Red Mosquito

stip wrote:Eddie is one of my favorite lyricists, in every era of his writing. A few global comments:

1. Eddie is a lyricist, not a poet. He writes for his voice and delivery, not the page. Lyrics that are constructed to be sung. So even though I've spent hundreds of thousands of words dissecting his lyrics over the years, they've never been independent of their delivery

2. Eddie's two primary strengths as a lyricist are a humanistic empathy that enables him to enfold broad swaths of people and experiences into his writing, and his ability to come up with aphoristic/punctuation statements that really effectively capture truths about human experience. Not necessarily in overly ornate language - often the phrasing is fairly straightforward, but in ways that emotionally resonate in hugely impactful ways.

3. Eddie's writing has always had some imperfect phrasings that could be tighter on the page but still work incredibly well because they are lyrics and he knows how to deliver them (or they happen quick enough you just move past them).

Two great examples (for me)

I'm a lucky man to count on both hands the ones I love
I wish I was the verb to trust and never let you down

These are both really powerful moments (one as a capstone, and one as a transition sentiment) that work because of the magic Eddie knows how to bring to the delivery of the writing. less effective as words on a page, but that's fine because they aren't written to be read.

Jaeti wrote:

tree_ wrote:

guitar_davey wrote:

tree_ wrote:But I'm also not writing lyrics for a legendary Rock and Roll HOF rock band. It's lazy.

Yeah, being in the RNR HOF should definitely raise the lyric quality. Take for example this brilliance by one of my favourite legendary bands, the Stooges:

No fun my babe
No fun
No fun my babe
No fun
No fun to hang around
Feelin' that same old way
No fun to hang around
Freaked out for another day

Point taken, and it's valid, but Ed is a different kind of artist. You know what he's trying to say, and he could say it better.

When the "written and recorded in three weeks" info came out, I wondered how that might manifest in some lyrics that could've used a bit more time to refine. Not lodging a major complaint here, but it's something to consider for the album as a whole.

scrub12 wrote:

Jaeti wrote:

tree_ wrote:

guitar_davey wrote:

tree_ wrote:But I'm also not writing lyrics for a legendary Rock and Roll HOF rock band. It's lazy.

Yeah, being in the RNR HOF should definitely raise the lyric quality. Take for example this brilliance by one of my favourite legendary bands, the Stooges:

No fun my babe
No fun
No fun my babe
No fun
No fun to hang around
Feelin' that same old way
No fun to hang around
Freaked out for another day

Point taken, and it's valid, but Ed is a different kind of artist. You know what he's trying to say, and he could say it better.

When the "written and recorded in three weeks" info came out, I wondered how that might manifest in some lyrics that could've used a bit more time to refine. Not lodging a major complaint here, but it's something to consider for the album as a whole.

If he had more time, he might have added more words.

Jaeti wrote:

stip wrote:Eddie is one of my favorite lyricists, in every era of his writing. A few global comments:

1. Eddie is a lyricist, not a poet. He writes for his voice and delivery, not the page. Lyrics that are constructed to be sung. So even though I've spent hundreds of thousands of words dissecting his lyrics over the years, they've never been independent of their delivery

2. Eddie's two primary strengths as a lyricist are a humanistic empathy that enables him to enfold broad swaths of people and experiences into his writing, and his ability to come up with aphoristic/punctuation statements that really effectively capture truths about human experience. Not necessarily in overly ornate language - often the phrasing is fairly straightforward, but in ways that emotionally resonate in hugely impactful ways.

3. Eddie's writing has always had some imperfect phrasings that could be tighter on the page but still work incredibly well because they are lyrics and he knows how to deliver them (or they happen quick enough you just move past them).

Two great examples (for me)

I'm a lucky man to count on both hands the ones I love
I wish I was the verb to trust and never let you down

These are both really powerful moments (one as a capstone, and one as a transition sentiment) that work because of the magic Eddie knows how to bring to the delivery of the writing. less effective as words on a page, but that's fine because they aren't written to be read.

Since I'm the local Brother the Cloud cheerleader, there's a lyric of this sort in the outro that I just fucking love even though it doesn't "read" well. But it's central to maybe my favorite sixty seconds of Ed in...decades.

