Entertainment For Lively Minds
Words and phrases that should never again be used in Popular Song
Hello, The Lovely Massive...
After a mention on the podcast of a famous vocalist who refuses (quite rightly) to sing the word "baby" I thought I'd furnish The Massive with a list I made before writing the lyrics to our latest elpee, in order to place certain words and phrases firmly off limits.
I wonder (he said, opening a can of worms) if The Massive have any to add?
Brace yerselves, it's a long'un:
Words and phrases that should never again be used in Popular Song:
baby
ooh
done me wrong
do me right
fantasy / "fannersy"
i love you
i need you
i want you
darling
child
honey
so good
so fine
so right
so bad
take me
take me to a place
take me high(er)
you don't want me
you don't love me
you don't need me
anymore
no more
no use
chance
one more chance / time / kiss / etc
crazy / craaaaay-zeee / cray-yay-yay-zee, etc
promise
hold you
hold you in my arms (again)
back in my arms (again)
i want you back (again)
like the first time
the last time
kiss me
like you used to
the way you used to
like you did
the way you did
once again
once more
make it (good / real / last / easy / hard / happen / right / [etc])
i woke up this morning
can't sleep
can't eat
can't walk
can't sing
think(ing) about you
falling in love
is this love?
that i'm feeling
give it to me
one more time
let (it/the music/me) take you high(er)
get up / down / on it / out of here
get down
get on it
get out
find a way
out of here
out of my life
back to me
back to you
where we started
start again
start over
start all over again
bitch
hoe
niggaz
booty
ass
stuff
thang
body
glock
mother****er
f**k
f**ker
f**king
give a damn
be my / your lady / man
dance
move / work that thing / body
wanna
don't wanna
any more
over
over & over
i saw you / her
the real thing
just like (the real thing, etc)
can't take / stand it
down
up
over you / it
take me in your arms
take you in my arms
together
is this the end?
of it all
let's go
let it go
letting go
set me free
come back (to me)
ain't
gonna
heartbreak
rock
rock'n'roll
funk(y)
power of love
just a feeling
only a feeling
this feeling
feeling inside
can't live without you
make it
on my own
all night
tonight
this time
i'm yours
be mine
miracle
lady
it's over
i can't believe
i got
you got
babe
heaven
forever
never
fool
give me (just) a little more time
hand in the air
just don't care
shake (it / that thing)
what are we fighting for (esp to rhyme with war)
high (to rhyme with sky)
night
running
hurts (so good / bad)
ocean
mountain
river
satisfied
hurts (so good / bad)
break up
make up
you're my
you're / she's the one
beautiful
words
poetry
always
beat
street
in your eyes
everybody
out of my mind / head
1,2,3,4!
I'll be there
for you
out of my reach / hands
lying here beside you
lying there beside me
next to you / me
believe in you / me
don't'cha
won't'cha
ain't'cha
desperately
despair
like the wind
like a bird
sky above
hot/crazy/best/real thing
in my mind
i knew from the start
i never knew
coming back / home / back home
how it feels
it's alright
history
mystery
fever
heart attack
hold you back
don't have the words
like a moth to a flame
got my back against the wall
(thanks to Steevi Bacon for the last two)
Hey Mr DJ
(Thanks to Paolo from Senpai)
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Three phrases
from a song I and a mate attempted to write in the late 80s
It was called 'Cliche' and included many of the phrases above, and these three:
Cuts Like A Knife
Never Felt So Low
Out of My Head
(There were probably others, but I can't remember)
We got the words, just never got round to coming up with a tune, a melody, a riff or anything. It was basically just a list.
was your mate
Noel Gallagher?
Unless I missed it...
...add:
We're gonna make it, girl
or
Girl, we're gonna make it
I would be quite content...
... to never hear "school" rhymed with "golden rule" ever again.
Here's another:
"Hold on"
...to what? It's never made clear is it?
Oasis are repeat offenders here, surprise surprise.
God, yeah!
I get SO tired of hearing the phrases "gorging on the bloody human feast" and "zombies puke pools of rotten entrails". But then I suppose we just can't deny the lasting influence of Autopsy on the current top 40.
Can't wait to hear JLS's cover of Necrocannibalistic Vomitorium.
