Attitudes to music
This rambles some.
Ok, so, thank you Carly, your post offered me an interesting challenge, can I offer an intelligent comment on the state of music in the UK. Well frankly (mr shankly) I love lyrics so am happy to investigate further.
Now this is unlikely to be an entirely objective post as I have personal tastes and feelings, so a bit about my bias first, to set the scene.
I love rock and metal, every kind of rock and metal. I am not goth, emo, old school, punk etc etc, I love them all and bless their cotton socks. I like and listen to a wide variety of music, classical, metal obv. A little jazz, blues, but precious little dance and pop only on the freak occasions where its really good. I do have some dirty little secrets in my music collection, because sometimes even I want frothy plastic crap, but I see it for what it is and enjoy.
Right now that’s done, does Britain go in for angst?
Well I did some favourite lyric searches, according to MTV at 8:30 this morning this was the nations top 15 lyrics.
1 10cc
Life Is A Minestrone
"Life is a minestrone, Served up with parmesan cheese"
Life Is A Minestrone Written By Lol Creme and Eric Stewart (c) EMI Music
(I love 10cc, and this is a fantastic line)
2 50 Cent
21 Questions
"I love you like a fat kid love cake"
(a ha, so it’s the fat kid again. I think the lyric is good, but why oh why are so many people listening to 50 cent?)
3 Abba
The Winner Takes It All
"The winner takes it all, The loser standing small, Beside the victory, That's her destiny"
(I like abba but I think this is far from their best lyric)
4 Arctic Monkeys
I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor
"Oh there ain't no love, No Montagues and Capulets, We're just banging tunes and DJ sets and dirty dancefloors and dreams of naughtiness"
(Again, as Carly said, will people think the same in ten years? I love them, but this is not the best lyric)
5 The Beach Boys
God Only Knows
"If you should ever leave me, Though life would go on believe me, The world could show nothing to me, So what good would living do me."
(awesome and classic)
6 The Beatles
A Day In The Life
"I read the news today oh boy, Four thousand holes in Blackburn, Lancashire. And though the holes were rather small, They had to count them all, Now they know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall"
(see those beatles quotes rank much higher over here, it’s a form of national pride)
7 The Beatles
Eleanor Rigby
"Eleanor Rigby picks up the rice in the church where a wedding has been, Lives in a dream"
(I love this song!!!!! Plangent)
8 The Beatles
Hey Jude
"Hey Jude don't make it bad, take a sad song and make it better"
(uh huh, good stuff here)
9 The Beatles
Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds
"Picture yourself in a boat on a river, with tangerine trees and marmalade skies"
(somebody calls you , you answer quite slowly, a girl with kaliedascope eyes)
10 The Beatles
Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
"It was twenty years ago today, Sergeant Pepper taught the band to play"
(meh, love the song but as lyrics go its unisnpired, I think the walrus is more interesting)
11 The Beatles
Yesterday
"Yesterday, All my troubles seemed so far away, Now it looks as though they're here to stay, Oh, I believe in Yesterday."
(me too john, me too)
12 Bill Withers
Lean On Me
"Lean on me, when you're not strong, And I'll be your friend, I'll help you carry on, For it won't be long , Til I'm gonna need, Somebody to lean on"
(hmmm, ok, yes, there does seem to be a fairly constant angst now)
13 Blur
Parklife
"I get up when I want, except on Wednesdays, When I get rudely awakened by the dustmen"
(well in all fairness, we have all been there, and it sucks)
14 Bob Dylan
Subterranean Homesick Blues
"Johnny's in the basement mixing up the medicine. I'm on the pavement thinking about the Government"
(This man can do no wrong, besides, many of his lyrics where made by mixing words clipped out of magazines. The original fridge poet)
15 Bob Marley
No Woman, No Cry
"Said I remember when we used to sit in the government yard in Trenchtown, yeah! And then Georgie would make the fire lights, I seh, logwood burnin' through the nights"
(doesn’t everyone?)
VH-1 has this to say
The top five lyrics in the VH1 poll were:
1. U2 - One. "One life, with each other, sisters, brothers."
2. The Smiths - How Soon is Now? "So you go, and you stand on your own, and you leave on your own, and you go home, and you cry, and you want to die."
3. Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit. "I feel stupid and contagious, here we are now, entertain us."
4. Bob Marley - Redemption Song. "Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our minds, have no fear for atomic energy, 'cause none of them can stop the time."
5. Coldplay - Yellow. "Look at the stars, look how they shine for you."
For myself, some of the lyrics in these lists would rank well with me, but others are a bit drab and predicatble. Where are the boomtown rats with I hate Mondays? Surely a classic, with some superb lyrics.
