Wham! Line/Music

"Ground control to Major Tom.
 * Chuck Berry's song "Memphis, Tennessee", which became a big hit for Johnny Rivers under the title "Memphis" ("Long distance information, give me Memphis, Tennessee"), sounds like the singer is trying to call his girlfriend Marie, who was separated from him by a disapproving mother ("But we were pulled apart because her mom did not agree"). That is, until the final verse, where the singer tells the operator that "Marie is only six years old", revealing that she's his daughter, and the family was split up by the wife/girlfriend.
 * From the David Bowie song "Space Oddity:"

Your circuit's dead. There's something wrong."

"And the road is coming to its end.
 * From "Cygnet Committee":

Now the damned have no time to make amends!"

"When I realized that God's a young man, too!"
 * "The Width of a Circle":

"Polly wants a cracker
 * The song "Polly" by Nirvana contains a Wham Line in the second line of lyric:

Think I should get off her first"

"The crew compartment's breaking up..."
 * "Open your eyes, Nicholas."
 * Kate Miller-Heidke's ''Caught in the Crowd"
 * Given away somewhat by the title of the song, Fucker by Eels seems like such a sweet song until: "Something about you / Something about spending the afternoon asleep in your arms / I hate you / Fucker."
 * The Long Winters' "The Commander Thinks Aloud" is a relaxing if slightly trippy-sounding track with happy, mildly space-themed lyrics. The last line changes the tone of the song from serene and hopeful to shocked and helpless as it's repeated over and over, with absolutely no change in key.

"You came to avenge your brother's death.."
 * The Protomen include a Reveal towards the end of their first album on the track "The Stand (Man or Machine)"

"I'm your truth, telling lies
 * "Something's changed, it's not your face! It's mine! It's mine!"
 * Metallica's "Sad But True":

I'm your reasoned alibis

I'm inside open your eyes

I'm you!"

"That farmer left a harvest, a home and eighty acres,
 * Randy Travis's country song, Three Wooden Crosses, is a song about four strangers (a farmer, a teacher, a preacher and a prostitute) whose paths cross when they all ride a bus together, bound for Mexico. When the bus is hit by a semi, all but one of the four die that day, and we're given this set-up:

The faith an' love for growin' things in his young son's heart.

An' that teacher left her wisdom in the minds of lots of children:

Did her best to give 'em all a better start.

An' that preacher whispered: "Can't you see the Promised Land?"

As he laid his blood-stained bible in that hooker's hand."


 * Most of the remainder of the song is used to compound the lives that were tragically cut short, and to argue that the value of one's life is in the things one leaves behind. Then, at the very end, we get the real Wham! Line:

"That's the story that our preacher told last Sunday.

As he held that blood-stained bible up,

For all of us to see.

He said: "Bless the farmer, and the teacher, an' the preacher;

"Who gave this Bible to my mamma,

"Who read it to me.""

"I thought I saw you yesterday
 * Atmosphere's "Yesterday" tells the story of a man who thinks he catches a glimpse of someone who he hasn't seen in a while, presumably an ex. He spends the song reminiscing about everything he misses from the relationship. Then, toward the end of the song we get this line:

But I knew it wasn't you

Cause you"

"So there it is, and I have to live with it
 * Similarly, In "The Waitress", he tells the story of a bum who constantly visits a cafe to see a woman. She treats him badly when he comes in, but she also notices his absence on the days he doesn't visit. She is the one woman who acknowledges his existence. It seems like he could be in love with the woman since his life seems to revolve around seeing her, then at the very end of the song he says

I had the chance to make a difference but I didn't.

In a cafe bathroom drinking free tap water

Thinking damn I should have been a better father to my daughter."


 * The very last lines of Ayreon's album The Human Equation:

"So now what's next? It ain't nothin' left to sell
 * "You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave."
 * The end of 2Pac's classic "Brenda's Got a Baby":

So she sees sex as a way of leavin' hell

It's payin' the rent, so she really can't complain

"Prostitute Found Slain"

And Brenda's her name

She's got a baby."

"Forever, I'll be forever holding you
 * "Forever Yellow Skies" by The Cranberries.

Forever, I'll be forever holding you

Responsible, responsible, responsible"

"It's not for me."
 * Typical in Tom Lehrer, provided you don't know the title or that his songs are comedic:
 * "All the world seems in tune on a spring afternoon when we're "
 * "But still I keep your hand "
 * "In one word he told me the secret of success in mathematics: "
 * Devo's "Beautiful World":

"I said we should do it again
 * An indie band, Kirby Krackle, played a song called "Up, Up, Down, Down" which is basically about a random guy falling in love with a girl who plays video games.

that's when you stabbed me with a pen"

"Then a knock at the door, the gun's in my hand, he opens the door, I can't believe it's a man!
 * Done twice in Trapped in the Closet, the first time setting up exactly what kind of betrayal daisy-chain we're in store for, and the second time heralding Reverse Cerebus Syndrome:

Now pause the movie because what I'm about to say to yall is so damn twisted! Not only is there a man in his cabinet, but the man...is a midget!"

"She's a jar, with a heavy lid
 * Twice? More like at the end of every episode.
 * Wilco's "She's a Jar". Sounds like a bittersweet love song, then the last line changes everything:

My pop quiz kid

A sleepy kisser, a pretty war

My feelings hid"

"Here I stand like a fool in my chamber gown
 * "Eva", by Boudewijn de Groot, is told from the perspective of a God who creates Paradise. The last verse starts with:

I thought I could do anything."