If you exclude too many 'cliches'
you might just end up with unpopular songs.
Funnily enough...
...we appear to have done exactly that :)
Man, I feel your pain :)
Good luck with the tunes.
Ooh gosh
Rhyming the words "high", "fly" and "sky" (Yes, Noel. You are very guilty here)
The phrase "Sweet surrender". "Crash the yoghurt-truck", however, is a perfectly acceptable replacement.
Instrumentals
Are clearly the way forward
I've been waitin'
Anticipatin'.
Yes well now you're here, have you anything else to add?
Change
Rhymed with rearrange.
Lazy and tortology. That's an opinion, by the way, not another suggestion for the list.
Reality check
Twenty years ago I came to the conclusion that all song lyrics that include the word "reality" are a bit suss. Nothing has happened since then to change my mind.
Boulevard of broken dreams
crops up more often than you might imagine.
No more 'illusion'...
...rhyming with 'confusion', please.
Yep, alot of that stuff is pretty phoney....
....I'll add 'London' and 'Calling'.
Didn't even have the good grace to sell more copies than Buggles.
I'll get me coat.
Simply The Best
Morning Light
Far Away Towns
We're gonna make it thru/back
WTF?
When I get home at night
from workin' hard from 9 to 5 to bring home my money to keep you satisfied and buy you diamond rings (and things) I read that list and it just makes me wanna make sweet love to you all night long. But I can't; I have to pay my dues and get ready for the weekend first. Which is what my mama said to me.
Neon
highway
gasoline
city (when pronounced citay)
action (when pronounced ak-shon)
give/giving it one more try
sweet love/lovin'
do me (as in 'why d'ya do me this way')
satellite
The OP would make a great song
It's got everything, just need some grooves to go with it. not sure about the sweary part though.
Lines
any mention of a 'line' being crossed, reached, held, etc.
Phones
Any talk of calling someone must not use the phrase "called me/you/him/her on the phone" - nobody says that in real life.
My mate Mad Rod
Had an irrational dislike of any songs which contained the word "Cadillac".
Er
that's not irrational.
how did he feel about
hot rods ?
Isn't that a lyric sheet...
...from a Beyoncé song, featuring Kanye West?
Cuts like a,um,cutting thing
Use of the phrase "cuts like a knife" is indeed the mark of an impoverished lyrical imagination. I mean, what do we use to cut things most times? That's right, a knife. So to say "cuts like a knife" carries no resonance whatsoever, it's the lyrical equivalent of hydrogenated vegetable oil-pure filler with no nourishment value whatsoever.
'Cuts like paper'
hurts a lot more though
Along
with your oceans, mountains and rivers I could go forever with out anyone being anywhere near a valley.
And 'break of dawn' is past its shelf-life.
A twist in my sobriety
and any song with the word 'clowns' in it
Appears to contain every
Appears to contain every cliche known to man
[INTRO]
Whhooaa, whhooaa, whhooaaaa
I get the same old dreams, same time every night
Fall to the ground and I wake up
So I get out of bed, put on my shoes, and in my head
Thoughts fly back to the break-up
These four walls are closing in
Look at the fix you've put me in
Since you been gone, since you been gone
I'm outta my head, can't take it
Could I be wrong, but since you been gone
You cast the spell, so break it
Oooohhh - Whhooooaaa - Ooooohhh
Since you been gone
So in the night I stand beneath the back street light
I read the words that you sent to me
I can take the afternoon, the night-time comes around too soon
You can't know what you mean to me
Your poisonED letter, your telegram
Just goes to show you don't give a damn
Since you been gone, since you been gone
I'm outta my head, can't take it
Could I be wrong, but since you been gone
You cast the spell, so break it
Oooohhh - Whhooooaaa - Ooooohhh
Since you been gone
[INTERLUDE]
If you will come back
Baby you know
You'll never do wrong
Huhhhhh
Since you been gone, since you been gone
I'm outta my head, can't take it
Could I be wrong, but since you been gone
You cast the spell, so break it
Oooohhh - Whhooooaaa - Ooooohhh
Ever since, you been gone
[GUITAR SOLO OUTRO]
Since you been gone, since you been gone
I'm outta my head, can't take it
Since you been gone, since you been gone
[FADE]