Comments on monkbot talk: Are You a Lyric Lover or Melody Maven?

Shelley, Thanks for leading me to that Wonderwall...

2007-01-07T22:58:00.000-06:00

Shelley,

Thanks for leading me to that Wonderwall 1974 guy. Isn't that fascinating? It inspired a post. Anyone know more about him?

Yep -- it is stuck on some internal loop -- a grea...

2007-01-06T17:34:00.000-06:00

Yep -- it is stuck on some internal loop -- a great song, I think. It suits Taylor perfectly.

(and lee, it is not only that Muskrat Love has ... er ... innnnteresting lyrics -- it is just hard to believe that ANYONE ever said "Hey! I have a great song about rodents mating!". How did Tenille even keep a straight face?)

*ducks wet fish*

Yeah for Mind Doc--JTFTW Rawks!!!!!!!!!

2007-01-06T13:49:00.000-06:00

Yeah for Mind Doc--JTFTW Rawks!!!!!!!!!

I have been listening to the CD and I love, love, ...

2007-01-06T13:39:00.000-06:00

I have been listening to the CD and I love, love, love Just to Feel that Way.

I got the fish thrown at me for thinking Muskrat L...

2007-01-06T11:31:00.000-06:00

I got the fish thrown at me for thinking Muskrat Love was corny?
(going off in corner and crying)
I will now risk another fish and state that I wholeheartedly agree w/Holeigh--My Humps is the bane of human existence!!!!!

Bama, If you don't marry JTFTW I will, so you bet get to listening.

Welcome Jenfera!!!

Yeah !! We have a much appreciated visit from Shre...

2007-01-05T02:57:00.000-06:00

Yeah !! We have a much appreciated visit from Shrew! **Waves to Shrew and Beau** We miss you -- hope turbulence passes quickly.

Liked hearing Toni Basil's Mickey --I am remembering the days of being a young teenager and coming inside from a day at the beach -- to an ice cold air conditioned room, a glass of lemonade and wasting a few hours watching MTV in its infancy. Oh to be that young again -- with no responsibilities...**sigh**

Great topic-- I guess the vibe/ beat does draw us in --to then listen to the lyrics. But really love to hear the story in the lyric -- maybe why I like ( dare I say...) country music too.

Q, I end up singing that one with a lot of mmmmm's...

2007-01-04T22:51:00.000-06:00

Q, I end up singing that one with a lot of mmmmm's replacing the words. I think you did a trememdous! job.

Okay, I've been dredging my memory and I'm about t...

2007-01-04T21:44:00.000-06:00

Okay, I've been dredging my memory and I'm about to embarrass myself. *Totally* from my head, no looking up, and *without* going back and listening to the song one more time--this is completely from the memory of the last time I heard this song, which was probalby some time in the 80's.

"The Reflex"

You gotta find the time...
But I'm dancing on the danger line!
You gotta shove me boy and put it away,
When I'm banding on the things you say!

So whyi-i-i-ii-i don't you use it?
Tryi-i-i-ii--i-i not to bruise it
Buyi-i-i-ii-i-ii--i time don't lose it!

The reflex is a lonely child,
He's waiting by the park!
The reflex is your door to finding
treasure in the dark!
The watching
O're electic clover,
isn't that bizarre?
...

Okay, I'd better stop. I know there's more--I distinctly remember a line about "Don't wanna be around when this gets out" but can't put it in context. I'm a singer. You know, one of those obnoxious people who sing along with the radio? Not knowing the words is not an impediment to that. Yes, I actually sang the words above (or something like). Looking at them now, I realize they...uh...don't make much sense. That can't be what he was saying. *blushes*

*crawls away to hide in a corner*

--Q

Awww, I'm all verklempt! Thanks, Shelley! And th...

2007-01-04T21:15:00.000-06:00

Awww, I'm all verklempt! Thanks, Shelley! And that is a dang fine picture. The facial hair totally works for him.

Bama - your Darling Niki comment remimded me of another 80's classic that we didn't really think about what it meant... She Bop! Such a happy little song... about... whaaaaat???

It's the sound of a song that first attracts me, b...