"I would not wish upon you
But should you ever leave this earth
Before me, I doubt this highly"

96583UP wrote:i agree that the bridge is weak

like they felt they needed a bridge and grabbed one off the shelf

but

at least it doesn't ruin the song

with some overly-weird shit

often times for modern PJ the bridge is where Ed goes full ladyboy

here he at least remains closeted conservative enough for us to keep rocking

and quietly staring at the guys' asses fist pumping in front of us

pulsating

shimmying

sweating

condemning them to hell for their tempting ways

Strat wrote:

Jaeti wrote:

stip wrote:Eddie is one of my favorite lyricists, in every era of his writing. A few global comments:

1. Eddie is a lyricist, not a poet. He writes for his voice and delivery, not the page. Lyrics that are constructed to be sung. So even though I've spent hundreds of thousands of words dissecting his lyrics over the years, they've never been independent of their delivery

2. Eddie's two primary strengths as a lyricist are a humanistic empathy that enables him to enfold broad swaths of people and experiences into his writing, and his ability to come up with aphoristic/punctuation statements that really effectively capture truths about human experience. Not necessarily in overly ornate language - often the phrasing is fairly straightforward, but in ways that emotionally resonate in hugely impactful ways.

3. Eddie's writing has always had some imperfect phrasings that could be tighter on the page but still work incredibly well because they are lyrics and he knows how to deliver them (or they happen quick enough you just move past them).

Two great examples (for me)

I'm a lucky man to count on both hands the ones I love
I wish I was the verb to trust and never let you down

These are both really powerful moments (one as a capstone, and one as a transition sentiment) that work because of the magic Eddie knows how to bring to the delivery of the writing. less effective as words on a page, but that's fine because they aren't written to be read.

Since I'm the local Brother the Cloud cheerleader, there's a lyric of this sort in the outro that I just fucking love even though it doesn't "read" well. But it's central to maybe my favorite sixty seconds of Ed in...decades.

"I would not wish upon you
But should you ever leave this earth
Before me, I doubt this highly"

Personally, i think you cut off the most important part of that lyric and what ed is referring to in "i doubt this highly"

"Do for me, what i'd do for you"

In a kind of Yoda Speak way.... "I doubt you'd do for me what i do for you, if i left this earth before you". i think its an angry and judgmental lyric towards his subject.

guitar_davey wrote:

scrub12 wrote:

Jaeti wrote:

tree_ wrote:

guitar_davey wrote:

tree_ wrote:But I'm also not writing lyrics for a legendary Rock and Roll HOF rock band. It's lazy.

Yeah, being in the RNR HOF should definitely raise the lyric quality. Take for example this brilliance by one of my favourite legendary bands, the Stooges:

No fun my babe
No fun
No fun my babe
No fun
No fun to hang around
Feelin' that same old way
No fun to hang around
Freaked out for another day

Point taken, and it's valid, but Ed is a different kind of artist. You know what he's trying to say, and he could say it better.

When the "written and recorded in three weeks" info came out, I wondered how that might manifest in some lyrics that could've used a bit more time to refine. Not lodging a major complaint here, but it's something to consider for the album as a whole.

If he had more time, he might have added more words.

Love notwithstanding we'd be each of us fucked.

McParadigm wrote:

Strat wrote:

Jaeti wrote:

stip wrote:Eddie is one of my favorite lyricists, in every era of his writing. A few global comments:

1. Eddie is a lyricist, not a poet. He writes for his voice and delivery, not the page. Lyrics that are constructed to be sung. So even though I've spent hundreds of thousands of words dissecting his lyrics over the years, they've never been independent of their delivery

2. Eddie's two primary strengths as a lyricist are a humanistic empathy that enables him to enfold broad swaths of people and experiences into his writing, and his ability to come up with aphoristic/punctuation statements that really effectively capture truths about human experience. Not necessarily in overly ornate language - often the phrasing is fairly straightforward, but in ways that emotionally resonate in hugely impactful ways.

3. Eddie's writing has always had some imperfect phrasings that could be tighter on the page but still work incredibly well because they are lyrics and he knows how to deliver them (or they happen quick enough you just move past them).

Two great examples (for me)

I'm a lucky man to count on both hands the ones I love
I wish I was the verb to trust and never let you down

These are both really powerful moments (one as a capstone, and one as a transition sentiment) that work because of the magic Eddie knows how to bring to the delivery of the writing. less effective as words on a page, but that's fine because they aren't written to be read.

Since I'm the local Brother the Cloud cheerleader, there's a lyric of this sort in the outro that I just fucking love even though it doesn't "read" well. But it's central to maybe my favorite sixty seconds of Ed in...decades.

