Favorite TGA Lyrics

Me neither, but on the night bus back home a little while back I was listening to it and I literally opened my eyes when the meaning, or my interpretation of it, struck me. I guess it just hit home because I've been there recently.

Quote :

just hit home because I've been there recently.

haven't we all....

thats why o.w.l really speaks to me, reminds me of all the good times shared....

' Well its a deep dark night, and i hear you, ive been there'

hits hard.

- "I'll love you forever if I ever love at all..."
- "And your tattooed knuckles, Oh! How they grind down. Try to be a man, tough just like your father"
- "I never felt so strange standing in the pounding rain thinking about what my mother once said..."
- "Like a dream I remember from an easier time..."

And finally:
- "And if all was well and your heart could find the words, would we be for better, baby, would we be for worse? And if there was a way to navigate your seas, if tonight, my true love dared belong to me... (Do you miss her right now?)"

These lyrics remain very close to my heart because they remind me of my brother and my father at the same time. They've never agreed on anything and fought all the time.
My mom had left my father when I was about 16 years old. I was extremely close to him. The love that my parents had shared was beautiful! But in the end, it died out.
And my brother is like Brian in a way. He wears his heart on his sleeve.
His first love didn't love him in that way. She only cared for him as a friend. I always think of her as his real and only "true love". Now he has a girlfriend but he has told me countless times that he will always love her, even when she doesn't love him.

"Of the sky, up above these indifferent stars.
Where you just kept coming apart, straight in my arms."

(Also want to add that "I belive my trouble and your trouble shook hands" gives me chills. That line is so beautiful, not a gaslight lyric, but a Fallon one, so thought I'd mention it anyway =P)

Noooooobody does it like gouging anymore

Brilliant ambiguous line

How do you pick favorites when you love every line? Nearly impossible, but I'll give it a try.

Sink or Swim

"I got an Irish name and an injury/
Blessing and a curse cast down on me/
Ain't nobody got the blues like me/
Ain't nobody got the blues like me"
- "Red at Night" is one of "my songs", for sure.

"Are you hiding in the basement/
Mixin' up the medicine?"
- Woohoo, a Dylan reference in "Angry Johnny"!

Senor and the Queen

"Still we sing with our heroes 33 rpm/
We're never going home until the sun says we're finished/
I'll love you forever if I ever love at all/
With wild hearts, blue jeans, and white t-shirts"
- Gives me the mental image of Bruce's "Born in the USA" album.

'59 Sound

"But nobody never gonna tell you the way/
You gotta figure it out boys and suffer the rain/
And the fools in the night and the heat of the day/
When all you ever really wanted was for someone to understand"
- Words I wish I could have told my teenage self if I had a time machine (or maybe a "Back to the Future" DeLorean)

"You can tell Gail if she calls/
That I'm famous now for all of these rock and roll songs/
And even if that's a lie/
She should've given me a try/
When we were kids on the field of the first day of school/
I would have been her fool"
- I think everyone can relate to this story in some way. Poetic, humble, beautiful, and heartbreaking too.

American Slang

"So give me the fevers that just won't break/
And give me the children you don't want to raise"
- Has made me cry more than once.

"He found the bandages inside the pen/
And the stitches on the radio"
- Music and writing has always had a healing effect on me, so these lines are the truth.

Okay, I better stop or I'll go on all day. Can't wait to see what the fourth album will bring!

"It's a pretty good night for a drive,
So dry up those eyes, dry up those eyes.
...
These nights are still ours."

I still love the way you smile.
I still love the ocean.
We should remember to slow down more often, maybe we will.
There's a lotta good things coming our way right now.
A lotta bad had passed but we survived the breakdowns.
All is forgiven, water under bridges now."


"I was a boy on the lawn, with his eyes to the sky.
You were Garbo, smoke, and deceit.
And it was Saturday, September, and fire.
It was a backdrop set in your smile.
It was all I could want in the sway of the song,
I was haunted for so many years."


There are plenty of great lyrics, hard to pick up one.

Sink or Swim
1930
"You said I love you more than the stars in the sky,
But your name it just escapes me tonight."

The Navesink Banks
"Then she steps into the river,
And I just stand by the moon.
Thinking 'bout a ghost,
I hear at night."


Senor & The Queen
Blue Jeans & White T-Shirts
"And we sing with our heroes thirty-three rounds per minute."
I find it impossible to listen to any TGA song and not sing along, and more often then not when I listen to TGA I imagine myself up on stage singing with my hero much like Brian does in this video.

The 59 Sound
Old White Lincoln
"If I could write,
I'd tell you how much I miss these nights."
This lyric always reminds me of back home in New Zealand. Particularly of how much I miss the place and miss those never-ending classic kiwi summer nights.

Meet Me By The Rivers Edge
"You were the only one who understood me then,
You're the only one who will."

American Slang
Bring it On
"And you're tired of those vows."
It sends chills down my spine, the emotion in the crack in Brian's voice when he sings the word "tired."

