Ryan's best lyrics....

[Sydneyfan]

are?

What are your favourites?

[Quincy]

I wouldn't say it's my favourite but I enjoy:

"And the scotch that she drinks
With her lips so fine
And her shoulders go weak
As she closes her eyes"

Something about the image it conjures.

[foggy]

I am such a lyrics person that I can fall in love with a song solely based on a single line. There are far too many for me to put here, (it would takes pages) but a few favorites:

I want to be the bluebird singing
Singing to the roses in her yard
The roses in her yard her father grew for her
-----
Everytime I tell myself there’s nothing left
May I always say your name and think of you
----
Tiny like the sand in the cracks of driftwood (something about that single line I find really beautiful)
-----
This afternoon with you was something like a letter
The kind that someone writes but never sends
----
Somewhere the night sky hangs like a blanket
Shoot it with my cap gun just to make it seem like stars
------
I will teach myself to speak to you out on the city buses
Without talking
-------
How she flips from the back to the front
Reading magazines
Oh, my God, I miss those things
-------
I was at the bar till 3:00, oh lord. (simple, but great coupled with the "oh lord")
------
Ah the night... here it comes again - I love that opening line just because I relate to that emotion so well.
------
The leaves burn like effigies of my kin
And the trains run like snakes
Through the Pentecostal pines
Filled up with cotton and dime store gin
------
Also, not for the lyric itself, but I love his singing in the last verse in Starlite Diner:

you said meet me 'bout a corner to twelve
and I'm standing in the corner, oh there you are
There you are
There you are
There you are

The 3 distinct emotions conveyed each time he sings the 3 final "There you are" lines really gets to me. He sings each line with a completely different emotion in the range of surprise, relief, comfort. The subtlety is quite lovely and effecting.

[Sydneyfan]

----
Somewhere the night sky hangs like a blanket
Shoot it with my cap gun just to make it seem like stars
------

I really like that one too.


"She runs through my veins like a long black river..." always sticks in my head and I love the imagery in "Amy".

[blueone]

Dear Chicago,
You'll never guess.
You know the girl you said I'd meet someday?
Well, I've got something to confess.
She picked me up on Friday.
Asked me if she reminded me of you.
I just laughed and lit a cigarette,
Said "that's impossible to do."
My life's gotten simple since.
And it fluctuates so much.
Happy and sad and back again.
I'm not crying out to much.
Think about you all the time.
It's strange and hard to deal.
Think about you lying there.
And those blankets lie so still.
Nothing breathes here in the cold.
Nothing moves or even smiles.
I've been thinking some of suicide.
But there's bars out here for miles.
Sorry about the every kiss.
Every kiss you wasted (bad / back)
I think the thing you said was true,
I'm going to die alone and sad.

The wind's feeling real these days.
Yeah, baby, it hurt's me some.
Never thought I'd feel so blue.
New York City, you're almost gone.
I think that I've fallen out of love,
I think I've fallen out of love . . . with you.
--

[Factory Boy]

Just a couple that spring to mind........................
"I don't dare touch anything, 'cos it's evidence of us & it means everything.
Well sorta."

"You ain't but a telegram nobody's sending & nobody sends me but you."

Oh yeah...&..... "I've been turned around, I've been mystified by truuuuuuuuue love!" Oh joy!!Haha

[blueone]

I'll be honest here guys; lyrics ain't Ryan's strongest point. I think it's his melodies that grab me the most.

[foggy]

Oh, I really disagree, I think Ryan's a great lyricist.

[Quincy]

Which song is:

"Somewhere the night sky hangs like a blanket
Shoot it with my cap gun just to make it seem like stars"

from, it's driving me crazy.



I also think Ryan is great with words.

[foggy]

Jacksonville Skyline

[Quincy]

I always have trouble with Whiskeytown lyrics, I had the tune of Turn Around stuck in my head for days trying to think what the devil it was.

[Sydneyfan]

I'll be honest here guys; lyrics ain't Ryan's strongest point. I think it's his melodies that grab me the most.


I'm with you on that actually. Although I do think his lyrics have improved over time. Melody is still by far his strongest point imo.

[hgrunwell]

so many....

Leaving on the subway for your home last night
I was paying for the ride with my money
Standing in the station, I was losing my patience and my mind
All the liquor and the women and the time in between
And the narcotic haze I'd been feeling
Shoulda never come between us but I'm so glad you're back in my life


When I'm watching as the lights of the city fade
Sitting by the window on the seat of the train
Saddened with the burden of a guessing game
Which one is yours?
Just leave the lights off then next time I'm turning 'em on



Well I was fumbling for a quarter, hoping it wasn't over
I was probably money running out of my money
Wasn't over then and I guess that it ain't over now
Well I hit the city I was dead on my feet
Lying in arms with my head on the street
Tearing up my wallet and the bars where we used to meet

So when the lights of the city fade
Sitting by the window on the seat of the train
Saddened with the burden of a guessing game
Which one is yours?
Just leave the lights off 'til next time I'm turning 'em on



Leaving on the subway for your home last night
I was paying for the ride with my money
Standing in the station, I was losing my patience and my mind
All the liquor and the women and the time in between
And the drug haze that I'd been feeling
Shoulda never come between us but I'm so glad you're back in your life




When I'm watching as the lights of the city fade
Sitting by the window in the seat of a train
Saddened with the burden of a guessing game
Which one is yours?
Just leave the lights off 'til next time I'm turning 'em on
Just leave the lights off 'til next time I'm turning 'em on

[LJS]

Don't tell me it's not worth trying for
you can't tell me it's not worth dying for
You know it's true
Everything I do
I do it for you


When it gets too much
I need to feel your touch

I'm gonna run to you
I'm gonna run to you
Cause when the feelin's right I'm gonna run all night
I'm gonna run to you

[discograss]

There were stars in the sky
There were bunkers on the hill
And there were caskets to fill where he would lie
Shrouded in the red white and blue with the stripes
----
Up here in the city it feels like things are closing in
The sunset's just my light bulb burning out
I miss Kentucky and I miss my family
All the sweetest winds they blow across the south.
-----
And if the money isn't right
Can I be yours tonight?
I've had a pretty hard life
I've had a pretty hard life
For such an easy heart
------
And I hold you close in the back of my mind
And raise my glass 'cause either way I'm dead
Neither of you really help me to sleep anymore
One breaks my body and the other breaks my soul
La cienega just smiles as it waves goodbye
-----
Tennessee's a brother to my sister Carolina where they're gonna bury me
And I ain't ready to go
I'm never ready to go

[Aketch]

there are too many to count, but this is one that always strikes me

"and I could find her in a thunderstorm
Just by the way that the rain would fall"

[Gibba]

I wanna go to magnolia mountain and lay my wearing head down, down on the rocks

good stuff

[mattinmass]

and maybe...you're gonna be the one that saves me
and after all, you're my wonderwall

:upyours :upyours great stuff by ryan

[discograss]

and maybe...you're gonna be the one that saves me
and after all, you're my wonderwall

:upyours :upyours great stuff by ryan

:lol