- Hop a train.
- ...
- ...
(Here's the song that was playing....)
May 8, 2010
Things singers sing that they do that they actually never do.
I'm starting a list:
(Here's the song that was playing....)
(Here's the song that was playing....)
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80 comments:
your link is bad .. missing a 'w'
In a Gadda Da Vita Baby!
Going walkin' after midnight.
how about the contents of songs that we wish were not true but are .... there a lot of that these days ...
... but back to your subject -- i dont know Ricky Martin music, but I'm sure he sang about a lot of stuff he wasnt really doing.
"Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)"
Sing(in') in the Rain
Fly away
Gather at the river (shall we?)
I seriously doubt whether Bob Dylan ever drifted down to New Orleans and worked on a fishing boat right outside of Delacroix.
go to a church and pray
put a dime in the phone
I wonder if Arlo Guthrie ever rode The City Of New Orleans?
cry a river
catch a falling star
Did any of the Guess Who ever get laid in the US?
Drove my chevy to the levee,
Nowadays, with email and all, I probably won't sit right down and write myself a letter. The postage stamp alone makes it cost-prohibitive.
How about "write(ing) a letter"? And how, exactly, does one let "their backbone slip". Sounds painful - or maybe I'm just getting old.
"... but back to your subject -- i dont know Ricky Martin music, but I'm sure he sang about a lot of stuff he wasnt really doing."
I'll nominate that right there as thread winner.
From the same song...
Two hours of pushin' broom
I smoke old stogies I have found
I'm willing to bet that this is not an accurate portrayal of events.
Well, they probably don't fill up their shoes after rummaging through some screaming woman's drawers, for one.
There's probably a database of Everest summiteers where I could look this up if I weren't so lazy, but has any singer ever climbed the highest mountain, either for the sake of his love object or any other reason?
Would the answer be any different if any singers actually knew which mountain was highest, instead of having to fall back on the generic "the highest mountain"?
Pop that cootchie!
Didn't Terry Zwigoff pimp this in Ghost World in the scene where Steve Buscemi calls BS on a white blues band singing about pickin' cotton?
I just spent 10 min looking through Youtubes trying to find the scene but failed. :(
..shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die..
Roger Miller was probably one of the few singers who did know the hardscrabble king of the road life firsthand. He came off a Texas farm with nothing in his pockets. Of course he put distance between himself and that life as fast as his wits could manage but he knew whereof he spoke.
Lovin you eight days a week. Nice thought though.
Be Ruined at a House in New Orleans...this may be reserved for golfers and NFL stars.
"Young Girl Get Out of my Life" by Lawrence Taylor.
The Who
I spit out like a sewer hole
Yet still recieve your kiss
The Stones
I was born in a cross-fire hurricane
And I howled at my ma in the driving rain...
I was raised by o toothless, bearded hag
I was schooled with a strap right across my back...
I was drowned, I was washed up and left for dead
I fell down to my feet and saw they bleed
I frowned at the crumbs and a crust of bread
I was crowned with a spike right through my head...
"If I had a hammer,...I'd hammer out love between,
My brothers and my sisters,
All over this land."
Bullshit, Woody. You could buy a fucking hammer for under ten bucks. Spare me the subjunctive-case promises.
At least Simon and Garfunkel admit they're full of crap in the lyrics to the refrain.
Laying low, seeking out the poorer quarters
Where the ragged people go
Looking for the places only they would know
Lie la lie ...
Asking only workman's wages
I come looking for a job
But I get no offers,
Just a come-on from the whores on Seventh Avenue
I do declare, there were times when I was so lonesome
I took some comfort there
Lie la lie ...
Like all Obamoids who ever were
Blow is a smirk wrapped around a cur.
I truly believe Johnny and June really did get married in a fever, hotter'n a pepper sprout. And although they went on talkin' 'bout Jackson, I'm a little skeptical about the part where they suggested that the fire went out.
I'm not calling them liars.
I just don't think it ever did go out.
Even though they sang that it did.
