Words with impact

costafonix · 2011-03-13T08:16:08+00:00

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?

singemonkey

X-rated Bob wrote
singemonkey wrote At night meself to sleep I sing
To me old tin hat I cling
I have to use it now for everything
Sitting on the Maginot line
Is that George Formby? I've been playing around with another song of his - "Why Don't Women Like Me?" (keep it down in the back there!). I'm convinced that song is a prototype for Joe Jackson's "Is She Really Going Out With Him?"

Formby indeed. Amusing little blighter.

Bob-Dubery

I think I've mentioned before on this forum John "Drumbo" French's song "Now That I Am Dead"

"Now that I am dead
My agent finally said
He wanted to have lunch with me
Now that I'm deceased
My record sales increase
I'm making lots of royalties"
etc etc

It ends with the rather pointed observation that
"Now that I'm dead, I'm finally making a living"

Squonk

Donovan also had some great Lyrical moments

This song impacted me when I was on the verge of parenthood

From a very dodgy Donovan Album 7-Tease

The Ordinary Family

My father cut his toe off
In a rotary lawn mower
And my mother burst a blood vessel
When my younger brother went to jail
So I told her not to worry
Not to get in such a flurry
We're just an ordinary family
With the usual calamity

When I was just a virgin lad
My mother faked a suicide
Because she found the tell-tale sign
Of puberty upon the sheets
So I told her not to worry
Not to get in such a flurry
We're just an ordinary family
With the usual calamity

We always try to look our best
(Brush your face, comb your shoes, [...] your smile)
We always take care when we dress
(Tie your shirt, shine your suit, curl your teeth)
We always wear clean underwear
In case we're in an accident

Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, true
True, true, true, true, true, true, true, true

When I become a married man
With children of my very own
Will I lay my inhibitions on
And criticise their sexuality?
Will I use them to protect respect?
Will I try to own them flesh and bone?
Or will I be their equal friend
Encouraging their new ideas?
For the future lies within their hands
And the salvation of all these lands
Yes, the ordinary family
Is the only way to set us free

Bob-Dubery

One of my all-time favourite songs (for the time being) is Loudon Wainwright III's "Last Man On Earth". I won't quote the whole thing here, but some lines I really like from that song
"Existence is no picnic
As statistics all have shown
We learn to live together
And then we die alone."

A little nod there towards my trademark happy view on life, the universe and everything

Then there's
"This thing we call existence
Who knows what it means?
Time and Life and People
Are just glossy magazines"

How can any one not like that little lot?

I also liked his take on family get togethers, titled "Thanksgiving"

The first two verses are phrased as a sardonic pre-meal prayer. In particular there's this
"On this auspicious occasion
This special family dinner
If I argue with a loved one, Lord
Please let me be the winner."

I can't understand why more people don't go for Wainwright. He really has his finger on the pulse.

make-and-do

X-rated Bob wrote
"On this auspicious occasion
This special family dinner
If I argue with a loved one, Lord
Please let me be the winner."

I can't understand why more people don't go for Wainwright. He really has his finger on the pulse.

That's brilliant lyrics. I love sardonic, cynical, observant lyrics. Packs a bigger punch. Not a big fan
of fluffy, sugarcoated empty calorie, hollywood-absolute-truths-style lyrics.

I haven't seen anybody mention any Tow Waits, Nick Cave lyrics yet.... brilliant wordsmiths and songwriters IMO.

"The butcher bird makes it's noise
And asks you to agree
With it's brutal nesting habits
And it's pointless savagery
Now, the nightingale sings to you
And raises up the ante
I put one hand on your round ripe heart
And the other down your panties"

Mr Cave always hits it on the nail ?

Tom Waits - Black Market baby

"She lives in a house
That's way back off the road
There's a man with a lantern
And he carries her soul
A coal stove and a bed
A skillet and a hound
She drove a camel through
A needle
In this sinking board walk town

She's my Black Market Baby
She's my Black Market Baby
She's a diamond that
Wants to stay coal
Wants to stay coal

I swang out wide with her
On hells iron gate
Anything that you wanted
You could have
My eyes say their prayers to her
Sailors ring her bell
Like a moth mistakes a light bulb
For the moon and goes to hell

She's my Black Market Baby
She's my Black Market Baby
She's a diamond that
Wants to stay coal
Wants to stay coal

There's no prayer like desire
There's amnesia in her kiss
She's a swan and a pistol
And she will follow you like this
In Moverly, Missouri at the
Iroquois Hotel
She checked in with the President
And she ran up quite a Bill
(Chorus)
She's whiskey in a teacup
She gives blondes a lousy name
She's a Bonzai Aphrodite
And a ticket back to Spain
She's a hard way to go
And there ain't no way
To stop
Every time you play the red
The black is coming up

She's my Black Market baby
She's my Black Market baby
She's a diamond that
Wants to stay coal
Wants to stay coal"

make-and-do

Jack Flash Jr wrote Captures a certain moment perfectly:

