Surprised to find another fan on the Gasroom. I've seen all these acts live too, Modeselektor most memorably at Acid on Sea - a Bang Face rave on a boat up and down the thames with everyone dressed as pirates. We got pulled over by police boats.
This really is a great thread. Must admit I’d not heard of ISIS before but great listen. (As have so many of the threads people have posted that I’ve tugged at).
I also have to marvel that we live in a world where I can access all this music and beyond with a few clicks of my thumb.
(Now to lose myself in the Autobahn for the first time in a fair few years….)
Lyrically at one end I’ll start with Bob Dylan. I once bought (second hand) a book photo-illustrating A Hard Rain’s A Gonna Fall. Sat in a cafe reading it over a coffee and found out I was literally weeping. Great song (as are so many of his lyrically).
At the other end I have a very soft spot for The Lurkers ‘Love Story’. As perfect in its lyrical simplicity and effectiveness as you can get.
My favourite song lyrically is 'Across the Universe'. I see all songwriters (or at least those who write both music and lyrics) as falling somewhere along the spectrum with melody at one end, and lyrics at the other. Within the Beatles, I think Paul had the best grasp of melody (and was the most talented overall musically), but Lennon was better lyrically. Special mention to George, who I think sat on the halfway line of both.
'Across the Universe' is an absolute mic drop of lyrical beauty and brilliance, for me.
This one is even trickier isn't it...I have a lyrical soft spot for Leonard Cohen, Billy Bragg and even Mancunian Pop's Bernard Manning old Morrissey but strangely I go back to our favourite bellend Mr Bono and the lyrics for ONE...which I find even more powerful and moving in the acoustic version by Johnny Cash...a million miles away from Achtung Baby.
Not sure the link will work but head to Youtube if you want to enjoy(?)
I saw Leonard Cohen bizarrely in the car park of an office development in the centre of the old Brooklands race track. God knows why they did it there. Anyway low expectations, I was going with a fan, but one of my favourite gigs. True musicality - would probably make this weeks list. Like Joni Mitchell very much prefer their older voice to the one they had when younger.
I love the entirety of "And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda" written by Eric Bogle (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnFzCmAyOp8) , it is an incredibly moving polemic against those who glorify war & those who send young men off to die.
In English there's just no contest on the lyrical question, it's Leonard Cohen - try listening to Everybody Knows on any day of any year since it was written without thinking it's written about right now - this is what happens when you have a poet persuaded to put those words to music. In very much the same vein, hip hop is a genre absolutely filled to the brim with talented wordsmiths and poets but nobody comes close to Chuck D.
If we're going to expand it out to other languages though, the French have a word for story-telling songs - chanson - and in that genre there's only one winner in Jacques Brel. If you're not familiar, the best way in is the album Scott Walker Sings Jacques Brel, Walker's painstaking attention to the story instead of direct translations makes the entire album absolute perfection. Plus of course he's one of the greatest singers ever.
Jacques Brel is awesome, all my colleagues when I worked & lived in Paris & then Brussels raved about him, such marvellous stories set to music. I have a mate who busks to supplement his income who more often than not does Jacques Brel numbers in both the original French & some in English.
The Belgiums also raved about Mylene Farmer, another singer songwriter who played with lots of musical genres & was the francophone gay community equivalent of Gloria Gaynor & Donna Summer
There are three lyricists that really stand out for me. Robert Smith (The Cure). Richey James Edwards (Manic Street Preachers). Scott Hutchison (Frightened Rabbit). Sadly two are no longer with us. All are unique.
However one other stands above them. Vessel, the lyricist and creative force of Sleep Token. The lyrics of these two songs in particular are visceral. It's like being punched in the stomach... and the videos just accentuate the impact.
Sample lyric: "Seems your heart is locked up and I still get the combination wrong - or are you simply waiting to save your love for someone I am not?"
Love the Sensational Alex Harvey Band version of Jacques Brel’s Next (although as the warnings on some TV shows say the lyrics may reflect outdated social attitudes.)
Of Montreal - The Past is a Grotesque Animal is an ever-so-slightly self-indulgent but great song with interesting lyrics telling the story of a failing/failed relationship.
If we focus on just one word, the use of ‘Yams’ in the track conveys a number of meanings, not least linking to Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man. A full interpretative explanation of the track needs more words than even I can write.
His next album Damn won a Pulitzer.
That said, I can see that needing a thesaurus, the urban dictionary and a deep knowledge of literature, popular and outsider cultures, and history to understand the references in a work is not everyone’s thing.
