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Really satisfying songs to know all the lyrics to

Started by flotemysost, February 05, 2019, 04:53:34 PM

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Ballad of Ballard Berkley

Singing along to Subterranean Homesick Blues by Bob Dylan is immensely satisfying. I've never mastered the similarly fast and wordy It's the End of the World as We Know it by REM, though. Too hard.

Brundle-Fly

I used to know Toast by Streetband off by heart but these days I can barely remember the lyric to Happy Birthday To You.


Fabian Thomsett

#33
The Minotaur's Song by The Incredible String Band

Simon Smith and His Amazing Dancing Bear by Randy Newman (great version by The Alan Price Set too)

Brenda's Iron Sledge by Robyn Hitchcock

flotemysost

Quote from: Brundle-Fly on February 06, 2019, 01:15:27 PM
I used to know Toast by Streetband off by heart[/i]

Oh I'd forgotten about that one! Classic stuff.

Crabwalk

I think 'I've Got You Under my Skin' is the most satisfying song for me to belt out. There's all that lovely space in Sinatra's phrasing of the verses, and it builds fantastically while staying in my vocal range. Bobby Darin's version of 'Mack the Knife' is similar, but all the key changes later on add an extra element of fun.

Away from the crooners I think 'Babies' by Pulp takes some beating if you've got a bit of bass in your voice. You can build up beautifully to 'I ONLY WENT WITH HER CAUSE SHE LOOKS LIKE YOU, MY GOD'. I do struggle a bit with the final 'yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah-er's nowadays, mind.


Lordofthefiles


pigamus

Quote from: JesusAndYourBush on February 06, 2019, 02:01:49 AM
I can still remember large portions of The Firm - Arthur Daley E's Alright.

And another one, I don't even need to mention the song title, but if a quiz question pops up such as "how many points is the blue ball worth in snooker" then you have to sing *that song* in your head to get the answer.  Then it's stuck in your head for the rest of the day.

But... that song doesn't tell you how many points the blue ball's worth in snooker.

JesusAndYourBush

Quote from: pigamus on February 06, 2019, 06:45:37 PM
But... that song doesn't tell you how many points the blue ball's worth in snooker.

I already know that the scores for the colours go from 2 points up to 7, and crucially - the song lists the balls in the correct order.

Ballad of Ballard Berkley

The Village Green Preservation Society by the Kinks. Crisply enunciating the following stanza is particularly pleasing.

We are the Office Block Persecution Affinity
God save little shops, china cups and virginity
We are the Skyscraper Condemnation Affiliates
God save Tudor houses, antique tables and billiards


I do love the way he manages to get 'billiards' to rhyme with 'affiliates'. It shouldn't work, but it does.

gilbertharding


jobotic

ZZ Top - I'm Bad, I'm Nationwide

ZZ Top - Mexican Blackbird

ZZ Top - Just Got Paid

non capisco

'Young Americans' by Bowie, especially when it gets to the "YOU ain't a pimp and YOU ain't a hustler" section that culminates with the swooping falsetto "ain't there one damn song that can make me.........(dramatic pause).....BREAK down and CRY-HYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY?" (You can leave out the problematic socking a lass on the jaw bit if your conscience needles you). Some absolutely top flight post-pub wuzza wuzzing has been indulged it at capisco towers along with that one.

I can pretty much do the entirety of 'Paul's Boutique' for you by rote as well. It could be said that I rock a house party at the drop of a hat and I beat a biter down with an aloo-mi-num bat. A lot of people they be jonesin' just to hear me rock the mic, they be staring at their radios, staying up all night.

Ballad of Ballard Berkley

Quote from: non capisco on February 07, 2019, 07:15:07 PM
'Young Americans' by Bowie, especially when it gets to the "YOU ain't a pimp and YOU ain't a hustler" section that culminates with the swooping falsetto "ain't there one damn song that can make me.........(dramatic pause).....BREAK down and CRY-HYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY?" (You can leave out the problematic socking a lass on the jaw bit if your conscience needles you). Some absolutely top flight post-pub wuzza wuzzing has been indulged it at capisco towers along with that one.

Hell yeah, so much fun to sing along to. As for the "sock on the jaw" line, Bowie always had that "I'm singing in character" get out of jail free card. As far as I'm aware, there have never been any reports of the Dame physically abusing women.

Tony Tarko

At a house party some years ago... around sunrise when everyone was beginning to come down and you shift the music into something more cosy. People close and comfy in a bedroom. On comes "Step Right Up" by Tom Waits. My friend Omar with no fanfare or ego just sat quietly on the sofa-bed with his eyes closed and mimed along to each and every word. We all stared at him in amazement. Was astonishingly satisfying to watch.

