bill :)

OK I can't fib on a Sunday morning - I know what DMD3 is up to these days, LOL.

Re: One single line of lyrics makes the song much better
 

Yarmouth Castle becomes more than a ship with this line:

"Oh Lord," she groans, "I'm burning!"
"Let someone understand"

Re: One single line of lyrics makes the song much better
 

This topic should be called "what line do you like the most in each song". There are so many cool words to his songs...well to any songwriter for that part. Sometimes we listen to a song just of a specific line..at least I do. I usually scream out the line when singing along with Gord.

Oh the list is long. I agree with many of the previous posters too. Very good selection.

You know the songs...here's the lines,

"where many of the dead men, too silent to be real"

"all that remains are the faces and the names and the wives and the sons and the daughthers" WOW!

" you might even find them on the Young and the Restless too".


"the dust cloud on the edge of town is me"; been there and still doing it.

"if you plan to face tomorrow, do it soon"

"is it wrong to be in love, could it be the finest love we've ever seen"

""where the green dark forest is too silent to be real"

"I bought you a dime diamond ring"

"the river is the melody, the sky is the refrain" very good!

"he was standing by the highway with a sign that just said 'mother' "

"shut up and deal, im losin"

"if i cant stop this tremblin hand from reachin for the phone, i'll be reachin for the bottle lord before this day is done" sounds like my household

"

"

Re: One single line of lyrics makes the song much better
 

I love this thread too, and BILLW, I too like that side of the total package as you say well of Gord, in the "tougher", he "ain't no lightweight to be kicked around" side of him that, I think is what the reviewer meant that spoke of Gord's "Broad-brimmed" read: "Cowboy-tuff hand" to me - side of Gord. I love that song Watchman's (Gone) - I think as has been said many times it could have been a good single.

Similarly - yes - in Baby Step Back , same idea, and I would add: Endless Wire - "so don't go foolin' around" et al. I here more and more on that song the more I read corfid. I did not like it when I first bought EW in '77 I believe, because it represented to me at the time the transition from the *great* introduction of new (electric) instrumentation of Summertime Dream LP fame in change, pushing further into "plugged in" and much less acoustic near-rock of many EW songs. But... I love several of the songs on that album, not surprisingly the more traditional Gord (of earlier 70's) sounding:
Tatto
Whispers of The North

I'd add to this thread a some lines I like a lot:

-I'm committing blaspheme by going by memory, not checking lyrics boards, but it adds to my enjoyment of thinking of his songs in my mind.....thanks for indulging my poor memory. :

as was said - you know the songs - here are the lines:

"If you get a tip than you better tell it to an Eskimo"

"If you make a mistake don't ya (ya better not?) make it twice"

"you got that feelin in your soul"

"like any wandering minstrel, I've gone in the house of a thousand delights" (forgive me)

"I've been around for a half a hundred days"

"soon I will go forth...to that wild and barren land, where nature takes its course"

"Out on the road, like a low-down Joe, and the bar where we are is so cool I'd.like to stay...Misunderstood, like I knew I would be.."

"anybody with a wish to wander could not fail but to be aroused""

"its red and its blue, and its more than one colour, it goes on forever, for just a few dollars, good night.."

"so she took herself in to her room, and she turned the bedsheets down, and cried into the silken folds, upon her wedding gown"

"you are like a wish come true.. I'm counting on you"

"to the sunset through the blue light of a fiery autumn haze"

"and we saw leaves had fallen on the beds where trees are born.."

"through two shipwrecked eyes I come to see you"

"fortune will not find you in your mansion turned to gold"

"love alone will keep me breathing.... all through the night"

"nesting like two eagles in the trees"

" this rented car never went so far but with each passing mile one more dream had turned to clay"

"everybody's in step with the season"

"Christmas dawns and the snow lets up and the sun hits the handle on her heirloom cup"

"anyone inside know my name"

"In think I heard....someone stirrin'.... I think I heard, someone stirrin'.. think I heard..."

