Song lyrics that suddenly make you think...do wot?

[Glow worm]

Whiter Shade of Pale, Procol Harem

I think the fact that the words were gibberish must have been apparent from the very first listen!

As if that weren't bad enough, theyre now running riot in Nigeria.

 

[MontyVeda]

He never wrote a bad lyric

One of the country's greatest lyricists in my mind... if not, thee greatest lyricist.

 

[EltonFrog]

[QUOTE 3162253, member: 45"]I've been to the year three thousand
Not much has changed but they lived under water,
And your great great great grand daughter,
Is pretty fine (is pretty fine)

No, the fact that we're all now marine animals, not much of a change there.

And your great great great grand daughter is pretty fine? Maybe if you're into bodies that have been decomposing for 800 years.[/QUOTE]

Yup totally pants but the next verse used to make me smile.

"...he took me to the future in the flux thing and I saw everything,
boybands and another one and another one ... and another one!..."

 

[ColinJ]

I heard once that Ian Dury used to keep a box full of slips of paper, each bearing a rhyming couplet he'd come up with - Bolshoi Ballet/Ally Pally, Ribena, Hyena - and when he wanted to write a song, he'd start out by pulling them all out and starting to arrange them into some kind of order...

Ha ha - I was just thinking of Billericay Dickie!

Had a love affair with Nina
In the back of my Cortina
A seasoned up hyena
Could not have been more obscener

She took me to the cleaners
And other misdemeanors
But I got right up between her
Rum and her Ribena

 

[Deleted member 23692]

Zoo time is 'she and you' time
The mammals are your favorite type, and you want her tonight
Heartbeat, increasing heartbeat
You hear the thunder of stampeding rhinos, elephants and tacky tigers

Really?

it is a very small part of an absolute classic


View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAzESJ62irI

 

[Venod]

My favourite version of this song, but WTF is it all about ?

 

[Yellow Fang]

Moonlight Shadow by Mike Oldfield is a personal favourite song of mine but the line "4am in the morning" sets my teeth on edge every time !

Is that because of the tautology?

 

[Yellow Fang]

David Bowie used to write out a lyric sheet, then cut it up and re-arrange all the lines... this way he could turn cr@p lyrics inti utter sh!te... but none of the fans noticed so it was all OK in the end. Dunno what Bob Dylan's formula is/was... just write any old tosh I guess and some sucker will buy it... then they'll tell their friends to boy it too, and not wanting to appear uncool, they do... even that sh!te Xmas album!!!

I have spent quite a lot of time wondering whether Bowie's lyrics were profound, or a bit naff. For example, Ashes to Ashes:

Time and again I tell myself,
I'll stay clean tonight,
But the little green wheels keep following me.

What are the little green wheels and why are they following him?

 

[Pro Tour Punditry]

[QUOTE 3163887, member: 1314"]Ian Dury is a London Poet. Without him there would have been no Madness. Should've been titled Ian Dury featuring Madness.
[/QUOTE]

Ian Dury was great. As were Madness, not quite as clever but more mainstream appeal.
My kids love them both.

 

[w00hoo_kent]

Getting back to the OP, and as it was on the mix during the solo bit of my ride home...

The Trashmen - Surfing Bird.

A well a don't you know about the bird?
Well, everybody's talking about the bird!
A well a bird, bird, b-bird's the word
A well a bird

Surfin' bird
B-b-b aah, aah!

Pa pa pa pa, pa pa pa pa, pa pa pa pa, pa pa pa pa
Pa pa pa pa, pa pa pa pa, pa pa pa pa
Papa, ooma mow mow
Papa, ooma mow mow

Papa ooma mow mow, papa ooma mow mow
Papa ooma mow mow, papa ooma mow mow
Ooma mow mow, papa ooma mow mow
Papa ooma mow mow, papa ooma mow mow



Read more: The Trashmen - Surfin' Bird Lyrics | MetroLyrics

 

[MontyVeda]

When Hawkwind sing Silver Machine, the lyrics go...

I, I just took a ride
on a silver machine
and I'm still feeling mean
Oh, do you want to ride,
see yourself going by
The other side of the sky?
You gotta know where I've been

And it flies sideways through time,
it's an electric line
To all the zodiac signs

I got a silver machine
(Silver machine)
I got a silver machine
(Silver machine)
I got a silver machine
(Silver machine)
In my silver machine


When James Last covered it, his chorus sang...

Nah, na na naaa nana nah
Nanananana nah!
Nanana na nana naaah!
Nah na na, nanana nana nah nah
Nana nah, nanana nah
Nanana na nana naaah!

I've got a silver machine
I've got a silver machine
I've got a silver machine
I've got a silver machine


...all killer, no filler!

 

[Arjimlad]

Is that because of the tautology?

Absolutely !

 

[Slim]

There's flies in the kitchen I can hear 'em there buzzing
And I ain't done nothing since I woke up today.
How the hell can a person go to work in the morning
And come home in the evening and have nothing to say.

John Prine - Angel From Montgomery (best version is by Susan Tedeschi)