Lyrical Cliches You Can't Stand

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Two bothering me of late -- I associate both with the 60s but I keep hearing them in other stuff:

1) Ending a line with "my friend" or "my friends" to imply profundity

2) Addressing a woman in a song as "little girl"

― Hurting (Hurting), Friday, 1 October 2004 03:34 (twenty years ago)

I hate "I need you" (especially "I need you baby") and apparently so does Momus.

― daavid (daavid), Friday, 1 October 2004 03:38 (twenty years ago)

"baby"

― the surface noise (slight return) (electricsound), Friday, 1 October 2004 03:39 (twenty years ago)

"yeah"

― the surface noise (slight return) (electricsound), Friday, 1 October 2004 03:39 (twenty years ago)

"little girl" = GOLD

― Sonny, Ah!!1 (Sonny A.), Friday, 1 October 2004 03:39 (twenty years ago)

Are you more tolerant of these when they actually appear in music from the 60s or 70s, out of curiosity? I'm trying to work out whether I am.

― sundar subramanian (sundar), Friday, 1 October 2004 03:47 (twenty years ago)

"in my mind" or "in my head." lame.

― g--ff (gcannon), Friday, 1 October 2004 03:48 (twenty years ago)

"Are you more tolerant of these when they actually appear in music from the 60s or 70s, out of curiosity? I'm trying to work out whether I am."
Not really, but I guess I sort of shake my head and go "I guess that's just Jim Morrisson" or something like that.

Seriously, I hate it in 60s songs but it's even worse now because I think "Haven't we come further than that" and also it just seems even more contrived because it sounds like a rehash of something dated.

― Hurting (Hurting), Friday, 1 October 2004 03:54 (twenty years ago)

" "in my mind" or "in my head." lame. "

OTM, and this one is ubiquitous, though admittedly I like "Blowin through the jasmine in my mind."

― Hurting (Hurting), Friday, 1 October 2004 03:56 (twenty years ago)

throw your hands in the air, and wave them like you just don't care.

stfu already

― jeremiah (jeremiah), Friday, 1 October 2004 05:22 (twenty years ago)

"can't you see?" is the biggest offender in my book.

Of course I can see, you idiot. You need to find better words in which to express your frustration!

― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Friday, 1 October 2004 05:23 (twenty years ago)

That, or exclaiming that certain parts of one's body are "on fire."

― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Friday, 1 October 2004 05:24 (twenty years ago)

USHER TO THREAD

― Forksclovetofu (Forksclovetofu), Friday, 1 October 2004 05:27 (twenty years ago)

I love "little girl"!

Cliches don't really annoy me in lyrics -- only in writing. I think they're kind of endearing in songs.

― babyalive (babyalive), Friday, 1 October 2004 05:38 (twenty years ago)

throw your hands in the air, and wave them like you just don't care.
stfu already
And after the artist on stage does that bit enough times, the audience really does stop caring. They should then stop throwing their hands and start throwing bottles.

― Lord Custos Epsilon (Lord Custos Epsilon), Friday, 1 October 2004 05:59 (twenty years ago)

uh, I'm getting sick of "In the club" being in every song.

― Brandon Biondo (twinkiebots), Friday, 1 October 2004 06:34 (twenty years ago)

The rhyming of Fire and Desire.
Especially when pronounced FYE-ya! and diz-EYE-ya!

― mike t-diva (mike t-diva), Friday, 1 October 2004 09:07 (twenty years ago)

Rhyming of "sixteen" (seventeen, eighteen etc.) with "(know, see) what I mean"

― Hurting (Hurting), Friday, 1 October 2004 13:00 (twenty years ago)

"Self" rhyming with "shelf." Aargh.

― Douglas (Douglas), Friday, 1 October 2004 13:08 (twenty years ago)

"Take my hand" paired with "understand".

"Do me right" or "do you right" as a euphemism for sex. At one point it seemed like every R&B / hip-hop song had to work this in, but the trend has died down.

Remember when every rapper had to "show and prove" or "drop science"?

― Tantrum The Cat (Tantrum The Cat), Friday, 1 October 2004 13:13 (twenty years ago)

I feel like it's a little different with hip-hop, because there's this sort of shared body of slang that everyone uses at a certain time. Using it is not always cliche, sometimes it's just speaking the language of the moment. But there is a fine line to walk I guess.

― Hurting (Hurting), Friday, 1 October 2004 13:18 (twenty years ago)

Rhyming 'high' with 'fly'.

