Songwriters who are great with melodies but not so good with lyrics

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Moshe, Nov 24, 2020.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. Lynd8

    Lynd8 Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York
    I'm a big Neil fan, but every once in a while, he does have a clinker. My personal cringe:

    "Peace of Mind" from Comes a Time: "She knows your weak spot, but, she still gets you hot" I know it was the 70s but c'mon, he couldn't come up with something better? LOL

    He has like 10,000 songs though, so if he screws up every once in while that's ok
     
  2. 7solqs4iago

    7solqs4iago Forum Resident

    Location:
    Toronto
    be very very careful before you start listing weak librettists....

    there's a hornet's nest of opera fans just waiting to erupt :D

    so what's the opera we are seeing tonight about?

    well........ he a soldier, an IQ of about 25, wife is a prostitute but he finds a gold ring and he obtains superpowers and it helps get back a baby kidnapped by gypsies and in the final scene he becomes a top picador....

    oh...
     
    Sgt. Abbey Road likes this.
  3. pinkrudy

    pinkrudy Senior Member

    all foreigners have wierd english lyrics
    cat stevens
    bjork
    shakira

    etc...
     
  4. Vangro

    Vangro Forum Resident

    Location:
    London
    Cat Stevens is a foreigner?
     
  5. Vangro

    Vangro Forum Resident

    Location:
    London
    I'll take your word for it but have you never heard someone say something like, "His biggest fault is that he doesn't think about other people's feelings?"
     
  6. Sgt. Abbey Road

    Sgt. Abbey Road Forum Resident

    Location:
    Graz, Austria
    And please don’t get me wrong, I love operas, but for the music and not for the lyrics:laugh:
     
    Jarleboy likes this.
  7. Fischman

    Fischman RockMonster, ClassicalMaster, and JazzMeister

    Location:
    New Mexico
    Well, his lyrics are fantastic.... when you compare them to his voice!
     
    Jackson and 7solqs4iago like this.
  8. 7solqs4iago

    7solqs4iago Forum Resident

    Location:
    Toronto
    how could you ever go wrong...

    had a subscription the first year for the local new house, cost was $300 the first year for seats at the back of floor level, was raised to $2,500 the next year.... yeah i will say later to that noise

    a friend was at the 50 yard line for Ohio State football games in the late 60s and found himself getting moved out, eventually banished to the end zone by 1994 as ticket prices escalated (along with the $10,000 (and increasing) bribe/donation to keep the top seats...) such a wicked game...
     
    Sgt. Abbey Road likes this.
  9. Sgt. Abbey Road

    Sgt. Abbey Road Forum Resident

    Location:
    Graz, Austria
    That’s just crazy:sigh:
     
  10. pinkrudy

    pinkrudy Senior Member

    Steven Demetre Georgiou
    sounded like a foreinger to me....

    but i guess he grew up in the UK? still must of been heavily influenced by his family...but..idk

    it says he did primary school in sweden.
     
  11. KevinP

    KevinP Forum introvert

    Location:
    Daejeon
    I may be a minority of one, but Stevie Wonder. And it's not that he was consistently bad but that his lyrics are hit-or-miss. He certainly has some great ones, but every now and then there's a song, or even just a line, that makes me wince.

    'Saturn' runs the gamut from great ('We have come here many times before/To find your strategy to peace is war') to really not-great ('We put back all the things we use' and 'Don't need cars cause we've learned to fly')

    I try to cut it some slack because it's a soundtrack, but 'Outside my Window' is schmaltzy in the lyric department, though musically this is Wonder at his toe-tapping best.
     
    Jarleboy likes this.
  12. 7solqs4iago

    7solqs4iago Forum Resident

    Location:
    Toronto
    was into college football road trips for awhile....

    got to the point where connections arranged for a phone call for a partner at the firm to talk to someone to jump the line for good seats in demand for a $100,000 donation to the football fund...

    i announced i had nothing further to do with this, nor will name the school
     
  13. Sgt. Abbey Road

    Sgt. Abbey Road Forum Resident

    Location:
    Graz, Austria
    I’m just glad that haven’t got this price madness here in Austria yet:rolleyes:
     
    7solqs4iago likes this.
  14. J. Frank Parnell

    J. Frank Parnell Forum Resident

    Location:
    Auburn, MA
    See Definition of FAULT

    Weakness or failing is first item listed.
     
    Jarleboy and john lennonist like this.
  15. MortSahlFan

    MortSahlFan Forum Resident

    Location:
    US
    Didn't all The Beatles contribute lyrically? I read that Mal Evans contributed lyrics, too.

    I liked "Fool On The Hill"... I don't even think about the lyrics in the song, "Junk", but the melodies are so beautiful. But, I'm more of a music-first kinda person.
     
  16. Vangro

    Vangro Forum Resident

    Location:
    London
    Born in London, grew up in London, lived in Sweden for six months.
     
    Jarleboy, john lennonist and pinkrudy like this.
  17. Sgt. Abbey Road

    Sgt. Abbey Road Forum Resident

    Location:
    Graz, Austria
    We saw in the „Get Back“ documentary that Mal contributed some lyrics to „The Long And Winding Road“.
     
    john lennonist and MortSahlFan like this.
  18. Jackson

    Jackson Senior Member

    Location:
    MA, USA
    I'm an American, and it made perfect sense to me the first time I heard it.
     
  19. Seabass

    Seabass Old Git

    Location:
    Devon, England
    If Dylan had written that someone would be doing a thesis on it
     
    Jarleboy and Plano like this.
  20. Wildest cat from montana

    Wildest cat from montana Humble Reader

    Location:
    ontario canada
    Didn't he want Don to teach him how to bake buns?
     
    evillouie likes this.
  21. EdogawaRampo

    EdogawaRampo Senior Member

    "And Jesus, he wants to go to Venus" ... even as a kid this made me cringe. Extra cheap smarm rhyme.
     
  22. sillycornelius

    sillycornelius Forum Resident

    Location:
    Raleigh
    Ozzy Osbourne was well known for coming up with great melodies, but he needed folks like Geezer Butler, Bob Daisley, etc to do the lyrics.
     
  23. Seabass

    Seabass Old Git

    Location:
    Devon, England
    Here he is with his Greek father Stavros and his Swedish mother Ingrid, possibly in the restaurant they owned

    [​IMG]
     
  24. Afaninfull

    Afaninfull Forum Resident

    Another nod for Paul McCartney.

    For a couple of decades, every time he released an album and the pre reviews were positive, I got pulled in. And every time I was so disappointed. I want to love McCartney but I just have never heard an album (apart from Band On The Run) that made me think he was a top tier musician.
    Now, the Beatles are a different story.
     
    john lennonist likes this.
  25. john lennonist

    john lennonist There ONCE was a NOTE, PURE and EASY...


    The thesis would be that he must have taken a double dose of left over "Brown Acid" from Woodstock when he wrote it.
     
    Last edited: Jan 28, 2022
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.

Share This Page

molar-endocrine