By Yan (80.194.105.141) on Saturday, February 08, 2003 - 09:28 am:

....this one kind of speaks for itself. Just share some of what you consider the most perfect couplets. Heres one of mine from a potential list of hundreds!-

my face against the window pane/watching me calling out your name

-from Alice Clark's- "You Hit Me Right Where It Hurt Me" (Kim Weston did a version too; vocals were better but the production wasn't as good); this is so simple and perfect; and epitomises what a well written lyric is to me. (also from the same song- "you walked out with tears a-fallin/never looking back while I was calling". Ace! Mickey Valvano, Sylvia Moy and George Kerr wrote it) Just a thought: wouldn't the title/chorus be better as "I Hit You Right Where It Hurt Me"?? Might have got more sales because of the curiosity value! Or maybe not, and I would make a really, really bad A&R man!!

Actually you could also do a whole thread on when you think you heard one thing in the lyrics; listen again and you got it wrong- and you like your version better! For instance in "Just Aint Enough Love" (to pick anotrher Jobete song- you guys don't have to)- my favourite couplet was always-

so sure this would satisfy/til she looked and left with this reply

-I must have listened to this a hundred times before I heard it again as "she upped and left". It makes more sense I suppose, but "she looked and left" is beautiful! It's still a great couplet. (suprisingly from H/D/H who aren't known for their lyrics)

....I could go on (and on) but I'll turn it over to all of you. You can pick wild/funny couplets too!

By Eli (151.197.41.234) on Saturday, February 08, 2003 - 10:05 am:

"I will build you a castle in a faraway land, till it reaches the moon I will sing you the melodies of birdies that fly and comepose you a tune" or any of the couplets in I'l try something new.

By Yan (80.194.105.141) on Saturday, February 08, 2003 - 10:45 am:

Great choice! The problem with Smokey, though; is that once you get started on him , you'll never get around to anyone else!

.....sweetness was only heartaches' camoflague/the love I saw in you was just a mirage

By Sue (64.12.103.48) on Saturday, February 08, 2003 - 11:32 am:

Just like Pagliacci did
I try to keep my surface hid

By Nish (66.119.33.135) on Saturday, February 08, 2003 - 11:39 am:

From "Whatever Makes You Happy" - "If my woe was here to please you, I'd be pleased with my woe/and if my sorrow brought you joy, I'd enjoy my sorrow."

From "What Love Has Joined Together" - "It would be easier to take the wet from water/all the dry from sand"

By MEL&THENSOME (195.219.7.85) on Saturday, February 08, 2003 - 01:36 pm:

From Big Dee Irwins
you satisfy my needs
'the good times
the bad times
and
even,in between times'.
mel.

By Eli (151.197.41.234) on Saturday, February 08, 2003 - 01:53 pm:

Whats love got to do with it
Whats love but a second hand emotion
Whats love got to do with it
Who need a heart when a heart can be broken

Great stuff!!!

By SteveS (209.219.207.3) on Saturday, February 08, 2003 - 02:06 pm:

For me it's a tie for 2nd place:

"I've been crushed by the tumbling tide
And my mind's been psychedelicized"

and

"Great gaooga mooga
Can't ya hear me talkin to ya"

However, 1st place goes to Barry White, and if you think I'm making this up, go back and take a good listen:

"I'm never never gonna quit
Quittin just ain't my schtick"

By STUBASS (206.135.204.2) on Saturday, February 08, 2003 - 02:14 pm:

STEVE: "SCHTICK" IS NOT A MISPRONUNCIATION...MEERELY SOMEONE GIVING BARRY A LESSON IN "YIDDISH"!!!...THE WORK "SCHTICK" IN THAT CONTEXT WOULD TRANSLATE INTO..."QUITTIN JUST AIN'T MY "THING"!!!...."GAZUNDTEN DINE CUUP"...STU

By Yan (62.30.112.1) on Saturday, February 08, 2003 - 03:40 pm:

Mel-

....I also love that line "You Make Me So Proud Of Me Baby"....!! Ahem. Back to the couplets; have to bring Curtis in-

one of the chosen few/did what you told me to

...don't know why this always got me; it just did.

By R&B (138.238.41.118) on Saturday, February 08, 2003 - 03:50 pm:

ALTHOUGH SHE'S GONE TO A FAR WONDEROUS LAND TO TAKE HER PLACE IN THE KINGDOM OF MAN,THOUGH SHE'S GONE HER LOVE LINGERS ON TO YOU LITTLE BOY BLUE,THE IMPRESSIONS 1963.

