I love words as individual entities and the potential meanings they hold within a handful of letters.  I love words when crafted together by a master craftsman such as a novelist, an essayist, or a poet to convey a complex or powerful message, be it fact or fiction.

What I am really amazed by, and envious of, is the ability of some writers to construct single lines, as part of a bigger composition, that can stand on their own and inspire an entire thought process or fantasy in the reader’s mind.  Such lines are intended as part of the overall message of the song, poem or composition in a specific context.  However, occasionally I read or hear a line in isolation and find it has a life of its own outside the original text.

I have no idea if the composer meant it or not but, I have always been amazed by such lines and their ability to take me on a thought journey of my own so much so, I often quote such lines in conversations to make a point well away from the line’s original intended purpose.

Here is my selection of some lines, together with the effects they had on me.  You may not share my thought processes and have your own interpretation.  That’s okay, go right ahead and have your own fantasy.  In all cases, I hope you enjoy my personal selection.

  1. ‘Her name was Anne and I’ll be damned if I recall her face’.From a song called ‘Carefree Highway’ by Canadian singer/song writer Gordon Lightfoot.

What makes someone forget the face but still remember the name? We typically remember faces and forget names but when you invert this relationship, it speaks volumes of the state of mind of the person in question.  Maybe the person has a temporal lobe part of the brain damaged, hence causing him/her to forget faces while the part that stores names (I am told it is called ’amygdala’) remaiis intact.  In my personal case, with advancing years, I have deficient temporal lobe and amygdala so, I forget both face and name.  Anyway, I still remember this line and it always amused me.

  1. ‘Will you still love me tomorrow?’ A Carole King song called ‘Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?’

This is such a sad line by someone who is not certain of another person’s feelings towards them and the hesitation to commit body, heart and soul to them and wanting some re-assurance of reciprocal feelings.  The fact that we have to ask such a question shows vulnerability and lack of self-confidence.  If you substitute the word ‘love’ with other word(s) that convey the intention to maintain the relationship after the initial gain, the line can apply in romance, at home, at work and just about any relationship.  The word love can be substituted with ‘respect’ but, I feel the original line as written by Carole is significantly more interesting.

  1. ‘Look what you’ve gone and done you fool; the best was yet to come’ is the opening line of a song by Hi Gloss called ‘You’ll Never Know’.

The entire song is a woman berating a lover who left her before he had a chance to enjoy the full reward of her relationship.  There are other quotable lines in the song like ‘a fool is a fool by any other name’.  The line is intended to create doubt and regret in the person at the receiving end.  If someone had said this line to me, I would spend a long time wondering what I missed and doubting the wisdom of my hasty exit from the relationship.

  1. ‘Father McKenzie, writing the words of a sermon that no one will hear’.From Eleanor Rigby by the Beatles.

The song was largely biographical written about a woman who died all alone and her funeral was not attended by anyone, except the priest.  Every line in the song just drips with the sadness of loneliness that grabs your heart from the first line to the last, which leaves me in a wreck.  This particular line about Father McKenzie gives a glimmer of hope that someone cares enough to sit up one evening and write a sermon for Eleanor Rigby.  Then your hopes are dashed again when you are told that no one will ever hear the sermon and the priest most probably knew that anyway but still, he had sufficient humanity in him to write the sermon to commemorate the passing of a human being.

  1. ‘It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.’ are the opening words of The Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens.

Those 12 words are probably the best opening line of any novel.  The following words elevated the scene setting to new heights.  However, those words always stood on their own for me as a commentary on so many phases of our lives.  We all experience periods of times when good as well as bad things happen to us.  Come to think of it, hardly any of us lives a prolonged and sustained period of good times without anything bad happening, or vice versa.  If I am asked how my last two years have been, I can say: It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.

  1. ‘Some dance to remember, some dance to forget’. From Hotel California by the Eagles.

Nearly everyone is familiar with that song and often quotes the line: you can check out anytime you like but you can never leave.  However, ‘some dance to remember, some dance to forget’ is quite strange, to say the least. The common idiom has always been ‘some drink to remember, some drink to forget’.  But even the drinking version is not helpful because drinking actually make you remember your misery / tragedy more vividly than when you’re sober.  So, what did the Eagles mean by that line?  I have absolutely no idea!  The whole song is strange and weird but, magnificent at the same time.

  1. ‘You gotta know when to hold them, know when to fold them’. From the song ‘The Gambler’ by Kenny Rogers.

