Song Lyrics: the Good, the Bad and the Ugly

rugerpc

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I was minding my own business, just driving along listening to the radio. I was actually listening to the lyrics instead of the music for a change, and heard this:

"...someone took a knife baby edgy and dull..." (Springsteen: "I'm On Fire")

Really - edgy and dull??

Then. just minutes later:

"Only time will tell if we stand the test of time." (Van Halen: "Why Can't This Be Love?")

Welcome to the exceedingly obvious club.

I though it might be fun for us to list our favorite lyrics. Not just the ones that are truly inspired, but the clumsy ones as well...

I'll start with two gems from the same song. I really like these combinations of words and ideas.

"Put on your red shoes and dance the blues." and "Under the moonlight, the serious moonlight."

...both from David Bowie's "Let's Dance"

More Good, Bad and Ugly?
 
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"'Cause when I go through her/It's just like a/A hot knife/Through butter" - Kiss, "Fits Like A Glove"
 
bad:

"There were plants and birds and rocks and things"

things?? run out of nouns depicting stuff around you?

worse:

"The heat was hot"

more of the bleedingly obvious

both from "Horse With No Name" by America
 
"Someone left the cake out in the rain/I don't think I could take it, `cause it took so long to bake it/And I'll never have that recipe again, oh no!" (Donna Summer: "MacArthur Park")

Oh, the humanities!
 
Sade: Great looker, needs a geography lesson...

"Coast to coast, L.A. to Chicago" (Sade: "Smooth Operator")
 
“Yesterday was Thursday / Today is Friday / We so excited / We gonna have a ball today / Tomorrow is Saturday / And Sunday comes afterwards” (Rebecca Black: "Friday")

next week, she learns her colors....
 
I put this lyric solidly in the 'good' category:

"Far away, across the field
The tolling of the iron bell
Calls the faithful to their knees
To hear the softly spoken magic spell"
(Pink Floyd: "Time")
 
"Like a knight in shining armor from a long time ago." - Peter Cetera: Glory of Love
 
One of my favorite Good lyric:

"Now that I've met you, would you object to, never seeing each other again"

Opening line of "Deathly" by Aimee Mann. Sounds so much like far too many dates I've been on.
 
One of my favorites (and how I feel riding my motorcycle long distances), and of course by my Favorite band Rush!
A few verses that grab me..(The WHOLE song does but..)

"I turn my back to the wind, To catch my breath,
Before I start off again, Driven on without a moment to spend,
To Pass an evening with a Drink and a friend"

"Time Stand Still, I'm not looking back but I want to look around me now,
See more of the people and the places that surround me now"

'Freeze this moment a little bit longer, Make each sensation a little bit stronger,
Experience slips away.."

- Time Stand Still
 
A true classic in the most excellent sense:

"And, in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make." (The Beatles: "The End")
 
Cliché

In the line of The Good: my favourite artist Fish wrote what I consider the best love song ever: Cliché (1990). It helps that Frank Usher does the guitar solos (multiple solos fit in a 7:01 song :biggrin:)

"I've got a reputation of being a man with the gift of words
Romantic poetic type or so they say
But I find it hard to express the way I feel about you
Without getting involved in the old clichés

In the old clichés, it's an old cliché

This song's begun so many times but never in a way
That you won't consider to be an old cliché
I want to say that I need you, I miss you when you're away
And how it seemed like fate - oh here we go - the same old cliché

It's the same old cliché

It's not that I'm embarrassed or shy, well you know me too well
But I want to make this song special in a way that you can tell
That it's solely for you and for nobody else
For my best friend, my lover, when I need help - cliché

Everything I wanted to say to you is wrapped up in an old cliché
I've waited so long to find you, I've been through the heartbreak and the pain
But of course you already know that 'cause you've been through the same
That's why I'm trying to say with my deepest sincerity
That's why I'm finding it comes down to basic simplicities
The best way is with an old cliché
Simply the best way is with an old cliché
Always the best way is with an old cliché
Leave it to the best way, it's an old cliché
I love you..."
 
Lyrically, one of my favorite songs is "Ain't That A *****" by Aerosmith. I've always thought Steven Tyler was an excellent lyricist....here's a couple phrases:

Freak out
I'm alone now
I feel just like I'm losin' my mind
'Cause love is like the right dress
On the wrong girl
You never know what you're gonna find
The gal was fine as calamine
But not enough to scratch a seven year itch
'Cause love is like the last licks
Outta Hendrix
Yeah, Ain't That A *****
Ain't That A *****, yeah, yeah

Then you feel so out of place
Lickin' up the arsenic
From the same old lace
You know the stuff is poison
But you gotta have a taste

You think you're high and fine as wine
Then you wind up with your face in the ditch
'Cause love is like a warm gun
On a cold night
Yeah, Ain't That A *****
 
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