The Queen of Lower Chelsea
"Well they say these days,
Nothing comes cheap
And everything has a price
Everything has a price
Nothing is free
Not even me."
I never really liked this song for some reason until I saw it played live the other night. It's grown on me since then, especially because of these lyrics.

She Loves You
Now Juliet, she's smoking by the window,
saying stone-cold, I believe in you, Romeo,
And in the quiet in the night where Romeo's mind is burning,
from putting all of his blood into them sermons"

The Queen of Lower Chelsea is severely underrated. It's one of my favorite songs, especially when they play it live.

This is so difficult, but I'll give it a try!

Sink or Swim:
"You were gonna be my Judy Garland, we were gonna share your tin man heart"

"You see this town pulls my heartstrings, i fell in love with the Shrewsbury stars..."

"...If the big bomb drops down over this quiet Edison sky we will blow one last kiss to all the beautiful nights like this under the central Jersey sky" (Brian proving that Central Jersey actually exists!)

"I love you more than the stars in the sky, but your name just escapes me tonight"

"Stay hungry stay free and do the best you can" - surprised this one hasn't been mentioned yet


Senor and the Queen:
"Never felt right, never fit in, walking in my own skin"

"So tonight I'll call you from a fourth-street payphone, but I'll sleep on the beach if I ain't got a ride. Someday I'll buy you that house on Cookman. We could sleep on the beach all night"


The '59 Sound:
"But nobody never gonna tell you the way, you gotta figure it out boys and suffer the rain, and the fools in the night, and the heat of the day, when all you ever really wanted was for someone to understand."

"My, how the years and our youth pass on"

"I never felt so strange, standing in the Jersey rain"

"No retreat, no regret"

"Come July we'll ride the ferris wheel, go round and round and round. And if you never let me go, well I will never let you down"


American Slang:
"Not another soul can love you like my rotten bones do"

"Momma never told me there'd be days like these until it was much too late to recover"

"Stop clicking your red heels and wishing for home, I'm hearing that he tells you he can read your palms"

"Your first sin was a lie you told yourself"

"Your first sin was the fear that made you old." The Navesink Banks

"All the blue and bright white collars, we're all the same." Our Fathers' Sons

"Every man, every woman with a burden raise your hands
Raise'em up to the firmament, see those hands
Meet your brothers and your sisters, use your hands" Our Fathers' Sons

"Every night’s a so long baby
Yeah out here in the deep
The tick-ticking of hours only
I hear the alarm" 45

"When you can't go on anymore... Hold on." Spirit of Jazz

last one: "While we're left with gallows
Just waiting for us liars to come down and hang"

Ask me in about 5 minutes and I'll list off a load of new ones. It's too hard a choice!

It's actually incredible how much Brian's lyrics and writing have reflected my life. I know all fans can relate to lyrics and they are touched personally by them, but for me, it's actually surreal.

The 59' Sound was released a year after my best friend died in a car crash on a Saturday night.

I fell in love with an American girl right before American Slang was released. The chorus, 'you taught me fortunes in American slang' really resonated with me. Because of the nature of the relationship (long distance), I couldn't be with her very often, so I was often worried about other guys going after her, so Bring It On also related to my situation a lot. She Loves You was probably the most emotional song on the album for me, holy crap that song hits me like a freight train. The Spirit of Jazz was another big one, that chorus means so damn much to me.

The Horrible Crows coincided with a very bitter break up, and Lady Killer really hit a soft spot.

45 is exactly the type of single I was looking for. 4 of my friends, and myself included, all broke up with our girl friends for a variety of legitimate reasons, and the chorus "and all my friends say....turn the record over" puts a huge shit eating grin on my face.

And then there are plenty of little tidbits that I can relate to, but I just listed the very profound ones that reflect my life. No other musician has written lyrics that articulate and express my life than Brian Fallon, it's really awesome having TGA/THC in my life. God damn I love this music.

Hope it's okay to cite the Twa Corbies...

Mary Ann, you don't have to worry like them
Mary Ann, Jesus gonna be here soon
Put your tiny hand inside my hand and
One more time for me, Mary Ann

"And of the few things that I am certain,
I'm the captain of my burden.
I'm sorry doll, I could never stop the rain."

***************


And the waiter served my coffee with a consolation sigh.

Casey wrote:

It's actually incredible how much Brian's lyrics and writing have reflected my life. I know all fans can relate to lyrics and they are touched personally by them, but for me, it's actually surreal.

The 59' Sound was released a year after my best friend died in a car crash on a Saturday night.

I fell in love with an American girl right before American Slang was released. The chorus, 'you taught me fortunes in American slang' really resonated with me. Because of the nature of the relationship (long distance), I couldn't be with her very often, so I was often worried about other guys going after her, so Bring It On also related to my situation a lot. She Loves You was probably the most emotional song on the album for me, holy crap that song hits me like a freight train. The Spirit of Jazz was another big one, that chorus means so damn much to me.

The Horrible Crows coincided with a very bitter break up, and Lady Killer really hit a soft spot.

