The single most epic lyric of all time.

[MiracleOfSound]

'There's a club, if you'd like to go
You could meet somebody who really loves you
So you go, and you stand on your own
And you leave on your own
And you go home
And you cry
And you want to die'

How Soon Is Now - The Smiths (not that revolting cover version from the Charmed intro)

 

[Nickolai77]

Rammstein are very good lyrically, which is why i sometimes prefer bands who's first language isn't English to write lyrics in their own language because the lyrical quality is better.

Here's a translation of Rammstein's song Nebel, which has personal significance to me.

They stand with their arms tightly around each other
a mixture of flesh, so rich in days
where the sea touches the land
she wants to tell him the truth

But the wind eats her words
where the sea ends
she holds his hand, trembling
and kissed him on the forehead

She carries the evening in her chest
and knows that she must wither away
she lays her head in his lap
and asks for a last kiss

and then he kissed her
where the sea ends
her lips, delicate and pale
and his eyes tear up

The last kiss was so long ago
the last kiss
he does not remember it anymore

 

[Smeatza]

Here's a few

"She took more than she gave to me, I gave my love I got an STD."

"If you feel the urge, to raise your hand, you could start a revolution, or start a band"

"I'm keeping an eye on the future an eye on the past and the present in my pocket just in case I need a door."

"Whatever it takes you best now surrender, whatever you know you better tell them quick, scratching the wall with some old barbed wire, whatever it takes, make the dirt stick"

"Soon I'm gonna lose these rags and run, returning to the wild where I'm from"

So many many more.

 

[Griffolion]

Many of these seem quite dark, I'll put a nice one in.

"All the love I've met, I have no regrets. If it all ends now, I'm set."

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

"I've got a loverly bunch of coconuts..." - you know the rest. ^^

 

[zero_circle]

This part of 'H' by Tool always gets me. Poetic and brilliant.

I am too connected to you to slip away, to fade away.

Days away I still feel you touching me, changing me, and considerately killing me.
Without the skin, beneath the storm, under these tears the walls came down.
And the snake is drowned and as I look in his eyes, my fear begins to fade recalling all of those times.
I could have cried then.
I should have cried then.
And as the walls come down and as I look in your eyes my fear begins to fade
recalling all of the times I have died and will die.
It's all right. I don't mind.
I am too connected to you to slip away, to fade away.
Days away I still feel you touching me, changing me, and considerately killing me.

 

[Phoenix09215]

The last verse and chorus of Wild Horses by The Rolling Stones contains my favourite lines in a song:

I know I've dreamed you a sin and a lie
I have my freedom but I don't have much time
Faith has been broken tears must be cried
Let's do some living after we die

Wild horses couldn't drag me away
Wild, wild horses we'll ride them some day
Wild horses couldn't drag me away
Wild, wild horses we'll ride them some day

 

[Michael Collett]

You were walking down the street
You were just across the street
So I had to cross the street
To get your side of the street

-Dark Angel- Electric Six

 

[Sindaine]

The entirety of My Heart Is Broken by Evanescence. The song is from the viewpoint of an unwilling sex worker, praying for escape from her hell. It's just...so powerful and heartwrenching.

 

[TheRussian]

"back in the back of a... Cadillac"

 

[JaceArveduin]

Oh god... let's see... For the fun ones, I'll go with...

Spoiler

Crash landed on this planet and some psycho attacked us
So we shot him in the balls and kicked him into a cactus
Now a thousand angry mutant wanna come out and play
All hell is breakin' loose and I like it this way!
-Fire in Your Hole. Gav's pretty damn good with lyrics to be a one man band.

Leviathan
Slaying all foes
Who dare to oppose
Tearing bodies limb from limb
Eviscerating on a whim
-Leviathan, Alestorm. I found it hilarious, and I've no idea why XD

By the sword in my hand
I will conquer the land
I will decimate and decapitate
Those who question the sword in my hand
-By the Sword in My Hand, Tyr. Another one I'm not quite sure why, but love it anyway.

For more serious types, I'll go with... Hell, I'm saying most of the choruses Blind Guardian's done.

Spoiler: This entire song, for example

Lyrics:
Intro(War of Wrath) :
The field is lost
Everything is lost
The black one has fallen from the sky and the towers in ruins lie
The enemy is within, everywhere
And with him the light, soon they will be here
Go now, my lord, while there is time
There are places below
[Morgoth:]
And you know them too
I release thee, go
My servant you'll be for all time
[Sauron:]
As you command
My king
[Morgoth:]
I had a part in everything
Twice I destroyed the light and twice I failed
I left ruin behind me when I returned
But I also carried ruin with me
She, the mistress of her own lust

Light fails at dawn, the moon is gone
And deadly the night reigns
Finally I've found myself in these lands
Horror and madness I've seen here
For what I became a King of the lost?
Barren and lifeless the land lies

Lord of all Noldor, a star in the night
And a bearer of hope
He rides into his glorious battle alone
Farewell to the valiant warlord

The fate of us all lies deep in the dark
When time stands still at the iron hill
The fate of us all lies deep in the dark
When time stands still at the iron hill

I stand alone, no one's by my side
I'll dare you, come out, you coward
Now, it's me or you

He gleams like a star
And the sound of his horn's
Like a raging storm
Proudly the high Lord
Challenges the doom
"Lord of slaves," he cries

Slowly in fear the Dark Lord appears:
"Welcome to my lands, you shall be damned!"

