Top 10 Famous English Song Lyrics Ever 2024

Writing lyrics is a challenging endeavor. Finding words that accurately express the songwriter’s emotions while fitting into a particular tune and tempo is not the only challenge; the words’ sound quality must also be attractive to the ear.

A song’s lyrics may serve as its foundation, with the words arriving first, evoking a particular atmosphere or feeling and informing the music. This is the strength of language. The ability to make you cry, whether from joy or despair, is the gift of a great song’s lyrics writer.

While naaa na na na-na-na-naaaaa aren’t exactly the most motivational words ever, thanks to The Beatles’ “Hey Jude,” they are among the most often sung in the world! Other lyrics are simply catchy, sing-along lyrics that linger in your head, even if they are absolutely useless.

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Many people contend that artists like Neil Young and Bob Dylan are poets in addition to being songwriters since the best songs read like the best poetry. It is important to consider the opposite end of the spectrum to demonstrate how difficult and uncommon it is to write excellent lyrics like theirs:

“I’d sooner have a piece of toast than see a ghost/the It’s sight that I fear most.”

There are many more unsuccessful attempts at writing lyrics than successful ones, which is why we value successful lyrics even more. Here are some of the best songs ever recorded, along with brief summaries of each. Your own favorites, as well as what they mean to you and why, are also welcome.

In 2024, exploring iconic English song lyrics offers a glimpse into the rich tapestry of music history and cultural expression. Here are the top 10 famous English song lyrics ever:

1. Surf’s Up by The Beach Boys

“Columnated ruins domino…”

One of the most exquisitely crafted lyrics ever, as well as one of the oddest. It is the result of the lyrical genius Van Dyke Parks’ really original imagination and is rich with layers of strange symbolism (with the help of some very illegal substances).

generating image after image as the words flowed, the song wonderfully complemented Brian Wilson’s magnificent homage to the sea. The words of the song were so out of the ordinary that they actually sparked conflict among the group. Beach Boy Mike Love complained that the lyrics were absurd and would turn off their followers. As a result, the song was put on hold for a few years, although thankfully not for too long!

 

2. Masters of War by Bob Dylan

When death takes its toll, I believe you will discover that “all the money you made/Won’t ever buy back your soul.”

Dylan’s anti-war ballad, known as “the protest song to end all protest songs,” captured the anxieties of a generation. The words brilliantly expressed everything of the young Americans’ wrath, terror, and disdain as Vietnam raged and conscription forced them to fight in a conflict they didn’t understand. The song is made even more intimate by being sung in the first person from the perspective of a young guy who refuses to be compelled to join the army. Despite the song’s straightforward melody, it has been covered by more musicians than you can count because of its potent lyrics.

 

3. “Hey Jude” by The Beatles

“Take a depressing tune and improve it.”

While John Lennon initially thought that this song was composed for him, Paul McCartney actually penned this Beatles classic for Lennon’s son Julian at the beginning of his relationship with Yoko Ono. The song, which was originally called “Hey Jules,” was penned to console a young Julian during his parents’ divorce; countless others have since found solace in its words.

Another well-known line about love is, “It seems we can’t escape it,” which was used in this song, which was composed about the same time McCartney began dating Linda Eastman. The song offers support, guidance, and a strong belief in love. Hey Jude is best known for its finale, which lasts for more than four minutes and makes the song over seven minutes long. At the time, this made Hey Jude the longest single to ever reach the top of the UK charts. It also gave the Beatles their largest hit in America.

4. I Still Miss Someone by Johnny Cash

There’s someone out there for me, and I still yearn for someone.

This is one of Johnny Cash’s most well-known songs and one of the songs that has been covered the most. It has a straightforward melody that is altered by the song’s terribly sincere words. Love has undoubtedly been the subject of more lyrics than anything else, and the ones that stick with us are frequently about lost love.

Everybody who has ever experienced a loss may connect to the lyrics in this song because they are so honest and true. One of Bob Dylan’s personal favorites, this country classic has been covered by a variety of musicians, including Joni Mitchell, Emmylou Harris, Dolly Parton, Gram Parson, and Stevie Nicks.

5. The MAS*H theme song, “Suicide is Painless,” by Mike Altman and Johnny Mandel

“I’m going to lose it anyway/the game of life is hard to play,”

The MAS*H theme, one of the most well-known TV and movie tunes ever, actually has a rather surprising songwriter. Director Robert Altman instructed Songwriter Mandel that the song had to be called “Suicide is Painless” and that it had to be the “stupidest song ever written” when he was seeking for a song for one of the movie’s characters to sing in a scene.

