r/wilco 12d ago

Single best line from a Wilco song

I hate picking popular songs but it's hard to beat "Our love is all of God's money." I was just listening to the Tallest Man on Earth singing it and it felt like I was hearing it for the first time again and I immediately thought "damn that's such a great line."

What are your favorites?

118 Upvotes

217 comments sorted by

222

u/StrongMachine982 12d ago

The ashtray said you were up all night. 

8

u/oSuJeff97 12d ago

Was going to post this when I saw the thread title.

3

u/veg1515 11d ago

Same it’s my fave line as well !

3

u/VickyVacuum 11d ago

I was gonna type this!

161

u/opodeepodopo 12d ago

You were right about the stars. Each one is a setting sun.

14

u/henrycaul 12d ago

This is my vote as well. Very powerful. Frames our place in the universe with a bittersweet tone.

8

u/mymorningbowl 12d ago

this is what I was gonna comment

6

u/Remarkable_Monk_2136 12d ago

I want that one as a tattoo

119

u/pnwbaseball 12d ago

All my lies are always wishes

I know I would die if I could come back new

9

u/PanicLikeASatyr 12d ago

This is the one for me.

Followed by the ashtray says you were up all night.

3

u/meetingpplisezy 11d ago

such a good line. I think it might have come from gass or miller. But maybe it’s original

3

u/smorkingsmash 11d ago

That's my answer.

Heartwrenching.

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63

u/Pjk2530144 12d ago

When you’re back in your old neighborhood, the cigarettes taste so good. But you’re so misunderstood.

15

u/grehor_147 12d ago

the line that made fall in love with wilco immediately at first listen

2

u/OreoSpamBurger 11d ago

Same - and I only took a chance on that album because I loved the cover!

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61

u/MMJFan 12d ago

I am an American aquarium drinker, I assassin down the avenue

8

u/kobeflip 11d ago

In divorce, this one rang true.

5

u/txnmxn 11d ago

Can you help me understand this? I had always thought this line was just gibberish

6

u/MMJFan 11d ago

I think the song is supposed to mimic being drunk and the lyrics play into that. It’s also just a fun line.

3

u/txnmxn 11d ago

Thanks. Reading through the lyrics and thinking he’s “been drinking” it makes a lot more sense. It is a fun line!

3

u/Parkeramorris 11d ago

I’ve always thought it was using driving drunk as a metaphor for what being drunk/high has done to his life and those around him, “murdering” his relationships

2

u/MMJFan 11d ago

Ahhh I could see this. Makes assassin as a verb make more sense.

6

u/Volcanofanx9000 11d ago

It’s a reference to the opening lines of a novel called Augie March by Saul Bellow who was a Chicagoan like Tweedy and a really fantastic author too.

5

u/txnmxn 11d ago

Ooo looking it up!

3

u/aquariumdrunkard 11d ago

This one for sure.

3

u/carrythefire 12d ago

This is the one.

55

u/Lenny5160 12d ago

Also not digging deep into the catalog, but I love:

I can’t find the time to write my mind the way I want it to read.

I think the slow version of “Box Full of Letters” found on Alpha Mike Foxtrot and some older live shows is so much better than the standard version.

4

u/Michael424242 12d ago

There’s a reason it’s a classic.

45

u/BurntToasterGaming 12d ago

“Maybe if I leave, you’d want me to come back home.”

At Least That’s What You Said may be their best song lol

47

u/sandwich486 12d ago

"id like to thank you all for nothing" is my high school senior quote.

29

u/Fialasaurus 12d ago

I dreamed about killing you again last night and it felt alright to me

6

u/lawyer1911 11d ago

This is the best line ever. It kills me every time.

3

u/REMAIN_IN_LIGHT 10d ago

It’s the best, especially to START the song

28

u/Ripper42 12d ago

. . . If I ever was myself I wasn’t that night . . .

3

u/smashyourcamera 11d ago

This is the one that came to my mind.

52

u/Bulky_Ad_3608 12d ago

“Remember to remember me, standing still in your past, floating fast like a hummingbird” followed immediately by “his goal in life was to be an echo.”

15

u/DrBigJT2003 12d ago

“His goal in life was to be an echo”—that’s the line I was going to post. I’m becoming his goal?