Lord of all Noldor, a star in the night
And a bearer of hope
He rides into his glorious battle alone
Farewell to the valiant warlord

The fate of us all lies deep in the dark
When time stands still at the iron hill
The fate of us all lies deep in the dark
When time stands still at the iron hill

The iron crowned is getting closer
Swings his hammer down on him
Like a thunderstorm, he's crushing
Down the Noldor's proudest King

Under my foot so hopeless it seems
You've troubled my day, now, feel the pain
Lord of all Noldor, a star in the night
And a bearer of hope
He rides into his glorious battle alone
Farewell to the valiant warlord

The fate of us all lies deep in the dark
When time stands still at the iron hill
The fate of us all lies deep in the dark
When time stands still at the iron hill

The Elvenking's broken
He stumbles and falls
The most proud and most valiant
His spirit survives

Praise our King
Praise our King
Praise our King
Praise our king

 

[headbanger97]

The whole song Holy Diver by Dio is pretty dang epic.
"Holy Diver
You've been down too long in the midnight sea
Oh what's becoming of me
Ride the tiger
You can see his stripes but you know he's clean
Oh don't you see what I mean
Gotta get away
Holy Diver"
I mean come on! Dio is riding a tiger, what do you want?

 

[dcdude171]

" Well they cut me to ribbons and taught me drive, I got your name tatooed inside of my arm, and i called for my father but my father had died, and i called for my father and my father had died, while you told me fortunes in American slang

 

[schiz0phren1c]

Ok I'm gonna cheat first cause the entire second verse by Ra the rugged man of Jedi Mind Tricks song Uncommon valor is BREATH TAKING
I was originally gonna post the lyrics but the tl/dr would set in with the ADD crowd,
so just watch this song,the first verse is amazing too,but Ra just fucking NAILS it...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7r0KpWMNxnM

also the single best lyrics(not written by me
is by Rakim in "Let the Rhythm Hit 'Em" with "blood pressure rises,you damn near lost it,
hit the ground burning and woke up frostbit" which is it's simplicity and complexity always blew me away.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALPH86ybA6U

 

[Evan Halfmann]

Final lyric to Dream Theater's Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence:

"A journey to find the answers inside our illusive mind"

That lyric and the way it's delivered has always given me chills.

 

[V3rtig0]

Probably the lyrics from Pink Floyd - Time. I used to be a huge procrastinator (I still am one, but slowly making progress towards fixing the "huge" part), so those lines and actually the whole song itself perfectly describes me.

"The sun is the same, in a relative way, but you're older,
Shorter of breath and one day closer to death."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYiahoYfPGk

There are probably others, but this is the one I thought about when I saw this thread.

 

[JaceArveduin]

"Never trust the northern winds. Never turn your back on friends"

Blind Guardian - "Nightfall"

*nods sagely*

Yeah, not sure how I missed your post, but Nightfall's probably one of Blind Guardian's best songs.

I'll also throw in Iced Earth's 'Anthem' This bit in particular.

We have the power make our lives what they ought to be
Reconnect with our humanity
Transcend to a higher place, accepting reality
You are the key to the life you seek

Spoiler

In your eyes I see your desperate and in hunger
Reclaim your future, your paths uncertain
See this child it's raised in hate and in anger
His eyes wide open, his rage so focused

Torn asunder our destiny is in sight
This is the anthem to celebrate your life
Torn asunder our destiny is in sight
This is the anthem to celebrate your life

The single mother she is strained and she suffers
She slaves away, her life in turmoil
The homeless man had it all and now has nothing
His spirit broken plagued from injustice

Torn asunder our destiny is in sight
This is the anthem to celebrate your life
Torn asunder our destiny is in sight
This is the anthem to celebrate your life

We have the power make our lives what they ought to be
Reconnect with our humanity
Transcend to a higher place, accepting reality
You are the key to the life you seek

Torn asunder our destiny is in sight
This is the anthem to celebrate your life
Torn asunder our destiny is in sight
This is the anthem to celebrate your life

 

[Daeggreth]

SNIP

Well since MASTACHIEFPWN already mentioned the song lyrics that have the biggest personal effect on me... gonna have to go with "C'est La Vie" (Protest the Hero) because of the suicide puns ^.^