I was looking up some of the song lyrics from various songs by Queen and they made little or no sense to me. Several of their songs had a great beat and a few hook lines in the song but for the most part looking at the lyrics of the whole song they made no sense. That's why when rock & roll and doo wop music was replace with rap and heavy metal I drifted to country and western. Here's a sample of lyrics I can relate to.

There's an Elvis movie on the marquee sign
We've all seen at least three times
Everybody's broke, Bobby's got a buck
Put a dollar's worth of gas in his pickup truck
We're going ninety miles an hour down a deadend road
What's the hurry, son... where you gonna go?
We're gonna howl at the moon, shoot out the light
It's a small town Saturday night
It's a small town Saturday night

Lucy's got her lipstick on a little too bright
Bobby's gettin' drunk and lookin' for a fight
Liquor on his breath and trouble on his mind
And Lucy's just a kid, along for the ride
Got a six-pack of beer and a bottle of wine
Gotta be bad just to have a good time
They're gonna howl at the moon, shoot out the light
It's a small town Saturday night
It's a small town Saturday night

Bobby told Lucy, "The world ain't round...
Drops off sharp at the edge of town
Lucy, you know the world must be flat
'Cause when people leave town, they never come back"
They go ninety miles an hour to the city limits sign
Put the pedal to the metal 'fore they change their mind
They howl at the moon, shoot out the light
It's a small town Saturday night

They howl at the moon, shoot out the light
Yeah, it's a small town Saturday night
It's a small town Saturday night
It's a small town Saturday night

"Small Town Saturday Night" by Hal Ketchum

I find it nearly impossible to hear and understand the lyrics of a lot songs these days. I know as we get older most have some hearing loss but too often they lyrics just seem like noise to me. How but you? Do lyrics play a big part in the songs you like or is it all about the band and beat?

 

Some other great lyrics (IMHO):

Paradise by the Dashboard Lights - Jim Seinman
I couldn't take it any longer Lord I was crazed
And when the feeling came upon me like a tidal wave
I started swearing to my god and on my mother's grave
That I would love you to the end of time
I swore, that I would love you to the end of time
So now I'm praying for the end of time
To hurry up and arrive
'Cause if I gotta spend another minute with you
I don't think that I can really survive
I'll never break my promise or forget my vow
But god only knows what I can do right now
I'm praying for the end of time
It's all that I can do (oh oh oh)
Praying for the end of time, so I can end my life with you

Smoke From a Distant Fire - Ed Sanford, Sanford-Tounsend Band
You left me here on your way to paradise
You pulled the rug right out from under my life
I know where you goin' to I knew when you came home last night
'Cause your eyes had a mist from the smoke of a distant fire
Lord, I was stung shoulda' seen it come a long time ago.
When I realized the reality gave me a role
If things are the same then explain why your kiss is so cold
and that mist in your eyes feels like rain on the fire in my soul


The Times They Are A-Changin' - Bob Dylin
Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don't criticize
What you can't understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is
Rapidly agin'.
Please get out of the new one
If you can't lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin'.


My Way - Paul Anka
For what is a man? What has he got? If not himself - Then he has naught.
To say the things he truly feels And not the words of one who kneels.

The End - Lennon, McCartney
And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make.

 

Paroles
Quand j'étais gosse, haut comme trois pommes,
J'parlais bien fort pour être un homme
J'disais, JE SAIS, JE SAIS, JE SAIS, JE SAIS
C'était l'début, c'était l'printemps
Mais quand j'ai eu mes 18 ans
J'ai dit, JE SAIS, ça y est, cette fois JE SAIS
Et aujourd'hui, les jours où je m'retourne
J'regarde la terre où j'ai quand même fait les 100 pas
Et je n'sais toujours pas comment elle tourne!
Vers 25 ans, j'savais tout: l'amour, les roses, la vie, les sous
Tiens oui l'amour! J'en avais fait tout le tour!
Et heureusement, comme les copains, j'avais pas mangé tout mon pain:
Au milieu de ma vie, j'ai encore appris.
C'que j'ai appris, ça tient en trois, quatre mots:
"Le jour où quelqu'un vous aime, il fait très beau,
J'peux pas mieux dire, il fait très beau!
C'est encore ce qui m'étonne dans la vie,
Moi qui suis à l'automne de ma vie
On oublie tant de soirs de tristesse
Mais jamais un matin de tendresse!
Toute ma jeunesse, j'ai voulu dire JE SAIS
Seulement, plus je cherchais, et puis moins j' savais
Il y a 60 coups qui ont sonné à l'horloge
Je suis encore à ma fenêtre, je regarde, et j'm'interroge?
Maintenant JE SAIS, JE SAIS QU'ON NE SAIT JAMAIS!
La vie, l'amour, l'argent, les amis et les roses
On ne sait jamais le bruit ni la couleur des choses
C'est tout c'que j'sais! Mais ça, j'le SAIS...!

