Song lyrics with extreme expressions of emotion

[sparquelito]

This only just occurred to me.

When you write your songs and song lyrics, what are your left-and-right-limits for expressions of emotion, either positive or negative?

And further, are your song-writing ambitions limited by that which is the socially-accepted norm of pop radio?

And if so, is that even a relevant convention in this life and these times?

When I was in the Army, my mates and I spoke in extreme and often outrageous terms, especially when we were joking around, riffing philosophic, or just talking story.

"Man oh man. She is gorgeous. I would crawl through five miles of broken glass to hear her fart through a walkie-talkie."

"I hate that guy. I wouldn't cross the street to p1$$ on him if he were on fire!"

See, those are extreme expressions of emotion.
But you rarely see such examples in rock, pop, country, jazz, soul, or mainstream radio-friendly music.

There seems to be a tight left and right limit for expressions of emotion.

Prince declared that, "I would die for you."
(I Would Die 4 U, technically.)

You never once thought for a minute though that his Purple Royalness would ever want to lay down and die for her. So you knew it was a lark. A song-writing hook.

Robert Palmer.
"Doctor doctor, give me the news, I got a bad case of lovin' you".
Same thing.
A clever lyric, and great hook.
But it never crossed that line.
That line of impropriety.

Rick Derringer.
If I Weren't So Romantic, I'd Kill You.

A great and clever concept, and even the title of an album.
But it never took off.
He had a cult and minor sensation with it, but not exactly a radio hit.

So help me out here.

Are there, or were there, song writers who pushed the envelope of weirdness and offensiveness, and yet still made a hit out of it?

I'll start it off by naming Ted Nugent, for example.
Cat Scratch Fever.

Never in a million years would I think that that would go.
But there it was.

Your thoughts, and offerings?
😑

 

[brad1]

1 hour ago, sparquelito said:

This only just occurred to me.

When you write your songs and song lyrics, what are your left-and-right-limits for expressions of emotion, either positive or negative?

And further, are your song-writing ambitions limited by that which is the socially-accepted norm of pop radio?

And if so, is that even a relevant convention in this life and these times?

When I was in the Army, my mates and I spoke in extreme and often outrageous terms, especially when we were joking around, riffing philosophic, or just talking story.

"Man oh man. She is gorgeous. I would crawl through five miles of broken glass to hear her fart through a walkie-talkie."

"I hate that guy. I wouldn't cross the street to p1$$ on him if he were on fire!"

See, those are extreme expressions of emotion.
But you rarely see such examples in rock, pop, country, jazz, soul, or mainstream radio-friendly music.

There seems to be a tight left and right limit for expressions of emotion.

Prince declared that, "I would die for you."
(I Would Die 4 U, technically.)

You never once thought for a minute though that his Purple Royalness would ever want to lay down and die for her. So you knew it was a lark. A song-writing hook.

Robert Palmer.
"Doctor doctor, give me the news, I got a bad case of lovin' you".
Same thing.
A clever lyric, and great hook.
But it never crossed that line.
That line of impropriety.

Rick Derringer.
If I Weren't So Romantic, I'd Kill You.

A great and clever concept, and even the title of an album.
But it never took off.
He had a cult and minor sensation with it, but not exactly a radio hit.

So help me out here.

Are there, or were there, song writers who pushed the envelope of weirdness and offensiveness, and yet still made a hit out of it?

I'll start it off by naming Ted Nugent, for example.
Cat Scratch Fever.

Never in a million years would I think that that would go.
But there it was.

Your thoughts, and offerings?
😑

 

What?

[rct]

1 hour ago, sparquelito said:

Prince declared that, "I would die for you."
(I Would Die 4 U, technically.)

You never once thought for a minute though that his Purple Royalness would ever want to lay down and die for her. So you knew it was a lark. A song-writing hook.

 

But the hook has context, from the simplest "darling if you want me to", and we know she doesn't want him to, so no, he wouldn't die for her.  All the way to the spiritual context of not being even human and being love.

Bad example.

Hyperbole is what you are talking about.  Hyperbole is often interpreted as silly, and is often regional.  Silliness is something universal, but regional silliness is not.  So if you are writing songs to appeal to people for any reason, you would want to pretty much limit silly hyperbole and stick to easily recognizable word play, no matter the locale.

Or not.

rct

[Tman]

I've always been a music guy and didn't even listen to lyrics until someone informed me that the Dylan song they loved was world defining. My psychologist wife on the other hand judges a song by it's lyrics. We both think the goal posts are changing. What might have been offensive in it's extremeness at the time it was written help set the standard and therefore is no longer shocking or extreme through the glasses we wear today. Take any misogynistic violence encouraging rap song from the 90's. People became numb to it.