― Wooden (Wooden), Friday, 1 October 2004 13:21 (twenty years ago)

Ooh! This one just hit me: Really long trains of lines that all end in "ation" words (relaxation/good vibration/entire nation etc.)

― Hurting (Hurting), Friday, 1 October 2004 13:25 (twenty years ago)

"can't you see?" is the biggest offender in my book.

but the wailers' "can't you see" is one of the greatest singles evah. and, if memory serves, the marshall tucker band's "can't you see" isn't so bad either.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Friday, 1 October 2004 13:28 (twenty years ago)

I'm sick of the word "everybody" - how its inherent musicality (it has a built-in meter) gets exploited from song to song.

― joseph cotten (joseph cotten), Friday, 1 October 2004 13:41 (twenty years ago)

"shelf" has only ever been used one time when it hasn't rhymed with "self/myself/yourself" and it was THIS YEAR, I thought I'd fall off my hobbyhorse

― Begs2Differ (Begs2Differ), Friday, 1 October 2004 13:44 (twenty years ago)

It's always used really badly too -- what a half-assed metaphor. Maybe they should have rhymed other words like "elf" or "health" or "twelfth".

― Hurting (Hurting), Friday, 1 October 2004 14:04 (twenty years ago)

but of course health and twelfth don't rhyme with either shelf or each other. "keith relf" would work, though.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Friday, 1 October 2004 14:08 (twenty years ago)

xposting myself:
The rhyming of Fire and Desire.
Especially when pronounced FYE-ya! and diz-EYE-ya!

Every year, at least one Eurovision entry contains this rhyme; it's the law. Probably some sort of EC directive. This year, they upped the quota to THREE. (Netherlands/Denmark/Greece.)

― mike t-diva (mike t-diva), Friday, 1 October 2004 14:08 (twenty years ago)

I'll second "in the club"

― Patrick South (Patrick South), Friday, 1 October 2004 14:08 (twenty years ago)

If we're going with hip hop cliches -- I'd have to say when MCs talk about "What we do" or "how we do".

― Hurting (Hurting), Friday, 1 October 2004 14:12 (twenty years ago)

MC cliches from days past:
catch wreck
flip da script
act like ya know
word is bond
etc etc

My least favoite lyrical cliche is 'poetic license' syntax awkwardness bullshit - when niggaz be talkin' like Yoda and shit

and I can't stand folksingers of the post-Palace age who intentionally throw something profane into an otherwise pretty song for apparently no reason whatsoever.

― roger adultery (roger adultery), Friday, 1 October 2004 14:39 (twenty years ago)

Rhyming "girl" with "in the world"! Gah! Granted there's not a lot of rhymes there but that one gets used so much.

― Vinnie (vprabhu), Friday, 1 October 2004 14:41 (twenty years ago)

Why must all pride be "foolish pride"?

― briania (briania), Friday, 1 October 2004 14:43 (twenty years ago)

I think the very mechanism of the hip-hop simile (it's not a metaphor) is completely exhausted by now: "I [action] like [object that performs the same action in a different context]. Or its slight and even duller variation, "if [blank] were [blank] I'd be [superlative instance of [blank]]."

― joseph cotten (joseph cotten), Friday, 1 October 2004 14:46 (twenty years ago)

"we made it" or "we're gonna make it"
Makin' It - Classic or Dud

― dave225 (Dave225), Friday, 1 October 2004 14:52 (twenty years ago)

Or its slight and even duller variation, "if [blank] were [blank] I'd be [superlative instance of [blank]]."

or, as my grandmother used to say, "if my daddy was a choo-choo train, i'd be an engine." i think she was the original MC.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Friday, 1 October 2004 14:53 (twenty years ago)

the worst of all is a song beginning with

"woke up this morning". URGH. the next line should really be "decided to write a song".

― Ronan (Ronan), Friday, 1 October 2004 15:27 (twenty years ago)

"woke up this morning" songs:

-boston, "more than a feeling"
-bruce springsteen, "empty sky"
-that band that does that "sopranos" theme song

what else? there must be scores of others.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Friday, 1 October 2004 15:29 (twenty years ago)

The folk equivalent of "Woke up this morning" being "As I roved out one morning" - usually (ie all the time) "All in the month of May"

― Didoismus (Dada), Friday, 1 October 2004 15:31 (twenty years ago)

"that band that does that "sopranos" theme song"

Alabama 3. From, er, Brixton.

― Wooden (Wooden), Friday, 1 October 2004 15:32 (twenty years ago)

Another "woke up this morning": James Taylor, "Fire & Rain"

xpost: Alabama 3 was truncated to just "A3" for American consumption.

