Stupid lyrics

[Depressed Beyond Tables]

Cause you know what they say about honey bears
When you shave off all their baby hair
You have a hairy minded pink bare bear

Meet me at the fucking gate
Maybe then I'll be your mate
If I found you on the ground
That would be really sound

Here we go now
Up and down and all around
If I saw you on the ground
That would be really sound

The first one is Lou Reed and the second one is a chap I was in a band with when I was 15.

[jobotic]

Anyway, I literally posted lyric by The Stupids upthread, and what do I get for my trouble? Nothing.
*kicks over bin*

Well I hope you'll get a warm fuzzy feeling when I tell you that you inspired me to listen to this again for the first time in about 25 years. I enjoyed it too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PP8EmC91u5k

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Slowly walking down the hall, faster than a cannonball.

While I'm loath to defend the lyrics of Noel Gallagher, I think that particular line gets an unfairly hard time. It's utterly meaningless, obviously. It's Noel self-consciously trying to write a piece of mystical psychedelic poetry, but... it actually conjures a fairly pleasing, woozy image.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

This ain't Rock And Roll,
This is Genocide!!!!

That's a stone-cold classic opening line. As a lyrical introduction to a dark, mad, druggy '70s Glam album about a dystopian future, it's pretty much perfect.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

He hit me
And it felt like a kiss
He hit me
But it didn't hurt me
He couldn't stand to hear me say
That I'd been with someone new,
And when I told him I had been untrue
He hit me
And it felt like a kiss
He hit me
And I knew he loved me
If he didn't care for me
I could have never made him mad
But he hit me,
And I was glad

That's not so much stupid as deeply unpleasant. It's also an unbelievably stark illustration of a psychologically damaged woman struggling to justify being in an abusive relationship. I'm not defending it as such, it's a very tasteless, wince-inducing song, but the lyrics themselves aren't stupid in the way that most of the others in this thread are.

[jobotic]

You're right, but isn't it the tastelessness that makes them stupid? It's not a portrayal of a woman damaged by abuse - we're supposed to see it as romantic? He hit me  - oh lucky you, he must really care!

I've paraphrased what you said.

[fucking ponderous]

Father says, "your mother's right, she's really up on things."
"before we married, mommy served in the wacs in the Philippines."
Now, I had heard the wacs recruited old maids for the war.
But mommy isn't one of those, I've known her all these years.

Possibly the most disappointing ending to a verse ever.

[HAVANAGILA]

From "She Can Rock It" by Power Station : "It's a sorry lookin' donut if it doesn't have a hole."

[lebowskibukowski]

Is it stupid though? I believe the song is just describing a typical mundane day in London, and I challenge anyone to find another that uses 'Tesco' in a rhyme.

It's just the sheer laziness of that last line that makes it ridiculous.
Couldn't tell you about any other Tesco rhymes, but Sleaford Mods must've used it, surely?

[Fisher Goes Berserk]

'If you come on to me, then I'll come on to you
If you come on to me, then I'll come on to you
If you come on to me, will I come on to you?
If you come on to me, will I come on to you?
If you come on to me, then I'll come on to you
If you come on to me, then I'll come on to you
If you come on to me, then I'll come on to you
If you come on to me, then I'll come on to you
Yes I will, yes I will, yes I will now
Yes I will, yes I will, yes I will now, uh-huh
If you, if you come on to me (yeah), then I'll come on to you
If you come on to me, then I'll come on to you
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
If you come on to me, then I'll come on to you
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
If you come on to me, then I'll come on to you
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
I'll come on to you
Whoo!'

One of the greatest songwriters this country has ever produced.

Time to retire, Sir Paul

You can do it right now pleeeeeaaaaase

[Utter Shit]

The Waitresses' Christmas Wrapping mentions Tesco doesn't it?

[garbed_attic]

You're right, but isn't it the tastelessness that makes them stupid? It's not a portrayal of a woman damaged by abuse - we're supposed to see it as romantic? He hit me  - oh lucky you, he must really care!

I've paraphrased what you said.

Really? I'm pretty sure it's meant to be a portrayal of a woman damaged by abuse and she is the song's unreliable narrator.

Goffin and King wrote the song after discovering that their babysitter and singer Little Eva was being regularly beaten by her boyfriend. When they inquired why she tolerated such treatment, Eva replied, with complete sincerity, that her boyfriend's actions were motivated by his love for her.

[gilbertharding]

Really? I'm pretty sure it's meant to be a portrayal of a woman damaged by abuse and she is the song's unreliable narrator.

Exactly. By the people who brought you Will You Love Me Tomorrow? Pretty mad that Goffin was in his early 20s when he wrote all those words.

[jobotic]

Oh fair enough - sorry.

[Clownbaby]

Closer by The Chainsmokers ft Halsey is one of the most unpleasant songs I've ever heard

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PT2_F-1esPk

[gilbertharding]

Oh fair enough - sorry.

It is a pretty ambiguous message though - especially for a pop song.

I'd never heard of it until Spiritualized did the drug song 'She kissed me (and it felt like a hit)', when there were a couple of quite heated threads about the original on their forum.

[pupshaw]

That's a stone-cold classic opening line. As a lyrical introduction to a dark, mad, druggy '70s Glam album about a dystopian future, it's pretty much perfect.