So I’ll also make a case for Joni Mitchell. Hejira as song and album is a lyrical masterpiece.
Or how about some Cattle Decapitation? Their message that the treatment of animals and the environment and ourselves by humankind can be abhorrent is lyrically intense and then some. Approach with great caution.
Joh Grant is a great call. Some of the lyrics on the Pale Green Ghosts album could cut through steel (Vietnam/Black Belt) for example. Break up bitchiness as an art form.
My American wife is basically an honorary Brit at this point, but just does not "get" Chas n Dave. It was only right that I encouraged our little kids to dance to 'Gertcha' to make sure I struck the first blow.
I was holidaying in Devon once, and Chas 'N' Dave were performing at the local theatre one evening. I have a huge regret in not buying a couple of tickets as we didn't have anything better to do that night. We walked by the venue later as they were entertaining the audience and caught a momentary glimpse of them through a slit in the curtains. That's as close as we got. I also overhead a guest say what a wonderful show it was.
Comments
Surprised to find another fan on the Gasroom. I've seen all these acts live too, Modeselektor most memorably at Acid on Sea - a Bang Face rave on a boat up and down the thames with everyone dressed as pirates. We got pulled over by police boats.
@ReturnToSenda thanks for that - hadn't heard them before & thoroughly enjoyed that album as an intro
This is one of the all time great threads isn't it?
Strikes me that loving football and loving music really do go hand in hand in that so much of it is tied up in emotion and memory and nostalgia
Makes sense that people that love football would also feel the same about music
This really is a great thread. Must admit I’d not heard of ISIS before but great listen. (As have so many of the threads people have posted that I’ve tugged at).
I also have to marvel that we live in a world where I can access all this music and beyond with a few clicks of my thumb.
(Now to lose myself in the Autobahn for the first time in a fair few years….)
Throwing another question out there: what are some of your top songs lyrically only? Or even best lyrical quotes from songs.
Lyrically at one end I’ll start with Bob Dylan. I once bought (second hand) a book photo-illustrating A Hard Rain’s A Gonna Fall. Sat in a cafe reading it over a coffee and found out I was literally weeping. Great song (as are so many of his lyrically).
At the other end I have a very soft spot for The Lurkers ‘Love Story’. As perfect in its lyrical simplicity and effectiveness as you can get.
The opening couplet to Magazine's Song From Under the Floorboards should touch a nerve with a few Gasroomers:
"I am angry, I am ill and I'm as ugly as sin / My irritability keeps me alive and kicking"
Howard Devoto is probably one if the best lyricists generally.
My favourite song lyrically is 'Across the Universe'. I see all songwriters (or at least those who write both music and lyrics) as falling somewhere along the spectrum with melody at one end, and lyrics at the other. Within the Beatles, I think Paul had the best grasp of melody (and was the most talented overall musically), but Lennon was better lyrically. Special mention to George, who I think sat on the halfway line of both.
'Across the Universe' is an absolute mic drop of lyrical beauty and brilliance, for me.
Pink Floyd's 'Time' always stands out for me, and I'm not really a big Floyd fan
This one is even trickier isn't it...I have a lyrical soft spot for Leonard Cohen, Billy Bragg and even Mancunian Pop's Bernard Manning old Morrissey but strangely I go back to our favourite bellend Mr Bono and the lyrics for ONE...which I find even more powerful and moving in the acoustic version by Johnny Cash...a million miles away from Achtung Baby.
Not sure the link will work but head to Youtube if you want to enjoy(?)
https://www.google.com/search?q=one+johnny+cash&source=lmns&tbm=vid&bih=592&biw=1233&rlz=1C1CHBF_enGB893GB893&hl=en-US&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjmy_Gm2vL9AhXVTaQEHbS5CpwQ_AUoAXoECAEQAQ#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:7fe0ca25,vid:CGrR-7_OBpA
Mogwai - Whippin Piccadilly Mogwai is a proper banger , reminds me of uni times.
I saw Leonard Cohen bizarrely in the car park of an office development in the centre of the old Brooklands race track. God knows why they did it there. Anyway low expectations, I was going with a fan, but one of my favourite gigs. True musicality - would probably make this weeks list. Like Joni Mitchell very much prefer their older voice to the one they had when younger.
Up The Junction - Squeeze
Storytelling at its best
John Grant GMF
Cast Walkway
For your enjoyment, possibly.
