daniel handler: "like the beat beat beat of the tom-tom, when jungle shadows fall, like the tick tick tick of the stately clock that stands against the wall, like the drip drip drip of the raindrops, when summer's show'r is through, so a voice within me keeps repeating 'you you you.' " ("night and day")

claudia the magnetic fields: everything from the new tom lehrer box set. sample: "fracture my spine and swear that you're mine / as we dance to the masochism tango."

stuart moxham: "the passage of time / and all of its sickening crimes / is making me sad again" by mozza.

elisabeth solex: the one written by morrissey in "how soon is now."

stephin the magnetic fields: "men grow cold as girls grow old and we all lose our charms in the end; but square-cut or pear-shaped, these rocks don't lose their shape; diamonds are a girl's best friend." (robin-styne)

douglas dark beloved cloud: "can I have a taste of your ice cream? / can I lick the crumbs from your table? / can I interfere in your crisis? / no! mind your own business!" -- delta 5.

graeme verlaines: god said to abraham "kill me a son"/ abe said, "man you must be putting me on!" / god say "no!", abe say "what?" / god said "you can do what you want abe but the next time you see me coming / you better run." / abe said "where do you want this killin done?" / god said, "out on highway 61."

louis philippe: a few come to mind, many of them by martin newell: "and sheila was so alive / she would laugh and she'd curse / and say outrageous things / she drove a big motorbike / she wore leather and jeans / and she had lots of rings / and once when I was so drunk / she was strong...and she lifted me / into my room and put me to bed / with a washing-up bowl / and a drink for next day" (from "the girls in the flat upstairs", the story of two lesbian neighbours of martin). it does not read as well as it sings, but there you are. then again, you could quote all of "sail away" by randy newman. and of "almost gothic", by steely dan. thinking of which...what about the superb "now we dolly back / now we fade to black" bit in "haitian divorce"?

matthew le grand magistery: "I'm jealous of the dangling men / you know you'll never go to bed with / I've felt the fire that fires them / I've known the unrequited love it's fed with / and I don't believe in platonic love / but I'm still jealous of plato / what a bore! / a complete history of sexual jealousy parts 17­24." (from "a complete history of sexual jealousy (parts 17­24)" by momus).

james dump: "my girl wants to / party all the time / party all the time / party all the time."

joe pines/foxgloves: "I was committed to life / and then commuted to the outskirts/ with all the love in the world / living for thirty minutes at a time / with a break in the middle for adverts" (EC, "the invisible man").

alasdair the clientele: "only the nose knows / where the nose goes / when the door close" mohammed ali.

john true love always: all of the work of rakim. example: "you're just a rent-a-rapper, your rhymes are minute-maid/ I'll be there when you fade, to watch you flip like a renegade." unstoppable flow.

nick "momus" currie: "I showed my heart to the doctor / he said I just had to quit / then he wrote himself a prescription / and your name was mentioned in it."

heidi anne-noel power toot: from tw walsh's "the polite way to rob a bank": "I wrote the story of a plan / to murder the world's most thirsty man / I haven't got the motive done / but the weapon is a water gun."

ld flare: "give me the roses while I live / try to cheer me on / useless are flowers that you give / after the soul has gone," by the carter family (circa 1930).

gail chickfactor: "so leave the ways that are making you be what you really don't want to be," nick drake.

matt shinkansen: "yeah yeah, industrial estate," chorus to "industrial estate," the fall. or "we sat and decided / as the seasons collided / that our love was fairly utopian / if it wasn't for my pills / and my psychiatric bills / and your unreliable fallopian", "1966 and all that", half man half biscuit.

f.m. east river pipe: "sex farm" by spinal tap: "working on a sex farm / trying to raise some hard love / getting out my pitch fork / and poking your hay / scratching in your henhouse / sniffing at your feedbag / slipping out your back door / I'm leaving my spray."

tim the visitors: "you'll never be sixteen again."

