Words with impact

costafonix

So as part of your growth as a musician, you may venture into the world of composing your own tune (if you're not already doing so) and those of you that won't only be writing instrumentals, will be adding lyrics to your tunes.... I struggle with this... ☹
I still remember some good lyrics from hits gone by,,here are some examples :-

Don McLean's American Pie -
"..and the three men I admire most, the Father, Son and the Holy ghost,
they took the last train for the coast, the day the music died..."

Rocky Horror picture show's Superheroes -
"..and crawling on the planet's face, some insects called the human race,
lost in time and lost in space......and meaning.."

and the most profound of them all

The Police's De do do do -
"...de do do do de da da da is all I want to say to you..." ?

what lyrics can you think of that are powerful?

Hammeron

Burn and plunder
Kill the lot
Rape the land
And leave to rot.
Pollute the water
Sky and sea
Chain and cage
All that's free.
Leave no hope
For Man or beast
On blood and death
Man must feast.
Never rest
Till all is gone
Till nothing shines
The stars nor sun.

The Berserk - Tamla Kahn (It is about how mankind is destroying Mother earth.)

costafonix

nice one Hammeron
and summarised in 2 words, it would be 'deep truth'..

Bob-Dubery

I find the power in lyrics is in the WHOLE lyric.

Take one Springsteen's best songs - Brilliant Disguise.

First verse

I hold you in my arms as the band plays
What are those words whispered baby just as you turn away
I saw you last night out on the edge of town
I wanna read your mind and know just what I've got in this new thing Ive found

But, dear reader, notice the doubt that's there right from the very first encounter.

In the 2nd verse the doubts increase

I heard somebody call your name from underneath our willow
I saw something tucked in shame underneath your pillow

And at the end of each verse the punch line

So tell me what I see when I look in your eyes
Is that you baby or just a brilliant disguise?

But then he starts to change focus in the bridge and then in the last verse he starts to build up for the knock out

Now you play the loving woman I'll play the faithful man
But just don't look too close into the palm of my hand
We stood at the altar the gypsy swore our future was right
But come the wee wee hours maybe baby the gypsy lied

And here it comes, with the final change of focus

So when you look at me you better look hard and look twice
Is that me baby or just a brilliant disguise?

And a coda tacked on the end....

Tonight our bed is cold
I'm lost in the darkness of our love
God have mercy on the man
Who doubts what he's sure of

Great song. And a great performance of it on the Tunnel of Love album.

I'm wary of taking the verbal equivalent of a sound bite from lyrics. They often lie when the context is stripped away. Lots of people got another Springsteen song very wrong. I refer to "Born in the USA".

Staying on a Springsteen tack, I love the way he makes use of the image of the River in the song of the same name. The way it symbolises both the idyllic past and the betrayal of dreams. Again the ending's power derives from the sudden change to and undermining of the key image

Now those memories come back to haunt me
They haunt me like a curse
Is a dream a lie if it don't come true
Or is it something worse that sends me
Down to the river though I know the river is dry
Down to the river tonight
Down to the river, my baby and i
Oh down to the river we ride

There's lots of beauty and power and plain fun in lyrics. I could go on and on and on... I like songs, more than tunes. Songs have words. I find banal, cliched and/or clumsy words to be tedious and annoying, but OTOH good lyrics are a treasure.

Bob-Dubery

PS:

Folks, be careful when quoting lyrics here. Fair use of portions to make a point is one thing, wholesale quoting of entire lyrics might be construed as copyright contravention and bring wrath down upon the heads of Alan and Norio.

Bob-Dubery

I have no idea what some of my favourite lyrics actually mean. I kind of feel them, but I can't translate or decode them to say "when he says THIS he actually means THAT." Which doesn't seem to be much of a problem.

Two examples would be "Deacon Blues" by Steely Dan and "She Cut Off Her Long Silken Hair" by Richard Thompson. In the latter case I find the language used beautiful in it's own right.

Bob-Dubery

And another PS: Hammeron, protect your work. If you haven't got your lyrics copyrighted then do so before somebody else calls them their own. You might want to consult a professional songwriter or copyright expert, but the key issue would be being able to demonstrate that you had written and made a copy of the lyrics (and the melodies) by a certain date.

The time honoured method was to make a casette recording and mail it to yourself via registered post. You would file the unopened envelope away when you received it, but you would have a document that says that posted that envelope and it's contents on a certain date.

These days there might be other ways of doing it.

Hammeron

@ Bob.
Yes, we are talking to someone in the legal world as we speak, big bucks involved, but extremely important move tho.
Will do what you suggested first thing tomorrow{Copies of the lyrics and Full demo of all of our songs}.
Good stuff, thanks.

