Best/Worst Lyrics In Pop/Rock music

Bob Dylan has always been noted for his writing ability. I don't most people, critics included, think he's the best musician around.

Dylan is good but wrote: I don't most people, critics included, think he's the best musician around.

True, that. Nor is he noted as an especially wonderful singer, and I think that's what puts off most people who don't enjoy his work. Personally, the only thing that bothers me is that damn harmonica. I really enjoy his singing, and I just happen to connect with the lyrics. Every time I listen to a song, even if I've already heard it a hundred times, I see something different in the words. Especially some of the longer songs, and in particular Highlands (off Time Out of Mind). I can listen to the songs over and over and over again without (generally) getting sick of them. I can't think of a single other artist I can say that about.

Of course I understand why a lot of people just won't ever "get" him, and there's no accounting for personal taste (mine nor theirs).

Among the worst:

Rihanna "Under my umbrella"

"Under my umbrella, ella, ella, eh, eh eh"

SooooGood wrote:

LFO

The entire song of summer girls

but check out this awful one from their song every other time

"sometimes we swim around like two dolphins in the ocean of our hearts"

Along the same lines, how about John Mayer's Your Body is a Wonderland?

"If you want love, we'll make it. Swim in a deep sea of blankets."

This won for effing song of the year at the grammys.

He's got a whole lot of other crap, but this one tops them all.

He's a great guitar player, but his songs suck and it never ceases to amaze me that they are popular.

terps wrote:

Gravity

Is working against me

And gravity

Wants to bring me down

John Mayer, what a deep thinker.

Mayer has some excellent lyrics. Though Gravity is pretty simple, I think anyone could figure out that it's metaphorical. The lyrics to "Split-Screen Sadness" are pretty amazing.

"All you need is love is a lie,

'Cause we had love but we still said goodbye

Now we're tired, battered fighters

And it sting when it's nobody's fault,

'Cause there's nothing to blame at the drop of your name

It's only the air you took,

And the breath you left.

So maybe I’ll sleep inside my coat and

Wait on your porch 'til you come back home

Oh, right

I can’t find a flight

So I’ll check the weather wherever you are

Cause I wanna know if you can see the stars tonight

It might be my only right"

Best chorus ever:

"The last time we hung out

I just kept lookin' down

I st-st-stuttered when you asked me what I'm thinkin 'bout

Feel like I could breathe

You was in front of me

My best friend Leslie said

'oh she's just being Miley!'."

How's this for truly horrible: 'The Warrior' by Scandal

You run, run...run away

It's your heart...that you betray

Feeding on...your hungry eyes

I bet you're not so civilized

Well, isn't love..primitive

A wild gift...that you wanna give

Break out of captivity

And follow me, stereo jungle child

Love is the kill.....your heart's still wild

Chorus:

Shootin' at the walls of heartache, bang, bang, I am the warrior

Well I am the warrior, and heart to heart you'll win..if you survive

the warrior....the warrior

You talk, talk, you talk to me

Your eyes touch me physically

Stay with me, we'll take the night

As passion takes another bite

Who's the hunter...who's the game?

I feel the beat...call your name

I hold you close...in victory

Idon't wanna tame your animal style..

you won't be caged...in the call of the wild....

My gosh the 80s were more awful than I remember.

every month we have the same tired debate, at which point i have to intervene and remind all of you that morrissey is STILL the greatest lyricist of our time...

I'm no fan of rap or country, but they both beat the living daylights out of the "flying purple people eaters" song which topped the charts in America in the 1950's.

retro wrote:I'm no fan of rap or country, but they both beat the living daylights out of the "flying purple people eaters" song which topped the charts in America in the 1950's.

I can't really disagree with that.

Maybe not the worst but surly one of the most superficial lines is by the Doors (I think):

'Hello, I love you, won't you tell me your name.

Well, it's even worse when you realize the opening repetitive riff of that song is stolen from "All Day And All of The Night" by The Kinks

Has Bryan Ferry of Roxy Music been mentioned yet..."More Than This," "A Song For Europe," "Mother of Pearl," a whole bunch of other gems.

best= "lungs" by townes van zandt

worst= "gimmie gimmie gimmie" by britney spears

Lyrics to Sam Stone by John Prine

Sam Stone came home

To his wife and family

After serving in the conflict overseas.

And the time that he served

Had shattered all his nerves

And left a little shrapnel in his knee.

But the morphine eased the pain

And the grass grew round his brain

And gave him all the confidence he lacked

With a Purple Heart and a monkey on his back.

Chorus

There's a hole in daddy's arm where all the money goes

Jesus Christ died for nothin' I suppose

Little pictures have big ears

Don't stop to count the years

Sweet songs never last too long on broken radios.

Sam Stone's welcome home

Didn't last too long.

He went to work when he'd spent his last dime

And Sammy took to stealing

When he got that empty feeling

For a hundred dollar habit without overtime.

And the gold rolled through his veins

Like a thousand railroad trains

And eased his mind in the hours that he chose

While the kids ran around wearin' other peoples' clothes.

Chorus

Sam Stone was alone

When he popped his last balloon

Climbing walls while sitting in a chair

Well, he played his last request

While the room smelled just like death

With an overdose hovering in the air.

But life had lost its fun

And there was nothing to be done

But trade his house that he bought on the G.I. Bill

For a flag draped casket on a local heroes' hill.

i'm going to have to comply.

from the B side of a John Denver album;

I took two shots

Got no ducks

And cold, cold hands

seriously, he actually recorded that. ouch!

This Sandi Thom song is truly dreadful.

"Well I wish I was a punk rocker with flowers in my hair

In 77 and 69 when revolution was in the air.."

This is so wrong in every way. Punks and hippies are at complete opposite ends of the social spectrum. A punk with flowers in their hair is akin to a sumo wrestler wearing ballet shoes. Any self-respecting punk wouldn't have had enough hair to put flowers in. Even the years are wrong. The flower-power 'revolution' was in its death throws by 1969.

It's tragic that millions of members of the public allowed a pompous teenager to get away with rewriting musical history without noticing what a stinking pile of gargage her song really is.

I think this is from Larry Norman-- but not sure. Great line.

Mama baught a chicken thought it was a duck, put it on the table with it's legs sticken up.

Still Running wrote:

I think this is from Larry Norman-- but not sure. Great line.

Mama baught a chicken thought it was a duck, put it on the table with it's legs sticken up.

After further research, I think Norman was quoting Champion Jack Dupree.