'I'm so tired of being tired/Sure as night will follow day/Most things I worry about/Never happen anyway' 'I don't really miss god/But I sure miss Santa Claus'Ĭome on, is there a better line to encapsulate lost innocence and the yearning for the feeling of childhood? Nope, not that I can think of. In short it is everything that makes Lennon in the top five songwriters of all time. And this 'Watching The Wheels' line is profound, wise, philosophical, approachable, accessible, smart and moving. All of 'Imagine' feels like a children's tale almost, yet only Lennon thought to write 'Imagine all the people living life in peace.' But that is the brilliance of Lennon, he makes the genius look so easy you feel like you could do it too. But there was only one John Lennon ever. He is the master at taking the phrase everybody thinks, 'Why didn't I write that?' and actually bringing it to life. 'Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans'įrom 'In My Life' to 'Love' and 'God,' no songwriter ever captured the profound simplicity of life more eloquently and honestly than John Lennon. John Lennon, 'Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)' This is my favorite McKee line, but check out 'Panic Beach, 'Nobody's Child,' 'To Miss Someone' and Lone Justice's 'Wheels' for more of her exceptional songwriting. Not only is she one of the great voices in rock, an artist so gifted a singer she worked and toured with the likes of Bob Dylan, U2, Robbie Robertson and Tom Petty, she is a superb songwriter. The former vocalist for Lone Justice turned solo artist, Mckee is, to me, as underrated as any artist we've seen in the last 30 years. 'So here we are, and I don't know what we call it/Cause love is such a funny promise/Commitment is impossible, forever is a lie/That still leaves you and I' Maria McKee, 'My Girlhood Among The Outlaws' And the Replacements line just speaks for itself. And in the context of the whole song, a laundry list of things in the relationship, like, 'Things I'm bound to tell you/Like that dress looks great on you/I could use some breathing room/But I'm still in love with you,' the line about being a thing I give away is even more staggering. The line from 'Things' is a brilliant summation on the whole artistic process, that every relationship and interaction is ultimately fodder for the artist. To me, Westerberg delivers that wow factor as much as any songwriter. 'Baby needs a brand new set of eyes/Cause the ones you got now see only goodbye' 'Things I'd never tell you, down the line someday/You'll be a song I sing, a thing I give away' And this line, which Waits credits in an interview to his wife and co-writer Kathleen Brennan, is the heart and soul of this perfect song. This meditation on life is so complete it can be played at either weddings or funerals and be equally applicable and moving. My choice for the greatest song from the greatest songwriter, 'Take It With Me' is, like Arthur's 'In The Sun,' a song so powerful it basically sums up all of human existence in five minutes. 'It's got to be more than flesh and bone/All that you've loved is all that you own'

If you can sum up the whole of human existence in a couplet it makes for the greatest song lyric of all time. For the duration of the song they transport you into another world. 'In The Sun,' which I would also argue not only has the best lyric, but is arguably the best rock song of the twenty-first century, reminds me a great deal of Lou Reed's 'Perfect Day' and Reed and the Velvet Underground's 'Pale Blue Eyes.' Just like those two masterpieces do, 'In The Sun' tells a vivid story that feels as much like a short film as it does a song. Here it's part of a perfect song, a song so good, Michael Stipe, alone, and with Chris Martin, and Peter Gabriel have covered it. 'When you showed me myself, I became someone else.' If you were reading that line in a book or a poem you would stop dead in your tracks in awe. And in two lines Arthur summed up that as profoundly as Shakespeare himself could have.

The best relationships - whether friends, romantic, working or even that fleeting one night hang - change us, make us better, make us grow. 'I know I would apologize if I could see your eyes/Cause, you know, when you showed me myself, I became someone else'

Best lyrical songs