Jerzy Bondov

Quote from: non capisco on February 07, 2019, 07:15:07 PM
'Young Americans' by Bowie, especially when it gets to the "YOU ain't a pimp and YOU ain't a hustler" section that culminates with the swooping falsetto "ain't there one damn song that can make me.........(dramatic pause).....BREAK down and CRY-HYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY?" (You can leave out the problematic socking a lass on the jaw bit if your conscience needles you). Some absolutely top flight post-pub wuzza wuzzing has been indulged it at capisco towers along with that one.
My favourite wordy Bowie to sing is Teenage Wildlife. It's hard to get to grips with but worth it - best bits are "then you HOWL like a wolf in a trap" and "and no one will have seen and no one will confess/the fingerprints will prove that you couldn't pass the test". Obviously there's loads of others that are fun but it's rewarding to learn the words for TW. Maybe my favourite Bowie song actually.

'Life On Mars' would be a bit obvious but fulfills the thread requirement perfectly

'I Am The Walrus' or 'Cry Baby Cry' if you like lyrics inspired by Edward Lear

Costello has dozens and it depends if you like puns (Get Happy era) or something deeper. 'Pills and Soap' or 'Man Out Of Time' might be the two best for the thread.

Morrissey didn't have as much substance as Costello (it's almost always verse-chorus then rapidly diminishing returns) but 'The Hand That Rocks The Cradle' and 'Half A Person' actually tell a story, albeit bleak.

Cuellar

Home Again Garden Grove by The Mountain Goats - great fun

MidnightShambler

Get off Of My Cloud and Shattered by The Stones are quite hard to spit out, the patterns are really tricky but there's great payoff bits in both that are dead satisfying to nail. 19th Nervous Breakdown too.

I think I've only ever got Mr Wendel bang on once, that was a happy feeling. It's not that it's particularly difficult, I just have a mental block with some parts of it. Not as happy as when I got Feed My Rock And Roll by Julian Cope though, that was a labour of love.

pupshaw

Next (SAHB)
Bewlay Brothers
Hard Rain's a Gonna Fall

Twed

Quote from: flotemysost on February 05, 2019, 04:53:34 PM
Honourable mention: as kids my brother and I used to record songs from the radio onto a Fisher-Price cassette player and then replay them until we had all the lyrics down in a big exercise book. Gangster's Paradise was a notably rewarding one to do, from what I can remember.
I wonder if you got them as wrong as I did aged 11, with no concept of the slang involved. If the notebook I wrote them down in existed I'm sure it would go viral. I can't remember it all, but there was definitely "my home is a dam, so don't arouse my anger".

phantom_power

Quote from: Cuellar on February 08, 2019, 11:45:16 AM
Home Again Garden Grove by The Mountain Goats - great fun

No Children is good as well if you want to get some misanthropic vitriol out of your system

Twed

Quote from: Fabian Thomsett on February 06, 2019, 02:31:46 PM
The Minotaur's Song by The Incredible String Band
Hah, yes! There is some really enjoyable pomposity in that.

I'll do what's wrong as long as I can!

non capisco

#54
Obligatory Oscillations XTC mention :- the satisfaction of having listened to 'Burning With Optimism's Flames' enough times to be able to nail the hectic verses without looking at the lyrics, especially "threw pessimism
in the air, it's spinning, crashing to the floor and nevermore will it lure me away with sweets and shiny things just like a magPIE!"

And from the same album : "But nobody can say what they really mean to say and/The impotency of speech came up and hit me that day and/I would have made this instrumental but the woooor-hoor-hoords got in the way"

the ouch cube

Lots of Nomeansno tracks, 'Wiggly Worm' is a favourite

Sebastian Cobb

Quote from: bgmnts on February 06, 2019, 12:33:37 PM
Ice Ice Baby

Rapper's Delight

The Message.

Funky 4+1 that's the joint.

Roxanne Shane - Have a Nice Day

Gimme the Loot (bonus points for doing the voices).

poodlefaker

On the subject of Jackie by Scott Walker, can I just recommend Momus's translation Nicky
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xP1qvEAg9yw


Icehaven


Epic Bisto

Most of the Soft Cell catalogue (Chips On My Shoulder and Little Rough Rhinestone in particular).  I can also sing "Slip Inside This House" in its entirety, which is something that's always worth putting on the CV.