And take me disappearing through the smoke rings of my mind Down the foggy ruins
of time, far past the frozen leaves The haunted, frightened trees, out to the
windy beach Far from the twisted reach of crazy sorrow Yes, to dance beneath the
diamond sky with one hand waving free Silhouetted by the sea...
From Dylan, I've always been partial to this, from Mr Tambourine Man:
And take me disappearing through the smoke rings of my mind Down the foggy ruins of time Far past the frozen leaves The haunted frightened trees Out to the windy beach Far from the twisted reach of crazy sorrow Yes, to dance beneath the diamond sky With one hand waving free Silhouetted by the sea Circled by the circus sands With all memory and fate Driven deep beneath the waves Let me forget about today until tomorrow
I love the way it deviates from previous verses by including a couple more lines than them, which he just sort of works in there.
Beyond Dylan, I really like Leonard Cohen's lines in So Long, Marianne:
Now I need your hidden love I'm cold as a new razor blade. You left when I told you I was curiousโฆ I never said that I was brave
And from R.E.M. loads of examples, but the first that springs to mind is some of the imagery in Driver 8:
I saw a treehouse on the outskirts of the farm The power lines have floaters so the airplanes won't get snagged The bells are ringing through the town again The children look up, all they hear is sky-blue bells ringing
And later:
He piloted this song in a plane like that one She is selling faith on the Go Tell Crusade Locomotive 8, Southern Crescent, hear the bells ring again The fields of wheat is looking thin
Just so evocative of travelling through a vast, open countryside.
Oh, ha ha, I didn't even realise that this was a cross post! How funny that we picked the exact same lyric :-)
Ok, in that case I'll add this one, from Ballad of a Thin Man:
You raise up your head and you ask, "Is this where it is?" And somebody points to you and says, "It's his" And you say, "What's mine?" and somebody else says, "Well, what is?" And you say, "Oh my God, am I here all alone?"
Yeeeep love the ballad of a thin man, I think we both like the same era of dylan most. I would bet Blonde on Blonde is your favourite album (despite neither of these songs being on it). Or highway 61 revisited if I'm wrong
Highway 61 for me, although I do love Blonde on Blonde too and it was the first Dylan I ever bought. Big fan of Blood on the Tracks and Desire as well.