I’ve always kinda dug the Cars, and I enjoy a good nonsensical rock and roll lyric, but I have to draw the line at:
Let them leave you up in the air
Let them brush your rock and roll hair
Wha? I can’t enjoy the song quite as easily any more, picturing moussed and feathered girls and mulleted guys.
I like the song, too. It’s just paying attention to they lyrics that was a prblem for me. I think the repeated, rapid use of the phrase “didn’t it feel good?” gives a certain note of anxiety to the song. Mitchell is too good a vocalist to pitch her voice to make it sound whiney, but the phrasing itself is powerful.
I’m with you on that one, though a lot of her songs have a certain manic/depressive feel to them that makes me think hanging around her would be … stressful … at times.
Well, she might not have wanted to sleep with him.
This is a funny thread to read… which is to say that I think I have a different idea of how lyrics make a song worse for me than others of you do.
Truth is, I don’t really have a super high standards for lyrics to begin with.
I really don’t begrudge a song with a story to tell, even if the story is strong or disturbing any more than I may consider a painting or movie for having a disturbing message.
Nor do I begrudge a song for the juxtaposition of joyful melody and harsh lyric. (Blind Melon’s “No Rain” falls into this category for me. The music just makes me happy, but the actual lyrics I’ve always interpreted to be about somebody, very misunderstood and lonely desperately wanting to be understood.)
What makes a song worse for me, usually, is when I discover there is nothing there. The first example I can think of is “Back in Black” by AC/DC. Lyrically, as far as I can tell, they are simply stating repeatedly that they are back. And wearing black. I actually still love to pump up the volume for this song- but inside I feel a little shallow.
I always thought “Gotta Keep 'Em Separated” was a homophobic song, and thusly didn’t care for it. Now that I learn it’s about gang violence, it’s ok. 
If it makes any difference, Sting’s with you, and has expressed bafflement over the adoption of ‘Every Breath You Take’ as a love song.
Another creepy stalker song parading as an ode: The Bangles’ ‘Eternal Flame.’
And my vote for catchy song with the most effed up lyrics: The Guess Who’s ‘Follow Your Daughter Home.’ I used to hear it on the radio quite a bit as a kid and couldn’t quite understand why this scary dad wanted to know about his daughter’s virginity. Eww.
Back in the early 1960’s there was a “Swinging London” song that started “Girl, put on your makeup…get ready for love.” Jack Cassidy was among the “swinging singers” who recorded it.
It creeped me out because it sounded like he wanted a young virgin.
Love, Phil
It’s unusual to hear that word in a song, but it fits the whole theme, doesn’t it?
Even before you knew the exact phrasing, I’m guessing you’d caught on that it was about the “circle of life” as observed in a hospital. In one ward, there’s an old lady dying, while in another ward, there’s a baby being born. The placenta falling is a routine part of the delivery of a baby.
That song is almost 40 years old. As far as I can tell via Google, he doesn’t have MS and is in fine health.
By all reports, Moonshadow is an optimistic song, about making the best of the worst situations, “God’s will,” and all that. This seems consistent with his other work and life.
I remember years ago hearing a melody on the radio which I loved straight away. I couldn’t stop humming it. Then I found out a while later what it was. It was the Horst Wessel lied , a goddam Nazi marching song!
An extract from the lyrics:
*Free the street for the brown battalions;
Free the street for the SA man!
Already millions are looking to the swastika, full of hope;
The day of freedom and bread is dawning. *
Needless to say, I’m not overly fond of those lyrics! Still love the tune though.
They are not objectionable for any moral reason but that definitely applies to all Oasis songs, just cos the lyrics are so damn awful.
This thread is tickling me. I have two nominations:
Firstly, a song which which I always heard at work and is very catchy (to the point where I always catch myself singing along by accident) is one which I call “The Date-Rape Song”, and which I only now learned for the purposes of this thread is actually Josh Kelley’s “Only You”. Seriously, WTF? This is played several times a day in a drugstore; the lyrics talk about “you know what is on my mind” and “you know the game/ you’re wearing it”, with this bridge/ chorus/ whatever:
“Cause you started it
And you seemed into it
Don’t you dare act surprised.”
