A Lyrical Sunday

Those of you who know me, or know me through this blog, will not be surprised that today I have decided to write about words. Lyrics, in particular.  There is an ongoing argument on what is most important about a song, the music or the lyrics. I will always come down on the side of lyrics. Probably why I don’t like jazz!

If you think about the lyrics of most pop and rock songs, they are mostly about love in some form. I love you. Do you love me? Even, she loves you!

So there is the exuberant:  like Ed Sheeran’s “Perfect”. There is the sad : George Jones’ “He Stopped Loving Her Today”. The Universal: The Beatles’ “All You Need is Love”. The lustful: AC/DC’s “You Shook Me All Night Long”.  And the sacrificial: Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You”.

Love lyrics. Love lyrics. Love lyrics. Yes, I know there are songs about cars, and places, and dancing, and even one about cannibalism (“Timothy” by the Buoys.)

I like to pick out lyrics that I think are just perfect. “Our secrets sleep in winter clothes” from Neutral Milk Hotel. “I am a rock, I am an an island, and a rock feels no pain, and and island never cries” from Simon and Garfunkel. “The love you take is equal to the love you make” from The Beatles. “Kathy, I’m lost, I said though I knew she was sleeping” from Simon and Garfunkel.

My absolute favorite lyric comes from Deep Blue Something. The song is “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”. It captures the feeling of desperation, to keep a relationship going, perfectly. Here is the chorus: “And I said, what about Breakfast at Tiffany’s” (the movie is important to him and he thinks it is important to her). “And she said, yes I think I remember the film and as I recall, I think we both kind of liked it”. (kind of liked it…not really important to her). “And I said, well that’s one thing we’ve got”. (desperation, I’ll even take that).

I wish I could write lyrics like that! I hope you enjoyed my little excursion into music reviewing. It most likely won’t happen again soon. This morning I heard “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” and it was my muse. I’d love to hear any favorite lyrics of yours. Feel free to put them in the comments.