Don't know just where I'm going
But I'm gonna try for the kingdom, if I can
'Cause it makes me feel like I'm a man
When I put a spike into my vein
And I'll tell ya, things aren't quite the same
When I'm rushing on my run
And I feel just like Jesus' son
And I guess that I just don't know
And I guess that I just don't know

I have made the big decision
I'm gonna try to nullify my life
'Cause when the blood begins to flow
When it shoots up the dropper's neck
When I'm closing in on death
And you can't help me not, you guys
And all you sweet girls with all your sweet talk
You can all go take a walk
And I guess that I just don't know
And I guess that I just don't know

I wish that I was born a thousand years ago
I wish that I'd sail the darkened seas
On a great big clipper ship
Going from this land here to that
In a sailor's suit and cap
Away from the big city
Where a man can not be free
Of all of the evils of this town
And of himself, and those around
Oh, and I guess that I just don't know
Oh, and I guess that I just don't know

Heroin, be the death of me
Heroin, it's my wife and it's my life
Because a mainer to my vein
Leads to a center in my head
And then I'm better off than dead
Because when the smack begins to flow
I really don't care anymore
About all the Jim-Jim's in this town
And all the politicians makin' busy sounds
And everybody puttin' everybody else down
And all the dead bodies piled up in mounds

'Cause when the smack begins to flow
Then I really don't care anymore
Ah, when the heroin is in my blood
And that blood is in my head
Then thank God that I'm as good as dead
Then thank your God that I'm not aware
And thank God that I just don't care
And I guess I just don't know
And I guess I just don't know

Velvet Underground, awesome track. The pacing of the track and increasing urgency works reallly well with the lyrics...
not that I have any smack experience 8)

costafonix

X-rated Bob wrote I think I've mentioned before on this forum John "Drumbo" French's song "Now That I Am Dead"

"Now that I am dead
My agent finally said
He wanted to have lunch with me
Now that I'm deceased
My record sales increase
I'm making lots of royalties"
etc etc

It ends with the rather pointed observation that
"Now that I'm dead, I'm finally making a living"

HHHhaha,,, M.J. must be turning in his grave on this one too.,,.,, ?

[deleted]

Leonard Cohen is quite good with the words. One line of his that I like is "Slowly show me what I only know the limits of". Has a nice rhythm.

Not by Cohen but still excellent: "Some will fall in love with life and drink it from a fountain that is pouring like an avalanche coming down a mountain".

costafonix

Squonk wrote Donovan also had some great Lyrical moments

This song impacted me when I was on the verge of parenthood

From a very dodgy Donovan Album 7-Tease

The Ordinary Family

My father cut his toe off
In a rotary lawn mower
And my mother burst a blood vessel
When my younger brother went to jail
So I told her not to worry
Not to get in such a flurry
We're just an ordinary family
With the usual calamity

When I was just a virgin lad
My mother faked a suicide
Because she found the tell-tale sign
Of puberty upon the sheets
So I told her not to worry
Not to get in such a flurry
We're just an ordinary family
With the usual calamity

We always try to look our best
(Brush your face, comb your shoes, [...] your smile)
We always take care when we dress
(Tie your shirt, shine your suit, curl your teeth)
We always wear clean underwear
In case we're in an accident

Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, true
True, true, true, true, true, true, true, true

When I become a married man
With children of my very own
Will I lay my inhibitions on
And criticise their sexuality?
Will I use them to protect respect?
Will I try to own them flesh and bone?
Or will I be their equal friend
Encouraging their new ideas?
For the future lies within their hands
And the salvation of all these lands
Yes, the ordinary family
Is the only way to set us free

excellent,,,, ?

Jack-Flash-Jr

Viccy wrote Leonard Cohen is quite good with the words. One line of his that I like is "Slowly show me what I only know the limits of". Has a nice rhythm.

Not by Cohen but still excellent: "Some will fall in love with life and drink it from a fountain that is pouring like an avalanche coming down a mountain".

I don't mind the sun sometimes
The images it shows
I can taste you on my lips
And smell you in my clothes
Cinnamon and sugary
And softly spoken lies
You never know just how you look
Through other people's eyes

?

costafonix

Viccy wrote Leonard Cohen is quite good with the words. One line of his that I like is "Slowly show me what I only know the limits of". Has a nice rhythm.

yeh, his background as a poet and a novelist certainly helped his songwriting.. So Long Marianne had some good stuff in it too...

[deleted]

yeh, his background as a poet and a novelist certainly helped his songwriting..

