Dear Prudence's Lyrical Challenge

Excellent post over at the Lakes today.
Dear Prudence challenges us:
"Here is the assignment, list five lyrics that stick out in your mind and their significance to you. It can be as zany, quirky or catchy to having had an influence or impact on some aspect of your life."

This is a real toughie, as my list of favourite lyrics runs to several hundred pages. Just about all of Dylan, Joni, John Hiatt, The Handsome Family, Zappa, Tom Waits … well, everyone on my profile page …

1: I'll start with Joni.
As I can't really write out ALL the lyrics to her "Blue" and "Hejira" albums, I'll stick to a couple of snippets from "Hejira" itself:

"There's comfort in melancholy
When there's no need to explain
It's just as natural as the weather
In this moody sky today …

… I Know - No-one's gonna show me everything
We all come and go unknown
Each so deep and superficial
between the forceps and the stone.
Well I looked at the granite markers
Those tributes to finality - to eternity
And then I looked at myself here
Chicken-scratching for my immortality."

Story of my life. Nuff said.

2: A complete change of mood.
The incomparable Bongwater, with Ann Magnusson going off on one as she does. This is the start of "Chicken Pussy", from the album "The Power Of Pussy".

"I'm in a one-room apartment located in the basement under the Polish National Church.
It used to be a club.
And then, a mental health outpatient clinic.
Now I call it home.

There's a king-size mattress in the middle of the room where me and the big fat lead singer from Canned Heat finish up an afternoon of incredibly hot sex.

Boy … Does he have a big one!

Joining us for late afternoon tea and a four-way is my old next-door neighbour Jimbo and his wife, who is a chicken.
As I'm the only woman there with hands, I soon find myself fully occupied.
I can't help but wonder how Jimbo and his wife had their baby, who had been sleeping next to us but had since fallen onto the floor.
She must be able to change forms back and forth … and what about chicken pussy?
Is it enticing?
I mean, what's the story?"

Just go buy it. There's no significance to my life there except that it makes me laugh.

3: Dylan …
Holy crap! Where do I start?
Okay. Sadboy Dive has every album, bootleg and demo known to Dylankind (at least up to Street Legal … after that he just wasn't Dylan anymore). But choosing a favourite? Bugger all round that.
Let's just settle on the first verse of "Highway 61 Revisited".

"God says to Abraham, "Kill me a son"
Abe says, "Man, you must be puttin' me on!"
God say, "No." … Abe say, "What?"
God say, "You can do what you want Abe, but …
The next time you see me comin', you better run!"
Well Abe says, "Where d'you want this killin' done?"
God says, "Out on Highway 61."

Heh-heh … Reminds me of all the arguments and abuse me and God hurled at one another before we stalked off in opposite directions.

4: Hokay. Time for a Paul Simon one.
The first verse of "Jonah", from "One Trick Pony".

"Half an hour to change my strings and tune up.
Sizing the room up.
Checking the bar.

Local girls, unspoken conversations.
Misinformation …
Plays guitar."

It doesn't matter if I'm playing to twenty-five thousand people or twenty-five. It's like that every single time.

5: God! This is SO FRUSTRATING, Prudence!
Only FIVE? I want to list ten thousand!
I wanted so much to put Tom Waits' "Burma Shave" here, but it just got pipped at the post by a couple of snippets from REM's "Nightswimming", off "Automatic For The People".

"The photograph on the dashboard, taken years ago,
Turned around backwards so the windshield shows.
Every streetlight reveals the picture in reverse.
Still, it's so much clearer …

You, I thought I knew you.
You I cannot judge.
You, I thought you knew me,
this one laughing quietly underneath my breath.

The photograph reflects,
Every streetlight a reminder."

It went curly at the edges. Then it faded. But it was there for a long, long time.

So there you go.
Five from Dive.

Thank you, Prudence for a doozy of a challenge.
The rest of you (other than Sassy, who's already done it), go to it.