― Joseph McCombs (Joseph McCombs), Friday, 1 October 2004 15:33 (twenty years ago)

Rhyming "love" with "from above."

― Talent Explosion (Talent Explosion), Friday, 1 October 2004 15:40 (twenty years ago)

THe worst song with a cliche in EVERY line has to be Des'Ree's goddawful "Life (Oh Life)".

Any more contenders to songs with them in every line, I'd like to hear it>

― herbalizer12 (herbalizer12), Friday, 1 October 2004 15:52 (twenty years ago)

jesus that song truly is one of the worst records of all time.

― Ronan (Ronan), Friday, 1 October 2004 15:54 (twenty years ago)

Surely that bit about wanting some toast because you saw a ghost or some shit is far too bizarre to be a cliche

― Michael Philip Philip Philip Annoyman (Ferg), Friday, 1 October 2004 15:58 (twenty years ago)

When ever I say something to my baby I make sure she knows that I don't mean maybe.

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Friday, 1 October 2004 15:59 (twenty years ago)

When I ask where the party at I also wanna know where we're sipping bacardi at.

(when trying to think of an alternative my friend Jefferson recommended that I ask where we getting retardy at)

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Friday, 1 October 2004 16:01 (twenty years ago)

Rhyming "dancin[g]" and "romancin[g]".

― Salmon Pink (Salmon Pink), Friday, 1 October 2004 16:03 (twenty years ago)

something something yadda yadda about MEEEEEE
something something something about being FREEEEEEEEE

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Friday, 1 October 2004 16:05 (twenty years ago)

"I cant tell you"

So don't write a song then.

― mark grout (mark grout), Friday, 1 October 2004 16:19 (twenty years ago)

"I cant tell you"
So don't write a song then.

not to be picky or anything, but that's one of the best reasons to write a song. to express what you can't otherwise articulate.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Friday, 1 October 2004 16:24 (twenty years ago)

FYE-Ya / Diz-EYE-Ya OTM

And I REALLY hate that "hands in the air/just don't care" rhyme too, not just 'cause it's a cliche, but also because it makes no sense: If I truly "don't care" for the music, why the hell should I demonstrate any enthusiasm for chrissakes? Ridiculous.

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Friday, 1 October 2004 16:25 (twenty years ago)

Surely that bit about wanting some toast because you saw a ghost or some shit is far too bizarre to be a cliche

paul weller, on the other hand, has you eating "a piece of toast / from the one you love most."

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Friday, 1 October 2004 16:26 (twenty years ago)

referencing a famous guiarist and then playing a really flamboyant guitar lick

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Friday, 1 October 2004 16:35 (twenty years ago)

It's not quite the same thing but Sublime's "What I Got" is similarly hilarious for the distinctly non-muthafuckin'-riotous guitar solo.

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Friday, 1 October 2004 16:39 (twenty years ago)

"a piece of toast / from the one you love most."

it came from their body/isn't that kinda odd-y

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Friday, 1 October 2004 16:39 (twenty years ago)

Any reference to "the way you walk" followed by "the way you talk." Blecch.

― Joseph McCombs (Joseph McCombs), Friday, 1 October 2004 16:59 (twenty years ago)

What about rhyming "disco" with "San Francisco" or "Frisco"?

― Diego Valladolid (dvalladt), Friday, 1 October 2004 17:03 (twenty years ago)

Anything that "cuts like a knife", especially when rhymed with "my life".

― noodle vague (noodle vague), Friday, 1 October 2004 17:05 (twenty years ago)

Plus one that is a favorita amongst spanish songwriters who want to give an americana feel to their lyrics: "back of the cadillac".

― Diego Valladolid (dvalladt), Friday, 1 October 2004 17:13 (twenty years ago)

I don't particularly hate it but I find it funny that half the songs in the eighties had the phrase "the night".

― daavid (daavid), Friday, 1 October 2004 17:27 (twenty years ago)

...and I'll always be true...(usually rhymes with 'you')

― roger adultery (roger adultery), Friday, 1 October 2004 17:28 (twenty years ago)

What about rhyming "disco" with "San Francisco" or "Frisco"?

Shit man, there was even a Russian pop song that did it: "San Frantsisko / Gorod v stile disko"

― joseph cotten (joseph cotten), Friday, 1 October 2004 18:31 (twenty years ago)

"Angel" pronounced as "ain-JELL."