On the other hand a song taken fairly lightheartedly as tongue in cheek pushing the boundaries bravado in the late 60's and early 70's would get you cancelled today. e.g. Gold Coast slave ship bound for cotton fields, sold in a market down in New Orleans.....How come you taste so good.

So yea there were songs that pushed the envelope but it wasn't the envelope that we have grown into. So Sparquelito, it's open season.

['Scales]

This was on the radio a lot...check it out Sparky:

 

 

[Sgt. Pepper]

9 hours ago, sparquelito said:

Rick Derringer.
If I Weren't So Romantic, I'd Kill You.

If I Weren't So Romantic, I'd Shoot You.

Music by Rick. Lyrics by Alice Cooper and Bernie Taupin.

Edited May 12, 2021 by Sgt. Pepper

[merciful-evans]

I try to write as directly as possible. What's written is less important than the way it makes you feel.

These are a couple of lines from my 'It Doesn't Matter What I Sing'. 

 

"It doesn't matter what I write.

Even though I write with all of my might.

It won't matter what I write in spite, of what I wrote for you."

[Karloff]

[Whitefang]

Yeah, like Evans up there, I usually try to be direct too, all depending on what type of song I'm trying.  Sometimes direct emotion fits, and usually I try for some word play.   And metaphor  is good too.   Like a line from a blues tune I jotted down near 20 years ago;    " The first music that I heard was Mama's crying and the rhythm of the rain".  

Whitefang

[jdgm]

The winner is the late Pat Hare, once guitarist with Muddy Waters, who recorded "I'm Going To Murder My Baby" in 1954, and then in 1963.... did.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Hare

Edited May 12, 2021 by jdgm

[brad1]

2 hours ago, jdgm said:

The winner is the late Pat Hare, once guitarist 

 

I didn’t know this was a contest

[Mr. Natural]

59 minutes ago, brad1 said:

I didn’t know this was a contest

Me neither.

[Mr. Natural]

How about Clarence Carter, "Love Me With A Feeling" for pushing the envelope?

[Rabs]

Most of Roger Waters work

I held the blade in trembling hands prepared to make it BUT... Just then the phone rang, I never had the nerve to make the final cut.....

 

[Whitefang]

How about "Kiss You All Over"  by Exile?

Whitefang

[merciful-evans]

1 hour ago, Whitefang said:

How about "Kiss You All Over"  by Exile?

Whitefang

Once I kissed her lips, but its all over now.

[jdgm]

20 hours ago, brad1 said:

I didn’t know this was a contest

19 hours ago, Mr. Natural said:

Me neither.

Apologies -  on reflection that was probably the wrong thing to write - it isn't really a contest - just a figure of speech......

 

How about Ice-T?  "Cop Killer"....that's extreme!

https://www.google.com/search?q=ice-t+cop+killer+lyrics&client=firefox-b-d&ei=o1-dYIzXI5-GjLsP1tK0oAY&oq=Ice-T%3F+"Cop+Killer&gs_lcp=Cgdnd3Mtd2l6EAEYAjIJCAAQsAMQBxAeMgUILhCwAzIFCAAQsAMyBQgAELADMgUIABCwAzIHCAAQsAMQHjIHCAAQsAMQHjIHCAAQsAMQHjIHCAAQsAMQHjIHCAAQsAMQHlAAWABggyZoAXAAeACAATuIATuSAQExmAEAqgEHZ3dzLXdpesgBCsABAQ&sclient=gws-wiz

Edited May 13, 2021 by jdgm

[Rabs]

 

[merciful-evans]

This clip shows a verse lyric with text (my own song BTW)

Fish Out Of Water verse #2

Edited May 14, 2021 by merciful-evans
ig

[jdgm]

Hey Joe -  I heard you shot your woman down....

 

[Whitefang]

An extreme expression of emotion doesn't necessarily mean anything violent, but can be heard in this much covered song by BADFINGER----

 

Whitefang

[sparquelito]

 

[RBSinTo]

On 5/14/2021 at 11:21 AM, Whitefang said:

An extreme expression of emotion doesn't necessarily mean anything violent, but can be heard in this much covered song by BADFINGER----

 

Whitefang

Or anything even to do with romantic love. For me, the lyrics to "Guitarman" by Bread always evoke a feeling of great sadness as a musician's career is ending, having been conquered by time.

RBSinTo

[Whitefang]

Then there's an ultimate extreme expression....

Whitefang

[TalonBaker]

On 5/18/2021 at 5:48 PM, Whitefang said:

Then there's an ultimate extreme expression....

Whitefang

For me, songs that evoke positive or lyrical emotions are always important enough to listen to, read their lyrics and try to understand their meaning. Recently at https://writingbros.com/essay-examples/introvert/ I read a lot of articles about introverts about how they express their emotions and often it is in music and songwriting that this can be reflected most vividly.

I adore this song.