Post your favorite verse or two, and help Hubski get back to listening to songs with some good ol' meaning!
Which artist makes you go "aww mann that's a good line"? Do the words paint a picture, invoke a feeling, or incite a laugh?
With all the useless filler and fuzz in today's popular music, who can still pack a good punch to your brain-gut?
Let's shoot for alive, but all-time too! Besides thenewgreen, of course.
Rap counts!
James Mercer of The Shins and Broken Bells writes the most goddamn lovely lyrics I've ever heard:
I am also partial to Will Sheff of Okkervil River's incredibly emotive lyrics: Of all the churning random hearts under the sun
eventually fading into night,
these two are opening now,
as we lie I touch you, wonderful alive. Lover, now that you've left me, I'm glad you're unlovely.
Because if you could take all the heat in your heart and just hang it from you,
I wouldn't be able to bear the way you cannot love me.
It's much easier of me make a monster out of you.
..and speaking of emotive, Jeff Magnum: And so here I go, substituting the glow from your temples,
all our sighs and our trembles, and each last letter sent you
from the cheap little pen of this weak little man
- the one singing - out his jangling, ringing
and hopefully stinging attack upon you.
Little boy born without a mother or a father
Taken to the river and then pushed into the water
And the priests are singing that the hell was getting hotter
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, the only one to save him
From the thing he loves the most but we know will betray him
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, the only one to save him
From the thing he loves the most but we know will betray him And here beneath the water I can see
How the light distorts so strange
And this is how I would like to leave my body
And start again
Every single band/person I was going to mention. They truly are some of the best ever. I would just have to add Port of Morrow and 40 Mark Strasse for The Shins. And For Real and Black Sheep Boy for Okkervil River.
I was at the grocery store earlier today and I could have sworn I saw James Mercer in the produce section. I lurked for a while, stalked the guy to get a better glimpse and finally got close enough to realize that it was just a guy that looks a LOT like James Mercer and that I was a creepy dude staring at him as he picked out his onion. He really knew that onion. I'm a big fan of his though, I love his lyrics, one of my favorites is from Those To Come: Eyeless in the morning sun you were
Pale and mild, a modern girl
Taken with thought, still prone to care
Makin tea in your underwear
You went out in the yard to find Something to eat and clear your mind
Something bad inside me went away
Haha. Somewhere, some bearded guy thinks he's hot stuff for getting checked out at the supermarket. Yes! I remember exactly where I was when I first heard that song. It's so simple and beautiful.
Stuart Murdoch, of Belle & Sebastian fame. Here are the lyrics to one of my favorite songs of theirs, This Is Just a Modern Rock Song. Emma tried to run away,
I followed her across the city,
She went out to the Easterhouse,
Because she liked the sound of it. She didn't have a single penny,
She stuck a finger in the air,
She tried to flag down an aeroplane,
I suppose she needs a holiday. I put my arm around her waist,
She put me on the ground with Judo,
She didn't recognise my face,
She wasn't even looking. Laura's feeling just ideal,
Her horoscope was nearly perfect,
She's thinking of something to do,
Because she is The Birthday Girl. She walked out to the edge of town,
She saw me lying in the park,
She took Emma by the hand,
They've got a lot in common. I'll leave them to do what they want,
I'll leave them to do what they need to,
I'll go and play with words and pictures,
I'll admit I'm feeling strange. I'm not as sad as Doestoevsky,
I'm not as clever as Mark Twain,
I'll only buy a book for the way it looks,
And then I stick it on the shelf again. Now I could tell you what I'm thinking,
But it never seems to do you good,
It's beyond me what a girl can see,
I'm only lucid when I'm writing songs. This is just a modern rock song,
This is just a sorry lament,
We're four boys in corduroys,
We're not terrific but we're competent. Stevie's full of good intentions,
Richards into rock 'n' roll,
Stuart's staying in and he thinks it's a sin,
That he has to leave the house at all. This is just a modern rock song,
This is just a tender affair,
I count "three, four" and then we start to slow,
Because a song has got to stop somewhere.
For me, it would have to be Andrew Bird A bit more rough around the edges is my favorite, current, personal hero, Shakey Graves doing 85 going north on 81
...for the picture he paints in the most calm, genuinely beautiful manner that truly defies all accusations of "cheesy." I dreamed you were a cosmonaut
of the space between our chairs
And I was a cartographer
of the tangles in your hair wont see my baby till the rising of the sun
Tennessee keeps warnin’ me if i booze it i might lose it
but shine on Georgia Moon
shine on yeah well its hard to see the road
through this rain and all the fog well this Appalachian driving has me tired as a dog
but this mason full of moonshine, is gonna keep me mighty strong
so shine on Georgia Moon
shine on
...whom I've probably posted here before, perhaps this very song, but damn it's good. Here's another favorite in case. so loosen up the lid and open up the throttle
you wanna see the light?
aint gonna find it in a bottle
cause when I’m sippin’ on a jar
the road aint quite so long
I've seen Andrew Bird a handful of times live and he's fantastic. If you've not already done so, go check him out. I'm a big fan.
Personally my favorite lyricist is John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats. What strikes me about them is the "rawness" they seem to have. They run the gamut of human emotion: from a sort of naïve optimism to soul-crushing cynicism and depression. He also manages to encompass these emotions in some of the most striking imagery I've heard in song lyrics. Here's the first verse from his Spent Gladiator 2: Like a spent gladiator,
It's very powerful, raw, music and I encourage you to given it a chance (some people are turned off by his somewhat jarring voice at first, but I think it adds to the air of desperation he tries to convey).