MIKA-the-better-one

Hammeron wrote: @ Bob.
Yes, we are talking to someone in the legal world as we speak, big bucks involved, but extremely important move tho.
Will do what you suggested first thing tomorrow{Copies of the lyrics and Full demo of all of our songs}.
Good stuff, thanks.

To late......
They belong to me now, I wrote them...... And registered them
For my.... ???.................. Meatal band, we are a Viking/ butcher heavy band.......... We where steak masks, and play pointy guitars.... ?

"What we think about is your mammary glands and how to surf your birth canal"

I heard that right now and liked it.....

MIKA-the-better-one

Talking about the Boss ... why does n't he have a signature tele......???when i think of guys who embody the tele I think of him.......

Bob-Dubery

Hammeron wrote: @ Bob.
Yes, we are talking to someone in the legal world as we speak, big bucks involved, but extremely important move tho.
Will do what you suggested first thing tomorrow{Copies of the lyrics and Full demo of all of our songs}.
Good stuff, thanks.

You may find that using an online service like box.net will serve you well. If they have audit trails then they will be able to demonstrate that a file was uploaded at a certain date and time and has not subsequently been updated.

Bob-Dubery

MIKA the better one wrote: Talking about the Boss ... why does n't he have a signature tele......???when i think of guys who embody the tele I think of him.......

IIRC he's consistently refused endorsement deals.

MIKA-the-better-one

I didnt know that........ it would have been ridiculous that fender offer John 5 a endorsment and not bruce springstein........ Now I do know ....why.

singemonkey

MIKA the better one wrote: To late......
They belong to me now, I wrote them...... And registered them
For my.... ???.................. Meatal band, we are a Viking/ butcher heavy band.......... We where steak masks, and play pointy guitars.... ?

"What we think about is your mammary glands and how to surf your birth canal"

I heard that right now and liked it.....

Dude, I want you and The Meatles to come play in Cape Town. That sounds like a good night out.

costafonix

X-rated Bob wrote:
There's lots of beauty and power and plain fun in lyrics. I could go on and on and on... I like songs, more than tunes. Songs have words. I find banal, cliched and/or clumsy words to be tedious and annoying, but OTOH good lyrics are a treasure.

yep you make a good point Bob,,,,,,therin is the dilemma,,,,, how to break away from using the overused cliche's and clumsy words... :-\

costafonix

MIKA the better one wrote:
"What we think about is your mammary glands and how to surf your birth canal"

I heard that right now and liked it.....

ha ha h ha :roflmao: oh man,,, I've heard that quoted by rap artists in a lot more 'literal' terms,,,,,,,,, with lots of 'Yo's' and 'Your Mama' thrown in for good measure..,..

chris77

The Boss took a lot of flack for betraying his Working Man roots when he left his wife, married his girlfriend and moved to an affluent suburb in L.A. He later moved them back to New Jersey, a move that says a lot about how he sees himself and would like to be perceived as. Perhaps he feels a Signature Guitar is selling out what he loves to The Man again. Talking about signature Teles, where's Keefs? Mind you, you put a contract in front of him to sign and the man will probably roll a joint with it....

Keira-WitherKay

chris77 wrote: Talking about signature Teles, where's Keefs? Mind you, you put a contract in front of him to sign and the man will probably roll a joint with it....

yeah or fender execs are too worried if they don't get the disign right right keef will use that knife he keeps in his boot as negotiating leverage... ?

but yeah both keef and bruce do deserve signature tele's for what they done to promote the instrument ...... but maybe thats a better promotion for fender tele's ....... that these guys swear by their tele's without a cash insentive or the promise of their own signature series........

but slightly off topic .. but still on signature guitars ........i just found out to my shock and horror that a custom shop signature "jim campilongo" tele ( basically a stock 59 with top loader bridge and minor mods but warmer pups )sells for an incredible $4500 and i read they already taken 26 advance orders damn thats expensive ... at those prices they can keep the signature models from custom shop .......... least make em affordable to us working muso's .. so maybe what someone said that the boss would lose his working mans image if he had a boutique guitar in his name ....is spot on

DaFiz

Don't hang on
Nothing lasts forever but the earth and sky
It slips away
All your money won't another minute buy

8)

aubs1

chris77 wrote: Talking about signature Teles, where's Keefs? Mind you, you put a contract in front of him to sign and the man will probably roll a joint with it....

Lol...... well, and I don't think they wanna make a 5 string Signature model...... The joint? hahaha... true!! ?