Hoagy Carmichael's "Stardust" first seduced Alan De Petro when he was a boy of 6.

Daniel Marsula, Post-Gazette Click on illustration for larger image. Related articles More of readers' picks for favorite song lyrics Can't stop the lyrics Listen In: Hear song excerpts from songs PG readers picked especially for their lyrics: "Comfortably Numb," Pink Floyd "I'll Never Fall in Love Again," Dionne Warwick "Once in a Lifetime," Talking Heads "Stand By Me," Ben E. King "Stardust," Mel Torme "That Day (Cinema Paradiso)," Karrin Allyson "Unforgettable," Nat King Cole "Watching the Detectives," Elvis Costello and the Attractions

It was 1940, and he was at a wedding reception in a Youngstown, Ohio, disabled veterans' hall. Wandering away from his parents, he stood transfixed in front of the bandstand -- watching and listening to a music combo perform an instrumental version of the tune.

Later, when his mother asked which song he had liked best, he replied "Sawdust."

"It's 'Stardust,' " she told him, laughing.

Several years later, he heard Mitchell Parish's lyrics to the melancholy tune. The song has haunted him ever since.

Sometimes I wonder why I spend/ The lonely night dreaming of a song/ The melody haunts my reverie/ And I am once again with you/ When our love was new/ And each kiss an inspiration/ But that was long ago/ Now my consolation/ Is in the stardust of a song

"When I first heard the lyrics to 'Stardust,' it made me even more convinced that it is one of the top songs ever written in American music," says Mr. De Petro, 73, a former Mount Washington resident now living in Estero, Fla. "The beauty of the music has stayed with me over the many years."

One's musical taste is personal, as individual as one's preference in clothing, cologne, pizza toppings or ringtones. Everyone has a favorite lyric. Who hasn't turned up the volume and shushed a companion to more clearly hear a favorite passage in a song? More than 90 Post-Gazette readers responded to our request for favorite lyrics, praising songwriters from Tori Amos to Warren Zevon and songs from Sugarland's "Happy Ending" to the Beatles' "The End."

What's considered a good lyric is relative, but all favorite, memorable or good lyrics are relatable. People like songs with which they can identify. Some love the sentiment of a song on its face or that a song reminds them of a person, place or time in their life. Some favorite lyrics make people cry; others make them laugh.

And every Saturday we work in the yard/ Pick up the dog doo/ Hope that it's hard (whaf whaf)

"I love that lyric as it is so 'spot on' for anyone who has had a dog to clean up after," says former Penn Hills resident Geoff Santoliquido, 52, of Cary, N.C., about Joe Walsh's tune "Ordinary Average Guy."

"You have to have lyrics in a language that people understand and speak," says lyricist Barry Alfonso, who wrote the words to "In Between Dances," a hit for country star Pam Tillis.

Wonderful Tin Pan Alley standards such as "Stardust" weren't of much interest to rockers of the '60s and '70s, he says.

"They wanted something that's in their idiom," says Mr. Alfonso, 49, of Swissvale, who wrote lyrics in Nashville for a decade and pop music in Los Angeles for a time.

Regardless of the genre, economy of language and clarity of imagery is important in quickly moving a song along, he says.

"It's almost like you're making a short movie and moving the camera around," he says of lyric writing. "You have to know what to linger on and what to cut."

He thinks George Jones' "He Stopped Loving Her Today," written by Bobby Braddock and Curly Putman, does that well. The song -- about a man who only stopped loving a lost, old flame the day he died -- unfolds in pictures.

I went to see him just today/ Oh, but I didn't see no tears/ All dressed up to go away/ First time I'd seen him smile in years/ He stopped loving her today/ They placed a wreath upon his door/ And soon they'll carry him away/ He stopped loving her today

"It's very powerfully done in very basic, conservative language, everyday speech, but it's lined up so perfectly," says Mr. Alfonso, who these days writes album liner notes and about music in general. "It's just thrilling to hear it."

Singer-songwriters he likes include Mason Jennings, Aimee Mann and Curtis Mayfield.

Patti Petri's favorite lyric, from Stephen Bishop's "On and On," is just about having fun.

Got the sun on my shoulders/ And my toes in the sand

"I can't walk on the beach without singing that," says Mrs. Petri, 58, of Moon. "I just put my toes in the sand, and it's just a great feeling."

Teresa Lesko and her best friend have adopted lyrics from 50 Cent's romantic rap "21 Questions," composed by Curtis Jackson (a k a 50 Cent) and K. Risto, to express the strength of their friendship.

I love you like a fat kid loves cake

"It is so fitting when describing how much you love your girlfriends," says Ms. Lesko, 40, of Washington, Pa. "Especially as we are all adults and we're so busy with day-to-day life and family obligations, but no matter what, whenever something comes up, you know how much she loves you and would do anything for you, and it goes both ways!"

Former Monessen resident Todd Novobilsky, 35, of Baltimore, says he often hears these Tears for Fears lyrics to "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" replaying in his head during staff meetings.

