I write tons of SQL each week using Perl/DBI. 99% of the SQL I put in here documents, ala:

my $sql = <<"END_SQL";
  SELECT name, address, phone_number, order_id
  FROM   customer, customer_order, order_item
  WHERE  blah blah blah
END_SQL
[download]

That makes it readable and it looks pretty nice when you log it, etc. Here documents: another reason Perl rocks.