sleepy jack

I do not understand why people think Conor Oberst is a bad lyricist.

Over the moor, take me to the moor
Dig a shallow grave
And I'll lay me down
Over the moor, take me to the moor
Dig a shallow grave
And I'll lay me down
Lesley-Anne, with your pretty white beads
Oh John, you'll never be a man
And you'll never see your home again
Oh Manchester, so much to answer for
Edward, see those alluring lights ?
Tonight will be your very last night
A woman said "I know my son is dead
I'll never rest my hands on his sacred head"
Hindley wakes and Hindley says
Hindley wakes, Hindley wakes, Hindley wakes, and says
"Oh, wherever he has gone, I have gone"
But fresh lilaced moorland fields
Cannot hide the stolid stench of death
Fresh lilaced moorland fields
Cannot hide the stolid stench of death
Hindley wakes and says
Hindley wakes, Hindley wakes, Hindley wakes, and says :
"Oh, whatever he has done, I have done"
Oh, find me ... find me, nothing more
We are on a sullen misty moor
We may be dead and we may be gone
But we will be, we will be, we will be, right by your side
Until the day you die
This is no easy ride
We will haunt you when you laugh
Yes, you could say we're a team
You might sleep
You might sleep
You might sleep
But you will never dream
Oh, you might sleep
But you will never dream
You might sleep
But you will never dream
Oh Manchester, so much to answer for
Oh Manchester, so much to answer for
Oh, find me, find me
Find me
I'll haunt you when you laugh
Oh, I'll haunt you when you laugh
You might sleep
But you will never dream
Oh ...
Over the moors, I'm on the moor
Oh, over the moor
Oh, the child is on the moor


Yep you summed up morrissey as lyricist perfectly.

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Inuzuka Skysword

Bright Eyes - When the President Talks to God

When the president talks to God
Are the conversations brief or long?
Does he ask to rape our women’s' rights
And send poor farm kids off to die?
Does God suggest an oil hike
When the president talks to God?

When the president talks to God
Are the consonants all hard or soft?
Is he resolute all down the line?
Is every issue black or white?
Does what God say ever change his mind
When the president talks to God?

When the president talks to God
Does he fake that drawl or merely nod?
Agree which convicts should be killed?
Where prisons should be built and filled?
Which voter fraud must be concealed
When the president talks to God?

When the president talks to God
I wonder which one plays the better cop
We should find some jobs. the ghetto's broke
No, they're lazy, George, I say we don't
Just give 'em more liquor stores and dirty coke
That's what God recommends

When the president talks to God
Do they drink near beer and go play golf
While they pick which countries to invade
Which Muslim souls still can be saved?
I guess god just calls a spade a spade
When the president talks to God

When the president talks to God
Does he ever think that maybe he's not?
That that voice is just inside his head
When he kneels next to the presidential bed
Does he ever smell his own bull****
When the president talks to God?

I doubt it

I doubt it


Without putting my religion into this argument those may be the some of the weakest political lyrics I have ever heard. RATM's lyrics may be better.

Son of JayJamJah

Those are embarrassing lyrics. It's the kind of emotion driven naivety that divides people. All writing a song like that does is make the informed who agree embarrassed, those who disagree laugh and validate the uninformed.

How to write a good protest song:

I ain't gonna work on Maggie's farm no more.
No, I ain't gonna work on Maggie's farm no more.
Well, I wake in the morning,
Fold my hands and pray for rain.
I got a head full of ideas
That are drivin' me insane.
It's a shame the way she makes me scrub the floor.
I ain't gonna work on Maggie's farm no more.

I ain't gonna work for Maggie's brother no more.
No, I ain't gonna work for Maggie's brother no more.
Well, he hands you a nickel,
He hands you a dime,
He asks you with a grin
If you're havin' a good time,
Then he fines you every time you slam the door.
I ain't gonna work for Maggie's brother no more.

I ain't gonna work for Maggie's pa no more.
No, I ain't gonna work for Maggie's pa no more.
Well, he puts his cigar
Out in your face just for kicks.
His bedroom window
It is made out of bricks.
The National Guard stands around his door.
Ah, I ain't gonna work for Maggie's pa no more.

I ain't gonna work for Maggie's ma no more.
No, I ain't gonna work for Maggie's ma no more.
Well, she talks to all the servants
About man and God and law.
Everybody says
She's the brains behind pa.
She's sixty-eight, but she says she's twenty-four.
I ain't gonna work for Maggie's ma no more.

I ain't gonna work on Maggie's farm no more.
No, I ain't gonna work on Maggie's farm no more.
Well, I try my best
To be just like I am,
But everybody wants you
To be just like them.
They sing while you slave and I just get bored.
I ain't gonna work on Maggie's farm no more.

Urban Hat€monger ?

Morrissey is one of the funniest lyricists around. I think the people who call him miserable just don't get the British sense of humour.

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right-track

That statement is very true.

It never ceases to amaze me how people think he is seriously miserable.
There's a lot of "tongue in cheek" in his lyrics.

right-track

Typical example;

Trudging slowly over wet sand
Back to the bench where your clothes were stolen
This is the coastal town
That they forgot to close down
Armageddon - come Armageddon!
Come, Armageddon! Come!

Everyday is like Sunday
Everyday is silent and grey

Hide on the promenade
Etch a postcard :
"How I Dearly Wish I Was Not Here"
In the seaside town
...that they forgot to bomb
Come, Come, Come - nuclear bomb

Everyday is like Sunday
Everyday is silent and grey

Trudging back over pebbles and sand
And a strange dust lands on your hands
(And on your face...)
(On your face ...)
(On your face ...)
(On your face ...)

Everyday is like Sunday
"Win Yourself A Cheap Tray"
Share some greased tea with me
Everyday is silent and grey

Greatly misunderstood man.

sleepy jack

Yeah! Lets quote his worst song and then bash him for it.

Lets go with something thats actually up to his usual standard instead:

Corporate or colonial
The movement is unstoppable
Like the body of a centerfold it spreads
To the counter-culture copyright
Get your revolution at a lower price
Or make believe and throw the fight, play dead
It's exploding bags, aerosol cans
Southbound buses, Peter Pan
They left it up to us again
I thought you knew the drill
It's kill or be killed
Future markets, holy wars
Been tried ten thousand times before
If you think that God is keeping score, hooray!
For the freedom-fighting simulcast
The imminent and the aftermath
Draw another bloody bath to drain
Like the polar icecaps centrifuge
First snowman built at the end of June
He slicks his hair for the interview, his fifteen-minute fame
Would you agree times have changed?

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boo boo

I didn't say its the basis for every song he has done, he also likes to write about his self rightious political mumbo jumbo, I'm aware of that.

But don't deny that its the subject for a lot of his songs.

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It's only knock n' knowall, but I like it

http://www.last.fm/user/kingboobs

Inuzuka Skysword

I didn't even know they were his worst lyrics because I ave barely listened to him. I just typed, "Bright Eyes lyrics" in google and that was the first result I clicked.

TheBig3

Quit posting lyrics.

And why is "When the President" a bad song? The lyrics may not be the deep and poignant works of KC and the Sunshine Band, but theres more to lyrics than the poetry of the images. There is an agile acrobatics to that song. If that song doesn't show case Oberst's understanding of timing and emphasis in writing I don't know what does.

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