I love the entirety of "And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda" written by Eric Bogle (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnFzCmAyOp8) , it is an incredibly moving polemic against those who glorify war & those who send young men off to die.
Covered by so many since it was written in 1971, my preferred version is by Joan Baez (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_E9Nu8JinM0)
In English there's just no contest on the lyrical question, it's Leonard Cohen - try listening to Everybody Knows on any day of any year since it was written without thinking it's written about right now - this is what happens when you have a poet persuaded to put those words to music. In very much the same vein, hip hop is a genre absolutely filled to the brim with talented wordsmiths and poets but nobody comes close to Chuck D.
If we're going to expand it out to other languages though, the French have a word for story-telling songs - chanson - and in that genre there's only one winner in Jacques Brel. If you're not familiar, the best way in is the album Scott Walker Sings Jacques Brel, Walker's painstaking attention to the story instead of direct translations makes the entire album absolute perfection. Plus of course he's one of the greatest singers ever.
Oh damnit, what about Harry Nilssen
Jacques Brel is awesome, all my colleagues when I worked & lived in Paris & then Brussels raved about him, such marvellous stories set to music. I have a mate who busks to supplement his income who more often than not does Jacques Brel numbers in both the original French & some in English.
The Belgiums also raved about Mylene Farmer, another singer songwriter who played with lots of musical genres & was the francophone gay community equivalent of Gloria Gaynor & Donna Summer
There are three lyricists that really stand out for me. Robert Smith (The Cure). Richey James Edwards (Manic Street Preachers). Scott Hutchison (Frightened Rabbit). Sadly two are no longer with us. All are unique.
However one other stands above them. Vessel, the lyricist and creative force of Sleep Token. The lyrics of these two songs in particular are visceral. It's like being punched in the stomach... and the videos just accentuate the impact.
The Love You Want | 2021
Sample lyric: "Seems your heart is locked up and I still get the combination wrong - or are you simply waiting to save your love for someone I am not?"
Blood Sport (From the Room Below) | 2022
Sample lyric: "And somewhere - somewhere the atoms stopped fusing - I'm still your favourite regret - you're still my weapon of choosing."
Love the Sensational Alex Harvey Band version of Jacques Brel’s Next (although as the warnings on some TV shows say the lyrics may reflect outdated social attitudes.)
Of Montreal - The Past is a Grotesque Animal is an ever-so-slightly self-indulgent but great song with interesting lyrics telling the story of a failing/failed relationship.
This was my number 4:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RCPSrHBNRIg
Ça Plane Pour Moi because it's just complete nonsense (I managed to teach myself the lyrics phonetically)
Pretty much anything by Chas 'n' Dave
Absolute master wordsmiths.
I’ll make a case for Kendrick Lamar as an outstanding lyricist. His album To Pimp a Butterfly is full of wordsmithing. Take King Kunta
https://youtu.be/hRK7PVJFbS8
If we focus on just one word, the use of ‘Yams’ in the track conveys a number of meanings, not least linking to Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man. A full interpretative explanation of the track needs more words than even I can write.
His next album Damn won a Pulitzer.
That said, I can see that needing a thesaurus, the urban dictionary and a deep knowledge of literature, popular and outsider cultures, and history to understand the references in a work is not everyone’s thing.
So I’ll also make a case for Joni Mitchell. Hejira as song and album is a lyrical masterpiece.
https://youtu.be/5AfPR_B8s-A
Or how about some Cattle Decapitation? Their message that the treatment of animals and the environment and ourselves by humankind can be abhorrent is lyrically intense and then some. Approach with great caution.
Joh Grant is a great call. Some of the lyrics on the Pale Green Ghosts album could cut through steel (Vietnam/Black Belt) for example. Break up bitchiness as an art form.
Ain't no pleasing you, nearly made my top 3 !
My American wife is basically an honorary Brit at this point, but just does not "get" Chas n Dave. It was only right that I encouraged our little kids to dance to 'Gertcha' to make sure I struck the first blow.
I have always laughed at this lyric by Bernie Taupin:
"If I was a sculptor...but then again, no."
I guess we'll never know.
I was holidaying in Devon once, and Chas 'N' Dave were performing at the local theatre one evening. I have a huge regret in not buying a couple of tickets as we didn't have anything better to do that night. We walked by the venue later as they were entertaining the audience and caught a momentary glimpse of them through a slit in the curtains. That's as close as we got. I also overhead a guest say what a wonderful show it was.