Music and Words - Great Songwriting

I've always liked songs that tell a story such as Tom Rush's No Regrets, but in music it's not usually the words that do it for me. However, the imagery in The Songs That We Sing is vivid and one of the great musical collaborations of recent years - Charlotte Gainsbourg, Jarvis Cocker, Neil Hannon and Air:



In particular, I find Gainsbourg's frail vocal on the third verse very evocative ...

I saw a photograph
a woman in a bath
of hundred-dollar bills
if the cold doesn't kill her, money will

Great opening lines are something of a sub-genre. The Loving Kind by Girls Aloud has a brilliantly creepy opening line, courtesy of Neil Tennant ...



Sometimes I watch you when you're sleeping ...

What lyrics move you?

Me...in my last moments as a teenager...




Artist: Katrina Carlson
Song: Suddenly Beautiful
Album: Untucked (by Katrina Carlson)


Lyrics:

I’m a bad girl
I’m a dirty pearl
Pray my soul to keep
Spirit is willing but cannot speak

Suddenly you make me feel
Like I’m beautiful
Suddenly you make me feel
Like I’m beautiful
I can see, see through eyes
That were dead and dull
I’m Suddenly Beautiful

You don’t understand
No one understands me
I’m a fallen star
Sky gets so dark
You don’t know where you are

Suddenly you make me feel
Like I’m beautiful
Suddenly you make me feel
Like I’m beautiful
I can see, see through eyes
That were dead and dull
I’m Suddenly Beautiful

Chrysalis, tenderness
Can I get a witness?
Is this love, is this love?
Genesis, metamorphosis
Breaking through the surface
Is this love? Suddenly

Suddenly you make me feel
Like I’m beautiful
Suddenly you make me feel
Like I’m beautiful
I can see the sun rise
Light up the world
And I can see
It’s beautiful
I can see
It’s beautiful
Suddenly Beautiful

Quote :

Time goes by and every single tear
It must have well run dry
And the lonely nights
Become a strange accepted way
And the years go past
Just like the old song says
The pain with time has healed, it couldn't last
But oh a friend like a fool
Mentions your name

Sunny days, drunken nights
You smile and say, it's alright
But oh the cold cold rain
At the mention of your name

Forgive me please
If I shrug my shoulders
When I put my friend at ease
As I get older
It's not that I don't feel colder than before
Oh I've become so good at hiding
What I feel without confiding
It's still the same, darling still the same
At the mention of your name

Chris Rea - The Mention Of Your Name

My old man wrote that song about his first wife, and sold it to Chris Rea, to pay for my half-sister's university fees. That aside, I think it's pretty damn haunting.

As a musical fan, I've always been a fan of Stephen Sondheim, who understands lyric writing just as well as anyone else. His recent collection of annotated lyrics, FINISHING THE HAT, is a great read, particularly when he details his understanding of strong versus weak lyric writing and critiques and praises the past accomplishments of the legendary lyricists (he's also quite quick to criticize himself, so it's not all just criticizing others' work).

In terms of more pop/rock artists, though, Scott Walker has always been tremendously gifted.

It's raining today
and I'm just about to forget
The train window girl
That wonderful day we met
She smiles through the smoke
From my cigarette

It's raining today
But once there was summer and you
And dark little rooms
And sleep in late afternoons
Those moments descend
On my windowpane

I've hung around here too long
Listenin' to the old landlady's hard-luck stories
You out of me, me out of you
We go like lovers
To replace the empty space
Repeat our dreams to someone new

It's raining today
And I watch the cellophane streets
No hang-ups for me
'Cause hang-ups need company
The street corner girl's a cold trembling leaf
It's raining today
It's raining today

It's funny you should mention Gainsbourg in this ambler, only yesterday I took my copy of "5:55" with me in the car. :)

Salomé wrote:

It's funny you should mention Gainsbourg in this ambler, only yesterday I took my copy of "5:55" with me in the car. :)

I bought 5:55 for everyone I knew and was mortified to find it become the dinner party soundtrack of choice. The same fate befell Dummy some years earlier.

