I was listening to Bridges last week, and it occurred to me that that might have been the last album where the lyrics were somewhat well thought out, IMO. I genuinely like ABB and played it for months straight when it came out. Musically I thought it was a solid album with some really good tunes on there, but overall, lyrically, I felt it to be somewhat lacking. Same to be said about several other songs written since then. Mick's rhyming scheme is almost cringe-worthy to me, such as in Doom and Gloom. They just seem to be easy, cliché lyrics as opposed to what would be conjured up back in the day.

Then, I stumbled across the below article today in searching out the Super Deluxe of SF, and it made me wonder if Mick isn't maybe more concerned with his overall image these days than really laying down some controversial, thought-provoking lyrics. Even Sweet NeoCon could have been better than it was.

PopMatters Article

Thoughts? I am talking about the section of the article where it talks about Mick not having the nerve to write the same lyrics for Brown Sugar today. I found that interesting.

The Greatest Rock 'n' Roll Bland in the World...

I tend to mock lyrics I don't like much as well. "Awful bright, awful smart, awful bad;" "the moon is yellow, I'm like Jello;" and "sharks will cry."

The thing is it was always there to a degree. Who would really lay traps for troubadours? And all her blood and thunder should make his hackles rise, not his shackles.

It happens. It's only rock 'n' roll whether we like it or not.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2017-04-20 06:18 by Rocky Dijon.

"...there's a swish in your step, there's a gleam in your eye; Are you coloring your hair with a new kind of dye"
a mini heart-breaker for me

Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a gypsy queen
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle all dressed in green
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle ’til the moon is blue
Wiggle ’til the moon sees you

Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle in your boots and shoes
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, you got nothing to lose
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a swarm of bees
Wiggle on your hands and knees

Wiggle to the front, wiggle to the rear
Wiggle ’til you wiggle right out of here
Wiggle ’til it opens, wiggle ’til it shuts
Wiggle ’til it bites, wiggle ’til it cuts

Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a bowl of soup
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a rolling hoop
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a ton of lead
Wiggle—you can raise the dead

Wiggle ’til you’re high, wiggle ’til you’re higher
Wiggle ’til you vomit fire
Wiggle ’til it whispers, wiggle ’til it hums
Wiggle ’til it answers, wiggle ’til it comes

Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like satin and silk
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a pail of milk
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, rattle and shake
Wiggle like a big fat snake

............................ Wiggle Wiggle - Bob Dylan



ROCKMAN

wiggle wiggle the record is due
wiggle wiggle i'll write shit for you
wiggle wiggle till the clauses are met
wiggle wiggle they ain't stopped me yet

wiggle wiggle if i give 'em some tapes
wiggle wiggle then my kid gets new drapes
wiggle wiggle i hope you're getting this down
wiggle wiggle soon as i'm out of town

wiggle wiggle it's obvious here
wiggle wiggle i'm living for beer
wiggle wiggle it's now copyrighted
wiggle wiggle i've got lawyers who'll fight it

wiggle wiggle u can stick this in place
in that hole where it blows i'm not talking your face
wiggle wiggle i'm cashing the check
wiggle wiggle so it's not dark just yet

wiggle wiggle i've said it before
wiggle wiggle i'll say it some more
wiggle wiggle they needed one track
wiggle wiggle here it is don't come back




hopkins' dylan joke; dedicated with love & respect to Rockman; keeper of so many flames here



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2017-04-20 23:36 by hopkins.

Quote
VoodooLounge13
I was listening to Bridges last week, and it occurred to me that that might have been the last album where the lyrics were somewhat well thought out, IMO. I genuinely like ABB and played it for months straight when it came out. Musically I thought it was a solid album with some really good tunes on there, but overall, lyrically, I felt it to be somewhat lacking. Same to be said about several other songs written since then. Mick's rhyming scheme is almost cringe-worthy to me, such as in Doom and Gloom. They just seem to be easy, cliché lyrics as opposed to what would be conjured up back in the day.

Then, I stumbled across the below article today in searching out the Super Deluxe of SF, and it made me wonder if Mick isn't maybe more concerned with his overall image these days than really laying down some controversial, thought-provoking lyrics. Even Sweet NeoCon could have been better than it was.

PopMatters Article

Thoughts? I am talking about the section of the article where it talks about Mick not having the nerve to write the same lyrics for Brown Sugar today. I found that interesting.

I think Mick tried harder with ABB, writing about controversial current stuff (Condoleezza Rice, Lyndie England, Abu Ghraib etc.).