Is there a bigger poseur than Bruce Springsteen? I'm pretty confident he never ran for his life on back streets.
Just because I can't make a coherent comment about corporations and such doesn't mean I don't know what I'm talkin' 'bout when I tellya Roger Miller and Johnny Cash lived the life that sang about. I'm smart. Ain't no one gonna say I ain't smart. See?
"Sometimes, it's hard to be a woman, givin' all your love to just one man..."
After "The Crying Game", I could never hear Tammy Wynette the same way.
traditionalguy said...
Be Ruined at a House in New Orleans...this may be reserved for golfers and NFL stars
A ballad that predates the Civil War - with more than a grain of truth, no doubt.
life they sang about. darn.
"Don't Let Your Son Go Down On Me" as sung by the late Michael Jackson.
"Paint it Black" - Mick would hire someone to do that.
Anything involving surfing - Brian Wilson was afraid of the water.
"Went down to the crossroads" - we can all picture Eric Clapton hitching a ride on the Mississippi Delta, right?
"Bringin' in a couple of ki's" - Arlo had people to do his smuggling for him.
Did any of the Who ride a bus, magic or otherwise?
Did Bobbie Gentry travel from Leflore county over to Carroll County just to go to the movies? Greenwood had a perfectly adequate movie house at that time. Or did she chop cotton, for that matter? Her mother had a good job at the power company, after all.
There you have it - not one song newer than 40 years old. Kids these days and that racket they call music - meh!
**Is there a bigger poseur than Bruce Springsteen? I'm pretty confident he never ran for his life on back streets.**
And I'd bet he never drove a stolen car either, but then again that's why they're called metaphors.
This isn't gritty, but there are lots of lame Christian songs that include references to twirling and spinning (not the exercise kind).
From Dancing in the Dark... speaking of Springsteen:
I'm sick of sitting 'round here
Trying to write this book
Every time I heard it, I had a niggling suspicion his agent made him change it from "read this book".
"I'll love you forever", or equivalent, sung by just about anyone in the music business.
Standing on a corner in Winslow Arizona?
1) "I woke up this morning..." He went to bed this morning is more like it.
2) "Workin' in a coal mine, goin'' down, down, down"
3) "Lonely, I'm Mr. Lonely,""It's a lonely ol' night," "I feel so lonely, wanna die" i. e., Only two chicks in my bed tonight.
4) "'Cause I don't care too much for money..." That's why I'm always suing everybody.
5) "I could never live without you." Whatever your name is.
BTW, If I Had a Hammer was written by Pete Seeger, not Woody Guthrie. Which reminds me of the Tim Harden song: "If I Were a Carpenter." If he were a Carpenter would be bulimic and kill himself.
Somehow, even after doubting the veracity of Dylan's, Guthrie's, and The Guess Who's lyrics, I still like the songs just as much.
Does it really matter?
Grab your ticket and your suitcase
Thunder's rolling down the tracks
You don't know where you're goin'
But you know you won't be back
Darlin' if you're weary
Lay your head upon my chest
We'll take what we can carry
And we'll leave behind the rest
Big Wheels roll through fields
Where sunlight streams
Meet me in a land of hope and dreams
Now I will provide for you
And I'll stand by your side
You'll need a good companion
For this part of the ride
Leave behind your sorrows
Let this day be the last
Tomorrow there'll be sunshine
And all this darkness past
Big wheels roll through fields
Where sunlight streams
Meet me in a land of hope and dreams
This train
Carries saints and sinners
This train
Carries losers and winners
This Train
Carries whores and gamblers
This Train
Carries lost souls
This Train
Dreams will not be thwarted
This Train
Faith will be rewarded
This Train
Hear the steel wheels singing
This Train
Bells of freedom ringing
This Train
Carries broken-hearted
This Train
Thieves and sweet souls departed
This Train
Carries fools and kings
This Train
Dreams will not be thwarted
This Train
Faith will be rewarded
This Train
Hear the steel wheels singin'
This Train
Bells of Freedom Ringing
I was standing about thirty feet away from Bruce Springsteen when he debut this piece in March of '99 to packed gymnasium in Asbury Park, NJ. For the next six years this song of ultimate inclusion was the primary soundtrack to my life. But as Springsteen grew more politically active his music and his attitude grew less inclusive and more arrogant. He still sang this song most nights, and every time it felt like a slap at those of us who believed personal vision and integrity were more important than political expediency.