I can't stand this indecision/ Married with a lack of vision/ Everybody wants to rule the world

A great lyric "holds a distilled and astonishing truth and that can be beautiful or ugly, but something that people don't ordinarily address or either admit," says singer-songwriter Jack Erdie, 41, who is working on a new CD titled "Mystery Sandwich." "Art is not polite; it can't worry about that."

He likes the lyrics to Randy Newman's "Marie."

Sometimes I'm crazy/ But I guess you know/ And I'm weak and I'm lazy/ And I've hurt you so/ And I don't listen to a word you say/ When you're in trouble I just turn away

A great lyric is a revelation, he says.

"Not in the sense like it's never been known before, but never been said quite that frankly or with the perspective that makes you go 'Wow,' " says Mr. Erdie of Squirrel Hill, whose other albums include "Pumpkin" and "When the Hurricane Hit."

"The thing about 'Marie' is it paints the picture of this country bumpkin who really, really loves his wife and really has no idea how to be there for his wife, his complete failure.

"When I first heard that song, I said, 'I know that guy, I know 20 copies of that guy,' " says Mr. Erdie, whose Web site is www.jackerdie.com. "It's too real and too strong, makes you swallow and makes you cry."

He likes the lyrics he wrote for his song "The Speed of Darkness" because they achieve humor and poignancy in the same line. He counts Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, Randy Newman, John Prine, Thelonious Monk and Billie Holiday among musical influences.

Mike and the Mechanics' "The Living Years," composed by B.A. Robertson and Mike Rutherford, always reminds Brigid Delien of her father.

I wasn't there that morning/ When my Father passed away/ I didn't get to tell him/ All the things I had to say/ I think I caught his spirit/ Later that same year/ I'm sure I heard his echo/ In my baby's new born tears/ I just wish I could have told him in the living years

"He passed away several years ago and was not there when my children were born," says Ms. Delien, 37, of New Eagle. "I know that he is here with me and sees what wonderful grandchildren he has."

Singer-songwriter Amanda Ford believes a good lyric is simple and cleverly conveys a universal experience.

"If you look at the lyrics to [Willie Nelson's] 'Crazy,' it's so simple, but who hasn't been there -- being in love with somebody and it's not going to happen?" says Ms. Ford, the assistant dean at Duquesne University's Mary Pappert School of Music. "Then you have other songs where maybe it's a surprise in the lyric. It can be the choice of the words they use or the stories they tell."

She points to Gretchen Wilson and John Rich's "Redneck Woman" as an example of a great surprise song. One of her favorite tunes is Sting's "Fragile."

Perhaps this final act was meant/ To clinch a lifetime's argument/ That nothing comes from violence and nothing ever could/ For all those born beneath an angry star/ Lest we forget how fragile we are/ On and on the rain will fall/ Like tears from a star like tears from a star/ On and on the rain will say/ How fragile we are how fragile we are

"Who cannot relate to that?" says Ms. Ford, 37, of McCandless, whose latest album is "On Fire."

She loves the words, music and arrangement of "Fragile" and says that music and lyrics often augment each other, making both elements better together than they would be separately.

"What's wonderful with the lyric, what really makes it is when you have both, when you can hear a story," says Ms. Ford, whose Web site is www. amandafordmusic.com. "Music, along with the words, can make a song or break a song."

Ms. Ford, who has written everything from orchestral music and film scores to jingles and pop tunes, finds songwriting cathartic. She says she's written some of her best songs during her worst times. She really likes the words to her song "Facing West." Other songwriters she enjoys include Annie Lennox, Cole Porter, the Dixie Chicks and Tom Waits.

Wisdom from Sheryl Crow's "Steve McQueen," composed by Ms. Crow and John Shanks, has served Ann Dominici well since she had open heart surgery two years ago. Today, she doesn't sweat the small stuff. She doesn't mind standing in a checkout line or become irritable behind a slow driver or panic when her checkbook doesn't balance the first time through.

"What I can't tolerate is the inane posturing of insecure, self-important individuals over petty stuff in the workplace," says Mrs. Dominici, 64, of Bridgeville. "So the lyrics, 'I ain't takin' [expletive] off no one, Baby, that was yesterday,' have special meaning to me."

Songs of tortured, truncated love abound as favorites.

One late summer night in 1952, "Stardust" struck another chord with Mr. De Petro. Then, he was a heartbroken high school senior who'd just been told by his first true love -- a 10th-grade girl -- that their romance was doomed because her mother didn't approve.

"I well remember walking home and since it was summer, hearing music coming from some of the homes that I walked by," he says. "I know it sounds like a movie script, but three homes in succession had the same radio station on, all playing 'Stardust' and the words that stuck to me that sad evening were:

Though I dream in vain/ In my heart it will remain/ My stardust melody/ The memory of love's refrain

"It was a sad, sad evening walking the mile back to my home," he says. "A few days later my love, Alice Jean, was shipped out for the remainder of the summer to a relative in Fort Wayne, Ind., to keep her out of my reach, and thus the words of 'Stardust' resonate with me to this day."

Even as Mr. De Petro e-mailed the Post-Gazette his favorite lyrics a few weeks ago, he listened to Steve Tyrell's rendition of "Stardust."

"It brought tears to my eyes."

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