― wickerbocker please (hammy), Friday, 1 October 2004 19:15 (twenty years ago)

The deadly combination of "want" and "need".

― alex in montreal, Friday, 1 October 2004 19:26 (twenty years ago)

Oh yeah, songwriters, check it...there are other words that rhyme with the number SEVEN besides HEAVEN thx k bye.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Friday, 1 October 2004 19:29 (twenty years ago)

Name three.

― Joseph McCombs (Joseph McCombs), Friday, 1 October 2004 20:04 (twenty years ago)

leaven, devon, eleven

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Friday, 1 October 2004 20:06 (twenty years ago)

Eleven.
Leaven.
Kevin.

― noodle vague (noodle vague), Friday, 1 October 2004 20:07 (twenty years ago)

D'oh! Beaten at the post.

― noodle vague (noodle vague), Friday, 1 October 2004 20:07 (twenty years ago)

Not forgetting former Everton and Motherwell star, Pat Nevin.

― noodle vague (noodle vague), Friday, 1 October 2004 20:08 (twenty years ago)

I challenge someone to use the word "leaven" in a good song lyric.

― wetmink (wetmink), Friday, 1 October 2004 20:10 (twenty years ago)

I'm leaven on a jet plane?

― noodle vague (noodle vague), Friday, 1 October 2004 20:18 (twenty years ago)

Mine is the phrase "rebel without a clue" which is used in both "I'll Be You" - The Replacements and "Into The Great Wide Open" - Tom Petty. Two uses might not make a cliche, but it really bugs me for some reason. Apparently it's also a song by Bonnie Tyler but I don't think I've ever heard it.

― wetmink (wetmink), Friday, 1 October 2004 20:19 (twenty years ago)

oh baby your body is heaven
i am the dough and you are the leaven

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Friday, 1 October 2004 20:20 (twenty years ago)

x post

"My heart is the dough,
You're the leaven.
If only you didn't
Look like Pat Nevin."

― noodle vague (noodle vague), Friday, 1 October 2004 20:20 (twenty years ago)

D'oh!!

― noodle vague (noodle vague), Friday, 1 October 2004 20:20 (twenty years ago)

Two uses might not make a cliche, but it really bugs me for some reason.

Replacements opened for Tom Petty back when "I'll Be You" was a no. 1 AOR hit (hard to remember sometimes that the Mats did actually have hits). Tom Petty used in three years later. Not a coincidence.

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Friday, 1 October 2004 20:21 (twenty years ago)

If the devil is six then your ass is seven
I got idle hands but my name ain't devon

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Friday, 1 October 2004 20:21 (twenty years ago)

This is mostly off-topic, but has any LP ever had as many cliches-as-song-titles as this, the first Asia LP?:

1. Heat Of The Moment
2. Only Time Will Tell
3. Sole Survivor
4. One Step Closer
5. Time Again
6. Wildest Dreams
7. Without You
8. Cutting It Fine
9. Here Comes The Feeling

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Friday, 1 October 2004 20:24 (twenty years ago)

¿"Ready Eddie" by Eddie Money?

1. Ready to Rock
2. Don't Say No Tonight
3. So Cold Tonight Let It Go (Dedicated to Jack and Diane)
4. Turn the Light Off
5. It's Gotta Be Love
6. Can't Go On
7. Nobody Knows
8.When You Gonna Satisfy Me
9. Need a Little Rock
10. Broken Down Chevy (God Only Knows)

― Diego Valladolid (dvalladt), Friday, 1 October 2004 20:31 (twenty years ago)

"head in the clouds, feet on the ground" or the REALLY FUCKING PROFOUND CONVERSE "feet in the clouds, head on the ground" maaaaaaaaaaaaan.

― tom cleveland (tom cleveland), Friday, 1 October 2004 20:34 (twenty years ago)

Replacements opened for Tom Petty back when "I'll Be You" was a no. 1 AOR hit (hard to remember sometimes that the Mats did actually have hits). Tom Petty used in three years later. Not a coincidence.

Ha - I just found this: http://www.anti.com/press.php?CatalogID=80377&pressid=553

O: Did you mind Petty swiping your "rebel without a clue" line?

PW: It miffed me a little bit, but it's all... I'd steal something back from him, if I could find something I liked.

― wetmink (wetmink), Friday, 1 October 2004 20:49 (twenty years ago)

Ooh! This one just hit me: Really long trains of lines that all end in "ation" words (relaxation/good vibration/entire nation etc.)
-- Hurting (Hurtingchie...), October 1st, 2004.

