The Lyrics Thread

[Lemonade]

Is the second album the one with Ruby? I'm not sure if I could bring myself to pay actual money for something with that song on it...

Yeah but it's track 1 so you can just skip it. Out of 13 songs on that album there's probably 9 or 10 really good tracks.

Anyway, that's probably about as much Kaiser Chiefs chat as we can fit in before the mods delete it for being irrelevant. I'm going to stop ruining this thread now.

[Guest Gladstone]

Yeah but it's track 1 so you can just skip it. Out of 13 songs on that album there's probably 9 or 10 really good tracks.

Anyway, that's probably about as much Kaiser Chiefs chat as we can fit in before the mods delete it for being irrelevant.

Hmmm. Well, there are a lot of albums out there that I'm keen on - I could have spent hundreds in One-Up yesterday, so Kaiser Chiefs second album will be way down my list of ones to buy.

I'm quite surprised that you're a Kaiser Chiefs and a Killers fan. Like the Kaiser Chiefs, I really liked Killers early on, but they just annoy me now. I love most of Hot Fuss...

Lyrically, Mr Brightside is quite good actually.

*clutches at straws to try and make the Killers chat relevant to the thread*

[Soda Jerk]

So is this also transforming into whose lyrics you like and dislike?

Yoni Wolf of Why? is my favourite lyricist, as is John Linnel of They Might Be Giants. I find it weird how lyricists can get worse instead of better as they age. Billie Joe Armstrong and Rivers Cuomo spring to mind on that front. Neither were ever great, but what the fuck are they doing these days? Christ.

[Bigsby]

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.

Funnily enough most of my favourite Dylan songsare things that are a bit nonsensical. Visions of Johanna and Desolation Row for example. I have a rough idea of what he's singing about, but quite a bit of the song doesn't really fit in, like

Inside the museums, Infinity goes up on trial

Voices echo this is what salvation must be like after a while

But Mona Lisa musta had the highway blues

You can tell by the way she smiles

See the primitive wallflower freeze

When the jelly-faced women all sneeze

Hear the one with the mustache say, "Jeeze

I can't find my knees"

Oh, jewels and binoculars hang from the head of the mule

But these visions of Johanna, they make it all seem so cruel

But when he's singing it it sounds utterly brilliant.

[Guest Gladstone]

Funnily enough most of my favourite Dylan songsare things that are a bit nonsensical. Visions of Johanna and Desolation Row for example. I have a rough idea of what he's singing about, but quite a bit of the song doesn't really fit in, like

But when he's singing it it sounds utterly brilliant.

That entered my mind actually - the fact that a lot of his lyrics don't really make sense, but I think they make sense to him or would have when he wrote them. He certainly tells a story in a lot of his songs. I'm no Dylan expert, by any stretch of the imagination, I've only got 2 maybe 3 albums. My point was really that his songs wouldn't work with just repeated phrases.

[Bigsby]

My point was really that his songs wouldn't work with just repeated phrases.

Bob Dylan - Wiggle Wiggle - Listen Free

[jon]

I've got ham but I'm not a hamster.

[Stichman]

just strum E, A and D over and over.

Stop giving away all my secrets

[Teabags]

Those are a joke right? No one could be that ignorant of stem-cell research.

No. He actually thinks that that's exactly what needs to happen for stem-cell research.

[Monster Zero]

My favourite Dylan song is 'Ballad of a Thin Man', the lyrics of which are complete twaddle but make him even more enigmatic. I have a feeling it's intentional for this song to be nonsense and the repeated refrain addressed to 'Mr Jones' is directed at someone who has tried to over-analyse his lyrics in the past.

You walk into the room

With your pencil in your hand

You see somebody naked

And you say, "Who is that man?"

You try so hard

But you don't understand

Just what you will say

When you get home

Because something is happening here

But you don't know what it is

Do you, Mister Jones?

You raise up your head

And you ask, "Is this where it is?"

