# Good songs, Bad lines **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 14, 2000, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-songs-bad-lines/25614 "2000-07-14T22:36:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Gammu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b77776/32.png) [@Gammu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gammu)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2000, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-songs-bad-lines/25614/21 "2000-07-15T03:56:26Z")
In The Who’s song “Who Are You”, Pete Townsend (sung by Roger Daltrey) give this lyric, which actually works pretty well in the context of the song: > [@](#): > > I felt a little like a dying clown > with a streak of Rin Tin Tin Yeah, I feel that way too sometimes. In The Who’s “Athena” the Townsend Similie rears its ugly head again: > [@](#): > > Athena, my heart felt like a shattered glass in an acid bath > I felt like one of those flattened ants you’d find on a crazy path > . > . > Consumed, there was a beautiful white horse I saw on a dream stage > He had a snake the size of sewer pipe living in his rib cage > And I felt like a pickled priest who was being flambed’ Romantic love song, no? Hey ThisYearsGirl: I love The Who and Zep too. Isn’t “Going to California” the one with the “someone got punched on the nose and it flows” line? Maybe that song’s better if you play it backwards. Zep makes it up with “…So I packed my hopes inside a matchbox, cuz I know it’s time to fly!” Everyone! Sing Along! > [@](#): > > Someone left the cake out in the rain, > I don’t think that I can take > Cuz it took so long to bake it > and I’ll never have the recipe agaaaaaain! > Ohhhhhh Noooooooooooooooooooooooo! Damn. Now I know why Orca wanted to kill him. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2000, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-songs-bad-lines/25614/22 "2000-07-15T04:20:31Z")
Worst Rhyme: _Spirits in the Material World_ by The Police “With words they try to jail ya …but it’s the rhetoric of fail-ya” Worst Grammar: _Horse With No Name_ by America “In the desert you can remember your name, For there ain’t no-one for to give you no pain” Great Song but **Please** : _Ballad of a Thin Man_ by Bob Dylan Now you see this one-eyed midget shouting the word “NOW” And you say, “For what reason?” and he says, “How?” And you say, “What does this mean?” and he screams back, “You’re a cow. Give me some milk or else go home” ---
**Author:** ![Quadzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/a4c791/32.png) [@Quadzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quadzilla)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2000, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-songs-bad-lines/25614/23 "2000-07-15T06:07:03Z")
I grew up on and somewhat respect Neil Diamond. But why, oh why, did he feel the need to write the following lyric to “I Am”?? “I am,” I said To no one there An no one heard at all Not even the chair Hrm. Like you’re going to get a lot of self-affirmation from a sofa in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![ChiefScott](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58f4c7/32.png) [@ChiefScott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChiefScott)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2000, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-songs-bad-lines/25614/24 "2000-07-15T06:23:06Z")
The Police – “De doo doo doo, de da da da, That’s all I want to say to you.” ---
**Author:** ![Frannie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Frannie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frannie)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2000, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-songs-bad-lines/25614/25 "2000-07-15T06:29:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ArchiveGuy \* > \*\* > Great Song but **Please** : _Ballad of a Thin Man_ by Bob Dylan > > Now you see this one-eyed midget shouting the word “NOW” > And you say, “For what reason?” and he says, “How?” > And you say, “What does this mean?” and he screams back, “You’re a cow. > Give me some milk or else go home”\*\* Gosh, I get it. I think that means it’s time for bed. Nite. ---
**Author:** ![SarumanRex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@SarumanRex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SarumanRex)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2000, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-songs-bad-lines/25614/26 "2000-07-15T06:42:55Z")
The most messed up rhyme I ever heard was rom Bizmarquis’s (sp?) “Just a Friend”: I went to the dormitory, I asked, “Where is room three?”, He showed me where it was, for the moment, I didn’t know I was in for an event. I like the song but that line makes me wince every time. ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2000, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-songs-bad-lines/25614/27 "2000-07-15T08:15:35Z")
In ‘All of my heart’ by ABC The lead out is overdone somewhat and the vocalist is ‘ad-libbing’ out come the following lines, ‘Heavens above Hip hip hooray, Ippy i ippy i yay’ This in a song about broken hearts and romantic agony. ---
