Lyrics lost on the current generation.

[RABid]

Ever listen to a song and think "I bet kids now days don't know what they are singing about." One I noticed this morning...

Boz Scaggs - Breakdown

 

I call you

You ain't in.

What's this cold reaction.

Where you been.

 

The concept of being somewhere without a phone is lost on today's kids. Makes me wonder, if someone covers an old song that mentions a land line, will they rewrite that section of lyrics?

 

What is a subject and song that you have noticed being lost on today's youth?

[Notes_Norton]

If I should call you up, invest a dime - "Happy Together" by The Turtles (Pay phone reference)

 

She's my Little Deuce Coupe, You don't know what I got - "Little Deuce Coupe" by The Beach Boys (1932 Ford)

 

Notes ♫

[KuruPrionz]

In general, I think people mis-interpret lyrics. It isn't just the youngsters either. They do have their own set of realities that are often not congruent with songs from the past, but...

 

We would get requests for The Edmund Fitzgerald and everybody would smile, clap and cheer.

Well, it's only 29 sailors whose boat sinks during a freezing cold storm and they all drown, no big deal. Yay-ee-yay-ee-yay!!! 😃

I've played that song by request dozens of times and always the same, cheerful response. Nobody has any idea what the story is at all. 

 

Then there's Hallelujah, which is a sardonic and bitter love gone wrong song. The happy, smiling crowd sings along on the chorus (completely hosing it but that's another topic...).

 

I could go on, there is no shortage of examples of songs that are totally taken the wrong way. I see no end in sight. One of my "missions in life" is to seek out and perform Death Songs, just to see all the happy faces when I get to the chorus. Long Black Veil comes to mind, that's a "twofer" since someone was killed near the town hall light and then the singer is unable to prove his innocence since he was screwing his best friend's wife when the murder happens so he is hung by the neck until dead and the wife secretly mourns him but nobody else gives a single shit about him. So many smiling faces!!!

 

It really is amazing how little people listen. Long ago, a friend of mine who made a living in a Top 40 band was telling me on break that nobody listens to the lyrics at all except for the chorus. When he got back up on stage he sang Working For A Living and during the verses he sang about people pissing on his shoes and other abominable things. Sure enough, the dance floor filled up with smiling, dancing people and they sang along with the chorus. 

 

So yeah, Rabid is right but the kids are alright too. 😇

 

 

[zeronyne]

I mean, Born in the USA is the classic example of completely misinterpreted lyrics, right?

 

”She’s only 17” is a bit…dated. Winger now sings it ironically and adds “she’s only 35” now.

[RABid]

4 hours ago, KuruPrionz said:

there is no shortage of examples of songs that are totally taken the wrong way.

A friend requested "Since I Fell For You" to be played at his wedding reception. I sat him down and had him really listen to the lyrics. He changed his mind.

 

Some friends in a gospel group back in the late 70's and early 80's told me that most everywhere they went someone would request "Heaven's Just a Sin Away".

[timwat]

We had a mother of groom insist we play Whitney's Saving All My Love For You. Absolutely insist. Still don't know what message she was trying to send, and I don't wanna. But we played it.

 

Even our singer admitted she had never really listened to the full lyric. I told her to lock eyes with the groom during that entire song. 

 

We still got paid, but I've occasionally wondered what was in store for that young couple after the honeymoon.

 

 

[surfergirl]

So mama don't take my kodachrome away.

She's got Bette Davis eyes.

Love at the five and dime.

I've got a hot rod Ford and a two dollar bill.

Long distance information give me Memphis Tennessee.

 

[Jeff Leites]

"As I lie awake resting from the day
I can hear the clock passing time away"       

 

Image of a Girl (1960) - The Safaris  (not to be confused with The Surfaries)

 

"Hear the clock"  🤓

[Jeff Leites]

"'Cause they'll be rockin' on Bandstand In Philadelphia P.A."  - Sweet Little Sixteen - Chuck Berry 

 

Released in 1958, it might have already been outdated, since the once local TV show from Philadelphia went national in 1957 as American Bandstand.  Even so, it went off the air nearly 60 years ago 😮

[PrairieGuy]

"And the operator said 40 cents more for the next 3 minutes..."  Sylvia's Mother by Doctor Hook

[Theo Verelst]

I could quote the whole lyrics of the Eagles' "New kid in town"

[KuruPrionz]

Just now, Theo Verelst said:

I could quote the whole lyrics of the Eagles' "New kid in town"

Jackson Browne wrote "New Kid In Town" about Warren Zevon, who he was producing. Linda Ronstadt was regularly using Jackson Browne songs on her albums and then one album she used Poor Poor Pitiful Me and Carmelita - both written by Warren and both did well in the charts. 