And somebody points to you and says

"It's his"

And you say, "What's mine?"

And somebody else says, "Where what is?"

And you say, "Oh my God

Am I here all alone?"

But something is happening

And you don't know what it is

Do you, Mister Jones?

You hand in your ticket

And you go watch the geek

Who immediately walks up to you

When he hears you speak

And says, "How does it feel

To be such a freak?"

And you say, "Impossible"

As he hands you a bone

And something is happening here

But you don't know what it is

Do you, Mister Jones?

You have many contacts

Among the lumberjacks

To get you facts

When someone attacks your imagination

But nobody has any respect

Anyway they already expect you

To all give a check

To tax-deductible charity organizations

You've been with the professors

And they've all liked your looks

With great lawyers you have

Discussed lepers and crooks

You've been through all of

F. Scott Fitzgerald's books

You're very well read

It's well known

But something is happening here

And you don't know what it is

Do you, Mister Jones?

Well, the sword swallower, he comes up to you

And then he kneels

He crosses himself

And then he clicks his high heels

And without further notice

He asks you how it feels

And he says, "Here is your throat back

Thanks for the loan"

And you know something is happening

But you don't know what it is

Do you, Mister Jones?

Now you see this one-eyed midget

Shouting the word "NOW"

And you say, "For what reason?"

And he says, "How?"

And you say, "What does this mean?"

And he screams back, "You're a cow

Give me some milk

Or else go home"

And you know something's happening

But you don't know what it is

Do you, Mister Jones?

Well, you walk into the room

Like a camel and then you frown

You put your eyes in your pocket

And your nose on the ground

There ought to be a law

Against you comin' around

You should be made

To wear earphones

'Cause something is happening

And you don't know what it is

Do you, Mister Jones?

I don't mind weird meaningless lyrics. At least they are interesting.

Travis were another band with bad lyrics. At least when they hit upon the idea of making every song have one word as a chorus - 'Sing', 'Turn', etc.

[Bigsby]

It's the way he sneers "Do you, Mr Joooonnnes" that makes it ace. That song sounds really evil.

Not one of my faves though, funnily enough.

[jon]

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

[KimyReizeger]

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?

[jon]

I take your point, but I like the obvious phrasing there because it comes at the end of what is effectively quite a convoluted sentence: "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." It's kind of a wee injoke to myself because (as anyone who knows me could probably attest) I can be a little bit verbose in conversation once I get going! I've allowed myself a little burst of tabloidism. Also, it's quite a neat para-rhyme.

I blame university

[Stichman]

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

[KimyReizeger]

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.

[Guest idol_wild]

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

That's why he performs the lyrics as part of a band and augments it with music to try and emphasise effect/atmosphere/feel of the subject matter, though. Well I assume that's why he does it.

Otherwise he could just go to a poetry reading gig and read it out.

That's the thing about lyrics - it's been touched upon before, but without listening to the song, or moreover, seeing it performed live, it is sometimes very very difficult to get a feel for what is being said.

[Stichman]

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

Fair enough.

I guess it's an attempt to convey a feeling that's hard to pin down, maybe a sense of claustrophobia or regret. In that sense, I think the density was deliberate and hopefully along wiht the melody it creates an unsettling atmosphere.

Then again, maybe I just sound like a wank.

[TheTickingTime-Bomb]

No. He actually thinks that that's exactly what needs to happen for stem-cell research.

Awesome!

I want new legs.

[Oedo 808]

Though admittedly some of it is just words that rhyme that I thought sounded cool.

Well if I hadn't been told that I'd have put your lyrics in the, "Not really sure what it all means, but I have faith that it all means something" category, much as I do with Jimmy Eat World.

There's a lot of quality in that song; the first line has cracking imagery and there continues to be good imagery throughout. When I'm writing with someone else and I really need to get to the crux of the song sometimes we'll go through every line and ask the question, "Ok, but what do you mean when you say that?"

Those are the days that I'm not very popular.