"turn around dont look down there's a man behind you with a gun"

"there's a light around you, i've come to switch it on"


"dont be ashamed if you feel a lot warmer in your heart, you got that feelin in your soul"

"everything I had to give, I've given to you"

" laughing eyes and smiling face..it seems so lucky just to have the right of telling you with all my might....your beautiful tonight"


".... she lies....forgotten......"

".....I'm telling you that you're beautiful................[violins]......"

Holy God his music gets to me..... I miss Merry so much.......... I am sorry to wax on,,,,,

geo steve out

Re: One single line of lyrics makes the song much better
 

I just stumbled on this thread and like it a lot!

One word I always thought added such imagery is in Home From the Forest.
"She touched his grizzled fingers and she called him by his name." ~GL

And from Fine as Fine Can Be (written for his daughter I believe)
"You're like bees are for buzzing, you're as fine as fine can be." ~GL

Re: One single line of lyrics makes the song much better
 

This is slightly off-topic:
this is Kris Kristofferson talking about Johnny Cash singing "Sunday Morning Coming Down' on TV and the impact to the meaning of a song with ONE word ..: Stoned vs. home

http://www.cmt.com/videos/interview/...udio-330.jhtml

song:
http://www.cmt.com/videos/unplugged/...ing-down.jhtml

at this link are several clips of Kris talking about Johnny Cash..
http://www.cmt.com/news/unplugged-at...offerson.jhtml

Re: One single line of lyrics makes the song much better
 

Another favorite from Knotty Pine, when he sings "she cries turpentine."

In context . . .

"She leans with the wind, she cries turpentine, sometimes she nettles me but I don't mind." ~GL

The whole song is laced with imagery (methinks), and it opens right up front with those lines....

Has anyone seen the live performance from the '86 Ian & Sylvia reunion? I love it! Gordon with his guitar, looking as handsome as ever, I might add.:)

Re: One single line of lyrics makes the song much better
 

Sorry, I couldn't stop with just one. The single line in each verse is in bold.

From Shadows
There's a shadow on the moon and the waters here below, do not shine the way they should but I love you just in case you didn't know.

From Morning Glory
It seems like only yesterday
she married me and carried me away
I found out what life was all about
Morning Glory threw me out.

From The Gypsy (One of the most underrated songs in G.L.'s line-up)
And now I see with due respect,
The more we learn the worse we get
So if you feel you've no regrets
Go have your fortune read.

From Drink Yer Glasses Empty
We'd like to take life over again,
When time of war has passed away into the rain
And watch a John Wayne movie to remind us of the plains...

From All the Lovely Ladies
To all the ones who learn to live with being second guessed,
Whose job it is to give more than they get.

From Hi'way Songs
When I stand on my own sod, it feels so good to be home by God
The winter wind has turned my head, but I always came out warm somehow. (This is the song I always play when I am heading north to Georgian Bay from Pennsylvania. While I am not from Canada, this song always makes me feel like I'm coming home).

Re: One single line of lyrics makes the song much better
 

Does anyone know where the love of God goes when the waves turn the minutes to hours, from Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald. As if the tune wouldn't already have grabbed your attention, this line is sure to make your eyes water.

Re: One single line of lyrics makes the song much better
 

So many. For me, I could write till I get carpel tunnel. Here's a few for you.

"I don't want to own the key,to some ghostly mansion where souls are set free" Holy Sh..! Its the tone of his voice when he sings this line that really works me over.

"Where does the love of God go when the waves turn the minutes to hours?" If you havent seen Lake Superior in her ugly mood, you need to!

"...lying back in her satin dress in a room where you do what you don't confess". Brilliant!

" I bought you a dime diamond ring". Wealth in the eyes of a child! Good job Gord.

