Music: Best music to worst lyrics ratio

[Spring in Fialta]

I.e. what are you favorite songs that just have awful lyrics?

I'll start with Bizarre Love Triangle. I freaking adore the song, can listen to it ten times in a row, but the lyrics are insanely corny. Which made me think of the subject. What are examples of songs where the music itself is amazing (which even includes the singer's intonation, lyric placement, etc.) but the words themselves are so awful? What are the most extreme examples?

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[Pranzo Oltranzista]

I'll bite.

I really like quite a few of scarlxord's songs. Saddly, the guy is stucked within the blatant insecurities of the worst of juvenile hip-hop.



I also like one song by Hollywood Undead with some unforgivably dumb lyrics (which might be in part why the song works though).



And quite a few metal songs that aren't intellectual masterpieces either.

 

[Spring in Fialta]

I'll bite.

I really like quite a few of scarlxord's songs. Saddly, the guy is stucked within the blatant insecurities of the worst of juvenile hip-hop.



I also like one song by Hollywood Undead with some unforgivably dumb lyrics



And quite a few metal songs that aren't intellectual masterpieces either.

The second piece masters the art of the lyrical mistake but I have to say the music itself is almost just as bad. They got paid for this?

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

The second piece masters the art of the lyrical mistake but I have to say the music itself is almost just as bad. They got paid for this?

Yeah, neither of these songs answer your question about amazing music vs bad lyrics. Just songs I like with dumb lyrics - I do think scarlxrd has his finger on something regarding the mix of influences, but it's still far from great music. As for the Hollywood Undead song (I was editing my post while you were replying), I think it mostly works for me as an ironic piece, but I have no idea of the original intention.

 

[BertCorbeau]

I love country music but am not ashamed to say that a majority of the lyrics are pretty bad

 

[Speyer]

The Postal Service's only album Give Up. Great melodically but the lyrics are hipster cringe of the worst kind.

 

[Spring in Fialta]

The Postal Service's only album Give Up. Great melodically but the lyrics are hipster cringe of the worst kind.

I peeked and had to stop.


[Verse 1: Ben Gibbard]
Will someone please call a surgeon
Who can crack my ribs and repair this broken heart
That you're deserting for better company?
I can't accept that it's over
Then I will block the door
Like a goalie tending the net in the third quarter
Of a tied-game rivalry

[Pre-Chorus: Ben Gibbard]
So, just say how to make it right
And I swear I'll do my best to comply

[Chorus: Ben Gibbard]
Tell me, am I right to think
That there could be nothing better
Than making you my bride
And slowly growing old together?

[Verse 2: Jen Wood]
I feel I must interject here
You're getting carried away feeling sorry for yourself
With these revisions and gaps in history
So let me help you remember
I've made charts and graphs that should finally make it clear
I've prepared a lecture on why I have to leave
So, please back away and let me go
I can't, my darling, I love you so
Oh, oh

[Chorus: Ben Gibbard & Jen Wood]
Tell me am I right to think
That there could be nothing better
Than making you my bride
And slowly growing old together?
(Tell me, am I right?)
Don't you feed me lines
About some idealistic future
(Tell me, am I right?)
Your heart won't heal right
If you keep tearing out the sutures

[Outro: Ben Gibbard & Jen Wood]
I admit that I have made mistakes
And I swear I'll never wrong you again
You've got a lure I can't deny
But you've had your chance, so say goodbye
Say goodbye

Have not listed to the track yet.

 

[Shareefruck]

Kind of cheating, but...

 

[peate]

I love country music but am not ashamed to say that a majority of the lyrics are pretty bad

I disagree. While there are some really corny and cheapo lyrics, especially in newer stuff by men mostly, a lot of the best lyrics are country songs.

 

[Spring in Fialta]

Kind of cheating, but...

Not really what I'm going for. Bad cover doesn't work.

 

[Shareefruck]

^ Honestly, it's a tough one, because the intonation and lyrical placement kind of completely supercedes the meaning of the words themselves, for me.

Here's something where I love the instrumentation and music but get really put off by the intonation and lyrical placement/choices, though (where the meaning itself doesn't matter as much to me). I can't pinpoint it exactly, but I think it's something to do with the emphasis words feeling really forced to me (almost like he's trying too hard to rhyme or something?).

 

[Spring in Fialta]

^ Honestly, it's a tough one, because the intonation and lyrical placement kind of completely supercedes the meaning of the words themselves, for me.

Here's something where I love the instrumentation and music but get really put off by the intonation and lyrical placement/choices, though (where the meaning itself doesn't matter as much to me).

That's the point. The bad lyrics don't ruin the song. You want them to supercede the meaning. Ideally, folks will be posting songs they're in love with. The idea is to share songs where the song is so good in all aspects that the reading of its lyrics cannot ruin it. I'm looking for the biggest discrepancy. Which makes me think that I should dig into The Beach Boys. They're bound to have a couple.

 

[Spring in Fialta]

Another contender: Everyday by Buddy Holly. Amazing song, lyrics as cookie-cutter as you can imagine albeit perhaps not as cringy as some others. But they fit great and Holly sings them gorgeously.

 

[Shareefruck]

That's the point. The bad lyrics don't ruin the song. You want them to supercede the meaning. Ideally, folks will be posting songs they're in love with. The idea is to share songs where the song is so good in all aspects that the reading of its lyrics cannot ruin it. I'm looking for the biggest discrepancy. Which makes me think that I should dig into The Beach Boys. They're bound to have a couple.

Hmm.. Would this be the kind of thing you have in mind? I love the sound, delivery, attitude, word choices, and I think it's well written, but uhh... pretty uncomfortably predatory stuff. Same with something like Run For Your Life by The Beatles, though the sound doesn't grab me as much.

 

[Spring in Fialta]

Hmm.. Would this be the kind of thing you have in mind? I love the sound, delivery, attitude, word choices, and I think it's well written, but uhh... pretty uncomfortably predatory stuff. Same with something like Run For Your Life by The Beatles.

Will read the lyrics but I guess I should make clear that morality doesn't come into the equation.

 

[Lshap]

Hello Goodbye - The Beatles ("You say yes, I say no, you say stop, and I say go, go, go")

Surfer Girl - Beach Boys ("Little surfer little one, Made my heart come all undone")

 

[Mikeaveli]

Take your pick of nearly any early Beach Boys song. The lyrics aren't unlistenably bad but it definitely takes a large amount of not caring about the lyrics to get into it. Once you get past that there are some amazing vocal melodies and harmonies throughout their early discography.

 

[TheAngryHank]

Tequila

 

[BigBadBruins7708]

Uptown Funk

Great musically, but good God those lyrics are cringe

 

[Primary Assist]

How about Seventeen by Winger? It's a classic rock-out song, but I would not want a cop or a nun or Chris Hansen to hear me belting out those lyrics while singing along to the radio.

 

[Osprey]

How about Seventeen by Winger? It's a classic rock-out song, but I would not want a cop or a nun or Chris Hansen to hear me belting out those lyrics while singing along to the radio.

It's funny that you mention that because, only 30 minutes ago, I was listening to Motley Crue's All in the Name Of..., which surprised me by opening with: "She's only fifteen. She's the reason. The reason that I can't sleep. You say illegal. I say, legal's never been my scene, oh yeah." That and Seventeen's lyrics didn't feel so wrong when I was a teenager, myself.