Entertainment For Lively Minds
Best lyricist in rock?
The other thread about crap lyrics was spot on but getting me down. So let's have something a bit more uplifting. It's taken as read that Bob Dylan, Lennon/MacCartney, Ray Davies, Pete Townshend, Bowie, Shane Magowan, Morrisey, to name but a few, wrote the greatest lyrics in rock. Any others?
Lets start with Lemmy's finest
If you like to gamble, I tell you I'm your man
You win some, lose some, it's - all - the same to me
The pleasure is to play, it makes no difference what you say
I don't share your greed, the only card I need is
The Ace Of Spades
The Ace Of Spades
Playing for the high one, dancing with the devil,
Going with the flow, it's all a game to me,
Seven or Eleven, snake eyes watching you,
Double up or quit, double stakes or split,
The Ace Of Spades
The Ace Of Spades
You know I'm born to lose, and gambling's for fools,
But that's the way I like it baby,
I don't wanna live forever,
And don't forget the joker!
Pushing up the ante, I know you've got to see me,
Read 'em and weep, the dead man's hand again,
I see it in your eyes, take one look and die,
The only thing you see, you know it's gonna be,
The Ace Of Spades
The Ace Of Spades
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My Girl
In his recent book, "Finishing The Hat", Stephen Sondheim repeatedly puts down his own and other people's lyrics with the criticism that "people wouldn't really say that". Madness so often manage to keep it real, as Mike Barson does here in "My Girl":
My girl's mad at me
I didn't wanna see the film tonight
I found it hard to say
She thought I'd had enough of her
Why can't she see
She's lovely to me?
But I like to stay in
And watch T.V.
On my own
Every now and then.
The three men I admire the most
Colin Meloy
Alex Turner
Nigel Blackwell
I humbly submit....Joni Mitchell
Take your choice. But for me, the four verses of Coyote are pretty much unmatched for sustained lyrical brilliance. Here's the first:
No regrets Coyote
We just come from such different sets of circumstance
I'm up all night in the studios
And you're up early on your ranch
You'll be brushing out a brood mare's tail
While the sun is ascending
And I'll just be getting home with my reel to reel...
There's no comprehending
Just how close to the bone and the skin and the eyes
And the lips you can get
And still feel so alone
And still feel related
Like stations in some relay
You're not a hit and run driver, no, no
Racing away
You just picked up a hitcher
A prisoner of the white lines on the freeway.
They read well...
but when she sings them, they are transformed. Every word is phrased to perfection, a masterclass in how to bring a lyric to life in a song.
That song...
... is the moment I start fast forwarding during The Last Waltz. Sorry gents but "whining rock star compares herself to nature" is pretty much my idea of lyrical hell.
I know I'm alone...
but Joni Mitchell makes me want to tear my ears off.
Cathal Coughlan
by a country mile - Microdisney, Fatima Mansions, solo - there's no-one in the same league.
Leiber and Stoller
Take your pick, from anything by The Coasters to Jailhouse Rock. I couldn't choose any one example.
The Great Bard of Montreal, of course
"I stumbled out of bed
I got ready for the struggle
I smoked a cigarette
And I tightened up my gut
I said this can't be me ...
Must be my double"
("I Can't Forget")
Springsteen gets a lot of bashing around here
But the simplicity of his best lyrics is up there with Hank Williams. There are movies hidden in just four of five lines.
The River:
Then I got Mary pregnant
And, man, that was all she wrote
And for my 19th birthday I got a union card
And a wedding coat
My Hometown:
Now main streets whitewashed windows and vacant stores
Seems like there aint nobody wants to come down here no more
They're closing down the textile mill across the railroad tracks
Foreman says these jobs are going boys and they aint coming back to
You´re Missing:
Coffee cups on the counter, jackets on the chair
Papers on the doorstep, but you're not there
Everything is everything
Everything is everything
But you're missing
That last quote gets me every time. When you lose someone, dealing with all the things left behind is one of the worst things. Throwing their clothes away is almost as hard as going to the funeral, if not harder. And the world keeps going round like nothing happened.
Sorry for being such a downer, but songs like these are the reason why Bruce means so much to me. He seems to know how I feel and what I think - which of course is the magic of good art.
