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There are certain lyrics that always drive me crazy for various reasons. Every time I hear them, I want to take a time machine and travel back into the studio and say, "Please tweak that."
One is the Toto song Africa. "Sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti." So you're actually going to make a metaphor comparing one of the world's highest mountains to another mountain? And one that isn't even that tall?
She's Gone by Hall & Oates "Think I'll spend eternity in the city. Let the carbon and monoxide choke my thoughts away" The carbon and monoxide? That's not how chemistry works.
Duran Duran, "Smell like I sound." Huh?
But the worst of all time, the one that gets me every single time it plays is Steve Miller Band: "Billy Mac is a detective down in Texas. Ya know he knows just exactly what the facts is. He ain't gonna let those two escape justice. He makes his livin' off the peoples' taxes."
There's just so much wrong there. The first sentence, mmmmmoookay. But that second sentence. Nevermind all the colloquial abbreviations (which I don't think are appropriate to Texas
the "just exactly" kills me and then the subject/verb issue... Ugh! And I'll let the third sentence pass since we already established that we're using slang, even if maybe just a little too much. But the fourth sentence is just unnecessary information. And then there's the issue that none of it actually rhymes!
Anyway, as writers, what are your pet peeve lyrics? I'm curious.
EDITING TO ADD: Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying the songs are bad. In fact, I like most of them very much and I even sing along, but those phrases, they just grate.
One is the Toto song Africa. "Sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti." So you're actually going to make a metaphor comparing one of the world's highest mountains to another mountain? And one that isn't even that tall?
She's Gone by Hall & Oates "Think I'll spend eternity in the city. Let the carbon and monoxide choke my thoughts away" The carbon and monoxide? That's not how chemistry works.
Duran Duran, "Smell like I sound." Huh?
But the worst of all time, the one that gets me every single time it plays is Steve Miller Band: "Billy Mac is a detective down in Texas. Ya know he knows just exactly what the facts is. He ain't gonna let those two escape justice. He makes his livin' off the peoples' taxes."
There's just so much wrong there. The first sentence, mmmmmoookay. But that second sentence. Nevermind all the colloquial abbreviations (which I don't think are appropriate to Texas
Anyway, as writers, what are your pet peeve lyrics? I'm curious.
EDITING TO ADD: Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying the songs are bad. In fact, I like most of them very much and I even sing along, but those phrases, they just grate.