You can blow out a candle

but you can’t blow out a fire.

Once the flames begin to catch

the wind will blow it higher.

… And the eyes of the world are watching now.

They are the last lyrics of Biko, by Peter Gabriel. The way he sings those lyrics as the song builds toward the end hits me every time I hear it. The last line is sung after a slight pause, and it sounds like a veiled threat to the leaders of South Africa that killed Stephen Biko. Also, it didn’t take a long time for change to happen in South Africa after the event, but when he wrote the song it was still several years away. So at the time it was still wishful thinking that “the wind would blow the flames higher”.

Love, Ire, and Song by Frank Turner

Well a teacher of mine once told me That life was just a list of disappoints and defeats And you could only do your best, And I said “That’s a fucking cop-out, you’re just washed up and your tired, and when I get to your age I won’t be such a coward” But these day I sit at home, known to shout at my TV And Punk Rock didn’t live up to what I hoped that it could be And all the things that I believed with all my heart when I was young Are just coasters for beers and clean surfaces for drugs And I packed all my pamphlets with my bibles at the back of the shelf Well it was bad enough the feeling, and the first time it hit When you realized your parents had let the world all go to shit And that the values and ideals for which many had fought and died Had been killed off in the committees and left to die by the wayside But it was worse when we turned to the kids on the left And got let down again by some poor excuse for protest Yeah by idiot fucking hippies in 50 different factions Who are locked inside some kind of 60’s battle re-enactment And I hung-up my banner in disgust and I head for the door Oh but once we were young, and we were crass enough to care But I guess you live and learn, we won’t make that mistake again, no Oh but surely just for one day, we could fight and we could win And if only for a little while, we could insist on the impossible Well we’ve been a good few hours drinking So I’m going to say what everyone’s thinking If we’re stuck on this ship and it’s sinking Then we might as well have a parade Cos if it’s still going to hurt in the morning And a better plan’s set to get forming Then where’s the harm spending an evening In manning the old barricades, So come on old friends to the streets Let’s be 1905 but not 1917, Let’s be heroes, let’s be martyrs, let’s be radical thinkers Who never have to test drive the least of their dreams Let’s divide up the world into the damned and safe And then ride to the valleys like the old life brigade And straighten our backs and we won’t be afraid And they’ll celebrate our deaths with a national parade So come on let’s be young, let’s be crass enough to care Let’s refuse to live and learn, let’s make all our mistakes again yes And then darling, just for one day, we can fight and we can win And if only for a little while, we could insist on the impossible Leave the mourning the to the morning Yeah pain can be killed With aspirin tablets and vitamin pills But memories of hope, and glorious defeat Are a little bit harder to beat

“A hero cannot be defeated simply by making him die”

Victorious Eagle Warfare by Gloryhammer

Morals ain’t a substance you can shove in someone’s ear,

They’re basically a byproduct of a mind thinking clear…

• The Plan, NOFX.

And when you said "you can’t call those people cnts", well you cant call those cnts “those people”

• Those People, Frenzal Rhomb

Deep, I know. But it shows that (in my country) it’s more acceptable to call some one a c*nt than group them as “those people”

Follow men’s eyes as they look to the skies, the shifting shafts of shining weave the fabric of their dreams…

Neil Peart of Rush, Jacobs ladder

Not sure if it’s the ‘best’ I’ve ever heard but this line sticks with me. .

An impossible task, choosing a favorite. So I’ll just go with the first one that came to mind:

Goodness Gracious, by Kevin Gilbert (RIP). It’s pretty dated, but a lot of it is still relevant today.

Goodness Gracious is there nothing left to say?

When the ones that get to keep looking

Are the ones that look away

It’s pabulum for the sleepers

In the cult of brighter days

Goodness Gracious at the mercy of the crooks

We’re broke and stroking vegetables

And there’s way too many cooks

In every pot a pink slip, In every mouth a hook

Goodness Gracious I’m not listening anymore

Cause the spooks are in the White House

And they’ve justified a war

So wake me when they notify

We’re gonna fight some more

Goodness Gracious not many people care

Concern is getting scarcer

True compassion really rare

I can see it on our faces. I can feel it in the air

Goodness Gracious me

Goodness Gracious my generation’s lost

They burned down all our bridges

Before we had a chance to cross

Is it the winter of our discontent or just an early frost?

Goodness Gracious of apathy I sing

The baby boomers had it all and wasted everything

Now recess is almost over

And they won’t get off the swing

Goodness Gracious we came in at the end

No sex that isn’t dangerous, no money left to spend

We’re the cleanup crew for parties

We were too young to attend

Goodness Gracious me

Goodness Gracious my grandma used to say

The world’s a scary place now

Things were different in her day

What horrors will be commonplace

When my hair starts to grey?

The Weakerthans - This Is A Fire Door, Never Leave Open

---

I still hear trains at night when the wind is right I remember everything Lick and thread this string

That will never mend you or tailor more Than a memory of a kitchen floor Or the fire door that we kept propping open

And I love this place: the enormous sky And the faces, hands that I’m haunted by So why can’t I forgive these buildings These frameworks labeled home?

---

There’s something so incredibly evocative about the lyrics to this track, of which I’ve just posted a few because otherwise no one will read an entire block of song lyrics.