**Author:** ![Blunt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Blunt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blunt)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2000, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-songs-bad-lines/25614/28 "2000-07-15T23:41:42Z")
On one of the classic hip-hop tracks of all-time, _Eric B. is President_, Rakim mixes in one messed up line with the rest of the brilliant rhymes: “You scream I’m lazy, you must be crazy You thought I was a doughnut, you tried to glaze me” I have no idea what he means by “glaze me”, but it does rhyme with crazy. This is the same song that begins: “I came in the door, i said it before I never let the mic magnatize me no more But it’s biting me, fighting me, inviting me to rhyme I can’t hold it back, I’m looking for the line, Taking off my coat, clearing my throat My rhyme will be kicking it until I hit my last note My mind’ll range to find all kinds of ideas Self-esteem makes it seem like a thought took years to build But still say a rhyme after the next one Prepared, never scared, I’ll just bless one And you know that I’m the soloist So Eric B, make 'em clap to this” The “glaze me” line by no means ruins this song, and it is as great as any other hip-hop song ever, but it seems like rakim wasn’t trying too hard when he wrote that one. \*\*I got these lyrics from [http://www.ohhla.com](http://www.ohhla.com) where you can get lyrics for probably any hip-hop artist ever ---
**Author:** ![Montfort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Montfort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Montfort)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2000, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-songs-bad-lines/25614/29 "2000-07-15T23:51:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Coldfire \* > \*\*You people probably don’t know this, but I am a big fan of Rush 🙂 > > We’d elect each other President? Woohoo, how romantic, dude! A very rare example of Peart struggling to rhyme his lines. \*\* Yeah, that’s a bit dodgy. Anyway, Coldy, I’m a Rush fan, too, and then there’s this bon mot on _Test for Echo_, in “Virtuality”: Net boy, net girl Send your impulse around the world Put your message in a modem And throw it in the Cyber Sea … and then some friends of mine dismiss “Dog Years” entirely, but I’m quite fond of the wordplay. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2000, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-songs-bad-lines/25614/30 "2000-07-16T02:11:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Gammu \* > \*\* > In The Who’s “Athena” the Townsend Similie rears its ugly head again: > > > [@](#): > > > > Athena, my heart felt like a shattered glass in an acid bath > > I felt like one of those flattened ants you’d find on a crazy path > > . > > . > > Consumed, there was a beautiful white horse I saw on a dream stage > > He had a snake the size of sewer pipe living in his rib cage > > And I felt like a pickled priest who was being flambed’ > > Romantic love song, no? > \*\* By the time of “It’s Hard” Townshend wasn’t really trying very hard anyway, but I think the lyrics to “Athena” were intended to sound rather strange as opposed to traditionally romantic. But as much as I respect and admire Pete Townshend’s work, he has penned his fair share of clunkers. Consider “I Don’t Even Know Myself”, with “Come on all of you big boys/come on all of you elves”. In an otherwise straightforward Who song about a confused young punk he starts on about ELVES? I would also quite like the Pearl Jam song “MFC” if not for one line from the chorus: “Ask, I’m an ear.” Surely there must be a better way to convey the idea that you are listening, one that doesn’t bring to mind Gogol’s “The Nose”. ---
**Author:** ![doowop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85e7bf/32.png) [@doowop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doowop)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2000, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-songs-bad-lines/25614/31 "2000-07-16T02:14:35Z")
the great brian wilson - perhaps the best songwriter of all- came up with real lyrical clunkers sometimes - from “Solar System” comes the line “If Mars had life on it , I might find my wife on it” ---
**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:** [July 16, 2000, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-songs-bad-lines/25614/32 "2000-07-16T02:32:23Z")
Jesus Christ Superstar: “Israel in 4 B.C. had no mass communication.” ---
**Author:** ![Gammu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b77776/32.png) [@Gammu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gammu)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2000, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-songs-bad-lines/25614/33 "2000-07-16T03:03:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lamia \* > **But as much as I respect and admire Pete Townshend’s work, he has penned his fair share of clunkers. Consider “I Don’t Even Know Myself”, with “Come on all of you big boys/come on all of you elves”. In an otherwise straightforward Who song about a confused young punk he starts on about ELVES?** I forgot about the “elves” line. Funny thing about Townshend, he can often make _seemingly_ goofy lyrics work brilliantly: Consider _Behind Blue Eyes_ > [@](#): > > and if I swallow anything evil > put your finger down my throat > and if I shiver please give me a blanket > keep me warm let me wear you coat Yet the the song is simply awesome. I wonder what it would sound like if Billy Joel sang it. 🙂 **And yes, since you asked, I am _Airconditioned Gypsie! (Beep Beep!)_** ---
**Author:** ![Catrandom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7bcc69/32.png) [@Catrandom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catrandom)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2000, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-songs-bad-lines/25614/34 "2000-07-16T04:17:51Z")
I ain’t never gonna dance again, since, of course, guilty feet have got no rhythm. Not that the song was any good, but they were at least trying to be serious up to that point. From the same period, there’s the Spandau Ballet song in which the singer exclaims, “With a pill in my hand/And a thrill on my tongue.” Not that I even want to think about what that might mean. Catrandom ---
