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Location: Vernon CT | Ok, I'll admit it. Until I started playing guitar, I rarely paid attn: to lyrics. Yeah, I would sing along,but, it was the melody or hook that got me listening to a song.
I've been looking for new songs to play and just remembered a song that Jackson Browne did.
I found it, printed it off and as I was playing/sing, I realized the song wasn't a Love song (well... ;) ) but a song about masterb.....(Rosie) Damn am I disapointed!!
Anyone got any stories about songs that you thought one thing about and it tuned out to have a completely different meaning? |
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Posts: 602
Location: Hanau, Hessen, Germany | It might not fit here exactly... But I remember when I was like 12 or 13 years old (and I didn't speak english to that time) I loved a song by the rockband "Helloween"... I always passionately sang along to the refrain and it went like this:
"We're the people of the Seventieeeeeeeeeees..."
A few years later (and after I started speaking english) I found out that the singer of the band actually sang: "We're the keeper of the Seven Keys..." (From that day on I enjoyed the song even more :D ) |
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Location: Copenhagen Denmark | " Green , green grass of home " ..
I thought it was a song `bout a man happily coming home .... `til I paid attention to the lyrics .. |
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Posts: 4833
Location: Campbell River, British Columbia | Sidebar: google mondegreen. (there's a word for everything, doncha' know.
I've been writing songs, at least the lyric part, since I was 4. So the words have always been important to me. But I hear them wrong, or can't make them out often enough, to be quite frustrating.
I blame mixing engineers with bad ears and bands that know what the words are, but hate their voices so they bury themselves in the mix. |
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Posts: 1567
Location: Indiana | Originally posted by BT717:
...and just remembered a song that Jackson Browne did.
I found it, printed it off and as I was playing/sing, I realized the song wasn't a Love song (well... ;) ) but a song about masterb.....(Rosie) Damn am I disapointed!!
I don't know where you got that idea but it's not the story Jackson has been telling for years...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-6MzkivUXg |
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Posts: 7247
Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | I connect with the lyrics and music equally. If a song has a great hook, but the lyrics don't support it... I loose interest. If I can't clearly hear the lyrics, I loose interest.
I like a lot of metal, and hear people say it's all just loud noise..... and a lot is... but not ALL of it. The likes of Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and Metallica stand out I feel because of the ability to hear the lyrics and the combination of the music and lyrics paint a picture. I like a lot of loud rock... Queensryche, Blue Oyster Cult, Foo Fighters and even some crossover like Eminem and Kid Rock, mostly beacuse you can hear the words.
I think this is why there are almost NO artists that I like more than a few songs from. As example... I like about 3 Beatles tunes. They have a HUGE catalog... but only a handful, to me, can I make a connection with both the words and music. I used play the heck out of those few tunes and people thought I was a Beatles fan... no.. just a fan of those tunes... no matter who does them and I think they've all been covered by others. |
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Posts: 3145
Location: Marlton, NJ | Originally posted by BT717:
...I realized the song wasn't a Love song (well... ;) ) but a song about masterb.....(Rosie) Damn am I disapointed!!
Hmmmm... didn't see that one coming!
I was surprised to find out the "Yoshimii Battles the Pink Robots" was about fighting cancer. |
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Posts: 4536
Location: Flahdaw | I remember at the time that I really liked "Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress"......could barely understand a single word that they were singing though. I'm gonna go on Chordie right now and find out what those damn lyrics are.
Update: Chordie doesn't even know what the lyrics are |
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May 2008
Posts: 160
Location: Montana | Yeah it's the music that hooks me too and I'm often disappointed when I finally listen to the lyrics. I have to admit that there are several songs that I prefer the Weird Al Yankovic version to the original. I like the Nirvana version of Smells Like Teen Spirit but the Weird Al version "Smells Like Nirvana" is hilarious - heres a sample
What is this song all about?
Can't figure any lyrics out
How do the words to it go?
I wish you'd tell me, I don't know
Don't know, don't know, don't know, ooh no
Don't know, don't know, don't know...
