126 Great Lyric Quotes

Following is our list of great lyric quotations and slogans full of insightful wisdom and perspective about good lyric.

Quick Jump To

Famous Great Lyric Quotes

If lyrics sold then truth be told/I'd probably be just as rich and famous as Jay-Z. — Talib Kweli

Words are what make the song. I get a personal vision about what the lyrics are about. — Julie Andrews

It's funny how the littlest things can make you feel larger than life; the right lyric, the most heartfelt melody, the clearest message. Love. — Alex Gaskarth

Life is like a beautiful melody, only the lyrics are messed up. — Hans Christian Andersen

The country is lyric, the town dramatic. When mingled, they make the most perfect musical drama. — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

I'm really big into lyrics in my own songs, so I look up to Drake in that aspect. — Jake Paul

When you know the lyrics to a tune, you have some kind of insight as to it's composition. — Dexter Gordon

You're like the lyrics to my favorite song. You stick with me all day long. And when I reach the end I wanna hear it again. — TobyMac

Chelsea Morning is a great Joni Mitchell song and I guess I'm partial to her lyrics because they show me a slightly different perspective on life. — Neil Diamond

Poetic justice, poetic justice.. if I told you that a flower bloom in a dark room would you trust it. I mean I write poems in these songs. — Kendrick Lamar

All my lyrics are open to interpretation by the individual and imply many different meanings, therefore their relevance is purely subjective. — Ian Curtis

When you're happy you enjoy the music, but when you're sad you understand the lyrics. — Frank Ocean

A great song will say how you feel better than you ever could. — Taylor Swift

Its a combination of melody and lyrics, not one without the other. Its a confluence of these different elements that makes something powerful. — Michael Bolton

Lyric writing is an interesting process in Sonic Youth. There's three people writing now, and we've all had a lot of interest and involvement with expression through words — Thurston Moore

Short Great Lyric Quotes

  • A pretty girl is like a melody. That haunts you night and day. — Irving Berlin
  • A great song should lift your heart, warm the soul and make you feel good. — Colbie Caillat
  • Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought. — Percy Bysshe Shelley
  • I like beautiful melodies telling me terrible things. — Tom Waits
  • Words make you think a thought. Music makes you feel a feeling. A song makes you feel a thought. — Yip Harburg
  • Take these words home and think it through; Or the next rhyme I write might be about you. — Prodigy

Great Lyric Image Quotes

Great lyric quote Silence is a source of great strength.
Silence is a source of great strength.

Deep Quotes

Dare to declare who you are. It is not far from the shores of silence to the boundaries of speech. The path is not long, but the way is deep. You must not only walk there, you must be prepared to leap. — Hildegard of Bingen

Great sea captains are made in rough waters and deep seas. — Kathryn Kuhlman

True love is not a strong, fiery, impetuous passion. It is, on the contrary, an element calm and deep. It looks beyond mere externals, and is attracted by qualities alone. It is wise and discriminating, and its devotion is real and abiding. — Ellen G. White

Great lyric quote Make today so awesome, yesterday gets jealous.
Make today so awesome, yesterday gets jealous.

One thing about championship teams is that they're resilient. No matter what is thrown at them, no matter how deep the hole, they find a way to bounce back and overcome adversity. — Nick Saban

Take a deep breath, listen to your favorite song and realize everything is gonna be okay, nothing is permanent. — Camila Cabello

If you let a person talk long enough you'll hear their true intentions. Listen twice, speak once. — Tupac Shakur

Great lyric quote Great minds discuss ideas.Average minds discuss events.Small minds discuss people.
Great minds discuss ideas.Average minds discuss events.Small minds discuss people.

If you think down, you will go down. If you think up, you will go up. You’ll always travel in the direction of your thinking. — T. D. Jakes

The essence of strategy is choosing what not to do. - Michael Porter

The essence of strategy is choosing what not to do. — Michael Porter

As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives. — Henry David Thoreau

An orchid in a deep forest sends out its fragrance even if no one is around to appreciate it. — Confucius

Good Lyric Quotes

The only music minister to whom the Lord will say, 'Well done, thy good and faithful servant,' is the one whose life proves what their lyrics are saying, and to whom music is the least important part of their life. Glorifying the only worthy One has to be a minister's most important goal! — Keith Green

Are you tired of lyrical liars, passing fliers, Wannabe MC's, but really good triers, Tripping over mic cords, getting you bored, A total fraud, this kind of thing I can't afford! — KRS-One

Will you love me in December as you do in May, Will you love me in the good old fashioned way? When my hair has all turned gray, Will you kiss me then and say, That you love me in December as you do in May? — Jimmy Walker

Great lyric quote Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.
Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.