 

Ricky and I were on a drive from soCal to Scottsdale and we were listening to Elton John. I heard Ricky sing, "She's a lezy queen." It was supposed to be, "She's really keen." He claims to be all about music but he makes up half the lyrics.


Bennie And The Jets (Remastered 2014) Elton John
Hey kids, shake it loose together
The spotlight's hitting something
That's been known to change the weather
We'll kill the fatted calf tonight
So stick around
You're gonna hear electric music
Solid walls of sound
Say, Candy and Ronnie, have you seen them yet
Uh but they're so spaced out, B-B-B-Bennie and the Jets
Oh but they're weird and they're wonderful
Oh Bennie she's really keen
She's got electric boots a mohair suit
You know I read it in a magazine
B-B-B-Bennie and the Jets
Hey kids, plug into the faithless
Maybe they're blinded
But Bennie makes them ageless
We shall survive, let us take ourselves along
Where we fight our parents out in the streets
To find who's right and who's wrong
Oh Candy and Ronnie, have you seen them yet
Oh but…



I never thought of it before but I guess I like songs better if I can understand and relate to the lyrics. I loved Garth Brooks in the 1990's. He told stories and sang them with emotion. I have a CD in my S2000 of Billy Currington that I love although it's skipping over the two best songs. I want to order it online but that means getting out of my PJs and trekking through the snow to the other garage. ...I figured it out and ordered a new one on Amazon. This is one of the songs I love the melody and the lyrics of, that won't play all the way through. I don't relate to it personally but I enjoy it. I love Billy Currington's voice!

Wingman
Billy Currington
Alright bro
We're gonna have a talk about this
I brought you in this club and you done stole my girl
And that ain't right
When we walked into the club I thought it was understood, mmm, hmm
It was my turn tonight and it was your job to make me look good
Then I pointed out that sweet little beauty in black, yes I did
I sent you over with a couple of drinks and you never came back
You were supposed to be my wingman
Wasn't that your game plan
You take the grenade, and I'll take the fox
Supposed to talk me up bro
No matter what so
Don't go tellin' me you must've forgot
You waltzed her off the dance floor
Right out the back door
Leaving me to go it alone
You're supposed to be my wingman
But the only thing that it should've been me
That's taking her home
Shortly after you left, I was cussing your name, hell I was
When her ugly girlfriend comes over starts working her game, mmm
And I couldn't scare her off no matter what I'd said, nah, no
I was thinkin' I'm the one that should be kissing on that cutie instead
You were supposed to be my wingman
Wasn't that your game plan
You take the grenade, and I'll take the fox
Supposed to talk me up bro
No matter what so
Don't go tellin' me you must've forgot
You waltzed her off the dance floor
Right out the back door
Leaving me to go it alone
You're supposed to be my wingman
But the only thing that it should've been me
That's taking her home
Whoa
They say, all is fair in love and war
And all in time I'm gonna settle that score
It ain't win or lose, it's how you play the game
If I was in your shoes, I might've done it just the same
You were supposed to be my wingman...


This here is a baby making song of his...

 

We switched to country music as well. Their songs have a meaning. Planning to go to Nashville and listen to some good music.

 

OT aside. I could NEVER understand most of REM lyrics. I remember spending a whole day memorizing "Losing My Religion." But, "It's The End Of The World," is untouchable --- memorizing-wise.

 

^ I see what you mean.

