Writing lyrics can be very difficult

[Hi There, Am Pam]

Not so much because there isn't anything to write about, but that there is the tendancy to block out ideas which might be perceived as bad. Take for instance, writing on some kind of painful issue. In the past, it used to be easy because much of music was happy, and sort of blissfully ignorant.


Now music tends to be miserably ignorant, and many of the GOTH TEARS type of bands obviously go for the "I'M IN HELL, CUT MY LIFE INTO EQUAL PIECES SO WE CAN SHARE THEM AS DESSERT".

Really though, it's better to just write ideas and let it flow.... and later on, edit them if they suck ass. Otherwise, it'll just be a blank Microsoft Word document.

Questions, comments, concerns?

[ ] YES, I LIKE YOUR IDEAS, AND I WISH TO SUBSCRIBE TO YOUR NEWS LETTER

[ ] please send me no materials at this time

[Fab]

yes. I'm awake because I can't sleep because stuff sucks and in my contemplating how stuff sucks i managed to smash my face into my bedside table and have a huge nosebleed. so right now I could do with some fed up with everything lyrics. Right now I'm loving Ginger Wildheart - Valor Del Corazon, fucking ace lyrics.

[Hi There, Am Pam]

YES!!!
I'm awake because I can't sleep,
Stuff sucks,
And in my contemplating,
How stuff sucks,
I managed to smash my face
SMASH MY FUCKING FACE,
Into my bedside table!!!!
Huge nosebleed...

Right now,
I could do with some fed up with everything lyrics,
HUGE NOSEBLEED AND PAPERCUTS

What do you think? I think we have a number 1 hit on our hands.

[Peter]

make sure you lock in the rights to this song...you don't want to get screwed out of royalties. I think it'll go platinum. top 40, easily.

[Fab]

solid gold, in lyrical form, so not really solid....

[Under Burning Stars]

Name me some bands with decent lyrics. They are few and far between.

[Herr Lipp]

Joy Division, but you probably already knew that.

[Under Burning Stars]

I'm thinking of modern bands. I really can't think of many bands or artists at all who move me with lyrics. I mean it doesn't have to be profound, it just has to mean something more than conveniently rhyming.

I think a general drop in musical quality is probably a result of the negativity which seems to be consuming the world; i think it's probably quite hard for some artists to work with that.

At least we have Sean Paul, and i genuinely mean that. :yes:

[Herr Lipp]

I hate that guy :D His lyrics are probably sound, but I hate that forced reggae shit he's got going on.

[Under Burning Stars]

I think you would like to be this man Fraser. :yes:

[Six Ways]

I'm hoping you're joking.

But as for lyrics, I would still have to say Smashing Pumpkins (Ok, so sometimes Billy DID go off on one but by and large there's loadsa good stuff there), Radiohead (I've not yet heard them resort to a cheap rhyme, if it doesn't need to rhyme, Thom don't try to rhyme it), The Faint have some amazing lyrics, on very diverse subjects, The Good Life have some of the best lyrics known to man, and just generally Saddle Creek bands tend to be good for lyrics. That is, The Faint and The Good Life are both Saddle-creekers.

Anyway, yeah, a damn sight better than Arctic Monkeys, Coldplay, and 90% of Hip Hop (Yeah, mah niggas, I got bitches, cars, money, etc, pop a cap in yo ass, mah shit's down with mah homie bredren in tha fuckin' hood wi gin n' juice, and other sematically null statements).

[Dressed for the H-Bomb]

I'm hoping you're joking.

But as for lyrics, I would still have to say Smashing Pumpkins (Ok, so sometimes Billy DID go off on one but by and large there's loadsa good stuff there), Radiohead (I've not yet heard them resort to a cheap rhyme, if it doesn't need to rhyme, Thom don't try to rhyme it), The Faint have some amazing lyrics, on very diverse subjects, The Good Life have some of the best lyrics known to man, and just generally Saddle Creek bands tend to be good for lyrics. That is, The Faint and The Good Life are both Saddle-creekers.

Anyway, yeah, a damn sight better than Arctic Monkeys, Coldplay, and 90% of Hip Hop (Yeah, mah niggas, I got bitches, cars, money, etc, pop a cap in yo ass, mah shit's down with mah homie bredren in tha fuckin' hood wi gin n' juice, and other sematically null statements).
I love me some Faint, but um
It's a scene from the movie.
It's an aisle at the store.
It's the view of a canyon.
The sound of a sword.