I think it need realness, you should speak on thing that you know about, that you being from, that you experienced or that you been around, you know. I think you need a good hook, good beats and good lyrics. — Obie Trice

What I believe is really good in the so-called documentary approach to photography is the addition of lyricism.[this quality] is usually produced unconsciously and even unintentionally and accidentally by the cameraman. — Walker Evans

A man who is not touched by the earthy lyricism of hot pastrami, the pungent fantasy of corned beef, pickles, frankfurters, the great lusty impertinence of good mustard is a man of stone and without heart. — Herb Gardner

Great lyric quote Acknowledge all of your small victories. They will eventually add up to something great.
Acknowledge all of your small victories. They will eventually add up to something great.

I'm not crazy about country-western music. But the lyrics are good. "I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy" is pretty clever. — Alice Cooper

I think it was T.S. Eliot who talked about good poetry being felt before it’s understood. I believe that. There are some bands where I love their lyrics but I don’t have a clue what they’re on about. — Marcus Mumford

People don't really care about lyrics anymore. It's kinda really sad, like they'll listen to something musically and has a really cool beat down or something, that's great, that's good enough; but the message is the most important thing. — Roger Miret

For me the music is a vehicle for my lyrics. It's a chance to get some really good words across. — Joe Strummer

Song Lyric Quotes

Sometimes I need to reject the music proposed for my songs because the musicians misunderstand that the Fanny Crosby who once wrote for the people in the saloons has merely changed the lyrics. Oh my no. The church must never sing it's songs to the melodies of the world. — Fanny Crosby

When you write a song, most of the words you use are in black and white, and then, from time to time, you use one that’s in color. These words in color are a part of ourselves, because we give them a meaning. If you like, we give them a third dimension. — Jacques Brel

Hands, touching hands, reaching out, touching me, touching you. - Neil Diamond

Hands, touching hands, reaching out, touching me, touching you. — Neil Diamond

Great lyric quote You need a little bit of insanity to do great things.
You need a little bit of insanity to do great things.

When I wrote a song, it would have to be from something I was really excited about, or a melody that's been haunting me for weeks, or a message I wanted to convey lyrically. So it would have to start from something I felt very strongly about. — Brendon Urie

A lot of Woody Guthrie's songs were taken from other songs. He would rework the melody and lyrics, and all of a sudden it was a Woody Guthrie song. — John Mellencamp

We human beings are tuned such that we crave great melody and great lyrics. And if somebody writes a great song, it's timeless that we as humans are going to feel something for that and there's going to be a real appreciation. — Art Garfunkel

Great lyric quote Failure is a great teacher, and, if you are open to it, every mistake has a lesson to offer.
Failure is a great teacher, and, if you are open to it, every mistake has a lesson to offer.

We recorded Star Climbing over a three-year period between our studios, working on songs and lyrics until we felt like we had found the albums direction. It is our most distinctive album to date, combining all our different tastes and styles into one. — Stuart Price

Music's staying power is a function of how timeless the lyrics, song and production are. — Gary Wright

We all love to sing along with our favorite songs. We sing in the car, in the shower, and at the karaoke bar. The problem is that half the time we don't know what we're singing. We're making up lyrics as we go along and hoping no one will notice. — Shawn Amos

As a musician and a guitar player, I can noodle as well as anybody. But from my background as a session musician, I always try to play what is called for by the lyric and listening to the song. As a writer, that's what I do, too. — Richie Sambora

Lyric Quotes

Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans. Lennon lyric explained on QuoraJohn Lennon

I'm not a lyric writer to make statements. What I enjoy doing is making paintings with lyrics, creating colorful images. I think that's more what entertainment and music should be. — Chris Cornell

And gentle winds and waters near, make music to the lonely ear. — Lord Byron

I have a high art, I hurt with cruelty those who would damage me. - Archilochus

I have a high art, I hurt with cruelty those who would damage me. — Archilochus

You were the one who made things different, you were the one who took me in. You were the one thing I could count on, above all, you were my friend. — Tom Petty

I was babysitting the night High School Musical premiered last year. I watched with the kids and we sang along to the lyrics. I was making $12 an hour. — Monique Coleman

Great lyric quote To a great mind, nothing is little.
To a great mind, nothing is little.