...and ending in "emancipation proclamation".

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Friday, 1 October 2004 20:49 (twenty years ago)

"Self" rhyming with "shelf." Aargh

Except when Humpty Hump does it, then it's awesome!!

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Friday, 1 October 2004 20:55 (twenty years ago)

"all my life" = every phil collins song ever

― kyle (akmonday), Friday, 1 October 2004 21:02 (twenty years ago)

The rolling list of "on the shelf" songs:

1. Beau Brummels, "Laugh Laugh"
2. The Beatles, "Don't Pass Me By" (though the shelf actually has a context here, so Ringo gets a pass)
3. Jefferson Airplane, "Star Track"

Continue?

― Joseph McCombs (Joseph McCombs), Saturday, 2 October 2004 14:44 (twenty years ago)

EMO CLICHE LIST:

Referring to blood as the color of crimson.
"Please hold my hand, please hold my heart, please say we'll never be apart" - real line from a local emo band (uber cliche)

― David Allen (David Allen), Saturday, 2 October 2004 20:01 (twenty years ago)

"I can see it in your eyes"

How do you know that isn't constipation?

― noodle vague (noodle vague), Saturday, 2 October 2004 20:49 (twenty years ago)

There was a time when i wanted to start a how-to-write-a-Lou-Reed-song thread. There's some very simple cliches:

"alright!" (place at the end of any line)
"i see her walkin' on down the street"
"there she goes"

― Adam Bruneau (oliver8bit), Saturday, 2 October 2004 20:53 (twenty years ago)

Any and all variations on "washing away the pain." How the fuck do you wash away pain? That's dirt all over you, grunge people! Dirt, not pain!

― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Saturday, 2 October 2004 21:23 (twenty years ago)

i 2nd "walking down the street"
also (when you / she) "came into the room" or "entered the room"
"feel so alive"

in hip hop, i can't stand
1. afterparty to hotel lobby...
2. those (fat joe, r kelly especially) who talk about "menage" constantly. it's like they just heard about it at age 30.

― paulhw (paulhw), Saturday, 2 October 2004 21:31 (twenty years ago)

"wounds/scars that won't heal"

― My name is Kenny (My name is Kenny), Saturday, 2 October 2004 23:44 (twenty years ago)

"heaven above"

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Sunday, 3 October 2004 00:16 (twenty years ago)

Radio noise plus muffled vocals as a bridge. Every band did this at least once in the 90's.

― The TAO that can be Posted is not the TAO! (The Tao that can be Posted is), Sunday, 3 October 2004 00:20 (twenty years ago)

That is not a lyrical cliche!

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Sunday, 3 October 2004 00:21 (twenty years ago)

This is mostly off-topic, but has any LP ever had as many cliches-as-song-titles as this, the first Asia LP?:

Slippery When Wet might at least provide some competition.

IIRC:

Let It Rock
You Give Love a Bad Name
Livin' On a Prayer
Social Disease
Wanted Dead or Alive
Raise Your Hands
Without Love
I'd Die For You
Never Say Goodbye
Wild In the Streets

(Hey, I got all but one from memory)

Hmm, Asia may have the edge.

― sundar subramanian (sundar), Sunday, 3 October 2004 01:01 (twenty years ago)

"Spread your wings and fly" shits me to no end.

― Mil (Mil), Sunday, 3 October 2004 01:57 (twenty years ago)

The rolling list of "on the shelf" songs:

4. Tori Amos - "Hey Jupiter"

― joseph cotten (joseph cotten), Sunday, 3 October 2004 02:25 (twenty years ago)

When a person (usually female) says "I'm in too deep". THAT really burns me up!

― Crummy Grandma, Sunday, 3 October 2004 02:42 (twenty years ago)

Try lubricant.

― You've Got to Pick Up Every Stitch (tracerhand), Sunday, 3 October 2004 02:48 (twenty years ago)

...and ending in "emancipation proclamation".

Whatever, wu-tang's "mystery of chessboxin" is awesome.

― Symplistic (shmuel), Sunday, 3 October 2004 03:03 (twenty years ago)

"i'm so sick and tired of being sick and tired"

― Symplistic (shmuel), Sunday, 3 October 2004 03:04 (twenty years ago)

dude, i was KIDDIN'!!!

i love that song by the way.

x-post

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Sunday, 3 October 2004 03:05 (twenty years ago)

haha i was too

― Symplistic (shmuel), Sunday, 3 October 2004 03:14 (twenty years ago)

The rolling list of "on the shelf" songs:

5. Alice Cooper, Clones (We're All)

Six is having problems adjusting to his clone status
Have to put him on a shelf, please don't put me on a shelf
All day long we hear him crying so loud
I just wanna be myself, I just wanna be myself
I just wanna be myself, be myself, be myself

― a banana (alanbanana), Sunday, 3 October 2004 21:43 (twenty years ago)

I appreciate any time a songwriter rhymes "rain" and "pain," as they are both sad.

