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#29633 by fisherman bob
Wed Apr 23, 2008 12:15 am
I guess the average song-buying Joe is baffled by eloquence, thus the need for simple B.S. Later...

#29635 by gtZip
Wed Apr 23, 2008 12:25 am
philbymon wrote:When I hear a great melody, I get all riled up to hear & learn the lyrics. More often than not, I'm disappointed these days. It seems that this side of the song-writing equation is all too often ignored for the "groove" & song writers seem to think a simple slogan will do instead of well-crafted &/or clever lyrics.

If I never hear "Roxanne" or "Don't Stand..." again, it will be too soon...I hate Sting's lyrics - these songs, & many of his others, are perfect examples of how someone can take a good line, lyrically, & beat you to death with it. I'd rather listen to a McDonald's commercial cuz it makes more sense, & has more thought & effort put into it.
.


I feel the same way when I hear a great melody. I want to know what the lyrics are.
I don't think Roxanne is all that bad though.
Here, allow me to nauseate you philbymon.

The Roxanne verses:

"Roxanne, you don't have to put on the red light
Those days are over
You don't have to sell your body to the night
Roxanne, you don't have to wear that dress tonight
Walk the streets for money
You don't care if it's wrong or if it's right

I loved you since I knew ya
I wouldn't talk down to ya
I have to tell you just how I feel
I won't share you with another boy
I know my mind is made up
So put away your make up
Told you once I won't tell you again it's a bad way"

Now what's so bad about that?
Granted the chorus might beat a person around a little and there 'are' some pretty stupid Police lyrics, but I think Roxanne is pretty good music as a whole.
I'll take it any day, hell 24hrs a day, over that 'Crazy Bich' Buckcherry song.

I see lyric writing and song writing as two separate undertakings, even though they are welded together in the final product. Not every band has a great wordsmith.
I think that they are separate talents.

#29708 by philbymon
Wed Apr 23, 2008 3:14 pm
Zip, imo, if he'd continued to develop the idea, it would have been much better, even in spite of his whining serrated ear-splitting vocals...what he had so far was good, yes...but then he had to ruin it by the constant repetition of the annoying chorus (that eventually nearly busted his vocal cords)...I still think it's either way too long for what it was, or unfinished...& let's face it - all he had was a single verse & a single chorus - UNFINISHED!

If he'd left it at one minute, used it for album filler, I would take no offense at it...but to sell it as a #1 hit? It's insulting to me, the audience, to present something like that...sorry...just my useless opinion.

It's almost like buying a car they forgot to put a transmission into, yet sold anyway...it just doesn't go anywhere!

I am SO glad my name isn't Roxanne!

#29729 by gtZip
Wed Apr 23, 2008 6:56 pm
LoL
Ok, ok...
And your opinion isn't useless. Some peoples opinions are (IMO :D ), but I wouldn't put you into that group.
You've made decent points.
I've just never had that strong of a negative reaction to it.

#29736 by philbymon
Wed Apr 23, 2008 8:06 pm
Sorry, Zip...LOL...I work damned hard on my songs to make them make sense, & it offends the hell outta me when some lackey just throws something together & calls it art...kinda like putting paint in a squirt gun & selling your wares as avant-garde new-wave action-oriented art-on-a-canvas shittonnastick.

Yeah, ppl buy the stuff, but ppl, well, a good many of 'em, are so easily baffled by the BS that they don't really count in my life.

If it doesn't LOOK like something or SOUND like something that someone put some sort of effort into, then why would I want it? If any idiot can do it, then let him & the other idiots enjoy it, I won't waste my time.

It isn't just Sting, obviously, that tickles my trigger-finger...he's just one of thousands of talentless lackluster ppl with bohemian attitudes that somehow sell themselves as artists by making odd or obvious references & lousy rhymes & songs that go noplace either musically or lyrically that just seem to curl my spine up into a pretzel, while they laugh all the way to the bank, and I keep hacking away at stuff no one will ever hear, no matter how good it is...*sigh*...I'm just jealous, right?

I guess I have issues...I'm gonna go take a pill.

