Question

[quesarah]

The poetry meme got me thinking about my tendency (as a visual learner) to lock on to poems or song lyrics with a strong visual component. One line or couplet can lock an image in my mind, and off I go constructing a complete narrative around that image.

One of my faves is from a Liz Phair song called "It's Sweet." The song itself is a wistful ode to a naive man who's making more out of their affair than she is. She allows herself to enjoy the infatuation and he, recognizing her cynicism, tries to minimize it. The bridge is what makes the song for me; just one line, in a halting syncopated rhythm to set it apart from the rest of the lyric:

In the early light I catch you staring, and you make a joke about it

I see that scene, and because I see it my imagination is captured by the song.

Another one, from Wilco's Hidden Track on the Summerteeth album:

The ashtray says you've been up all night

Jeff Tweedy rocks my socks.

So, curious: do any of you have a line or couplet (not a verse, that's not what I'm referring to) that captures your imagination in this way? If so, share please.

Comments

[woe2you.livejournal.com]

H'mmm.

"Smoke a cigarette and lie some more; these conversations kill"

"You are the bearer of unconditional things"

"She dances while his father plays guitar - she's suddenly beautiful"

"A hundred stairs to her new room, over glass and blackened spoons
Children grow old so soon"


Those are the ones that spring to mind.

[biogeekgrrl.livejournal.com]

Those are some good'uns. Had to look up the Alanis lyric; it was familiar but I couldn't place it.

"A hundred stairs to her new room, over glass and blackened spoons Children grow old so soon"

Oh, ow. *shudder* That's an image, all right.

[woe2you.livejournal.com]

Oops. I should probably have attributed them, right?

The first one's Stone Temple Pilots, "Big Empty", the third (on the very slim that you didn't twig it) is Counting Crows, "Mr Jones" and the nasty grim one is the Levellers, "Julie". Which somehow manages to be a great song on two chords and kill-yourself subject matter; not quite sure how that works.

[biogeekgrrl.livejournal.com]

Attributions are appreciated, yes. The STP song is one that I love; it's a great moody piece of music. The Counting Crow song is pretty good too; Adam Duritz has his moments. The Levellers song I wasn't familiar with, so I googled the lyrics. Wow.

[woe2you.livejournal.com]

"Wow" pretty much sums up the song for me too - but it's that little snippet that really conjures up the peeling walls weeping with damp and the three or four flights of stairs to be climbed amidst the stench of urine and the discarded needles.

[biogeekgrrl.livejournal.com]

Exactly the image I got. Powerful.