It's an orchard of peaches.
Your wife in the shower.
While you wait for appointments.
Or as you walk through the park.

Oh. uh oh. Erection.

You know it's not only love dear.
That can flip the switch up.
You know it probably should be.
Maybe god fucked it up.

Oh uh oh. Erection.

It boiled up like a tower.
A monument in the park.
It's the cock of a rifle.
A memory in the dark.

You tried to keep it a secret.
But now the world's gonna know.
You tried for perfection.

But then oh uh oh. erection.
oh uh oh. erection.

[Under Burning Stars]

I'm hoping you're joking.



I'm sort of joking, i do quite like that Sean Paul tune, he really nailed a great pop song imo. :yes: Although if i'm honest i have no clue what he is singing about :D

Pumpkins have had some great lyrics. They were always the underdogs, and never really got much respect, even on this board! But everyone is entitled to their opinion. When i was growing up, they meant a lot for me at that age, specially with MCIS, i really connected with that album, and also with Adore.

Radiohead do have some great lines too, sometimes they are cryptic and quite ambiguous, and not all of it makes alot of sense to me, but of their recent material, i really love the words to Pyramid Song (my fave RH song), The Gloaming, Scatterbrain. Radiohead are one of the defining bands in recent memory for me, they are beyond words.

Cheers for the recommendations, i'll check them out. :yes:

When i talk about lyrics being meaningful, for me they don't have to be soul searching deadly serious investigations into the meaning of life (although this is cool) they just have to move me emotionally in some way.

[Under Burning Stars]

I've heard mention of The Faint before actually, although don't know any of their tunes. Which album do you recommend please?

Merci ;)

[Six Ways]

Uhhh.....they're quite electronica, but the latest (Wet From Birth) is slightly less so, but if you want more electronica-y then Danse Macabre is also great.

And what's wrong with the odd song like erection Architect? It's a great song, and the lyrics aren't too serious, and they work really really well musically. Just because they're not too serious doesn't mean they're not good lyrics. And I personally think that
"You tried to keep it a secret.
But now the world's gonna know.
You tried for perfection.

But then oh uh oh. erection."

combined with how it fits with the song musically, is one of the best lyrics The Faint have.

[Under Burning Stars]

Nice.
I'm d/loading Wet From Birth. :yes:

[Fab]

Everytime I walk down the street, erection
I see a woman that I'd like to beat, erection
When I see a whole in the ground, erection
When I hear that death-punk sound, ERRREEEECTION!!

wooooooooh! I GOT ERRECTION!!!!

You know you were thinking it too, Luke. (In case you didn't know, that was I Got Errection by Turbonegro).

As for great lyrics from modern bands, most of what Luke said, plus Pulp and Ginger Wildheart/The Wildhearts. Ginger is very maybe my favourite lyricist around at the moment, I can't think of any examples off the top of my head, but I don't like listing lyrics out of the context of the song, anything remotely to do with anything slightly personal jumps out straight away as emo.

Solo Ginger I think This is only a Problem and Ten Flaws down have ace lyrics, with Silver Ginger 5 there was Divine Imperfection and Inside Out, and Wildhearts there's Soul Searching on the Plannet Earth (Different Kind of Love), Inglorious, Dangerlust, Only One Hell... I could go on forever. If The Wildhearts had been an indie band instead of a Ramones/Motorhead/Beatles bastard then he wouldn't be so painfully underrated. I might bother to upload something at some point. Sorry, but The Wildhearts are one of my favourite bands, and Ginger is a top bloke.

[Six Ways]

and Ginger is a top bloke.

And is also commonly more likely to be up there where he is, than down here where he isn't.

Also, I wasn't aware it was spelt with two R's, unless that was a typo?

[Fab]

Yeah, that typo thing. I was going to correct you and tell you it was in fact Lemmy who was to be found down there where he was as opposed to up here where he wasn't, but then I realised you made allowances for that and got it the right way round. Except we weren't down there, we were up here. Meh, I met him in town!

[Six Ways]

You did what?!

[Fab]

I told you about it at the time, they were playing the met that night and I'd gone to town to go to the Gregg's near the light and just bumped into him.