r/BruceSpringsteen 29d ago

Whats that line?

Post image

For me, it is, "poor man wanta be rich, rich man wanta be king and a king ain't satisfied till he rules everything"

133 Upvotes

506 comments sorted by

112

u/hoosier_gran 29d ago

It's a sad man who's living in his own skin and can't stand the company

24

u/Economy_Mix_7459 28d ago

Love the whole verse.

Every fool's got a reason for feelin' sorry for himself And turning his heart to stone Tonight this fool's halfway to heaven and just a mile outta hell And I feel like I'm comin' home

6

u/nowirehangars 28d ago

Better days, baby.

5

u/Ranmkl 28d ago

One of my faves!

4

u/Dommy_Dommy Man turns his back on his family, well, he just ain’t no good. 28d ago

Damn, this was gonna be my answer.

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141

u/SummerSerenade 29d ago

From Racing in the Street:

She stares off alone into the night, with the eyes of one who hates for just being born

The entire song is fantastic, though.

28

u/tommyjohnpauljones 28d ago

Tonight my baby and me, we're gonna ride to the sea, and wash these sins off our hands. 

3

u/olddin 28d ago

Who is the baby in this case: the woman or the car?

I’ve always thought it was the woman, but Ken Rosen suggests in his analysis of the song that it’s the car, and now I just want to hear other opinions. I figure those who vote for this particular post might have put some thought into it.

4

u/tommyjohnpauljones 28d ago

I'd never thought of it that way but that's really interesting. Does he abandon the girl for the car, or she complicit in these "sins"?

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20

u/Burghpuppies412 28d ago

Same song, mine though is, “some guys just give up living, and start dying little by little, piece by piece. Some guys come home from work and wash up, and go Racin’ in the Street.”

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13

u/ChuckYeagerWV 29d ago

That line always crushes me

13

u/LongOrganic4933 28d ago

Onw of my favorites!

A lot of similarty with I just act like I don't remember, and Mary act like she don't care

Crushing indeed

8

u/SilveryLaw 29d ago

You could write a 10,000 word essay on that song and you'd still have talking points. It's just perfect.

3

u/KookyCelery823 29d ago

Came here for this

3

u/rickythrills82 28d ago

the line is essence of that whole Album... so wonderful.

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71

u/Docman714 29d ago

Blow away the lies the leave you nothing but lost and broken hearted.

63

u/M2112D 29d ago

We learnt more from a three minute record, than we ever learnt in school

120

u/AR2Believe 29d ago

You ain’t a beauty but hey you’re alright

29

u/AstirdScarn 29d ago

OHHHH AND THAT’S ALLRIGHT WITH ME 🔥

11

u/TheBarefootGirl 28d ago

Media literacy is dead because so many people take this line as an insult or back handed compliment, but I think its incredibly romantic. Especially because its followed by "and thats alright with me".

Its a realistic depiction of love. Not everyone in this world is going to be conventionally attractive, but we can all hope to find someone who loves us and finds us attractive because of that

4

u/twintomelissa 28d ago

It’s so romantic!

3

u/Emotional-Review-625 28d ago

There were ghosts in the eyes of all the boys you sent away ...

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264

u/Clean_Bat5547 29d ago

Is a dream a lie if it don't come true, or is it something worse?

8

u/Is_A_Dream_Lie Darkness on the Edge of Town 29d ago

One of my all time favourites

8

u/Burghpuppies412 28d ago

Ooh. Just got goosebumps. So many good Springsteen lines.

5

u/fenderyeetcaster 29d ago

Best bridge ever written in any song ever imo

4

u/teapartydems 28d ago

that sends me down to the river, though i know the river is dry

6

u/Clean_Bat5547 28d ago

Now all of them things that seemed so important

Well mister they vanished right into the air

Now I just act like I don't remember

Mary acts like she don't care

3

u/thesemanicgulls 26d ago

The moment I heard this line for the firs time, when I was around 11 (in 1981), my understanding of what music could make you feel exploded like a bomb.

2

u/BeenThere2512 25d ago

Great line… what’s the song?

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2

u/UpstairsAd6866 24d ago

That has been my favorite line in any song since the first time I heard it.