 

Some of my favorite lyrics were written by Bob Dylan. This is one of my favorites

Just Like Tom Thumbs Blues

When you're lost in the rain in Juarez when it's Easter time, too
And your gravity fails and negativity don't pull you through
Don't put on any airs when you're down on Rue Morgue Avenue
They got some hungry women there and they really make a mess outta you

Now, if you see Saint Annie, please tell her thanks a lot
I cannot move, my fingers are all in a knot
I don't have the strength to get up and take another shot
And my best friend, my doctor, won't even say what it is I've got

Sweet Melinda, the peasants call her the goddess of gloom
She speaks good English and she invites you up into her room
And you're so kind and careful not to go to her too soon
And she takes your voice and leaves you howling at the moon

Up on Housing Project Hill, it's either fortune or fame
You must pick one or the other, though neither of them are to be what they claim
If you're lookin' to get silly, you better go back to from where you came
Because the cops don't need you, and man, they expect the same

Now, all the authorities, they just stand around and boast
How they blackmailed the sergeant-at-arms into leaving his post
And picking up Angel, who just arrived here from the coast
Who looked so fine at first but left looking just like a ghost

I started out on burgundy but soon hit the harder stuff
Everybody said they'd stand behind me when the game got rough
But the joke was on me, there was nobody even there to bluff
I'm going back to New York City, I do believe I've had enough

 

Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands
Bob Dylan

With your mercury mouth in the missionary times,
And your eyes like smoke and your prayers like rhymes,
And your silver cross, and your voice like chimes,
Oh, do they think could bury you?

With your pockets well protected at last,
And your streetcar visions which you place on the grass,
And your flesh like silk, and your face like glass,
Who could they get to carry you?

Sad-eyed lady of the lowlands,
Where the sad-eyed prophet says that no man comes,
My warehouse eyes, my Arabian drums,
Should I put them by your gate,
Or, sad-eyed lady, should I wait?

With your sheets like metal and your belt like lace,
And your deck of cards missing the jack and the ace,
And your basement clothes and your hollow face,
Who among them can think he could outguess you?

With your silhouette when the sunlight dims
Into your eyes where the moonlight swims,
And your match-book songs and your gypsy hymns,
Who among them would try to impress you?

Sad-eyed lady of the lowlands,
Where the sad-eyed prophet says that no man comes,
My warehouse eyes, my Arabian drums,
Should I put them by your gate,
Or, sad-eyed lady, should I wait?

The kings of Tyrus with their convict list
Are waiting in line for their geranium kiss,
And you wouldn't know it would happen like this,
But who among them really wants just to kiss you?

With your childhood flames on your midnight rug,
And your Spanish manners and your mother's drugs,
And your cowboy mouth and your curfew plugs,
Who among them do you think could resist you?

Sad-eyed lady of the lowlands,
Where the sad-eyed prophet says that no man comes,
My warehouse eyes, my Arabian drums,
Should I leave them by your gate,
Or, sad-eyed lady, should I wait?

Oh, the farmers and the businessmen, they all did decide
To show you the dead angels that they used to hide.
But why did they pick you to sympathize with their side?
Oh, how could they ever mistake you?

They wished you'd accepted the blame for the farm,
But with the sea at your feet and the phony false alarm,
And with the child of a hoodlum wrapped up in your arms,
How could they ever, ever persuade you?

Sad-eyed lady of the lowlands,
Where the sad-eyed prophet says that no man comes,
My warehouse eyes, my Arabian drums,
Should I leave them by your gate,
Or, sad-eyed lady, should I wait?

With your sheet-metal memory of Cannery Row,
And your magazine-husband who one day just had to go,
And your gentleness now, which you just can't help but show,
Who among them do you think would employ you?

Now you stand with your thief, you're on his parole
With your holy medallion which your fingertips fold,
And your saintlike face and your ghostlike soul,
Oh, who among them do you think could destroy you?

Sad-eyed lady of the lowlands,
Where the sad-eyed prophet says that no man comes,
My warehouse eyes, my Arabian drums,
Should I leave them by your gate,
Or, sad-eyed lady, should I wait?

 

Gee, those are dark.