[Music] Best Tunes With Worst Lyrics

[Uh_huh_him]

I love the bitter ode..

'She looked just like her mother- if there could be another....'

And in fairness there are some genius lyrics too

She left me when my drinking
Became a proper stinging
The devil came and took me
From bar to street to bookie

 

[Stato]

Lloyd Cole is the king of this.

"Read Norman Mailer. Or get a new tailor"

From (are you ready to be) Heartbroken.

Is my favourite. Bound to think of others though.

These lyrics always get criticised because they are forever being taken out of the context of the song's meaning. A lot of people seem to think or suggest that Lloyd intended this as a straight-faced literary reference and they laugh at the pretentiousness, but it's actually an ironic sneer at the type of young man/men that the song is addressed to (possibly including Lloyd himself).

The song concerns itself with the tendency of young people, particularly men, to define themselves with the art they choose rather than facing and showing real emotion. The couplet in question is preceded by 'Lean over on the bookcase, if you really want to get straight' and followed by 'but are you ready to be heartbroken?'. He's offering 'Read Norman Mailer, or Get A New Tailor' as a withering dismissal of someone who would have you believe that they are wise and clever, but has only the trappings of the life experience of the writers, clothes, artists etc. he uses to define a chosen persona. In context, it's a great line.

 

[Badger]

He's got a brand new car
Looks like a jaguar
It's got leather seats
It's got a CD player

...

We'll start over again
Grow ourselves new skin
Get a house in Devon
Drink cider from a lemon

 

[Stato]

For forty years I sang along with this having no clue what she was singing before 'Love's gone behind,' then one day my wife raised the question and we looked it up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGU_4-5RaxU

'Mucho mistrust?' I wish I'd never found out.

 

[Lower West Stander]

These lyrics always get criticised because they are forever being taken out of the context of the song's meaning. A lot of people seem to think or suggest that Lloyd intended this as a straight-faced literary reference and they laugh at the pretentiousness, but it's actually an ironic sneer at the type of young man/men that the song is addressed to (possibly including Lloyd himself).

The song concerns itself with the tendency of young people, particularly men, to define themselves with the art they choose rather than facing and showing real emotion. The couplet in question is preceded by 'Lean over on the bookcase, if you really want to get straight' and followed by 'but are you ready to be heartbroken?'. He's offering 'Read Norman Mailer, or Get A New Tailor' as a withering dismissal of someone who would have you believe that they are wise and clever, but has only the trappings of the life experience of the writers, clothes, artists etc. he uses to define a chosen persona. In context, it's a great line.

Only on NSC could a detailed explanation of one line in an obscure 35 year old song be so educational

 

[Brighton Mackem]

I have to strongly disagree with the Rt.Hon NSCer.

However, I'm sure 'Labelled With Love' made up for it.

Very poignant song with top class lyrics

 

[pearl]

I love Jailbreak by Thin Lizzy
Tonight there's gonna be a jailbreak
Somewhere in this town

I love The Boys Are Back In Town .... but

The boys are back in town, so get your knickers down

how eloquent

Just been listening to Gang Of Four

Love is like a dose of Anthrax

(Great thread btw)

 

[GT49er]

Wow!

I like the song, just find the rhyming cringeworthy.

No more nights by the telly
No more nights nappies smelly

Maybe it's just me.

Just what every good song should have - brilliant story-telling, as well as a cracking song.

 

[GT49er]

Don't know why Desmond Dekker wanted to sing, "Me ears are alight".......


Sheer genius though.

 

[Stato]

And in fairness there are some genius lyrics too

She left me when my drinking
Became a proper stinging
The devil came and took me
From bar to street to bookie

For years I thought it was from Barter Street to bookie and I think I still prefer my misheard version. However, if a songwriter has the confidence and commitment to start a song 'I never thought it could happen with me and a girl from Clapham,' and make it work, I'm not going to question any of his choices. The gold is really in what the throwaway stuff builds to in the last verse. It reminds me of Autumn Almanac in it's contrast between the everyday and the profound or heartbreaking. Ray Davies writes:

'I like my football on a Saturday,
Roast Beef on Sunday's alright,
I go to Blackpool on my holidays,
Sit in the open sunlight'

This seems mundane and the rhyme seems a bit forced in the fourth stanza, but it is evocative and describes a person very succinctly. He then follows that with:

'This is my street and I'm never gonna leave it,
And I'm always gonna stay here if I live to be ninety-nine,
Cause all the people I meet, seem to come from my street,
And I can't get away, because it's calling me, come on home.'

