Oliver Battershall

All my favourite lyrics that spark whimsy, longing, joy, peace, or something else entirely

“You know this world is just a one big trouble spot
‘Cause some have plenty and some have not
You know I used to be troubled, but I finally saw the light
Now I don’t worry ’bout a thing
‘Cause I know nothing’s going to be alright”
– Mose Allison (I Don’t Worry About a Thing / I Don’t Worry About a Thing)

“It’s never over
My kingdom for a kiss upon her shoulder
It’s never over
All my riches for her smiles when I’ve slept so soft against her
It’s never over
All my blood for the sweetness of her laughter
It’s never over
She is the tear that hangs inside my soul forever”
– Jeff Buckley (Lover, You Should’ve Come Over / Grace)

“He’s hidden down in the pastures grass
As passer-byes are heading past
At once unbound the sun at last
Can shine on him no hotter
He gives a welcome unto me
We blind each other joyfully
And blind in joy we do become
Much more like son and daughter”
– Diane Cluck (Half a Million Miles from Home / Oh Vanille)

“You may think you left me all alone
But I can hear you talk without a telephone
I don’t stand in the need of company
With everything I see talking like you”
– Connie Converse (Talkin’ Like You / How Sad, How Lovely)

“When he took me out I didn’t doubt
That we were going to the Astor or the Sherry-Netherland
Spring seemed to linger
In the little bunch of flowers he pressed into my hand”
– Connie Converse (Playboy of the Western World / How Sad, How Lovely)

“Why so unhappy? Don’t be that way
Maybe they’ll make me queen for a day
You’ll find a job, probably, or be free, or be free
Come waltz again this Empty Pocket Waltz with me”
– Connie Converse (Empty Pocket Waltz / How Sad, How Lovely)

“Blue boy, older than the world knows
Honey, that’s the way that life goes
No use acting so tough
Calm down, sweetheart, grow up”
– Mac DeMarco (Blue Boy / Salad Days)

“You tell me I can go this far, but no more
Try to show me heaven and then slam the door
You offer shelter at a price much too dear
And your kind of love’s the kind that soon disappears”
– Everything But The Girl (Each and Every One / Eden)

“You look to me like love forever
Too good to last, but too lovely not to try
If I believed in love forever
I’d forget the past, you’re just too lovely not to try”
– Tim Hardin (Misty Roses / Tim Hardin 1)

“Pleasure, melting your snowflake of lace down your face
For your love, for your lover to find
I could call your demons inside, soak them in chamomile
For your love, for your lover to find”
– Hiatus Kaiyote (Breathing Underwater / Choose Your Weapon)

“He loved to be alone, alone
To feel the limits of his hours blown
Scattered and thrown
Like on a windy day
All meaning cast away
It’s the truth, it’s the truth
And it’s a lie”
– Loving (Visions / If I Am Only My Thoughts)

“We’re gonna have to hold ourselves a peace talk
In some neutral café
You lay down your sneaking round the town, honey
And I’ll lay down the highway
I’ve got a blue motel room with a blue bedspread
I’ve got the blues inside and outside my head
Will you still love me when I get back to town?”
– Joni Mitchell (Blue Motel Room / Hejira)

“Everything comes and goes
Marked by lovers and styles of clothes
Things that you held high and told yourself were true
Lost or changing as the days come down to you”
– Joni Mitchell (Down to You / Court and Spark)

“I have a woman inside my soul
Her eyes sombre and sad
She waves her hand to try to reach me
But I can’t hear what she says
I wish I knew what she says”
– Yoko Ono (I Have a Woman Inside My Soul / Approximately Infinite Universe)

“And they whirled and they twirled and they tangoed
Singing and jinging the jango
Floating like the heavens above
Looks like muskrat love”
– Willis Alan Ramsey (Muskrat Love / Willis Alan Ramsey)

“And to be honest I don’t even know why
I let myself get down in the first place
Trying to keep my mind at bay
Sunflower still grows at night
Waiting for a minute ’til the sun’s seen through my eyes”
– Rex Orange County (Sunflower / Sunflower)

“Two strangers, not strangers
Only lacking the knowing
So willing, feeling
Infinite growing”
– Minnie Riperton (Inside My Love / Adventures In Paradise)

“I’ve been down for oh so long
It seemed like my soul was dead and gone
But it’s alright, I’m back in the fight
I thought my day would never come
Maybe it won’t, but I’ll have fun
And I’ll hold tight, ’cause that way it might
– Labi Siffre (Cannock Chase / Crying Laughing Loving Lying)

“And I’ve been down to North Marine Drive
Where I have scratched our names in the sand
And watched the sea take them away
Two names scratched in every spray”
– Ben Watt (North Marine Drive / North Marine Drive)

“Can we pretend that from now on
There is no yesterday?
Paint a portrait of tomorrow
With no colours from today”
– Bill Withers (Can We Pretend / ‘Justments)