Lyrix

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

I've always thought of the Kinks as being founding fathers of a lyrical strain in British pop - wit, "character songs", satire gentle and vicious, etc etc.

I wonder if this is just received wisdom though - not that the Kinks didn't do it and weren't good at it but their peers often did it too, so maybe it's the way they delivered the lyrics vocally or the melodies they set them to that give me that impression.

Anyway, I'd like to know what you think about lyrics - when you notice them, how highly you value them, and so on.

Or actually, let's make this more concrete: what recent records do you think have good lyrics?

Comments

[skyecaptain.livejournal.com]

Wouldn't have thought I'd have said this this time last year (at ALL) but uh, Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana actually has really interesting lyrics. She's progressively taken on a teen-scorned angst approach, and the results are interesting, because she's fundamnetally cheerful but saying some fairly nasty things to the guys in her songs...

From "Eastnorthumberland High": "Your my type of guy, I guess/ If I was stuck in East Northumberland High for the rest of my life/ but people change/ thank God I did."

From "I Got Nerve": "I know what you like/ I know what you think/ Not afraid to stare you down until you blink" [sounds like "bleed"!]

From "Start All Over": "Out of the fire and into the fire again/ You make me want to forget/ And start all over" -- that was co-written by Fefe Dobson and it shows. Fefe's a great lyricist herself, very funny and hits hard with the spite: "I've been livin' lately like I'm dying all the time/ Might do something crazy like jumping off the Hollywood sign/ 'Cuz boy you make me feel like I could fly"

Miley's best lyrics -- the ones I actually believe she might have written herself -- are from "See You Again": "The last time I freaked out/ I just kept lookin' down/ I st-st-stuttered when you asked me what I'm thinkin' bout/ Felt like I couldn't breathe/ You asked what's wrong with me/ My best friend Leslie said 'Oh she's just bein' Miley'/ the next time we hang out/ I will redeem myself/ I can't wait to see you again"

Yo, I'm 13 again and I've got a crush on that girl in my science class! Except she's crushin' on the jerk that ends up calling Miley at the end of the song (what kind of idiot asks a girl he likes WHAT'S WRONG WITH HER??).

[skyecaptain.livejournal.com]

Woops "next time we hang out/ I will redeem myself/ My heart can wait till then/I can't wait to see you again"

[skyecaptain.livejournal.com]

Gah! "YOU'RE my type of guy!"

[justfanoe.livejournal.com]

It's "my heart CAN'T REST till then" isn't it? Which I like even more than what you've written. Yeah, great lyrix. Wikipedia: "Also, the "Lesley" mentioned in the song is Lesley Patterson, Miley Cyrus's real-life best friend from Memphis,Tennessee, whom was friends with her since the second grade."

[skyecaptain.livejournal.com]

Yep, rest. Was transcribing from memory...

[koganbot]

The Wikipedian "whom."

[skyecaptain.livejournal.com]

A person like me thinks, therefore a person like me is.