Stupid lyrics

[TheMonk]

Fuckin' karma for this. Had been baffled by that lyric for ever. I'm a guitarist n all and I didn't know resonator guitars were called Nationals.

From the same album though, this nonsense:
Medicine is magical and magical is art
The boy in the bubble
And the baby with the baboon heart

[Sexton Brackets Drugbust]

From the same album though, this nonsense:
Medicine is magical and magical is art
The boy in the bubble
And the baby with the baboon heart

The whole song is just about modern advancements seeming wonderous and beyond comprehension, with those being two extreme medical examples.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Maybe he prefers the company of men? (Well who doesn't?)

Anyway here's a right stupid lyric:

"Walking in Memphis
But do I really feel the way I feel?"

dunno mate, dunno.

Walking in Memphis is pure-spun stupid lyric gold.

Yeah, I've got a first class ticket, but I'm as blue as a boy can be.

Well boo fucking hoo.

The clumsy, patronising earnestness of that song is hilarious. A white, tidily-bearded AOR musician goes on a soul-searching voyage through Memphis, during which he gatecrashes a gospel choir, metaphorically high-fives some blues musicians on Beale Street, and lies about seeing the ghost of Elvis at Graceland.

She said, "Tell me are you a Christian, child?" I said, "Ma'am, I am tonight!"

Finally! I know how it feels to be black! Pure David Brent.

There's a pretty little thing waiting for the King, down in the jungle room

A lyric that conjures the chilling image of a spectral Elvis having his way with a terrified young woman in the sepulchral depths of his lair.

[a duncandisorderly]

Looks like a volume pedal, as you can see his knee rising with each swell. Pretty sexy.

the thing gets its own close-up at one point...

[popcorn]

the thing gets its own close-up at one point...

Whoops. That'll teach me not to watch the whole thing. Cheers.

[popcorn]

I'll never forget the first time I heard the leaden sausage of shit that is Fix You by Coldplay.

"When you try your best
but you don't succeed"

right...? so far so boring...

"When you get what you want..."

But... not what... you need?

"But not what you need"

I actually went "GAH" out loud to myself. Like a weirdo. Fuck You more like.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

I detest that lyric. You Can't Always Get What You Want by The Rolling Stones - a song it's presumably trying to emulate message-wise - is far more affecting and realistic.

You can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
But if you try sometimes, you get what you need

That last line sounds hopeful yet resigned. It's beautiful. Martin's drivel sounds like something cribbed off a fridge magnet.

[Ambient Sheep]

It's a classic example, but this from ELP's "Still... You Turn Me On":

Every day I get a little sadder,
A little madder,
Someone get me a ladder.

I guess you could read it as wanting a ladder to help him out of his pit of sadness & madness, but in the context of the whole tender love song it really does seem like a completely absurd non-sequitur.


EDIT: Fifteen words and I can't even get them all right! :-)

[a duncandisorderly]

It's a classic example, but this from ELP's "Still... You Turn Me On":

Every day I get a little sadder,
A little madder,
Someone fetch me a ladder.

I guess you could read it as wanting a ladder to help him out of his pit of sadness & madness, but in the context of the whole tender love song it really does seem like a completely absurd non-sequitur.

the corresponding tour was called "get me a ladder".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LJjT6QrEZo

ah, but greg lake... that voice..... https://vimeo.com/194823381

[Ambient Sheep]

the corresponding tour was called "get me a ladder".

Hah, really?  I wonder why?

ah, but greg lake... that voice..... https://vimeo.com/194823381

Oh God, yes.  Brain Salad Surgery is one of my favourite albums.  (Not keen on the song of the same name, though.)

[Fisher Goes Berserk]

Can't believe I haven't posted it here already, but 'We Built This City'. Even by Bernie Taupin's usual standards it's awful.

I also can't believe I never picked up on the glaring error in the line 'Marconi plays the mamba' until I read this. I can't hear the song now without imagining a nineteenth-century Italian nobleman setting about a dead snake with a drill and a set of tuning forks.

Worst song of all time though?! Bollocks to that.

