The Lyrics Thread

[Alex_UK]

Would posters to this thread please name the song whose lyrics they are quoting? Lyrics are not the same as poetry; one needs to have some idea of the tune or rhythm against which the lyrics are sung.

Thank you

+1, pretty please!

[YNWaN]

Peter Hammill - Four Pails
The Undertones - Teenage kicks
Robyn Hitchcock and the Egyptions - Brenda's Iron Sledge
Hawkwind - Psi Power
The Velvet Underground - Venus in Furs

[DSJR]

Hybrid's Disappear Here (gawd, I love this album..)

Maybe it was my mistake
Could it be that I'm the one to blame?
Broken all the pieces
Why don't you throw the rest away?

And you cry like a baby
Fly like a bird
I'll shoot you down
And yet no one can save me
Cause I only disappear here

Wait! I'm in the wrong house
I'm in the wrong room
Some place in someone else's shoes

I want to turn back
I want to shut down
I'll blow away if I breathe out

Save me from sleeping now
Save me from flying out
I disappear here

I have been your guilty pleasure
I've been your lack of restraint
Apply the perfect pressure
To your sweet subordinate

So go into your spiral
And gently you're winding me down
So I figure I'm falling
Into the fall out

Wait! I'm in the wrong house
I'm in the wrong room
Some place in someone else's shoes

I want to turn back
I want to shut down
You'll blow away if I breathe out

Save me from sleeping now
Save me from flying out
I disappear here

Broken, torn, insincere
Can I watch
As you disappear
Here

[WAD62]

Tokyo Storm Warning Lyrics (Mr Costello at his best)

The sky fell over cheap Korean monster-movie scenery
And spilled into the mezzanine of the crushed capsule hotel
Between the Disney abattoir and the chemical refinery
And I knew I was in trouble but I thought I was in hell

So you look around the tiny room and you wonder where the hell you are
While the K.K.K. convention are all stranded in the bar
They wear hoods and carry shotguns in the main streets of Montgomery
But they're helpless here as babies 'cause they're only here on holiday

Chorus: What do we care if the world is a joke
(Tokyo Storm Warning)
We'll give it a big kiss
We'll give it a poke
(Tokyo Storm Warning)
Death wears a big hat 'cause he's a big bloke
(Tokyo Storm Warning)
We're only living this instant

The black sand stuck beneath her feet in a warm Sorrento sunrise
A barefoot girl from Naples or was it a Barcelona hi-rise
Whistles out the tuneless theme song on a hundred cheap suggestions
And a million false seductions and all those eternal questions

Chorus

So they flew the Super-Constellation all the way from Rimini
And feasted them on fish and chips from a newspaper facsimile
Now dead Italian tourists bodies litter up the Broadway
Some people can't be told you know they have to learn the hard way

Holidays are dirt-cheap in the Costa del Malvinas
In the Hotel Argentina they can hardly tell between us
For Teresa is a waitress though she's now known as Juanita
In a tango bar in Stanley or in Puerto Margarita
She's the sweetest and the sauciest
The loveliest and the naughtiest
She's Miss Buenos Aires in a world of lacy lingerie

Chorus

The Japanese got Jesus robots telling teenage fortunes
For all we know and all we care they might as well be Martians
They say gold paint on the palace gates comes from the teeth of pensioners
They're so tired of shooting protest singers
That they hardly mention us
While fountains fill with second-hand perfume
And sodden trading stamps
They'll hang the bullies and the louts that dampen down the day

Chorus

We braved the cold November air and the undertaker's curses
Saying "Take me to the Folies Bergere and please don't spare the hearses"
For he always had a dream of that revolver in your purse
How you loved him 'til you hated him and made him cry for mercy
He said "Don't ever mention my name there or talk of all the nights you cried
We've always been like worlds apart now you're seeing two nightmares collide"

Chorus

[Barry]

Tokyo Storm Warning Lyrics (Mr Costello at his best)

The sky fell over cheap Korean monster-movie scenery
And spilled into the mezzanine of the crushed capsule hotel
Between the Disney abattoir and the chemical refinery
And I knew I was in trouble but I thought I was in hell

So you look around the tiny room and you wonder where the hell you are
While the K.K.K. convention are all stranded in the bar
They wear hoods and carry shotguns in the main streets of Montgomery
But they're helpless here as babies 'cause they're only here on holiday

