Entertainment For Lively Minds
Bad Scansion
Posted by milkybarnick on 13 October 2009 - 10:28pm.
There's a teeth-grindingly awful bit in that new Cheryl Cole record mentioned earlier today where she ends a line with the word "picnic", but gets the stress on the syllables all wrong. Probably not her fault, granted, but flippin' irritating all the same.
This got me thinking - it's not always bad lyrics or a crap melody that can be annoying in a record - if the words don't fit properly it doesn't always help.
Anyone else got any examples of poor scansion? I've always thought Pink can be a bit clumsy...
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A classic example
"But if you ask for A-rise they're giving none away"
I am an Antichrist...
I am an anar-chIst.
Jon Savage claimed it was deliberate discordance reflecting a disintegrating society - I think it's just a lazy rhyme.
Out of Africa
Toto's finest contains one of the clumsiest run-the-words-together lines of all, but compounds the sin by stressing the last syllable of the last word - 'Just as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serenget-eeeeeee' - instead of the Seren-get-i it should be.
I wish I knew how to embolden words in these posts - it would make life so much more meaningful.
And can I just mention, in passing, that until I Googled the lyrics to ward off the scorn of the Wordsmiths, I'd always thought it was 'Just as Kilimanjaro rises like an Empress above the...'.
I still prefer my version.
Emboldening words
Have a look in here:
http://www.w3schools.com/HTML/default.asp
I believe it was Gauntlet who pointed us ignoramuses in this direction.
Ta ever so
I shall look and learn.
Internet in 'not always reliable' shock...
I too am pretty certain the word is 'Empress', not 'Olympus', although I think the line is actually 'sure as Kilimanjaro...', not 'just as...'.
Glad that's cleared up ;-)
This is great...
...but I think James Dean Bradfield must have accidentally left his tongue in a blender immediately prior to the recording session because his scansio nsshi tonit.
Thought the Manics might come up
Oddly, despite my first post, this is one of my favourite records. But yes, it scans pretty badly - what's a Motorcy-CLE?
MSP are probably the worst culprits
See also: A design FO-OR life
My first though was the Manics
That's what happens when you try to marry badly written pseudo-intellectual sixth form poetry with rock'n'roll riffery.
(I like them, by the way...)
More Manics
My first thought was the "when out smiles were genuine" line from The Everlasting. "Gen-ooo-in" you say?
I do like them though.
Anything...
on the Manics' Holy Bible album!
Though I do like Bowie's "Shout it while you're dancing on the-er-er dance floor"
Surely...
...Messrs Bachman, Turner and Overdrive should get a m-m-mention.
Or is that just basic stammering? I thought a scansion was something that held goalnets in place.
The Style Council
Does this count?
"I really like it when you speak like A child" (emphasis on the indefinite article).
Oh yes
That's the sort of thing.
Prince-char, Ming!
The old ones are always the best.
no, no, no
no!
Surely these are examples of poetic license? They're pop records, for heaven's sake, not university theses!
David H made the point in his recent Beatles article that the lyrics were often 'banal in the extreme', and that they were just a means to the end of creating great records. I totally agree - and Prince Charming is a great pop record, imho.
Then there's always...
"Sunshine Fell Softleeee On my...
(pause for cup of tea, visit to the shops, pedicure and lie down)
...a-window today"
Heard another good example last night
"Hot" by Avril Lavigne.
Shocking, absolutely shocking.
Don't know about lyrics but
'A twist in my sobriety' song title by Tanita Tikaram made me feel I shouldn't listen to it. Ever.