2007-01-04T18:47:00.000-06:00

It's the sound of a song that first attracts me, but if the lyrics are particularly offensive, I do get embarrassed to admit I like the song. For example, "Follow Me" by Uncle Kracker. Love the song! Listened closely to the lyrics, realized it was about some dude having an affair with a married woman. D'OH! Oh, and I shamefacedly admit that I like "Achy Breaky Heart," cheesy as it is, but at least it's cheesy in all respects.

The very best songs, of course, are the ones where the lyrics and the whole "sound" of the song just go together. From Taylor's album, JTFTW does have that vibe, as well as Runaround in a whole different direction. My personal fave is Heaven Knows. Love both the words and the music, even though there are a couple of cheesy lines in there.

--Q

Bama's right...a new Betty and Office tonight...so...

2007-01-04T18:29:00.000-06:00

Bama's right...a new Betty and Office tonight...so I only have a minute to write a quick comment...sorry I can't address ALL the wonderful points made.

However...I must say...y'all have blown me away today.

Great discussion from everyone.

I wish I could give each of you an award...but I've decided on one particular commentor today...for not only coming out of lurkdom...but for the fantastic quote from Seal, which beautifully sums up exactly how I feel about music.

So...to jenfera...I award to you...

The Official Prize of the Day

Congratulations...and welcome!

Was it Bruce?? Y'all Ugly Betty and The Office ar...

2007-01-04T16:31:00.000-06:00

Was it Bruce??

Y'all Ugly Betty and The Office are NEW tonight. Oh yippee! Yippee!

Electric Boobs!!! I sang it that way too.... Blin...

2007-01-04T16:17:00.000-06:00

Electric Boobs!!! I sang it that way too....

Blinded By the Light...who wrote that anyone? Anyone? Hint, hint, close to me.

That's what I think it says Jenfera. I think he's ...

2007-01-04T16:08:00.000-06:00

That's what I think it says Jenfera. I think he's saying the girl thinks it's not fair...but he's so gone anyway. That's right. He left her for me.

Haahahahaa: She's got electric boobs...

Okay, what about when you're 13, listening to Prince's "Darling Nikki" and wondering..."NO! He did not just say that about her and a magazine! I must not be hearing that right!" So, sometimes you do hear the right lyrics but are in disbelief over them!

(The most famous misheard lyric: "Blinded by the light, wrapped up like a douche, another runner in the night" by Manfred Mann.)

Awww, thanks for the nice welcomes, folks! Mind d...

2007-01-04T15:46:00.000-06:00

Awww, thanks for the nice welcomes, folks!

Mind doc - Seal totally feels for you. There's more to the quote...
"I think it is the general vibe of what I'm saying that is important and not the exact literal translation. How many times have you fallen in loe with a lyric that you thought went, "Show me a day with Hilda Ogden and I'll despair," only to find that it went "Show me a way to solve your problems and I'll be there."

Poor Hilda.

I still sing Benny & The Jets as "She's got electric boobs, a mohair suit, I read it in a magazine!"

Oh, and a quick Taylor lyric question. Am I hearing The Runaround right? On all the other songs I can pretty much pick out every word, but does the chorus actually say, "It's not fair but I am so gone"?

You know The wonderful delurker Jenfera makes a re...

2007-01-04T15:22:00.000-06:00

You know The wonderful delurker Jenfera makes a real cool point...I remember not connecting with most bands of the 80's (Duranies I am sorry) and opting for classics like "You Make Me Feel" by Aretha. As always I was a woman out of step with time...but I remember singing with all ferocisty that song as a tender 16 year old.

I guess I love Aretha's emotion and sound, but it wasn't until college that I really listened to the lyrics, but that was via Carol King. No less soulful, just more percise about the words.

Bama - Yes you helped me out of the closet...not that there's anything wrong with it.

Welcome oh delurker Jenfera! Seal said that? I k...

2007-01-04T15:11:00.000-06:00

Welcome oh delurker Jenfera!

Seal said that? I kinda agree, but I am famous for hearing things that don't make a lot of sense in the lyrics. I am not sure how my interpretation of "Bad Moon on the Right" as "Bathroom on the right" increases the imagery. Until Texan (see above) clarified the lyrics, I thought it was "I got a song that ain't got no melody ... I'm a gonna sing it to my friends." I never understood it. Noooow I get it.