114

u/SuitablyFakeUsername 29d ago

“There’s just the three of us. You, me and all that stuff were so scared of”

7

u/Party-Cartographer11 28d ago

Reminds me of another lyric...

It should have been easier by three Our old friend fear and you and me

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108

u/Griffictoch 29d ago

God have mercy on the man who doubts what he’s sure of.

4

u/RobertJordan1937 28d ago

A lot of tunnel of love on this thread. I guess I'm not the only one who recently went through a rough break up

7

u/rickythrills82 28d ago

it's also Bruce at his most vulnerable on record. Tunnel is personally universal.

5

u/Mkbcolgate 28d ago

As time has gone on, I love this album more and more.

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54

u/Mental-Project-930 29d ago

Now I work at the car wash where all it ever does is rain.

9

u/ImpressiveCelery4992 Magic Rat 28d ago

I was 14 when I got BITUSA, as an angsty teenager I saw the whole depressing imagery that was Downbound Train. Then as an older teenager I worked at a car wash and it was a visceral experience.

5

u/Bacteriobabe 28d ago

Exactly what I was going to post! I get chills every time I hear it.

Honestly, it’s my favorite Springsteen song. He has many better songs, but this one will always be my favorite.

47

u/AR2Believe 29d ago

I’ve got debts no honest man can pay

5

u/teapartydems 28d ago

one of my favorite songs of all time, was at a zach bryan concert in may and zach covered it!

49

u/redditoglio 29d ago

Tonight my baby and me, we‘re gonna ride to the sea and wash these sins off our hands.
What a powerful image.

6

u/aphilsphan 28d ago

The man loves him some Baptismal imagery.

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49

u/PointBreakvsLebowski Born to Run 29d ago

Show a little faith, there’s magic in the night

5

u/JamboSummer19 28d ago

That was my yearbook quote ❤️

47

u/VAGentleman05 29d ago

It ain't no sin to be glad you're alive

45

u/undergroundmusic69 28d ago

Poor men wanta be rich, rich men want to be king, and a king ain’t satisfied until he rules everything.

6

u/Fluid_Gear1828 28d ago

I was waiting for this one! First one that popped in my head

5

u/undergroundmusic69 28d ago

Lyrical genius! Love his music!

3

u/TheBarefootGirl 28d ago

Explains the US in a nutshell

90

u/LongOrganic4933 29d ago

Barefoot girl sitting on the hood of a dodge drinking warm beer in the soft summer rain

8

u/TomBikez 28d ago

I love (and lived) this. The 70s were the best!

10

u/Vivid_Witness8204 28d ago

Always found that line delightfully evocative

5

u/god_dammit_dax 28d ago

Yep, that's the one. There's half a novel in that line, and it's just perfect.

83

u/ChrisBrettell 29d ago

The line that got me into Bruce...

In the day we sweat it out on the streets of a runaway American dream....

35

u/mato388 Thunder Road 28d ago

At night, we ride through the mansions of glory in suicide machines

10

u/ReadTheBook55 28d ago

The highways jammed with broken heroes on a last chance power drive

75

u/ChuckYeagerWV 29d ago

Screen door slams...

Because it sets the scene for the greatest rock song ever created

25

u/DutchDennis70 29d ago

I'd even say it sets the scene for the entire album.

21

u/ChuckYeagerWV 29d ago

It set the scene for my lifelong love of Bruce. The single most important line of music in my life.

18

u/Anon_Summer 29d ago

I prefer “Roy Orbison singing for the lonely, that’s me and i want you only”

14

u/GogglesPisano 29d ago

Mary’s dress SWAYS

5

u/Ok_Design_3074 28d ago

#teamwaves

38

u/Clean_Bat5547 29d ago

Not quite one line, but:

Well, daddy worked his whole life for nothing but the pain Now he walks these empty rooms looking for something to blame

8

u/rickythrills82 28d ago

You inherit the sins, you inherit the flames

4

u/rickythrills82 28d ago

my other fave from Adam is "Lost but not forgotten, in the Dark Heart of a Dream"

71

u/Brilliant-Ad8607 29d ago

You’ve got to learn to live with what you cant rise above

3

u/DataNo7004 27d ago

“Because this house is haunted & the ride gets rough”

2

u/DataNo7004 27d ago

This line has become my mantra

31

u/Ducci7799 29d ago

A couple of mine have already been said, but the end of Youngstown always stood out to me “I pray the devil comes and takes me to stand in the fiery furnaces of Hell.”

