For fun, I have developed a short simple quiz to highlight the differences in lyrical composition between different types of songs. Each question highlights a short passage from two recorded songs - is it "pop" or is it "poetry" ---- you decide!!
1. Timbaland VS. Jewel
Beats so Baby, you're lookin' fire hot
I'll have you open all night like an IHOP
I'll take you home baby, let you keep me company
You give me some of you, I give you some of me
VS.
Eighty years, an old lady now, sitting on the front porch
Watching the clouds roll by, they remind her of her lover
how he left her and of times long ago, when she used to color carelessly,
Painted his portrait a thousand times, or maybe just his smile,
and she and her canvas would follow him wherever he would go
2. Dave Matthews vs. Cascada
Walking along in this haze of confusion
Sometimes I can laugh
But sometimes it takes all of my strength
Just to find enough reason to take the next step
Step but I will, but I will 'till I do
VS
Evacuate the dance floor
I'm infected by the sound
Stop this beat is killing me
Hey little DJ come burn this place right down underground
3. Lady Gaga VS. Jann Arden
I won't tell you that I love you
Kiss or hug you
Cause I'm bluffin' with my muffin
I'm not lying I'm just stunnin' with my love-glue-gunning
VS
The salt inside my body ruins
Everyone I come close to
My hands are barely holding up my head
Oh, I'm so tired of looking at my feet
And all the secrets that I keep
My heart is barely hangin' by a thread
4. Joni Mitchell VS. Black Eyed Peas
Daylight falls upon the path, the forest falls behind
Today I am not prey to dark uncertainty
The shadow trembles in its wrath, I've robbed its blackness blind
And tasted sunlight as my fear came clear to me
VS.
I'm steppin on leprechauns
Shitin' on y'all you with the (Boom boom)
Shitin' on y'all you with the (Boom boom)
Shitin' on y'all you with the..
This beat be bumpin' bumpin'
This beat go boom boom
5. And for the grande finale: Usher vs Justin Nozuka
Watch out!
My outfit's ridiculous, in the club lookin' so conspicuous.
And Rowl! These women all on the prowl, if you hold the head steady I'm a milk the cow
VS
Listen to the words you see
You are blind to what you hear
Listen to the words you see
Do not fear the truth beneath
Reach for roots beneath the trees
Listen to the words you seek
Don't listen to a word they say
Do NOT listen to a word you've heard
Do not listen to a word you've heard
People are people we live for our own
Live how you think not by what you've been told
I hope you enjoyed the lyrics quiz - it was fun putting it together. In the end, I would suggest browsing through some song lyrics by Joni Mitchell and Justin Nozuka... both amazing and insightful storytellers. Usher and Lady Gaga, not so much.
Good work, Mel!! Quite amusing paradoxes.
ReplyDeleteWhat about these lyrics:
"Do that to me one more time ...Once is never enough with a man like you...Do that to me one more time ...I can never get enough of a man like you ...Whoa-oh-oh, kiss me like you just did ...Oh, baby, do that to me once again".
Believe it or not, that is Captain and Tennille from the 70s!!! I was 8 or so, and used to sing along like it was "London Bridge is Falling Down" or some kid-oriented nursery rhyme. Little did I know, they were the words of raw lust.