Let me put a defining point here. This is not another 'theme song' thread. This is a thread for lyrics which have a particular meaning in your eyes to the world around you, or to your personal experience. So I'll get the ball rolling and yes, I did use the Search. By the way, kindly use spoilers or cut down on long lyric sets.

I'd have to say this:

Relevant, eh?

It Ain't Necessarily So by George Gershwin:
It ain't necessarily so
De things dat yo' liable to read in de Bible
It ain't necessarily so

Li'l David was small but oh my
Li'l David was small but oh my
He fought big Goliath who lay down and dieth
Li'l David was small but oh my

Oh Jonah he lived in de whale
Oh Jonah he lived in de whale
For he made his home in dat fish's abdomen
Oh Jonah he lived in de whale

Li'l Moses was found in a stream
Li'l Moses was found in a stream
He floated on water 'til ole Pharaoh's daughter
She fished him she says from that stream

It ain't necessarily so
It ain't necessarily so
Dey tell all you chillun de debble's a villain
But 'taint necessarily so

To get into Hebben don' snap for a sebben
Live clean, don' have no fault
Oh I takes dat gospel whenever it's pos'ble
But wid a grain of salt

Methus'lah lived nine hundred years
Methus'lah lived nine hundred years
But who calls dat livin' when no gal'll give in
To no man what's nine hundred years

I'm preachin' dis sermon to show
It ain't nessa, ain't nessa
Ain't nessa, ain't nessa
It ain't necessarily so

Athiest Jazz FTW!

Can I just point to an entire back catalogue?

TheGhostOfSin:
Can I just point to an entire back catalogue?

You could, and it even gets a snigger. Any favourites though?

war pigs by black sabbath

almost a 40 year old song and it's still very true

I know there is more than one song whose lyrics have a meaning for me, but this is the only one that is jumping out at me at the moment.

I don't even listen to this band anymore, but I still like the words, oddly enough.

There's another one, but damn, finding a translation is a pain. Bargh.

Another two.

Radioactive Toy - Porcupine Tree

Run through forests on a hot Summer day
Trying to break down walls of numbing pain
Give me the freedom to destroy
Give me radioactive toy
Taste the water from a stream of running death
Eat the apple and cough a dying breath
Feel the sun burning through your black skin
Pour me into a hole, inform my next of kin
Run through graveyards on a dusty Winter day
Spit the dirt out and try to say...

Two by leonard cohen and one by neil young (sorry about the length of the post but I don't know how to do the drop down thing)

Everybody knows that the dice are loaded
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed
Everybody knows that the war is over
Everybody knows the good guys lost
Everybody knows the fight was fixed
The poor stay poor, the rich get rich
Thats how it goes
Everybody knows

Everybody knows that the boat is leaking
Everybody knows that the captain lied
Everybody got this broken feeling
Like their father or their dog just died

Everybody talking to their pockets
Everybody wants a box of chocolates
And a long stem rose
Everybody knows

Everybody knows that you love me baby
Everybody knows that you really do
Everybody knows that youve been faithful
Ah give or take a night or two
Everybody knows youve been discreet
But there were so many people you just had to meet
Without your clothes
And everybody knows

Everybody knows, everybody knows
Thats how it goes
Everybody knows

Everybody knows, everybody knows
Thats how it goes
Everybody knows

And everybody knows that its now or never
Everybody knows that its me or you
And everybody knows that you live forever
Ah when youve done a line or two
Everybody knows the deal is rotten
Old black joes still pickin cotton
For your ribbons and bows
And everybody knows

And everybody knows that the plague is coming
Everybody knows that its moving fast
Everybody knows that the naked man and woman
Are just a shining artifact of the past
Everybody knows the scene is dead
But theres gonna be a meter on your bed
That will disclose
What everybody knows

And everybody knows that youre in trouble
Everybody knows what youve been through
From the bloody cross on top of calvary
To the beach of malibu
Everybody knows its coming apart
Take one last look at this sacred heart
Before it blows
And everybody knows

Everybody knows, everybody knows
Thats how it goes
Everybody knows

Oh everybody knows, everybody knows
Thats how it goes
Everybody knows

Everybody knows

Now Ive heard there was a secret chord
That david played, and it pleased the lord
But you dont really care for music, do you?
It goes like this
The fourth, the fifth
The minor fall, the major lift
The baffled king composing hallelujah

Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah

Your faith was strong but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew her
She tied you
To a kitchen chair
She broke your throne, and she cut your hair
And from your lips she drew the hallelujah

Hallelujah, hallelujah
Hallelujah, hallelujah
You say I took the name in vain
I dont even know the name
But if I did, well really, whats it to you?
Theres a blaze of light
In every word
It doesnt matter which you heard
The holy or the broken hallelujah

Hallelujah, hallelujah
Hallelujah, hallelujah

I did my best, it wasnt much
I couldnt feel, so I tried to touch
Ive told the truth, I didnt come to fool you
And even though
It all went wrong
Ill stand before the lord of song
With nothing on my tongue but hallelujah

Hallelujah, hallelujah
Hallelujah, hallelujah
Hallelujah, hallelujah
Hallelujah, hallelujah
Hallelujah, hallelujah
Hallelujah, hallelujah
Hallelujah, hallelujah
Hallelujah, hallelujah
Hallelujah

There's colors on the street
Red, white and blue
People shufflin' their feet
People sleepin' in their shoes
But there's a warnin' sign
on the road ahead
There's a lot of people sayin'
we'd be better off dead
Don't feel like Satan,
but I am to them
So I try to forget it,
any way I can.

Keep on rockin' in the free world,
Keep on rockin' in the free world
Keep on rockin' in the free world,
Keep on rockin' in the free world.

I see a woman in the night
With a baby in her hand
Under an old street light
Near a garbage can
Now she puts the kid away,
and she's gone to get a hit
She hates her life,
and what she's done to it
There's one more kid
that will never go to school
Never get to fall in love,
never get to be cool.

Keep on rockin' in the free world,
Keep on rockin' in the free world
Keep on rockin' in the free world,
Keep on rockin' in the free world.

We got a thousand points of light
For the homeless man
We got a kinder, gentler,
Machine gun hand
We got department stores
and toilet paper
Got styrofoam boxes
for the ozone layer
Got a man of the people,
says keep hope alive
Got fuel to burn,
got roads to drive.

Keep on rockin' in the free world,
Keep on rockin' in the free world
Keep on rockin' in the free world,
Keep on rockin' in the free world.

As for the world around me, I'm gonna have to say every Rage Against The Machine song excluding the "Renegades" album (Seeing as that was all covers).

And for more personally relevant songs, more or less every Motion City Soundtrack song.

A song that seems truer now than it was when it was written, Megadeths Holy Wars...The Punishment Due

Just a few, and as it's all I've listened to for three solid weeks, all these songs are by William Elliott Whitmore.

I'll just take meaningful extracts from the lyrics of songs rather than the whole thing (the majority of which will probably end up being by Pink Floyd)

Also I'm now quite partial to my new theme song (I know I know... not the right thread for it, but just try and stop me)

I'll agree with you that Pink Floyd has a lot of meaninful stuff. Hell, the entire Dark Side Of The Moon and The Wall albums carry overriding philosophies. It's almost like it's a sin to listen to just one song, or skip one.