Having recently discussed on these pages the joys of great lyrics, it is time to turn to lyrics that aren't quite as good. In fact, they're pretty painful. As some lyricists have a talent for brilliant prose, others have a talent for awful prose.
It seems to be all or nothing - you're either consistently really good at it or you're really bad. The rare exception to this rule is Sir Paul McCartney, who started out really good at it and became very bad. I'll still never understand how one man can go from "Woke up, got out of bed, dragged a comb across my head" to "Somebody's knocking at the door, somebody's ringing a bell.
..do me a favor-open the door and let em' in.
" And I won't even mention the whole segment of that song about 'Sister Suzie.' Well..
.OK, maybe just once: Martin Luther, Phil and Don, open the door, let em in Though I'm no songwriter myself (OK, I did once write a song for Lionel Richie, but he didn't like it and now I apparently have to stay no less than 500 yards away from him at all times), I believe writing awful lyrics would be harder than writing normal lyrics. Take a normal band like Alien Ant Farm.
They do OK, saying things like: She walks like she talks, You know, just in case there was any doubt about the way she walks and talks - it's exactly the same either way! Poorly conceived lyrics can occur for any number of reason, but they generally fall into the following basic categries: 1.
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