Re: One single line of lyrics makes the song much better
 

"the future looks alright" (instead of "tonight")

in Mountains & Marian

Re: One single line of lyrics makes the song much better
 

From: Mountains and Maryann

no explanation needed...
:redface:
:biggrin:

There'll be hot blooded mountain love to satisfy my soul
and
For the hot blooded mountain love is calling me again

Re: One single line of lyrics makes the song much better
 

Char !:redface:

I can't believe you did that reference from Mountains and Marianne ! lol

You won't believe this, but I had my young, and VERY precocious niece "Lil' Margaret" - to distinguish her from my mother-in-law Margaret, sitting on my lap in front of the Computer. I was showing her a few vistories, then a few pages where there a few maps I made, and explanations with my name, and we sounded out my name together. She said then, "thatsth (missing front teeth) you, Uncle thteve, you're sthilly...'...lol (she's 7, I think....1st or 2nd grade...and way-good on reading... and reads very well for her age). So then I keyed into corfid, let her pick a thread really just by clicking it - that was more fun than anything, and this thread and page popped up.

She calls GL music "George music" - because everytime our friend George used to come over to Merry and my house, he'd play Lightfoot, and she heard him a few times and associates Gord's voice with George; hence the George music.

Well, in this thread, we are reading a few posts together, I pre-screened them , so far so good, harmless, the she starts sounding out yours Char on "Hot-blooded mountain love and so forth", and I try to steer her away from that one, the way she asks Q's and insists on knowing what she reads means (which is good...but..lol) she kept pulling my finger back on to your post, moving it word by word as she sounded out everything, no matter my attempts to dissuade her, she'd start mock-crying...and she'd start getting red-faced with a little "put-on" Shirley Temple-style mock anger, and when she read yours, I thought I'd just say it was simply about nice love.... awwwww :rolleyes::redface: but Noooo

She says "Uncle Steve, you're turning red and acting silly, what does this mean, and she points again to hot-blooded mountain love...after she sounded it out... so i try again "well sweety see its about real nice people that love each other, , thats all... "Uncle Steve....WHAT DOES Hot Bloodeed Mountain Love MEAN . DID someone skin their knees and have a boo-booo ?(oh boy...)

Char - what was I supposed to say ?
Earlier I had told my sister-in-law, Renee , that when we were gonna look at the 'Puter..as Lil' Margaret says, I'd show her only safe stuff, and I thought I could count on Corfid for sure to avoid an embarrassment, and some George Music ..... but NOOOOOO lol

Oh man the discussion later at the dinner table "Uncle Stheve says, that, that theres thith man. who loves thith very nithe woman... and I GOT TO READ WHAT UNCLE thEVE DIDN'T WANT ME TO READ...and all it was was somebody skinned their knees and got a boo boo.....he hehe he...and Uncle theve was ALL RED IN THE FACE, HE WAS THILLY.. ! mOMMY CAN i SHOW YOU THE GEORGE MUSIC 'PUTER WORDS i READ ? uNCLE tHTEVE DIDNLT WANT ME TOO, BUT i COULD ANYWAY,..CAUTHE YOU THAID THO EARLIER Mommy, (Renee Loves Gordon , too, Minnesotoans....)She shot me alook at the dinner table of "what in the HELL did you have her reading you stupid oaf!!!" er uhh eruuh yeah it was just about boo-boos on their knees, er I mean his knee, no ... her knee... one of ;em... no biggee... and she looks at me angry at first, Lil' Margaret is holding both hands over her mouth seeing she instigated something, but she wasn't sure what.......and started giggling and forgot the whole thing.......phew....

Until desert. In the kitchen. I made my move to get out of there (when woman are in the kitchen they DON'T want men in their way, right/ NOOooo...

She (Renee) starts waggling the cake knife while she's grilling me..
but.... but.. no you see... she ... i tried to... but ..but she kep reading it.....
she doesn;t know.... and their really wasn;t anything bAD AT ALL in it..... "then why was she giggling and you ooked down at your food ?" -because I was embarrassed that she saw me turning red, hoping she wouldn't notice I was trying to get her to not read this real nice lady moderator CHAR's post about apretty Lightfoot song, it was totally harmless... unh hunhhh,, oh-man oh0man.... I am really in it now

.... Uncle thteve, protector of good kids eyes and ears,,,,, oh well... it really was OK of course,,,its just she knew I ws embarrased aboout something...... thats all that was funny to her....nothihg bad about boo-boo's, no,no, I MEAN bloody knees, or I mean a bloody knee thats all.... going back out in hallway... you know the song Mountains and Marianne, its totally harmless...... then why were you embarrased ?/? huh ? great, Steve.,...

