'Bad' lyrics that are actually awesome

[harrisonjon]

"If Mars had life on it, I might find my wife on it"

Most of 'Good Time' - Betty/ready, cookin'/good lookin', etc

Infact you could just about paste the whole of Love You

[Magic Transistor Radio]

I agree about Love You! A few others that come to mind:

Busy Doin Nothin
I Went to Sleep
Match Point

[pixletwin]

I read the title of this thread and immediately thought of Love You as well. 

[job]

Yep.  Solar System, Johnny Carson, Matchpoint of Our Love.  Also: I Wanna Pick You Up, Hey Little Tomboy, It's Trying To Say.

[Jesse Reiswig]

"It's three o'clock I go to my sink
 I pour some milk and I start to think
 Is she asleep or is she awake
 And does she think of the love we could make"


Seemingly bad (who talks about "pouring milk" in a song?), but actually totally brilliant. The juxtaposition of the quotidian with the profound is striking. And we've all had a sleepless night like this. In four simple lines, Brian evokes a universal experience. Seemingly idiotic lyrics on the surface of it that reveal feelings about what it is to be human.

[Please delete my account]

I love Beach Boys lyrics. Even when they contain sentiments (e.g. regarding sexual politics) that would appall me if my friends expressed them, I value as a document of their time.

Some people think lyrics are bad if they're too matter-of-fact, too specific, too much like everyday speech, or on a subject other than love. Contrariwise, these are all qualities I value in lyrics.

I once got really mad reading a mocking comment someone made about the lyrics of the first verse of "Still I Dream Of It", which is a classic example of what I'm talking about.

[Matt Bielewicz]

That might have been me - I remember guffawing out loud at the 'I feel like eating now; smell the kitchen now' lines the first time I heard them. They seemed *soooo* bad - like something Spinal Tap might come up with (...actually, didn't they have an album called 'Smell The Glove'?).

I knew something of the background to Brian's track at the time, but wasn't really a die-hard fan yet, and I was thinking 'THIS??? THIS is supposed to be proof that beneath the ruined vocals, Brian Wilson's musical genius was still alive in the late 70s??? It's BEYOND awful'. And yet... there was that music behind the words... And slowly, I was hooked in.

I still cringe at those words, though. That first verse is one part that Brian, in my very humble opinion ('cos who the hell am I, after all...?) should have redrafted. There's just *too much* of the depressed, self-obsessed, overweight rock star in those words for me. Even if he really *was* all of those things at the time... Who knows. Maybe Brian feels like that too. Adult Child is still unreleased, and maybe it's for a reason. And yeah, I know Still I Dream Of It *is* out there... on a now-out-of-print expensive career retrospective, and, in even rougher demo form, as part of a soundtrack to a film that looked fairly frankly at how messed up Brian was at the time. As Jon Blum once said sagely here, tongue firmly in cheek, 'it's almost as if they don't want us to hear this stuff...!'

There's lots of spots like that for me throughout the 15BO/Love You/Adult Child period for me (and after then, too - is it just me that finds the lyrics to 'Stevie' something of a cringefest too?) for me. Lapses of lyrical judgement, I guess one might call them, that might have been better if polished away. But then, of course, those recordings wouldn't be what they are...!

[CenturyDeprived]

Most of 'Good Time' - Betty/ready, cookin'/good lookin', etc

Let's not forget "falsies on" rhymed with "miss her when she's gone" 

[Please delete my account]

That might have been me - I remember guffawing out loud at the 'I feel like eating now; smell the kitchen now' lines the first time I heard them. They seemed *soooo* bad - like something Spinal Tap might come up with (...actually, didn't they have an album called 'Smell The Glove'?).

I knew something of the background to Brian's track at the time, but wasn't really a die-hard fan yet, and I was thinking 'THIS??? THIS is supposed to be proof that beneath the ruined vocals, Brian Wilson's musical genius was still alive in the late 70s??? It's BEYOND awful'. And yet... there was that music behind the words... And slowly, I was hooked in.

I still cringe at those words, though. That first verse is one part that Brian, in my very humble opinion ('cos who the hell am I, after all...?) should have redrafted. There's just *too much* of the depressed, self-obsessed, overweight rock star in those words for me. Even if he really *was* all of those things at the time... Who knows. Maybe Brian feels like that too. Adult Child is still unreleased, and maybe it's for a reason. And yeah, I know Still I Dream Of It *is* out there... on a now-out-of-print expensive career retrospective, and, in even rougher demo form, as part of a soundtrack to a film that looked fairly frankly at how messed up Brian was at the time. As Jon Blum once said sagely here, tongue firmly in cheek, 'it's almost as if they don't want us to hear this stuff...!'