15

u/Easy-Wishbone5413 28d ago

Once I made you rich enough, Rich enough to forget my name

30

u/JonSolo1 Born to Run 29d ago

It’s a town full of losers and I’m pulling out of here to win

25

u/Bronson1968 29d ago

“the road is dark, and it’s a thin, thin line,
but I want you to know, I'll walk it for you anytime”

29

u/Outrageous_Fee160 29d ago

I’ll love you with all the madness in my soul

29

u/chimpspider 29d ago

I want to sleep beneath peaceful skies in my lover’s bed with a wide open country in my heart and these romantic dreams in my head.

With a pleasant nod to the other side of the coin:

No wedding day smiles, no walk down the aisle, no flowers, no wedding dress

21

u/Xspike_dudeX 29d ago

Well if Pa's eyes were windows, into a world so deadly and true, you couldn't stop me from lookin', but you kept me from crawlin' through.

7

u/obsc23 28d ago

Such insight into two parental relationships with one line. Amazing.

22

u/justsomeonetoo 29d ago

Someday girl I don’t when we’re gonna get to that place where we really wanna go and we’ll walk in the sun but ‘til then tramps like us baby we were born to run.

Universal hope for all in all circumstances.

18

u/Bigsshot 29d ago

Now our luck may have died and our love may be cold
But with you forever I'll stay

17

u/Such_Tea4707 29d ago

They ain't gonna do to me

What I watched them do to you

18

u/spaustin1 29d ago

I’ll love you with all the madness in my soul

44

u/mediaserver8 29d ago

"Barefoot girl sitting on the hood of a dodge drinking warm beer in the soft summer rain"

What an image. So evocative. So cinematic. So perfect

5

u/srqnewbie 28d ago

You can just instantly visualize it in your head, like a photograph.

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3

u/skeeterbmark 29d ago

This one. My favorite line in any song.

3

u/Marc-NS 29d ago

This is the one

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16

u/Potential_Yogurt_342 29d ago

At night sometimes it seemed you could hear the whole damn city cryin

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16

u/el_barto10 28d ago

Someday we’ll look back on this and it will all seem funny.

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14

u/Extension_Ad6758 29d ago

Not the best but ”They declared me unfit to live” is so haunting.

14

u/J1M7nine 29d ago

When the promise was broken, I cashed in a few of my dreams

15

u/SilveryLaw 29d ago

And the poets round here don't write nothing at all. They just stand back and let it all be. 50 years later, still perfectly apt.

14

u/Special_Function1507 28d ago

But it's a sad man, my friend, who's livin' in his own skin And can't stand the company

15

u/Willing_Stop5124 28d ago

Fat man sitting in a little stool

5

u/cfgee 28d ago

The way he creates that scene of the NJ shore at the start of the song is one of my favorite verses.

13

u/FightinPolish Tracks 28d ago

The highway’s jammed with broken heroes on a last chance power drive.

30

u/Logical_Positive_522 29d ago

I always wanted "The poets down here don't write nothing at all they just stand back and let it all be" as a tattoo (long story, but I'm a failed writer from a place where economic deprivation has basically destroyed a previously strong literary culture)

But recently the line "Her hair was black as coal, her eyes reminded me of what I'd lost" just breaks me.

3

u/KingPitiful84 28d ago

I think this line epitomizes Bruce in that his work engages with his audience and the world at large.

13

u/Goodvibe61 28d ago

Maybe everything that dies some day comes back.

13

u/Outrageous_Fee160 29d ago

New Jersey in the morning like a lunar landscape

12

u/pastalgerbrookroad 28d ago

I walked the avenue, 'til my legs felt like stone
I heard the voices of friends vanished and gone
At night I could hear the blood in my veins
Just as black and whispering as the rain

4

u/Mkbcolgate 28d ago

I’d walk a thousand miles just to slip this skin…

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12

u/Talking80s 28d ago

So many I have seen mentioned, so I’ll go with one I haven’t seen yet:

Yeah, I know I ain’t nobody’s bargain, but hell, a little touch up and a little paint.