True true, and although this one has been played at about every open mic night a gazillion times I still get goosebumps from this line:

It’s not a cry you can hear at night
It’s not somebody who has seen the light
It’s a cold and it’s a broken Hallelujah

I don't mind the sun sometimes
The images it shows
I can taste you on my lips
And smell you in my clothes
Cinnamon and sugary
And softly spoken lies
You never know just how you look
Through other people's eyes

Smiley

Also good lines ?

costafonix

Viccy wrote
yeh, his background as a poet and a novelist certainly helped his songwriting..
True true, and although this one has been played at about every open mic night a gazillion times I still get goosebumps from this line:

It’s not a cry you can hear at night
It’s not somebody who has seen the light
It’s a cold and it’s a broken Hallelujah

I don't mind the sun sometimes
The images it shows
I can taste you on my lips
And smell you in my clothes
Cinnamon and sugary
And softly spoken lies
You never know just how you look
Through other people's eyes

Smiley
Also good lines ?

and then, there's our very own Home Grown epic classic, which for me hits the spot every time,
Bright Blue's - Weeping :-

It doesn’t matter now
It’s over anyhow
He tells the world that it’s sleeping
But as the night came round
I heard its lonely sound
It wasn’t roaring, it was weeping

Malkav

This song just owns me everytime - I think I also mention it far too often...I find most of his lyrics to be interesting and thought provoking, also he doesn't tend to fall into cliches ?

And everything will come to pass.
And it all happened in the dash
I saw the numbers on each side
But all that mattered was the line

When you left so many came
To see the stone they had engraved
It all happened way too fast
It all happened in the dash

And everything will come and go
And we will never really know
Just how much falls in-between
Or we'd say everything will be.

But we can't sum up every page
With just one cover and one name
It all happened way too fast
And all we had becomes a dash

And if I had one more chance for us to start things over
Ya know I wouldn't change a thing
And if I had one more chance for us to be together
If I could do it all again, I wouldn't change a thing

And everything will come to be
Another distant memory
Something alone to make you laugh
One for your own epitaph

And in the end what will they say
About your spirit and your name
It all happened way too fast
And all we are becomes a dash

And if I had one more chance for us to start things over
Ya know I wouldn't change a thing
And if I had one more chance for us to be together
If I could do it all again, I wouldn't change a thing

Life is what happens in-between the dreams you're trying to remember
Life is what happens in-between going for your longest breath underwater
Life is what happens in-between the red lights and stop signs
Life is what happens in-between losing your patience on the express line

Life is what happens in-between letting the phone ring and staring at the number
Life is what happens in-between finding out what no one wants to tell ya.
Life is what happens in-between staying for the end of your favorite song
Life is what happens in-between wanting to say it, but waiting too long

Life is what happens in-between each fight on the message board
Life is what happens in-between each time I leave for another tour
Life is what happens in-between the holding out for a better spot
Life is what happens when you take a chance and lose what ya got

Life is what happens in-between the traffic stopped to look at the crash
Life is what happens in-between forgetting to hit save and starting from scratch
Life is what happens between agreeing that the year went by so fast
Life is what happens and all we have becomes a dash

[deleted]

It doesn’t matter now
It’s over anyhow
He tells the world that it’s sleeping
But as the night came round
I heard its lonely sound
It wasn’t roaring, it was weeping

Oh yes, got goosebumps from that one too.

costafonix

Chad Adam Browne wrote This song just owns me everytime - I think I also mention it far too often...I find most of his lyrics to be interesting and thought provoking, also he doesn't tend to fall into cliches ?

very powerful stuff,,, and played acoustically just adds to the message somehow...

Wizard

Song words can become anthems at various times of life.

"You can go your own way" by Fleetwood Mac when I was 16 and ready to run away from the drama's of home.
The words of "Tainted love" when it described, a little too accurately, the feeling of a broken heart.

singemonkey

Wizard wrote The words of "Tainted love" when it described, a little too accurately, the feeling of a broke heart.

Love that one.

Bob-Dubery

A fine song about teenage love is Buddy Holly's "Learning The Game".

It's written from a masculine perspective, but it's easy enough two swop the "hes" and "shes" around so that woman can sing it. There's a great version of this by the late Sandy Denny.

Hearts that are broken and love that's untrue
these go with learning the game

When you love her and she doesn't love you
you're only learning the game

Bob-Dubery

I remember my own discovery of the Blues. It started off with an album that I bought and that my friends and I nearly played the grooves off of in pretty short time. It was called The Guitar Album, one track each by a whole bunch of players, most of whom we'd never heard of. There was Roy Buchanan, Shuggie Otis.... and there was Freddie King. As soon as I had spare cash I went out shopping for Freddie King albums and I ended up with something called Woman Across The River.

The blues hit me like a ton of bricks. This wasn't what you heard on Springbok radio. The one that hit me hardest was a song "Trouble In Mind". Freddie's singing about he has trouble in mind, yes sir, and how he feels blue. But he's not going to feel blue always. No sir.

I'm going to lay my head
On some lonesome railroad line
And let the 2:19 train ease my worried mind.

It was the bleakest, most extreme thing I'd ever heard. I was amazed that somebody could put emotion that bleak and that directly into a song. Wow!

I have no idea where that record is now, but I still remember those lines and the impact of hearing them.

I hasten to add that I'm still alive. What you hear on record, what cuts right through to the core of you, doesn't necessarily translate into action.

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