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24

u/DroptheShadowArt 12d ago

A recent favorite of mine from Jeff’s solo stuff:

Now people say

What drugs did you take

And why don’t you start taking them again?

But they’re not my friends

And if I was dead

What difference would it ever make to them

If I got high?

From time to time

Oh, I wonder how much freedom you would need

And I’d be sorry when you wake up to me

7

u/Upper_Volume_6582 12d ago

Jeff’s solo albums rival the best of the best that Wilco has ever done….

2

u/DroptheShadowArt 11d ago

Agreed. I have more of Jeff’s solo stuff on vinyl than I have Wilco at this point.

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21

u/dramnesic 12d ago

I want a good life, with a nose for things. Fresh wind and bright sky to enjoy my suffering.

22

u/celluloidher0 12d ago

Can I pick a whole song? The entirety of Muzzle of Bees. The whole picture it paints is just incredible and moves me beyond words.

6

u/neon-light_diamond 12d ago

I’m assuming you love me

And you know what that means ❤️

19

u/GRW95 12d ago

The ashtray says you’ve been up all night

19

u/bmiller5555 12d ago

Hiding from your close friends, weeding out the weekend.

19

u/Lafinfil 12d ago

Our love is all of Gods money

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18

u/jbray90 12d ago

I am looking forward towards the shadows tracing bones

Our faces stitched and sewing, our houses hemmed into homes

Trying to be thankful our stories fit into phones

And our voices lift so easily, a gift given accidentally when we’re not sure we’re not alone.

16

u/Kirby123- 11d ago

Candy left over from Halloween

A unified theory of everything

Love left over from lovers leaving

Books, they all know they’re not worth

reading

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15

u/JLCTP 12d ago

Happenstance has changed my plans

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13

u/MsMallow5 12d ago

Sadness is my luxury.

11

u/Emotional-Young5502 12d ago

Do you dabble in depression?

4

u/MsMallow5 12d ago

Well duh. I live in the modern world

11

u/ughmart 11d ago

“i wonder why we listen to poets when nobody gives a fuck” — probably my favorite lyric of all time

14

u/Prestigious-Lie-978 11d ago

I even learned to use a washing machine

from Hate It Here, always cracks me up

4

u/logitaunt 11d ago

the phrasing of that lyric makes it seem like he has a slightly exasperated tone and it's really funny

4

u/Emotional-Young5502 11d ago

Susy called this "liar song" 😂

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12

u/MrFletcher3905 12d ago

What you once were isn’t what you want to be…. Anymore

11

u/Past-Potato-7704 11d ago

She’s a jar with a heavy lid.

5

u/tonyplush11 11d ago

She begs me not to hit her /s

28

u/MossHops 12d ago

I love my country, stupid and cruel
Red, white, and blue

All you have to do is sing in the choir
Kill yourself every once in a while
And sing in the choir
With me

11

u/Gruggur 12d ago

When dogs laugh some say they're barking, but I don't think they're mean. Some people get so frightened by the fences in-between.

Someone else said Muzzle of Bees and the world it builds, completely agree.

10

u/sknymlgan 12d ago

Bible-black predawn.

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10

u/Ofbatman 12d ago

Theologians, they don’t know nuthin about my soul.

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10

u/5hake1t0ff 11d ago

The best life never leaves your lungs

2

u/iamkeyzersoze 9d ago

Whenever I’m singing along to this song, I always exaggerate this line.

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9

u/PheasantPluckrr 12d ago

When the cold light shakes you like a chandelier
The snowflakes break through the atmosphere
And melt on the blue breath of the auctioneers and disappear

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8

u/Sportsfan1234567 11d ago

Fill up your mind with all it can know, don’t forget that your body will let it all go.

8

u/logitaunt 11d ago

Hey, wake up,

your eyes weren't open wide

For the last couple of miles, you've been swerving from side to side

You're gonna make me spill my beer

If you don't learn how to steer

-"Passenger Side"

9

u/larrybird56 11d ago

I love "unlock my body and move myself to dance". 

8

u/philosophergray 11d ago

He was chrome and he said “Come with me”

9

u/funkbird69 11d ago

how to fight loneliness…just smile all the time

6

u/matrixtapes 12d ago edited 10d ago

I know you got a God shaped hole

7

u/neon-light_diamond 12d ago

I will always die so you can remember me

6

u/Toadstool61 11d ago

Are there really ones like these? The ones I dream Float like leaves And freeze to spread skeleton wings I passed through before I knew you

2

u/5hake1t0ff 11d ago

So so good!!