Not disputing what a "great" line it is. It is a great line. It's also stupid. Is he saying "I know you've all turned up for a nice rock 'n roll concert, but we've got something a little different tonight... a bullet in the head", or is it some punter maybe going to a gig and finding mass graves instead. This ain't Rock n' Roll, this is genocide, oh shit.

Something like the Clash as the Four Horsemen makes some kind of sense, as it conjures up an image, however ludicrous. I just don't see that music and racial slaughter could be somehow mistaken for one another, as the line somehow implies.

[phantom_power]

I think it is just a bit of post apocalyptic hyperbole, not to be taken literally

[manticore]

He hit me
And it felt like a kiss...

Carole King, in that same radio interview, said that she was sorry she had ever had anything to do with the song. She was a survivor of repeated domestic abuse

I don't know how people would respond now, but in 1979 in my Sociology A Level class the lecturer asked us some difficult ethical questions to see our response with a show of hands. One was (as I remember) 'Is it okay for a boy to belt a girl if she cheats on him?' A majority of this pretty left of centre mixed sex class put up their hands to say 'yes'.

God knows what ideas were prevalent in 1962 - I've read that the record was withdrawn after a while because of complaints, which is a good sign, but I bet a lot of people took the song as an endorsement of domestic violence 'when justified'. I think it was an irresponsible thing to put it out as a pop single.

Also it needs to be listened to rather than just read.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f20Oz9Yr_So

[alan nagsworth]

that kate nash one about the lemons

[DukeDeMondo]

I'd never heard of it until Spiritualized did the drug song 'She kissed me (and it felt like a hit)', when there were a couple of quite heated threads about the original on their forum.

I first heard it when Hole covered it as part of their MTV Unplugged set. Here it is.

It's a hard one to defend, whatever the motivation for writing it and whatever the number of ambiguities at play within it, but in the pantheon of Really Fucking Troublesome Songs About Abusive Relationships, I find "Stand By Your Man" by Tammy Wynette considerably more disturbing. Too disturbing to listen to for any length of time, really. The defiant loyalty-in-the-face-of-whatever in that song properly curdles my blood. Especially given what we know of Tammy Wynette's personal life. Although saying that there's a pathos in even mimed performances like this that kind of weaves its own, far more complex and probably even more unnerving narrative.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

You're right, but isn't it the tastelessness that makes them stupid? It's not a portrayal of a woman damaged by abuse - we're supposed to see it as romantic? He hit me  - oh lucky you, he must really care!

I've paraphrased what you said.

I dunno, the vocals, tune and arrangement are very stark and mournful. They feel like a darkly ironic counterpoint to the tragically upbeat delusion expressed by the song's protagonist. I don't think we're supposed to take her words at face value, she's an unreliable narrator.

Also, the song is based on an actual comment from an abused friend of Goffin & King. The song comes across as misjudged, tasteless and kitschy, but I think it comes from a real, horrified place.

EDIT: Gilbert Harding and gout-pony got there first.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

I think it is just a bit of post apocalyptic hyperbole, not to be taken literally

True, but I think it's Bowie making a cynical comment on the very broad similarity between fascist rallies and rock shows in which thousands of people turn up to blindly worship their idols. Jim Morrison used to make similar comparisons. Morrison and Bowie were famously off their heads at the time, it should be noted. 

[easytarget]

The Waitresses' Christmas Wrapping mentions Tesco doesn't it?

Nah, A&P init.
'merica.

[popcorn]

The Waitresses' Christmas Wrapping mentions Tesco doesn't it?

Only the Spice Girls cover version does.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIZ14B65u6k

Which remains one of those songs so stunningly bad I return to it every six months just to study the species.

[phantom_power]

True, but I think it's Bowie making a cynical comment on the very broad similarity between fascist rallies and rock shows in which thousands of people turn up to blindly worship their idols. Jim Morrison used to make similar comparisons. Morrison and Bowie were famously off their heads at the time, it should be noted. 

I agree with all of that. I just don't think it is a literal genocide. It is just a fitting way to introduce the nihilism that permeates the album "we'll buy some drugs then watch a band, and jump in the river holding hands"

[garbed_attic]

Also, the song is based on an actual comment from an abused friend of Goffin & King. The song comes across as misjudged, tasteless and kitschy, but I think it comes from a real, horrified place.

EDIT: Gilbert Harding and gout-pony got there first.

No worries - your sentence above perfectly expresses the matter!

[Jockice]

As has already been documented on here. I love The Undertones. But Girls Don't Like It, the second track on their debut album starts with these lines:
Here comes Eddie in his brand new car.
Driving like that he won't get far.
Kissing in the back seat all the way home.
You can't do that if you're on your own.

Eh?

[Depressed Beyond Tables]

Only the Spice Girls cover version does.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIZ14B65u6k

Which remains one of those songs so stunningly bad I return to it every six months just to study the species.

The video thumbnail says Christmas Wrappig

[pupshaw]

I agree with all of that. I just don't think it is a literal genocide. It is just a fitting way to introduce the nihilism that permeates the album "we'll buy some drugs then watch a band, and jump in the river holding hands"

I'd just say the lingering problem is that the word "genocide" conjures up specific images of ethnic murder, unlike "armageddon" and "apocalypse" and even "holocaust",  which have an hyperbolic ambiguity as well as a rather stale taste. So full marks for avoiding cliche I guess.