Moving on, Nina Persson has matured into a very interesting lyricist, though I'm told someone assists her with the English translation. Shame he didn't delete the lines 'a mole in my well-fed lawn, you're a nightmare beating the dawn'. Still, And then you kissed me is a simple but powerful song, though it is a shame Persson did not let the words speak for themselves:



Oh it hit me like never before
That love is a powerful force
Yes it struck me that love is a sport
So I pushed you a little bit more...

Way before my time, but I always liked the lyrics to this one:

Why does the sun go on shining?
Why does the sea rush to shore?
Don't they know it's the end of the world,
'Cause you don't love me any more?

Why do the birds go on singing?
Why do the stars glow above?
Don't they know it's the end of the world.
It ended when I lost your love.

I wake up in the morning and I wonder,
Why everything's the same as it was.
I can't understand. No, I can't understand,
How life goes on the way it does.

Why does my heart go on beating?
Why do these eyes of mine cry?
Don't they know it's the end of the world.
It ended when you said goodbye.

Why does my heart go on beating?
Why do these eyes of mine cry?
Don't they know it's the end of the world.
It ended when you said goodbye.



I'd post some off-beat Indie Rock examples but I'm not sure how much of a goer that is here

Gainsbourg, Sonndheim, and Walker are all top choices.

I'd add Jacques Brel, from Oppersland. This man needs no introduction.

Quote :

Ma mère, voici le temps venu
d’aller prier pour mon salut!
Mathilde est revenue!
Bougnat, tu peux garder ton vin,
ce soir je boirai mon chagrin,
Mathilde est revenue!
Toi, la servante, toi, la Maria,
Il vaudrait peut-être mieux changer nos draps!
Mathilde est revenue!
Mes amis, ne me laissez pas,
ce soir je repars au combat!
Maudite Mathilde! - puisque te v’là!

My mother, now the time has come
to pray for my salvation!
Mathilde is back!
Innkeeper, you may keep your wine,
tonight I shall drink out my grief,
Mathilde is back!
You, the maid, you there, Maria,
maybe you should for once change our sheets,
Mathilde is back!
My friends, don’t leave me on a lurch,
tonight I’m going back to the fight,
Damn you, Mathilde - now that you’re here!

Mon coeur, mon coeur
ne t’emballe pas,
fais comme si tu ne savais pas
que la Mathilde est revenue!
Mon coeur arrête de répéter
qu’elle est plus belle qu’avant l’été
la Mathilde qui est revenue!
Mon coeur arrête de brinquebaler
souviens-toi qu’elle t’a déchiré
la Mathilde qui est revenue!
Mes amis ne me laissez pas
non, dites-mois, dites mois qu’il ne faut pas...
Maudite Mathilde! - puisque te v’là...!

My heart, my heart
don’t run away,
do as if you did not know
that Mathilde is back!
My heart, stop telling me
that she is more beautiful than before Summer,
that Mathilde, who is back!
My heart stop rattling around!
Remember how she tore you to shreds,
that Mathilde, who is back!
My friends, don’t leave me on a lurch,
no, tell me, tell me that I must not...
Damn you, Mathilde - now that you’re here!

Et vous mes mains restez tranquilles!
C’est un chien qui nous revient de la ville...
Mathilde est revenue!
et vous mes mains ne frappez pas,
tout ça ne vous regarde pas!
Mathilde est revenue!
Et vous mes mains ne tremblez plus,
souvenez-vous comme je vous pleurais dessus...
Mathilde est revenue!
Vous mes mains ne vous ouvrez pas,
vous mes bras ne vous tendez pas,
sacrée Mathilde, puisque te v’là!

