Wordsmoker

The intricate sounds of a world-music tune, the rise of a note that expands to the provocation of an epic landscape, the soulful voice that takes you down South—any of these factors may give you pause as the music escapes your speakers.

But, for me, it’s song lyrics that punch me in the chest or gut, that make me nod, or make me all-out bawl that are the movement from indifference to affection or actuation. Of course, actuation is strongest when they are combined with a beautiful sound—like the gritty, sorrowful sound of Nick Cave’s voice in “O Children” or Nina Simone’s piano in “Nobody’s Fault But Mine.” Nevertheless, it’s the words that stick with me, oftentimes without the remembrance of the accompanying sound.

Some are songs that are old for me, some are new tunes—and they are in no particular order, though that first one is the most recent chop, shock, pull, catharsis (in that order).

For no reason at all, here’re those lyrics:

“Have you left a seat for me? Is that such a stretch of the imagination?” -O Children, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

“You would see, you would see, if you were three again—and did it all the same.” –Time Has Got Nothing To Do With It, Peter Murphy

“When you gonna love you as much as I do?”—Winter, Tori Amos

“If I die and my soul be lost, it’s nobody’s fault but mine.” –“Nobody’s Fault But Mine, Nina Simone

“But as long as the veins in our arms still stand up, the spirit of life will keep living on.” –Spirit, Dead Can Dance

“Girl, you gotta know that it’s time to turn the page when you’re only went because of the rain.” –Northern Lad, Tori Amos

“Libraries full of keys…where’s your lock?” Socrates the Python, Peter Murphy

“…but me and my true love will never meet again..”—The Smiths, Paint a Vulgar Picture

“..nothing to lose, stuck inside of Memphis with the mobile home, sing!” –Mother Russia/Dominion, Sisters of Mercy

“So you can make me come—that doesn’t make you Jesus.” Precious Things, Tori Amos

“…it’s lonely here, and I think you knew, and I’m waiting…and I wait in vain.” Nine While Nine, Sisters of Mercy

“I told a friend how I’m feeling and this made her sad, ‘cause she fears no man will ever want her so bad.” –I Say Fever, Ramona Falls

“From here, no lines are drawn….from here, no lands are owned…” I Can’t See New York, Tori Amos

From Tori Amos’ “Pancake:

• “I believe in defending what we once stood for—seems in vogue to be a closet misogynist homophobe.”
• “Oh, Zion, please remove your glove and dispel every trace of his spoken word that has lodged in my vortex.”
• “You could have spared her—oh, but no—messiahs need people dying in their name.”

“Can I sail through the changing ocean tides? Can I handle the seasons of my life? Mmm-mmm. I don’t know.” –Landslide, Fleetwood Mac

Yeah, go ahead. Add some of yours.