― Jesse Fuchs (Jesse Fuchs), Sunday, 3 October 2004 22:16 (twenty years ago)

how about "could" and "would"

― Kim (Kim), Sunday, 3 October 2004 23:00 (twenty years ago)

this might beat Asia - Celine Dion's "Decade of Song"

1) The Power Of Love
2) If You Asked Me To
3) Beauty and The Beast
4) Because You Loved Me
5) It's All Coming Back To Me Now
6) Love Can Move Mountains
7) To Love You More
8) My Heart Will Go On
9) I'm Your Angel
10) That's The Way It Is
11) If Walls Could Talk
12) The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face
13) All The Way
14) Then You Look At Me
15) I Want You To Need Me
16) Live

― Kim (Kim), Sunday, 3 October 2004 23:04 (twenty years ago)

I agree with whoever said about "spread your wings and fly". When those Lenny Kravitz and R Kelly songs came out I thought to myself "Surely no-one's going to go out and buy this hackneyed crap?" but they did. Stupid people.

― dog latin (dog latin), Sunday, 3 October 2004 23:26 (twenty years ago)

Did someone mention the Baby/Crazy couplet? It sucks. Nu Soul sucks.

― Jimmy Mod, Los Sexx Yanqui (ModJ), Sunday, 3 October 2004 23:37 (twenty years ago)

Put your arms up in the air and wave'em like you just don't care.

And, yes, Phil Collins, we do now know that you have been "waiting for so long" :-)

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Sunday, 3 October 2004 23:39 (twenty years ago)

Oh, here's one I just thought of:

I can't stand it when an artist - especially one not known for being socially conscious - makes an attempt at political or social comment and then writes a hackneyed lyric that displays NO insight or understanding beyond "the world's in a mess" or "our politicians lie". The only example I can name right now is Phil Collins' "Another Day In Paradise" (Phil Collins again!!!), but I know there have been others.

― Tantrum The Cat (Tantrum The Cat), Sunday, 3 October 2004 23:45 (twenty years ago)

I saw a band the other night that I was quite enjoying, at least until that line came out.

― Mil (Mil), Sunday, 3 October 2004 23:54 (twenty years ago)

Michael Jackson to thread! :-)

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Sunday, 3 October 2004 23:55 (twenty years ago)

Btw. According to "The Guinnes Book Of British Hit Singles", the most commonly used title for a hit is "Tonight"

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Monday, 4 October 2004 00:00 (twenty years ago)

Phrases like "move your body", and songs referring to "groove", "beat", "the funk" and similar stuff should now be banned forever....

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Monday, 4 October 2004 00:02 (twenty years ago)

outside looking in

― billstevejim, Monday, 4 October 2004 01:03 (twenty years ago)

You know, most of these, except maybe the bad rhymes, are kind of fun.

― sundar subramanian (sundar), Monday, 4 October 2004 01:06 (twenty years ago)

She used to be my baby,
She used to be my girl.
I'd do anything to get her back.
I'd do anything that I could.

― Pleasant Plains (Pleasant Plains), Monday, 4 October 2004 02:24 (twenty years ago)

In looking for other albums with cliched song titles, I came across Michael Bolton's greatest hits. I won't bother posting all the titles, but the absolute best has to be:

Can I Touch You ...There?

― Hurting (Hurting), Monday, 4 October 2004 02:46 (twenty years ago)

Yeah the man's a genius. WTF!

― Kim (Kim), Monday, 4 October 2004 03:33 (twenty years ago)

I sing that song while I'm playing "Operation." The buzzer really completes it.

― Joseph McCombs (Joseph McCombs), Monday, 4 October 2004 12:07 (twenty years ago)

"Went down to the ocean
Went down to the sea"

..both?

