I’m getting annoyed with Ben Folds. He’s one of my favorite artists but his last album was shoddy, and I am getting kind of tired of his super hipsterness in songs. You know, making offhand references to weird things just cuz he can.
For example, his song “Cologne” is fantastic. The music and composition are great and the lyrics are great as usual. But in the middle of the song he drops the stupidest pop culture reference that, IMHO, totally ruins the song.
"Says here an astronaut
Put on a pair of diapers
Drove 18 hours
To kill her boyfriend.
In my hotel room, I wonder if
you’ve read that story too
And if we both might
be having the same imaginary conversation"
The reference to the astronaut thing totally takes you out of the song. Pisses me off.
There’s got to be other examples of mis-placed lyrics in otherwise sweet or emotion-driven songs. I can’t think of any now because I have “Cologne” stuck in my head.
The song “Yes I Am” by Melissa Etheridge contains a grammatical gaffe that throws me right out of the song:
“You and I” is a pretty common slip-up but it irritates me every time I hear it in this song because it’s otherwise so good, and has such a strong message.
Oh wow. No, totally different here. Lyrics are, IMO, one of the best (and most important) parts of a song. Of course, I grew up in the punk subculture where (and this is coming from a person who still likes and listens to punk) the music is often mediocre at best, but the lyrics are what’s really important.
So, yeah, lyrics matter. A lot.
I remember an ex telling me when we first started dating that lyrics were a really important aspect of music. In fact, we were IM’ing each other and he was reading the lyrics of the songs I was talking about instead of listening to the music. But then when I found out what his musical tastes were I had to bite my tongue to keep from asking what was so profound about Disturbed’s lyrics.
But onto the OP’s question. There are a few Pogues songs where I generally enjoy the song, but a particular line or two makes me cringe.
In The House of the Gods, for example (which is not a poetic masterpiece like some of their others songs), the chorus makes me want to gouge my eyes out:
I’m just a wally
Hanging out on Pattaya Beach
I’m just a wally
Hanging out on Pattaya Beach
And there’s background vocals that repeat the “just a wally” line. Ack! It sounds ridiculous. Of course, this finally made me look up wally, which the OED says is an unfashionable person. But anyway. I suppose in places where “wally” might still be used as an insult (are there any?) it might not sound ridiculous, but I hate it.
Checks username. Checks sig. :rolleyes: What’d you expect?