And you, my hands, stay quiet now
it’s but a dog come back from town...
Mathilde is back!
And you, my hands, don’t flail around,
all this is no concern of yours,
Mathilde is back!
And you, my hands, stop trembling now,
remember how I bawled on you...
Mathilde is back!
You, my hands, don’t open now,
you, my arms, don’t stretch out now...
Damn you, Mathilde - now that you’re here!

Ma mère arrête tes prières,
ton Jacques retourne en enfer,
Mathilde m’est revenue!
Bougnat! Apporte-nous du vin,
celui des noces et des festins!
Mathilde m’est revenue!
Toi, la servante, toi la Maria
va tendre mon grand lit de draps!
Mathilde est revenue!
Amis, ne comptez pas sur moi!
Je crache au ciel encore une fois
Ma belle mathilde, puisque te v’là!
Puisque te v’là!

My mother, stop your prayers now!
Your Jacques is going back to hell!
Mathilde has come back to me!
Innkeeper, bring us your wine
the wine of weddings and of feasts,
Mathilde has come back to me!
You, the maid, you there, Maria
go spread sheets on my big bed!
Mathilde has come back to me!
My friends, don’t count on me,
I spit to heaven one more time!
My beautiful Mathilde - now that you’re here!
Now that you’re here!

I shouldn't forget Morrissey:

Quote :

Trudging slowly over wet sand
Back to the bench where your clothes were stolen
This is the coastal town
That they forgot to close down
Armageddon - come Armageddon!
Come, Armageddon! Come!

Everyday is like Sunday
Everyday is silent and grey

Hide on the promenade
Etch a postcard :
"How I Dearly Wish I Was Not Here"
In the seaside town
...that they forgot to bomb
Come, Come, Come - nuclear bomb

Everyday is like Sunday
Everyday is silent and grey

Trudging back over pebbles and sand
And a strange dust lands on your hands
(And on your face...)
(On your face ...)
(On your face ...)
(On your face ...)

Everyday is like Sunday
"Win Yourself A Cheap Tray"
Share some greased tea with me
Everyday is silent and grey

Anyone who's ever spent too long, or arrived at the wrong time of the year in a British coastal town, can sympathise.

What I admire about his lyrics, is that there's both an economy and truth to them. He never wastes a line, and usually does the unexpected, forcing you to pay attention. Almost like the John Barry of songwriters.

I remember when Morrissey said "If a synthesiser ever appears on a Smiths record, I won't." Marr had already been using them for years.

He was part of the counter-Second Brit Invasion, which was a sort of punk reaction against some of the synth pop/new wave excesses of Duran Duran, Culture Club, Wham, Eurythmics etc... A nostalgia for earlier times.

Though unlike Marr, Morrissey was never tech savvy. I suppose that combination's part of what made The Smiths so interesting. An admix of two mindsets.

As much as I bloody worship Scott Walker at his best, and as much as I love the last two Cardigans albums as things of utter gorgeousness and also love a lot of Jarvis Cocker's best work, there'll only ever be one name at the top of the list in this thread for me. He's already been mentioned, but here's a more recent example just to prove the guy's still got it:


MORRISSEY:
THE FATHER WHO MUST BE KILLED

Step-child, you have out-lived your time
you represent embarrassment and failure

And the father who must be killed
is the blight upon your blighted life
and his might is his legal right
to ground you down

Step-child, with every petty swipe
you just might find you're fighting for your life

And the father who must be killed
Is a step-father, but nonetheless
the way he chews his food
rips right through your senses

Step-child, there's a knife in a drawer
in a room downstairs
and you... you know what you must do

So the step-child ran with a knife to his sleeping frame
and slams it in his arms, his legs, his face, his neck, and says:
"there's a law against me now."

And the father who must be killed
with his dying breath he grabs her hand
and he looks into her eyes
he says "I'm sorry," and he dies

Step-child, I release you
With this broken voice I beseech you
why are lives so short?
the step-child thought
heart pointing to the sky
"no warm to warm me
no hand to touch me
and no bible-belters to mess with me
Momma, don't miss me
Momma, don't miss me
this death will complete me
but where I go there'll be no one to meet me
I know there'll be no one to meet me,"
but still the step-child pressed
the knife to her throat
heart pointing to the sky
"just as Motherless birds fly high
then... so shall I
so shall I
so shall I
so shall I
so shall I..."