How about Black Sabbath, “look into my eyes and see who I am, my name is lucifer please take my hand” and Ozzy’s solo stuff. Ugh, frankly I am dissapointed and can confirm that the MTV watching, voting british public are dull, and staid and unimaginative, but then look at the government, you could say the same of our political votes.
I dont even bother to look at the charts normally, but I had a quick look just for this and was pleasently suprised.
1 Sandi ThomI Wish I Was A Punk Rocker(RCA)
2 Gnarls BarkleyCrazy(Warner Bros)
3 KeaneIs It Any Wonder(Island)
4 Pink Who Knew(Laface)
6 Ronan Keating & Kate RusbyAll Over Again(Polydor)/
7 Oakenfold Ft Brittany MurphyFaster Kill Pussycat(Perfecto)
8 Nelly FurtadoManeater(Geffen)
9 LL Cool J Ft Jennifer LopezControl Myself(Def Jam)
10 Primal ScreamCountry Girl(Columbia)
I haven’t heard the no 1, but Pink and Primal Scream both in the top ten? Are people with taste still buying singles en mass? Can I get a woot woot?
I think generally the songs that stick with people are the ones they can really understand and feel, so all that angst connects to us so it lasts.
I may make a more meaningful comment at some point but dfor now my ramblings will have to do. Does this help at all Carly?
Ok, so, thank you Carly, your post offered me an interesting challenge, can I offer an intelligent comment on the state of music in the UK. Well frankly (mr shankly) I love lyrics so am happy to investigate further.
Now this is unlikely to be an entirely objective post as I have personal tastes and feelings, so a bit about my bias first, to set the scene.
I love rock and metal, every kind of rock and metal. I am not goth, emo, old school, punk etc etc, I love them all and bless their cotton socks. I like and listen to a wide variety of music, classical, metal obv. A little jazz, blues, but precious little dance and pop only on the freak occasions where its really good. I do have some dirty little secrets in my music collection, because sometimes even I want frothy plastic crap, but I see it for what it is and enjoy.
Right now that’s done, does Britain go in for angst?
Well I did some favourite lyric searches, according to MTV at 8:30 this morning this was the nations top 15 lyrics.
1 10cc
Life Is A Minestrone
"Life is a minestrone, Served up with parmesan cheese"
Life Is A Minestrone Written By Lol Creme and Eric Stewart (c) EMI Music
(I love 10cc, and this is a fantastic line)
2 50 Cent
21 Questions
"I love you like a fat kid love cake"
(a ha, so it’s the fat kid again. I think the lyric is good, but why oh why are so many people listening to 50 cent?)
3 Abba
The Winner Takes It All
"The winner takes it all, The loser standing small, Beside the victory, That's her destiny"
(I like abba but I think this is far from their best lyric)
4 Arctic Monkeys
I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor
"Oh there ain't no love, No Montagues and Capulets, We're just banging tunes and DJ sets and dirty dancefloors and dreams of naughtiness"
(Again, as Carly said, will people think the same in ten years? I love them, but this is not the best lyric)
5 The Beach Boys
God Only Knows
"If you should ever leave me, Though life would go on believe me, The world could show nothing to me, So what good would living do me."
(awesome and classic)
6 The Beatles
A Day In The Life
"I read the news today oh boy, Four thousand holes in Blackburn, Lancashire. And though the holes were rather small, They had to count them all, Now they know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall"
(see those beatles quotes rank much higher over here, it’s a form of national pride)
7 The Beatles
Eleanor Rigby
"Eleanor Rigby picks up the rice in the church where a wedding has been, Lives in a dream"
(I love this song!!!!! Plangent)
8 The Beatles
Hey Jude
"Hey Jude don't make it bad, take a sad song and make it better"
(uh huh, good stuff here)
9 The Beatles
Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds
"Picture yourself in a boat on a river, with tangerine trees and marmalade skies"
(somebody calls you , you answer quite slowly, a girl with kaliedascope eyes)
10 The Beatles
Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
"It was twenty years ago today, Sergeant Pepper taught the band to play"
(meh, love the song but as lyrics go its unisnpired, I think the walrus is more interesting)
11 The Beatles
Yesterday
"Yesterday, All my troubles seemed so far away, Now it looks as though they're here to stay, Oh, I believe in Yesterday."