It was about working with other musicians, but more than that it's about exploring musical areas that you could never do with the band you're in, in my case Judas Priest. You could tackle musical areas and lyrical areas that wouldn't be appropriate for Priest. — Glenn Tipton

All classes of people under social pressure are permeated with a common experience; they are emotionally welded as others cannot be. With them, even ordinary living has epic depth and lyric intensity, and this, their material handicap, is their spiritual advantage. — Alain LeRoy Locke

I write the lyrics based on what is going on in my life - I'm not going to write about the old hair metal stuff, like castles and stuff. — Oliver Sykes

But, Eminem... No, I've loved rap for a long time, especially when it got out of its first period and became this gangsta rap, ya know this heavy rap thing? That's when I started to fall in love with it. I loved the lyrics. I loved the beat. — Alan Vega

Lyric Poetry Quotes

There's a fierce practicality and empiricism which the whole imaginative, lyrical aspect of poetry comes from. — David Whyte

I have so much of you in my heart. — John Keats

Loveliest of trees, the cherry now Is hung with bloom along the bough. — A. E. Housman

Great lyric quote Average people have great ideas. Legends have great execution.
Average people have great ideas. Legends have great execution.

A lyric, it is true, is the expression of personal emotion, but then so is all poetry, and to suppose that there are several kinds of poetry, differing from each other in essence, is to be deceived by wholly artificial divisions which have no real being. — John Drinkwater

This proves that great lyric poetry can die, be reborn, die again, but will always remain one of the most outstanding creations of the human soul. — Eugenio Montale

Poetry is a lyrical insinuation. Often, its melodic subtlety kisses the subconscious mind. — Masiela Lusha

Great lyric quote Don't fear the failure... in great attempts it is glorious even to fail.
Don't fear the failure... in great attempts it is glorious even to fail.

Music straightjackets a poem and prevents it from breathing on its own, whereas it liberates a lyric. Poetry doesn't need music; lyrics do. — Stephen Sondheim

In fact, in lyric poetry, truthfulness becomes recognizable as a ring of truth within the medium itself. — Seamus Heaney

I am convinced that the first lyric poem was written at night, and that the moon was witness to the event and that the event was witness to the moon. For me, the moon has always been the very embodiment of lyric poetry. — Mary Ruefle

Most songs have bridges in them, to distract listeners from the main verses of a song so they don't get bored. My songs don't have a lot of bridges because lyric poetry never had them. — Bob Dylan

Lyricism Quotes

Once there was a darkness, a deep and endless night, you gave me everything you had and oh, you gave me light — Sarah McLachlan

I said Yo Jay, I can rap. And I spit this rap that said I'm killin' ya'll *****s on this lyrical sh*t, mayonnaise colored benz, I push miracle whips. — Kanye West

If I had only one friend left, i'd want it to be you. — Paul Overstreet

Great lyric quote No one has ever made himself great by showing how small someone else is.
No one has ever made himself great by showing how small someone else is.

I did try to come back and listen You never it..I didn't wish it But I did hear every answer ever question It's all about protection stil through the sunlight days I wait Track a ghost through the fog The sun is burning me And you come running out in the wind with me The ocean is your blanket. — Stevie Nicks

When I'm lost in the rain, In your eyes I know I'll find the light to light my way And when I'm scared, losing ground When my world is going crazy You can turn it all around and when I'm down you're there Pushing me to the top You're always there, giving me all you've got — Christina Aguilera

Fleetwood Mac were really accessible musically, but lyrically and emotionally, we weren't so easy. And it was our music that helped us survive. But all of us were in pieces personally. — Mick Fleetwood

I hope that one or two immortal lyrics will come out of all this tumbling around. — Louise Bogan

Every now and then we find a special friend, who never lets us down, who understands it all, reaches out each time you fall, you're the best friend that I've found. — Jordan Hill

If skills sold truth be told I'd probably be lyrically Talib Kweli Truthfully I want to rhyme like Common Sense (But I did five Mil) I ain't been rhyming like Common since. — Jay-Z

Shay sometimes talked in a mysterious way, like she was quoting the lyrics of some band no one else listened to. — Scott Westerfeld