On B2B you got lots of cliches like Gunface, Might As Well Get Juiced, LowDown etc. I'm not mentioning Keith's songs here

However, the lyrics will also lose its power on bland songs, so it's a fine line, imo. Sometimes the most over-blown love-lyrics will work on a great song, while a great piece of craft will go under the radar on a poor tune.

There are good passages on ALL Stones albums, though - both musically and lyrically

It doesn't GET any more bland and absolutely c**p than this (Rough Justice)

One time you were my baby chicken
Now you've grown into a fox
Once upon a time I was your little rooster
But am I just one of your cocks

[ I want to shout, but I can hardly speak ]

What WERE they thinking when they penned that ?

[ I want to shout, but I can hardly speak ]

ROCKMAN

Quote
paulywaul
It doesn't GET any more bland and absolutely c**p than this (Rough Justice)

One time you were my baby chicken
Now you've grown into a fox
Once upon a time I was your little rooster
But am I just one of your cocks

Yeah, like a chicken can grow into a fox!

That's the least of the song's problems !!

As lyrics go, they just simply fall into the 'truly appalling' category !!

[ I want to shout, but I can hardly speak ]

Quote
paulywaul
It doesn't GET any more bland and absolutely c**p than this (Rough Justice)

One time you were my baby chicken
Now you've grown into a fox
Once upon a time I was your little rooster
But am I just one of your cocks

I have to confess I like those lyrics of Rough Justice!
These are perfect R n R-lyrics.

Sometimes I wonder what you expect of The Rolling Stones, they´ve never been the story-telling-kind of artists. Every now and then you find a few good lines thrown in here and there but most of the times it´s just about finding rhymes that fit the melody. They never claimed to be witty or intellectual. Everyone loves Start Me Up but is it better than Rough Justice, lyricwise?

For instance, David Bowie´s lyrics most of the times make no sense at all... but I never heard somebody complain about that. ("I catch a paper boy but things don´t really change, I´m lying in the rain but I never wave bye-bye")

Rock n Roll is more about ass-kicking music than witty lyrics.
Go and grab a book.

Stones' lyrics generally went off the boil after Exile On Main Street.

There are of course a few exceptions such as Time Waits For No One, Can You Hear The Music, Undercover Of The Night...hmmm...sure there must be a couple more...

Quote
HMS

Quote
paulywaul
It doesn't GET any more bland and absolutely c**p than this (Rough Justice)

One time you were my baby chicken
Now you've grown into a fox
Once upon a time I was your little rooster
But am I just one of your cocks

I have to confess I like those lyrics of Rough Justice!
These are perfect R n R-lyrics.

Sometimes I wonder what you expect of The Rolling Stones, they´ve never been the story-telling-kind of artists. Every now and then you find a few good lines thrown in here and there but most of the times it´s just about finding rhymes that fit the melody. They never claimed to be witty or intellectual. Everyone loves Start Me Up but is it better than Rough Justice, lyricwise?

For instance, David Bowie´s lyrics most of the times make no sense at all... but I never heard somebody complain about that. ("I catch a paper boy but things don´t really change, I´m lying in the rain but I never wave bye-bye")

Rock n Roll is more about ass-kicking music than witty lyrics.
Go and grab a book.

I, too, enjoy those lyrics of RJ. No, a chicken can't grow into a fox, but Mick paired the chicken with the rooster comment two lines later. I thought that was brilliant. I guess for me a lot of the rhyming scheme has fallen to almost predictable. Like the aforementioned Streets of Love set. That to me, seemed like there wasn't much effort to it. I'm fine with lyrics that don't make sense - sometimes that's part of the greatness of the song. A lot of their older stuff - say late 60s-early 70s - had fresh lyrics. And personally I also like the lay traps for troubadours. Who would use troubadours in a song?? Only Mick. LOL I do think he tried on ABB, and some of it worked, but when it missed, it missed WIDE. RJ I thought was the best damn thing they had done since LIS. It was classic Stones IMO. Gnarling riff, dirty lyrics. That to me was 100% pure Stones. I thought it should have done better than it did. But my favorite song on the album is Driving Too Fast. That's just a great rocker. And I will admit, MAWGJ, is the only song in their entire catalog that I actually skip. There are songs I don't like of theirs - Angie, Beast of Burden - but I suffer thru them. However, I cannot stomach MAWGJ and I skip it everytime. Musically I abhor it. But overall, BTB I think has a great NYC feel to it at that time (late 90's). Lord knows they have enough life experiences to pen something a bit more in the former days style than to do easy rhymes that a Beiber or any other fleeting pop star would sing. That's just my two cents is all. I'm happy to even have any new music from them. I've just noticed of late the witty-ness of Mick's rhymes seems to have abated some.

