My (Your) Favorite Couplet from Gord

wendylangley · 05-01-2005, 03:18 AM

For me, the couplet that just tickles me the most is from Old Dan's Records:

"We're all here. We've all got dates.
We'll dance all night to the 78s"

Genius. What strikes you?

The Rez

The Rez · 05-01-2005, 03:18 AM

For me, the couplet that just tickles me the most is from Old Dan's Records:

"We're all here. We've all got dates.
We'll dance all night to the 78s"

Genius. What strikes you?

The Rez

TheWatchman · 05-01-2005, 11:52 AM

"My mother said with the life that I led I'd be broke. Holy smoke" From Welcome To Try

nelsonaddison · 05-01-2005, 01:42 PM

"He shouts across the ocean to the shore
Till he can shout no more" from Don Quixote

Patti · 05-01-2005, 01:42 PM

"He shouts across the ocean to the shore
Till he can shout no more" from Don Quixote

LSH · 05-01-2005, 02:29 PM

"I'd like to take things one at a time
Forget about reason--forget about rhyme"
Drink Your Glasses Empty

closetcanadian · 05-01-2005, 03:15 PM

"I don't want to own the key - to some ghostly mansion, where souls are set free."
On the High Seas

bjb · 05-01-2005, 03:28 PM

Yesterday is gone, yesterday’s alright
Yesterday belongs in my dreams at night

Yesterday is swell, yesterday is great
Yesterday is strong, remembering can wait
-- Painter Passing Through

Reminds me to live in the moment...

[ May 06, 2005, 10:16: Message edited by: bjb ]

Sentimental · 05-01-2005, 05:46 PM

"The answer's in the forest carved upon a tree. 'John loves Mary'. Does anyone love me?"

from Sit Down Young Stranger.

Wesley · 05-01-2005, 11:57 PM

Affair on 8th Ave. the part where he sings she brushed it down, referring to her hair, when i was small i though he meant she brushed her hair and it fell down to the ground.

Affair on Touhy Ave. · 05-01-2005, 11:57 PM

Affair on 8th Ave. the part where he sings she brushed it down, referring to her hair, when i was small i though he meant she brushed her hair and it fell down to the ground.

Sydney Steve · 05-02-2005, 06:03 AM

"The House You Live In" has a poignant couplet . I think it goes something like:

" Poison your wife, and bash all your children
Don't forget all their nasty traits ..."

Just joking Corfiders. Must cut down on my AC/DC quotient - its killing off my feel for the "love stuff"!
With "Star Wars" looming I must remember "Never underestimate the power of the dark Side of the Force ".
More seriously this is a tough question and requires serious thought...( back to you with a real one later).
The cause? Blatant jealousy has turned me. (Well its the "blame generation" after all !)
I read of these gigs many of you are attending , the set lists and how wonderful they are. Another few reviews and set lists and I'll be biting the heads off chickens too!

SilverHeels · 05-02-2005, 06:51 AM

One of my faves ..

'If there's a friend who needs me,
I'll do my best to help somehow'.

And I try to live those words in my own life.
The genius of Lightfoot!

Don Quixote · 05-02-2005, 08:02 AM

Good topic, Rez. Could I also suggest that people explain a little about why they chose the couplet they did?

There are too many to mention, of course, but off the top of my head, there are two very different favorites of mine. I chose them because I like how they speak volumes with just a few simple words.

1) From "Sixteen Miles":
"So knock me down and pick me up and knock me down again/Break my heart, steal my gold and slander my good name". How many (negative) adjectives could you come up with to describe this woman and this relationship? If you stop at 10, you're not trying. You could make a short story, or a film, out of those two verses.

