The Lyrics Thread

[Old Gold]

I don't think decent narrative song writing is all that rare at all.

[KimyReizeger]

I don't think decent narrative song writing is all that rare at all.

I just think that it's a bit unnecessary on a local level, where no-one really analyses your words. How the words sound and how they fit the music is far more important than meaning.

[Old Gold]

I just think that it's a bit unnecessary on a local level, where no-one really analyses your words. How the words sound and how they fit the music is far more important than meaning.

Local in a geographical sense?

[KimyReizeger]

Local in a geographical sense?

Yeah.

8 chars

[Old Gold]

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

[KimyReizeger]

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.

[waltz]

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

[Old Gold]

I can get on board with that. The geographic thing just seemed a little snide. There are a few local artists that I feel do the narrative song writing thing extremely well.

Personally, I also don't mind a rubbish, shallow lyric if it's backed up by a sweet melody.

[KimyReizeger]

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?

[KimyReizeger]

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.

[Guest Gladstone]

I can get on board with that. The geographic thing just seemed a little snide. There are a few local artists that I feel do the narrative song writing thing extremely well.

Personally, I also don't mind a rubbish, shallow lyric if it's backed up by a sweet melody.

I agree.

I find the local thing a bit ridiculous. Surely every single band/artist that has ever existed was a "local" artist somewhere once.

Fair enough for someone to not be into this type of lyric or that type of lyric, but to say it's pointless for a local band is a bit stupid in my opinion. So, don't do it if you're a local artist, but it's perfectly okay to start doing it, if you become a national artist? What level of success dictates that you can start telling stories with your lyrics?

[framheim]

I just think that it's a bit unnecessary on a local level, where no-one really analyses your words. How the words sound and how they fit the music is far more important than meaning.

So, because the audience in aberdeen is limited we shouldn't strive to write good creative narratives? Wow. That is a pretty weak argument.

No point trying to do anything good cause no one is listening.

I do agree that phils work is ace though.

[Guest Gladstone]

I'm really liking this song and I do have a few thoughts on it, but I'll get back to you on that as I have to go just now.

Someone liking an Underkills song on this site is very rare...

Your feedback (good or bad) would be appreciated! Cheers

[Guest Gladstone]

Many years ago, I worked with Steven Milne at Schuh - Steven wasn't really allowed to mix with the customers, so he was always confined to the stock room.... There was a stock room diary - no idea what it's real purpose was, but I used to look after the stock room on particular days when Steven wasn't in, and we used to write stupid stories and stuff in the diary for each other's entertainment. I once wrote a "song" about the Schuh staff members - being a bit cheeky about some of them, some remarks about the hot girls etc...

By the time I came in for my next shift, Steven, the indiscrete bastard, had showed it to everyone in the shop.

Cheers Milner you cunt.

[Bigsby]

Yup, the local thing is daft, perhaps some people aspire to getting their music out further afield, and it's certainly possible to do that with the intermeweb. Look at Alan Cynic, he goes off to play in New York, maybe they wouldn't have invited him if he hadn't been bothered with the lyrics.

One thing that's becoming increasingly clear to me as this thread progresses is that you really need to head teh music to put the lyrics in context. I'm not going to name names but there was one lyric that somebody posted that I just thought was terrible, but when played in the song it probably works. After all, these don't look so great written down:

Led Zep:

Its been a long time since I rock and rolled,

Its been a long time since I did the stroll.

Ooh, let me get it back, let me get it back,

Let me get it back, baby, where I come from.

Its been a long time, been a long time,

Been a long lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely time.

The Beatles:

I want you

I want you so bad

I want you,

I want you so bad

Its driving me mad, its driving me mad.

Beck:

There's a destination a little up the road

From the habitations and the towns we know

A place we saw the lights turn low

Jig-saw jazz and the get-fresh flow

Pulling out jives and jamboree handouts

Two turntables and a microphone

Bottles and cans and just clap your hands and just clap your hands

[Guest Gladstone]

Yup, the local thing is daft, perhaps some people aspire to getting their music out further afield, and it's certainly possible to do that with the intermeweb. Look at Alan Cynic, he goes off to play in New York, maybe they wouldn't have invited him if he hadn't been bothered with the lyrics.

One thing that's becoming increasingly clear to me as this thread progresses is that you really need to head teh music to put the lyrics in context. I'm not going to name names but there was one lyric that somebody posted that I just thought was terrible, but when played in the song it probably works. After all, these don't look so great written down:

Led Zep:

Its been a long time since I rock and rolled,

Its been a long time since I did the stroll.