To me, meaning in a song doesn't need to be obvious, but I need to know that the person who is writing and singing the song understands it. That makes it easier to sing in the long run anyway. Emotional logic used properly can be more intense and poetic than linear narrative song writing.

Carrots Gladstone - Underkills, Plastic

I think this song's cool. I really like the message. Fashionistas would love this kind of thing cos they all love to bitch out other fashionistas.

The first 20 seconds of the intro made me think it was gonna burst into Black Betty at any moment. What's the opening chord? 2nd string, 4th fret? 1/9? Something totally different probably. lol. The lead part.... 2/2,2/4,3/2,3/1,2/2,2/4... its fun to play.

I think you should try singing the chorus with a little more conviction and venom. Exaggerate the consonants slightly and experiment with the spacing of each syllable. If you really spat out the words more like:

youre SO PlasTIC fakeTANtasTIC

Also, I would experiment with pausing less on the word "fake" as in fake-tantastic and try a more even spacing of fake-tan-tas-tic.

All of it or none of it might work, always worth experimenting though. I've also edited a few more bits in the song you might want to consider.

You like to shop till you drop

It's all about the make up, tip top

Shit hot, so hot it hurts

But it's only on the outside

I rewrote this bit. My version reads.

You like to shop till you drop

Spend hours on your make-up, tip top

You love yourself so much it hurts

But it's only on the outside

This version takes away the repetition of the word "hot" in line 2, removes the swearing which in this case I didn't think was necessary and sums up the whole theme of the song in the first verse because now we see that it's not just her looks, but also her confidence which is only skin deep.

Walking like the street's a catwalk

It's all about the fake talk, non-stop

You talk so much it hurts (You speak/chat so much it hurts/You talk till my ears hurt?)

You are really ugly on the inside (You're not so perfect on the inside?)

I'd try and remove the repetition of the word talk, and you could also soften the last line to put a different spin on the meaning. But if you're happy as it is...

I'll leave it at that. I like to tinker with other people's songs, but there comes a time you need to stop.

[Oedo 808]

Sylvia breathes in the heart of the midnight

And longs for the sleep that eludes her tonight

She dreams a strangers dream

I'm confused. She's dreaming a strangers dream whilst trying to get to sleep?

OK, here's a short one that won't take too long to write out:

My exes all got married...

This one's good. We covered this theme of the married exes with ASFG but took a different angle on it.

[Xander]

Was I the first you spoke freely?

I am sure your skin has known many,

Fluent, foreign tongues,

Each leaving an imprint, and an accent.

It took an age to learn the language,

Of your love, but I loved,

Studying the deep greens of your eyes.

Translating sighs and murmurs.

But my language bored you.

I am an artless tongue,

Speaking in facts and figures.

No metaphors escape me.

Not got any music for this yet, wrote it as a poem, but I really need to get some songs done. Probably will be something slow though.

[Stichman]

I'm confused. She's dreaming a strangers dream whilst trying to get to sleep?

.

Yeeeeah. Dreaming as in wishing, rather than being asleep. I realise it sounds a bit cryptic, but it makes sense to me...

[waltz]

Can a Kartta-er post the lyrics for 'Henri Got Cancer'? I like them, although there's a couple I can't quite make out.

[Guest idol_wild]

Can a Kartta-er post the lyrics for 'Henri Got Cancer'? I like them, although there's a couple I can't quite make out.

Henri Got Cancer by Kartta. For the record, this song has nothing to do with the debilitating disease.

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

Henri died today,

Only papa would say,

What he saw the last time.

He looked, he said: "Above the buildings, above the sky",

And was struck so he sang off key,

And danced with the dead.

At least he played true to what he knew.

He wrote true to what he knew.

"Nothing scares me more", he said,

"Put a gun to my head",

"It's funny", Fate said,

Peering over his all shoulder.

At least he played true to what he knew.

He wrote true to what he knew.

And as all our heroes die, we try to remember.