[samadriel]

'Underwear' by Pulp:

If fashion is your trade / then when you're naked / I guess you must be unemployed, yeah?

Come on Jarv'.

[pupshaw]

It's a classic example, but this from ELP's "Still... You Turn Me On":

Every day I get a little sadder,
A little madder,
Someone get me a ladder.

I guess you could read it as wanting a ladder to help him out of his pit of sadness & madness, but in the context of the whole tender love song it really does seem like a completely absurd non-sequitur.


EDIT: Fifteen words and I can't even get them all right! :-)

Isn't this song about necrophilia though?  By the dark clouds on your eyes, though your flesh has crystallized, Still, (i.e dead) you turn me on.

Get me a ladder so I can climb down into your hole maybe?

It's brilliant wordplay though, very strange topic

[Clownbaby]

I've always hated the Katy Perry song "Unconditionally". The word "unconditionally" is a bit long and inelegant to put in a chorus and the horrible way she breaks it up "unCOOOOOn-dishon-ah-lyy" is just fucking horrible. What a horrible song.

[saltysnacks]

I've always hated the Katy Perry song "Unconditionally". The word "unconditionally" is a bit long and inelegant to put in a chorus and the horrible way she breaks it up "unCOOOOOn-dishon-ah-lyy" is just fucking horrible. What a horrible song.

Also, Rihanna's Um-BER-ella. Hurts my head.

[lebowskibukowski]

'Jesse Paint A Picture' by some bloke who has a name, but that name escapes me. My mind says Jon Secada but sure that isn't right. Can't remember the exact lyrics but there is something about along the lines of asking how his cat is and he sings "Moses? He's just fine".
Possibly not a stupid lyric as such but by God it riles me more than a song should.

- Google says Joshua Kadison. Still no idea

[yesitsme]

I take it everything Blur and REM have ever made has been said?

I got my head checked - by a jumbo jet,
It wasn't easy, it wasn't e-zeeeeeee.

I bet it wasn't.  For years I thought he'd had his head checked by some guy called HM Bowchay.

Would have made more sense.  Try looking him up in the phone book.

[saltysnacks]

Walking in Memphis really takes the biscuit. You're right Ballad, pure Brent.

[Chriddof]

I take it everything Blur and REM have ever made has been said?

I got my head checked - by a jumbo jet,
It wasn't easy, it wasn't e-zeeeeeee.

Second line is actually: "It wasn't easy, but nothing is... no." There's a deliberate hiccup / lengthening thing during the word "is", but I can't write it out in text without it looking confusing.

[bgmnts]

"Pussy tighter than conditions of us black folk."

Makes me cringe and chuckle myself to death every time.

[Cuellar]

That's reminded me

"Kill me with the cocky,
Kill me with the tightness"

Some dancehall song my partner keeps listening to. Can't stand it.

[Phil_A]

I take it everything Blur and REM have ever made has been said?

I got my head checked - by a jumbo jet,
It wasn't easy, it wasn't e-zeeeeeee.

I bet it wasn't.  For years I thought he'd had his head checked by some guy called HM Bowchay.

Would have made more sense.  Try looking him up in the phone book.

Weren't the lyrics of that song deliberately stupid and throwaway as Blur were trying to shake of their "Britpop" image at that point, hence trying to sound like a US alt-rock band rather than The Kinks.

[a duncandisorderly]

Isn't this song about necrophilia though?  By the dark clouds on your eyes, though your flesh has crystallized..

it's "dark glass"... I think the addressee of the song is very much alive; it's always struck me (since 1976) as being aimed at some bored over-privileged groupie type, & greg (or more accurately, ELP's lyricist for the album, pete "land of make-believe" sinfield) asking this girl exactly what she wants from life. the ladder line is clumsy, but seems to allude to the depths of despairing boredom that the singer is suffering due to his life as a rock-star & his detachment from normal life. but I may be over-reading that part, having watched the documentary too many times.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90hN9IM2NMs

[DrGreggles]

Weren't the lyrics of that song deliberately stupid and throwaway as Blur were trying to shake of their "Britpop" image at that point, hence trying to sound like a US alt-rock band rather than The Kinks.

