One liners

What's the best single lyric in all of music?

7-30-2026

This week while the entire staff is on vacation, I’m posting this simple query based on a social media post:

What is the one greatest line in a song? Not verse. Not chorus. Not bridge. Just one line.

Here are some nominees from social media to get you started:

• Hello darkness, my old friend. I’ve come to talk with you again.

• Meet the new boss, same as the old boss

• Does anyone know where the love of God goes when the waves turn the minutes to hours?

• Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right, Here I am, stuck in the middle with you.

• Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose.

• Ain’t no sunshine when she’s gone

• Wish I didn’t know now what I didn’t know then.

• I need you more than want you, and I want you for all time

• All I ever learned from love was how to shoot someone who outdrew ya

• A man hears what he wants to hear, and disregards the rest.

Subscribers put your nominations in comments (and feel free to politely discuss the news of the week)

Others,

Info

I am a former opinion columnist for the Chicago Tribune. I began publishing the Picayune Sentinel on Sept. 9, 2021, roughly two and a half months after I took a buyout from the newspaper. This issue exceeds in size the maximum length for a standard email. To read the entire issue in your browser, click on the headline link above. Paid subscribers receive each Picayune Plus in their email inbox each Tuesday, are part of our civil and productive commenting community and enjoy the sublime satisfaction of supporting this enterprise. Browse and search back issues here.

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