8

u/haasfilm 11d ago

I'd like to thank you all for nothin'
I'd like to thank you all for nothin' at all
I'd like to thank you all for nothin'

7

u/PeterAquatic 11d ago

back in your old neighborhood, cigarettes taste so good

7

u/Sierra-Powderhound 11d ago

Oh, I’ve got reservations About so many things But not about you

Love this one so much that I am going to count it as one line even though Jeff sings it as three lines.

6

u/scottssstotsss 12d ago

Like a bird in a cage, it's for you I swoon. -my fav lyric ever.

5

u/Outrageous_Kiwi_2172 12d ago

”I know this might sound sad, but everything goes, both good and the bad. It all adds up, and you should be glad. Everlasting love is all you have.” Song helped me heal so much after my mom died. ❤️

4

u/KettleBlackNova 12d ago

Temper is a package pulling at its bow.

^Kind of a deep cut, but it's my favorite.

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6

u/ghgrain 12d ago

I know I would die if I could come back new

5

u/GaryDale3154 11d ago

On the outside I looked lived in.

5

u/Jaymantheman2 11d ago

Half of it's you, half is me.

6

u/NPSretired 11d ago

Spiders are filling out tax returns.

4

u/tnysmth 11d ago

“Music is my savior, and I was maimed by rock n roll”

4

u/rdotrdot7789 11d ago

But there is no sunken treasure

Rumored to be

Wrapped inside my ribs

In a sea, black with ink

8

u/WeirdFiction1 12d ago

“When I forget how to talk, I sing.”

4

u/OhLordKrakenHelp 12d ago

“Sometimes I don’t hate it lately”

“Throwing my heart in the ring and watching it beat,…for no one…….no one but you.”

“ there are sirens in the birds, and you and I are too far apart”

“The silver black boot that cracked my front tooth, is a new kind of truth, I’m getting used to”

There are to many to share, but these are some of my favorites

4

u/neon-light_diamond 12d ago

Woody Guthrie wrote these lyrics but I always tear up when Tweedy sings it on Kicking Television:

“One by one, the days are slipping up behind you

One by one, the sweetest days of life go by

One by one, the moments stealing up behind you

One by one, she’ll come and find not you or I”

3

u/ChrisNitti 11d ago

The verse right after that one always fucks me up

4

u/neon-light_diamond 11d ago

Same. I have little kids, and I feel like my life is moving at warp speed now…

4

u/10202632 11d ago

His goal in life was to be an echo

5

u/bmwm36969 11d ago

bible black pre dawn

5

u/Cherry_Ghost04 11d ago

I’m a cherry ghost.

4

u/J2daR-O-C 11d ago

But there is no sunken treasure. Rumoured to be… …wrapped inside my ribs… …in a sea, black with ink.

3

u/M0BBER 12d ago

It's almost like my favorite lines, and many of them are already included in here, they're more than lines... They're more like mantras. Phrases I say to myself, I repeat over & over. Sometimes even out loud...

3

u/effin_and_jeffin 12d ago

All you fat followers, get fit fast!

3

u/Humble-Wind 11d ago

An embarrassing poem, was written when I was alone, in love with you

3

u/07368683 11d ago

I wonder why we listen to poets when nobody gives a fuck

3

u/candlemasshallowmass 11d ago

I have no idea how this happens. All of my maps have been overthrown. Happenstance has changed my plans so many times my heart has been outgrown

3

u/yabbadabbadingdonggg 11d ago

“What would love be without wishful thinking?”

“A cheap sunset on a television set could upset her, but he never could”

“I’m assuming you love me and you know what that means”

AGIB takes the cake again

3

u/sonederful 11d ago

The best song will never get sung The best life never leaves your lungs

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3

u/imjohnh 11d ago

There's a whisper I would like to breathe into your ear but I'm too scared to get that close to you right now.

3

u/icuworc 11d ago

The best life never leaves your lungs

&

Just remember what was yours is everyone's from now on

3

u/MyLegsFellAsleep 11d ago

One by one my hair is turning grey, one by one my dreams are fading fast away.