The last straw was the night in Ohio Bruce started talking about capital punishment, and mentioned some group opposing the death penalty that had a table in the lobby. He asked those in the audience who might disagree with him to keep an open mind, and pick up some literature in the lobby after the show just to hear what the other side had to say. When he'd finished his spiel somebody down front hollered "kill the killers"! loud enough for all to hear. Springsteen became angry and insulting, growling into the mic that the fan's opinion was "a kind of stupidity that gets us nowhere". I guess in Springsteen's world having an open mind is for other people.
The man who wrote "Land of Hope and Dreams" eleven years ago had enough insight and self control not to become an asshole just because somebody expressed a contrary opinion within his earshot. The guy who sings the song these days doesn't.
Go walkin' after midnight
Busted flat in Baton Rouge, waitin' for a train,
An' I's feelin' near as faded as my jeans.
Bobby thumbed a diesel down, just before it rained
That rode us all the way to New Orleans
RE-RE-RE-SPECT (In the morning.)
It's been a hard day's night,
and I've been working like a dog
It's been a hard day's night,
I should be sleeping like a log
But when I get home to you I find the things that you do
Will make me feel alright
I'm on the pavement, thinkin' 'bout the government.
Give a damn about anything but their royalties.
"We shall overcome"
Yeah right.
Actually "been through the desert on a horse with no name."
"I want to live in America" by some some Latin chick.
Oh wait a minute.....wrong thread...I have to go change my
T-shirt.
hitch a ride
I'm pretty sure the Beatles didn't actually live in a yellow submarine.
Well I am pretty sure that it was your Sharona.
How many people who use the word "baby" or "babe" in a song actually refer to their lover using those terms in real life? Probably not many.
Go to the Love Shack
Feel Groovy
Bang a Gong
Drink the bullfrog's wine
Whip it good (okay, maybe that one...)
Springsteen should write a heartfelt song about the rising cost of jet fuel and the prohibitive expense of owning your own private jet. Keep it real.
Robert Johnson: "beat my woman until I can be satisfied..."
"I shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die. . ."
I guess that's what Johnny Cash told the other guys in the pen.
Also, does anyone really like "Walking in the rain" like you're supposed to in songs? For how long, and how far, and how hard is it raining exactly, and is the temperature below 75 degrees?
How many songwriters/singers does it take to change a lightbulb?
Did Paul or Art ever lie down on a bridge over trouble water?
Paul ever go to Graceland?
Ever ride on the Tulsa Queen?
Driven every kind of rig that's ever been made? Driven the back roads so you wouldn't get weighed?
Found a new place to dwell, down at the end of lonely street at Heartbreak Hotel?
Care about "important issues" that don't involve snorting coke off of hookers' naked bodies?
too cynical?
climb the highest mountain
swin the deepest sea
walk a mile in your shoes
go to kansas city
Ride my see-saw.
Kill a man in Reno, just to watch him die
These guys were honest about it:
Never Did No Wandering
I'd be inclined to say that singers who sing about things they actually do are usually pretty damn boring.
Leave on the midnight train to Georgia. Woo-woo!
She's a cheerleader and I'm on the bleachers.
I busted a chair right across his teeth
And we crashed through the wall and into the street
Kicking and a' gouging in the mud and the blood and the beer.
To the best of my knowledge, the late Bob Marley never shot the sheriff.
There's a grave that holds Johnny Cash's body down. At least for now.
Also, Paul Simon did go to Graceland.
1. put another dime in the jukebox baby
2. leaving on that midnight train to Georgia
3. grazing in the grass
4. count the headlights on the highway
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