― dave225 (Dave225), Monday, 4 October 2004 12:14 (twenty years ago)

Deep in my heart - there's a fire - a burning heart
Deep in my heart - there's desire - for a start
I'm dying in emotion
It's my world in fantasy
I'm living in my, living in my dreams

You're my heart, you're my soul
I'll keep it shining everywhere I go
You're my heart, you're my soul
I'll be holding you forever
Stay with you together

Your my heart, you're my soul
Yeah, I'm feeling that our love will grow
You're my heart, you're my soul
That's the only thing I really know

Let's close the door and believe my burning heart
Feeling alright come on open up your heart
Keep the candles burning
Let your body melt in mine
I'm living in my, living in my dreams

You're my heart, you're my soul
I'll keep it shining everywhere I go
You're my heart, you're my soul
I'll be holding you forever
Stay with you together

Your my heart, you're my soul
Yeah, I'm feeling that our love will grow
You're my heart, you're my soul
That's the only thing I really know

You're my heart, you're my soul
I'll keep it shining everywhere I go
You're my heart, you're my soul
I'll be holding you forever
Stay with you together

Your my heart, you're my soul
Yeah, I'm feeling that our love will grow
You're my heart, you're my soul
That's the only thing I really know

:-)

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Monday, 4 October 2004 12:17 (twenty years ago)

feckin Sunshine

― mentalist (mentalist), Monday, 4 October 2004 12:23 (twenty years ago)

there should be more songs about the milkman's wife's tits

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Monday, 4 October 2004 18:37 (twenty years ago)

It should be noted that Dieter Bohlen is a lyrical genius, insofar as he is a German artist able to write English lyrics that scan beautifully and are gramatically correct while possessing an almost surreal meaninglessness.

― Tantrum The Cat (Tantrum The Cat), Monday, 4 October 2004 18:53 (twenty years ago)

In looking for other albums with cliched song titles, I came across Michael Bolton's greatest hits. I won't bother posting all the titles, but the absolute best has to be:
Can I Touch You ...There?

-- Hurting (Hurtingchie...), October 4th, 2004.

isn't that also an mbv lyric?

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Monday, 4 October 2004 18:56 (twenty years ago)

Oh yeah, songwriters, check it...there are other words that rhyme with the number SEVEN besides HEAVEN thx k bye.
-- nickalicious (nickaliciou...), October 1st, 2004 4:29 PM. (nickalicious)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Name three.
-- Joseph McCombs (jmccomb...), October 1st, 2004 5:04 PM. (Joseph McCombs)

one two three four five six seven
it said on the clock when I got a call from my man Kevin
he's talkin' some stoned nonsense about the ebb and
flow of things he don't know, film at eleven

OFF TEH DOME FUXOR!

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Monday, 4 October 2004 19:03 (twenty years ago)

The rolling list of "on the shelf" songs:
6. Georgia Satellites - "Keep Your Hands To Yourself"

― briania (briania), Monday, 4 October 2004 19:08 (twenty years ago)

i get tired of lazy jasonspacemanisms in noisyguitarmusik. just make it a friggin' instrumental. yer "spoon-moon-june" rhyme schemes are making me sleepy, drugman.

― scott seward (scott seward), Monday, 4 October 2004 19:26 (twenty years ago)

b-b-but you haven't asnwered the eternal question: "How DOES it feel?"

The rolling list of "on the shelf" songs:
Joy Division - Novelty
When ya gonna grow up and act, and be yourself
Cause pretty soon you'll find yourself nailed to the shelf
(at least it's nailed to the shelf.)

― Loose Translation: Sexy Dancer (sexyDancer), Monday, 4 October 2004 19:31 (twenty years ago)

anything about putting anyone's tender heart into a blender, or any such kitchen appliance.

― Raymond Cummings (Raymond Cummings), Monday, 4 October 2004 19:46 (twenty years ago)

The river goeth into the sea...

― Joe (Joe), Monday, 4 October 2004 20:43 (twenty years ago)

are there lots of songs that use the feeble conceit of "trying to say [something] but the words get in the way"? maybe there's only one & i forgot how it went so every time i hear it i think it's a different one. i don't know.

― doorag x, Tuesday, 5 October 2004 02:01 (twenty years ago)

one year passes...

the roof the roof the roof is on fire
we don't need no water let the motherfuck burn burn motherfucker burn!!!

(actually i love it but i guess this is the thread for recycled lyrics?)

― ken c (ken c), Friday, 11 November 2005 12:14 (nineteen years ago)

From an old Motown song:

"I'd rather go blind than to see you walk away"

(Excessive cellulite on the arse will do that to you....)

― ron critchlow, Friday, 11 November 2005 15:14 (nineteen years ago)

Ugh...if I hear one more song referencing The Fat Lady of Limbourg, I'm gonna puke.