2) From "Don Quixote" (or, Rez, is it "Don Kemosabe"?), since this song has been prominent on the forum lately:
"See the wise and wicked ones who feed upon life's sacred fire/See the soldier with his gun, who must be dead to be admired".
The first part of the couple is surprisingly complex, the second chillingly simple, and the internal rhyme (ones/gun) sews them together. The first verse has two separate patterns of alliteration, the "w's" of "wise and wicked ones", and the subtler "f's" of "feed...life's... fire" that are in opposition to the "w's". Although there is no specification about who these "wise and wicked ones" are, it isn't hard to imagine lots who fit into the category: those who use religion, patriotism, love, family, charity and the like for their own twisted purposes: money, power, status, fulfillment of base desires. You can make up your own list: pedophile priests, gingoistic warmongers who themselves have never served in the military (no, of course I'm not talking about anybody we know), athletes, politicians and others who have affair after affair and then hide behind their spouses who pose for the reporters and say how much they love and support their guys...well, the list could go on forever. It becomes a full-blown fight of good against evil: the wicked against the sacred, the wicked hiding behind sacred pretexts to do their dirty deeds. The second verse of the couplet, of course, is simpler, and is the result of the first--nameless soldiers who slog through the horrors of war because of the greed and hunger for power by those who are in command of those who are appreciated only when they're killed.

I'm sure lots of us will think of lots of other couplets in the days ahead. Nice job, Rez.

ELizabeth · 05-02-2005, 10:21 AM

My favorite GL couplet without question is:

"Then in a blaze of tangled hooves,
He gallops off across the dusty plain,"

Th imagery of the first line is nothing short of brilliant. Fire (smoke?) and tangled hooves. Are the tangled hooves causing the fire (smoke?)? The 'screwed upness' of the tangled hooves and the last line seem to me the essence of DQ.
There are more couplets I love but I am pressed for time. Wonderful idea Rez.

Michael Slabicki · 05-02-2005, 01:44 PM

When I first logged on to this board - a few days ago - and read some of the more recent posts, I had the idea that members share what they thought were the most powerful metaphors in Lightfoot's poetry. Perhaps sometime soon it might be fun to do that. This favorite couplet topic is a great one. I really like the following, particularly when Gord sings it:

there's a warm wind tonight
and the moon turns the tide
when the stars take their ride she'll be leaving

kaibab · 05-02-2005, 01:44 PM

When I first logged on to this board - a few days ago - and read some of the more recent posts, I had the idea that members share what they thought were the most powerful metaphors in Lightfoot's poetry. Perhaps sometime soon it might be fun to do that. This favorite couplet topic is a great one. I really like the following, particularly when Gord sings it:

there's a warm wind tonight
and the moon turns the tide
when the stars take their ride she'll be leaving

Auburn Annie · 05-02-2005, 02:04 PM

Each and every bad dream will be hammered into dust / When we get back where we belong
[I'll Tag Along]

Whatever you think of me
I'm still your friend
So other than nothin' what's new
[Tattoo]

Sorry, can't pick just one :D

Auburn Annie · 05-02-2005, 02:04 PM

Each and every bad dream will be hammered into dust / When we get back where we belong
[I'll Tag Along]

Whatever you think of me
I'm still your friend
So other than nothin' what's new
[Tattoo]

Sorry, can't pick just one :D

SilverHeels · 05-02-2005, 02:07 PM

Whatever you think of me
I'm still your friend
So other than nothin' what's new
[
Annie,
I like that one too.
Can't just pick one either.
Impossible.

silenceandsound86 · 05-02-2005, 02:12 PM

"Bless you all and keep you on the road to tenderness, Heaven can be yours just for now." From All the Lovely Ladies.
A blessing from Gordon to us all.

Rona · 05-02-2005, 02:12 PM

"Bless you all and keep you on the road to tenderness, Heaven can be yours just for now." From All the Lovely Ladies.
A blessing from Gordon to us all.

ELizabeth · 05-02-2005, 04:47 PM

I just came up with a couple more couplets -= they don't compare to the first one.
In order of preference:

"The bow and the wave never wait for tomorrow,
They just keep on rollin' straight as an
arrow"

I love the inevitability of this couplet.

"An East Coast lady lit my flame,
All on a summer day."
Don't need to explain this one.

byKimberly · 05-02-2005, 06:51 PM

Too many and I'm not sure I did this in the context of couplets:

I'm lost with no road signs to guide me
A slave to my whiskey and dreams

I have felt this next one so many times:
Bells of the evening, oh bells that I love
I've got some feelings I long to be rid of

Kimberly

bjb · 05-02-2005, 07:34 PM

Will you be one who passed through but never saw?
Never knowing, never feeling anything?
Will you live your whole life through
never knowing what to do?
Will you be one who passed through but never saw?
-- In a Windowpane

Thanks for this topic, Rez! Unbelievable how many times he nails it for us...


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