There's lots of spots like that for me throughout the 15BO/Love You/Adult Child period for me (and after then, too - is it just me that finds the lyrics to 'Stevie' something of a cringefest too?) for me. Lapses of lyrical judgement, I guess one might call them, that might have been better if polished away. But then, of course, those recordings wouldn't be what they are...!

No, the internet comment I got riled at wouldn't have been you, it wasn't as well-thought out a criticism as that, it was more of a "ha ha ha this sucks" thing on youtube (that every youtube video ever is vulnerable to, actually).

If SIDOI was rejected because of the lyrics it would probably have been because they were too sad for the Beach Boys' image rather than perceived clumsiness or poor quality. I mean, given what lyrics DID get the green light to appear on M.I.U... (some of which even I think are a bit poor)

As to your criticisms of the lyric, it's Brian being honest about how he felt at the time. I love the reference to the maid, it indicates he's singing about something real rather than an abstract made-up situation. And as I've said before, the link between sadness and hunger is a syndrome not at all restricted to rich rock stars. I don't know about Spinal Tap, the only lyrics of theirs I remember were about sex.

[Michael Edward Osbourne]

First lyrics that came to my mind were "...we do it holding hands, it's so cold I go brrrrrr."

[RollPlymouthRock]

I'll bet he's nice
I'll bet he's twice
As nice as me and it makes me cry
'Cause I remember you and I
Please don't tell me if it's true
Because I'm still in love with you
Pretty darlin' you my pretty darlin'
You pretty darlin you my pretty darlin'

Romantic insecurity about an ex dating someone new dispelled into one verse.

[beatle608]

Love You lyrics don't really bother me. They aren't bad in my opinion, just very direct. Brian was simply writing about things on his mind, but different topics from before.

[pixletwin]

Time for supper now.
Days been hard and I'm so tired,
I feel like eating now.

Smell the kitchen now.
Hear the maid whistle a tune,
My thoughts are fleeting now.

Still, I dream of it.
Of that happy day when I can say
I've fallen in love.

And it haunts me so.
Like a dream that's somehow linked
To all the stars above.


Terrible lyrics, but at the same time so beautiful.

[pixletwin]

Perhaps "terrible" is the wrong word... There is a simplicity in them which I think is deceptive. Like a cute puppy with razor sharp teeth.

[SBonilla]

First lyrics that came to my mind were "...we do it holding hands, it's so cold I go brrrrrr."

Despite the song's title, I believe the setting for it was an ice skating rink. There was one across the street, caddy corner, to Brother Studio.

[Shane]

"A cigarette butt when you throw it in the water, goes pffffft."

[ForHerCryingSoul]

All of Johnny Carson.   

[donald]

All of Johnny Carson.   

He sits behind his micro phone
he speaks in such a Man lee Tone

Ed Mc Mann comes on and says "Here's John Nee"
Ev ree nite at 11:30 he's so fun née

[Ron]

First lyrics that came to my mind were "...we do it holding hands, it's so cold I go brrrrrr."

Without a doubt, the most awesomely bad lyric he ever wrote.  I mean that one takes the cake, it's so good and so bad only Brian could have written it. 

To clarify: I love the stuff like that, yes it's bad but it's SO bad that it's good.  And not in a "Oh listen how shitty this song is", in a "Listen how great this song is" way.  The lyrics are ridiculous but considering the subject, the music, who wrote it, the vocals, the harmony it all works in a wonderful Brian Wilson Genius type of way. 

[SteveJ1980]

Saturn has rings all around it, I searched the sky and I found it.... 

[CenturyDeprived]

Match Point of Our Love: "... we've been strung out on love" (written by perhaps the 2nd least likely guy to ever get strung out in the band, BJ being #1). This entire song's lyrics make me cringe because they are so damn bad, but I totally LOVE this song nevertheless.

All Dressed Up for School "ooh what a turn-on" (sung with their early very innocent-sounding voices, thus super odd and slightly awful in its contradictory nature, yet also completely awesome)

[Smilin Ed H]

In an ocean or
in a glass
cool water
is such a gas

Can't beat it.

[Michael Edward Osbourne]

A man needs a woman like a woman needs a man. When the two get together, oh ho ho uh uh mmmmmm.

[petsite]

Oh Well Oh My Oh Gosh Oh Gee!
She really sends chills inside of me!

[joshferrell]

I'd love just once to see you in the nude...