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Lyriks Answerisks
Reveals and ratings, the ratings for the lyrics as opening lines, not for the songs. Asterisks when line isn't the first, but rather is the first not to contain the title.
1. "Ya shoulda loved me baby when I was nothin', nothin' at all" - Courtney Love, "Life Despite God," starts angry, gets desperate, woman taking sandpaper to the universe just to get attention. I think the singing is masterful, though I know at least one person here disagrees. The line's anger grabs you, though barely foreshadows the destruction to come. (So not up there with Ashlee's "What's she got that I don't have?" as an opening, though I'll admit that Courtney's singing on this shreds Ashlee's on "I Am Me," which is quite a compliment from me, since Ashlee tears the temple down on that one.) 8
2. "Tears fill my eyes 'til I can't see"* - LeAnn Rimes "Blue," and since she's already been blueing around for several measures this hardly can be called an opening, but it does get its teary job done. 6
3. "Painful, aimless, blameless, nameless, careless, frameless, claimless, shameless" [I think] - Prolapse "Visa for Violet and Van." I'll say in mild defense of these words that they function better sung than seen, actually complement the music's reductive splatter. 4
4. "4 o'clock my mind's filled with a thousand thoughts of you" - LeAnn Rimes "Last Thing On My Mind," unfortunately not a cover of the Tom Paxton song, and also these lines are sung here by Ronan Keating, to their detriment. I guess it's adequate as obsessional thinking goes, though certainly if he'd said, "4 o'clock and thoughts of you hurt my head like the barking of a thousand dogs" this would have been much more intriguing. 5
5. "And while we _____ through the _____ fear" - New Grenada "Emergency Brigade." Lyrics ineffective not because they're indistinct - "fear" is clear and fear in an opening line is usually a good thing, but songs that begin with "we" going "through" something, whether it's college or fog or divorce or remorse, always are creating a barrier to my enjoyment. 4
6. "I cut your nails and comb your hair" - The Knife "Marble House," I talked about this in my original thread. Intriguingly perverse, quite effective, though there's already been a long beautiful musical intro that this cuts off with dreadful singing. 7
7. "Weather man says it might hit 95, September's gonna feel more like July" - Montgomery Gentry "Cold One Comin' On." Not amazing in itself, but sets up the rest of the song nicely, in that it prepares you for heat but you actually get chill and a long slide. And also places you nicely in the mundane, a guy going through his day (but heading for the dark). 8
8. "First you tell me yes, then you tell me maybe" - Sir Lancelot Link & The Evolution Revolution. You guys heard this a few days ago, I can't believe no one got it. Anyway, adequate presentation of the ambiguous response. 5
9. "Baby can't you see I'm callin', a guy like you should wear a warnin'" - Britney Spears "Toxic." Straight direct yearning, she's callin' but needs a warnin'. I'd say terrific except that once again there's an Ashlee that beats this, "Sunday morning blues always about you," which gives you its whole world of feeling in six words. 8
10. "Mum dabba da dadda" [or something] - Burkina Electric "Sanka Yaare." These may or may not be actual words in whatever language it is, but they do give you a good premonition of the big bouncing cheerily aggressive beats to come. 7
11. "Workin' all week 9 to 5 for my money" - Tone Lōc "Wild Thing (Peaches Rmx)." Quite obviously he will need some honey afterwards. Good basic set-up, not just the working but the money being at issue and possibly to be used to acquire what comes next. 7
12. "Those heartbreak moves just bring me closer"* - Billy MacKenzie, "Feels Like The Richtergroove." Tremendous, up there with the Ashlee, codependency tattoed right across its forehead, says it faster and better than "Toxic," this should have been the opening line (instead of "Feels like the Richtergroove," which is overreaching). 9 (would have been 10 if it had been the actual first line).