Spot on Ola, have an up
Bruce is a storyteller first and foremost. The Rising is a brilliant set of songs, and considering its genesis was the 9/11 attacks the hope and love it portrays is stunning.
Another joyous song is Valentines Day from Tunnel of Love
I'm driving a big lazy car rushin' up the highway in the dark
I got one hand steady on the wheel and one hand's tremblin' over my heart
It's pounding baby like it's gonna bust right on through
And it ain't gonna stop till I'm alone again with you
A friend of mine became a father last night
When we spoke in his voice I could hear the light
Of the skies and the rivers the timberwolf in the pines
And that great jukebox out on Route 39
They say he travels fastest who travels alone
But tonight I miss my girl mister tonight I miss my home
Is it the sound of the leaves
left blown by the wayside
That's got me out here on this spooky old highway tonight
Is it the cry of the river
With the moonlight shining through
That ain't what scares me baby
What scares me is losing you
They say if you die in your dreams you really die in your bed
But honey last night I dreamed my eyes rolled straight back in my head
And God's light came shinin' on through
I woke up in the darkness scared and breathin' and born anew
It wasn't the cold river bottom I felt rushing over me
It wasn't the bitterness of a dream that didn't come true
It wasn't the wind in the grey fields I felt rushing through my arms
No no baby it was you
So hold me close honey say you're forever mine
And tell me you'll be my lonely valentine
Oh yeah!
One of his happy tunes there. Tunnel Of Love is one of my favourites too, despite the production.
A lot of Bruce´s fans don´t like it, but I would also like to mention The Ghost Of Tom Joad. It certainly comes up rather short on sing-along choruses. It´s one of my favourite short story collections. Youngstown manages to sum up 200 years of small towns built around one industry and the rise and fall of independent American family business, before the "big boys did what Hitler couldn´t do" in under four minutes. His references to different wars let you what year he´s up to. From the American Civi War to WWII to Korea and Vietman
Well my daddy come on the Ohio works
When he come home from World War Two
Now the yard's just scrap and rubble
He said "Them big boys did what Hitler couldn't do."
These mills they built the tanks and bombs
That won this country's wars
We sent our sons to Korea and Vietnam
Now we're wondering what they were dyin' for
He also uses one of his more worn out metaphors, but in a new context.
The highway is alive tonight
But nobody's kiddin' nobody about where it goes
I'm sittin' down here in the campfire light
Searchin' for the ghost of Tom Joad
And with harmonica. You don´t get that with Raymond Carver.
in the wee wee hours
Maybe, baby, the gipsy lied.....
The deflation of the romantic promises of a failed relationship laid bare right there.
God have mercy on the man
Who doubts what he´s sure of.
Been there, didn´t feel like buying the t-shirt.
I don't want to kill this thread already
but you do all know the answer is Jarvis Cocker, don't you?
I don't know about the best, but Christ, he's good.
It may look to the untrained eye,
I'm sitting on my arse all day.
I'm biding time until I take you all on.
My Lords and Ladies,
I will prevail,
I cannot fail.
Cos I spy.
Oh I've got your numbers,
taken notes,
I know the ways your minds work;
I've studied.
And your minds are just the same as mine
except that you are clever swines,
you never let mask slip,
you never admit to it,
you're never hurried.
Oh no no no.
And every night I hone my plan
how I will get my satisfaction,
how I will blow your paradise away away, away.
Cos I spy.
And it's just like in the old days -
I used to compose my own critical notices in my head.
"The crowd gasp at Cocker's masterful control of the bicycle,
skilfully avoiding the dog turd next to the corner shop."
Imagining a blue plaque
above the place I first ever touched a girl's chest,
but hold on,
you've got to wait for the best.
You see you should take me seriously.
Very seriously indeed.
Cause I've been sleeping with your wife for the past sixteen weeks,
smoking your cigarettes,
drinking your brandy,
messing up the bed that you chose together.
And in all that time I just wanted you to come home unexpectedly one afternoon,
and catch us at it in the front room.
You see I spy for a living,
and I specialise in revenge,
on taking the things I know will cause you pain.
I can't help it,
I was dragged up.
My favourite parks are car parks,
grass is something you smoke,
birds are something you shag.
Take your "Year in Provence"
and shove it up your arse.