**Author:** ![capacitor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@capacitor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capacitor)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2000, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-songs-bad-lines/25614/35 "2000-07-16T04:47:34Z")
I know that Prince may have a kinky sex life, but he lets animals watch him do it? “Animals strike curious poses They feel the heat, the heat between me and you.” from _When Doves Cry_ ---
**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:** [July 16, 2000, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-songs-bad-lines/25614/36 "2000-07-16T06:04:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Democritus \* > \*\*One of my favorite songs of all time that has the most idiotic lyrics: > > _Paint It Black_, by the Stones. > > I see a red door and I want to paint it black? WTF? > \*\* The whole song is in that same vein - the next line is ‘No colours any more, I want them to turn black.’ (Got the lyrics [here](http://camel.conncoll.edu/ccother/sf.folder/exile/lyrics/aftermath/paintitblack.html), BTW.) And I don’t think it’s really that stupid a line, period. The fella’s depressed and he wants the world around him to reflect what’s inside him. Fairly trite sentiment, maybe, but not a ‘stupid’ lyric, really. ---
**Author:** ![jayron\_32](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/41988e/32.png) [@jayron\_32](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayron_32)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2000, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-songs-bad-lines/25614/37 "2000-07-16T06:51:07Z")
I happen to like some of these off-the-wall lyrics; especially when they all fit the song well. Phish is notorious for having these random lyrics in songs that absolutely rock. From “Chalkdust Torture” on \* A Picture of Nectar \* (one of the best songs on their best album) contains the opening line: > [@](#): > > Come stumble my mirth beaten worker > I’m Jezmund the Family Berzerker I can’t help but feel sometimes Tom Marshall is really forcing his rhymes (though, to be fair, the lines really do rhyme, even if the lines themselves are contrived). We’ll not even get into Mike Gordon’s lyrical problems… ## Eve-6’s song Inside Out has a just plain disturbingly bad chorus, but the song itself is catchy enough… “Let’s go burn ole’ Nashville down, set it all aflame. Barbecue those greeds that made Country weak and lame. Burn, burn Nash Vegas, cleanse it’s rancid soul. Burn, burn Branson too, making it a big black hole.” – Jello Biafra and Mojo Nixon “Let’s go Burn Ole’ Nashville Down.” ---
**Author:** ![Lizard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@Lizard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lizard)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2000, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-songs-bad-lines/25614/38 "2000-07-16T07:48:02Z")
I’ve got it! “Set Adrift On Memory Bliss” by PM Dawn contains this classic line: “Christina Applegay, you gotta put me on/ Guess who’s piece of the cake was dropped on” I KNOW that’s exactly what he’s singing because I looked it up. Now my only question is: what the HELL is he talking about? Then there’s Quiet Riot’s (originally Slade’s) early 80’s hit “Cum on Feel the Noize”: "So you think my singings out of time It makes me money I don’t know why I don’t know why Anymore, Oh no no So come on feel the noise Girls rock your boys Lets get wild wild wild" It sounds like a 6th-graders attempt at profundity. ---
**Author:** ![Falcon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/49beb7/32.png) [@Falcon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Falcon)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2000, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-songs-bad-lines/25614/39 "2000-07-16T08:05:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jayron 32 \* > **Eve-6’s song Inside Out has a just plain disturbingly bad chorus, but the song itself is catchy enough…** Aw, c’mon…you don’t love the lines “Wanna put my tender heart in a blender, watch it spin around to a beautiful oblivion”?? _grins_ ---
**Author:** ![DRY](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a87d85/32.png) [@DRY](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DRY)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2000, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-songs-bad-lines/25614/40 "2000-07-16T10:21:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ArchiveGuy \* > \*\*Worst Grammar: _Horse With No Name_ by America > > “In the desert you can remember your name, > For there ain’t no-one for to give you no pain” > \*\* From this same song, there was the line: “There were plants and birds and rocks and things…” Wow. _That’s_ really deep! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-songs-bad-lines/25614.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-songs-bad-lines/25614.md?page=3)