So this is the objective mroc list of all the best lines from every Silver Jews album track. The posts will be chunks at a time. Particularly difficult decisions will come with an analysis. Feel free to share your own wrong opinions if you disagree.
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Starlite Walker
Introduction II “My friends, don’t you know that I never Want this minute to end? And then it ends”
The song is a minute long. So its a cheeky meta commentary
Trains Across the Sea “In 27 years I’ve drunk fifty thousand beers And they just wash against me Like the sea into a pier…”
Although I also like “Sin and gravity Drag me down to sleep To dream of trains across the sea.” former wins it cause of the killer slimily
The Moon Is the Number 18 N/A (Instrumental)
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This is the correct choice, but I would have also accepted:
Half hours on earth,
what are they worth?
I don’t know
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Advice to the Graduate “On the last day of your life, don’t forget to die The things that you do will always make your mama cry”
A silly concept followed by a genuine truth.
Also “Your third drink will lead you astray” Is just really good advice. Oddly optimistic song one of the half dozen they made.
Tide to the Oceans “Last man never had a chance, So he went out behind the shed, And bought himself a little cigarettes”
Pan American Blues “My cigarette fumes waltz and dissolve just for you”
This is actually filled with a lot of abstract silly lines. From telling the ‘answer from the ants’ to ‘History’s got its walking papers’ but none of these quite hit in the same ways that they do in American Water. So I went for a pretty descriptor.
New Orleans “There is a house in New Orleans Not the one you’ve heard about, I’m talking about another house”
Obviously this is a fun reference and hits well in the song which is musically very strong. Another small highlight is ‘And trouble up the stairs, And trouble in the trouble, That’s troubling the air’ this is a small example of David’s wordplay from repeating and moving concepts. Trouble in the trouble… yes that sounds like trouble.
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my horses legs are like four brown shotguns
Jumping the gun mate.
Bollocks. Remind me not to respond to threads while multitasking
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The Country Diary of a Subway Conductor “Imagining places I was almost sure I’d never been
And had taken to assuming were the memories of my grandfather somehow deposited in my mind”
Living Waters “Just come in out of the storm What you need is an imitation of home”
Rebel Jew “You can believe me, not believe me I’m just a bird upon the sill, And these words just course right through me Like water through a mill”
The Silver Pageant N/A
Musically a very strong album lyrically it gets far better.
How To Rent a Room “Chalk lines around my body, Like the shoreline of a lake, Your laughter made me nervous, It made your body shake too hard”
Pet Politics “Guard my bed, While the rain turns the ditches to mirrors”
Black and Brown Blues “When I go downtown I always wear a corduroy suit, Because it’s made of a hundred gutters, That the rain can run right through”
This is an insane song for descriptive lines though. Many to pick from. Other highlights ‘Well, the water looks like jewelry, When it’s coming out the spout’ or ‘The jagged skyline of car keys’ and a deep one ‘But I’m afraid I got more in common, With who I was than who I am becoming’. What a song!
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my favourite SJ album
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Ballad of Reverend War Character ‘No, the stars don’t shine upon us, We’re in the way of their light’
The Right to Remain Silent N/A
Dallas ‘Once you taste the geometry of a church in a cul-de-sac, You’re gonna wanna sit with the bad kids in the back’
Another lyrically crazy song and maybe my first big call. Typically people quote the following line “Hey boys, supper’s on me, our record just went aluminum” but having lived in places with cul-de-sacs with modern churches… the chorus itself is also just great:
'O Dallas, you shine with an evil light
How’d you turn a billion steers
Into buildings made of mirrors?
And why am I drawn to you tonight?’
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Love this so much it inspired me to wear corduroy suits.
What a thread - deserves an award.
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Inside the Golden Days of Missing You
‘What if life is just some hard equation
On a chalkboard in a science class for ghosts?
Then you can live again
But you’ll have to die twice in the end’
Albemarle Station ‘From the Dust Congress, Whose dollars and dimes, Say, “In dust we trust”’
Although: ‘I passed an abandoned drive-in With ivy growing over the screen It was like I caught Hollywood sleeping Sleep without the dreams’ is a very close second.
The Frontier Index 'Boy wants a car from his dad
Dad says, “First, you got to cut that hair”
Boy says, “Hey, Dad, Jesus had long hair”
And Dad says, “That’s right, son, Jesus walked everywhere”’
Another full verse but so many good full verses on here. Such as:
"Robot walks into a bar
Orders a drink, lays down a bill
Bartender says “Hey we don’t serve robots”
And the robot says “no, but someday you will”
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Pretty Eyes I believe that stars are the headlights of angels, Driving from heaven to save us, to save us, Look in the sky, They’re driving from heaven into our eyes”
Sadly I have to accept that that is the best line. It i just so visually memorable despite the fact I adore 'The elephants are so ashamed of their size, Hosing them down, I tell ‘em, “You got pretty eyes”’
Anyway that’s two down. Arguably my favorite Silver Jews album but honestly for me its nearly tied first with three others. Its clearly a massive step up lyrically from Starlite Walker.
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One of the last times I remember wearing corduroy pants (about 13 years ago), I walked to the bus stop heading to work. It was raining, and by the time I got to the bus stop my pants were soaked. I turned back home to change pants. I call bullshit, Mr. Berman.
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Had a long break but starting this up again next week. Busy life. American Water is next!
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American Water
Random Rules
Controversially ‘I know that a lot of what I say Has been lifted off of men’s room walls’ is my favorite line here. I like the Idea of David Berman lyrics being ripped off toilet graffiti.
‘*I tell you, they make it so you can’t shake hands When they make your hands shake’ * I enjoy this word play switching the order of words to change their meaning.
*'In 1984 I was hospitalized for approaching perfection’ Is the usual pick.
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Smith & Jones Forever:
‘The alleys are the footnotes of the avenues’
Night Society: N/A
Federal Dust
‘They don’t cry And they don’t die In south Dakota’ - Slim pickings with this one. More of a vibe piece.
People:
My pick: ‘Suburban kids with biblical names’
also: ‘You can’t change the feeling but you can change your feeling About the feelings in a second or two’
or: ‘Moments can be monuments to you’
Blue Arrangements:
‘When something breaks it makes a beautiful sound’
We Are Real
‘Repair is the dream of the broken thing’
the next line as well: 'Like a message broadcast on an overpass, All my favorite singers couldn’t sing’
But this whole verse is almost just as good and makes me laugh:
"My ski vest has buttons like convenience store mirrors
And they help me see
That everything in this room right now is a part of me"
Also: “We’ve been raised on replicas of fake and winding roads”
and "Birds of Virginia are flyin’ within ya
And like background singers, they all come in threes"
Yes I know thats half the song.
Always loved this line. Feels like a lovely note of self deprecation/gentle self mocking.
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