The whole thing has such a date rape/ “she was asking for it” vibe, I’m truly amazed that it gets played all the time in public, as part of a muzak loop.
On a lighter note, LFO’s “Summer Girls” is arguably far better for being a collection of the worlds worst lyrics, all in one place. It features such unforgettable gems as:
“New kids on the block had a bunch of hits,
Chinese food makes me sick”
and
“When you take a sip, you buzz like a hornet,
Billy Shakespeare wrote a whole bunch of sonnets”
(yes, it was sung so that “hornet” and “sonnet” rhymed).
I am so not ashamed to say that I once memorized the lyrics to this entire song, and would occasionally bust it out at parties. I should totally add it to my karaoke portfolio.
The writer says that’s not what they meant by it, actually: (Don't Fear) The Reaper - Wikipedia
It’s strange to me that so many people think of the dark explanation. When I first heard the lyrics, they struck me as a bittersweet acknowledgement that life ends. I wouldn’t describe Romeo and Juliet as advocating suicide, either, but it seems that the mention of that play is at least part of what makes people think of suicide.
This part, in particular:
Love of two is one
Here but now they’re gone
He came last night out of sadness
And it was clear she couldn’t go on
The door was open and the wind appeared
The candles blew and then disappeared
The curtains flew and then he appeared (Saying don’t be afraid)
Makes me think of the spirit of an old man returning for his wife’s spirit as she dies.
As Evil Captor said, he reanimated it. I was the third poster in this “new life” of it, actually.
Who pissed in your cheerios?
Yeah.
“How many special people change?
How many lives are living strange?
Where were you while we were getting high?
Slowly walking down the hall
Faster than a cannonball
Where were you while we were getting high?”
Oh yeah, “Champagne Supernover”. I swear that’s how they pronounce it.
[quote=RikWriter]
I don’t know why you bothered to dredge up this dead thread. ]/quote]
Guys, play nice. RikWriter, we have no problem with meaningful resurrections of old threads in this forum. lobotomyboy63, just 'cause it’s funny doesn’t mean it’s permitted, it’s still close to a personal insult.
I’m not marking this one as Official Warning, but it does seem that hackles are raised for no good reason. Cool it.
The Toadies’ ‘‘Possum Kingdom’’ is a pretty sweet song, and I thought it was really hot until I realized it was about a psychopathic killer. I still like the song, but it’s sort of conflicting when your urge is to say, ‘‘Yay, it’s that sexy song! …Oh, right. Murder.’’
Then there’s Aerosmith’s ‘‘Rag Doll.’’
*I feel like a bad boy
I’m rippin’ up a rag doll
Like throwin’ away a new toy
Give it all you got until you’re put out of your misery*
Nice.
A lot of Aerosmith songs would qualify for this thread (F.I.N.E. is one of my favorites, by the way.) I love Aerosmith, and I sing along to ‘‘Rag Doll’’ still, but it just makes me feel wrong inside.
Dude, it’s the Chili Peppers. What did you expect?
I like “Sir Psycho Sexy” myself, but it’s really not for everyone. However, the song that REALLY turned me off is “Purple Stain”. I hadn’t really paid attention to the lyrics much, but then today I realized that Anthony Kiedis is actually singing about:
finger painting with the girl’s menstrual blood
shudder Guess what got deleted from my mp3 player?
However, having been a fan of RHCP since I was thirteen, meh, it’s just one song.
(BTW, any fan of the Chili Peppers should read Scar Tissue, Kiedis’s autobiograpy.)
Dontcha mean Yusuf Islam?
:rolleyes:
And why didn’t the horse have a name? How hard is it to name a horse? You don’t even have to be that creative; Stripe or Old Paint or anything will do.
See also U2’s Streets have no name. What they couldn’t think of “4th avenue” or “Elm Street?”