Favorite Christine Lyric
 

I was thinking of a great thread for this forum. Since Christine writes some great one liners. You can post tunes she didn't write, for example ,Calumny was written by Dan Perfect would be ok.

Here is one of mine:


Now I know how the sun must feel
Every time it shines

Great idea! :thumbsup:

Here are a couple of mine

You make me feel, I just can't carry on
But I know I won't always be that way

She didn't write this, but...

I'm not your doctor, baby, I'm not your psychiatrist
But you keep comin' back again

"Great"? Nah. Talk about somebody not being Bob Dylan! I like the one Stevie gave her ... "and I can't walk away from you, baby, if I try"...

I'll tell you, for some reason, Christine's simpler lyrics, combined with her voice, are the ones that get to me. I sing Over My Head and SYLM to myself on an almost daily basis. And for SYLM I think my favorite line is very bare, "you woo me until the sun comes up."

I don't know ... I think it's just lovely to imagine someone knowing they're being lied to and not saying anything, just commenting on what's going on on the surface, but keeping the betrayal inside.

The lyric is his lie and the song title is her hope or request that he say it and mean it. Anyway, I love that.

Dan's Northern Star has some great lyrics throughout. As one cohesive thing it can't be beat, but these lines stand out: I'm falling down inside myself.

Casting stone. Throwing bones.

Michele

I do love that line. I know it's definitely subjective, and never have I thought of Christine as Bob Dylan, but she does have some great lyrics from time to time in my opinion.

She isn't the most brilliant in the lyrics department by any stretch (and she would admit to this herself), but IMO the beauty in her lyrics lies in its simplicity. Combine that with her vocals which can take even the most pedestrian of words and make it mean something deep and you've got magic.

Well my heart will rise up with the morning sun, and the hurt I feel will simply melt away

If there's been a fool around, It's got to be me.

I may not mean everything, but I'm happy to have your love.

Like this line, but it's ungrammatical. Typical Stevieism there.

The correct grammar would be either

"And I can't walk away from you, baby though I've tried"

Or

"And I couldn't walk away from you, baby if I tried."


My favorite Christine lyric moments. Hmmm....it's the beauty of her voice combined with those simple lyric sentiments that have power. On the page, those great lyric moments aren't as fabulous. But here are a few:

"They say I'm a silly girl / But I'm not a fool"

"If I were you, I would hold on tight / Even do wrong just to make it right. /
You treat him badly, and you better not. / you oughtta make the best of what you've got."

"There's no step for you to dance to / So slip your hand inside of my glove."

"What a wonderful night to be. / Stars must be my friends to shine for me."

I think that Christine writes lyrics that are just right for the type of music she creates. You can always tell what she is talking about in her songs. She doesn't write fake "poetry" that leaves you scratching your head wondering what the meaning is -- something that Dylan is sometimes guilty of.

This is popular music we're talking about, not classical, opera, literature or poetry. If the lyrics evoke a feeling or an emotion, describe a situation, or tell a story, that is just what the music needs.

So what's your very fav??

Would you say that to Stevie Nicks???;)


:lol::lol::lol:

I decline to answer.

Well played....:lol:

Dear Stevie Nicks, you madame, are no Bob Dylan, and your lyrics are confusing!:lol:;)

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."

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.

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.

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.

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"

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

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

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.

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.'

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.

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

Night in Estoril, too.

Good example. Love that song, too.

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.

She calls everyone darling, baby or daddy too.

Well, that's one of the reasons Sleeping Around the Corner reminds me of Christine, because Lindsey says "darling." Also, his lover is not an American and she says "red rover'. His lover in that song seems British to me. Although, he talks about meeting him at the border and you don't necessarily think of Brits on the American border. But SATC has a style about it that says Christine, especially when I combine it with Come Out to Play.

I don't like the "daddy" references in songs.

Another line I like is: You can make the darkness mean more.

Michele

yes, definitely British. she says "round" the corner too.

You can start with Northern Star and Gone Into The Sun. :thumbsup:

Nobody in Fleetwood Mac is Bob Dylan. And Bob Dylan isn't Percy Shelley.

I always liked:
There's no step for you to dance to
So slip your hand inside my glove

You hold the percentage
But I'm the fool paying the dues

I live my life through one simple line from World Turning:

Maybe I'm wrong, but whos to say what's right?

:cool:

Would you say that to Bob Dylan! (referencing the Say You Will documentary).

If we can't be lovers, then we really can't be friends.
I've got some pretty little ways to get my sweet revenge.


Some of her best lyrics reside on the albums In The Meantime, and the much-loathed Time album.

"Homeward Bound" is one of my all-time favorite songs from Christine. I just love how blunt and confessional it is, and, of course, how it foreshadows her plans to come.

I want to sit at home in my rockin' chair
I don't want to travel the world
As far as I'm concerned I've had my share
But time's more precious than gold
I don't wanna see another airplane seat
Or another hotel room
The home life to me seems really neat
I just wanna unpack for good