Now I'm mumblin' and I'm screamin'
And I don't know what I'm singin'
Crank the volume, ears are bleedin'
I still don't know what I'm singin'
We're so loud and incoherent
Boy, this oughta bug your parents
Yeah! |
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Posts: 2711
Location: Vernon CT | Originally posted by Jonmark Stone:
Originally posted by BT717:
...and just remembered a song that Jackson Browne did.
I found it, printed it off and as I was playing/sing, I realized the song wasn't a Love song (well... ;) ) but a song about masterb.....(Rosie) Damn am I disapointed!!
I don't know where you got that idea but it's not the story Jackson has been telling for years...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-6MzkivUXg
•Jackson Browne's "Rosie"
Another great song about masturbation, it describes the band's sound mixer falling in love with a girl he meets at a concert. But the girl ditches him for the drummer, and the unhappy sound mixer goes home alone. But he still has Rosie (Rosie Palm, that is.) "But Rosie, you're alright, you wear my ring. When you hold me tight, Rosie that's my thing. When you turn out the light, I got to hand it to me. Looks like it's me and you again tonight, Rosie."
I think you can see why one might think this. :) |
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Location: Campbell River, British Columbia | The Who - Pictures Of Lily
same theme...... |
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Posts: 14127
Location: 6 String Ranch | To answer the question, Not totally
If I'm going to try to do the song I'll look closer.
When I'm writing, yeah, they all got to make work and fit with the music which has to work as well.
One band I like is a Mexican band Mana I think their name is. Can't understand a bit of it but the vocal lines flow well and they are like another instrument.
Sometimes when you really listen and find out what they're singing about, you don't like the song so much anymore. Example is the SteelDrivers, "Sticks that Made Thunder" Nice tune till you figure out it's about indians getting slaughtered in a battle. |
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Location: NJ | lyrics are as important to me as the tune.
if the lyrics are bad I have trouble doing the tune even if I like the melody and changes |
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March 2008
Posts: 2683
Location: Hot Springs, S.D. | There are songs I've listened to and played all my life that I have no idea what they are about. I don't sing (much) so I don't pay much attenetion to the words. To me, the voice is just another instrument, and if the song is sung well, that's all I hear. I have met quite a few people in my life who don't like songs without words. Myself, I guess I prefer instrumentals. |
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Posts: 6268
Location: Florida Central Gulf Coast | I get hooked by the melody, music and rhythm first. If the lyrics 'strikes a chord', then all the better.
Example, "Cocaine" by EC. Awesome dance song! I wish there were different original lyrics, but maybe that's what it took to write the song.
BTW, dancing, now that's one method of self-expression I truly enjoy! TMI? Too bad...  |
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Posts: 14127
Location: 6 String Ranch | To Alison's point, that's why I mentioned the Mexican band. I think they're great. If I knew what they were saying it might not be as good.
To Al's point, if I don't like the words I don't do the tune. Period. Except if I'm play8ig with someone and they start doing Buffet tunes. Not my fav but this is Florida, and it's kinda like the National anthem at the start of a NASCAR race, you gotta do it.
Iffy, dancing. Glad you like it. For me it's kinda like how high can a -6 jump, in my case, not very. |
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Location: Tennessee | Cocaine is a dance song? :eek: Bobbo Don't Dance, but jeez, the only dance step you can do to that song is The Frankenstein. -6 groovin' all the way. |
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Posts: 1132
Location: NW Washington State | So what's Jackson Browne's "Redneck Friend" about?
I still love David Lindley's sound on those early albums... |
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January 2006
Posts: 2120
Location: Chicago | Elton, "Tiny Dancer":
Seamstress for the band,
Pretty eyes, Part of that's mine....
May be that, but she's so winnin' "
Never understood it at all
(Of course: "Pirate smile... lay me down in sheets of linen") |
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March 2005
Posts: 12761
Location: Boise, Idaho | I didn't pay much attention until a college roommate suggested I should listen to America's lyrics sometime. (I may have had a couple of albums.) Ever since then, their lyrics drive me nuts. At least Alice Cooper admitted in a song that he couldn't think of a word that rhymes.
