Great Lines from Great Songs

Emerson, Lake & Palmer wrote some amazing and unique songs in their day. One tune that really stands out is "Are You Ready Eddy?" It was written about their soundman, Eddy Offord. How many other songs do you know of that were written about a sound guy? One line goes "Are you ready Eddy, to give your sixteen tracks? Are you ready Eddy, three to five minutes is all it lasts." The last part references a typical Pop tune, which normally lasts about that long. It's brilliant.
 On their masterpiece LP Brain Salad Surgery they did a song called "Benny the Bouncer." BTW this image is from the accompanying tour for that record, which fortunately I got to see, and was by far the most powerful concert I ever saw (with all due respect to Zappa, Crimson, Yes, et al).
 The song tells the story of one Benny, who was a bouncer obviously at a bar called the Palais de Dance. One line really gets me, and it perfectly illustrates the idea of an unfair fight. Usually I tell a story in my own words, but you can't do any better than the lyrics.

Benny the Bouncer (lyrics by Pete Sinfield)

Benny was the bouncer at the Palais de Dance
'e'd slash your granny's face up given 'alf a chance
'e'd sell you back the pieces, all for less than 'alf a quid
'e thought 'e was the meanest, until he met with Savage Sid

Now Sidney was a greaser with some nasty roots
He poured a pint o' Guiness over Benny's boots
Benny looked at Sidney, Sidney stared right back in his eye
Sidney chose a switchblade, and Benny got a cold meat pie

Oh, what a terrible sight
Much to the people's delight
One hell of a fight

Sidney grabbed an 'atchet, and buried it in Benny's head
The people gasped as he bled
The end of a Ted?

Well, they dragged 'im from the wreckage of the Palais in bits
And they tried to stick together all the bits that would fit
But some of 'im was missing, and "part of 'im" arrived too late
So now 'e works for Jesus as the bouncer at St. Peter's Gate

 Incredible. No wonder Pete Sinfield is my favorite lyricist. During the piano solo, Keith Emerson plays an upright in what is sometimes called "Barrelhouse" or "Barroom" piano, which of course is perfect. It's accompanied by shouting and breaking glass. If you can get past the rather dark subject matter it's really an entertaining tune. I love ELP. It's rough to think that E&L died last year, but we still got the goods, AND we still have Carl. I've listened to their records thousands of times, and I can always find something new every time. How could you ever get tired of something like that? RIP, Keith and Greg. Thanks for the tunes.

Are You Ready Eddy? (studio version): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0HPdut6qio

Benny the Bouncer (studio version): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFzr_MFX0Ok