cathy marine research: far too hard a question but if the question was "favourite lyrical stanza concerning the brainwashing of the masses" it would be a toss up between "media is fucked up, it's absolute shit, tv telling you what to think" (the jam) and "i hear you telephone thing, listening in" (the fall) sorry to be weak.

connie the pacific ocean: cat stevens' "from the time I could talk I was ordered to listen" my roommate mike says "the divas, the divas" in the middle of one of his songs and it changes everything about the song. and also bob dylan and that he says, she says part that I'm going to get wrong here because I can't go back and check but it goes something likeŠ"you've been goneŠI say that's only naturalŠyou look differentŠI say well I guess andŠwill you stay.Šif you want me to yes" something like that.

tim departure lounge: "you're home late / and you smell / of the music that you make" the go-betweens' "rock and roll friend."

mike poconos: "they're gonna find intelligent life up there on the moon / and the canterbury tales will climb to the top of the best-seller list / and stay there for 37 weeks / and the chicago cubs will beat every team in the league / and the tampa bay bucs will take it all the way through january / and I will love you again / I will love you like I used to." -- the mountain goats, "cubs in five"

ron sexsmith: "I'm not looking for another / as I wander in my time / walk me to the corner / our steps will always rhyme" from leonard cohen's "that's no way to say goodbye."

bob trembling blue stars: "if they ever dropped the bomb you said / I'll find you in the flames / but now we act like people / who don't know each other's names" from "scissors cut", jimmy webb, sung by art garfunkel.

kendall "mascott" meade: "all I want" by joni mitchell: "I want to have fun / I want to shine like the sun / I want to be the one that you want to see / I want to knit you a sweater / I want to write you a love letter / I want to make you feel better / I want to make you feel free."

jon flare, aarktica, dead leaves rising: "or I could make a career of being blue, / I could dress in black and read camus, / smoke clove cigarettes and drink Vermouth / like I was 17, that would be a scream.." -- "I don't want to get over you" by magnetic fields.

chris future bible heroes: too many by the magnetic fields and I can't just pick one, so I will choose something be someone else entirelyŠ "these walls have witnessed / all the anguish of humiliation / and seen the hope of freedom / glow in shining faces / and now they've come to take me / come to break me / and yet it isn't unexpected / I have been waiting for these visitors / help me" -- "the visitors" (andersson/ulvaeus).

john phosphene/electroscope: I love virtually anything by syd barrett "all movement is accomplished in six stages / and the seven brings return / the seven is the number of the young night / it forms when darkness is increased by one" from "chapter 24.".

gordon the fan modine: "if I knew you was comin' I'd a baked a cake!"

sasha ui: "I think I'll sing it again", sisqo, "thong song" or "I try to swear, but I don't have god," from "spathic!!" by melt-banana.

frances cannanes: ABC "look of love": "your reason for livings your reasons for leaving / don't ask me what it means / (who's got the look?) I don't know the answer to that question / (what's the look?) If I knew I would tell you / (what's the look?) the look for your information / yes there's one thing-one thing that still holds true / (what's that?) / the look of love / if you judge a book by the cover / then you judge the look by the lover / I hope you soon recover / me, I go from one extreme to another / sisters and brothers should help each other (wellŠcan you separate a song from the music?)

the legendary jim ruiz: "is your figure less than greek?" it always reminds me of my own body.

jeff aden: "and it's the nearest thing to true ding-a-ling" from "atomic wise."

tim harriet: "she said: 'like, yesterday we were talking about nick cave and then we saw someone in a nick cave tee shirt'; a cynic might have said, 'like when life's fucking horrible and then you see someone in a fucking horrible tee shirt' -- but there weren't any cynics around." -- the cannanes, "3-way release".

jim and ben jesus and mary chain: "if you go carrying pictures of chairman mao / you ain't gonna make it with anyone anyhow."

daniel chan: "when she's here I'm always happy and when she's not I'm happyish", from "shine on me" by the lucksmiths. CF