# All-time laziest song lyrics **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 28, 2011, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-laziest-song-lyrics/569277 "2011-01-28T06:35:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![beartato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9d8465/32.png) [@beartato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beartato)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2011, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-laziest-song-lyrics/569277/61 "2011-01-28T16:40:32Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > “This Song Is Just Six Words Long” by Al Yankovich, a parody of George Harrison’s “I’ve Got My Mind Set On You”. Not a George song, originally, though. Written by Rudy Clark, first recorded by James Ray in the '60s. ---
**Author:** ![Lare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/53a042/32.png) [@Lare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lare)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2011, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-laziest-song-lyrics/569277/62 "2011-01-28T16:51:10Z")
I’m surprised that no one has yet mentioned “Surfin’ Bird” by the Trashmen. There was also the song (I can’t remember what it’s called) that repeats the word “no” continusously. But for most lazy lyrics, I nominate the alphabet song. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2011, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-laziest-song-lyrics/569277/63 "2011-01-28T16:57:48Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > [Obligatory XKCD link](http://xkcd.com/851/) Which is actually WRONG. Ignoring the joke of the strip (the Land of 1000 Dances), the only one it’s right on is Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye - Batman should be where Katamari is, and Katamari is completely wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2011, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-laziest-song-lyrics/569277/64 "2011-01-28T16:57:57Z")
> [@Lare](#): > > But for most lazy lyrics, I nominate the alphabet song. Well, yeah. Especially with that forced rhyme at the end. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2011, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-laziest-song-lyrics/569277/65 "2011-01-28T17:01:24Z")
For the most annoying, lazy lyrics, I’d vote for “Superstar” by Karen Carpenter: Don’t you remember you told me you loved me baby? You said you’d be coming back this way again baby? Baby, baby, baby, baby, oh, baby, I love you I really do. By the time she gets to the “baby baby baby baby” line, I want to scream, rip the radio out of the van and chuck it out the window. Second runner-up has to be Natalie Merchant’s song “Kind and Generous” . As one critic put it “Did she really write down all those 'na-na-naaa na-naaa na-naaa-na’s?” ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2011, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-laziest-song-lyrics/569277/66 "2011-01-28T17:02:37Z")
Lollipop. lollipop, oh lolli, lolli, lollipop ---
**Author:** ![OtisCampbellWasRight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/d78d45/32.png) [@OtisCampbellWasRight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtisCampbellWasRight)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2011, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-laziest-song-lyrics/569277/67 "2011-01-28T17:25:27Z")
Lazy lyrics? Piffle! I give you, Jimmy Webb’s overblown classic, McArthur Park: ♪"Someone left the cake out in the rain, I don’t think that I can take it, coz it took so long to bake it."♫ I guess they spent all the budget on the orchestral arrangements… ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2011, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-laziest-song-lyrics/569277/68 "2011-01-28T17:26:12Z")
> [@Don\_Draper](#): > > For the most annoying, lazy lyrics, I’d vote for “Superstar” by Karen Carpenter: Actually, the lyrics are by Delaney Bramlett. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2011, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-laziest-song-lyrics/569277/69 "2011-01-28T17:29:29Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > No, they’re deliberately lazy as a way to match his songwriting. Miller never met a riff he couldn’t recycle. > > Back to the topic: > > “Elenore” by the Turtles – though it’s deliberately so: > > _Elenore, gee I think you’re swell > And you really do me well > You’re my pride and joy, et cetera_ “Elenore” was a track on the Turles’ \*\*\*Battle of the Bands \*\*\*album, on which they were parodying the sounds and styles of numerous pop artists. “Elenore,” as I recall, was supposed to be a parody of the Turtles themselves! The Turtles were trying to create a cheesy single that sounded like the kind of single they were already famous for. Since ”Elenore” was a bit of a joke, I cut the Turtles some slack. They were actually trying to sound like a bunch of wiseacres spoofing the Turtles! ---