"When, by the barking of dogs, he was found days later
 * Also by Boudewijn de Groot, the ending of his fairy tale song "De Kinderballade" ("The Children's Ballad"), about a fairy-like preteen girl and a prince-like preteen boy who elope together:

The pallid prince lied tainted in the corn, without his fairy

With his big dead eyes, he motionlessly stared upwards and

Slowly, the blood still seeped from a horrid cut."

"Look this way and call my name
 * The Vocaloid song "Love Disease" is a perky little number about a girl who's just happy to be spending time with the guy she likes. Then, after they've spent the day together and she starts heading home, we're treated to these lines, which mark the point where things start to go downhill:

But I guess that's just my wish

That's right, because you still

Don't even know my face."

"In the 15th year my memories returned
 * 15 Years of Pursuing a Cute Boy starts off sounding like a goofy Stalker with a Crush song, but then:

I remembered everything, and burst into tears

Because I remembered...

That you died 15 years ago."

"No one knows what it's like to feel these feelings/Like I do/"
 * From 'Coward of the County'': "But you could've heard a pin drop, when Tommy stopped and blocked the door." Made more effective because it was spoken, not sung, by Kenny Rogers.
 * "Behind Blue Eyes" by The Who sounds like it's mostly about self-pity. That is, until the second verse...

"Overwhelmed as one would be placed in my position...
 * "Rosetta Stoned" by Tool has an amusing example where the narrator describes his abduction by aliens and being told vast secrets of the universe:

Such a heavy burden now to be the one

Born to bear and bring to all the details of our ending.

to write it down for all the world to see."

""Inside the old man's ragged coat, they found a faded letter. It said ""
 * "What's Your Mama's Name", by Tanya Tucker, is about a man (named in the song as Buford Wilson) who is imprisoned after asking a little green-eyed girl what her mother's name was, offering her a piece of candy if she would tell. The people overhearing the conversation misconstrued his interest, and he was sent to prison for a month, suffering emotional ruin and dissolving into alcoholism. After the man died thirty years later, a letter was removed from his ragged jacket, revealing, in the song's final verse that

"No, Mommy doesn't always act this way, but it's my first day of kindergarten."
 * One song appears to be about a mother offering her child advice and encouragement on his or her first day of kindergarten, including admonishing him or her not to cry. The final verses, repeated for effect, turn everything on its head.

"Ah, but isn't that a head?"
 * "All Your Life", by The Band Perry: It's a sweet love song to a boyfriend,
 * An old but nice one from "Come Sail Away", "I thought that they were Angels but to my surprise, we climbed aboard their starship, we headed for the skies!"
 * Sound Horizon's "Yield" at first sounds like a simple song about a lonely girl during the harvest season, albeit one with an odd passage about subtracting from an unstable number to bring back stability ([3-1+1-2]). Then comes the line revealing that the "sweet fruits" the girl is harvesting aren't actually fruit:

"Some dude was drunk and drove his car over a bridge.
 * Eminem is very good with these Stan being the best example:

And had his girlfriend in the trunk, and she was pregnant with his kid.

And in the car they found a tape, but they didn't say who it was to.

Come to think about it his name was Sta... IT WAS YOU!"

"Then I got Mary pregnant, and man, that was all she wrote."
 * Bruce Springsteen "The River:"

"Baby, you promised me you'd never leave
 * Prince's B Side "Another Lonely Christmas" - at first it just seems like the narrator spending Christmas Day alone reminiscing about an ex-girlfriend who he still loves, but the situation changes when:

Then you died on the 25th day of December"

"I just remembered
 * The Living Tombstone's "September." The entire song is about an amnesiac who wakes up to find everyone in his town dead. And just when you're least expecting it, the final stanza comes:

What happened in September

[[Amnesiac Dissonance I'm the one who killed them all

I survived after the fall]]"

"I'm off to the war but you can be sure,
 * The Magnetic Fields have two songs with these on their album 69 Love Songs. 'Abigail, Belle of Kilronan' sounds like your average song about a couple breaking up or being torn apart. The lyrics are sad enough and talk about a time "when I come home, if I come home". Then we find out:

I will know you're what I'm fighting for."

"Do you know where I was at your age? Any idea where I was at your age?
 * Then there's The One You Really Love which sounds like a regular love song about a love triangle, with one party thinking about someone else... until the end of the song where we find out that 'the one you really love' is
 * The Arcade Fire song "(Antichrist Television Blues)" is about an amoral Stage Dad who forces his daughter to become a glorified stripper and uses his religion to justify his acts. The first verse of the song seems unconnected to the rest of the song, as it describes post-9/11 fear of working in buildings downtown that may be attacked by terrorists. The final lines bring it back full circle:

I was working downtown for the minimum wage

and I'm not gonna let you just throw it all away!

I'm through being cute, I'm through being nice

Oh tell me Lord, am I the Antichrist?!"

"And when I awoke, I was alone. This bird had flown.
 * The Notorious B.I.G.
 * Me and My Bitch: "I saw my bitch dead with the gunshot to the heart"
 * Suicidal Thoughts: "I'm sick of niggas lyin', I'm sick of bitches hawkin', matter of fact, I'm sick of talkin'." (BANG)
 * Everything Else: In "Religion Song (Put Away The Gun)", the middle section sounds like a bigoted rant, claiming "There's no such thing as a Black Man/Asian/Woman/Christian/etc., but it is all turned around by the line "Because we're all the same."
 * Norwegian Wood by The Beatles tells about one poor guy who goes home with a woman, drinks her wine, and is ultimately brushed off when she goes to sleep alone. The final line:

So I lit a fire. Isn't it good? Norwegian wood."

"Sorry girl you missed out
 * "Sk8r Boi" by Avril Lavigne seems to be a 3rd person story and you expect the girl to see the error of her ways and get together with the titular character until the bridge

Well tough luck"