And the empathy and understanding of others in those lines, have had the power to move me to tears. The fact that they've been built up by the previous, seemingly facile, jauntiness creates the light and shade of real existence and sums up the mutual agreement to understate deep feeling that seems to be so resonant of the English lower classes. Everyone has a story, the country is full of people feeling deeply, acting heroically or experiencing tragedy and yet we all tacitly agree not to raise it. 'Up The Junction' brings forth the same kind of personal reaction from me, so I'll happily give poetic license in return.

Sorry to go on a bit, but I think, in that last paragraph, I may have worked out for myself why, during this crisis, I have sometimes felt the need to choke back tears in order to be able to thank people who are doing, seemingly mundane, things in fairly heroic circumstances and who wouldn't ever think of making any fuss about it.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

'Insomnia' by Faithless - one of the finest dance anthems known to man, and lyrically one of the lamest

 

[smartferndale]

Someone left my cake out in the rain, I don't think that I could bake it and I'll never have that recipe so again?
Never really understood all that but great tune and Donna Summer gives it some welly.

 

[Reagulls]

'Insomnia' by Faithless - one of the finest dance anthems known to man, and lyrically one of the lamest

Agreed! Thankfully they used to play a remix in the Zap mid nineties with no mention of tights or dry potatoes!

 

[Stato]

Someone left my cake out in the rain, I don't think that I could bake it and I'll never have that recipe so again?
Never really understood all that but great tune and Donna Summer gives it some welly.

You have to allow Jimmy Webb a bit of leeway. He over extends that metaphor, but as he was also responsible for 'And I need you more than want you, And I want you for all time', he should get as many free passes as he needs.

 

[neilbard]

Given how iconic this track is, the lyrics are exceptionally shit:

Thank you for coming home
Sorry that the chairs are all worn
I left them here I could have sworn
These are my salad days
Slowly being eaten away
Just another play for today
Oh, but I'm proud of you
But I'm proud of you
Nothing left to make me feel small
Luck has left me standing so tall

Oh stop it, there clearly Gold.

 

[DavidinSouthampton]

And lest we forget The Steve Miller Band...

'Some people call me the space cowboy
Some call me the gangster of love
Some people call me Maurice'

I speak with the pompatus of love. ??

What's wrong with that?

It's got a great bass line, though.

 

[Norman Potting]

"..........Generals gathered in their masses
Just like witches at black masses......" War Pigs - Black Sabbath

Couldn't even be bothered to think of another rhyme for masses "....some of them are wearing glasses...." would have worked

I know they are considered metal gods but I have never "got" their dirge like "music".

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

"..........Generals gathered in their masses
Just like witches at black masses......" War Pigs - Black Sabbath

Couldn't even be bothered to think of another rhyme for masses "....some of them are wearing glasses...." would have worked

I know they are considered metal gods but I have never "got" their dirge like "music".

Yes, terrible lyrics.

You have reminded me of course of the majestic ouvre of Ian Gillan, numerous of which featured the blind man, who we were invited to see. Normally he was standing very still. On a hill.

 

[jakarta]

I love Jailbreak by Thin Lizzy
Tonight there's gonna be a jailbreak
Somewhere in this town

A bit late to PM Phil but I have my money on the Town Jail?

 

[Norman Potting]

Yes, terrible lyrics.

You have reminded me of course of the majestic ouvre of Ian Gillan, numerous of which featured the blind man, who we were invited to see. Normally he was standing very still. On a hill.

Forgotten that one. Surprised that you are a closet Deep Purple fan