 

Jackson wrote New Kid In Town, pitched it to the Eagles and it did well in the charts too. 

Linda jumped around, adding an Elvis Costello song - "Girls Talk" for one. 

 

I don't think there was any animosity about all of this, New Kid In Town is pretty tongue in cheek. 

[KuruPrionz]

1 hour ago, PrairieGuy said:

"And the operator said 40 cents more for the next 3 minutes..."  Sylvia's Mother by Doctor Hook

Written by Shel Silverstein, who also wrote Cover of the Rolling Stone and quite a few other songs for Dr Hook and the Medicine Show.

[Theo Verelst]

wikipedia

 

lyrics

[analogika]

1 hour ago, KuruPrionz said:

Jackson Browne wrote "New Kid In Town" about Warren Zevon, who he was producing. Linda Ronstadt was regularly using Jackson Browne songs on her albums and then one album she used Poor Poor Pitiful Me and Carmelita - both written by Warren and both did well in the charts. 

 

Jackson wrote New Kid In Town, pitched it to the Eagles and it did well in the charts too. 

Linda jumped around, adding an Elvis Costello song - "Girls Talk" for one. 

 

I don't think there was any animosity about all of this, New Kid In Town is pretty tongue in cheek. 

Jackson Browne co-wrote a couple songs on „Desperado“, including „Take It Easy“. He wasn’t involved with Hotel California, from what I’ve read. 

[KuruPrionz]

1 hour ago, Theo Verelst said:

wikipedia

 

lyrics

Thanks Theo, I have been misinformed once again by the evil internet! I don't remember where I read that but liner notes on albums are more accurate than somebody speculating. 

analogika, you are correct as well. 

Cheers, Kuru

[Notes_Norton]

"Beat Me Daddy, Eight To The Bar" - Andrews Sisters

 

"Pass the Dutchie 'pon the left hand side" - "Pass The Dutchie" by Musical Youth

 

"A Little Nash Rambler was following me" - "Beep Beep" by The Playmates

 

Notes ♫

[KenElevenShadows]

Given that kids fire up Spotify and listen to a lot of music and understand a lot of references dating back to at least the 1980s, I doubt that they are any more clueless about lyrics than any other generation.

 

In other words, I feel like every generation has been pretty much equally clueless (or insightful).

 

I do remember being in high school and people playing "...And the Cradle Will Rock" by Van Halen. And people were singing along to the chorus:

 

"And the cradle will rock, ow!
And the cradle, the cradle will rock
An' I say..."

 

And this guy came in louder than everyone else, fist pumped, singing "LOCKJAW!"

 

If you think these are the lyrics to this song are about lockjaw, it really must change your whole perspective on the song. Anyway, he must have been mocked about that for months afterward.

 

 

[Jeff Leites]

"If I should call you up, invest a dime"  - Happy Together, The Turtles.

[bill5]

Nobody mentioned "Operator" by Jim Croche yet?  Rickie Lee Jones' "Last Chance Texaco" also comes to mind. (I can hear it now: "What's a Texaco?") 

 

Honestly when it comes to rock at least, I think most people don't really pay much attention to the lyrics, even if they know them....i.e. they don't really know or even think about what those lyrics are about. Of course in some cases it's just as well   And that's not necessarily such a terrible thing, as rock has always been more about the music than the lyrics generally. 

[RABid]

I've been watching Fresh Prince of Belair. There have been two episodes dealing with pagers. Those episodes seemed more outdated than black and white Dick Van Dyke shows.

[Anderton]

On 11/29/2022 at 11:20 PM, bill5 said:

rock has always been more about the music than the lyrics generally.

 

"It's the singer, not the song." Gotta love the alternate tuning. Or lack thereof

 

 

[Theo Verelst]

On the strange and unnecessarily long line from classic instrumental to screaming juvenile words into a microphone with no musical skills whatsoever, the above to me qualifies as musical cynicism with good skil level and interesting production skills.

 

To me, well produced after my standards will determine if I put on a James Taylor song and enjoy it, or dismiss putting it on car radio rotation because it's not pleasing me, too noisy, sounds to simplistic compared to full on produced other tracks, etc.

 

T

[Stokely]

I imagine it's no different from me listening to my Sherlock Holmes audiobooks, where (lack of) communication plays such a big role in some of stories.  People having to travel to get word, or maybe telegram.   Ships passing in the night.   Way, way before my time but I get it   

Pagers are kind of funny because they really weren't around all that long, but man they were pretty revolutionary.  Otherwise once someone left home options got very limited.  Of course they also got very annoying once you started getting pages from work systems you administered...ugh.

[Lady Gaia]

Why knows?  Maybe pay phone references in classic songs will be what gets kids interested in ancient history.