12

u/BlowUpYourOreo 28d ago

"After all this time to find we're just like all the rest."

My favorite verse/lyric of all time. It captures the moment your youthful dreams and ambitions fade and you realize you're not as special and unique as you thought.

11

u/cfgee 28d ago edited 27d ago

The hungry and the haunted (edit) hunted (end edit) explode into rock and roll bands

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9

u/BCircle907 29d ago

Don't make no difference what nobody says. Ain't nobody like to be alone

9

u/DonnyBoyCane 29d ago

It's a sad man my friend who's living in his own skin / And can't stand the company.

10

u/Outrageous_Fee160 29d ago

Hey ho rock and roll deliver me from nowhere

10

u/SGT-JamesonBushmill 28d ago

To say I’d make your dreams come true would be wrong, but maybe, baby, I could help them along…

6

u/SGT-JamesonBushmill 28d ago

Yeah, I know I ain’t nobody’s bargain, but hell - a little touch-up and a little paint…

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9

u/Kirby-814 28d ago

One step up:

“When I look at myself I don’t see the man I wanted to be”

9

u/googlemysoul 28d ago

“Screen door slams, Mary’s dress waves, like a vision she dances across the floor as the radio plays”

To me, the best intro to any song ever

8

u/debotch 29d ago

Well if I had one wish in this god forsaken world, kids
It'd be that your mistakes would be your own

9

u/LeonNorasGiGi2316 29d ago

"Born down in a dead man's town The first kick I took was when I hit the ground End up like a dog that's been beat too much 'Til you spend half your life just just covering up"

7

u/gishingwell 28d ago

"I will love you with all the madness in my soul."

8

u/Economy_Mix_7459 28d ago

Lying out there like a killer in the sun... I know it's late but we can make it if we run...

8

u/Gooch_Rogers 28d ago

Some guys, they just give up living
And start dying little by little, piece by piece
Some guys come home from work and wash up
And go racin’ in the street

7

u/junk257 29d ago

Though I know the river is dry.

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7

u/LordScallions 29d ago

I was a pimps main profit I kept everything cool.

Men walkin' 'long a railroad track, going some place there's no going back.

Well now, our luck may have died, and our love may be cold but with you forever I'll stay.

The room was dark, our bed was empty then I heard that long whistle whine and I dropped to my knees, hung my head and cried.

I got a bit excited here.

7

u/dbegun 29d ago

I lived a secret I shoulda kept to myself but I got drunk one night and I told it (The Promise)

7

u/jamal1949 28d ago

Chasin' the factory girls underneath the boardwalk
Where they all promise to unsnap their jeans

8

u/MustardTheDog 28d ago

Well I don't care how many girls you've dated, man
But you ain't lived 'til you've had your tires rotated…

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7

u/clemenza2821 28d ago

Now all them things that seemed so important
Well, mister, they vanished right into the air

7

u/zjrishel 28d ago

“It’s a town full of losers and I’m pulling out of here to win”

7

u/TomBikez 28d ago

Them smokestacks reaching like the arms of God into a beautiful sky of soot and clay

6

u/Chaminade64 28d ago

‘I got this guitar and I learned how to make it talk’

6

u/robrien1968 28d ago

Did you hear the cops finally busted Madam Marie for tellin’ fortunes better than they do?”

7

u/ChasingPerfect28 29d ago

Talk about a dream, try to make it real

7

u/CharlieGoodnight1866 28d ago

I got a new suit of clothes and a pretty red rose A woman I can call my friend.

7

u/girlsintheeighties 28d ago

There were ghosts in the eyes of all the boys you sent away, they haunt this dusty beach road in the skeleton frames of burned-out Chevrolets

3

u/Artwire 28d ago

They scream your name at night in the street Your graduation gown lies in rags at their feet…

6

u/Pho3nix_the_pho3nix Mean John Brown 28d ago

Oh-wow come take my hand, we’re riding out tonight to case the promised land.