"Mmm, smells like caviar" I always found was overdoing it a bit.

Then again, regarding the Rough Justice lyrics, it matters more how Mick sings it, putting his signature emphasis on "fox" for instance.

After all, it's the singer not the song: [www.youtube.com]

I like the verses and the riff, but "you got me rockin'" is lame-o. No one should have been writing a song with "rock" in the title in 1994.

Quote
matxil
"Mmm, smells like caviar" I always found was overdoing it a bit.

Actually, I believe France's former First Lady's privates did smell like caviar. Why should I doubt him?

Quote
HMS
I have to confess I like those lyrics of Rough Justice!
These are perfect R n R-lyrics.

Rock n Roll is more about ass-kicking music than witty lyrics.
Go and grab a book.

I'm relieved you didn't disappoint me here. It's nice to rely upon you like the sun and moon and know you are constant in your convictions.

Chuck Berry's only Number 1 song:

I want to play with my ding-a-ling.

Chuck Berry's only Number 1 song:

I want to play with my ding-a-ling


............Yeah his only Number 1 song and Chuck didn't pen it ....

my mistake I left out the word ... Didn't ....



ROCKMAN



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2017-04-21 03:49 by Rockman.

Quote
Rockman
Chuck Berry's only Number 1 song:

I want to play with my ding-a-ling


............Yeah his only Number 1 song and Chuck pen it ....

A cover: [www.youtube.com]

Hot stuff, hot stuff, hot stuff, hot stuff...this from the same author of Sympathy For The Devil!

"Gonna find my way to heaven ..."

Quote
Rockman
Chuck Berry's only Number 1 song:

I want to play with my ding-a-ling


............Yeah his only Number 1 song and Chuck pen it ....

yeh that always hurt me; he finally gets this big Number 1 airplay hit in the 'modern' era, post even the mighty Invaders, and it's this kind of bad bar drunk stupid stuff; at one point Dylan, then Lennon, Springsteen, Mick, the best and brightest were lookin' at his poetry prose with awe and this is the hit. dohh

musta big a gas those folks saw him 56 thru early 60's. I caught him toward the end of the sixties, the very end or shortly after...so he still had the energy; he appreciated the 'new' generation going wild for him like crazy....but truth is it was a pick-up band; not a particularly inspired one; he put across an intense twenty or so minutes with personality and I guess some delight; that 'oldies' phenom was new, and oldsters were starting to play campuses and bigger and bigger audiotoriums and stuff...he actually seemed humble and grateful to me and the fans close to him; he actually walked right into the crowd, no fear, no problems...no body guards pushing anyone; nobody wanted to hurt anybody....back then it was maybe different? I dunno for sure...

anyway; yeh, the guy who writes all those great lyrical twainish awesome stuff has a hit about his wee wee hawww hawwww.....then again that's what a lot of songs are about but jeessshh

Quote
HonkeyTonkFlash
Hot stuff, hot stuff, hot stuff, hot stuff...this from the same author of Sympathy For The Devil!

Do we know that?

My kids used to think "Hot Stuff" was called "Pasta."

As for "My Ding-a-Ling," Chuck had been playing a version of it in concert for 10-15 years before the single came along. The 45 hit a year or so after Country Joe and the Fish and their Woodstock singalong. It was puerile fun or simply something to ignore. Regardless of chart position, he made his mark with his Chess sides in the second half of the 1950s. Those are his real legacy.

Regarding Rough Justice... I think it was just a stupid way to prove that he could get away with singing the word "cocks"

Says something with a form of commentary like Sweet NeoCon and gets panned, so why bother?

Rod

Quote
DandelionPowderman

Quote
HonkeyTonkFlash
Hot stuff, hot stuff, hot stuff, hot stuff...this from the same author of Sympathy For The Devil!

Do we know that?

Good point...We may never know which lyrical genius came up with the prose of Hot Stuff! Perhaps I assumed Mick too hastily!

"Gonna find my way to heaven ..."

Without bothering to think too hard, Fool To Cry may be the blandest sappiest lyrics in the Stones canon.

"Gonna find my way to heaven ..."