Seal does not take into account people like me, wandering through life singing the wrong lyrics, befuddled.

Very cool quote Jenfera!! I wholeheartedly agree w...

2007-01-04T14:44:00.000-06:00

Very cool quote Jenfera!! I wholeheartedly agree with that!

Hi all - I am delurking to chime in on this fun to...

2007-01-04T14:35:00.000-06:00

Hi all - I am delurking to chime in on this fun topic. You sucked me in with the Duran Duran talk. I'm thinking of Save A Prayer now and how as teenagers we sang along so earnestly, but now I'm thinking what the hell was that all about? What are we saving this prayer for? For the morning after? A read of the lyrics just now sounds like this is a song about a one night stand, so are we not worrying tonight and just praying in the morning we don't wake up pregnant and diseased? Hmmm. Just sayin'.

But back on the original topic, I guess I am a music person over the lyrics. I pick up on lyrics pretty easily (my boss was startled when I was able to sing along with every word to Billy Joel's We Didn't Start The Fire), but I don't spend much time thinking about what they mean.

When I got married and it came time to pick our first dance song, it took awhile to find a song. (The only song we had that was "our song" so far was All For You by Sister Hazel. Not wedding appropriate!) So, Sting is one of my favorite artists. I started poring through all of my Sting CD's, reading the lyrics and discovered that he did not have one suitable song out of all those lovely ballads. They are all about lost loves, past loves, unrequited love, etc. I never noticed.

One last point, Seal never puts the lyrics to his songs in his liner notes. He says, "The song is always larger in the listener's mind because with it they attach imagery which is relative to their own personal experience. So it is your perception of what I'm saying rather than what I actually say that is the key."

hmmmm Well back in the day I would have answered ...

2007-01-04T14:07:00.001-06:00

hmmmm

Well back in the day I would have answered this by saying the melody ... come on confess... Those as old as me ..... There were songs you loveddddddd before you ever figured out what exactly the lyrics were ... no internet ... you either had to wait for the album, play the song over & over & over, or buy the magazine that come out with lastest song lyrics ...

If you have not seen the the commerical with the line "stock the cat box" instead of "Rock the Casbah" find it .. it is hysterical... but i digress ...

It was the melody & the singer ... If the nuances that were that singer were poured in the song then we loved it..

I have never been a "cerebral" listener to music .. "wow what does he/she mean by those lyrics" usually did not come out of my mouth.... I just knew what I liked & what I didn't.

I do now & have always absolutely love a beautiful song ....

JTFTW is, imho, a beautiful song ... are the lyrics what make it beautiful to me? hmm ... they are pretty but add to that the Taylor Hicks' nuances that are ALL OVER this song ... the growls, the sweet voice ... dayum I love it ... I have been walking everyday so I have listened to this CD over & over & over .. I really like it, I really really do .. lol

The Chipmunk song ... I saw a Christmas special once & a group sing this ... Vince Gill sang the Alvin part.... hysterical & he hit every note ... "I just want a hoolahooooop"

Good to see everyone!!

Ah, Rowan. You are a sage. (Also a mystic...did y...

2007-01-04T14:07:00.000-06:00

Ah, Rowan. You are a sage.

(Also a mystic...did you go to my Jr. High, cuz I'm pretty sure you described me and my friends in your Duranie descriptions.)

I love Pink Floyd. My new favorite depressing album is by My Chemical Romance, "The Black Parade". The whole album is basically a rock opera with the theme being Death. In a way though, it's kinda tongue-in-cheek (if you understand the band you'd know that), so it's not quite as depressing as Dark Side of the Moon.

Y'all, I was mulling all this over while I was working (Gasp! She works?) and I realized that one of my all time favorite bands, Nirvana, absolutely identifies me as a music over lyrics person...I mean, their lyrics were utter gibberish...but I could listen to them over and over....I still can.

P.S. I'm glad I could help Shrew come out of the closet. Hey-if we can't share it here....no one else will care! Haha!

Sorry, two of my links aren't working. I'll try th...

2007-01-04T13:59:00.000-06:00

Sorry, two of my links aren't working. I'll try this:

Steve Harley - http://tinyurl.com/yk5jy6

David Bowie -
http://tinyurl.com/ycss96

If I'm not allowed to sit on the fence, I'm going ...