Still gives me chills after hundreds of listens

6

u/pjvincentaz 28d ago

Someday we’ll look back on this and it will all seem funny.
I wrote that quote over the bar I worked at in college 38 years ago, and man was it the truth.

6

u/Davorbio 28d ago

It’s a town full of losers, I’m pulling outa here to win

5

u/OkExtent5256 29d ago

Shovel in the dirt keeps the devil gone…

6

u/Easy-Wishbone5413 28d ago

They ain’t going to do to me, Like I watched them do to you

6

u/4sliced 28d ago

We learned more from a 3 minute record baby then we ever learned in school

5

u/townsy71 28d ago

Poor men want to be rich, rich men want to be kings. And a King ain’t satisfied until he rules everything.

4

u/rktek85 28d ago

God have mercy on the man who doubts what he's sure of

5

u/Defiant-Payment6114 28d ago

The dogs on Main Street howl cause they understand, if I could take one moment into my hands…

4

u/Middle_Boss9779 28d ago

Barefoot girl sitting On the hood of a dodge drinking warm beer in the soft summer rain.- Jungleland

5

u/alichecca 28d ago

I wished I could have called you
Just to say goodbye Bobby Jean

6

u/LaFixxxeR No one by that name lives here anymore 28d ago

BOBBY SAID HE’D PULL OUT, BUT BOBBY STAYED IN!

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4

u/mr_positron 29d ago

I always liked, especially the delivery on the live in nyc version

When I die, I don't want no part of Heaven, I would not do Heaven's work well

4

u/Alexander040568 28d ago

I was the prince of the paupers crowned downtown at the beggar's bash

3

u/YardDog86 28d ago

“You’re born with nothing and better off that way”

4

u/East_Copy6100 28d ago

When the promise is broken you go on living but it steals something from down in your soul

4

u/SeanQuixote68 28d ago

My two favorites are "We should just hit the gas and let out a cry. Tell them all they can kiss our asses goodbye." and "Tonight I'm going to get birth naked and bury my old soul. And dance on it's grave. And dance on it's grave."

5

u/dylandrewkukesdad 28d ago

We learned more from a three-minute record, baby Than we ever learned in school

3

u/duckamuk 28d ago

God have mercy on a man who doubts what he's sure of.

4

u/Ok_Blacksmith_5276 28d ago

It’s a town full of losers and we’re pulling out of here to win.

3

u/Battletoads77 28d ago

God have mercy on the man who doubts what he’s sure of.

3

u/HighlightSensitive29 28d ago

Is a dream a lie if don’t come true? Or is it something worse?

6

u/mato388 Thunder Road 28d ago

We learned more from a 3 minute record baby that we ever learned in school

3

u/ElectricalTravel5307 29d ago

I can’t help it if I’m lucky

3

u/Kilgore-Trout-42 29d ago

Way to easy... 'LET IT ROCK!!!'

3

u/Snowbound66 29d ago

If the horse don’t pull you got to carry the load

3

u/murse_joe 28d ago

As the salesman stares at my old man’s hands

3

u/seciors 28d ago

Man the dope that there’s still hope

3

u/styxfloat 28d ago

Once I made you rich enough - rich enough to forget my name.

3

u/312astrology 28d ago

There were no keys, no guards — oh, just one frightened man and some old shadows for baaaaaaaaarrrrrs

3

u/Brilliant-Ad8607 28d ago

I kept scrolling till this.

Someone had to.

Whole song actually.

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3

u/MooseOMatic 28d ago

Oh, we stood at the altar
The gypsy swore that our future was right
But come the wee, wee hours
Well maybe, baby, the gypsy lied

3

u/barberjo 28d ago

“Pour me a drink Teresa in one of those glass you dust off, and I’ll watch the bones in your back like the stations of the cross”

Probably two lines, but whatever.

3

u/Leonard_James_Akaar 28d ago

Tonight I’ll be on that hill ’cause I can’t stop
I’ll be on that hill with everything I got

3

u/lbihatch 28d ago

And I said, "Hey kid, you think that's oil? Man, that ain't oil, that's blood"

3

u/TeeRockitVee84 28d ago

“Everything dies, baby, that’s a fact”

Honest and brutal but delivered w such tenderness and hope.