(me too john, me too)
12 Bill Withers
Lean On Me
"Lean on me, when you're not strong, And I'll be your friend, I'll help you carry on, For it won't be long , Til I'm gonna need, Somebody to lean on"
(hmmm, ok, yes, there does seem to be a fairly constant angst now)
13 Blur
Parklife
"I get up when I want, except on Wednesdays, When I get rudely awakened by the dustmen"
(well in all fairness, we have all been there, and it sucks)
14 Bob Dylan
Subterranean Homesick Blues
"Johnny's in the basement mixing up the medicine. I'm on the pavement thinking about the Government"
(This man can do no wrong, besides, many of his lyrics where made by mixing words clipped out of magazines. The original fridge poet)
15 Bob Marley
No Woman, No Cry
"Said I remember when we used to sit in the government yard in Trenchtown, yeah! And then Georgie would make the fire lights, I seh, logwood burnin' through the nights"
(doesn’t everyone?)
VH-1 has this to say
The top five lyrics in the VH1 poll were:
1. U2 - One. "One life, with each other, sisters, brothers."
2. The Smiths - How Soon is Now? "So you go, and you stand on your own, and you leave on your own, and you go home, and you cry, and you want to die."
3. Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit. "I feel stupid and contagious, here we are now, entertain us."
4. Bob Marley - Redemption Song. "Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our minds, have no fear for atomic energy, 'cause none of them can stop the time."
5. Coldplay - Yellow. "Look at the stars, look how they shine for you."
For myself, some of the lyrics in these lists would rank well with me, but others are a bit drab and predicatble. Where are the boomtown rats with I hate Mondays? Surely a classic, with some superb lyrics.
How about Black Sabbath, “look into my eyes and see who I am, my name is lucifer please take my hand” and Ozzy’s solo stuff. Ugh, frankly I am dissapointed and can confirm that the MTV watching, voting british public are dull, and staid and unimaginative, but then look at the government, you could say the same of our political votes.
I dont even bother to look at the charts normally, but I had a quick look just for this and was pleasently suprised.
1 Sandi ThomI Wish I Was A Punk Rocker(RCA)
2 Gnarls BarkleyCrazy(Warner Bros)
3 KeaneIs It Any Wonder(Island)
4 Pink Who Knew(Laface)
6 Ronan Keating & Kate RusbyAll Over Again(Polydor)/
7 Oakenfold Ft Brittany MurphyFaster Kill Pussycat(Perfecto)
8 Nelly FurtadoManeater(Geffen)
9 LL Cool J Ft Jennifer LopezControl Myself(Def Jam)
10 Primal ScreamCountry Girl(Columbia)
I haven’t heard the no 1, but Pink and Primal Scream both in the top ten? Are people with taste still buying singles en mass? Can I get a woot woot?
I think generally the songs that stick with people are the ones they can really understand and feel, so all that angst connects to us so it lasts.
I may make a more meaningful comment at some point but dfor now my ramblings will have to do. Does this help at all Carly?
posted by Hageltoast at 8:53 am
5 Comments:
"...the MTV watching, voting british public are dull, and staid and unimaginative..."
Aren't most people dull and unimaginative the world over? Just sayin'
you may have a point. ;)
An individual can be imaginative, but popular opinion - by deffinition, can't be. It is popular ergo it is unoriginal.
That said Brittain has produced some amazing lyricists not even mentioned there.
"A normal person must
Dismiss you with disgust
And weep for those who trusted you"
Sung dripping with venom - hurrah!
"I've kissed your lips and held your head
Shared your dreams and shared your bed
I know you well, I know your smell
I've been addicted to you"
Rips right at your heart
"It's savage and it's cruel and it shines like destruction
Comes in like the flood and it seems like religion
It's noble and it's brutal, it distorts and deranges
And it wrenches you up and you're left like a zombie"
A perfect antidote to all those who would descibe love in terms of flowers and puppies
"Time on my hands could be time spent with you
Laughing like children, living like lovers
Rolling like thunder under the covers
And I guess that's why they call it the blues"
And it probably is
And just cos I want to, and even though he's not british, my number one all time favourite lyricist who in my opinion is the answer to anyone who thinks country is just a bunch of someboday done somebody wrong songs wrote many many beautiful things including:
"So you speak to me of sadness and the coming of the winter
Fear that is within you now it seems to never end
And the dreams that have escaped you and the hope that youve forgotten
You tell me that you need me now, you want to be my friend
And you wonder where were going wheres the rhyme and wheres the reason
And its you cannot accept it is here we must begin
To seek the wisdom of the children
And the graceful way of flowers in the wind"
xNx
N - love you!
Great post, Toast.
Did I make it clear on mine that the list I was posting actually was a British VH1 list, not N. American? Just wondering. I suppose you could find a million lists like the one I saw, but I would imagine it carries some weight because I read about it in three different places.
I'm about to write my own personal lyrics list and it seems that I am guilty of my own criticism and a lot of my favorite lyrics are less than ten years old. I should have just kept my big mouth shut! ; )
Post a Comment
<< Home