People Writing About Great Lyric

Name Quotes Likes
Read quotes by Talib Kweli

Talib Kweli
quotes on leadership, palestine and love

158 1080
Read quotes by Julie Andrews

Julie Andrews
quotes on life, music

120 875
Read quotes by Alex Gaskarth

Alex Gaskarth
quotes on love, life and leadership

52 1356
Read quotes by Hans Christian Andersen

Hans Christian Andersen
quotes on love, mermaids and travel

78 1204
Read quotes by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
quotes on love

699 7457
Read quotes by Jake Paul

Jake Paul
quotes on sports, leadership and life

95 1

More Great Lyric Quotes

The lyricism of marginality may find inspiration in the image of the outlaw, the great social nomad, who prowls on the confines of a docile, frightened order. — Michel Foucault

But I always loved songs with great lyrics. — Johnny Rivers

Sometimes, the best songs are the ones you write without any pen and paper or audio recording device or guitar in your hands. Because there's nothing between you and the melody; it's just a great lyric. — Jon Foreman

The video forum for me has been a source of great consternation because once you start projecting a look to a song, it robs the listener of their ability to adopt that song and make the lyric their own. — Sheryl Crow

I create my own lyrics. I have a great band. I have a drummer from East Berlin. — Nina Hagen

I think maybe since there isn't a great deal of access to the mainstream media and people don't understand the language of mainstream media, if you put music out there with lyrics that are loosely political, people absorb some of it and spit it back out. — Thom Yorke

Mozart combines serenity, melancholy, and tragic intensity into one great lyric improvisation. Over it all hovers the greater spirit that is Mozart's - the spirit of compassion, of universal love, even of suffering - a spirit that knows no age, that belongs to all ages. — Leonard Bernstein

Lyrics are very different. There is a clear line between that and a poem. Something that has been a source of great excitement and delight for me is this idea that I get to rhyme. — Joanna Newsom

Music is also one of the great heart openers. Sometimes, you hear the lyrics of a song and you dance, laugh, smile, or perhaps even cry. — Michael Franti

Since I didn't spend a great amount of time on writing the lyrics, some people would argue that they're too vague or simplistic, but I think it's kind of good. I wouldn't say they're all stream of consciousness, but they're not necessarily overwrought. — Jack Tatum

A good song is a nice set of chords and some good lyrics; a great song is a song that reinvents itself over time. That you can always find something interesting in the more you listen to it - it keeps revealing something to you. — Bryce Dessner

Something taken off the page can sound great, I guess. Usually it doesn't. It seems like lately Pitchfork is trying to champion lyric writers more. — Stephen Malkmus

I'm a songwriter. So I'm OK. But when I wrote "Stand By Me" as a song and to know that the song will probably be here for hundred and hundreds of years to come, it's great, you know. And it was just simple lyrics. — Ben E. King

And I think that's a singer's job. You know, to really interpret a lyric. There's an art to it, and I think some people are really great at it, like Tammy Wynette and George Jones and Tony Bennett. — Lee Ann Womack

If you listen to the great Beatle records, the earliest ones where the lyrics are incredibly simple. Why are they still beautiful? Well, they're beautifully sung, beautifully played, and the mathematics in them is elegant. They retain their elegance. — Bruce Springsteen

There will always be some kid who's the new Kurt Cobain writing great lyrics and singing from his soul. The problem is they're not marketing that anymore or putting it out there. — Rosanna Arquette

I wish Howard Ashman was still alive so I could just meet him and tell him his words are magic. It's so fun to say. He has such great alliteration and paints the most vivid images with his lyrics — Tituss Burgess

What makes a great song - you dont put it into words. You feel it. The perfect lyric. The perfect melody. It makes you feel something. — Diane Warren

Gilmartins voice is angelic, but her lyrical subjects are often serious and slightly sad. The conflict of the beauty of her voice and the sadness of her lyrics makes for great music! — Jeff Belanger

I will say it's great - that Method Man - Cliff Smith - plays a rapper in a laundromat who is working out some lyrics sort of to the rhythm of a washing machine. And something about hip-hop culture and hip-hop is the ability to use current language and slang and reference details of life is very, very strong for me. — Jim Jarmusch

A wave of anger washed over me, anger against myself, at my age at the time, that stupid lyrically age, when a man is too great a riddle to himself to be interested in the riddles outside himself and when other people are mere walking mirrors in which he is amazed to find his own emotions, his own worth. — Milan Kundera

We worked very hard to make the lyrics suit the music. I can't, like Elton John, for example, compose by lyrics. Elton has a great talent for that. Whatever you give him, including your questions, he composes in half an hour and makes a great song out of it. — Rick Wright

