I almost died 'cause of that song. Back in college, my dorm neighbors loved that song. they had it on a single, and would put it on their record player and leave the spindle up. (Does this date me ? why yes,yes it does. for the young ones, what this means is that the song would play, and instead of stopping at the end of the song, the record arm - that’s the thing that held the needle to the record, those black round vinyl discs- would raise up and instead of returning to the side, would return it to the beginning of the record again).
so, that song would play,over and over and over again for hours and hours. gah. this would happen frequently. the fact I did not kill them is a testimony to my non violent nature.
but, I more than hated that song. Neighbors moved, time passed. then, one day I was driving somewhere when suddenly that song came on the radio - my eyes froze and I **had ** to stop it, and all of my focus went to getting that song to stop. thankfully, I didn’t hit anything while I went nuts there for a moment or two.
No way. The lines “you won’t need no camel, no, no, when I take you for a ride” and “let’s slip off to a sand dune, real soon, and kick up a little dust” redeem it from the schlock pile.
Oh Clare, by Gilbert O’Sullivan, on the other hand, positively reeks of aged muenster.
ETA: I should say, I don’t hear people refer to East Side, because I don’t think I know anyone from that area. I’m sure the term is used down in that corner of Chicago, though. I’ve certainly been aware that it’s a neighborhood.
No mention of “In the Ghetto?” Not just the song, but that it was a hit for Elvis Freakin’ Presley on the verge of his final decline. It’s so beyond cheesy it qualifies as Velveeta.
As for “Candy Man”: “Candy man” was slang at the time for a drug pusher. Now, go read the lyrics and tell me if it’s remotely suitable for kids.
I was going to nominate this one but stopped myself because I didn’t know if I could convey how cheesy I thought it was. My indepth familiarity with it is due to my Mom loving it and playing it over and over again.
Heh, when I was little I liked that song, only I thought it was “Even the nuts are better.”
What about “We Built This City”? Grace, Grace, Grace, from “White Rabbit”, to this bullshit?*
*[sub]I shouldn’t talk, though, I like “Sara” and “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now”[/sub]
I’m sorry, but ALL of “Kneedeep in the Hoopla” should go on this list. We refer to it around here as the “We’re Holding Grace Slick’s Family Hostage To Get Her to Do This Album” album.
There was a commercial that came on regularly for MR’s Greatest Hits and that was one of the songs they’d play a snippet of. I don’t know the rest of the song. But I changed it to “Out in the West Texas Town of El Paso/I fell in love with a Mexican fatso.”
“Even the nuts are better”/Gay Supply. How appropriate…LMFAO!
What about songs that “were” at least kinda good until they were overplayed? E.g. that one on the E-Harmony commercials “This will be…an everlasting love…” It isn’t a bad song inherently, but it gets worse every time that commercial airs.
Set flamethrowers to “BBQ”—even “Feelings” was a good song till the overplay (and every lounge act got hold of it). So was “Year of the Cat.” And “Hotel California” circa 1978 just got played…into…the…ground.
Remember that GAWDAWFUL 57x repeat at the end of Stevie Wonder’s “Sir Duke”? You can feel it all over…
I loved that song when I was a small child who spoke no English, living in El Salvador. The DJ on the radio would only translate the title. For all I knew the song was about going for an ice cream cone after school. I didn’t hear it again until I was an adult, and then all I could think was, "I liked this? :eek:
It’s an autobiographical song based on a period in composer Jimmy Webb’s life when he lost a great love of his life. At the time Webb lived near MacArthur Park in Los Angeles and he and his love used to go there together. In the song he is going back there alone after she has gone, thinking about where they went and what they did, replaying everything in his head and mourning the loss of the relationship, wondering if he’ll ever love anyone as much or if this was love of his life.
People tend to take the line “Someone left a cake out in the rain” a little too literally, it is just symbolic of something wonderful and sweet that has been destroyed because of neglect. The lyrics can be a little overly romantic and overwrought, but that just captures the way love and loss can be blown completely out of proportion by the person involved. Hope that helps.
The songfacts website is a festival of misinformation.
Nope. See above. It also has nothing to do with Hashish. Webb has discussed this many times in interviews.
Ah, yes. Deeward and her rather unhealthy worship of a middle-of-the-road singer whose appeal seems to be limited to women 70 and older.
I just want to say, for the record, that any song Bobby Goldsboro ever did just sucks unwashed donkey balls. “The Straight Life,” in particular, is a testament to the unironic double entendre. In that song, the narrator has apparently ditched his wife and come out. But I doubt it.