13. "It's written everywhere, I've even read it in my script" - Britney Spears "Let Go." A Blackout outtake, and what a great line, the message so inescapable it's not just pasted on everyone else's lips but are rammed onto her own, is written into her behavior, the word "script" telling us she's got barely any choice in the matter. (Good song, too.) 9
14. "I feel oh so glamorous, lookin' super fabulous" - Ashley Tisdale "Not Like That." Looks like standard-issue bragging, but as in "Cold One Comin' On" it sets you up for a fakeout, the cake-and-eat-it-too maneuver she then pulls, denying that the glamour is her but reveling in it anyway. Also, notice the percussive exactness with which she matches the syllabic beats and stresses of the two clauses. 7
15. "Incompatible, it don't matter though" - Natasha Bedingfield "Soulmate." Excellent, gives you the situation in an eyeblink, again an exact rhythmic match, and the off-rhyme works, the big word "incompatible" not being too daunting since it's followed by the casual, "it don't matter though" (too bad the rest of the song doesn't live up to this start, in fact rather prosaically keeps making and making the point that she feels out of step and disconnected and not able to find a soulmate; whereas I was hoping the incompatibility was already the state of a relationship). 9
16. "I lost my heart under the bridge" - PJ Harvey "Down By The Water." Certainly grabs your attention, though perhaps it's too scuzzy, or something. 7
17. "I ain't no queen of hearts, I go through stages" - Lucy Woodward, "What's Good For Me," co-written by Jamie Houston of "we're soaring, flyin', there's not a star in heaven that we can't reach" fame. But this is real good, especially when you add the next line, "I fall in love then complicate it," a restlessness worthy of Ashlee, as![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
girlboymusic pointed out on the lyrics thread. (Notice how Ashlee is becoming a point of comparison here.) 7
18. "Wanna show you how I feel, can't get enough, turn it up"* - Booty Luv, "Some Kinda Rush." Isn't impressive on the page, but in the song, coming after the actual - very good - first line, "Feels like some kinda rush, yeah yeah, so good," this is effective, both as a message from her body and instructions to the DJ. 7
19. "Don't say, don't say, yeah!" [or something] - Sam Fan Thomas [title unknown]. A low-quality rip, so don't know how well I'm hearing this, and he might not be singing "Don't say" but something else. Afrodisco track, nice, and I'm not rating the lyrics since I don't know them, but I'm guessing that they're subordinate to the music and would draw somewhere between a 4 and a 7. [not rated]
20. "And head up dear, you're shallow and blind" - The Twilight Sad, "And She Would Darken The Memory." I might have reason someday to defend the music on this, but not these lyrics; as a putdown this is just nasty and mean, not smart or interesting. (And that song title, jeesh.) 2
21. "You don't love me like you used to, you don't say those words" - MaD DoLL "Without You," lead singer Kara DioGuardi, early on before her career as a professional songwriter and producer took off. Given that Kara might well have had a hand in those Ashlee lyrics that I've been setting up as models for everyone, this line is stunningly average, has a good vernacular flow that certainly takes skill, sets the scene and all, and she's wise to go "You don't say those words" rather than "You don't say 'I love you,'" but the idea has been long since overworked. 5
22. "I'm losin' you tonight all right (?)"* - The Low Frequency In Stereo "Big City Lights." The actual opening couplet, as far as I can tell, is "Big city lights, big city light, I'm losin' you tonight, all right," which is quite good for forcing a linkage between the city lights and the lost romance. (I assume that's what it's about.) The track isn't bad either, for an indie rock band, though the lead singer loses himself in his own vocal fuzz, and the rest of the lyrics don't take him anywhere. 7
23. "There's clothes all over the floor, I don't remember them bein' here before" - Travis Tritt "Should've Listened," a cover of the Nickelback song. Good opening camera angle, I'd say, the befuddled narrator not making sense of the mess, and the words then get even better, "Where the hell's my credit card, why's my wallet in the yard? Still I don't understand. Well, now, I guess I should've listened when you said you'd had enough; a little trick I picked up from my father, in one ear and out the other, why's life gotta be so tough?" Hey, I'm not an easy grader, the randomizer just gave me a good batch of song openings. 8
