I Hope That I Don't Fall In Love With You - Tom Waits

call out, sit down, go away, fade out.

This song first appeared on Tom Waits' 1973 debut album Closing Time. As with many of his songs, it seems to depict a late night encounter in a seedy venue.
Waits' recording career has spanned well over 4 decades and 18 albums, during which he has established a huge cult following. He has also appeared as an actor in a number of Jim Jarmusch movies, written stage musicals and worked as an actor in the theatre.
He refuses to allow his music to be used in adverts and has on occasions sued advertisers for doing so without his permission.

Well the music plays and you display your heart for me to see,

I had a beer and now I hear you calling out for me

Well if you sit down with this old clown, take that frown and break it,

Before the evening's gone away, I think that we could make it,

Well I turn around to look at you, and you look back at me,

Now it's closing time, the music's fading out

Call out: to say something in a loud voice.
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Sit down: to move your body ino a sitting position on a chair or on the ground.
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Go away: to disappear. Here it is used figuratively to mean that the evening comes to an end.
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Fade out: to gradually beome weaker.
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complete lyrics to the song
listen to the song

Otherside - Red Hot Chili Peppers

think up, bring up, go back, turn on, tear down,

This song features on Californication, RHCPs most successful album, and was released as a single in 2000. Most writers seem to agree that the song is about fighting drug addiction, specifically heroin, and or suicide. RHCPs founder member,  Hilliel Slovak had died in 1988 and some fans regard the whole Californication album as a tribute to him.

I heard your voice through a photograph
I thought it up, it brought up the past
Once you know you can never go back
I've got to take it on the otherside

Turn me on, take me for a hard ride
Burn me out, leave me on the otherside
I yell and tell it that it's not my friend
I tear it down, I tear it down
And then it's born again
(Otherside - Red Hot Chili Peppers)

Think up: invent. He is saying that  he imagined or invented the voice.
dictionary definition

Bring up: to introduce a subject. He is saying that imagining the voice remided him of the past.
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Go back: to return. He seems to be talking about death. you can never go back means you can not return to life. Here otherside apparently refers to the "afterlife".
Dictionary definition

Turn on: to excite, stimulate. Turn on often appears in songs with a clear sexual connotation, but hear it seems to refer to the effects of drugs.
Dictionary definition

Burn out: to exhaust. Literally if a fire burns out it dies because ther is no more combustible material left. We often refer to people being burned out by excessive work - exhausted. Here the drugs have extinguished his life and left him "on the otherside".
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Tear down: to demolish, destroy. He might mean that he destroys his life, commits suicide,  because it is so unbearable.
Dictionary definition

See the lyrics to the song

Otherside - Red Hot Chilli Peppers, official video. 

Rock 'n' Roll High School - The Ramones

Knock out

I wanted to choose something from a Johnny Ramone composition to mark the 10th anniversary of his death yesterday. Unfortunately with one thing and another I didn't get round to it, so this is a little late. I also had some problems finding songs which Johnny at least partly composed which had at least one phrasal verb worth making an example of. In the end, I picked Rock 'n' roll high school, which credits Joey, Johnny and Dee Dee as authors.

The song was first recorded by the band in 1979 by Ed Stasium for the film of the same name, though another version, recorded by Phil Spector, is the one which appears on the Rock 'n' Roll High School soundtrack album and also on the album End of the Century.

Well the girls out there knock me out, you know
Rock, rock, rock'n'roll high school
Cruisin' around in my GTO
Rock, rock, rock'n'roll high school
I hate the teachers and the principal
Don't wanna be taught to be no fool
Rock, rock, rock, rock, rock'n'roll high school
(Rock n roll high school, The Ramones)


Knock out: impress, surprise, cause admiration Dictionary definition of knock out

The basic meaning of knock out is to hit someone so they become unconscious. Here however the figurative meaning is used.

Rock and Roll High School lyrics

Listen to Rock and Roll High School