Dumb lyrics

Just heard Rod Stewart's 'Mandolin Wind' on the radio

'through the coldest winter in almost fourteen years'

Uh..that would be what..like, thirteen years presumably then Rod?

Of course there's Thin Lizzy..

'tonight there's gonna be a jailbreak, somewhere in this town'

Hmm..lemme guess..

and Steve Miller

'big old jet airliner, don't carry me too far away'

Yeah..probably not the best choice of transport if you want to stay close to home...

tonight there's gonna be a jailbreak, somewhere in this town'

obviously there must be multiple prisons in the town he was thinking of.......

Iron Maiden  - Dance of Death

Let me tell you a story to chill the bones
About a thing that I saw
One night wondering in the everglades
I'd one drink but no more

I was rambling, enjoying the bright moonlight
Gazing up at the stars
Not aware of a presence so near to me
Watching my every move

Feeling scared and I fell to my knees
As something rushed me from the trees
Took me to an unholy place
And that is where I fell from grace

Then they summoned me over to join in with them
To the dance of the death
Into the circle of fire I followed them
Into the middle I was led

As if time had stopped still I was numb with fear
But still I wanted to go
And the blaze of the fire did no hurt upon me
As I walked onto the coals

And I felt I was in a trance
And my spirit was lifted from me
And if only someone had the chance
To witness what happened to me

And I danced and I pranced and I sang with them
All had death in their eyes
Lifeless figures they were undead all of them
They had ascended from hell

As I danced with the dead
My free spirit was laughing and howling down at me
Below my undead body
Just danced the circle of dead

Until the time came to reunite us both
My spirit came back down to me
I didn't know if I was alive or dead
As the others all joined in with me

By luck then a skirmish started
And took the attention away from me
When they took their gaze from me
Was the moment that I fled

I ran like hell faster than the wind
But behind I did not glance
One thing that I did not dare
Was to look just straight ahead

When you know that your time has come around
You know you'll be prepared for it
Say your last goodbyes to everyone
Drink and say a prayer for it

When you're lying in your sleep, when you're lying in your bed
And you wake from your dreams to go dancing with the dead
When you're lying in your sleep, when you're lying in your bed
And you wake from your dreams to go dancing with the dead

To this day I guess I'll never know
Just why they let me go
But I'll never go dancing no more
'Till I dance with the dead

I think it was written by Janick Gers, it is bloody awful lyric writing, i mean so Moon and June, and the fact it's sung to some quasi-Irish jig music...every time i hear it i want to laugh.

there are numerous examples of 'Metalenglish', a phenomenon in which foreign bands write in bad/pidgin English...my favourite is Sarcofago, they are from Brazil, but many would find it offensive so i won't post on here...

Back Street Boys  ( I think - one of those crappy boy bands anyway) - makes me curse every time I hear it on the radio or somewhere...

Sadness is beautiful, loneliness is tragical......


grrrrr !

Also, most Beautiful South songs, but especially...

I love you from the bottom of my pencil case.......

grrrr again !

Don't get me started!

There are some talented lyricists, and then there are those who don't seem to care at all for the language, but they still do fine. I used to think a "good" musician would also have a "good" ear for language, but I've been proven wrong many times!

-Susan

I was thinking more 'you haven't really thought this through..have you?' kind of thing..

Like Sade 'Smooth Operator'

'Coast to coast, LA to Chicago'

Err..whaaat??

Chic Chow Mein.

I can't remember the song, but it's Bon Jovi with this ridiculous line

"with an ironclad fist, I wake up and french kiss the morning"

WTF is that?

Randy

One stanza that has bothered me for years is from the old Bread song.  One shouldn't try to put too much weight on pop yrics, but

"if a man could be two places at one time
I'd be with you tomorrow and today".

I believe that is one place at two times.  I mean, didn't someone read what they had written?

jeez, glad to finally get that off my chest.

@

I'm sorry i misleaded you, pretty lady.
-Taio Cruz.

...And a 'Tamborine Man' CANNOT PLAY A SONG on his instrument of choice.....

Well i dunno bout all that but i really really really wanna zigga zig ahh.

I've always found the lyrics to 'Santa Clause is Coming to Town' really bone chilling:
He sees you when you're sleeping,
He knows when you're awake.
He knows if you've been bad or good,
So be good for goodness sake!

And what about Inner Circle's 'Sweat A la la la la Long' song?
Girl I want to make you sweat
Sweat till you can't sweat no more
And if you cry out
I'm gonna push it some, more, more

-That's a direct threat on somebody's life rather than a chat up line surely?

HI,
 
One learns real quick that in acting, some dumb lines, all of a sudden, are not dumb at all, and instead are daggers coming at you (for example -- read some Shakespeare if you dare sometimes!) ... and I personally feel that it is not a good idea to criticize lyrics, or someone's writing, since the context that it was done with is rarely what we think it is ... it may seem dumb when we write it, but then you hear is sung/spoken, and it is something else, often an attitude, comment, that in a conversation would be applicable to a bystander, for example.
 
Steve Miller, is not an average writer and is quite intelligent, and if he wrote something non-sensical, I bet you it was intentional and when you hear the song it is spoken/sung in a tone that is a sharp contrast to most singing. Steve Miller, was never about the "singing" and his lyrics were about his expression.

paulo

jamesg1213

Aaah, ok I'm with you now......in that case, I'll nominate the song Ironic by Alanis Morrisette. Not just a line or two, but for the whole thing.

I find it to be ironic that you nominated this one.

... You must know some real wrong 'uns that you might like to share. ...

I've mentioned a few ... but the interest for "Our Song", "The Strain" or "I am Your Witch, I am your _____" ... or an interview with Adol Hitler in "La Krautoma" ... or "Apocalyptic Bore" ... or my favorite one of all time .. "Dehypnotized Toothpaste" ... and we haven't even started on "Dental Higyene Dilemma"!!! Ohh ... we can have some serious fun with gonna whip the horse's eye ... ohh please '' cheeseburger!" ... I never thought it was about the "lyrics" ... it was about something else in my book. A moment in time, and rock music has been magnificent about stuff like that to counter the stuffiness of classical music ... have you got any onions?

But it's a small curse Jon ... I mention these and everyone will ignore them ... the literaryness of it all gets wasted! Heck, I could post some Boccaccio bagatelles here, and these people would think it stunk! ... or worse ... that it is not funny! Or some Chaucer for some choicier wording! ... heck .. I like Nursery Rhymes myself and my favorite ones were in The Pearl ... and sadly ... we can't post those here! Or Lawrence Harvey doing Hamlet in a movie while 2 gays talked in the corner!
 
The worst lyrics ... are often .. ok in the hands of the right actor ... heck, like thinking that The Sex Pistols had good lyrics ... but screaming it makes sense ...
 
I have to get out my Spike Jones collection ... somehow that washing machine race is so close to Pete and Dud's horse race ... but we can't post those here! ...