Lyrics don't get any worse than these. Or do they?
Posted: Tue Dec 08, 2009 4:17 pm
From "Who put the bop in the bop-she-bop-she-bop" to "I want to rock and roll all night and party every day," rock history is littered with awful lyrics.
There are lyrics that mangle the English language, simply to cram in the right amount of syllables -- like America's "A horse with no name": "'Cause there ain't no one for to give you no pain."
And then there are lyrics that are so repetitious, you want to hang yourself with a guitar strap, like these lyrics from the immortal "Baby, please don't go" by Them, then remade by several other memory-challenged bands. What do you think of this for songwriting?
Baby, please don't go
Baby, please don't go
Baby, please don't go
Down to New Orleans
You know I love you so
Baby, please don't go
So revered was this verse that it appears three more times in the song.
And, of course, there are the cryptic lyrics. You know what I'm talking about. These are the lyrics by songwriters who, obviously influenced by Dylan, think that the quality of a song is directly proportional to the obscurity of its lyrics. Want proof? Here's an actual hit song:
At the party she was kindness in the hard crowd. Consolation for the old wound now forgotten. Yellow tigers crouched in jungles in her dark eyes. She's just dressing, goodbye windows, tired starlings.
Know what song that's from? "White room" by Cream. There are two other verses in the song that are equally as baffling. And those damned starlings -- and whatever the heck they symbolize -- make yet another appearance in the song.
Okay, boys and girls. Belly up to the bar and let 'er rip with short examples of the worst lyric writing you can find. This is your chance to rip Paul McCartney a new one. Or to choke the breath out of Air Supply. Or to push REO Speedwagon off a cliff. Let the horrible lyrics begin.
Most of all, have fun. Don't take anything personally.
- Beefy D
There are lyrics that mangle the English language, simply to cram in the right amount of syllables -- like America's "A horse with no name": "'Cause there ain't no one for to give you no pain."
And then there are lyrics that are so repetitious, you want to hang yourself with a guitar strap, like these lyrics from the immortal "Baby, please don't go" by Them, then remade by several other memory-challenged bands. What do you think of this for songwriting?
Baby, please don't go
Baby, please don't go
Baby, please don't go
Down to New Orleans
You know I love you so
Baby, please don't go
So revered was this verse that it appears three more times in the song.
And, of course, there are the cryptic lyrics. You know what I'm talking about. These are the lyrics by songwriters who, obviously influenced by Dylan, think that the quality of a song is directly proportional to the obscurity of its lyrics. Want proof? Here's an actual hit song:
At the party she was kindness in the hard crowd. Consolation for the old wound now forgotten. Yellow tigers crouched in jungles in her dark eyes. She's just dressing, goodbye windows, tired starlings.
Know what song that's from? "White room" by Cream. There are two other verses in the song that are equally as baffling. And those damned starlings -- and whatever the heck they symbolize -- make yet another appearance in the song.
Okay, boys and girls. Belly up to the bar and let 'er rip with short examples of the worst lyric writing you can find. This is your chance to rip Paul McCartney a new one. Or to choke the breath out of Air Supply. Or to push REO Speedwagon off a cliff. Let the horrible lyrics begin.
Most of all, have fun. Don't take anything personally.
- Beefy D