We couldn't be a music site without being just a littttttle bit obsessed with lyrics which is why 'The Music' team are asking some of our favourite favourites about their favourite lyrics in our series 'Wax Lyrical'. With Bodyjar's 'New Rituals' out today, frontman Cam Baines reveals some of his favourite lyrics of all time.
I wish I'd written the lyrics to Stairway To Heaven, so I could finally buy a continent where I could be king. I've got some pretty progressive laws I want to try out.
It's hard to pick with so much insightful wordsmithing going on, but I'd say the first lyric in Surrender: “You celebrate and masticate.” I thought, 'Tom's finally written a song about wanking,' then I looked it up and realised he was writing about chewing your food properly, which I guess is a global issue right now.
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"And in the end / The love you take / Is equal to the love you make." - The End by The Beatles. They're gonna be big one day, with the right single and the right management.
In Why Can’t This Be Love by Van Halen, Sammy Hagar wrote a line that goes, "Only time will tell if we stand the test of time." That makes me happy because it makes my lyrics feel a lot better than I thought before I heard that lyric.
I think the best sad song ever written is by the criminally underrated band ALL. Their songs are amazing, so much better than any other punk pop band. They have a song called Scary Sad which kills me:
Every time she slit her wrists I wish she hit instead of missed
Every secret family crime, all my love a waste of time
Every doctor, every shrink, every bloody bathroom sink
All the filth we tried to hide, just a face I needed to be beside
Scary, sad girl leave my happy lone world
All those scary, sad things are what any love brings
Sounds gnarly, but in the context of the other lyrics it's golden, hits hard.
Anything by Melbourne band Bodyjar.
Probably Happy Birthday. It's a handy one to keep in your head. That or We Didn't Start the Fire by Billy Joel. It sucks so hard it's actually awesome.