Jump to content

Dark lyrics, the tool of the lazy.


swingset

Recommended Posts

  • Members

Here's my 2 cents:

 

It is easy to write crappy dark lyrics. It is easy to write crappy upbeat lyrics. It is much harder to write GOOD dark or upbeat lyrics, and harder still to be able to write them both well. The truly masterful can use them both within a single song.

 

Ben Folds was mentioned a couple of times as an excellent example of someone who can write both depressing and happy lyrics well, often within the same song. The interesting thing is that, in an interview, he said that it was actually harder for him to write the darker songs (on Whatever and Ever Amen), because on the previous album (self-titled) he would always lighten up the mood with moments of humor, irony, or sarcasm. He said it was harder for him to express his darker emotions openly without trying to cover them up with glib remarks.

 

Another good songwriter to look at is Dave Matthews. He had been going through a very rough time, including the deaths of a few family members. The album he was writing at the time (nicknamed the Lillywhite Sessions) was actually so dark, and so painful, that he and the rest of the band could not bear to continue making it. The result, unfortunately, was that he wrote an album full of trite, contrived, upbeat pop songs (Everyday), possibly in an effort to cheer himself up. The main reason that the unfinished Lillywhite Sessions are so powerful is that the darkness and pain expressed in the songs is real. You can actually feel his pain when you listen to those songs.

 

The point I'm making here is that, while it is easy to write contrived dark lyrics, it is much harder to express real pain in music.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 75
  • Created
  • Last Reply
  • Members

"Have you ever even seen a car before

These are not the ancient boulevards of Luxor

Wild rollin steel, but somethin's missin

You drive like an Egyptian

 

The Eye of Horus need not search the sky

To divine reasons why I can't get by

This is {censored}ed-up. Off me you're pissin

You drive like an Egyptian

 

Hands sideways on the steering wheel

It's not a matter of how I feel

It's do or die once ya hit the ignition

You drive like an Egyptian"

 

 

Where does this fit in? Or is it just silly?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.


×
×
  • Create New...