Songs about Opposites



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65 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ebony and ivory
Live together in perfect harmony
Side by side on my piano keyboard
Oh, Lord, why can't we?

(McCartney)

Sally said...

Everything you know is wrong
Black is white
Up is down
And short is long

-Weird Al

Deborah in IL said...

Ain't no mountain high enough
Ain't no valley low enough

The Supremes?

Sylvia said...

and you know it ain't fiction,
just a natural fact,
we come together 'cuz opposites attract.

Opposites Attract ~ Paula Abdul

Christa said...

With you I'm not shy to show the way I feel
With you I might try, my secrets to reveal
For you are a magnet, and I am steel

~Walter Egan

Sarah said...

She's hot and cold
She's got it all
Hot loving every night

Huey Lewis

Sylvia said...

Lovers forever,
face to face,
my city,
your mountain,
stay with me, stay,

Leather and Lace ~
Stevie Nicks & Don Henley

Anonymous said...

Night and day
You are the one
Only you beneath the moon
And under the sun

(Cole Porter--two "opposites" in one entry!)

Sylvia said...

you are the sun,
I am the moon,
you are the words,
I am the tune,

Play Me ~ Neil Diamond

Anonymous said...

Checking up on what I have and what I haven't
What do I find?
A healthy balance on the credit side
Taking stock of what I have and what I haven't
What do I find?
The things I've got
Will keep me satisfied
(chorus)
Got no diamond, got no pearl
Still, I think I'm a lucky girl
I got the sun in the morning
And the moon at night

(Irving Berlin, from "Annie Get Your Gun")

Deborah in IL said...

And when I die
And when I'm dead and gone
There'll be one child born in this world to carry on

Blood Sweat and Tears

lunabloom said...

I know no-one's going to show me everything
We all come and go unknown
Each so deep and superficial
Between the forceps and the stone

Hejira...Joni Mitchell

Anonymous said...

What's hard is simple
What's natural comes hard

(Sondheim, "Anyone Can Whistle")

(eight words exactly!)

Sandra Dodd said...

Sugar in the mornin' ,
Sugar in the evenin'...

"Sugartime," common song in the 50's

Deborah in IL said...

You put your right foot in
You put your right foot out

The Hokey Pokey (what it's all about!)

Shanona Ryder said...

You're hot then you're cold
you're yes then you're no
you're in then you're out
you're up then you're down
you're wrong when it's right
it's black and it's white
we fight
we break up
we kiss
we make up...

---Katy Perry, "Hot 'n Cold"

Sandra Dodd said...

So high you can't go over it
So low you can't go under it...

A kids' song from church when I was little

Anonymous said...

You say yes
I say no
You say why
And I say I don't know
Oh, oh
You say good bye
And I say hello

(Lennon/McCartney)

Clarissa said...

The ink is black
The page is white

"Black & White," Three Dog Night

(That Joni Mitchell one is ravishing)

Clarissa said...

The perils of benefactors
The blessings of parasites
Blindness, blindness and sight

"Shadows and Light," Joni Mitchell

Anonymous said...

Fools rush in
So here I am
Very glad to be unhappy
I can't win
But here I am
More than glad to be unhappy

(Rodgers/Hart)

Clarissa said...

With, without.
And who'll deny it's what the fighting's all about?

"Us and Them," Pink Floyd

Anonymous said...

Isn't it a lovely day
To be caught in the rain?
I was going on my way
Now I've got to remain

(Irving Berlin; notably sung by Fred Astaire in "Top Hat")

Margaret said...

To and fro
Stop and go
That's what makes the world go round

From the Sword in the Stone

Meghan said...

Build it up.
Tear it down.
Build it up.
Tear it down.

Fatboy Slim

Anonymous said...

All afternoon doing every little chore
The thought of you shines bright
Sometimes I stand in the middle of the floor
Not turning left,
Not turning right

(Sondheim, "Losing My Mind", from "Follies")

Margaret said...

First you say you do and then you don't
Then you say you will, that's when you won't
You're undecided now, so what are you gonna do

Ella sang it

Margaret said...

I'm a worthless check, a total wreck, a flop
But if baby I'm the bottom, you're the top

Cole Porter

Sandra Dodd said...

East, West
Over the ocean
Perpetual motion
Travelling around

Herman's Hermits

Sandra Dodd said...

I was cold and you were fire
And I never knew how the pyre
Could be burning on the edge of the ice field

"For Cryin' Out Loud," Meat Loaf

Sandra Dodd said...

Now your good girl is gonna go bad
I'm gonna be the swingingest swinger you ever had

(someone, country music, 60's)

Sandra Dodd said...

Well how come you say you will when you won't
Say you do, baby, when you don't?

"Honey Don't"
(I know it by The Beatles)

Margaret said...

I'm not small
I'm so tall
I can carry a mountain on my back

(folksy song I heard as a kid - don't know the origin)

Sandra Dodd said...

Little ones to him belong
They are weak but he is strong
Yes, Jesus Loves Me....

(Another clue about people's beliefs about children.)

lunabloom said...