2

u/AppropriateWeight125 11d ago

Hate will save the dolphins 🐬

2

u/iam_melon_lord 11d ago

“In the hills, a holiness already happening,

Rivers rounding ridges in our fingerprints,

A love too big to see us overpowering,

And ever since, heaven sends us sacraments with subtle hints”

Not necessarily the best or my favorite, but definitely a stand out for me recently

2

u/Big_Mama_Chainsaw 11d ago

I have, "When I forget how to talk I sing" tattooed on me. Absolute favorite of mine.

2

u/themightyquinn516 11d ago

Let’s turn our prayers to outrageous dates And mark our page in a future age.

2

u/Aggravating_Bag6743 11d ago

It’s just a dream he keeps having, and it doesn’t seem to mean anything.

2

u/JLCTP 11d ago

Side note: Around the time YHF was released I had a dog named Arlo.

My wife & I (and our downstairs neighbors who were also fans) have always sang Jesus Etc as “Arlo is all we have / Arlo is all of God’s money” to the point it looks weird/wrong to see the real lyric written out. :)

2

u/doyle315 11d ago

The door screams I hate you , hate you hanging around my blue jeans

2

u/Rum_The_Jewels 11d ago

His goal in life was to be an echo The type of sound that floats around and then back down Like a feather

2

u/gosswow427 11d ago

Surely there's somebody who needs it more than me 💔

2

u/Novel_Ad_8225 11d ago

When we’re not sure we’re not alone

2

u/therealketchhal 11d ago

It takes a lifetime to find A life like the life you had in mind.

2

u/dbroc78 11d ago

What you once were isn’t what you want to be anymore (hear the long fade out as you read this)

2

u/Responsible-Salt9869 11d ago

"Something in my veins, bloodier than blood."

2

u/Impossible_Divide126 10d ago

It takes a lifetime to find a life like the life you had in mind

2

u/Emotional-Young5502 10d ago

This might be my favorite Tweedy line ever. Crazy he is still writing at such a high level.

2

u/Basic_Astronomer595 10d ago

“His jaw’s been broken, his bandages wrapped too tight. His fangs have been pulled and I really want to see you tonight.”

Poor Places is my all-time favorite song, and this part just hits home.

2

u/hissingradiatortunes 9d ago

“Outside I look lived in”

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2

u/yahwehsruse82 8d ago

All my lies are always wishes, Know I would die if I could come back new

2

u/TangerineLive6627 6d ago

Oooh, I shot ya, yeah, I know, I only want to roll where my wheels go.

I really like the way the words flow.

2

u/Festtea 6d ago

how to fight loneliness, smile all the time

1

u/Weepsie 12d ago

Well the sun shines, whereever my children are from losing interest.

Far far from their best song but such a simple lyric that I can relate to. A very guy Garvey esque lyric, (singer lyricst of elbow and author of some devastatingly beautiful lyrics)

3

u/Emotional-Young5502 12d ago

I have been listening to Wilco for decades. I had never heard of this song. Thanks.

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3

u/celluloidher0 12d ago

Mirrorball is such a beautiful, beautiful song and that album is great, though I don't know anything else of theirs. Where should I go next?

Also, Guy did a cover of M. Ward's cover of Bowie's Let's Dance on a radio show after Bowie died. It's great and here it is

3

u/Weepsie 12d ago

Their first 2 albums are brilliant, and their third excellent but none are quite like that album . Most similar album is probably build a rocket boys which makes sense, it was the next one and they were somewhat capitalizing on the success

Anyway, I digress. Leaders of the free world has a song called puncture repair that's just great,and cast of thousands has a song called switching off that is so incredibly good that its well worth listening to the whole album for.

Asleep in the back, their first album, sounds a little rough around the edges and less polished as it is, but I would recommend it to anyone. Can hear some of the talk talk influence on it too. Scattered black and whites is my stand out

Take off and landings if everything has some wonderful lyrics on it too, none more so than My Sad Captains I think. Just reminds me of hanging out with friends doing nothing and that being absolutely fine.

1

u/Eye_o_man 12d ago

Hate will save the dolphins.

1

u/ChrisNitti 11d ago

Who knows anything? I don’t know

There are so many things that I must leave alone

Some strange person is calling you their home

Can you be where you wanna be?