Ooh, let me get it back, let me get it back,

Let me get it back, baby, where I come from.

Its been a long time, been a long time,

Been a long lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely time.

The Beatles:

I want you

I want you so bad

I want you,

I want you so bad

Its driving me mad, its driving me mad.

Beck:

There's a destination a little up the road

From the habitations and the towns we know

A place we saw the lights turn low

Jig-saw jazz and the get-fresh flow

Pulling out jives and jamboree handouts

Two turntables and a microphone

Bottles and cans and just clap your hands and just clap your hands

I agree to a certain extent regarding needing the music - the most clever lyrics could be shit if they don't work in the song. Fitting really clever lyrics into a song is a skill in itself. A really good song can work regardless of the lyrics. I personally always try and listen to the lyrics, always have. But some people aren't interested in what the lyrics say at all.

There are some bands/songs that no matter how hard you try, you just can't work out what the singer is saying at all - I love looking up the lyrics and then listening to the song again - then you can't believe you couldn't work the lyrics out to begin with, because it's then so easy to hear the words!

(Yes - I'm a sad bastard...)

[Bigsby]

This guy reckons he's worked out Louie Louie

[paranoid]

This guy reckons he's worked out Louie Louie

I love the karaoke (Guitar Solo) star that comes up. Made me chuckle.

[bobg1will]

I'll re-invent myself, over over,

So you can take your photographs,

I'll re-instate my bank, balance balance,

So you can pay your money back.

Face forward,

Avoid all my questions,

And then you steal the answers.

I'll replace my face, as the winner winner,

To all of your hearts desires,

I'll replay my actions, over over,

Soon you will be mine again.

Face forward,

Avoid all my questions,

And then you steal the answers.

Im not special,

You're not special,

We're not special,

She's not listening.

Right Hand Left - Re-invent yourself

Right Hand Left on MySpace Music - Free Streaming MP3s, Pictures & Music Downloads

[dorkusmalorkus]

Lyrics to 'Ladders' from my myspace Star Rover on MySpace Music - Free Streaming MP3s, Pictures & Music Downloads

Ladders:

Lean the sentences against a tree

Grip the words and climb

Sitting in my ivory tower

Build a scaffold all mine

Then it comes to warmth and spatial flickers

Your temporal experience fails, it figures

You don't know what I've been

It's bigger than me and you

You don't know what I've seen

It's wrinkled me right through

These building blocks build defences and construct a stage

With eloquence my retinue will never age

Take me out on a winter's night

and we'll travel again

Confusion in the supermarket

Wait for the windows to blow in

Pages lit by halo but don't bow your head

Chew and swallow then flex and spit out instead

Here I close

There is no death

Life is spirit and spirit can't die

Spirit endures

Builds upon itself

As it works towards the light

Lean the sentences against a tree

Grip the words and climb

Sitting in my ivory tower

Build a scaffold all mine

Then it comes to warmth and spatial flickers

Your temporal experience fails, it figures

Cheers,

Davy.

[KimyReizeger]

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.

[Soda Jerk]

You might as well forget excelling as a musician whilst you're at it. You won't be able to hear the complicated licks on the guitar if its a small venue with bad acoustics, so just strum E, A and D over and over.

Heck, just don't even turn up because no one in Aberdeen even likes music

[Guest Gladstone]

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 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.

[Lemonade]

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.

It worked for Scouting For Girls.

"She's so lovely, she's so lovely, she's so lovely, she's so lovely,

She's so lovely, she's so lovely, she's so lovely, she's so lovely

She's so lovely, she's so lovely, she's so lovely, she's so lovely

She's so lovely, she's so lovely, she's so lovely, she's so lovely"

"Elvis isn't dead, Elvis isn't dead, Elvis isn't dead, Elvis isn't dead"

"And I wish it was me you chose, I wish it was me you chose, I wish it was me you chose, I wish it was me you chose"

"I've a license, I've a license, I've a license to thrill.

I've a license, I've a license, I've a license to kill.

I've a license, I've a license, I've a license to thrill.

I've a license, I've a license, I've a license to kill."

I really fucking hate Scouting For Girls.

[Guest Gladstone]

It worked for Scouting For Girls.

I really fucking hate Scouting For Girls.

Seconded. They are the worst lyricists of my lifetime (probably not, but I'm going to stick with that argument).

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.