Red Mosquito

Unemployable: First truly serious pass at writing a Bruce Springsteen song, but it comes across as a bit too judgmental--there is a sense that EV looks down at least a little bit on the person he is singing about, and that is something Springsteen never does. It ends up undermining the empathy you're supposed to feel. The 'if he can't sleep how will he ever dream' lyric is good, and I do like the scared alive/seen the light bit in the chorus, although whatever pleasure I get from that is obliterated by the oh oh oh oh tag that follow.s

Lyrics: okay

Big Wave: I am REALLY bothered by the fact that he doesn't say 'a crustacean' and the big wave chorus is grating, but the second chorus and the verses are pretty good affirmations of surfing as a transcendental experience. So they set out to do what they are supposed to, and probably do it well, but i just can't bring myself to give a shit about the topic

Lyrics: Okay (but good for what they are)

Gone: The verses here are pretty good. Not good, but not bad. The 'gas in my tank' lyric is unfairly maligned, and there are some nice moments here and there. But this song needed a smarter chorus to really sell it. The I'm gone/long gone part is fine to start, but there needs to be something a bit more substantive to anchor the moment of liberation. It ends up feeling underwhelming, and the lyrics in the verses are good enough to set up a major chorus, but not good enough to carry the song

Lyrics: Decent

Wasted Reprise: I like the Life Wasted chorus in Life Wasted. I like the Tom Waitsified version that appears here

Lyrics: Good

Army Reserve: I think the actual scene he's describing is fairly moving--again, I think someone like Springsteen would have a defter hand here, but it is pretty easy to empathize with the family, and the 'she tells herself and everyone else father is risking his life for our freedom' lyric always hits pretty hard. The chorus is fine as written, but I don't think it goes well with the song.

Lyrics: Pretty good

Come Back: See Parachutes, The End, etc. Decent lyrics that are elevated by a really nice vocal melody and performance. the home imagery returns (and it is there in unemployable and army reserve, but more as a setting than a metaphor). The broken roof lyric is nice, the whole chorus with the real possibility lyric is moving, especially with the extra lyrics tacked on at the end 'sometimes you're there and talking back to me/come the morning I can swear that you're next to me and it's okay...' leading into the plaintive "I'll be here...come back". Again, it is greatly enhanced by the performance, but these lyrics are still good.

Lyrics: good

Inside Job I want these to be good because they're personal and sweet but they're just not good. They're not. It's not that every lyric is terrible, but the song swells around and focuses on the worst ones


Lyrics: pretty bad


Overall S/T has better lyrics than I remember. I still probably think it is one of the weakest albums lyrically, but if this is your bottom you're in good shape. And Comatose is just excellent

theplatypus wrote:Stip made up his own meaning about "Comatose" that has very little to do with the actual lyrics.

no, you're thinking of GSMF

harmless wrote:

stip wrote:Comatose: These are some of Eddie's best lyrics, ever. The mechanical imagery, the play with rising and falling, the way they are delivered as a searing indictment (I think this vocal delivery trumps most of DTE) of the United States, the fact that this manages to be a highly political song without ever having to come out and say so. Jut about everything here is expertly done, and subtle enough to be easy to miss

Lyrics: great

This song has grown on me quite a bit (or rather, Pearl Jam have written much worse since) but I still don't really understand the lyrics. I think I had an epiphany about them a short time ago but I can't remember what I concluded.

It's a political rant about that weird combination of passivity and self-righteousness that is so frustrating about the United States

stip wrote:

harmless wrote:

stip wrote:Comatose: These are some of Eddie's best lyrics, ever. The mechanical imagery, the play with rising and falling, the way they are delivered as a searing indictment (I think this vocal delivery trumps most of DTE) of the United States, the fact that this manages to be a highly political song without ever having to come out and say so. Jut about everything here is expertly done, and subtle enough to be easy to miss

Lyrics: great

This song has grown on me quite a bit (or rather, Pearl Jam have written much worse since) but I still don't really understand the lyrics. I think I had an epiphany about them a short time ago but I can't remember what I concluded.