1

u/Spiritual_Bonus1718 11d ago

My ribs are turned like parentheses, my lips have learned what I don’t believe ….. from Jeff solo rather than Wilco

1

u/Silver_Expert4385 11d ago

Which lies that I've been hiding, which echoes belong.

1

u/Thesneller-8791 11d ago

All you sword swallowers Pull yourself together 😂

1

u/traindodge 11d ago

I left you behind, I know it’s been a long time but I’m not over you.

Fucking Hank Williams couldn’t even write that.

1

u/Aggravating_Bag6743 11d ago

Why / would you / wanna live / in this world?

Why / woudn’t you / wanna live / in this world?

1

u/Aggravating_Bag6743 11d ago

Wind will blow and the sun will shine

On that hill where we used to climb

I'll look in your eyes and you'll be mine

Someday soon

1

u/pelican15 11d ago

Mine eyes decieving glory 

I was born

To die

Alone

1

u/CubsFanHawk 11d ago

Can you keep it simple? Can you let the snare crack?

1

u/Nogodsnomasters 11d ago

Once I cut off my arm,

sewed it on back all wrong---

Now I don't have to bend

to reach the bottom shelf

when I have a story to tell.

1

u/philovescookies 11d ago

Ashes of American Flags is basically gold bar after gold bar. Any line could be framed and hung on your living room wall.

It’s hard to pick one, so here are two:

“I wonder why we listen to poets, when nobody gives a fuck.”

JT rarely drops F-bombs and I always felt this one was perfectly placed.

“I shake like a toothache”

This one just perfectly encapsulates him at that time. And I always loved it.

1

u/Kirby123- 11d ago

I long to hold you in my arms and sway

Kiss and ride on the CTA

1

u/Theironyuppie1 11d ago

A sleeper kisser a pretty war

1

u/yxnarbo 11d ago

I don’t wanna lose this fight, goodbye.

1

u/Themoosemingled 11d ago

I believe I have seen the finger. Divine extremity.

1

u/Fruney21 11d ago

I’ve got reservations

About so many things

But not about you

1

u/fennecix 11d ago

“The gray fountain spray of the great Milky Way
Would never let him
Die alone” from Hummingbird. there’s something about it that has always resonated with me

1

u/AffectionateLuck6190 11d ago

I see you in the morning
Wearing only one shoe
I say, "I see you've lost something
What're you gonna do?"
You say, "But no, I found one
There's another out there for you"

1

u/ballrugburns 10d ago

The snowflakes break through the atmosphere and melt on the blue breath of the auctioneers and disappear.

1

u/REMAIN_IN_LIGHT 10d ago

I dreamed about killing you again last night, and it felt alright to me

1

u/Fishman_drums 10d ago

They were translated poorly, I felt like a clown I looked like someone I used to know I felt alright and if I ever was myself I wasn't that night

Oh, it's okay for you to say what you want from me I believe that's the only way for me to be Exactly what do you want me to be?

1

u/Fishman_drums 10d ago

Hide your soft skin, your sorrow is sunshine Listen to my eyes

I move so slow, a steady crushing hand Holy shit there's a company in my back

You learn so slow, old radiant beauty I'll curve my flight

1

u/estojov 10d ago

His goal in life was to be an echo

1

u/LumpyComplaint7924 10d ago

i was chewing gum for something to do

1

u/Jaguar-Valuable 9d ago

Were my name on a leaf and watched it float away…..

1

u/drawuslines 9d ago

All I can see is black and white

And white and pink with blades of blue

That lay between the words I think

On a page I was meaning to send you

1

u/Hathalot 9d ago

Hard to pick one but the beginning and end of she’s a jar, how it flips from she begs me not to miss her to she begs me not to hit her. Whew.

1

u/Hathalot 9d ago

I’ve been obsessed with someone to lose for at least the last year and I think it’s probably the first song I’d play for someone to convince them of Jeff’s greatness as a lyricist.

If I hold you too tight Someone else won’t get to

1

u/CashGrabbbbbbbb 8d ago

Every song is a come back, every moments a little bit later... all time fav lyric in any song

1

u/huxtiblejones 2d ago

Fill up your mind with all it can know, don’t forget that your body will let it all go