The best *one line* from song lyrics?

[tony111]

" I got nothing to do today but smile........" Paul Simon, The Only Living Boy In New York.

 

[totallyfixed]

And in the streets the children screamed
The lovers cried, and the poets dreamed

And from the same song

And the three men I admire most-
the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost-
They caught the last train for the coast

Don McLean, American Pie.

 

[Venod]

Billy Bragg again

How can you lie there and think of England when you don't even know who's in the team.

 

[MissTillyFlop]

I am not Jesus, though I have the same initials - Pulp, Dishes
Like an own brand box of cornflakes, he's gonna let you down my friend - Pulp, Bad Cover Version
Cold City Lights are Glowing, The traffic of life is Flowing, Out over the rivers and on into dark. - Richard Hawley, Coles Corner
She Shows no emotion at all; stares into space like a dead china doll - Elliott Smith , Waltz #2

And a personal favourite for different reasons:

Standing over the basin, I've been washing my face in - Girls Aloud, Beautiful Cause you Love Me

 

[LarryDuff]

You scumbag, you maggot
you cheap lousy faggot
happy Christmas my arse
I hope its our last

 

[nickyboy]

"The public wants what the public gets" The Jam, Going Underground

"F*** you I won't do what you tell me" Rage Against The Machine, Killing In The Name

 

[Venod]

Can you feel the silence? can you feel the silence?

Hymns to the silence-Van Morrison

 

[swee'pea99]

You scumbag, you maggot
you cheap lousy faggot
happy Christmas my arse
I hope its our last

Ah, Bing Crosby...they don't make 'em like that anymore.

 

[pplpilot]

Hello darkness my old friend.

 

[Andrew_Culture]

One for @Fnaar by Semisonic:

Get a grip on yourself take my advice
I got a grip on myself and it feels nice

Cor there's a name I haven't heard in a long while, the main keyboard riff from 'singing in my sleep' was so catchy it should have carried a health warning.

 

[Beebo]

"Kathy I'm lost", i said, though i knew she was sleeping.
Paul Simon.

 

[Andrew_Culture]

I think my favourite single lines fall into two camps;

Slightly changed cliché or adapted meanings of
disappointment

• You look like I need a drink.
• How old am I? Count the rings around my eyes.
• Did you wish upon a star that turned into a plane?
• Did you take the first step, on the ladder of success, and miss the whole first rung?
• Hold my life, because I just might lose it.
• Jesus rides beside me; he never buys any smokes...

Then there's a line that perfectly sums up touring with a band.

• 'Ashtray floors, dirty clothes and filthy jokes'.

I'm going to stop there, because they're all by The Replacements, who put in an incredible amount of effort at the coal face of great lyricism. And also because I should be working.

 

[Andrew_Culture]

Honourable mention for NoFx with

• We are wolves in wolves clothing, we are this planet's kidney stone

 

[Andrew_Culture]

"Kathy I'm lost", i said, though i knew she was sleeping.
Paul Simon.

Oh that's so desperately sad!

 

[Diggs]

"She's a brick and I'm drowning slowly" Ben Fold's painful lament of a relationship disintegrating under repressed emotions