But seriously, there are just too many other examples of classic Moz songwriting/storytelling I could list here, really, and probably quite a few better ones.

But, for capturing what it means to be British, to live in Britain, to yearn for a Britain long gone, to incisively convey love or hate towards somebody (or something), to render fantastically droll and black British humour, for a sheer unashamed embracing of the beautiful English language, and for a complete and utter fearlessness in confronting one subject after another that 99.9% of artists would run an absolute mile from, nobody beats the Mozzer for me.

I like Sondheim, though I suppose it'd be too obvious to post Send In The Clowns?

Anyone else here rate The Decemberists?

I found you, a tattooed tramp
A dirty daugher from the labour camps
I laid you down on the grass of a clearing
You wept but your soul was willing

Under a Renaissance man even Kylie can perform:



On the second day he came with a single red rose
He said ‘Give me your loss and your sorrow.’
I nodded my head, as I lay on the bed:
'If I show you the roses will you follow?'

Miss Minogue had quite an elfin beauty before the plastic surgeons got their hands on her...

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Do
you
always trust
your first
initial
feeling

Special knowledge
holds true
bears believing

I
turned
around
and the water
was closing
all around me
like a glove
Like the love
that had finally
finally found me
Then I knew
in the crystalline knowledge of you
Drove me
through the mountains
Through the crystal like and clear water fountain
Drew me
like a magnet
To the sea...



Lindsey Buckingham, Crystal

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Have you seen Godard's FILM SOCIALISME yet, Ambler? Patti Smith's got a large part in that, trapped on the Costa Concordia.

Smith also does some of the finest covers I've ever heard. Midnight Rider's a good example, though excuse the bizarre of choice of artwork.

Only a year before Ian Dury died, but him and The Blockheads were still on top form.

One of my heroes.

Ian Curtis was a poet. Here are two of the best written songs from Joy Division's output. What's great is that the music was written without any words in particular in mind. Curtis merely added lyrics he felt would best fit the mood of the piece, lyrics made up from the 'poems' he had written. What's left is a haunting but incredible marriage of music and lyrics. Genius.



Instincts that can still betray us,
A journey that leads to the sun,
Soulless and bent on destruction,
A struggle between right and wrong.
You take my place in the showdown,
I'll observe with a pitiful eye,
I'd humbly ask for forgiveness,
A request well beyond you and I.

Heart and soul, one will burn.
Heart and soul, one will burn.

An abyss that laughs at creation,
A circus complete with all fools,
Foundations that lasted the ages,
Then ripped apart at their roots.
Beyond all this good is the terror,
The grip of a mercenary hand,
When savagery turns all good reason,
There's no turning back, no last stand.

Heart and soul, one will burn.
Heart and soul, one will burn.

Existence well what does it matter?
I exist on the best terms I can.
The past is now part of my future,
The present is well out of hand.
The present is well out of hand.



A change of speed, a change of style.
A change of scene, with no regrets,
A chance to watch, admire the distance,
Still occupied, though you forget.
Different colours, different shades,
Over each mistakes were made.
I took the blame.
Directionless so plain to see,
A loaded gun won't set you free.
So you say.
We'll share a drink and step outside,
An angry voice and one who cried,
'We'll give you everything and more,
The strain's too much, can't take much more.'
I've walked on water, run through fire,
Can't seem to feel it anymore.
It was me, waiting for me,
Hoping for something more,
Me, seeing me this time,
Hoping for something else.

Girls grow tops to go topless in
While we sit and count the hairs
That blossom from our chin
Our voices change at a rapid pace
I could start a song at tenor and then end at bass

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Anything by Rush, especially their 1979 song called "The Trees". That one is very philosophical and deep!

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