John K. Samson is, in my opinion, one of the finest poets and songwriters of his generation. He’s loved by those who know him, but otherwise completely unknown, and I consider that a tragedy.

I mean, ffs, he wrote four songs about a cat, and they’re one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever heard. There’s a line in the second song, ‘Virtute The Cat Explains Her Departure’;

I can’t remember the sound you found for me

which is Virtute admitting that she can’t remember her name, and doesn’t know how to get home. That makes me well up every damn time.

Girls own the void!
Let’s make some noise
Don’t leave the house without a party bag, check this!
I’m still a princess, I can curtsy, I can beat you at tetris!
Girls own the void!
Let’s make some noise
Don’t leave the house without a party bag, check this!
I’m still a princess when there’s nothing left to wear

From Girls by Patricia Taxxon

It’s impossible to choose a best, so I’ll instead share a song whose lyrics I enjoy and connect with. It’s “Out of My Depth,” by Hot Chip. They’re a band whose lyrics are often deep and meaningful, despite having a lot of fun “upper” music. I like this song because I’m prone to wallowing lol and it’s a good reminder not to do so too much. It’s ultimately a hopeful song.

When I’m in my darkest place, I must be careful not to dwell there

When I’m headed for the ditch, I must be careful not to sleep there

While I might enjoy the peace, there are other lights that call me

And although I’m out of the race, I know that something good must befall me

And when I’m swimming out of my depth, and I can barely see the crest of a wave that might destroy me

I must look for what I can’t see

I must reach for what doesn’t touch me

I must leave my lonely space and make time my only enemy

I must seek what can’t be bought and make choices that support me

And the friends who fall apart from the crumbling walls that divide me

And when I’m swimming out of my depth and I can barely see the crest of a wave that might engulf me

Then I’m in my darkest room, but I’m careful not to enjoy it all too much

But as I leave, it will be helpful to have endured it

I must be careful not to trip, not to fall as I continue

But my darkest place is in me, and there’s something there that calls me

(edit: improved formatting)

Pourquoi cette pluie pourquoi?

Cette eau, ces nuages qui nous étonnent

Elle dit : cette pluie tu vois

Ce sont des pleurs pour les yeux des hommes

C’est pour vous donner des larmes

Depuis trop longtemps elles ont séché

Les hommes n’oublient pas les armes

Quand ils ne savent plus pleurer

Coule pluie coule sur nos fronts

Idir, Pourquoi cette pluie ?

Translation:

Why this rain, why?

This water, these clouds that surprise us

She says: this rain, you see

They are cries for men’s eyes

This is to give you tears

Since so much time they dried up

Men don’t forget weapons

When they no longer know how to cry

Let rain flow, let rain flow on our foreheads

Edit: make the message clearer

Grötüs - Brown

Sky not a roof Ground not a bottom

All this is not yours You are the world’s

I really like the lyrics for Epitaph, by King Crimson.

Queensryche - Someone Else

Hit close to home for me.

Chicane, Autumn Tactics:

Hiding summer’s age no more
No more leaves in summer sky
Turning dark on empty car lots
When summer was my only friend

Bruce Springsteen, The Ghost of Tom Joad:

He pulls a prayer book out of his sleeping bag
Preacher lights up a butt and he takes a drag
Waiting for when the last shall be first and the first shall be last
In a cardboard box beneath the underpass

You got a one-way ticket to the promised land
You got a hole in your belly and a gun in your hand
Sleeping on a pillow of solid rock
Bathing in the city aqueduct

Well the highway is alive tonight
Where it’s headed, everybody knows
I’m sitting down here in the campfire light
Waiting on the ghost of Tom Joad

Jefferson Airplane, Young Girl Sunday Blues:

One side of me is filled with brightness
No matter what I might say
The days I made with waterfall colors
Could not make you stay
If rain falls down the side of my face,
Must be a rainy day.

Emmylou Harris, Deeper Well:

Well, I did it for kicks and I did it for hate
I did it for lust and I did it for faith
Did it for need and I did it for love
Addiction stayed on tight like a glove
So I ran with the moon and I ran with the night
And the three of us were a terrible sight
Nipple to the bottle, to the gun, to the cell
To the bottom of a hole of a deeper well
Well
Lookin’ for the water from a deeper well
Well
Lookin’ for the water from a deeper well
I rocked with the cradle and I rolled with the rage
I shook those walls and I rattled that cage
Took my trouble down a dead end trail
Reachin’ out a hand for a holier grail
Hey there, mama, did you carry that load
Did you tell your baby 'bout the bend in the road
'Bout the rebel yell, ‘bout the one that fell
Lookin’ for the water from a deeper well

Sonic Youth, Unmade Bed:

Look who’s come back home again
Loser looking for his lucky break
This time he says he just needs a friend
Ain’t on the run he ain’t on the take

Can you unlock this door babe
Will you just undo the chain
Will you take your time before you
Mix up love, his love and pain

Loneliness lays down his head
Wants to get you high, better take it now
A man like that’s like an unmade bed
Stained eyes searching for another way out

And, of course, Butterfingers is endlessly entertaining

This isn’t easy because so many songs have lyrics that I love. But if I absolutely had to choose one, I would choose Don’t Let Me Come Home A Stranger by Robin and Linda Williams. The lyrics are hauntingly beautiful.