Good Songs Spoiled By Just One Line

Boromedic

Snap said:

Kilgore said:

OK, cards on the table. I've got a soft spot for Oasis anthemic pop rock.

Now Noel is dab hand at naff lyrics but,
Don't Look Back in Anger. 

"Stand up beside the fireplace
Take that look from off your face."

Really winds me up. 

Yes!

and from the same song:

"Slowly walking down the hall, faster than a cannonball."

And another of his, from the collaboration with the Chemical Brothers, Setting Sun

"How does it feel like?" which surely should be either how does it feel, or what does it feel like.

Not noted for his command of grammar

That's two separate Oasis songs, not the same (Don't Look Back and Champagne Supernova). He does write a lot of these kind of lines but it clearly worked for them. 

She's got a sister, god only knows how I've missed her, on the palm of her hand is a blister..

Devil#20

Philly_Q said:

Radio Ga Ga - although it's the whole chorus, not just one line.  I've always found it cringey.

The OP said 'good songs' spoiled by one line. That is a shit song in its own right from start to finish. Same as We are the Champions, We Will Rock You, I want to Break Free plus many others from this hugely overrated band. 

BillDL

Boromedic said:

She's got a sister, god only knows how I've missed her, on the palm of her hand is a blister..

..... and we can all speculate how she got the blister.

Philly_Q

BillDL said:

Boromedic said:

She's got a sister, god only knows how I've missed her, on the palm of her hand is a blister..

..... and we can all speculate how she got the blister.

Monkey pox?

Gassage

Ol '55 - a favourite of mine - but

Well, my time went so quickly
I went lickety-splitly
Out to my ol' 55

What the fuck does that mean?

BillDL

I can still remember my English teacher from school all those years ago telling me that it was OK to use a contrived word in a poem to make a rhyme as long as it was used in a context where there was no ambiguity.  Her example was that you have warm and warmth, so therefore there should be no reason not to use the made-up word "coolth".

digitalkettle

BillDL said:

I can still remember my English teacher from school all those years ago telling me that it was OK to use a contrived word in a poem to make a rhyme as long as it was used in a context where there was no ambiguity.  Her example was that you have warm and warmth, so therefore there should be no reason not to use the made-up word "coolth".

Almost like the planet Hoth being renamed to Coldth, amirite?

Boromedic

BillDL said:

Boromedic said:

She's got a sister, god only knows how I've missed her, on the palm of her hand is a blister..

..... and we can all speculate how she got the blister.

Housework?

PolarityMan

Has anyone mentioned dropping plates yet?

PolarityMan

Although actually that's not a good song.

RocknRollDave

The Fly - U2

The playout of the song, just at the end:
"I gotta go...I'm running outta change/ There's a lot of things/ if I could I'd re-arrange..."

naff rhyme that feels shoehorned in.

stufisher

Heard Pick of the Pops on R2 yesterday and I was suddenly reminded of an absolute shocker.

The song is 'Never been to me' by Charlene (1982) ... I'm not saying that I like that kind of stuff but I positively abhor this type of 'shoe-horn' writing:

"Whoooa, I've been to Nice
And the Isle of Greece"

digitalkettle

stufisher said:

Heard Pick of the Pops on R2 yesterday and I was suddenly reminded of an absolute shocker.

The song is 'Never been to me' by Charlene (1982) ... I'm not saying that I like that kind of stuff but I positively abhor this type of 'shoe-horn' writing:

"Whoooa, I've been to Nice
And the Isle of Greece"

I think the title of that song scuppers it for starters!

BillDL

Well there's one from the past that I had well and truly forgotten about.  I never realised that the song "Never Been To Me" had originally been written from a male perspective by a man, but was then adapted for Charlene to sing as a woman, and in many respects it echoes the sadness of The Ballad of Lucy Jordan by Shel Silverstein, albeit from a 1st person angle.  An interesting video about the background to the song:

Funkfingers

How about Big Log by Percy Plant?

"And the questions, in thousands, take flight."

digitalkettle

Funkfingers said:

How about Big Log by Percy Plant?

"And the questions, in thousands, take flight."

You've obviously missed the irony that he was...erm...pumping.

Mattharrier

PetGerbil said:

BigMonka said:

I have a funny soft spot for Drops of Jupiter by Train which is full of weird millennium-era lyrics which sound really dated but also quite nicely nostalgic, like:
” She checks out Mozart while she does Tae-Bo”

And the awesome/awful bridge section:

” Can you imagine no love, pride, deep-fried chicken
Your best friend always sticking up for you
Even when I know you're wrong?
Can you imagine no first dance, freeze-dried romance
Five-hour phone conversation
The best soy latte that you ever had, and me?”

Dear past and future songwriters... romance DOES NOT RHYME WITH dance!!
And you! DeBurgh, Stop It!

It does if you're from the Midlands. Or the North of England. Or Texas, or lots of places that pronounce dance to rhyme with romance, chance, askance, etc. 

Mattharrier

Gassage said:

Ol '55 - a favourite of mine - but

Well, my time went so quickly
I went lickety-splitly
Out to my ol' 55

What the fuck does that mean?

Lickety-split means immediately and quickly. It's not a massive stretch to make lickety-splitly the adverb of it.

Philly_Q

Mattharrier said:

PetGerbil said:

Dear past and future songwriters... romance DOES NOT RHYME WITH dance!!
And you! DeBurgh, Stop It!

It does if you're from the Midlands. Or the North of England. Or Texas, or lots of places that pronounce dance to rhyme with romance, chance, askance, etc. 

You're right, but none of them pronounce it "dahnce" and "romahnce" like Chris de Burgh does.

Mattharrier

Philly_Q said:

Mattharrier said:

PetGerbil said:

Dear past and future songwriters... romance DOES NOT RHYME WITH dance!!
And you! DeBurgh, Stop It!

It does if you're from the Midlands. Or the North of England. Or Texas, or lots of places that pronounce dance to rhyme with romance, chance, askance, etc. 

You're right, but none of them pronounce it "dahnce" and "romahnce" like Chris de Burgh does.

And you are also right, and I actually meant to remove that but as I'm in agreement! Always bugged me.