Horrible Song Lyrics

[caroma]

To defend Sir Paul, I think the lyric is "and in this ever-changin' world in which we're living..."

The musical STEEL PIER, despite being written by the great Kander and Ebb and starring the lovely Karen Ziemba, flopped in 1997, got beaten in the Tonys by TITANIC (the musical, the one for grown-ups) and slunk out of town in its dancing shoes a week later. Perhaps due to lyrics like this:

It should be goodbye time
But I'm spending MY time...
Running, running, running, running in plaaaaace!

The same guys wrote CHICAGO?!

[Deleted]

You could be right, Caroma. Still one too many prepositions, though. I guess he can afford them.

[aybee]

That always bugged me too, Duke! It never occurred to me that it was "we're livin'" instead, but that makes a lot of sense.

Topic? The Steve Miller Band. I love 'em, but the lyrics to "Take the Money and Run" are so lame. And that's just one example.

I mean, "They headed down to old El Paso/That's where they ran into a great big hassle"? And how about this gem:

"Billy Mack is a detective down in Texas
You know he knows just exactly what the facts is
He ain't gonna let those two escape justice
He makes his livin' off of the people's taxes"

[tinyshoes]

Here's a couple of lines from "Baby Don't get Hooked on Me" by Mac Davis (courtesy of my 70s Preservation Society CD:

"you're a hot-blooded woman child
and it's warm where you're touching me"

I don't know what's worse: those lyrics, or that I've admitted to owning a 70s Preservation Society CD. Either one is shudder-inducing.

[Deleted]

In Live and Let Die I also used to go nuts thinking he was singing, "...in this ever-changing world in which we live in..." then finally 'heard' it correctly (I hope) as "in this ever changing world in which we're living..."

Though I love Neil Diamond I have to submit:

"But no one heard at all, not even the chair," from I Am, I Said.

Doesn't it seem like there must be a hundred words that rhyme with chair that would have worked much better? A friend and I had this goofy thing going once, coming up with rhymes to equal the silliness of that one:

"No one heard at all, I'm in such despair!"
"No one heard at all, it just isn't fair!"
"No one heard at all, I'm eating a pear!"
"No one heard at all, 'cause I'm alone in my lair!"
"No one heard at all, instead they just stare!"

Well, you get the idea. What can I say about rainy Sunday afternoons when you're feeling a little bored?

[Brookie]

"No one heard at all, not even my thong underwear!"
"No one heard at all, look at my bouffant hair!"
"No one heard at all, not even the old gray mare!"
"No one heard at all, who stole my Nair?"
"No one heard at all, WTF do YOU care?"

Thanks for the lead-in, Bonsai. ;D

[jollityfarm]

"There won't be snow in Africa this Christmas"

Yeah, okay, I know it was for a jolly good cause and I know all the rest of it, but...there wasn't any snow in Exeter last Christmas either. In fact, I don't remember a white Christmas any year of my life. Should I be consumed with woe?

Besides, I should think the poorest people in Africa have enough to worry about without snow everywhere. Crops don't tend to grow in frozen ground either.

[rattlerbrat]

"You taste like honey, honey
Tell me can I be your honeybee
Be strong..." - Disease

UGH. Fucked up a perfectly good son, Matchbox 20!

As for McArthur Park, this may or may not be true, but...I read somewhere that there was a discussion about whether or not it was the music or the lyrics that made a song. So this songwriter picks the assiest lyrics he can think of but puts it to a great track to see if it'll fly - and of course, it did.

Oh, and while it's on my mind...can't forget the genius that is Trillville:

Can a n***a get in them guts (them guts)
Cut you up like you ain't been cut (been cut)
Show your ass how to really catch a nut (oh yeah yeah)
Well give me you number and I'll call (I'll call)
And I'll follow that ass in the mall (in the mall)
Take you home, let you juggle my balls (my balls)
While I'm beatin and tearin down your walls (oh yeah)

For the record...they're not talking about rape and murder. The song is about sex. Very, very good sex. Or so that's my understanding...sounds more like ritual torture to me.

ETA...

JollityFarm said:

"There won't be snow in Africa this Christmas"

As opposed to what, the winter of '66?

[duskwolf]

The use of "deep-fried chicken" in Drops of Jupiter has always irked me.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. I won't repeat the rationale here, but I hate the lyrics for both Breakaway and Since You Been Gone.

Kind of off-topic, but I hate Clay Aiken's Invisible, not necessarily for the lyrics, per se, but for the fact that the song delivers them wrong (the song's upbeat, and if he's so invisible, then he shouldn't have a bunch of backup singers behind him).

[carrier76]

Besides, I should think the poorest people in Africa have enough to worry about without snow everywhere. Crops don't tend to grow in frozen ground either.

Not to mention the fact that the starving Ethiopians aren't too concerned with Christmas in the first place. But that's another story altogether.

Most of Train's lyrics are inane and stupid. I agree with the use of "fried chicken" in Drops of Jupiter, not to mention "the best soy latte..." line. Grrr.

Speaking of fried chicken, what about the end of Queen's "One Vision"? "Gimme gimme gimme FRIED CHICKEN." WTF?