KimyReizeger

Commercial conventions simply require a greater degree of volume and compression in their medium than say, a movie, which may use dynamics for effect (eery silence, horror movie suspense). Adverts are all about grabbing your attention by screaming at you as loud as possible.

He must be awesome.

Read this in the P & J this morning and it just struck me. MLS side Houston Dynamo have offered to increase midfielder Stuart Holden's wages from 400 a week to 4000 after interest from Scottish clubs. Imagine getting a 10x pay rise all because Aberdeen expressed an interest in signing you? In other words, he's gone from having very ordinary means, to being rich, despite no essential change in his role at the club...

Tenfold pay rise if Holden stays in US - Press & Journal

Seems a bit bizarre, as if the player had absolutely no idea of his value to the club.

The flute-like melody that comes in on thinkofanamelater at about 1.30 is really unusual. I like the general feel of the track aswell. There's a recognisable structure to it. Not so keen on the seoncd section of this track. Some of the sounds are a bit generic, the beats lack punch and it starts to sound a bit MIDI map.

Sheesh, I totally thought this was about happy endings.

I thought it was about a sportswear brand.

The show's right-wing politics shows the colourful steam engines punished if they show initiative or oppose change,

Quality.

Just watched the episode where Malcolm gets sacked on BBC4 and can say my above opinion was emphatically confirmed. It's properly bad. Perhaps Ianucci is finished? He's had a good innings in British satire.

BBC News - Swine flu less lethal than feared

Says it all really, we live in a society of knee-jerk reactions....

o_O

The initial fear in Mexico, that several hundred people had died from it very quickly, was a bit freaky though.

And if you're interested in hearing what they sound like over chordies then go here:

Gilwern on MySpace Music - Free Streaming MP3s, Pictures & Music Downloads

Pretty good, but you're no Cyndi Lauper.

Oh, she has a song of the same same name I see. If I can think of a different phrase expressing the same sentiment I'll probably change it.

I just wrote this and am quite happy with it for once! I included the chords in case anyone fancies messing around with it. Four chords repeated. Classic.

True Colours

Chorus:

[E]You can [G]be what you [C]want to be[A]

You can be what you want to be

A Buddhist in a cave or a city girl in LA

You can be what you want to be

[E]Ive no grip on you [G]anymore

We [C]used to be so [A]close

Ive no grip on you anymore

We used to be so close

You come running into my dreams

Im trying to forget

You come running into my dreams

I cannot let you in

I dont wana be a stickler

A pedant or a purist

I dont wana be a stickler

A pedant or a purist

I dont want to lose you

But cannot let it show

I dont want to lose you

Im too afraid to show...

[Am]My true colours (repeated)

The political era it captured so well in the beginning has died off and the programme just isn't as cutting or relevant as before. The first two episodes of series 3, or at least as much as I watched of either, just come off as the Malcolm Tucker Show. Lots of inept civil servants worrying about the arrival of a single effective character.

Here's one that I partially ripped from a Keats (I think) poem

A Change of Heart

Sylvia breathes in the heart of the midnight

And longs for the sleep that eludes her tonight

She dreams a strangers dream

Conscience hoards its strength for the darkness

And waits in the wings until everything passes

The mornings careful fingers pressed against the window pane

You cant arrive when youre lacking direction

Boredom will breed in the depths of perfection

Shes climbing up the cream walls in her pristine holding cell

A reluctant home for a heart that was stolen

Words that were warm are stale and theyre frozen

The future cannot hold whats slipping through our present hands

This should be everything, but shes flat on her back and she stares at the ceiling

This should be everything

This should be everything

I just think the images are unnecessarily dense. There's little to latch onto as a listener.

Back on the original topic, here's one of mine. I'm not sure how I feel about the whole lyrics without the music thing but, given my youthful obsession with inlays including the words, here goes. It's also probably a more concise statement of my atheism than anything else I've posted on these boards.

A live version is on Curators on MySpace Music - Free Streaming MP3s, Pictures & Music Downloads

State of Grace

I'll swear no faith

and set my shoulders straight

to bear the load

of what's at stake

when we don't believe

what we are told

no well thumbed page

is word enough to take

on faith alone

I'll face my fate

on terms that I dictate

and on my own

I'll embrace

a state of grace

with both of my feet on the ground

while you're stuck

staring up

I'll keep my eyes looking down

today could be the day

that I take my crutch away

and I stand on my own

a man must make a mark

alone

I like the run of the words. It's not too complex and has some nice phrases. It doesn't try and say too much or tell a detailed tale, but still says something about you. It has rhyme and rhythm.

I'm personally not so keen on very literal lines such as: 'we don't believe / what we are told.' Couldn't you say the same thing in a more abstract way, or with a nice image?

This tune is really well written. Just read the first verse. It's a triumph of meaning along with rhythm.