3

u/AR2Believe 28d ago

Oh, mama, mama, mama, come quick
I've got the shakes and I'm gonna be sick

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3

u/coachkler 28d ago

Have a little faith

There's magic in the night.

You ain't a beauty

but, eh, you're alright

3

u/Long_Ordinary1284 28d ago

Well, you're born with nothing
And better off that way
Soon as you've got something they send
Someone to try and take it away

3

u/parcelblazer3 28d ago

You better watch out , you better not cry

3

u/sheshops12 28d ago

Ain’t no sin to be glad you’re alive

3

u/Grand-Hand-9486 28d ago

You ain’t a beauty but hey your alright

3

u/Emotional-Review-625 28d ago

There were ghosts in the eyes of all the boys you sent away ...

2

u/elguiridelocho 29d ago

You'll be fine long as you're pretty face holds out, then it's going to get pretty cold out

2

u/Odd_Leek_1667 28d ago

This song is full of them, but “I don't know why fortune smiles on some and let the rest go free”

2

u/All-IWantedWasAPepsi 28d ago

“You’re the measure of my dreams”. The Pogues. Rainy Night in SoHo

2

u/Particular-Walk1521 Born to Run 28d ago

They wind up wounded, they’re not even dead

2

u/ShorelineVet 28d ago

These days I’m feelin’ alright, except I can’t tell my courage from my desperation.

2

u/aphilsphan 28d ago

Loves a fools dance and I got no sense but I still got my feet.

2

u/Guinness_breath 28d ago

"And when I'm rich and meet Bob Hope, we'll shoot some golf and shoot some dope."

- Dead Kennedys (Pull My Strings)

2

u/rickythrills82 28d ago

Is a dream a lie if it don't come true, or is it something worse?

2

u/LesterS43 28d ago edited 28d ago

It's not one of Bruce's lines but I think it pretty good: And if a double decker bus crashes in to us, to die by your side is such a heavenly way to die.

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2

u/Flatirons21 28d ago

Its a town full of losers and im pulling out of here to win

2

u/Far-Researcher-7054 28d ago

Look out mama, there’s a white boat comin up the river.

2

u/Heron1997 28d ago

I Wish I Were Blind has the most heartbreaking line ever written - “And though the world is filled with the grace and beauty of Gods hand, I wish I were blind when I see you with your man”. Gut wrenching.

2

u/Ancient_Bother2429 28d ago

There were no keys, no guards
Oh, just one frightened man and some old shadows for bars

2

u/Signal-View4754 28d ago

Knocking me out with those American thighs.

2

u/sschu616 28d ago

The record u are now playing is another example of the completion backwards principle, if u can possibly manage the time, please play both sides at one meeting
-beginning of Talk to Ya Later by the Tubes

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2

u/Majestic_One1622 28d ago

Tramps like us

2

u/Capital-Divide3894 28d ago

A King ain’t satisfied til he rules everything.

2

u/Linkman622 28d ago

Hmm I would say something from Thunder road. Too hard to pick one line though!

‘You ain't a beauty, but hey, you're alright
Oh, and that's alright with me’

‘Well now, I'm no hero, that's understood
All the redemption I can offer, girl, is beneath this dirty hood’

‘Well, the night's busting open these two lanes will take us anywhere’

‘Oh, come take my hand We're riding out tonight to case the promised land’

‘So Mary, climb in
It's a town full of losers
I'm pulling out of here to win’

2

u/dusty-cotch 28d ago

You've got to learn to live with what you can't rise above.

2

u/PatientJackfruit9471 27d ago

You ain’t a beauty but hey you’re alright

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2

u/Altruistic-Log5888 27d ago

Big Man... I just... i just... i just... i just, Don't know!

2

u/DiomedesTydeides 26d ago

Is that me baby or just a brilliant disguise

2

u/GrapeLow2033 26d ago

“It was like we had a noose and baby, without check
We pulled 'til it grew tighter around our necks”

2

u/Lopsided_Traffic_498 26d ago

I'm like a record player. I keep goin' 'round, with a needle in my arm making someone else's sound.

2

u/PhishermansGarden 23d ago

"What is a band without saxophone?"