24. "I like them black girls, I like them white girls" - Calvin Harris "The Girls." Yes, he's hatable, but this certainly makes a fast point. 7
25. "The boys in the club love the fashion parade" - Misty's Big Adventure, "Fashion Parade." Oh, this line held a lot of promise, but instead we get a sneering putdown of the boys and their fashion chasing. Docked three points for what it's the start of; but imagine this being the opening line of a song about an interesting fashion parade; it would be likable. 4
1. "Ya shoulda loved me baby when I was nothin', nothin' at all" - Courtney Love, "Life Despite God," starts angry, gets desperate, woman taking sandpaper to the universe just to get attention. I think the singing is masterful, though I know at least one person here disagrees. The line's anger grabs you, though barely foreshadows the destruction to come. (So not up there with Ashlee's "What's she got that I don't have?" as an opening, though I'll admit that Courtney's singing on this shreds Ashlee's on "I Am Me," which is quite a compliment from me, since Ashlee tears the temple down on that one.) 8
2. "Tears fill my eyes 'til I can't see"* - LeAnn Rimes "Blue," and since she's already been blueing around for several measures this hardly can be called an opening, but it does get its teary job done. 6
3. "Painful, aimless, blameless, nameless, careless, frameless, claimless, shameless" [I think] - Prolapse "Visa for Violet and Van." I'll say in mild defense of these words that they function better sung than seen, actually complement the music's reductive splatter. 4
4. "4 o'clock my mind's filled with a thousand thoughts of you" - LeAnn Rimes "Last Thing On My Mind," unfortunately not a cover of the Tom Paxton song, and also these lines are sung here by Ronan Keating, to their detriment. I guess it's adequate as obsessional thinking goes, though certainly if he'd said, "4 o'clock and thoughts of you hurt my head like the barking of a thousand dogs" this would have been much more intriguing. 5
5. "And while we _____ through the _____ fear" - New Grenada "Emergency Brigade." Lyrics ineffective not because they're indistinct - "fear" is clear and fear in an opening line is usually a good thing, but songs that begin with "we" going "through" something, whether it's college or fog or divorce or remorse, always are creating a barrier to my enjoyment. 4
6. "I cut your nails and comb your hair" - The Knife "Marble House," I talked about this in my original thread. Intriguingly perverse, quite effective, though there's already been a long beautiful musical intro that this cuts off with dreadful singing. 7
7. "Weather man says it might hit 95, September's gonna feel more like July" - Montgomery Gentry "Cold One Comin' On." Not amazing in itself, but sets up the rest of the song nicely, in that it prepares you for heat but you actually get chill and a long slide. And also places you nicely in the mundane, a guy going through his day (but heading for the dark). 8
8. "First you tell me yes, then you tell me maybe" - Sir Lancelot Link & The Evolution Revolution. You guys heard this a few days ago, I can't believe no one got it. Anyway, adequate presentation of the ambiguous response. 5
9. "Baby can't you see I'm callin', a guy like you should wear a warnin'" - Britney Spears "Toxic." Straight direct yearning, she's callin' but needs a warnin'. I'd say terrific except that once again there's an Ashlee that beats this, "Sunday morning blues always about you," which gives you its whole world of feeling in six words. 8
10. "Mum dabba da dadda" [or something] - Burkina Electric "Sanka Yaare." These may or may not be actual words in whatever language it is, but they do give you a good premonition of the big bouncing cheerily aggressive beats to come. 7
11. "Workin' all week 9 to 5 for my money" - Tone Lōc "Wild Thing (Peaches Rmx)." Quite obviously he will need some honey afterwards. Good basic set-up, not just the working but the money being at issue and possibly to be used to acquire what comes next. 7
12. "Those heartbreak moves just bring me closer"* - Billy MacKenzie, "Feels Like The Richtergroove." Tremendous, up there with the Ashlee, codependency tattoed right across its forehead, says it faster and better than "Toxic," this should have been the opening line (instead of "Feels like the Richtergroove," which is overreaching). 9 (would have been 10 if it had been the actual first line).