Chorus: What do we care if the world is a joke
(Tokyo Storm Warning)
We'll give it a big kiss
We'll give it a poke
(Tokyo Storm Warning)
Death wears a big hat 'cause he's a big bloke
(Tokyo Storm Warning)
We're only living this instant

The black sand stuck beneath her feet in a warm Sorrento sunrise
A barefoot girl from Naples or was it a Barcelona hi-rise
Whistles out the tuneless theme song on a hundred cheap suggestions
And a million false seductions and all those eternal questions

Chorus

So they flew the Super-Constellation all the way from Rimini
And feasted them on fish and chips from a newspaper facsimile
Now dead Italian tourists bodies litter up the Broadway
Some people can't be told you know they have to learn the hard way

Holidays are dirt-cheap in the Costa del Malvinas
In the Hotel Argentina they can hardly tell between us
For Teresa is a waitress though she's now known as Juanita
In a tango bar in Stanley or in Puerto Margarita
She's the sweetest and the sauciest
The loveliest and the naughtiest
She's Miss Buenos Aires in a world of lacy lingerie

Chorus

The Japanese got Jesus robots telling teenage fortunes
For all we know and all we care they might as well be Martians
They say gold paint on the palace gates comes from the teeth of pensioners
They're so tired of shooting protest singers
That they hardly mention us
While fountains fill with second-hand perfume
And sodden trading stamps
They'll hang the bullies and the louts that dampen down the day

Chorus

We braved the cold November air and the undertaker's curses
Saying "Take me to the Folies Bergere and please don't spare the hearses"
For he always had a dream of that revolver in your purse
How you loved him 'til you hated him and made him cry for mercy
He said "Don't ever mention my name there or talk of all the nights you cried
We've always been like worlds apart now you're seeing two nightmares collide"

Chorus

Wow! Dread to think what a collaboration between Elvis Costello and Roger Waters might produce. Perhaps it's just as well they don't work together!

Regards

[WAD62]

...it somehow makes a little more sense with the music, as always he has great rhythm in his lyrics (if that makes sense).

[Barry]

This thread has become a bit quiet, so I’ll revive it by posting two sets of lyrics.

The first is The Sisters of Mercy by Leonard Cohen. The Sisters of Mercy are not, as I’m sure you know, a religious order. Rather they are Cohen’s appellation of two prostitutes he met in Edmonton. With this sort of PR, the Sisters of Mercy should enjoy plenty of business!


Oh the sisters of mercy, they are not departed or gone.
They were waiting for me when I thought that I just couldn’t go on.
And they brought me their comfort and later they brought me their song.
Oh I hope you run into them, you who've been travelling so long.

Yes you who must leave everything that you cannot control.
It begins with your family, but soon it comes around to your soul.
Well I've been where you're hanging; I think I can see how you're pinned:
When you're not feeling holy, your loneliness says that you've sinned.

They lay down beside me; I made my confession to them.
They touched both my eyes and I touched the dew on their hem.
If your life is a leaf that the seasons tear off and condemn
they will bind you with love that is graceful and green as a stem.

When I left they were sleeping, I hope you run into them soon.
Don't turn on the lights, you can read their address by the moon.
And you won't make me jealous if I hear that they sweetened your night:
We weren't lovers like that and besides it would still be all right,
We weren't lovers like that and besides it would still be all right.




My second choice is I Got No, I Got Life by Nina Simone. There are times when we all feel disgruntled and tend to whinge about our lot in life; there seems to have been some of late here on this forum. Though by no means a panacea, it’s sometimes a good thing to take stock and be grateful for what you have got, and no one does it better than Nina Simone.


I ain't got no home, ain't got no shoes
Ain't got no money, Ain't got no class
Ain't got no skirts, Ain't got no sweater
Ain't got no perfume Ain't got no bed
Ain't got no mind,

Ain't got no mother Ain't got no culture
Ain't got no friends, aint got no schoolin'
Ain't got no love, Ain't got no name
Ain't got no ticket, Ain't got no token
Ain't got no god

and what have I got?
why am I alive anyway?
yeah what have i got?
nobody can take away?...

Got my hair. Got my head
Got my brains, Got my ears
Got my eyes, Got my nose
Got my mouth, I got my smile

Got my tongue, Got my chin
Got my neck, Got my boobies
Got my heart, Got my soul
Got my back, I got my sex.

I got my arms, got my hands, got my fingers,
got my legs, got my feet, got my toes,
got my liver, got my blood.

I've got life,
I've got my freedom
I've got life
I've got life
and I am gonna keep it.