**Author:** ![glowacks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/glowacks/32/5548_2.png) [@glowacks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glowacks)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2011, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-laziest-song-lyrics/569277/70 "2011-01-28T17:29:43Z")
> [@Taber](#): > > Yes lyrics are a category of their own, but give this a try from “Going for the One” > > Well the verses I’ve sang > Don’t add much weight to the story in my head > So I’m thinking I should go ahead and write a punchline > But they are so hard to find > in my cosmic mind > So I think I’ll take a look out of the window This is the last verse, and the only one that makes any sense at all. It’s a deliberate parody of the fact that their lyrics have no overall semantic meaning, and they _like_ it that way. The next line is something that would be found in a typical love song, which Yes basically never had, ending in what sounds like a deliberately lazy rhyme. The verse then finishes with the gibberish that ended the first verse. This verse shows that Anderson knew what he was writing made no sense and didn’t care. – Take the Money and Run absolutely has to be near the top of the most god-awful lyrics ever written for a song that actually became popular. Rhymes can be stretched, but if you do so you better have decent sounding lyrics. Grammar can be distorted to fit a rhyme, but not having basic agreement better mean you have some killer rhymes. The first stanza is ok; some extraneous consonants at the end of the last two lines, but overall everything ends in a “long u”. It would be much better though if the two consonants ending the 3rd and 4th lines were the same. The second stanza starts the real problems. “Castle” and “hassle” are good rhymes, but “paso” ends the first line. Close, they both have “short a” + sibilants, right? And if you just kinda trail off at the end, you can sorta forgive that one ends in a vowel and the other a glide. But the last line…doesn’t rhyme at all. It’s not even close. Additionally, it’s the wrong tense and the previous verb is in the correct tense, a rather jarring juxtaposition. Steve decided he couldn’t go from “took the money and ran” to “oh oh, take the money and run”, and changed half of it. What is wrong with using “ran” when neither choice rhymes with the previous lines, but “run” is clearly the wrong tense? It’s solely to rhyme with the chorus, when the first stanza set the rhyme pattern that each of the 4 lines should rhyme, and the 3rd and 4th stanzas follow that pattern as well. He intentionally broke the rhyme pattern and used the wrong tense, just to get one particular rhyme that was completely unneeded. The 3rd stanza is absolutely awful. It introduces a new character who does ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. He doesn’t end up interacting with the protagonists, even though the lyrics sorta claim that he’s going to. There’s no reason for him to exist at all. And then there’s the rhymes. The vowels are close enough because they’re all basically schwas, but the final sibilants alternate between voiceless and voiced and the consonantal sound before the vowel is a voiceless sibilant in all but the 3rd line, where there’s a voiceless alveolar plosive inserted between that sibilant and the vowel. “Slant rhymes” like in the first stanza are fine, but here there’s no compelling reason why we should accept them, especially when combined with another obvious grammatical error and absolutely no meaningful story progression. It would sound far far far better if nothing rhymed at all, because when they’re that close people want them to match or at least have a compelling reason to not match. Overall, the entire stanza is absolute garbage and the song would be better without it. ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2011, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-laziest-song-lyrics/569277/71 "2011-01-28T18:09:45Z")
Jackson Browne - Boulevard Down on the boulevard they take it hard They look at life with such disregard I have to change the station. The next two are just as bad. I’d quote them if sdmb wasn’t so frightened of being persecuted for posting lyrics - even though there’s hundreds of lyrics sites, and it’s one of the oldest things on the web. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2011, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-laziest-song-lyrics/569277/72 "2011-01-28T18:11:24Z")
I know a song that’ll get on your nerves, get on your nerves, get on your nerves…get on your nerves, get on your nerves…Oh I know a song that 'll get on your nerves…get on ,get on your nerves. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2011, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-laziest-song-lyrics/569277/73 "2011-01-28T18:16:26Z")