Speaking of America, when I was learning to play the Simon and Garfunkel song by that name, I noticed that, although I like the lyrics, they don't rhyme. Took me 40 years to figure that out. |
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March 2008
Posts: 2683
Location: Hot Springs, S.D. | Now, having already said that I don't pay much attention to lyrics, Joni Mitchell and Bruce Springsteen have some of the most difficult songs to sing because there are SO MANY words crammed in to such small measures. In "Help Me" Joni puts 11 sylables into one four beat measure. ("Are you gonna let me go there by myself") And often with both her and Bruce, the words don't rhyme, but they do say a lot. |
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Posts: 7247
Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | I like tunes where the lyrics literally play with the music.
Alice Coopers "I can't even think of a word that rhymes" has already been mentioned..
BOC in ME-262 The snare drum does a drum roll as the words "see these English planes go burn." and it sounds really lame if the drummer doesn't do it.
In the song Hallelujah by Jeff Buckley - "Well it goes like this : The fourth, the fifth, the minor fall and the major lift" I always thought was clever.
Starships "oh, then we just lost the beat" from "We Built This City"
Just fun stuff... |
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Posts: 11840
Location: closely held secret | Originally posted by dobro:
Elton, "Tiny Dancer":
Seamstress for the band,
Pretty eyes, Part of that's mine....
May be that, but she's so winnin' "
Never understood it at all
(Of course: "Pirate smile... lay me down in sheets of linen") Maybe because most of that isn't in the lyrics... |
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February 2005
Posts: 11840
Location: closely held secret | Originally posted by CanterburyStrings:
Now, having already said that I don't pay much attention to lyrics, Joni Mitchell and Bruce Springsteen have some of the most difficult songs to sing because there are SO MANY words crammed in to such small measures. In "Help Me" Joni puts 11 sylables into one four beat measure. ("Are you gonna let me go there by myself") And often with both her and Bruce, the words don't rhyme, but they do say a lot. I've always admired Joni's ability to separate her 'playing' brain from her 'singing' brain (something I have trouble with). "Coyote", "Trouble Child", "Free Man In Paris" are great examples of songs that are difficult to perform solo, because the melody line sometimes seems to follow a totally different rhythm from the accompaniment. Yet it works. |
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Posts: 10777
Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | That would be a nice ability to have... (Joni's ability to separate her 'playing' brain from her 'singing' brain). I first noticed this problem when trying to Play and Sing "The Ballad of Dwight Frye"... The meter of the singing is different from the meter of the music. I thought that I could do this song, since it is a 'talking' (not singing) song. But I cannot separate the right and left sides of my Brain.
And Allison, you mention that the voice is just another instrument... This is a problem for me, since I cannot sing (AT ALL). Most of the songs that I know are good for personal playing enjoyment, but for the outside listener they lose something without the Lyrics.
The chords "Old Time Rock-n-Roll" are G-C-D-G-D... (That's It! and it's written for Piano)
If you don't catch the intro lick, you would have know idea what song I am playing without lyrics. |
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Posts: 2683
Location: Hot Springs, S.D. | OMA, I don't know your playing style (fingerpicking, strumming?) but either way, you could find the melody notes either within the chords, or as add-ons to the chords, and play both chord and melody at the same time. That's the way I have always played because for the first many years that I played, I didn't sing, and there were no other musicians around to sing or play lead for me. |
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Posts: 489
| Don't care about the lyrics at all. It's all about the music. |
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Posts: 5567
Location: Blue Ridge Mountains | As a songwriter, the lyric's are very important...I like to tell a story and of course the music helps to move it along...I try to find different ways to say things...keep it interesting and thought provoking... |
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Posts: 494
Location: Location Location Location | They lyrics are equally important to the tune. If a song doesn't have lyrics, then you listen, or don't, to the music. But if it has lyrics, and they suck, it detracts from the tune, no matter how good. Lyrics matter. |
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Posts: 747
| D G
I almost felt you touchin' me just now
D A
I wish I knew which way to turn and go
D G
I feel so good and I feel so bad
A D
Wonder what I oughta do
G
If I could only fly
D
If I could only fly
A
I'd bid this place goodbye
D D7
To come and be with you
G
But I can hardly stand
D
Got nowhere to run
A
Another sinkin' sun
D
One more lonely night