Even without the rest
the two lines
"The crowd gasp at Cocker's masterful control of the bicycle,
skilfully avoiding the dog turd next to the corner shop."
are just such a beautiful, aridly humorous little confection. I'll bet most of us did that as kids (or maybe even still do it now) and it's distilled into 20 short words. Priceless.
Sorry Joe..
..skimmed past this. Yep, it is.
Sheffield's Finest
Christ, I completely forgot about Jarvis. Alex Turner can F off, Cocker is the finest writer to come out of Sheffield since....erm... A.S. Byatt.
He has a very fine knack (as does Stuart Murdoch) for being able to empathise with the underdog (i.e. the kid who got picked last during football etc); so it's probably no surprise I like him.
The following couplet:
"Oh is this the way the future's meant to feel,
Or just twenty-thousand people standing in a field?"
Is one of my favourites of his.
Andy Partridge has a way with a lyric...
I always find Mr.Partridge's lyrics worth paying attention to, and seldom better than in "Your Dictionary"; as good a marriage-breakup song as you'll find:
H-A-T-E
Is that how you spell love in your dictionary
K-I-C-K
Pronounced as kind
F-U-C-K
Is that how you spell friend in your dictionary
Black on black
A guidebook for the blind
Well now that I can see my eyes won't weep
Now that I can hear your song sounds cheap
Now that I can talk all your corn I'll reap
I'm not so sure that Joey wed a Virgin Mary
There are no words for me inside your dictionary
S-L-A-P
Is that how you spell kiss in your dictionary
C-O-L-D
Pronounced as care
S-H-I-T
Is that how you spelt me in your dictionary
Four-eyed fool
You led 'round everywhere
Now that I can see it's the queen's new clothes
Now that I can hear all your poison prose
Now that I can talk with my tongue unfroze
I'm not so sure of Santa or the buck tooth fairy
There are no words for me inside your dictionary
Now your laughter has a hollow ring
But the hollow ring has no finger in
So let's close the book and let the day begin
And our marriage be undone
I have heard about two songs by XTC
And I am curious.
Apologies for a mild hijack here, but where would a curious person start with them? Two albums will do.
Get 'Fossil Fuel'...
a 2 CD best of. For the non-obsessive like me it's a perfect introduction.
Thanks Patrick!
I will fire up Spotify...
Recommended Twice
I bought Fossil Fuel last year, and fully support Patrick's recommendation. I particularly enjoy attempting to sing 'Science Friction' in a faux-Patridge vocal-styling.
Jarvis
Nobody from the Britpop era had anything to say about anything, (Wonderwall? Parklife?), but it was different with Pulp :
You'll never live like common people
You'll never do what ever common people do
You'll never fail like common people
You'll never watch your life slide out of view
And then dance and drink and screw
Because there's nothing else to do
'Jarvis Cocker : Selected Lyrics' will be published by Faber & Faber in October, (Britain's most esteemed publisher of poetry, industry watchers).
Nobody from the Britpop era had anything to say about anything??
I'd take issue with that and direct you to the god like Luke Haines.
Hating everything
Doesn´t necessarily qualify as having something to say. :)
Haines?
Self absorbed also ran with an irrational hatred for The House of Love and Suede?
Sure, he had something to say, but not much of it was interesting.
Hating everything?
I always thought this was rather sweet
(Black Box Recorder - Facts Of Life)
Have I been double bluffed?
See also "The Rubettes" - he's just a big softie, that one....
Mark Eitzel of American Music Club
In memory of a little girl
Who was far too much in love with the world
And who really didn't wanna stick around for the end
(From: Why Won't You Stay?)
Lazarus wasn't grateful for his second wind
For another chance
To watches his chances fade like the dawn
(From: I've Been A Mess)
I'm as priceless as a brass ring
That's losing the heat from your hand
(From: If I Had A Hammer)
The main reason I love The Hold Steady...
...is Craig Finn's writing. I love the music too, but Craig transforms it into something really special.
For my money, that's one of the best lyrical openings to any album: the way he introduces his band as being part of this enormous American context: the music truly kicks in just after "invested" - like "all this happened, and this is how we got here. And here we are."
I love it. Love it love it.
And tender Craig...
...is just as fine as preaching Craig.