> [@Koxinga](#): > > There’s some romantic song out there that forces a rhyme with the prepositional phrase “for only you and I.” Can’t remember what it is but it makes me want to punch someone. Are you sure you aren’t thinking of “Yes IIIIIIII’m gonna love you/Til the stars fall from the sky/For you and I!” 'Cause that’s The Doors, and it has always annoyed the fuck out of me. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2011, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-laziest-song-lyrics/569277/74 "2011-01-28T18:22:35Z")
Many of the songs here don’t seem lazy, instead they seem to be relying on repetition to create an effect. The thread title made me think of a specific type of lyric, and two posts so far have made me cringe the same way I cringe when I hear the actual songs: > [@Jeff\_Lichtman](#): > > And no one heard at all, > Not even the chair. > [@Nunzio\_Tavulari](#): > > Emerson Lake & Palmer - Still You Turn Me On > Every day a little sadder > A little madder > Someone get me a ladder That’s not to dismiss other songs, I may just be less familiar with them. Meanwhile, Juliana Hatfield has a remarkable genius for bad rhymes. She lets her ladder down for those who really shine/I tried to scale it, but to me she’s blind/So I lit a firecracker, went off in my eye. Really? A firecracker? ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2011, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-laziest-song-lyrics/569277/75 "2011-01-28T18:28:17Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > Are you sure you aren’t thinking of “Yes IIIIIIII’m gonna love you/Til the stars fall from the sky/For you and I!” > > 'Cause that’s The Doors, and it has always annoyed the fuck out of me. No, no, no. When The Doors do it, it’s poetic license! Don’t diss my Doors! ---
**Author:** ![Kolga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e56c9b/32.png) [@Kolga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolga)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2011, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-laziest-song-lyrics/569277/76 "2011-01-28T18:34:07Z")
Paula Cole, “I Don’t Want To Wait:” So open up your morning light, And say a little prayer for I. W.T.F? ---
**Author:** ![Tess\_Trueheart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@Tess\_Trueheart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tess_Trueheart)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2011, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-laziest-song-lyrics/569277/77 "2011-01-28T19:38:04Z")
Kesha (though I doubt she wrote it herself): “And no you don’t wanna mess with us, Got Jesus on my neck-uh-luss-uss-uss\*” A little funny in the context of yet another life-is-all-about-drinking-and-parties song, but still lazy. \*necklace ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2011, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-laziest-song-lyrics/569277/78 "2011-01-28T19:53:46Z")
> [@Lare](#): > > I’m surprised that no one has yet mentioned “Surfin’ Bird” by the Trashmen. > > There was also the song (I can’t remember what it’s called) that repeats the word “no” continusously. Is it “Nobody But Me” by the Human Beinz? \*No no no no no no no no no No no no no no no no no No no no no no no no no No no no no no Nobody can do The shing-a-ling Like I do\* … and so forth. I dig that song! Double for “Surfin’ Bird.” I don’t mind repetitive and/or nonsensical lyrics if the song is cool. It’s the earnest attempts at profundity which fail spectacularly that deserve our scorn: _We had joy We had fun We had seasons in the sun; But the stars we could reach Were just star-fish on the beach._ ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2011, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-laziest-song-lyrics/569277/79 "2011-01-28T20:24:08Z")
> [@42fish](#): > > Or the line “There were plants and birds and rocks and things.” Was it that difficult to think of a fourth item for the list? Specifying a fourth item would not have meant the same thing. “There were plants and birds and rocks and lizards,” say, would tell us that he saw those four things, and that’s all. As it is, the line should be understood to say “plants and birds and rocks and [other] things [like that].” It’s another way of saying “et cetera” (which the Turtles got in trouble for on this thread, despite the fact that their use of the word is an obvious joke). The line is meant to suggest a wide variety of “things” inhabiting the desert, emphasized by the next line, which adds to the list, as if the singer just couldn’t just leave it at “and things.” “The heat was hot” is a great line, too. Whaddaya want–“The heat was 99 degrees Fahrenheit”? The heat was hot, man. The _real_ lazy part of that song is rhyming “desert sun” with desert fun." Ugh. ---
**Author:** ![sqweels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2011, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-laziest-song-lyrics/569277/80 "2011-01-28T20:55:00Z")
Don’t forget the opening line from “Happiness Is a Warm Gun” by the Beatles: _She’s not a girl who misses mooch Do do do do do do Oh yeah…_ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-laziest-song-lyrics/569277.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-laziest-song-lyrics/569277.md?page=5)