Terrible lyrics, what do you think?

Hi,

I've been doing a lot of cringing recently when I've had the radio on! In particular the latest Nickleback song, here's my gripes:

'Some day, some how, I'm going to make it alright but not right now'

This is the whole basis for the song. What's the point in them telling you this? To me they've just written a song with absolutely no subject matter at all.

'Now the story's played out like this, Just like a paperback novel, Lets rewrite an ending that fits, Instead of a hollywood horror'

This to me is just terrible! I think it's the last line that let's it down... trying to get horror to rhyme with novel is pretty bad, but the line to me is just totally cheesy.

'Nothin's wrong, just as long as, you know that someday I will,'

'Someday, somehow .....'

This bit is the most obvious 'Little bit to join the Verse to the Chorus' I've ever heard. OK, I'm more picking at the melody/structure here, but lyrically it doesn't even flow properly, it ends with, 'you know that someday I will'.. I will what? I will someday somehow? What does that mean!!!

Does anyone else feel like this or am I being a little too picky?!

Um, yes. A bit too picky. But I know the felling. Lots of lyrics kinda flow past you. But then one line grabs your attention and you think 'What does that mean?' And you start dissecting the thing like it was a school essay (I suspect some composers consider lyrics as homework rather than an artform).

My favourite picky one is 'Life' by whatshername (chorus: 'Life, oh life, oh life' - you must know the one). Once I get started on that....

But to answer you question, putting things off until later could be a subject for a song. Why not? It's very slacker, though.

Michael

She also says in that song that she is superstitious so she keeps a rabbit's tail. I always thought it was a rabbit's foot for superstition.

A good example of the contradictory lyric is as in the song from Fame where she says within a few lines of each other that she is going to 'live forever' and she is going to 'make it to heaven'.

One line I've never been able to work out is from the (dreadful in my opinion) song 'No Matter What' which Andrew Lloyd Webber wrote and I think Boyzone sang:- ...... If only prayers were answered, Then we would hear God say.

Hear God say what? Are we supposed to put quotes around the rest of the song and take it that this is what he'd say?!

Phew, time to calm down!

Brian, don't waste your time and creative energy picking apart songs on the radio...write something better!

IJ

Some keep the foot for 'luck'. Neither the foot or the tail seemed to be very lucky for the rabbit involved

I agree that the 'hollywood horror' line just doesn't work, but there is a lot worse stuff on the radio at the moment, in my opinion.

Darren

Dolores always sees things 'differently.' That's one of the things I like about her...

A song has three parts: words, music and performance. It's easy enough for us to take apart the words or even the music on a newsgroup like this or any other internet based forum (and can be useful, insightful to boot), but it's very difficult to get a grip on delivery until you actually experience the whole thing.

I work for a publishing company. One of our writers has at least ten solid cuts to his credit, including a career making song for one of the top artists in Country Music. One of my jobs is to type up this writers' hand written lyrics during the pre-production stage, before we cut the demo.

It's kind of amazing...I read the lines and you'd think 'where's the chorus? where's the hook line? This'll never hang together.' No grammar, few line breaks, sometimes just a paragraph here, then he starts a new paragraph there. Yet when he plays the song, it's A SONG and you understand what he can't quite get across on the paper.

The words are just notes about what he wants to say and how he wants to say it. They're not the end of the story.

The 'chords' ain't the music, it's how he plays the chords.

And it's how all three things

IMHO, you can get by with shitty lyrics if you've got a catchy melody and the song stays interesting....many songs aren't based on lyrics, rather a catchy tune, we can't all be bob dylan...that said, incredible lyrics can make a good song great....unfortunately, nickelback, along w/ most of the new (mainstream) artists of this genre, especially nickelback, have neither good tunes nor good lyrics to back them up....rather they rely on (over)production and (over)promotion

I think what this hints at , is that its going to be a hurried Nickleback CD to get it out while 'You remind me' is stilled being hummed by the general populus. Another example of the music industries desire to use bands as brands. They really should have pawed over these lyrics b4 release cos I have to agree that they are pretty poor. But fortunately for the band they redeemed themselves by using the generic footprint formula that proved successful for the last CD.

If you want to talk about how GOOD lyrics can affect you, listen to Rubber Duckie, its sublime.

Rubber Duckie you're the one Who makes bathtime lots of fun Rubber Duckie Im awfully fond of you Do Do be doo

Rubber duckie Joy of joys When I squeeze you , you make lots of noise Rubber Duckie you're my very best freind...its true

I mean come on!! sheer bloody genious. Moog