"I would not wish upon you
But should you ever leave this earth
Before me, I doubt this highly"

Personally, i think you cut off the most important part of that lyric and what ed is referring to in "i doubt this highly"

"Do for me, what i'd do for you"

In a kind of Yoda Speak way.... "I doubt you'd do for me what i do for you, if i left this earth before you". i think its an angry and judgmental lyric towards his subject.

What?

No.

“Should you ever leave this earth before me (I doubt this highly), do for me what I’d do for you”

spike wrote:

96583UP wrote:i agree that the bridge is weak

like they felt they needed a bridge and grabbed one off the shelf

but

at least it doesn't ruin the song

with some overly-weird shit

often times for modern PJ the bridge is where Ed goes full ladyboy

here he at least remains closeted conservative enough for us to keep rocking

and quietly staring at the guys' asses fist pumping in front of us

pulsating

shimmying

sweating

condemning them to hell for their tempting ways

the album bridge is just a placeholder for a live call and response.

tragabigzanda wrote:I don’t even love this song but I think the bridge is great because of how dumb it sounds. I’m not being sarcastic.

McParadigm wrote:

Strat wrote:

Jaeti wrote:

stip wrote:Eddie is one of my favorite lyricists, in every era of his writing. A few global comments:

1. Eddie is a lyricist, not a poet. He writes for his voice and delivery, not the page. Lyrics that are constructed to be sung. So even though I've spent hundreds of thousands of words dissecting his lyrics over the years, they've never been independent of their delivery

2. Eddie's two primary strengths as a lyricist are a humanistic empathy that enables him to enfold broad swaths of people and experiences into his writing, and his ability to come up with aphoristic/punctuation statements that really effectively capture truths about human experience. Not necessarily in overly ornate language - often the phrasing is fairly straightforward, but in ways that emotionally resonate in hugely impactful ways.

3. Eddie's writing has always had some imperfect phrasings that could be tighter on the page but still work incredibly well because they are lyrics and he knows how to deliver them (or they happen quick enough you just move past them).

Two great examples (for me)

I'm a lucky man to count on both hands the ones I love
I wish I was the verb to trust and never let you down

These are both really powerful moments (one as a capstone, and one as a transition sentiment) that work because of the magic Eddie knows how to bring to the delivery of the writing. less effective as words on a page, but that's fine because they aren't written to be read.

Since I'm the local Brother the Cloud cheerleader, there's a lyric of this sort in the outro that I just fucking love even though it doesn't "read" well. But it's central to maybe my favorite sixty seconds of Ed in...decades.

"I would not wish upon you
But should you ever leave this earth
Before me, I doubt this highly"

Personally, i think you cut off the most important part of that lyric and what ed is referring to in "i doubt this highly"

"Do for me, what i'd do for you"

In a kind of Yoda Speak way.... "I doubt you'd do for me what i do for you, if i left this earth before you". i think its an angry and judgmental lyric towards his subject.

What?

No.

“Should you ever leave this earth before me (I doubt this highly), do for me what I’d do for you”

tree_ wrote:I think those two examples are great lyrics by themselves

stip wrote:

tree_ wrote:I think those two examples are great lyrics by themselves

but to the point that started this, 'to trust' is not a verb. Trust can be a verb. If we want to be nitpicky, as some do, that's something they should probably flag. But it works wonderfully in the moment because it manages to be thought provoking and capture something real and true and unexpected and the precision of the phrasing is less important

tree_ wrote:

stip wrote:

tree_ wrote:I think those two examples are great lyrics by themselves

but to the point that started this, 'to trust' is not a verb. Trust can be a verb. If we want to be nitpicky, as some do, that's something they should probably flag. But it works wonderfully in the moment because it manages to be thought provoking and capture something real and true and unexpected and the precision of the phrasing is less important

i always thought he was referring to a verb that were to be trusted... like "love"

tree_ wrote:

stip wrote:

tree_ wrote:I think those two examples are great lyrics by themselves

but to the point that started this, 'to trust' is not a verb. Trust can be a verb. If we want to be nitpicky, as some do, that's something they should probably flag. But it works wonderfully in the moment because it manages to be thought provoking and capture something real and true and unexpected and the precision of the phrasing is less important

i always thought he was referring to a verb that were to be trusted... like "love"

stip wrote:

tree_ wrote:I think those two examples are great lyrics by themselves

but to the point that started this, 'to trust' is not a verb. Trust can be a verb. If we want to be nitpicky, as some do, that's something they should probably flag. But it works wonderfully in the moment because it manages to be thought provoking and capture something real and true and unexpected and the precision of the phrasing is less important