So, the reference here is to card gambling and how to behave in those tense playing sessions to avoid the possibility of losing big with a bad set of cards or confrontation with sore losers who can turn really nasty.  However, this line can apply to just about every decision point we make in our lives as we navigate our way through complex life decisions.  Those who seem to succeed are those who have the facility to know when to hold them (remaining steadfast and not alter course) and know when to fold them (realising the need to quit and taking an alternative course of action).

  1. ‘His dog up and died, he just up and died. After 20 years he still grieved’. From the song ‘Mr. Bojangles’ written by Jerry Jeff Walker and performed by many artists.

The song is a very sad story about an ageing dancer called Bojangles who travelled the southern states of the USA performing in small clubs, county fairs and achieving little or no success.  The line that always brought tears to my eyes is the line about the dog who kept Bojangles company for 15 years before he ‘up and died’.  To grieve for 20 years thereafter is so desperately sad and brings home the tragedy of so many human beings who find friendship only with a pet and when the pet dies, they find it impossible to get over the loss.  Although performed by many able artists, my favourite version of the song is by Nina Simone.

  1. ‘Stop all the clocks!’ From a poem by WH Auden.

Those four words pack such power in them that you feel compelled to stop and listen to the speaker as he must have something very important to convey to us.  WH Auden wrote the poem as a eulogy for someone dear to him who passed away and the rest of the poem is very touching.  If this line sounds familiar to you but you cannot remember why or when, let me help you.  It was featured in the 1994 movie ‘Four weddings and a Funeral’.

  1. ‘Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil’ from Psalm 23.

This is a prayer from the bible and every time I hear those words, I get a great deal of comfort and inner peace.  I wish I could tell you more but, I have no more to tell.

  1. ‘What I do, what I did, stupid fish I drank the pool.’ From a song called ‘Say You Don’t Mind’ written by Denny Lane and sang by Colin Blunstone who has a unique voice and style of singing that makes you listen to the lyrics as well as enjoy the musical experience.

The image this line creates in your mind is funny and puzzling.  A fish swimming in a pool and for whatever reason, decides to drink the entire content of the pool, thus exposing itself to the possibility of exploding with all the water inside or die due to lack of oxygen it extracts from the now empty pool.  Clearly the fish, for reasons best known to itself, is on a self-destructive mission and chooses the most unlikely way to do it.

  1. ‘What kind of fuckery is this?’ By Amy Winehouse from the song ‘Me and Mr. Jones’

Amy Winehouse came on the scene, lived a tumultuous life, created classic songs that will last a long time and died of a drug overdose at the age of 27.  Many of us are still wondering what to do with our lives around that age.

‘What kind of fuckery is this’ is funny because of the unusual use of profanity but also full of frustration and anger at situations created by someone else that prompt us to shout those words.  Those six words can apply to a thousand different situations we might find ourselves in.

  1. ‘Like a cat in a bag, waiting to drown.’ The Verve song called ‘The Drug don’t work’

This song by the Verve was written by the lead singer Richard Ashcroft. Some people see it as reference to addiction to illegal drugs, others believe it to refer to prescription drugs used to treat serious conditions such as cancer.  Richard Ashcroft remains tight-lipped about the meaning of the song, preferring people to use their own imagination to interpret the song.

What has always intrigued me is the line ‘Like a cat in a bag, waiting to drown’.  I grew up in part of the world where unwanted litter from a cat or dog are placed in a jute bag, which is then tied and thrown in a water stream.  I know it is cruel beyond imagination to even consider disposing of a kitten or a puppy in this brutal way.  However, I can just about see and feel the pain and frustration of the kitten as it struggles for air / oxygen before finally giving up and resorting to waiting for its inevitable death.  Amazingly good song with an extremely cruel imagery.

  1. ‘And miles to go before I sleep’. From a poem by Robert Frost called ‘Stopping by Woods on Snowy Evening’.

Robert Frost repeats the last line of the poem ‘and miles to go before I sleep’ maybe to emphasise the ultimate goal of reaching journey’s end, especially when you read the previous line which says: ‘But I have promises to keep’.   This simple poem is often used in eulogies at funerals.

Irrespective of the overall meaning of the poem, for me, those seven words convey two different messages.  ‘And miles to go’ suggest that I am not done yet which gives me a sense of urgency to keep going.  ‘Before I sleep’ can simply mean to have a rest after an arduous journey or, the big and final sleep that eventually comes to all of us. Either meaning works for me as it is full of hope and relief that a difficult task has been successfully accomplished and the ultimate prize is the sleep at the end of this odyssey.

  1. ‘I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.’ Invictus poem by William Ernest Henley.