By R&B (138.238.41.118) on Saturday, February 08, 2003 - 03:52 pm:

ALTHOUGH SHE'S GONE TO A FAR WONDEROUS LAND TO TAKE HER PLACE IN THE KINGDOM OF MAN,THOUGH SHE'S GONE HER LOVE LINGERS ON TO YOU LITTLE BOY BLUE,THE IMPRESSIONS 1963.

By Davie Gordon (193.122.21.26) on Saturday, February 08, 2003 - 04:07 pm:

Sue,

I've always heard it as

"Just like Pagliacci did
I try to keep my sadness hid"

By douglasm (68.113.15.28) on Saturday, February 08, 2003 - 05:10 pm:

.....Love is a beautiful thing
When it knows how to swing
And it grooves like a clock......

By Yan (62.30.112.1) on Saturday, February 08, 2003 - 05:23 pm:

I was never much of one for those social conciousness lyrics of the 70s; 'cos I honestly think they aren't as intelligent/poetic/witty/perceptive about the social issues they are dealing with, as the love songs of the 60s were about human relationships. They either seem naieve or pompous ("oh mother, why do they judge us because of how we wear our hair" ....bleaaah!). There are exceptions- I love some of Curtis' lyrics....what was that song that went something like-

on these city streets, everywhere/gotta be careful where you put your feet, how you part your hair

...cool! As I remember it; this line was followed by-

do you really think god could ever forgive/this life we live

...which is quite affecting if you are locked into the song. (about a soldier returning from war and not fitting in) My favourite, though, has to be-

only sixteen families that control the world/I read that in a book y'all

....kinda suprising this is from the O'Jays!

YAN

P.S I just won Bobby Harris-"Lets Stop Fooling Ourselves" on Ebay for $2! I've been sick and in bed for 3 days, and my eyes have swollen up, and I look like ET (AND I'm missing a really good party tonight because of it); so I feel like I deserved it!

By Nish (170.224.224.102) on Saturday, February 08, 2003 - 06:09 pm:

A very great couplet:

"She's got it upstairs,
she's got it downstairs,
and she's got it on her balcony,
that's why I call my mellow gal, oh! my baby's 3-D!" - The Dominoes - earthy poetry

"Sunny Boy, looks good in everything from silk to corduroy (or Mohair); to see him I'd go from Idaho to Illinois (or anywhere)" - (He's My) Sunny Boy by the Supremes

"Time cannot erase the burning love I thought would pass/oh but it let's me know how long our love will last..." - I Love You Secretly by the Miracles

By Yan (62.30.112.1) on Saturday, February 08, 2003 - 06:22 pm:

Nish- wish I'd remembered the Supremes lyric to claim as my own; it's just great! ....have you heard Marvin's take on I Love You Secretly/My Last Chance?? (the original version that was on the 1990 Boxset) It's a bit underproduced but it's still great.

Some great "triplets" (is that what you'd call them...??) from Smokey-

you've changed me and made me someone new/now I've got to find me somebody/cos the person you've made me doesn't love you

maybe you missed another girl so you tried to make me her/but I can't be another girl/even though you wish I were

By Sue (64.12.103.23) on Saturday, February 08, 2003 - 06:38 pm:

Davie,
I think your "Tears of a Clown" lyrics are correct, it's "sadness." I remembered the Pagliacci line but never trust my memory and doublechecked on a website -- and that guy is WRONG!

By John Lesrer (217.40.198.101) on Sunday, February 09, 2003 - 03:27 am:

My favourite line which helped keep my spirits up when I was suffering in a hospital oncolgy unit following the removal of, err, something men deal with.........

The line was

The day you take one, you have to take the other!

People couldn't understand why I thought it was so amusing and in retrospect, I am not sure why I did either!

By Greg C. (166.84.229.217) on Sunday, February 09, 2003 - 09:30 am:

"Aww.. You keep your motor running all day, but you're runnin' out of fuel at night,
According to the rules, that ain't right,
You shouldn't be runnin' around with your bag of tools trying to fix everything in sight" Sisters Love-Mr. Fix-It Man/ Mowest MW 5014F.

This song makes me laugh/sigh when I think about a very unfaithful person I once dealt with. Talk about denial...

By Yan (80.194.105.141) on Sunday, February 09, 2003 - 12:07 pm:

but the words I rehearsed/came out in reverse/instead of sending you away/I begged you to stay

Edwin Starr- My Weakness Is You