CHAR !!!!! DANG IT... PURVEYOR and Moderator of decency, goodness, and the ...north American way !! and George Music, I mean Lightfoot ! DANG it.....

You got me in good on this one.....lol....oh boy lol:mad::redface::p:rolleyes::rolleyes:

Re: One single line of lyrics makes the song much better
 

oh dear...
I guess I better not mention the other lyrics I thought of..
from SHADOWS:
Won't you lie down by me baby, run your fingers through my hands

and then we have the mountains again:

Please kiss me gently darling where the river runs away
From the mountains in the springtime, on a blue and windy day

and the big finale:
Let it go, let it happen like it happened once before

keep the kid away from the monitor...
lol

Re: One single line of lyrics makes the song much better
 

Char I hope u know I was embellishing their a little to fun ya - and so everyone else knows. All is well in the geoman extended family of children, and of course what was on the tube was completely innocuous. I just wanted to get a laught out of Char in the way I told it....and it did... I knew she wouldn't take it soo seriously, and that was the fun of it. I Can't imagine anything in a Lightfoot song that would be 1/10th of what they hear on broadcast TV at 3:30 pm afternoon afterschool specials. Now, if there was Lightfoot rap, lesse. Lightshizzle ?

No harm no foul of course as you new Char - I hope you did get a laugh out of it. I was the dummy that let little precocious one at the tube and into anythin but Sesame street. But, her Mom, thats another story... I gotta have a word with her for promising Little Lil' that she can play on the computer in her rather late tantrum time of life. lol....

It all was hilarious actually. Thanks for being a sport abut it. Did it make you blush for amoment ?.. It did me...but then I grew up sheltered in Cleveland when I was that age.....the mean streets..bustin knees for lunch money by 4....lol there was in imbedded humour in the boo-boo'd knees anyone with a certain type of carpet is aware of, but I of course won't go there for good taste' sake lol thanks char fo the sense of humour.....


Back to rockin to "George Music" lol:clap::headbang:

Re: One single line of lyrics makes the song much better
 

"Our love for each other may not be explained
We live in a world where tears must fall like rain".

From: Heaven Help The Devil ~gl~

Re: One single line of lyrics makes the song much better
 

"Every nation's gonna be shaken
Put it together, don't let it slip"

From: Seven Island Suite ~gl~

Re: One single line of lyrics makes the song much better
 

"If you plan to face tomorrow, do it soon"

From: Race Among The Ruins ~gl~

Re: One single line of lyrics makes the song much better
 

There are so many brilliant ones...

"See the soldier with his gun, who must be dead to be admired"

"And he who is wise will not criticize when other men fail at the game"

"Go first in the world, go forth with your fears, remember a price must be paid"

"If Jesus had a reason, Im sure he would not tell, they treated him so badly, how could he wish them well"


~Pure Genius~

Re: One single line of lyrics makes the song much better
 

Nobody's mentioned one of my favorites yet:

"And the thing that I call livin', is just bein' satisfied, with knowin' I got no one left to blame."

Carefree Highway.

Re: One single line of lyrics makes the song much better
 

Referring to himself as a broken toy in "You'll Still Be Needing Me"

If I could be strong, I'd be gone tomorrow morning,
Still I play the part, making like a broken toy ~GL

Wow....

Re: One single line of lyrics makes the song much better
 

"Why can't we all be brothers, why can't we live in peace"...

From: {Black Day In July} ~gl~

Re: One single line of lyrics makes the song much better
 

From Lazy Mornin' "....bless my darling daughter." Aw.......