This line is so full of positivity, hope and self-affirmation.  Reading the entire poem has helped me through very difficult times and the last line ‘I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul’ fits the poem perfectly. However, I am happy to just take the last line and use it as a torch to shine a light for me through dark and hostile terrain.

  1. ‘Oh, darling, make it go, make it go away’. From a song called ‘This Woman’s Work’ written and performed by the amazing Kate Bush.

Kate Bush was commissioned to write the song for a specific scene in the movie “She is Having a Baby’ starring Kevin Bacon and Elizabeth McGovern.  Kate actually wrote the song based on little information about the film in general and the scene in question in particular.  When you see the movie and watch the scene where the song is featured, you know Kate Bush nailed it 100%.

For me that line ‘Oh, darling, make it go, make it go away’ is full of many other meanings.  Make what ‘go away’? Is it pain, guilt, hurt, reasons for separation?  It could be any of these reasons and more.  The way Kate Bush sings this line rips your heart to pieces.

  1. ‘My clothes don’t fit me no more’.From Streets of Philadelphia by Bruce Springsteen.  This is another song commissioned for a specific movie called Philadelphia starring Tom Hanks (won an Oscar for his role) and Denzel Washington.

I certainly can relate to the line ‘My clothes don’t fit me no more’.  The line is not a cause for celebration of someone who went on a planned diet and is now basking in the glorious feeling of all his/her clothes being too big for them.  For me, this will always be about people who had an enforced loss of weight due to harsh imprisonment, serious illness or something similar.  I vividly remember the first time trying my clothes on and looking in the mirror, and I actually had that line ‘my clothes don’t fit me no more’ run through my head.  For some strange reason, these six words give the whole image a potency better than an entire essay on the topic.

  1. ‘Everybody hurts sometimes’.Also, the title of the song by REM.

Apart from the fact that the line speaks the truth about life, it helped me to remain grounded and stopped me from feeling sorry for myself.  The word ‘sometimes’ is also full of hope and optimism that the hurt is temporary and will soon pass.

  1. ‘Some men are born mediocre, some men achieve mediocrity, and some men have mediocrity thrust upon them.With the Major it had been all three.’  A line from Joseph Heller’s famous novel ‘Catch-22’ published in the Sixties about the futility of war.  Almost every page of this 450-page book has at least one worthy quote we can use in our everyday life.  By a huge margin, Catch-22 is my favourite book.

Describing an ineffectual officer called Major Major who had the rank of a Major because someone in ‘army admin’ thought it would be funny to have an officer called Major Major Major so, he was over-promoted to a level of incompetence, thus making his life hell on earth amongst other officers and soldiers.

The original line was from the Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare and it referred to ‘some men are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them’.  Joseph Heller borrowed heavily from Shakespeare on this occasion and used mediocrity instead of greatness to aptly describe Major Major Major.  It is quite an insult and one can take out the word great or mediocre and use other words like stupid, dim, mean, and so on.  I love this line because I can use it (not so often these days), to describe individuals I do not have much time for.

  1. ‘He has killed me mother.Run away, I pray you’ From Macbeth by William Shakespeare.

I am not an aficionado of Shakespeare plays but know enough about some of them after seeing a stage performance or a movie.  Years ago, and late at night at home, I was half-watching a cinema version of Macbeth (might have been by Roman Polanski). Macbeth had already changed from being brave and noble to a tyrant that kills the king of Scotland, declaring himself as king and is busy getting rid of the old king’s allies and supporters.  One such person is a nobleman called Macduff whom Macbeth had arrested and sent his henchmen to sort out Lady Macduff and their young son.  Lady Macduff was torn between supporting her husband’s principled stand or speaking against it as their circumstances begin to worsen. The young boy though, believes his father to be innocent and noble.  When the henchmen arrive, they pour insults on Macduff and the boy challenges the leader of the assassins and naively walks up to him to assert his father’s innocence.

I was shocked to the core when the boy turns around and runs to his mother uttering the very last words of his short life ‘He has killed me mother, Run away, I pray you’ then he collapses in a heap having been silently but fatally stabbed by the assassin.  The mother is also dispatched by having her throat cut.

To have to report your own death as a child in those stark words and to point out it was a murder by an adult is really shocking and memorable.  I came across a similar line in a novel called ‘The Lovely Bones’ by Alice Sebold. In fact, it was the very first line of the story, which kept me reading this excellent book from cover to cover.  The line was: ‘My name was Salmon, like the fish; first name Susie. I was fourteen when I was murdered’.  Those opening words got me hooked and the story turned out to be well worth the investment of my time.  The film version is also excellent.