So low can't go under it
So high can't go over it
So wide can't go round it
oh rock a my lord


not sure what this is but i remember it from school

Margaret said...

Black, White, Green, Red
Can I take my friend to bed

Beatles, "All together now"

Anonymous said...

You're nobody til somebody loves you
You're nobody til somebody cares

(Morgan/Stock)

Clarissa said...

You're not a dream, you're not an angel, you're a man
I'm not a queen, I'm a woman, take my hand
...
And here we'll stay until it's time for you to go


From the 60s

Clarissa said...

I want somebody who will spend some time
Not come and go in a heated rush

"Slow Hand," Pointer Sisters

Unknown said...

I'm a bitch, I'm a lover,
I'm a child, I'm a mother,
I'm a sinner, I'm a saint,
I do not feel ashamed.

Meredith Brooks

Unknown said...

When we in our foolishness thought we were wise,
He played the fool and He opened our eyes;
When we in our weakness believed we were strong,
He became helpless to show we were wrong.

God's Own Fool
Michael Card

Deborah in IL said...

I'm so hot for her
And she's so cold

Rolling Stones

Deborah in IL said...

And they'll tell you that the darkness
Is a blessing in disguise
For you never have to notice
If you're sighted or you're blind
And they'll do their best to keep you from the light

From Me to You
Janis Ian

Sandra Dodd said...

I once was lost but now am found
Was blind but now I see

hymn

Anonymous said...

Winter was warm
Summer soft that year
The winter was warm
Without a hint of frost
Like winter lost
Its way that year

(Merrill/Styne, from "Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol")

Sandra Dodd said...

You hurt me then
You're back again
No, no, no
Not a second time

The Beatles

Anonymous said...

I'm gonna love you
Like nobody's loved you
Come rain or come shine
High as a mountain
Deep as a river
Come rain or come shine

(Arlen/Mercer)

Anonymous said...

They're either too young or too old
They're either too gray or too grassy green
The pickings are poor
And the crop is lean
[snip]
They're either too warm or too cold
They're either too fast or too fast asleep
[snip]
They're either too fresh or too stale
There is no available male
[snip]
They're either too bald or too bold
I'm down to the wheelchair and bassinet


(Schwartz/Loesser)
(A WWII song about how all the prime age men are away at the war, and only the ones that are "too young or too old" are at home)

hahamommy said...

When I was down
~I was your clown

"Don't Go Breakin' My Heart"
Elton/Kiki Dee & Elton/Bernie

Sandra Dodd said...

This door swings both ways
Which way will it be
Will you live in happiness
Or dwell in misery

Herman's Hermits

(I had a hard time deciding which verse was best. The whole song is perfect.)

Margaret said...

Oh Mistress mine where are you roaming
Oh stay and hear, your true love's coming
That can sing both high and low

A song from Shakespeare's time

Sandra Dodd said...

Margaret, I know that song! Cool it played so many places.

========

The sun won't shine and the snow won't snow
It's hard to tell the nighttime from the day

"Desperado," The Eagles

Sandra Dodd said...

Oh the wind blows east and the wind blows west
The wing blew the bonnie lassie's plaidie awa'

an old Scottish song

Clarissa said...

The deeper you go the higher you fly
The higher you fly the deeper you go

"Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except for Me and My Monkey," The Beatles

Sandra Dodd said...

How can you stay when your heart says no
How can you stop when your feet say go

"Honky Cat," Elton John

Margaret said...

She lowered her standards by raising her glass, her courage, her eyes, and his hopes

Flanders and Swann, Have some Maderia m'dear

Sandra Dodd said...

Maybe far away
Or maybe real near by

"Maybe," from Annie

Sandra Dodd said...

How could I ever refuse
I feel like I win when I lose

Margaret said...

Together they found them the very next day
They had pulled out their roots and just withered away
Deprived of this freedom for which we must fight
To veer to the left or to veer to the right

Flanders and Swann (A romeo/juliet song about a honeysuckle and a bindweed)

Margaret said...

Once you warned me
That if you scorned me
That I'd be playing solitaire
Uneasy in my easy chair
It never entered my mind

Rogers & Hart

Margaret said...

According to the latest report
Every average gal you know
Much prefers his lovey dovey to court
When the temperature is low
But when the thermometer goes way up and the weather is sizzling hot
Mr Adam for his madam is not

"Too Darn Hot" (cleaned up version and sung by a woman)

Sandra Dodd said...

Someone who taught me right from wrong
And weak from strong
That's a lot to learn
What can I give him in return

"To Sir with Love," Lulu

Anonymous said...

you say it's black
i say it's white
you know, i'd burn down the house
to turn on the lights tonight

(and, same song)

so keep your mouth shut
swallow your pride till you throw up

"break my stride" (donots)

Anonymous said...

swallow/throw up seems to be popular in my cd shelf...

climb this mountain to cut off the top
first i swallow, then i throw up

"cut off the top" (beatsteaks)

Sandra Dodd said...

I'm sometimes up and I'm sometimes down
But still my soul is heavenly bound
Comin' for to carry me home

"Swing Low, Sweet Chariot"