What song has good lyrics because of the idea/lesson/experience it shares?
In my opinion, most Mountain Goats songs. John Darnielle is an amazing songwriter, and he tackles very difficult subjects, especially in his earlier stuff. The Sunset Tree album is all about growing up with an abusive step-father, Tallahassee about a couple who fall apart, Full Force Galesburg about a small town you can disappear in, etc. Some of my favorites include “The Mess Inside” about two people that can’t find the love they lost, “No Children” about a couple that hate each other, and “Jeff Davis County Blues” about a sort of meditative experience after a breakup. I’d give it all a listen. To go even deeper, the albums All Hail West Texas and In League With Dragons have sort of companion podcast seasons (I Only Listen To The Mountain Goats) where Darnielle and Joseph Fink of Welcome to Nightvale go through each song, the inspiration, the meaning, stuff like that.
As I hurtle towards middle age, I find Time by Pink Floyd more and more relevant
Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day
Fritter and waste the hours in an off-hand way
Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town
Waiting for someone or something to show you the way
Tired of lying in the sunshine staying home to watch the rain
You are young and life is long and there is time to kill today
And then one day you find ten years have got behind you
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun
And you run and you run to catch up with the sun but it's sinking
Racing around to come up behind you again
The sun is the same in a relative way, but you're older
Shorter of breath and one day closer to death
Every year is getting shorter, never seem to find the time
Plans that either come to naught or half a page of scribbled lines
Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way
The time is gone, the song is over, thought I'd something more to say
Home, home again
I like to be here when I can
And when I come home cold and tired
It's good to warm my bones beside the fire
Far away, across the field
The tolling of the iron bell
Calls the faithful to their knees
To hear the softly spoken magic spell
Piano Man by Billy Joel
The whole scene it sets, the mood, it’s all just so human.
Yes, they’re sharing a drink they call loneliness
But it’s better than drinking alone
Paramore - This is why
If you have an opinion
Maybe you should shove it
Or maybe you could scream it
Might be best to keep itTo yourself (to yourself)
Another one of theirs that comes to mind is “Audience of One”. An excerpt from the middle verse and chorus:
Identities assume us. As 9 and 5 add up. Synchronizing watches to the seconds that we lost. I looked up and saw you, and I know that you saw me. We froze but for a moment… in empathy. I brought down the sky for you and all you did was shrug. You gave my emptiness a name.
Then you ran away. Now all my friends are gone. Maybe we’ve outgrown all the things that we once loved. Run away, but what are we running from? A show of hands from those in this audience of one. Where have they gone?