I've got life
and nobody's gonna take it away
I've got life!

[Beechwoods]

From the sublime to the ridiculous, 'You Knows I Love You' by Goldie Lookin' Chain. One of my favourite 'love-rap' tracks

I wanna take you to Mcdonalds with a candle
Girl, it's my love you can't handle
I see you walking on the way home from work
Your Tesco tunic really drives me berserk
I'm for real - it ain't no quirk
My love is lurking the way a rapist would lurk
In a bush, or a car park in town
I bought you this necklace
It cost me 12 pounds
From Argos, Elizabeth Duke
Maybe you're the Skywalker to my Luke
The Darth to the Vader
Flip Over the Crossfader
I'll serenade you with a bag of space raiders
Or walkers or smiths or maybe even quavers
'Cos my love for you is like drugs for ravers
With glowsticks and funny hats on
I loves you more than I loves my bong

[WAD62]

GLC top quality light entertainment...'Yer mums gor a penis!'

Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip 'Thou shalt always kill' (from the album Angles which is excellent IMHO)

Thou shalt not steal if there is a direct victim.
Thou shalt not worship Pop Idols or follow Lostprophets.
Thou shalt not take the names of Johnny Cash, Joe Strummer,
Johnny Hartman, Desmond Decker, Jim Morrison,
Jimi Hendrix or Syd Barrett in vain.
Thou shalt not think that any male over the age of 30
That plays with a child that is not their own is a paedophile.
Some people are just nice.
Thou shalt not read NME.
Thou shalt not stop liking a band just because they've become popular.
Thou shalt not question Stephen Fry.
Thou shalt not judge a book by it's cover.
Thou shalt not judge Lethal Weapon by Danny Glover.
Thou shalt not buy Coca-Cola products.
Thou shalt not buy Nestle products.
Thou shalt not go into the woods with your boyfriend's best friend,
Take drugs and cheat on him.
Thou shalt not fall in love so easily.
Thou shalt not use poetry, art or music to get into girls' pants.
Use it to get into their heads.
Thou shalt not watch Hollyoaks.
Thou shalt not attend an open mic and leave
As soon as you've done your shitty little poem or song
You self-righteous prick.
Thou shalt not return to the same club or bar week in,
Week out just 'cause you once saw a girl there that
You fancied that you're never gonna fucking talk to anyway.

Thou shalt not put musicians and
Recording artists on ridiculous pedestals
No matter how great they are or were.
The Beatles: Were just a band.
Led Zepplin: Just a band.
The Beach Boys: Just a band.
The Sex Pistols: Just a band.
The Clash: Just a band.
Crass: Just a band.
Minor Threat: Just a band.
The Cure: Were just a band.
The Smiths: Just a band.
Nirvana: Just a band.
The Pixies: Just a band.
Oasis: Just a band.
Radiohead: Just a band.
Bloc Party: Just a band.
The Arctic Monkeys: Just a band.
The Next Big Thing... JUST A BAND.

Thou shalt give equal worth to tragedies that occur in non-English
Speaking countries as to those that occur in English speaking countries.
Thou shalt remember that guns,
Bitches and bling were never part of the four elements and never will be.
Thou shalt not make repetitive generic music,
Thou shalt not make repetitive generic music,
Thou shalt not make repetitive generic music,
Thou shalt not make repetitive generic music.
Thou shalt not pimp my ride.
Thou shalt not scream if you wanna go faster.
Thou shalt not move to the sound of the wickedness.
Thou shalt not make some noise for Detroit.
When I say "Hey" thou shalt not say "Ho".
When I say "Hip" thou shalt not say "Hop".
When I say, he say, she say, we say, make some noise - kill me.

Ah, I forgot where I was, hang on

Thou shalt not quote me happy.
Thou shalt not shake it like a polaroid picture.
Thou shalt not wish your girlfriend was a freak like me.
Thou shalt spell the word "Pheonix" P-H-E-O-N-I-X
Not P-H-O-E-N-I-X, regardless of what the Oxford English Dictionary tells you.
Thou shalt not express your shock at the fact that
Sharon got off with Brad at a club last night by saying "Is it".
Thou shalt think for yourselves.

And thou shalt always...
Thou shalt always kill!

Works better with the music...

[DanJennings]

Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip 'Thou shalt always kill' (from the album Angles which is excellent IMHO)

Really enjoyed that, and listened to a couple of other songs on youtube, will definitely be checking them out, cheers