I’m not expecting everyone to have one definitive/favourite song lyric – but, in a sense, that is (exactly) what I am asking for right now. I’m going to keep it brief. I want you to name your one favourite song lyric. Today it’s time to stump up with a song story that blew you way – that blows you away. Maybe it’s nonsense/beat poetry; maybe it’s true to how you see the world. Maybe it’s a short story-feel. Maybe it’s more than one of those things…

I like song lyrics that tell a story.

I like to hear a short-story of sorts created as a song.

I’ve been re-reading some of my favourite collections of lyrics lately. Suzanne Vega’s book, The Passionate Eye was enjoyable to re-traipse. And Paul Kelly’s Don’t Start Me Talking was also a nice, nostalgic stroll. Sting’s not so much…

One lyric of Paul Kelly’s struck me as the perfect example; economic – a story-song; an insight. I like the live and studio versions of the song…

Here’s the lyric

They got married early, never had no money
Then when he got laid off they really hit the skids
He started up his drinking, then they started fighting
He took it pretty badly, she took both the kids
She said: “I’m not standing by, to watch you slowly die
So watch me walking, out the door, out the door, out the door”
She said, “Shove it, Jack, I’m walking out the fuckking door”

She went to her brother’s, got a little bar work
He went to the Buttery, stayed about a year
Then he wrote a letter, said I want to see you
She thought he sounded better, she sent him up the fare
He was riding through the cane in the pouring rain
On Olympic to her door
To her door
To her door
To her door

He came in on a Sunday, every muscle aching
Walking in slow motion like he’d just been hit
Did they have a future?
Would he know his children?
Could he make a picture and get them all to fit?
He was shaking in his seat riding through the streets
In a silvertop to her….
Shaking in his seat riding through the streets
In a silvertop to her door
To her door
To her door
To her door

It’s the song, To Her Door. I heard that Paul Kelly took seven years to craft it; perfecting the story. I like that.

I love so many of the lines in this song. I love the mood/s – I love this couplet: “He came in on a Sunday, every muscle aching/Walking in slow motion like he’d just been hit” – and there’s a twang of guitar to symbolise a cartoon Thwack! I also love the economy – you get the feeling of this couple getting together, falling apart, possibly getting back together – all in a three-minute song. Add your own extra storyline moments if you must…you can do that – but the song stands on those lines alone.

Of course the music guides this lyric. Of course I could have picked Paul Kelly’s song Winter Coat or How To Make Gravy.

I could have picked many other songs by other artists/writers. But right now that is the song that speaks to me.

Whenever I hear that song/read the lyric I get chills. Yes, I can get chills even from reading the lines. Especially that bit about “walking in slow motion/like he’d just been hit”. And yes, partly it’s the music helping – as Kelly said, if the music is doing its job it charges the good lines, obscures the weak ones. He is a master of how to play that.

What is your pick for one song that you love – as a lyric?

Mention the song below – quote your favourite lines if you like. Maybe even post a link to the lyrics – or to the song as a whole. And share what you like about your favourite song lyric.

What is your favourite lyric? And why?