Favorite Christine Lyric

[aleuzzi]

Originally Posted by jbrownsjr

Quit obsessing on Le Nicks and post a fav lyric!!!

While they're smiley facing, I'll go again for you, jbrownsjr...

"No road is the right road./ I've gotta change my plans. / You're walking up a one-way street / when you only love one man."

[michelej1]

I don't like Temporary One as a song, but I like these lines:


Where are you darling, when my Moon is rising, and your Sun is shining down?

What are you doing, are you missing me, the way that I'm missing you now.

The river goes on and on and the Sea that divides us is a temporary one.

[Mr Scarrott]

It's got to be Brown Eyes for me

When you look at me with those brown eyes
What do you want to do
Do you have to have me
The way that I want you
I want you

When you look at me with those brown eyes
What do you want to say
And are you just another liar
Will you take me all the way
All the way.


Utterly simple, but taken with the melody, the sha-la-las, the production, the mysterious bassline, and Peter Green's fleeting appearance at the end, I don't think there's a more sensuos song in the canon.

[nicepace]

Such a good thread. In all the time I've been a Christine McVie fan (38 years, yikes!) I have never much thought about her lyric-writing as a whole.

She has many songs in which longing is the main emotion. She doesn't have many in which unbridled joy is present (although there are a few - YMLF for instance). Her longing is for her love to be trustworthy, or to return her love; her longing is to be able to recover from hurt; her longing is to return home; her longing is for security. Here is one example (there are many, many more):

I want to be inside your heart
That's the place, the place for me
But I could understand, it won't be easy
You've got to prove, prove your love to me

Such uncertainty, combined with such strong longing. I think this is a key element to explain why her songs are so easy to like (besides the obvious musical elements, her fantastic voice, the accessible melodies, etc.). Her songs touch a place inside each of us where that uncertainty and that longing reside. We all have those emotions; they are part of what makes us human.

[FutureGames71]

I know it's a Bob Welch penned tune but I've always loved it as if it were Chris'

"For a little peace in any season
I'd give up anything but your love
I don't want to trade just to be happy
That's only playin' anyway

But if I dream about it, it makes me wonder
For every good thing, must you get bad?
But I won't worry, 'cause if I'm living on borrowed time
I'm just gonna keep on, the way I'm going
Keep on the way I'm going"

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by nicepace

Such uncertainty, combined with such strong longing. I think this is a key element to explain why her songs are so easy to like (besides the obvious musical elements, her fantastic voice, the accessible melodies, etc.). Her songs touch a place inside each of us where that uncertainty and that longing reside. We all have those emotions; they are part of what makes us human.

Yes, the longing is universal and then her voice injects a vulnerability that goes even beyond the words. I mean, sometimes the words are very raw and plain as in Why.

But sometimes it's her voice alone that conveys how open to pain you can be. I mean on the surface being Over My Head might sure feel nice, but it's the way she sings it that brings the feeling home that it's almost not worth being taken to paradise, if it's going to feel as awful as it does coming down. I mean, with her, even the good parts hurt a little. And I think people who don't think her songs are any deeper than, say, Neil Sedaka's, maybe don't ever pay attention to the bitter beneath the sweet.

Who else sings "you hurt my pride" in a way where you would sense that, even if you didn't understand the words? And the phrasing of the songs, the way a sentence is broken up illogically like so that she sings "if you think you might" and then there's a pause and she says "love me baby" so that it's not one line, but two messages. She's asking for something, just not in the form of a question. Hope, hesitancy, fear or rejection, a request all in a few syllables. And that's the way most of her songs are.

Michele

[michelej1]

Your love is like a circus wheel.

Is one of my favorites. Although, I admit I may be attracted to it because of the language difference. We would say "Ferris wheel" and I don't know if that would turn me on.

I also find something poetic in "Isn't it Midnight." I mean, it's no big deal to say, "aren't you guys 8 hours ahead of us," but the term "isn't it midnight" makes me think of magical things, like Cinderella losing her slipper or things coming to a peak or end at that meaningful hour in time.

Michele

[FutureGames71]

One of my favorites:

You're never too old to learn
You're never too young to pray
It's never too late to learn
And hope for better days


I think the lyrics in general to "Heart of Stone" are so simplistic and sweet, and the McVie/Quintela composition just wrap around them perfectly.

[holidayroad]

From 'Prove Your Love':

'So if you can't see me right where you are...then why don't you send for me, baby, by the nearest star.'

[jbrownsjr]

Originally Posted by michelej1

Your love is like a circus wheel.

Is one of my favorites. Although, I admit I may be attracted to it because of the language difference. We would say "Ferris wheel" and I don't know if that would turn me on.

I also find something poetic in "Isn't it Midnight." I mean, it's no big deal to say, "aren't you guys 8 hours ahead of us," but the term "isn't it midnight" makes me think of magical things, like Cinderella losing her slipper or things coming to a peak or end at that meaningful hour in time.

Michele

I've always felt something really mysterious and magical about the Midnight concept as well. It has such a Tango In The Night feel to it.. very romantic

[aleuzzi]

Originally Posted by jbrownsjr

I've always felt something really mysterious and magical about the Midnight concept as well. It has such a Tango In The Night feel to it.. very romantic

The something's-happening-a-world-away theme is pretty prominent in Christine's songs. Isn't it Midnight and Temporary One, obviously. But also in Hollywood--that, I-miss-the-old-life thing. What makes Friend such a moving testimony is how it shows that Christine's decision to reconnect with the world across the ocean has, ironically, made her wistful for that which she was clamoring to leave for years and years.

[jbrownsjr]

I felt for so long,
Cracks appearing on your loving face!
I saw them then, I can see them now..............

[jbrownsjr]

Originally Posted by aleuzzi

The something's-happening-a-world-away theme is pretty prominent in Christine's songs. Isn't it Midnight and Temporary One, obviously. But also in Hollywood--that, I-miss-the-old-life thing. What makes Friend such a moving testimony is how it shows that Christine's decision to reconnect with the world across the ocean has, ironically, made her wistful for that which she was clamoring to leave for years and years.

Night in Estoril, too.

[aleuzzi]

Originally Posted by jbrownsjr

Night in Estoril, too.

Good example. Love that song, too.

[nicepace]

From 'Prove Your Love':

'So if you can't see me right where you are...then why don't you send for me, baby, by the nearest star.'

If I had a couple of hours with nothing to do I'd compile a list of all Christine's celestial references. Her songs mention the stars, moon, sun and sky quite often.