45 is exactly the type of single I was looking for. 4 of my friends, and myself included, all broke up with our girl friends for a variety of legitimate reasons, and the chorus "and all my friends say....turn the record over" puts a huge shit eating grin on my face.

And then there are plenty of little tidbits that I can relate to, but I just listed the very profound ones that reflect my life. No other musician has written lyrics that articulate and express my life than Brian Fallon, it's really awesome having TGA/THC in my life. God damn I love this music.

This is exactly why I love TGA and the Crowes so so much too. The lyrics are so relatable. It feels like theres a song for any mood or any life situation that you're in that just speaks to you. For example, Elsie and Heres Lookin At You Kid got me through a hard spot in my life, and 45 came out just in time to help me get over it. Now things are going much better, so im going back and rediscovering some of the happier songs in their catalog. and if something shitty happens to me again, Elsie probably won't leave my CD player for a while. (unless of course at that point I'm completely addicted to Handwritten )

Brian just has this way of talking to you with his lyrics that no other band really seems to be able to do. I literally got shivers the first time I heard 45 and was like holy shit this song knows what I'm going through right now and gets me!

Anyway, to stay on topic...
"boys will be boys and girls have those eyes thatll cut you to ribbons sometimes, and all you can do is just wait by the moon and bleed if it's what she says you oughta do"

"and in the quiet of the night Romeo's mind is burning, from putting all of his blood into them sermons"... Also the absolutely haunting "do you miss her right now?" backing at the end.

"tonight we'll ride the ferris wheel go round and round and round, and if you never let me go, I will never let you down"

"so I got up my nerve and found me a stone, with a flick of the wrist and a turn of the key youll just fall in my arms" the mental imagery of young love that line sets up is just amazing
And last but not least
"I'll watch this whole night come down and never miss her again, never felt right, never fit in, walking in my own skin"

I won't even touch on Elsie since this is a TGA thread, and there's a lot more. Those are just the ones that came to mind.

"And in the backseat we're just trying to find some room for our knees."

"We kept faith and a switchblade tucked beneath my coat"
"If you never let me go, well I will never let you down"
"Boys will be boys, and girls have those eyes, that will cut you to ribbons sometimes"
"My first sin was the fear that made me old"
"I worried and stalled every night of my life, better safe then making the party"
"And I could feel it coming up as the nights getting warm, saw your summer dress hanging on the back of the lawn, like a dream I remember from an easier time, with the top rolled down on a Saturday night"
"Some hearts are gallows, I'm not here for hanging around"
"As heard by my wild, young heart, like directions on a cold, dark night"
"It's alright my brothers I'm alright to drive"

It's a popular choice, but it's this, for me:

Little Eden wrote:

"Come July we'll ride the ferris wheel, go round and round and round. And if you never let me go, I will never let you down."

The first half is the perfect set-up for what might be one of the most beautiful lines i've ever heard put to music. Perfect.

...a thief stole my heart, while she was making up her mind

"It's alright man, I'm only bleeding man. Stay hungry, stay free, and do the best you can."
"Did you hear your favorite song one last time?"
"If you never let me go, then I will never let you down"
"boys will be boys and girls have those eyes thatll cut you to ribbons sometimes, and all you can do is just wait by the moon and bleed if it's what she says you oughta do"

A brilliant line in "Old Haunts" is
(but in fact, the whole song is brilliant)

"And every breath felt like a funeral, baby
While you were packing up your car"

"And I ran with dirty angels, slept out in the rain. We were scared and tired and barely seventeen. My first sin was the fear that made me old"

"And you say the night just got too cold, well everybody's cold. Who's gonna keep my baby warm when everybody goes?"

Every single line from Blue Jeans and White T Shirts is fucking amazing, especially the chorus and:
"So tonight I'll call you from a fourth street payphone, we can sleep on the beach if we ain't got a ride. Someday I'll buy you that house on Cookman, we can sleep on the beach all night"

"I was born in a town where the rivers flow free, on a January night when the cold winds freeze. I got an Irish name and an injury, blessing and a curse cast down on me"

"I lit a cigarette on a parking meter, the corner boys told her how I was dying to meet her"

"I learned about the blues from this kitten that I knew. Her hair was raven and her heart was like a tomb"

"American girls, they want the whole world. They want every last little light in New York City."

"But boys will be boys and girls have those eyes that will cut you to ribbons sometimes"

"If I could make you feel like he used to make you feel, I'll sing you a song and I'll dance you a dance right now, and we'll bury these old ghosts down"

"And Juliet, she was smoking by the window, saying stone cold, 'I believe in you Romeo' "

"Cherry bomb your love is surgery, removing what you don't regard. And every breath felt like a funeral, baby, while you were packing up your car"

"And I wonder which song they're going to play when we go. I hope it's something quiet, minor, peaceful, and slow"

"It's alright man. I'm only bleeding man. Stay hungry, stay free, and do the best you can"


Just to name a few..

"she'll take a lifetime just to get over"

"where we can take a seat at the bar with the other broken heroes"