Kirsy MacColl is definitely up there
Don't Come The Cowboy With Me Sunny Jim
Some boys with warm beds and cold, cold hearts
Can make you feel nothing at all
They'll never remember and they'll never mind
If you're counting the cracks in the wall
They're quick and they're greedy
They never feel guilty
They don't know the meaning of hurt
The boots just go back on
The socks that had stayed on
The next time they see you
They treat you like dirt
The next time they treat you like dirt
Now don't come the cowboy with me Sonny Jim
I know lots of those and you're not one of them
There's a light in your eyes tells me somebody's in
And you won't come the cowboy with me
Mike Scott
I don't know what it is about Mike Scott, but I find his lyrics truly captivating. Passionate and evocative, just like the music to which they are married.
THE WHOLE OF THE MOON
I pictured a rainbow
you held it in your hands
I had flashes
but you saw the plan
I wandered out in the world for years
you just stayed in your room
I saw the crescent
You saw the whole of the moon
The whole of the moon...
You were there in the turnstiles
with the wind at your heels
you stretched for the stars
and you know how it feels
to reach too high, too far, too soon
You saw the whole of the moon
I was grounded
while you filled the skies
I was dumbfounded by truth
you cut through lies
I saw the lone empty valley
you saw Brigadoon
I saw the crescent
You saw the whole of the moon
I spoke about wings
you just flew
I wondered I guessed and I tried
you just knew
I sighed
but you swooned
I saw the crescent
You saw the whole of the moon
The whole of the moon.
With a torch in your pocket
and the wind at your heels
you climbed on the ladder
and you know how it feels
to get too high, too far, too soon
You saw the whole of the moon
The whole of the moon.
Unicorns and cannonballs, palaces and piers,
trumpets, towers and tenements
wide oceans full of tears
flags, rags, ferryboats, scimitars and scarves
every precious dream and vision underneath the stars
You climbed on the ladder
with the wind in your sails
you came like a comet
blazing your trail
too high, too far, too soon
You saw the whole of the moon.
I believe (though I may be mis-remembering) that this is a comparison of his own lyrical skills with those of Nick Drake. I think he's being too hard on himself.
Nick Lowe
Not sure how rock he is, but he knows how to write them.
With a growing sense of dread
And a hammer in my head
Fully clothed upon the bed
I wake up to the world
That lately I've been living in
There's a cut upon my brow
Must have banged myself somehow
But I can't remember now
And the front door's open wide
Lately I've let things slide
I go to the bin
I throw the laundry in
And pick out the cleanest shirt
Then I tell myself again
I don't really hurt
Smoking I once quit
Now I got one lit
I just fell back into it
Along with my pride
Lately I've let things slide
I go to the bin
I throw the laundry in
Dig out the cleanest shirt
When all at once I'm seized again
By exquisite hurt
That untouched take-away
I brought home the other day
Has quite a lot to say, the evidence is clear
Only resign piled high and wide
About how lately I've let things slide
I'm just about holding on
But lately I've let things slide
(Lately I´ve Let Things Slide, from The Convincer, 2001)
Bonus couplet:
Do you remember Rick Astley?
He had a big fat hit that was ghastly
- All Men Are Liars
More Nick Lowe...
Brilliant.
James Douglas
Morrison. Mother? Father?
His finest moment...
Blimey.
The answer is
Paul Simon.
Too many examples to start quoting them.
That's it. End of thread. Good night.
How is it possible...
that this thread got so long without mention of the sage of Deptford ?
I give you the great Chris Difford.
Some Fantastic Place - a tribute to a friend Of Chris and Glenn Tilbrook who died of cancer. Never fails to bring a tear to the eye of this old cynic.
She gave to me her tenderness
Her friendship and her love
I see her face from time to time
There in the sky above
We grew up learning as we went
What a voyage our life could be
It took us through a wilderness
Into the calmest sea
Her smile could lift me from the pain
I often found within
She said some things I won't forget
She made a few bells ring
So simple her humility
Her beauty found in grace
Today she lives another life
In some fantastic place
She showed me how to raise a smile
Out of a bed of gloom
And in her garden sanctuary
A life began to bloom
She visualized a world ahead
And planned how it would be
She left behind the strongest love
That lives eternally
I have the hope that when it's time
For me to come her way
That she'll be there to show me around
Whenever comes that day
Her love was life and happiness
And in her steps I trace
The way to live a better life
In some fantastic place, some fantastic place.