I think Damon initially just made gibberish noises as a guide vcoal track and then just substituted them for the words that sounded the most similar to them. He did the same for Music Is My Radar.
So the lyrics weren't actually meant to mean anything.

[pupshaw]

it's "dark glass"... I think the addressee of the song is very much alive; it's always struck me (since 1976) as being aimed at some bored over-privileged groupie type, & greg (or more accurately, ELP's lyricist for the album, pete "land of make-believe" sinfield) asking this girl exactly what she wants from life. the ladder line is clumsy, but seems to allude to the depths of despairing boredom that the singer is suffering due to his life as a rock-star & his detachment from normal life. but I may be over-reading that part, having watched the documentary too many times.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90hN9IM2NMs

Well that's possible. The reference to "buried in disguise" was another clue the girl might be dead, but it's not really all that clear. I just remember thinking there were a bit too many allusions for it to be a coincidence. And the line "Still... you turn me on" is a bit tame without that ambiguity.

[Avril Lavigne]

I think Damon initially just made gibberish noises as a guide vcoal track and then just substituted them for the words that sounded the most similar to them. He did the same for Music Is My Radar.
So the lyrics weren't actually meant to mean anything.

This is what Dave Grohl did on the first Foo Fighters album and you can really tell from how nonsensical most of the lyrics are. Not even in the fun, early-Beck way where you laugh at the surrealness, but rather in the way where it just sounds like he's making shit up as he goes along and immediately thinking 'yeah that'll do'.

Run me out of town, somewhere a move might intended a gown at
Pissed at all the bowels, always the blues and a delicate smile
Missed all of the sideways, gull and noun

When I talk about it
It carries on
Reasons only knew
When I talk about it
Aries or treasons
All renew
Big me to talk about it
I could stand to prove
If we can get around it
I know that it's true

As if you blame
Real and stagnate
Real and stagnate
Big shit, no shit

Tear it off, but not a lot
Only so much you can take

Some try that hit
Beast and mud lead
Beast and mud lead
Big shit, no shit

[Clownbaby]

"Pussy tighter than conditions of us black folk."

Makes me cringe and chuckle myself to death every time.

The whole first half of that song annoys me a bit cause the whole thing is about a guy shagging a lass who very clearly, visibly has an STD "pubic hair lookin like some sour cream dip", unprotected, and then complaining that he was completely duped and swindled by this woman and her obviously, visibly infected fanj

Unless it's just poor choice of words and the "sour cream" is referring to all the pre jizz and wetness and everything. Either way "sour cream" doesn't really paint sexy clean-fanjita'd picture.

Good song though. I always liked the instrumental, it's cheeky

[Elderly Sumo Prophecy]

Well this is all getting rather graphic. Disgusting, I'm writing to my MP.
Maybe she puts chives in her pubes?

[Chriddof]

This is what Dave Grohl did on the first Foo Fighters album and you can really tell from how nonsensical most of the lyrics are. Not even in the fun, early-Beck way where you laugh at the surrealness, but rather in the way where it just sounds like he's making shit up as he goes along and immediately thinking 'yeah that'll do'.

To be honest I prefer those Foo Fighters lyrics to Beck's usual early stuff. I liked the words to songs like "Pay No Mind" years ago, but now they seem too try-hard and weirdly smug, whereas Grohl's tactic ended up making some authentically garbled word-salad thing which, to me, is a lot more pleasing nowadays.

[Avril Lavigne]

To be honest I prefer those Foo Fighters lyrics to Beck's usual early stuff. I liked the words to songs like "Pay No Mind" years ago, but now they seem too try-hard and weirdly smug, whereas Grohl's tactic ended up making some authentically garbled word-salad thing which, to me, is a lot more pleasing nowadays.

Horses for courses I guess, I never tire of hearing 'The sales climb high through the garbage-pail sky, like a giant dildo crushing the sun'.  I'm probably also more averse to Dave's early stuff because in my teens and early twenties I wrote lots of song lyrics using the same method & now as a result find it a bit cringeworthy.