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  • EADD Moderators: Shambles

When do pop music lyrics become poetry ?

Another random "any tune will do" kinda band. Smashing Pumpkins. Cover so very many aspects of life so fukkin well so which to pick? None in particular. Just listen to any album to know <3

Pic of the moment...

Smashing Pumpkins - Bodies (fukkin blistering live version '96)

cast the pearls aside, of a simple life of need
come into my life forever
the crumbled cities stand as known
of the sights you have been shown
of the hurt you call your own
love is suicide
the empty bodies stand at rest
casualties of their own flesh
afflicted by their dispossession
but no bodies ever knew
nobodys
no bodies felt like you
nobodys
love is suicide
now we drive the night, to the ironies of peace
you can't help deny forever
the tragedies reside in you
the secret sights hide in you
the lonely nights divide you in two
all my blisters now revealed
in the darkness of my dreams in the spaces in between us
but no bodies ever knew
nobodys
no bodies felt like you
nobodys
love is suicide
Click to expand...
 
Well, let's try to remove the influence that knowing who the song artist is would have on the lyrics although i'm sure by reading thema lot of people will know who sang it

"I hear your heart beat to the beat of the drums.....oh what a shame that you came here with someone, so while your here in my arms, let's make the most of the night like we're gonna die young."
 
Nice idea :)

Although I've noticed that in many cases the lyric and tune need each other to work properly... which is possibly the difference betwixt poetry and lyric...

One more for the road as me lappy is redhot again so probably about to need a cooldown. Will dig out some anonymous lyrics another time, in the meantime: For Sammy G ;)

Your world is an ashtray
We burn and coil like cigarettes
The more you cry your ashes turn to mud
It's the nature of the leeches, the virgin's
Feeling cheated
You've only spent a second of your life
My world is unaffected, there is an exit here
I say it is and then it's true,
There is a dream inside a dream,
I'm wide awake the more I sleep
You'll understand when I'm dead
I went to god just to see, and I was looking at me
Saw heaven and hell were lies
When I'm god everyone dies
Scar/can you feel my power?
Shoot here and the world gets smaller
Scar/scar/can you feel my power?
One shot and the world gets smaller
Let's jump upon the sharp swords
And cut away our smiles
Without the threat of death
There's no reason to live at all
My world is unaffected, there is an exit here
I say it is and then it's true,
There is a dream inside a dream,
I'm wide awake the more I sleep
You'll understand when I'm dead

[Bridge]

[Chorus]

"Each thing i show you is a piece of my death"
Shoot shoot shoot motherfucker
No salvation, no forgiveness
"This is beyond your experience"
Forgiveness...
Click to expand...

<3
 
Shambles said:
More or less anything by Lou Reed. In this case I pick Berlin.
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I saw that live at the Royal Albert Hall- a friend scooped ridiculously cheap tickets at the last minute and we found ourselves in the middle of the third row, twas really very good. He had a choir of children doing the backing vocals as you're probably aware from the recording. Exceptional album.

I have been a huge fan of Lou's since I was able to operate hifi- he does have an irritating tendency to craft something brilliant, beautiful and delicate (often out of bog-standard components, ie street talk / vernacular / monosyllables) then smash it all with a sub-Sabbath couplet eg 'just like poison in a vial/ she was often very vile'. You can tell it's going to go in a bad direction for certain lyricists when a line starts with a simile -see also Black Sabbath for extremely similar abuse of homo ~phones / ~nyms - (masses/masses).
 
Shambles said:
Another obvious one. Less obvious ones will involve accessing tunes hard to access at the moment so sticking with the classics for now...

Radiohead. Pretty much anything by again. If you disagree then you are wrong. Simple as that.

(slight bias admitted: they're very frustratingly friends of friends... or at least were before they got well known. Doubt they'd return my phonecalls now, mind :D)

Radiohead - Paranoid Android (corking vid whether you like 'em or not)



<3
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YESYESYES!! Never got anyone who thought Radiohead were just 'sooo depressing'. Fuck off! The dark never shone with so much light. Beautiful.
 
great choice shambles (Smashing Pumpkins Bodies). That album and several more is full of fanstastic lines though; 'disarm me with a smile'

I feel something by The Pogues or The Waterboys should be there too. I will have a mooch later.

