Your favourite Elbow lyrics

In despair or incoherent. Nothing inbetween.

ALWAYS speaks to me!

Emma G wrote:

You are the only thing in any room you're ever in

The first time I heard that line, I had to stop the CD and play it again, but this time with tears in my eyes.

....it's word for word something I said to the (unrequited) love of my life about five years ago.

I recently got back in touch with her by the wonders of Facebook to find she's just got married 5000 miles away on a Caribbean beach.

Guy, are you stalking me or summat?

heshofcheese wrote:

Guy's lyrics to be studied in schools anyone?

I forget which YouTubed interview it was on - one of the Dutch or Belgian ones - but Guy talks about how he heard about a (Manchester?) youth offenders' worker using the lyrics from Scattered Black and Whites as a prompt for a session with lads who've gone into the system for the first time. The dialogue goes something like, "What do you think the song's about?" and predictably the group answer with 'He's been climbing trees ..." and other superficial responses. After a bit of cajoling, the poignant imagery breaks through their tough facade and the kids all end up in tears remembering their own family memories as it's the first time they've left home. Elbow as therapy, even.

Can we get the next album on prescription, please?

these friends are mine

"We kissed like we invented it"

Dabamash wrote:

"We kissed like we invented it"

yea, that's a cute one though it reminds me a bit on "Poison Street" by New Model Army who sang: "We were singing in the rain, like we invented singing.."
But no problem with that...(I like NMA almost as much as Elbow)

I've been thinking about NMA's "singing in the rain" too ever since I heard Mirrorball.

Like everyone I love Elbow's lyrics (well I wouldn't be here otherwise. hehe), but talking about the alliteration earlier, well not alliteration exactly, but I think the rhyme structure of "Coming Second" is genius, with the emphasis at the beginnig of the next line - Beyond repair, thereis nothing to say, save some fading regrets, yet I can't be without this...

But I so often find it difficult to quote individual lyrics, because of the way the lyrics and music go together so perfectly. One of my personal favourites is Whisper Grass, the way the line just fades, "came down, gave in, I..." and the guitar says it all.

Dabamash wrote:

"We kissed like we invented it"

Hell yes!

Right now One Day Like This and Mirrorball strike me the most I think.

"Throwing advice like grenades at the table
Your spinning your wisdom with stories that change
Your eyes are flurescent my babyfaced angel
Grow a fucking heart love
I know. What. You. Have. Done."



I love this stuff.

Tinwal wrote:

"Throwing advice like grenades at the table
Your spinning your wisdom with stories that change
Your eyes are flurescent my babyfaced angel
Grow a fucking heart love
I know. What. You. Have. Done."



I love this stuff.

Absolutely excellent.

[quote="Tinwal"]"
Your eyes are flurescent my babyfaced angel
[quote]

misheard this part too, I understood "you're wise a few lessons" but in truth it goes

"your LIES are flurescent..."

strange innit?

Aye, this whole song is genius. :-)

Heh. It's one of my favourite songs ever and I've listened to it about a gazillion times. I always thought it was, "you're wise if you listen, my baby-faced angel". Funny.

They're pacing Piccadilly in packs again
And moaning for the mercy of a never come rain
The suns had enough and the simmering sky
Has the heave and the hue of a woman on fire

Shop shutters rattle down and I'm cutting the crowd
All scented and descending from the satellite towns
The neon is graffiti singing make a new start
So I look for a plot where I can bury my broken heart

No, I know I won't forget you
But I'll forget myself, if the city will forgive me

The man on the door has a head like Mars
Like a baby born to the doors of the bars
And surrounded by steam with his folded arms
He's got that urban genie thing going on

He's so mercifully free of the pressures of grace
Saint Peter in satin, he's like Buddha with mace
He's so mercifully free of the pressures of grace
Saint Peter in satin, he's like Buddha with mace

No, I know I won't forget you
But I'll forget myself, if the city will forgive me
No, I know I won't forget you
But I'll forget myself, if the city will forgive me

Do you move through the room with a glass in your hand
Thinking too hard about the way you stand
Are you watching them pair off and drinking them long
Are you falling in love every second song

Do you move through the room with a glass in your hand
Thinking too hard about the way you stand
Are you watching them pair off and drinking them long
Are you falling in love...
Are you falling in love...
Are you falling in love every second song

No, I know I won't forget you
But I'll forget myself, and the city will forgive me

Keep Your Sympathy,
Don't Need A Healing to start
You've gone, gone and made a beautiful hole in my heart


That once saved me from suicide

...and welcome to the board!

Hello.... Newbie. Anywho the lyrics of Red are very moving .

"Come as you are sweetheart, come as you are.
You know you've got nothing to prove."

But I love the lyrics of a clearly envious Garvey in Mexican Standoff.

"Yet he'd look ideal 'neath the wheels of a car
Oh Mexican standoff I wish I was hard."

There are too many lyrics to chose from, and I agree with everyone talking about the lyrics of Forget Myself are genius.

bluejayway wrote:

"Yet he'd look ideal 'neath the wheels of a car

Haha, I have that down as one of my favourites as well!
It's just BRILLIANT!!!

gogitosbanditos wrote:

Keep Your Sympathy,
Don't Need A Healing to start
You've gone, gone and made a beautiful hole in my heart

Welcome Bandito!

One of my fav lyrics is from 'My Very Best' as well:

Of the love we should say this
There were switches never flicked

I think I may have posted this elsewhere on the forum as well but that line still really gets me.
It's pure genius: so simple, yet it says it all.

We had Leaders on in the car yesterday, it's been a while since I've listened to it in full and Mexican Standoff is rather fun to sing (shout, in my case) along with!

We also decided Garvey has the best ways of describing drunkeness, "I'll drink until the doorman is a christmas tree, and my speech is just a gas leak.."

Could take me hours to post my favourite Elbow lyrics because there are just too many but here's my pick.

Lost in a lullaby
Side of the road
Melt in a memory
Slide in a solitude
Not ‘til I can read by the moon
Am I going anywhere
Not ‘til I can read by the moon


You've gone
Gone and made a beautiful hole in my heart

Don't look down
Keep staring like you've never seen the stars
If you need me to remind you who you are
Little blossom there's the shiniest soul
Just behind those eyes

Love you mate

Too many to choose from. This is my favourite passage of Garvey poetry from TSSK...

"When out of a doorway the tentacles stretch
Of a song that I know
And the world moves in slow-mo
Straight to my head
like the first cigarette of the day"

Had a stressful time at work last year (complete with juganaut brow). Bones of You was my song of 2008.

Agree w/everyone who said they had a hard time picking just one song as their fave BUT...if you put a gun to me head and forced me to choose, it'd have to be Great Expectations. Amazing imagery and a well-told story, I think. There's so much on TSSK that is fan-bloody-tastic, and the album as a whole is their best overall so far IMO, but I always come back to Great Expectations as their peak moment for some reason.

I've just posted this in the "lyrics we love" thread, but I love it so much that I'm gonna post it again!

Kick off your feet
Twist off your head
Lady, lady

Burn all your clothes
And then let's go to bed
And get Lazy
Lady, Please, Please

ChrissieInFL wrote:

Agree w/everyone who said they had a hard time picking just one song as their fave BUT...if you put a gun to me head and forced me to choose, it'd have to be Great Expectations. Amazing imagery and a well-told story, I think. There's so much on TSSK that is fan-bloody-tastic, and the album as a whole is their best overall so far IMO, but I always come back to Great Expectations as their peak moment for some reason.

Couldn't have put it better, Chrissie.

That's exactly how I feel about both TSSK and Great Expectations