waxing lyrical...
The following songs all contain lyrics which, for one reason or another, knock my socks off.
The Rose - Bette Midler (written by Amanda Mc Broom)
Hotel California - The Eagles
Time - Pink Floyd
I Want To Know What Love Is - Foreigner
Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd
Khe Sanh - Cold Chisel
Lyricswise, what rocks your boat?
The Rose - Bette Midler (written by Amanda Mc Broom)
Hotel California - The Eagles
Time - Pink Floyd
I Want To Know What Love Is - Foreigner
Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd
Khe Sanh - Cold Chisel
Lyricswise, what rocks your boat?
posted by The Editor at
10:19 PM
21 Comments:
Everthing from Man of la Mancha.and "The Rose", though the sound of Bette Midler's voice might well have something to do with it. :-)
Best wishes fer 2007 Gezz.
Anthem by Leonard Cohen.
I would probably like anything by Cohen.
http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/leonardcohen/anthem.html
I just heard them at a poetry reading last night. It read well as poetry which isn't always the case for song lyrics even when they seem ok when sung. These words already achieve emotional dimensions for me without resorting to the charms of melody.
I look forward to taking turns with you, tossing rock or rocks at 2007
Well, I am afraid I should have been born earlier because music from the 20s,30s and 40s is what rocks my boat. My third-favourite lyricist wrote a piece that you might enjoy, Gerry--if you can get past your disdain for the piano :) It's greatest when sung very fast, as in an old recording I have.
I LOVE A PIANO
by Irving Berlin
As a child I was wild when the band played,
How I ran to the man when his hand swayed.
Clarinets were my pets and the slide trombone
I thought was simply divine.
But today when they play I could hiss them
Every bar is a jar to my system
But there's one musical instrument
That I call mine.
I love a piano,
I love a piano
I love to hear somebody play
On the piano,
a grand piano
It simply carries me away.
I know a fine way
to treat a Steinway
I love to run my fingers
o'er the keys,
the ivories
And with the pedal
I love to meddle
When Padarovsky comes this way
I'm so delighted,
if I'm invited,
to hear that long-haired genius play.
So you can keep your fiddle
and your bow
Give me a p - i - a - n - o - - oh - oh
I love to sit right
beside an upright
Or a high-toned baby grand!
When the green tetrazine starts to warble
I grow cold as an old piece of marble
I am lude to the crude little party-thing
A-who don't know when fall.
At my best I detest a soprano
But I run to the one at the piano
I always love the accompaniment
and that's because--
I love a piano,
I love a piano
I love to hear somebody play
On the piano,
a grand piano
It simply carries me away.
I know a fine way
to treat a Steinway
I love to run my fingers
o'er the keys,
the ivories
And with the pedal
I love to meddle
When Padarovsky comes this way
I'm so delighted,
if I'm invited,
to hear that long-haired genius play.
So you can keep your fiddle
and your bow
Give me a p - i - a - n - o - - oh - oh
I love to sit right
beside an upright
Or a high-toned baby grand!
Oh, and GS, I will admit there is one line of Leonard Cohen's that I love:
There's a crack in everything...that's how the light gets in.
While I love music I'm probably more attracted to melody, chord structure and rhythm so your question is indeed a challenge - expect me to come back to this thread a few (thousand) times after these first few that spring to mind (for different reasons):
- Flame Trees (Cold Chisel)
- Reckless (Australian Crawl)
- Miss Shapiro (801)
- Strange Fruit (Billie Holliday)
- Desperado (Eagles)
- anything by Gilbert and Sullivan
More later!
Lyrics mentioning pianos are banned from this blog. :-)
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PianoPianoPianoPianoPianoPianoPianoPiano
PianoPianoPianoPianoPianoPianoPianoPiano
PianoPianoPianoPianoPianoPianoPianoPiano
PianoPianoPianoPianoPianoPianoPianoPiano
PianoPianoPianoPianoPianoPianoPianoPiano
PianoPianoPianoPianoPianoPianoPianoPiano
PianoPianoPianoPianoPianoPianoPianoPiano
PianoPianoPianoPianoPianoPianoPianoPiano
PianoPianoPianoPianoPianoPianoPianoPiano
PianoPianoPianoPianoPianoPianoPianoPiano
PianoPianoPianoPianoPianoPianoPianoPiano
PianoPianoPianoPianoPianoPianoPianoPiano
PianoPianoPianoPianoPianoPianoPianoPiano
PianoPianoPianoPianoPianoPianoPianoPiano
PianoPianoPianoPianoPianoPianoPianoPiano
PianoPianoPianoPianoPianoPianoPianoPiano
PianoPianoPianoPianoPianoPianoPianoPiano
PianoPianoPianoPianoPianoPianoPianoPiano
Here's one that's not a song yet but I sure wish it was:
http://adlib.blogs.com/silly_poems/2006/10/owed_to_a_piano.html
happy new year big G...