It's a political rant about that weird combination of passivity and self-righteousness that is so frustrating about the United States

So basically "Infallible" meets "Pendulum" meets "DTE".

harmless wrote:

stip wrote:

harmless wrote:

stip wrote:Comatose: These are some of Eddie's best lyrics, ever. The mechanical imagery, the play with rising and falling, the way they are delivered as a searing indictment (I think this vocal delivery trumps most of DTE) of the United States, the fact that this manages to be a highly political song without ever having to come out and say so. Jut about everything here is expertly done, and subtle enough to be easy to miss

Lyrics: great

This song has grown on me quite a bit (or rather, Pearl Jam have written much worse since) but I still don't really understand the lyrics. I think I had an epiphany about them a short time ago but I can't remember what I concluded.

It's a political rant about that weird combination of passivity and self-righteousness that is so frustrating about the United States

So basically "Infallible" meets "Pendulum" meets "DTE".

meets Mind your Manners, yes.

It packs a lot of songs into its two minutes

the verses are about running the country into the ground, the chorus is about both our obliviousness and the fact that everything is going great

I pretty much agree with everything in this thread except for this:

stip wrote: My Father's Son: Terrible beginning. The song is supposed to be whinny and self-indulgent (and is vaguely critical of itself, I think) so there is some leeway given the subject matter, but for the most part there's nothing here that good. The chorus is okay. The bridge is pretty well written. The first half of it is a little obvious, but the second part is pretty good.

Assessment: eh

I love the lyrics in the chorus, especially the "Got me tooth and nail" and "I gotta set sail" lines.

bluestate wrote:I pretty much agree with everything in this thread except for this:

stip wrote: My Father's Son: Terrible beginning. The song is supposed to be whinny and self-indulgent (and is vaguely critical of itself, I think) so there is some leeway given the subject matter, but for the most part there's nothing here that good. The chorus is okay. The bridge is pretty well written. The first half of it is a little obvious, but the second part is pretty good.

Assessment: eh

I love the lyrics in the chorus, especially the "Got me tooth and nail" and "I gotta set sail" lines.

I don't know what's so bad about the beginning.
---
---
I come from genius and I am my father's son
Too bad he was a psychopath
And now I'm the next in line

Then there's dear mother, yeh shirley
She's a work of art
Never got top dollar, but she gave us all our start
---
---
All sounds pretty cool to me.

I really don't like the delivery, and if your daddy is a psychopath I'm not sure you should have abandonment issues.

It's "surely". They just wrote "Shirley" for a laugh. I know you probably know this, but it's making me CRINGE every time I see "Shirley" written down in a post complimenting the lyrics.

harmless wrote:It's "surely". They just wrote "Shirley" for a laugh. I know you probably know this, but it's making me CRINGE every time I see "Shirley" written down in a post complimenting the lyrics.

At first I thought it was "surely," then I read the lyrics and saw "Shirley." I like thinking it's "Shirley" for some reason.

stip wrote:I really don't like the delivery, and if your daddy is a psychopath I'm not sure you should have abandonment issues.

Isn't that kind of what the song is about though? Misplaced abandonment issues.

Leatherhead wrote:

harmless wrote:It's "surely". They just wrote "Shirley" for a laugh. I know you probably know this, but it's making me CRINGE every time I see "Shirley" written down in a post complimenting the lyrics.

At first I thought it was "surely," then I read the lyrics and saw "Shirley." I like thinking it's "Shirley" for some reason.

There are two or three instances on the album where homophones (words that sound like other words) replace the actual lyrics. PJ have done this on a couple of earlier albums, I forget which.

violins - violence?

Has anyone suggested a thread for talking about bad lyrics?

Seemingly some of my favourites are other people's least.

We could call it 'the PJ one mans trash, another mans treasure' thread

Leatherhead wrote:violins - violence?

The most successful of them all.

I can't think of the others sadly

dimejinky99 wrote:Has anyone suggested a thread for talking about bad lyrics?

well you, just now

Leatherhead wrote:violins - violence?

Yeah, possibly.

dimejinky99 wrote:Has anyone suggested a thread for talking about bad lyrics?

stip has been doing that quite a bit in this thread

Turns out the captain is the one making waves