(Actually, I think my biggest problem with Sting is his epileptogenic voice-box, & when you couple that with his penchant for tossing out tripe & calling it Delmonico, well, I kinda lose it.)

#30411 by HowlinJ
Thu May 01, 2008 1:17 am
I do believe that there is more to Mr Sting then some of y'all seem to realize. True, he recorded his share of "not so great muzak", but did any of you ever hear "In The Moonlight" from the movie "Sabrina"? A fine piece of songwriting (and excellent performance), in my opinion. :wink:

#30436 by neanderpaul
Thu May 01, 2008 1:18 pm
Captain Scott wrote:You can crack on Stings' Lyrics all day long and at the end of that day, he could still buy 100 of YOU, individually wrapped for whatver he was into that night.


Of course having money doesn't make you talented or reputable, look at Brittany Spears.

#30448 by RhythmMan
Thu May 01, 2008 4:29 pm
And being talented and reputable doesn't necessarily make you money, either . . .

#30468 by Irminsul
Thu May 01, 2008 9:53 pm
I've never really gotten into Stings stuff post-Police, but I have give him props for this recent album he did of 12th century troubador Jauffre Rudel's music...it was really something. You don't run across recordings like that too often.

The guy really knows music, and is supremely educated in its literate history.

#30852 by mistermikev
Tue May 06, 2008 11:44 pm
I'm sad I didn't catch this thread earlier... right up my alley.

ok white elephant: here you go...

HOW IN THE NAME OF ALL THAT IS GOOD DID STING TAKE THE LEAD ON THIS TOPIC AWAY FROM LYRICS LIKE:

"if you wanna be my lover you gotta get with my friends,
make it last forever cause friendship never ends"

"I am like a bird I want to fly away
I don't know where my home is
I don't know where my heart is
but baby all I need for you to know is..."

"yo de le hi who?"
"now tell me boy now wouldn't that be sweet...
shut the refrigerator door???... maybe that the reason I've been acting so cold" - sorry gwen but you suck now

personally, I like sting. Roxanne isn't shakespear, but it's simple and tells a story. MURDER BY NUMBERS???? - again, not shakespear, but not bad.

"Once that youve decided on a killing
First you make a stone of your heart
And if you find that your hands are still willing
Then you can turn a murder into art"

#31329 by Starfish Scott
Mon May 12, 2008 10:38 pm
Sting sold albums because he comes across as Vanilla. In a land of 32 flavors plus, a little vanilla can sell very well to an unsuspecting group that really didn't even know they wanted ice cream.

(he has wide appeal, albeit simple)

#43706 by sitting in
Tue Oct 14, 2008 7:03 am
:idea: :roll: To just make a brief overture I think Sting captured a generation of readers Like the guy has his nose in a lot of reading that I think spurs his Lyrics was not he an English teacher in an all girls Catholic school? I m not to sure just a thought???

#59262 by ck77
Sat Mar 07, 2009 4:02 pm
I've never really went any deeper with The Police than a Greatest Hits CD, but come on, people! While Sting might be guilty of being an egomaniac, and while he might spend a little too much time using "big words" for some egghead critic, he's still proven himself to be a great, I'll repeat, a great songwriter. "Wrapped Around Your Finger"? How could anyone deny the absolute craftsmanship of such a song? Sure, I don't expect everyone to like it, but..."Roxanne" has been on the radio for 30 years! I'd be happy to be known as "THE WORST LYRICIST EVER" in exchange for such an enduring career. BY THE WAY, Neil Peart made Rush! He took them from "I Think I'm Going Bald" to "Tom Sawyer"! I have always been inspired by his thought provoking lyrics. I'm sure this "critic" prefers...

"Hey, shorty...it's ya birthday...go ahead...it's ya birthday"

#77428 by Steve_Lambert
Wed Aug 05, 2009 7:42 am
Haven't you ever been jet-lagged before? Give him a break.

#84992 by philbymon
Mon Sep 28, 2009 11:59 am
I'll give him this much - Sting is 1,000% better than whoever wrote lyrics for America. That band had the absolute stupidest worstest awfullest lyrical content ever to hit the top ten.

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