If you decide to give him a listen, I'd strongly recommend you start with his album Tallahassee, which follows the story of a couple whose lives crumble around them. Crawling in the Colosseum dust,
Who can count on his remaining limbs,
All the people he can trust.
Like the one who stands behind him,
Cheering him on.
Ecstatic when he stands defiant,
Wild with abandon when he's gone.
Wilco, Via Chicago I dreamed about killing you again last night
And it felt alright to me
Dying on the banks of Embarcadero skies
I sat and watched you bleed
Buried you alive in a fireworks display
Raining down on me
You cold, hot blood ran away from me
To the sea I painted my name on the back of a leaf
And I watched it float away
The hope I had in a notebook full of white, dry pages
Was all I tried to save
But the wind blew me back via Chicago
In the middle of the night
And all without fight
At the crush of veils and starlight I know I'll make it back
One of these days and turn on your TV
To watch a man with a face like mine
Being chased down a busy street
When he gets caught, I wont get up
And I wont go to sleep
I'm coming home, I'm coming home
Via Chicago Where the cups are cracked and hooked
Above the sink
They make me think
Crumbling ladder tears don't fall
They shine down your shoulders
And crawling is screw faster lash
I blow it with kisses
I rest my head on a pillowy star
And a cracked door moon
That says I havent gone too far I'm coming home
I'm coming home
Via Chicago Searching for a home
Searching for a home
Searching for a home
Via Chicago
that first lyric, holy shit.. So honest I'm coming home
I'm coming home
I have so many that I want to add to my list, but I'll stop with just one more: Flaming Lips, Do You Realize Do You Realize - that you have the most beautiful face
Do You Realize - we're floating in space -
Do You Realize - that happiness makes you cry
Do You Realize - that everyone you know someday will die And instead of saying all of your goodbyes - let them know
You realize that life goes fast
It's hard to make the good things last
You realize the sun doesn't go down
It's just an illusion caused by the world spinning round Do You Realize - Oh - Oh - Oh
Do You Realize - that everyone you know
Someday will die - And instead of saying all of your goodbyes - let them know
You realize that life goes fast
It's hard to make the good things last
You realize the sun doesn't go down
It's just an illusion caused by the world spinning round Do You Realize - that you have the most beautiful face
Do You Realize
Conor Oberst, the lead singer of Bright Eyes, is an amazing writer. Lua
A Perfect Sonnet
And I know you have a heavy heart; /I can feel it when we kiss/
So many men stronger than me have thrown their backs out trying to lift it/
But me I'm not a gamble you can count on me to split
/The love I sell you in the evening, by the morning won't exist.
Lately I've been wishing I had one desire/
Something that would make me never want another/
Something that would make it so that nothing mattered/
All would be clear then/
But I guess I'll have to settle for a few brief moments/
And watch it all dissolve into a single second/
And try to write it down into a perfect sonnet/
Or one foolish line
He's incredibly over-hyped by some, but I love eminem's rhyme structures and wordplay. Examples:
Under the influence:
I'm like a mummy at night, fightin with bright lightning Frightened with five little white Vicadin pills bitin 'em..... Grab a knife at the blade and stab you with the fuckin handle So when you find yourself wrapped up in the blinds, hurtin [Swifty] Bitch it's too late [Eminem] Cause once you're hung from the drapes, it's curtains
Low Down Dirty:
I lace tunes, I'm out this world like Space Moons With a bunch crazed loons dismissin brains like braze wounds Nothing but idiots and misfits, dipshits Doing whippits, passed out like Sanford snippits
Criminal: My mother did drugs - hard-liquor, cigarettes, and speed The baby came out - disfigured, ligaments indeed It was a seed who would grow up just as crazy as she Don't dare make fun of that baby cause that baby was me Admittedly, he has some misogynistic, violent, and homophobic lyrics. He's usually joking, so I don't particularly mind that. I don't know many artists who can have as many rhyme schemes going on at once. The classic example is his "lose yourself". Here's a video which dissects this song.
Jonathan Coulton comes to mind. I like simple things. His lyrics are intelligent, tend toward the uncomplicated, and his music typically features simple power trios. I also love Yuki Kajiura's songwriting. She writes for Kalafina, who primarily perform for anime series'. I looked up the lyrics for the Aldnoah Zero theme out of curiosity. The English translation left me breathless. Most of her songs are equally evocative.
Plus, he licenses all his music Creative Commons. Yay Freedom of Information. Hello from Sputnik 2
I am receiving you
Thanks for the dog food
I'm somewhere above you now
Guess what Malashenkov?
I took the collar off
I'm holding my own leash
And walking myself outside
This door
I don't think
I want to be a good dog anymore.
For Hubski Anime Clubbers, she wrote the theme for Madoka Magica, too. The dream you have
Is like a prayer in ink on parchment
The thing that your small hands cling onto
Does not yet exist
Even so I wish to protect
That road you will travel down
And to keep what's beautiful as beautiful
…
If there's anything you desire
I will stand by your side
And reach out towards the same horizon
Will I ever be able to reach
That silent sky that you believed in
That brilliance that went on forever
That heavenly blue
(full translation)
I love Jonathan Coultan! His music is so fun.