D G
The wind keeps blowin' somewhere every day
D A
They tell me things get better somewhere up the way
D G
Just dismal thinkin' on a dismal day
A D
Sad songs for us to bear
D
You know sometimes I write happy songs
G
But then sometimes little things are wrong
D A
You know I wish they all could make you smile
D
Tomorrow maybe we can get away
G
I'm coming home soon and I want to stay
A D
I wish you could come with me when I go again
G
If I could only fly
D
If I could only fly
A
I'd bid this place goodbye
D D7
To come and be with you
G
But I can hardly stand
D
Got nowhere to run
A
Another sinkin' sun
D
One more lonely night
G
If I could only fly
D
If You could only fly
A
If we could only fly
D
There'd be no more lonely nights |
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Posts: 2120
Location: Chicago | TWO MINOR LYRICAL PEEVES OF MINE:
CCR Born on the Bayou:
"My poppa said 'son, don't let the man gitcha, 'n do what he done to me.... @ 0:41 here
DOORS Waiting For the Sun: "This is the strangest life I've ever known.. " @ 2:50 here. |
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Posts: 1119
Location: Michigan | The music (melody) catches my ear but the lyrics keep me listening over and over. |
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Posts: 2246
Location: Yucaipa, California | ...the only lyrics I pay attention to are those which provide practical information:
"...there's a bathroom on the right." :rolleyes: |
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Location: closely held secret | Good one, Tim. That's one of my favorites.
"The girl with colitis goes by..." |
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Posts: 4389
Location: Capital District, NY, USA Minor Outlying Islands | I agree: cocaine is a dance tune. At least it was for me. It's only in hindsight that it seems odd. |
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Location: Capital District, NY, USA Minor Outlying Islands | The blues and folk music is replete with songs of double entendres, and rock, being it's descendant does the same thing.
For example: Is John Henry about driving rail road spikes, or bonking?
Is that Who song about mama's squeeze box about an accordian?
Double entendres make it possible sing about otherwise taboo topics. If you sang on stage about actually wanking it'd be a weird audience that would hang around ... even in brooklyn. |
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Posts: 4833
Location: Campbell River, British Columbia | Backdoor Man
Wang Dang Doodle
Woolly Bully
...and then there's the 'race music' of the 40's and 50's that inspired the whole thing. (thang?)
...before that, British folk music.
Roll Your Leg Over
Cats On The Rooftop
Humouresque
et al |
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Joined:
October 2007
Posts: 2711
Location: Vernon CT | Originally posted by an4340:
The blues and folk music is replete with songs of double entendres, and rock, being it's descendant does the same thing.
Double entendres make it possible sing about otherwise taboo topics. If you sang on stage about actually wanking it'd be a weird audience that would hang around ... even in brooklyn. Very true. I was just "wondering" if anyone enjoyed listening to a song and after some "time" you realize what you were listening to was NOT what you thought you had been enjoying "Lyrically". |
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Location: Florida Central Gulf Coast | Rock n' roll had nothing to do with music way back when the air was clean and sex was dirty. Tempo maybe, but not music...  |
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Posts: 1017
Location: Budd Lake, NJ | I pay lots of attention to the lyrics, since I'm usually the one singing them.
When I write songs, the words always come first--sometimes it's just a phrase, or a whole line. Once the words begin to be established, then the melody lines start to flow. They usually just kind of write themselves after that point...
A really good song is where the music and the lyrics meld together so well that you can't imagine the song being any other way. (I'm not talking about arrangements, here--just the basic song itself.)
I can't be 100% sure, but I'm thinking that the ones that have stood the test of time are those where everything within the song compliments everything else. (And, yes, I know there are exceptions to every rule. ;) )
--Karen |
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Posts: 9301
Location: south east Michigan | Brian & I thought about taking a swing at the Stones' "Dead Flowers". When we heard ourselves singing about basements and silver coke spoons and decided to pass.
Then we thought about The Who's "5:15". When we got to the line "girl's of 15... sexually knowing..." , we took another pass.
And yet, without any fear or self awareness we'll plunge right into lines like.. "I really think you're groovy... let's go out to a movie". |
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Posts: 2683
Location: Hot Springs, S.D. | You're my pride and joy etcetera... |
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Posts: 9301
Location: south east Michigan | yep Alison.. that's it! |
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O.T.: Do you really pay attn to the Lyrics?