General Music Chat

It's a legitimate question, and yes, I write lyrics all the time. While I'll admit that there are times when the stars align and a good idea comes out as a whole, I've also learned to set those ideas aside for a day or two, in order to give myself an opportunity to view them with fresh eyes (or ears).

The point I intended to make (and did a bad job of it-lol) was that Cobain was notorious for the whole "writing the lyrics on the way to the studio" thing. Inspiration hits when it chooses to hit, but, IMO, this behavior was due to him not really giving a crap about what the lyrics said. If that was the case (as I believe it to be), I wouldn't call him a genius, a professional OR a songwriter. Again, just me.

See my thread on David Byrne's view of lyrics. Basically, he said that the words don't matter as much as the sound the words make when sung. It's nice to have deep and profound lyrics and all but they are not a requirement for a good song. They are a requirement for good poetry. I have tried writing both types; lyrics that are meaningful and 'stream of conciousness' lyrics that might not have a meaning when written but which the listener can ascribe their own meaning to.

Ya know, I've tried to write a song about nothing at all, off the cuff, but when I played it for ppl & told them it was about nothing, they invariably tended to tell ME what it means, like I'm too shallow to understand my own lyric...

Ya know, I've tried to write a song about nothing at all, off the cuff, but when I played it for ppl & told them it was about nothing, they invariably tended to tell ME what it means, like I'm too shallow to understand my own lyric...

People can not believe that something can be about nothing. If you think about it.......nothing is really something afterall, isn't it?

So true Robin. Especially when it comes to band names; if you tell someone your band name is an acronym they always want to know what it stands for. I named my band 'Rui' in the 80's and people would always ask what it stood for. When I said nothing they looked at me like I was crazy.

So what does it stand for?





J/k.

Are you I?

Are you high?

Ahhhh...I see.

I couldn't tell you the lyrics to very many songs at all... I just want to feel something from the song as a whole. Cobain was a master at projecting emotions through music... just my humble o

for me, the moving of emotions is the sole purpose of music.




"I know my sh*t stinks"

*

The guy was high most of the time - Smells Like Teen Spirit is a song based on some girl's deodorant - he clearly wasn't a lyrical genius like some are saying, but a good song writer musically.

I say he was 'The king of melody', and 'The king of projecting emotions'.
I think all of his lyrics had personal meaning to 'him', he just didnt come out and tell you what the meaning was.
So, one - he could project emotion through the songs because of the personal meaning, and two - he left some mystery for people to try to figure stuff out.

Tom Petty loved him.

I saw these quotes somewhere, but I dont remeber the page now...

(Alleged quotes, I guess)

Bob Dylan said "That kid has heart"
Paul Mccartney said "He was a genius'
Noel Gallagher from Oasis said "He was the perfect combination of Lennon and Mccartney, but he was a miserable f**k"

I guess I look at the fact that here 15 years later we're still talking about his lyrics as a FORM of genius - he had to have done SOMETHING right that we even give a crap. Many bands with lyrics that make perfect sense and are basically handed to you on a platter as to the song's meaning get completely slammed for a LACK of intellect and creativity...

I guess I look at it this way - the guy was an amazing songwriter, but not necessarily in my mind the greatest lyricist. The reason I say that about his lyrics is because if we had a conversation with someone that told us a story and at the end of it we said what the heck did you just say!? and legitimately had no clue what that guy was talking about, we would NOT call them a genius. If his lyrics had SOME meaning, SOMETHING, ANYTHING - that could be figured out then it would make sense. But lyrics like "it's okay to eat fish because they don't have any feelings" are just completely random and odd. I honestly think he wrote amazing songs, with lyrics that he kinda just put together on a trip here and there and we are the fools sitting around trying to figure out what a high person's ramblings mean.

Just yesterday a co-worker was laughing because his wife called him saying in his sleep the other night he stated something about being on a train track smelling perfume and waiting for the switch to flip.... I instantly thought then "sounds like a Nirvana lyric".

"it's okay to eat fish because they don't have any feelings" is probably not that random. I'm sure it's something he heard some semi-vegetarian say to justify why they still ate fish if they didn't eat other meat. It may not have a specific meaning to you, but I'm sure it did to him, and that meaning is what provides the emotional impact of the lyric. Some of his lyrics were disturbing - "I wish I could eat your cancer when you turn black" - but always thought provoking.

Hmmm - good point. I would say Heart Shaped Box has some pretty ingenius lines in it.... "hey, wait - I have a real complaint - forever indebted to your priceless advise!?" - good line and has some interesting meanings when you think about it. "she eyes me like a pisces when I'm weak" - great line.

The guy was high most of the time - Smells Like Teen Spirit is a song based on some girl's deodorant - he clearly wasn't a lyrical genius like some are saying, but a good song writer musically.

Yes, the title came about INDIRECTLY, because of a brand of deodorant... a friend of his had Spray Painted this line on Kurt's wall... "Kurt smells like Teen Spirit!"

But he and the friend had been discussing anarchy and punk rock just before she spray painted his wall, and so Kurt thought it was a statement involving "revolution". What she had really meant, is that Kurt smelled like his, then girlfriend's, deodorant... Teen Spirit.

But Kurt wrote the song because of his ORIGINAL understanding of why she wrote on his wall. He claims he didn't even know there was a deodorant called Teen Spirit until the single had already been released.

I mean... they are discussing anarchy and punk rock, and his punker friend suddenly gets up and SPRAY PAINTS that slogan on his WALL. Why wouldn't Kurt assume that she was making a POLITICAL STATEMENT?

It's kind of humorous to me, actually, how it all came about. In effect, it kind of makes it's own statement... on the forces of consumerism.

LOL