Oh and one of bowies album tracks s going up.......tomorrow..

Pogues - A Pair Of Brown Eyes

Songwriters: SHANE MACGOWAN

One summer evening drunk to hell
I stood there nearly lifeless
An old man in the corner sang
Where the water lilies grow
And on the jukebox johnny sang
About a thing called love
And it's how are you kid and what's your name
And how would you bloody know?
In blood and death 'neath a screaming sky
I lay down on the ground
And the arms and legs of other men
Were scattered all around
Some cursed, some prayed, some prayed then cursed
Then prayed and bled some more
And the only thing that I could see
Was a pair of brown eyes that was looking at me
But when we got back, labeled parts one to three
There was no pair of brown eyes waiting for me

And a rovin' a rovin' a rovin' I'll go
For a pair of brown eyes

I looked at him he looked at me
All I could do was hate him
While ray and philomena sang
Of my elusive dream
I saw the streams, the rolling hills
Where his brown eyes were waiting
And I thought about a pair of brown eyes
That waited once for me
So drunk to hell I left the place
Sometimes crawling sometimes walking
A hungry sound came across the breeze
So I gave the walls a talking
And I heard the sounds of long ago
From the old canal
And the birds were whistling in the trees
Where the wind was gently laughing

And a rovin' a rovin' a rovin' I'll go
For a pair of brown eyes

i cant include one pogues tune without another, so

Pogues Thousands Are Sailing Lyrics
The island it is silent now
But the ghosts still haunt the waves
And the torch lights up a famished man
Who fortune could not save

Did you work upon the railroad
Did you rid the streets of crime
Were your dollars from the white house
Were they from the five and dime

Did the old songs taunt or cheer you
And did they still make you cry
Did you count the months and years
Or did your teardrops quickly dry

Ah, no, says he, 'twas not to be
On a coffin ship I came here
And I never even got so far
That they could change my name

Thousands are sailing
Across the western ocean
To a land of opportunity
That some of them will never see
Fortune prevailing
Across the western ocean
Their bellies full
Their spirits free
They'll break the chains of poverty
And they'll dance

In manhattan's desert twilight
In the death of afternoon
We stepped hand in hand on broadway
Like the first man on the moon

And "the blackbird" broke the silence
As you whistled it so sweet
And in brendan behan's footsteps
I danced up and down the street

Then we said goodnight to broadway
Giving it our best regards
Tipped our hats to mister cohen
Dear old times square's favorite bard

Then we raised a glass to jfk
And a dozen more besides
When I got back to my empty room
I suppose I must have cried

Thousands are sailing
Again across the ocean
Where the hand of opportunity
Draws tickets in a lottery
Postcards we're mailing
Of sky-blue skies and oceans
From rooms the daylight never sees
Where lights don't glow on christmas trees
But we dance to the music
And we dance

Thousands are sailing
Across the western ocean
Where the hand of opportunity
Draws tickets in a lottery
Where e'er we go, we celebrate
The land that makes us refugees
From fear of priests with empty plates
From guilt and weeping effigies
And we dance
 
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The lyrics for the chorus must never deal with anything but the most basic of human emotions. This is not us trying to be cynical in a clever sort of way when we say “stick to the cliches”. The cliches are the cliches because they deal with the emotional topics we all feel. No records are bought in vast quantities because the lyrics are intellectually clever or deal in strange and new ideas. In fact, the lyrics can be quite meaningless in a literal sense but still have a great emotional pull.

Morrisey has undoubtedly come up with some of the wittiest titles of the decade. “Shakespeare’s Sister”, “Girlfriend In A Coma” or “William It Was Really Nothing” are classic. However, with titles like these he will always be guaranteed a non Top Five placing.

Do not attempt writing chorus lyrics that deal in regret, jealousy, hatred or any other negative emotions. These require a vocal performer of great depth to put it over well: the epic Euro balladeers or the kings of Country, the great soul men or the crown prince of hate – Johnny Rotten. You should stick to nonsense, pleasure, good times, “I wanna dance all night long, love you forever, or at least until the morning comes”, but nothing too sensual; that too requires too much performance talent. Just remember there is a difference between bland cliche and cliche and only you can tell the difference in the context of the song you are constructing.