Altman attempted to pen the lyrics himself, but his 45-year-old mind found it too challenging to produce “stupid enough.” Instead, he assigned the duty to his son Michael, who is 14 years old. Michael, quite to the contrary, came up with some of the most meaningful lyrics ever penned by a 14-year-old! The notoriously depressing song is written from the perspective of a suicidal person. The fact that this darkly humorous tale of troops enduring the horrors of Vietnam was written by someone so young makes the theme, which reflects the meaninglessness of life and the futility of war, all the more heartbreaking.

 

6. There Is a Light That Never Goes Out by The Smiths

Take me out tonight, please.

It’s uncommon to find a band that receives as much praise for its lyrics as it does for its music, but The Smiths have done so with the help of Morrissey, the enchanted wordsmith. Morrissey, a voracious reader, ardent admirer of poetry, and romantic at heart, has produced some of the most well-known lyrics to come out of the British music scene in the last 30 years. They’ve even sparked a plethora of tattoos. Their song titles alone include more poetry than most lyric sheets. Examples include Shoplifters of the World Unite, Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me, and There Is a Light That Never Goes Out.

One of their most frequently covered songs is There Is a Light, whose lyrics appear to have been influenced by one of Morrissey’s idols, James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause. The lyrics, which speak about teenage alienation and the yearning to flee to experience the first excesses and thrills of life when you no longer feel at home in the family house, are particularly appealing to youngsters everywhere.

7. REM – It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)

“That’s amazing, it starts with an earthquake, birds, and snakes,” exclaimed the singer of REM’s song It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine).

In large part because of Michael Stipe’s (often misheard) lyrics, REM has produced some of the most popular songs of recent memory. Stipe appears to take great delight in penning songs that are somewhat cryptic and heavily symbolic, with hidden meanings. One of their most cheerful and well-known songs, It’s the End of the World, is no exception. It’s jam-packed with lyrics that will challenge even the most ardent REM fans.

You’ll soon run out of breath singing along to this, which is ostensibly a tribute to Bob Dylan’s infamously too poetic Subterranean Homesick Blues. What’s the overall meaning? No one is truly sure, like with many REM lyrics. There are numerous brief passages of narrative, some of which criticize capitalism, while others are merely included because they make for fantastic song lyrics, such as “The ladder starts to clatter with panic fight down height.”

 

8. Old Man by Neil Young

“Look at my life, old man; I’m a lot like you.”

In terms of his profound songwriting, Neil is frequently compared to Bob Dylan, and he has a gift for touching people’s emotions. His openness to expressing his feelings is part of what makes his comments so potent; they are sincere and come from the heart.

Neil’s 1970 acquisition of the Broken Arrow ranch, where he still resides today, inspired the song Old Man, which was dedicated to the elderly man who looked after it. It contrasts the lives of an old man with a young man and discovers that, despite what they may not recognize, their wants are more similar.

 

9. In Big Yellow Taxi by Joni Mitchell

They constructed a parking lot and paved heaven.

Joni Mitchell, a fellow Canadian singer and close friend of Neil’s from the folk movement, has produced a number of well-known lyrics. The ones she wrote for Big Yellow Taxi are possibly the most well-known. The song, “Big Yellow Taxi,” was inspired by Joni’s worries about pollution and the environment. She says: “I composed it on my first trip to Hawaii. I arrived at the hotel via taxi, and when I opened the curtains the following morning, I was greeted by a view of these stunning, verdant mountains in the distance. It crushed my heart to see this scourge on paradise as I then looked down and saw parking lots going on forever.

The song became a favorite among all people since the lyrics, “you don’t know what you’ve got til it’s gone,” relate to a variety of situations other than the end of the world.

 

10. Mah Nà Mah Nà “Mah Nà Mah Nà…” by The Muppets

The Muppets are here to demonstrate that popular songs don’t necessarily have to be about love, heartbreak, loss, or be in any way significant. Mah Nà Mah Nà is one of The Muppets’ most well-known and adored songs, and it literally means nothing.

It’s actually a song that Piero Umiliani wrote for an Italian film, and it only has scat vocals and gibberish lines. Just goes to show that successful words don’t always have to say anything; they just need to sound nice, becoming musical instruments in and of themselves. It’s pretty difficult not to join in the song!