2007-01-04T13:32:00.000-06:00

If I'm not allowed to sit on the fence, I'm going to plump for music over lyrics, which surprises me, as I am the type who will remember the scrambled lyrics to "The Reflex" long after I have forgotten my own name, and am living on a diet of other items of a purely scrambled nature. The Reflex has a great catchy Duranie strutty vibe. The lyrics are mince. I remembered a bit about a lonely child, a telephone, and question-marks, so I went and googled them

At the time as a student of English, I toyed with the idea that there was some sort of Postmodernist philosophy underlining the utterly shambolic nature of the lyrics. That Simon le Bon was some sort of New Romantic T.S. Eliot, writing his song, tearing the page into strips, throwing them up in the air and fitting them together again, in an arbitrary fashion, to see what the new version looked like. Meaning would be fragmented, but hey - that was cool and edgy, wasn't it? 9_9 It was a good excuse for listening to Duran Duran, rather than reading literary criticism.

Anyways, I wondered, was Simon being very cutting-edge, cutting up his edges? He certainly cut a dash.I remember him fondly - he certainly sang his heart out at the concert I saw in 1982 - every number they'd ever produced, plus Cockney Rebel's, Come up and see me Make Me Smile. I was starting off from a warm affectionate glow for the guy. I loved his music, and the depth of sadness in his rather haunting posh voice, which appealed so greatly to teenage girls like me.

Were the lyrics to be pondered over, though, or were they just irrelevant? With the Duranies, I would place a pretty safe bet that the music came first, and they drew lots to who would write the lyrics on the back of the pizza box, phrases shouted randomly across the room whilst they knocked back pink gin and watched the latest episodes of Dallas and Starsky and Hutch.

The randomness meant that I could just enjoy, to use your term, Shelley, "belting out" the songs. They tended to come in rhyming couplets. If one remembered the rhyme, that was enough. The music carried the day. And the white linen strides and pixie boots, and little nautical tee shirts.

Another artist i love is Bowie. Some of his lyrics are a bit puzzling, but most are innnteresting narratives, imaginative, introspective, and pondery, but in a nice Ray Bradbury-esque sort of way. His lyrics never depressed me, as Pink Floyd's did. My younger brother and sister were heavily into "Dark side of ther Moon" and played it ad nauseum. It was the most depressing album I've ever heard. "I - I have become comfort-bly-numb." Sheesh.

Bowie painted little pen-pictures with musical scores. For me, Genesis and Floyd spent time pointing out dreary home truths that made me want to drag my knuckles on the ground. I didn't drink or smoke illicit substances, but they might have driven me to it, had I been forced to listen but one more time.

One of my very favourite songs is Bowie's, A Space Oddity. It is such a beautiful combination of the contemplative lyric married to a sweetness of cadence which wholly rounds out the meaning of the words. I can't imagine them apart, but the lyrics do stand alone, as a poem, and are kind of unforgettable. I'm hoping that they are the ones which will stick in my mind, when I am sitting in my wrinkled stockings, watching re-runs of "Crossing Over". Bowie is cool, and he will stand the test of time. And if I am a cool old granny, people will bring me more chocolate. : D

I have not listened to the CD nearly as much as I ...

2007-01-04T13:06:00.000-06:00

I have not listened to the CD nearly as much as I would have thought. I think it made it to my 2-week listening period point, but just barely. I didn't have that "must listen" thing going on with it. Doesn't mean I don't like it, but I just don't want to marry it (TM Bama) like I do say, Amos Lee's CDs.

Also, I was thinking some more about this while on my lovely drive to Party City at lunch. Sometimes I get too stuck on what a lyric means, trying to decipher it and put it into a "story" that goes along with it. But I remember Gray saying in one post a while back that he tries to just listen and not focus so much on that (I can't remember if he was referring to a certain artist or not) and I tried to really take that to heart. Hasn't really worked, but I try anyway.

And lastly, but certainly not least, DD: Go Tigers, indeed! Weeeeeeee!

Speaking of slackers...I am stunned that Squeebee ...

2007-01-04T13:01:00.000-06:00

Speaking of slackers...I am stunned that Squeebee has not spoken out for or against her fellow canuck