For the majority of people the sound of the vocals and the words that are being sung throughout the verses just merge into the over all sound of the track. The words that are being sung could be any old gibberish, only the words to the chorus have any real importance. Of course there are the exceptions when the classic narrative song breaks through and storms the Number One slot These can never be planned and I’m sure the performers of these freak hits are as surprised as anybody when it happens. So unless you want to risk everything on some bizarre tale you have to tell, stick with us.

The type of devotion inspired amongst pubescent teenage girls for a certain singer or band takes effect on the second or third single. The hype machine is usually only smelling the scent by the second single and can then only shift into top gear on the third one. The chapter’s precis is the quality of a singer’s voice and their attractiveness is only of any real importance in terms of a follow up career.
 
In the moonlight,
After midnight,
I see you silly fuckers out looking for delight"

- Sex Pistols "No Feelings" (live version).
 
^ Good call, Issy <3

Gotta havva lil bit of Cobain in a poetic lyrics thread...

Plucked more or less at random but both faves of mine...

She eyes me like a Pisces when I am weak
I've been locked inside your heart-shaped box for weeks
I've been drawn into your magnet tar pit trap
I wish I could eat your cancer when you turn black

Hey!
Wait!
I've got a new complaint
Forever in debt to your priceless advice
Hey!
Wait!
I've got a new complaint
Forever in debt to your priceless advice
Hey!
Wait!
I've got a new complaint
Forever in debt to your priceless advice, your advice

Meat-eating orchids forgive no one just yet
Cut myself on angel hair and baby's breath
Broken hymen of your Highness, I'm left back
Throw down your umbilical noose so I can climb right back

Hey!
Wait!
I've got a new complaint
Forever in debt to your priceless advice
Hey!
Wait!
I've got a new complaint
Forever in debt to your priceless advice
Hey!
Wait!
I've got a new complaint
Forever in debt to your priceless advice, your advice

She eyes me like a Pisces when I am weak
I've been locked inside your heart-shaped box for weeks
I've been drawn into your magnet tar pit trap
I wish I could eat your cancer when you turn black

Hey!
Wait!
I've got a new complaint
Forever in debt to your priceless advice
Hey!
Wait!
I've got a new complaint
Forever in debt to your priceless advice
Hey!
Wait!
I've got a new complaint
Forever in debt to your priceless advice, your advice, your advice, your advice
Click to expand...

It's so relieving to know that you're leaving as soon as you get paid
It's so relaxing to hear you're asking wherever you get your way
It's so soothing to know that you'll sue me, this is starting to sound the same
I miss the comfort in being sad
In her false withness, we hope you're still with us,
To see if they float or drown
Our favorite patient,
A display of patience, disease-covered Puget Sound
She'll come back as fire, to burn all the liars,
And leave a blanket of ash on the ground
I miss the comfort in being sad
Click to expand...

<3
 
Think my fave Cobain lyric is the live version of Lithium he did at the MTV awards where instead of singing the correct lyric he changes it to

"...But I'm a turd".
 
RHCP - Deep Kick:

It started when we were little kids.
Free spirits, but already tormented by our own hands
given to us by our parents.
We got together and wrote on desks
and slept in laundry rooms near snowy mountains
and slipped through whatever cracks we could find,
minds altered, we didn't falter
in portraving hysterical and tragic characters in a smog filled universe.
we loved the dirty city
and the journeys away from it.
We had not yet been or seen our friends, selves,
chase tails round and round in downward spirals,
leaving trail of irretrievable, vital life juice behind.
Still, the brothersbloodcomradespartnerfamilycuzz was impenetrable
and we lived inside it
laughing with no clothes, and everything experimental 'till death was upon us.
In our face, mortality.
And lots of things seemed futile then, but love and music can save us,
and did, while the giant grey monster grew
more poisoned and volatile around us,
jaws clamping down and spewing ugly shit around.
Nothing is the same.
So we keep moving.
We keep moving.

(Ooooooooooooh Shit! Ooooooooooooh Shit!)

