I won’t blame Shakira, who makes a sincere – if perhaps too vocal – attempt to learn English, but her collaborator on the English lyrics, one Gloria M. Estefan, according to the booklet with Laundry Service. Yes, Rucksinator, Suerte is one of my favorite songs.
Shakira and Gloria…
“Lucky that my lips not only mumble
They spill kisses like a fountain
Lucky that my breasts are small and humble
So you don’t confuse them with mountains”
Compared to Shakira only…
“Suerte que es tener labios sinceros
Para besarte con más ganas
Suerte que mis pechos sean pequeños
Y no los confundas con montañas”
Per her (accurate?) bio, Gloria “Once worked as a translator for the U. S. Customs Service at Miami airport.” My imagination is running wild, like a nameless horse in a desert.
As I said, the dictionary defined assonance as “vowel rhyme,” and you can find songs using either one. Whether you call it assonance or rhyme, Miller establishes a pattern in the other verses and makes you think he’s trying to shoehorn Texas/facts is/taxes into it, which sounds awful to most people’s ears.
Remember when Mark Wahlberg sang this in Boogie Nights? I swore it was a made up song. I was blown away to learn it was an actual song. Presumably “Stan Bush” seriously thought this was something he would be proud to attach his name to…
Yeah, but why pick those lyrics, when these FAR WORSE lyrics are in the same song:
Yeah…Kid Rock…you can call me Tex
Rollin’ Sunset Blvd with a bottle of Becks
Seen a slimmy in a ‘vette, rolled down my glass
And said, “Yeah, this dick fit right in your ass”
No kiddin’, gun slingin’, spurs hittin’ the floor
Call me Hoss, I’m the Boss, with the sauce n’ the whores
No remorse for the sheriff, in his eyes I ain’t right
I**‘m a paint his town red, then paint his wife white **HUH
Cause chaos, rock like Amadeus
Find West Coast pussy for my Detroit players
Mack like mayors, ball like Lakers
They told us to leave, but bet they can’t make us
Why they wanna pick on me…lock me up and snort away my key
I ain’t no G, I’m just a regular failure
I ain’t straight outta Compton I’m straight outta the trailer
Cuss like a sailor…drink like a Mick
My only words of wisdom are just, “Suck My Dick.”
I’m flickin’ my Bic up and down that coast and
Keep on truckin’ until it falls in the ocean
Somewhere along the way, I’ve gotta mention this lyric from The Who’s “Athena”:
Consumed, there was a beautiful white horse I saw on a dream stage
He had a snake the size of a sewer pipe living in his rib cage
And I felt like a pickled priest who was being flambed
You got me requisitioned blondie
She’s just a girl - she’s a bomb
InvisibleWombat - Eh, at least it’s spread out. Unlike, say, Hey Jude or Fly Away.
Ooh, ooh, another one…Gotta Be Starting Something, Michael Jackson.
Okay, I kinda get that this is about an overprotective boyfriend threatening to mix it up with whoever’s making trouble for his girlfriend. Other than that, it’s just all over the place…it honestly sounds like he was making it up as he went along. The highlights, of course, are “suh bes tuh vuh” (twice!) and the bizarre “mubba say mumma sah uh mah poo sah” chant at the end (which lasts for roughly 1:10, ye gods).
Why, yes, this is my favorite Michael Jackson song, how did you guess?
I’ve always found it odd that there are two pop songs (that I know of) that mention suffragettes (Jet and Suffragette City by David Bowie), and both are incomprehensible.
At least, in the Bowie song, I understand what “she’s a total blam-blam” means. At least, I think I do.
Yeah, but it’s not Billy Joel asking “What does it mean?” He’s projecting upon the person he’s writing about. If you listen to the entire song, the person’s whole life has involved coddling and the totality of real life experiences amount to pop-culture soundbites and introductory liberal arts courses. This person is now exposed to the real world and recieved a wake-up call. Also, at one of the bridge points where he uses the “What does it mean?” lyric (he uses it twice), Billy follows up with “I’ll tell you what it means.”
I can’t believe I get to be the first one to cite `Drops of Jupiter’ by Train:
“Can you imagine no love, pride, deep fried chicken
Best friend always stickin
Up for you even when I know you’re wrong”
Oh God, that’s terrible. And then later
“She checks out Mozart while she does Tae-Bo.”
Twenty years from now when `Drops of Jupiter’ is being played on an oldies station people will think “Did he say Tie-Bow? Did he mean a bow tie? What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
:mad:!