13. "It's written everywhere, I've even read it in my script" - Britney Spears "Let Go." A Blackout outtake, and what a great line, the message so inescapable it's not just pasted on everyone else's lips but are rammed onto her own, is written into her behavior, the word "script" telling us she's got barely any choice in the matter. (Good song, too.) 9
14. "I feel oh so glamorous, lookin' super fabulous" - Ashley Tisdale "Not Like That." Looks like standard-issue bragging, but as in "Cold One Comin' On" it sets you up for a fakeout, the cake-and-eat-it-too maneuver she then pulls, denying that the glamour is her but reveling in it anyway. Also, notice the percussive exactness with which she matches the syllabic beats and stresses of the two clauses. 7
15. "Incompatible, it don't matter though" - Natasha Bedingfield "Soulmate." Excellent, gives you the situation in an eyeblink, again an exact rhythmic match, and the off-rhyme works, the big word "incompatible" not being too daunting since it's followed by the casual, "it don't matter though" (too bad the rest of the song doesn't live up to this start, in fact rather prosaically keeps making and making the point that she feels out of step and disconnected and not able to find a soulmate; whereas I was hoping the incompatibility was already the state of a relationship). 9
16. "I lost my heart under the bridge" - PJ Harvey "Down By The Water." Certainly grabs your attention, though perhaps it's too scuzzy, or something. 7
17. "I ain't no queen of hearts, I go through stages" - Lucy Woodward, "What's Good For Me," co-written by Jamie Houston of "we're soaring, flyin', there's not a star in heaven that we can't reach" fame. But this is real good, especially when you add the next line, "I fall in love then complicate it," a restlessness worthy of Ashlee, as
girlboymusic pointed out on the lyrics thread. (Notice how Ashlee is becoming a point of comparison here.) 718. "Wanna show you how I feel, can't get enough, turn it up"* - Booty Luv, "Some Kinda Rush." Isn't impressive on the page, but in the song, coming after the actual - very good - first line, "Feels like some kinda rush, yeah yeah, so good," this is effective, both as a message from her body and instructions to the DJ. 7
19. "Don't say, don't say, yeah!" [or something] - Sam Fan Thomas [title unknown]. A low-quality rip, so don't know how well I'm hearing this, and he might not be singing "Don't say" but something else. Afrodisco track, nice, and I'm not rating the lyrics since I don't know them, but I'm guessing that they're subordinate to the music and would draw somewhere between a 4 and a 7. [not rated]
20. "And head up dear, you're shallow and blind" - The Twilight Sad, "And She Would Darken The Memory." I might have reason someday to defend the music on this, but not these lyrics; as a putdown this is just nasty and mean, not smart or interesting. (And that song title, jeesh.) 2
21. "You don't love me like you used to, you don't say those words" - MaD DoLL "Without You," lead singer Kara DioGuardi, early on before her career as a professional songwriter and producer took off. Given that Kara might well have had a hand in those Ashlee lyrics that I've been setting up as models for everyone, this line is stunningly average, has a good vernacular flow that certainly takes skill, sets the scene and all, and she's wise to go "You don't say those words" rather than "You don't say 'I love you,'" but the idea has been long since overworked. 5
22. "I'm losin' you tonight all right (?)"* - The Low Frequency In Stereo "Big City Lights." The actual opening couplet, as far as I can tell, is "Big city lights, big city light, I'm losin' you tonight, all right," which is quite good for forcing a linkage between the city lights and the lost romance. (I assume that's what it's about.) The track isn't bad either, for an indie rock band, though the lead singer loses himself in his own vocal fuzz, and the rest of the lyrics don't take him anywhere. 7
23. "There's clothes all over the floor, I don't remember them bein' here before" - Travis Tritt "Should've Listened," a cover of the Nickelback song. Good opening camera angle, I'd say, the befuddled narrator not making sense of the mess, and the words then get even better, "Where the hell's my credit card, why's my wallet in the yard? Still I don't understand. Well, now, I guess I should've listened when you said you'd had enough; a little trick I picked up from my father, in one ear and out the other, why's life gotta be so tough?" Hey, I'm not an easy grader, the randomizer just gave me a good batch of song openings. 8
24. "I like them black girls, I like them white girls" - Calvin Harris "The Girls." Yes, he's hatable, but this certainly makes a fast point. 7
25. "The boys in the club love the fashion parade" - Misty's Big Adventure, "Fashion Parade." Oh, this line held a lot of promise, but instead we get a sneering putdown of the boys and their fashion chasing. Docked three points for what it's the start of; but imagine this being the opening line of a song about an interesting fashion parade; it would be likable. 4