Went off and got some hair cuts
Lookin wild and got all drugged up
Hopped a train into the night
Got a ride with a transvestite
Two boys in San Francisco
Two boys in San Francisco
Blasted off in a Bart bathroom
Those coppers woke us up
The mothersfuckers woke us up

Two young brothers on a hovercraft
Telepathic love and belly laughs

Storm the stage of Universal
Slim shine talk boy go subversal
Papa's proud and so he sent us
Pounding hearts full and relentless
Two boys in London, England
Two boys in London, England
Climbing out of hostel windows
Wearing gear so out but in though
Come on kid and do the no no

Two young brothers on a hovercraft
Telepathic love and belly laughs

(Oooooooooooh Shit! Ooooooooooooh Shit!)

We went to Fairfax High School
Jumped off buildings into their pools
We'd sit down and grease at Canters
Run like hell they can't catch us
Two boys in L.A. proper
Two boys in L.A. proper
Stealin' anything that we could
Gotta sneak into the Starwood
Gotta peak into the deep good

I remember...
10 years ago in Hollywood
We did some good
and we did some real bad stuff
but the Butthole Surfers said
It's better to regret something you did
Than something you didn't do
We were young
And we were looking
looki-i-ing
looking for that deep kick...
Seen 'em come, seen 'em go...

(And I feel I'm getting close to you)
Click to expand...
 
Ismene said:
Think my fave Cobain lyric is the live version of Lithium he did at the MTV awards where instead of singing the correct lyric he changes it to

"...But I'm a turd".
Click to expand...

Am not even gonna try to post live version lyrics for owt, Issy. All the best seem to change 'em willynilly live. And often for the better.

Bit outta leftfield this one but her lyrics often appeal to me despite being from a ladygirl perspective and happen to be listening to it now and the lyrics were there in the comments bit so...

As she walks in the room,
Scented and tall,
Hesitating once more.
And as I take on myself,
And the bitterness I felt,
Realise that love lost, while
White horses,
They will take me away,
And the tenderness I feel,
Will send the dark underneath,
Will I follow?

Through the glory of life,
I'm scattered on the floor,
Disappointed and sore.
And in my thoughts I have bled,
For the riddles I've been fed,
Another lie moves over, while
White horses,
They will take me away,
And the tenderness I feel,
Will send the dark underneath,
Will I follow?

While, white horses,
They will take me away,
And the tenderness I feel,
Will send the dark underneath,
Will I follow?
Click to expand...

Am really not doing me tunes justice in this thread yet. Have such a shitty memory for owt including lyrics. If the tune's playing I know 'em all by heart. If not they're all Greek to me. Hence basically posting whatever I happen to be listening to mostly 8)

Will maybe dig up some proper poetic stuff at some point... but probably not. Suffice to say there's plenty out there <3

Also, that's one of me fave RHCP tunes is that. Good call :)
 
Best Nirvana lyrics without question are from In Utero (I still wear my In Utero t-shirt that's a good 13 years old now)

anyway back to the thread, I want to add

I jumped in the river and what did I see?
Black-eyed angels swam with me
A moon full of stars and astral cars
All the things I used to see
All my lovers were there with me
All my past and futures
And we all went to heaven in a little row boat
There was nothing to fear and nothing to doubt

I jumped into the river
Black-eyed angels swam with me
A moon full of stars and astral cars
And all the things I used to see
All my lovers were there with me
All my past and futures
And we all went to heaven in a little row boat
There was nothing to fear and nothing to doubt

There was nothing to fear and nothing to doubt
There was nothing to fear and nothing to doubt
 
Shambles said:
Love that song, Farmaz. All of that album. And all the others tbh. One of those rare bands that seem to get better as they get older.
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1,000% agree mate :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbKQPqs-cqc

When I first began chatting to my woman I sent it to her & she throught I was all romantic & stuff, she never saw the dark side of the lyrics.

I 1st heard the Amnesiac album while on Acid at my mates house, we just finished Jimi Hendrix - electric ladyland album & he stuck Amnesiac on.
It totally blew me away, I ran out the next morning & spent my last few quid on the album, though I was broke for the next 4 days I played that album over & over again.

Still one of my top albums ever, thats what gets me with EADD people see I like Norwegian black metal & think I am some idiot in music, I laugh at these fools :)
 
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