Lyric parallels are one of my favorite things about music. A lyric parallel is when an artist references a lyric in another song they’ve written or a song by another artist. One of the best things about lyric parallels is the work you have to do to find it. Sometimes when I’m listening to a song, a lyric will hit me and suddenly I realize what it’s parallel to. They’re not always obvious the first time you hear it. You might not even understand them until years later. It all depends on whether you’ve heard the other song it’s referencing. However, once you do see the parallel between the lyrics, it’s a really cool find. They’re even better if you know the story behind why the artist chose to reference that lyric. Here are some of the best lyric parallels I’ve discovered.
The 1975
Robbers
“She had a face straight out a magazine.”
Change of HEart
“You used to have a face straight out of a magazine. Now you just look like anyone.”
Robbers
“Now if you never shoot, you’ll never know. And if you never eat, you’ll never grow.”
Roadkill
“If you don’t eat then you’ll never grow. I should’ve learned that quite a while ago.” “If you don’t shoot then you’ll never know. You should’ve learned that quite a while ago.”
I like America & America Likes Me
“Kids don’t want rifles. They want Supreme.”
Looking for Somebody to Love
“Supreme gentleman with a gun in his hand”
The City
“If you wanna find love then you know where the city is”
CHange of Heart
“I never found love in the city. I just sat in self-pity and cried in the car.”
Paris
“She said I’ve been romanticizing heroin.”
Love it if we made it
“Shooting heroin, saying controversial things just for the hell of it”
Niall Horan
Too much to Ask
“My shadows dancing without you for the first time.”
Put a little love on me
“When the lights come up and there’s no shadows dancing, I look around as my heart is collapsing”
One Direction and Harry Styles
Spaces by One direction
“Will we ever learn?”
Sign of the Times by harry styles
“We never learn, we’ve been here before.”
Harry styles
From the dining table
“Woke up alone in this hotel room”
Golden
“I don’t wanna be alone”
As it was
“Harry, you’re no good alone”
Ricky Montgomery
Line without a hook
“Do you like it when I’m away?”
Out like a light
“We never fight when I’m away.”
I don’t love you anymore
“Maybe I’ll go back to school (gonna finally graduate).”
Get used to it
“Used to go to university. Used to be the head of varsity.”
Taylor Swift
Dear john
“Don’t you think nineteen’s too young to played by your dark, twisted games”
Would’ve, could’ve, Should’ve
“At nineteen, and the god’s honest truth is that the pain was heaven.”
Haunted
“You and I walk a fragile line. I have known it all this time, but I never thought I’d live to see it break.”
Exile
“All this time, we always walked a very thin line.”
5 seconds of summer
She Looks so Perfect
“Your lipstick stain is a work of art.”
Ghost of You
“There’s your coffee cup, the lipstick stain fades with time.”
vapor
“Look in your eyes and know just what you meant, so lie to me, just lie to me”
lie to me
“And I know that you don’t but if I ask you if you love me, I hope you lie, lie, lie, lie, lie to me”
Want you back
“You tell me I won’t ever change, so I just say nothing”
High
“Today I called to tell you that I’m changing, but I don’t think you have enough respect to see me try”