And also, I think Japan places great value on the lyrics. — Utada Hikaru

In those days, it didn't take much imagination to come up with something that required great lyric development skills. You just thought of an experience that you might have gone through, and write it down. — Phil Harris

Just trying to get to know what director Bill Condon wanted. He's a great director and knows exactly what he wants. He knew every lyric to every song; knew where a handicap was. — Damon Thomas

What's the coolest thing in the world is when you have fans that know the lyrics to your songs. That's amazing! Such a great feeling! When I go out there and am playing "Grinnin' In Your Face" and people are singing the lyrics to it, that's amazing to me. I'm actually taking a song where people wouldn't know it, and I'm bringing it back. It's a really cool feeling. — ZZ Ward

When you're dealing with a constant rhythm, no matter how great your lyrics are, if you don't switch it up, people's heads are going to start bobbing. And they're going to stop listening to what you're saying, so consistently keep the ear fresh and keep the audience surprised. — Lin-Manuel Miranda

Lyrics should not need to stand on their own; many of [Bob] Dylan's do, but in common with other great lyricists, he has written plenty that falters on the page but soars in song. — David Bennun

Not only do you need great lyrics, a great message, a great story, great vocals, great chords... you also need great instrumentation, great editing, great sonics, great mixing, and great mastering. It all comes together to make something truly great, and I think each element combines together to create a powerful impact on the consumer. — Joey Sturgis

Looking at the original lyrics [of "A Song For You" ] as I was preparing it, I thought, "Wow! I feel like it was written for me." That's what a great song does. You don't have to do a lot of homework. You can just say the words and it springs to life. — Cheyenne Jackson

Just because I said lyrics are a sign of the inability to sing doesn't mean....A) I believe that, or B) I don't think they're cool. They are cool. Words are great. I sing along with my favorite songs, but when I am drumming and singing, the words become a note that for me. In the process of playing they have more emotional impact as notes then an actual word. — Brian Chippendale

One of my oldest friends from Kansas, his sister was married to Ben [Folds] and wrote lyrics on his first couple of albums. I got to meet him the first time I saw them in concert at The Bottleneck, a great bar in Lawrence, Kansas. Then, he was the musical guest my first or second week as a writer on SNL. I was like, "I don't know if you remember me?" And he was like, "Oh my god, yeah!" He's a big photography fan, as am I. — Jason Sudeikis

I saw "Follies" again at thirty, and you know, I had this great appreciation for [Stephen] Sondheim's brilliance, his lyrics. — Charles Busch

I would say a great song [is where] you like everything in the song. The lyrics move you, the beat makes you want to dance and you feel invincible when you listen to that song. A good song I think you can listen to but you get tired of it really fast. — Aino Jawo

I think the difference between a good song and a great song is... honestly, I think the lyrics, because if you have a really solid melody and solid track and everything is there but then the lyric is just okay, then you've got a good song. — Bonnie McKee

I think that a great song needs the full package. I think that a great song needs everything from lyrics, to melody, to music, and it needs to be interesting and it needs take you in and swallow you and swish you around, and then regurgitate you back in better form. — William Beckett

Bands that have positive lyrics that give people hope, I applaud them, you know I think we need to see more bands come out like that. I think it is great. — Michael Sweet

I feel like people mislead themselves when they tell themselves they're into me because of the lyrics. From my vantage point, people aren't into me because of the content, because of the lyrics. Because there's a million of rappers who have great content. — Talib Kweli

As the book writer for one big smash and one big smelly flop, I always wondered if anyone knows just what goes into making a great musical. When a show is a hit, the critics trip over themselves not knowing who to laud and applaud the loudest. It's that marvelous score, those urbane lyrics, that irreplaceable star. But only when a show is a flop, does anyone notice the book writer. And then it's always our fault. — Harvey Fierstein

When I'm writing songs, I write visually. When I'm writing the words down and I listen to the melody and the lyrics, I start seeing the video form. And if I can get through a song and from the beginning to the end have the whole video in my mind, I think that's a great song. — Christian Kane

In Conclusion

Which quotation resonated with you best? Did you enjoy our collection of great lyric quotes? Or may be you have a slogan about great lyric to suggest. Let us know using our contact form.

Citation

Feel free to cite and use any of the quotes in this collection of great lyric quotations. For popular citation styles(APA, Chicago, MLA), please use this citation page.

Embed HTML Link

Copy and paste this HTML code in your webpage