James Mcmurtry - We can't make it here anymore

Vietnam Vet with a cardboard sign

Sitting there by the left turn line

Flag on the wheelchair flapping in the breeze

One leg missing, both hands free

No one's paying much mind to him

The V.A. budget's stretched so thin

And there's more comin' home from the Mideast war

We can't make it here anymore

That big ol' building was the textile mill

It fed our kids and it paid our bills

But they turned us out and they closed the doors

We can't make it here anymore

See all those pallets piled up on the loading dock

They're just gonna set there till they rot

'Cause there's nothing to ship, nothing to pack

Just busted concrete and rusted tracks

Empty storefronts around the square

There's a needle in the gutter and glass everywhere

You don't come down here 'less you're looking to score

We can't make it here anymore

The bar's still open but man it's slow

The tip jar's light and the register's low

The bartender don't have much to say

The regular crowd gets thinner each day

Some have maxed out all their credit cards

Some are working two jobs and living in cars

Minimum wage won't pay for a roof, won't pay for a drink

If you gotta have proof just try it yourself Mr. CEO

See how far 5.15 an hour will go

Take a part time job at one of your stores

Bet you can't make it here anymore

High school girl with a bourgeois dream

Just like the pictures in the magazine

She found on the floor of the laundromat

A woman with kids can forget all that

If she comes up pregnant what'll she do

Forget the career, forget about school

Can she live on faith? live on hope?

High on Jesus or hooked on dope

When it's way too late to just say no

You can't make it here anymore

Now I'm stocking shirts in the Wal-Mart store

Just like the ones we made before

'Cept this one came from Singapore

I guess we can't make it here anymore

Should I hate a people for the shade of their skin

Or the shape of their eyes or the shape I'm in

Should I hate 'em for having our jobs today

No I hate the men sent the jobs away

I can see them all now, they haunt my dreams

All lily white and squeaky clean

They've never known want, they'll never know need

Their sh@# don't stink and their kids won't bleed

Their kids won't bleed in the da$% little war

And we can't make it here anymore

Will work for food

Will die for oil

Will kill for power and to us the spoils

The billionaires get to pay less tax

The working poor get to fall through the cracks

Let 'em eat jellybeans let 'em eat cake

Let 'em eat sh$%, whatever it takes

They can join the Air Force, or join the Corps

If they can't make it here anymore

And that's how it is

That's what we got

If the president wants to admit it or not

You can read it in the paper

Read it on the wall

Hear it on the wind

If you're listening at all

Get out of that limo

Look us in the eye

Call us on the cell phone

Tell us all why

In Dayton, Ohio

Or Portland, Maine

Or a cotton gin out on the great high plains

That's done closed down along with the school

And the hospital and the swimming pool

Dust devils dance in the noonday heat

There's rats in the alley

And trash in the street

Gang graffiti on a boxcar door

We can't make it here anymore

Thon pish that goes "I got soul, but I'm not a soldier" as well, hacks me off no end.

.

Agreed. Stuff of nightmares.

The Kaiser Chiefs are probably about the best of that group of shit indie bands that came on the scene a few years ago. Compared to the likes of The Wombats, The Pigeon Detectives, Reverend & The Makers, The Enemy, The Klaxons, and all those other NME 5-minute-favourite cover bands, they've at least got a bit of staying power. Though their new album is shit.

'Ruby ruby ruby RUBY'

'If there's anyone left in here, that doesn't want to be out there'

What's the name of that shit band with this song:

'I just can't wait it's killing me....'

That was the bane of my student union in 2005.

The repetitiveness is annoying as fuck, but not just that - it's just random phrases thrown together that have no link to the previous random phrases in the song. Dicks. Cunts, even.

Yeah, I find stuff like that, along with the likes of the Kaiser Chiefs and their ilk, totally unbearable.

I don't think anyone's holding lyrics out to be more important than the music, but some people who write lyrics are imaginative / witty / creative with their lyrics, and perhaps they have a story to tell with their songs.

What would have happened if someone like Bob Dylan had taken the advice of someone like you when he was starting out, and decided "fuck it, nobody can hear what I'm saying, or work out what I'm saying in these little bars with their shitty sound systems and all the people chatting etc, I'll just repeat the same 3 words over and over again" ??

I don't think that would have worked for Bob Dylan.

Interesting you choose Dylan, someone who is frequently described as much a 'poet' as a musician. The sixties was a time of great protest and optimism, where people felt music could seriously influence policy. Obviously words are important in this process. Moreover, things like electronic dance music and heavy metal didn't exist yet (and by that I mean music heavily determined by sounds, textures, beats and grooves). Perhaps it was a more lyric-driven culture?

Enlighten me oh wise ones!

You compared the 'shitty times' that 'everyone has' to the kind of unspeakable neglect and abuse which many of those on life's bottom rung will have endured.

Unless you're playing in a quiet bar with a decent soundsystem and interested audience, most of your meaning will be lost to the wind. This is even more pronounced when you're in a rock band and have electric guitars and drums to compete with.

In this event, you should just place sounds and rhythms above actual meaning. As Bigsby proved, a lot of classic lyrics look dumb written down, but placed in context of a rock gig, really work. For me, a few well-chosen, repeated phrases are more effective than complex word-play and linear narrative.

I wish I wrote lyrics well. When I was in everythingwesayisfact we just shouted every now and then.

If shouting suited the music then I wouldn't mind what the actual content was.

We don't want men burned at the stake for treason

We don't want legends and myths

We don't want answers that outrage our reason

We don't legends and myths

We don't want laws from the ancient quarter

We don't want theories from the days gone past

From all the men that came before our fathers

We don't theories from before

Bold legends and stories

Wise men and fables

Poor expectations

Sour aspirations

Is this an age where we can still ask questions

Will there be redcoats at my door?

Is this an age where we must state allegiance

Will there be redcoats at my door?

I'm baffled. Have you done a survey of any type on this?

No, but there's no avoiding the fact that this may as well be the first ever thread on here about lyrics.

Of course it's not absolute, but for me personally, sounds and rhythm should be placed higher than ideas and meaning.

Local in a geographical sense?

Yeah.

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