i'm still teaching myself to listen to songs for lyrics n not just the bass-line n the beats.... my taste is probably a lot 'younger' n less connoisseur-ified than ur mates...
out of 2006 i liked Snowpatrol's album: Eyes Open the most. it's a bit of an epic. (You heard of them?) i think they totally aced the marriage between lyrics n music (which is almost extinct in popular music for my generation).
i like:
you're cinematic razor sharp
a welcome arrow through the heart
Under your skin feels like home
Electric shocks on aching bones
There is a darkness deep in you
A frightening magic I cling to
and
Your soft skin is weeping/ a joy you can't keep in
leonard cohen's a supreme lyricist... but his songs are kinda too depressing for someone my age. i found a poet to match his genius from my generatio: it's this hip hop artist from the big smoke in a duo called fbcfabric & reindeer. if u get a chance listen to "soulsuck" or "passenger". (could send u it) can't find the lyrics online cus its underground urban stuff n spits lyrics too fast for me to scribe out for ya.
deep poignant beats n melancholy riffs too. it's pretty powerful.
Kurt !!!!!! You're being unruly !!! Stand in the corner !!!
And another thing... Any bloody instrument you can't tune yourself should definitely be reduced to matchwood!!! Toothpicks, anyone?
I'll show you unruly. . .
pi a no pianopi
anop ianopi ano p i
anopia nop ian o p i ano
pia
n
oPia
nopian Opi anop ian opianop ian
opian op ianopi anopI ano pia nOpianopi anop iaNo pianoPiAnopi ANopiANOpia noPi
aNoP iA nopiaNopIanOPIAnoP IanopiAnoP iANOPI
a NO piA no
pi AN opiaNOP ianOP ianOPIanoP iaN o
3.141592653589793238462643383279502884197169399375105820974944592 ...
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Kurt is being anything but, eh? I also heard some Snow Patrol while on hols - offspring no 2's choice. Some more of my favourites:
- nearly anything by Simon and Garfunkel but particularly Dangling Conversation and America ("Kathy I'm lost I said, though I knew she was sleeping, I'm empty and aching and I don't know why")
- the Beatles - For no one
- the Band - It makes no difference (always tears me up and I wish I could play it properly).
Hah! Very funny with the pi thingie, Kurt. Now get back in your corner!!!
Nora, yeah, for me, these days, it's the lyrics (mostly). Looked at some Snow Patrol lyrics. I'm too cynical to evaluate their lyrics fairly, I feel.
Leonard Cohen... Wrist slashing material. But there's no doubt the dude was very very deep.
Phil, I like lyrics that make me think or impact me emotionally in some way. Especially if they've got psychological or political "biffo".
Happy 2007, Gerry! Here's a couple of my favorites:
Skating Away on the Thin Ice of the New Day, Jethro Tull
I Hope You Dance, Lee Ann Womack
I am with Kurt Reply, back in the past just lovin anything by Cole Porter "even educated fleas do it, Let do it, Let's fall in love". Syncopation is the icing on the cake, try "Anything Goes". andI'm with Phill and Paul Simon: imagine PS was married to carrie fisher who also CLEARLY has 'a way with words' - what great fights they must have had while breaking up.
The absolute no contest saddest song lyric ever written bar none and no correspondence will be entered into, is
Kris Kristofferson " .. and make believe you love me
one last time,
For The Good Times".
a heartbreaker.
which leads me to this: cheery pop music is often quite depressing, yet blues songs are mostly UPLIFTING.
and we all shine on
instant karmas gonna getcha.
.. and TORCH SONGS like
Cry Me A River
oh yes.
does anybody recall seeing the Lisa Simpsons voiceover actress in an old show called Herman's Head?
I loved that show and in one episode she sang Cry Me A River and it was wonderful.
The lyric is brief and has odd syncopation and the whole piece supports the Less Is More theory of impact.
*goes off singing* .... 'No-o-o-oooow, you say you love me ....
I like those ones as well-- except I'm not sure I have hear bette midler's rose yet.
actually i'm impressed you even took the time to check them out.
but you're right they have some ultra s*** lyrics too... sorry!
take care.
Yay for Telstra, the yobs got their act together and fixed the lines so I get to comment.
I love all these songs and Brownie, next grogblog you and I sing 'cry me a river', we'll lay in the gutters.
Favourite with me (no laughing), the theme from the film 'Titanic' because I love the words, Celine can shove an anchor in her mouth though.
Oh buggar, 'them' we'll lay them in the gutters, not us.
... BUT THEY WILL BE LOOKING AT THE STARS.
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