― kornrulez6969 (TCBeing), Friday, 11 November 2005 15:23 (nineteen years ago)

I'm surprised nobody has yet mentioned "high as the sky." Regardless of context (drugs, love, whatever), it's a lameass rhyme.

Didn't the Beastie Boys rhyme "self-ish" with "shelf-ish" on Paul's Boutique?

― martin m. (mushrush), Friday, 11 November 2005 15:32 (nineteen years ago)

Anything involving having to call the doctor. (Exception: Sleater-Kinney's "Call The Doctor.")

― mike a, Friday, 11 November 2005 17:37 (nineteen years ago)

I wish that I could fly, into the sky, so very high
Just like a dragonfly
I'd fly above the trees, over the seas, in all degrees
To anywhere I please
I want to get away
I want to fly away
Yeah yeah yeah
I want to get away
I want to fly away
Yeah yeah yeah
Let's go and see the stars,the Milky Way or even Mars
Where it could just be ours
Let's fade into the sun, let your spirit fly
Where we are one
Just for a little fun
Oh oh oh yeah
I gotta get away; girl I gotta get away
Oh oh oh yeah
I want to get away, I want to get away
I want to get away, I want to get away
YEAH!!!
I want to get away
I want to fly away
Yeah yeah yeah
Girl I gotta get away
I want to get away, I want to get away
I want to get away, I want to get away
YEAH!!!

I want to get away
I want to fly away
Yeah yeah yeah
Girl I gotta get away
Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah....

― mike a, Friday, 11 November 2005 17:40 (nineteen years ago)

Make - take - shake - break - etc.

("Patience" by Gn'R, "Every Breath You Take" by the Police)

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 11 November 2005 17:45 (nineteen years ago)

"The lovelight in your eyes," people!

― Rick Massimo (Rick Massimo), Friday, 11 November 2005 17:47 (nineteen years ago)

_______ want to dance/________ took a chance
"hey, Mr. DJ"

― Cunga (Cunga), Friday, 11 November 2005 17:57 (nineteen years ago)

"love" and "turtle dove"

― m0stly clean (m0stly clean), Friday, 11 November 2005 20:57 (nineteen years ago)

146 posts, no scorn for waitin'/anticipatin'?

― rogermexico (rogermexico), Friday, 11 November 2005 21:31 (nineteen years ago)

Shivers up/down my spine.

― StanM (StanM), Friday, 11 November 2005 22:24 (nineteen years ago)

Anything about taking ones breath, losing one's breath, etc.

I always found this lyric to be especially egregious:

I can be your hero baby,
I can kiss away your pain
I will stand by you forever
you can take my breath away

Jesus, he falls back on the most tired cliche but still can't even make it rhyme properly or even work that well with the rhythm.

― Hurting (Hurting), Saturday, 12 November 2005 05:11 (nineteen years ago)

i kind of love it when paul stanley flips the cliche back on himself in "I was made for livin' you" and demands to know, "I can't get enough of you,baby, CAN YOU GET ENOUGH OF ME?"

umm, actually, Paul, we've all had more than enough, thanks for asking.

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Saturday, 12 November 2005 05:24 (nineteen years ago)

"head in the clouds, feet on the ground" or the REALLY FUCKING PROFOUND CONVERSE "feet in the clouds, head on the ground" maaaaaaaaaaaaan.
-- tom cleveland (guitar68...), October 1st, 2004.
kylie "wouldn't change a thing"
this reminds me - if i had the chance to dit all again , i wouldn't chnge a single thing .
eg - hold me in your arms - rick astley , souterns sons.
tears fall like rain - glenn emdeiros, kiss

― retroboy, Saturday, 12 November 2005 12:40 (nineteen years ago)

three weeks pass...

"i can't stop because i'm in love
and she's the only girl that i'm thinking of"

― deeany, Tuesday, 6 December 2005 05:54 (nineteen years ago)

oh dear i forgot the most egregious of cliches: the christmas song.

".... this time of year"
"families get together"
"warm by the fire"
"all i want for christmas is you"

blech

― deeany, Tuesday, 6 December 2005 06:21 (nineteen years ago)

Knowledge/college

― Confounded (Confounded), Tuesday, 6 December 2005 12:24 (nineteen years ago)

"If you get what you want but not what you need" someone kill me plz

― joe schmoe (joeschmoe), Tuesday, 6 December 2005 14:33 (nineteen years ago)

You cut me down a tree
And brought it back to me
And that's what made me see
Where I was going wrong
You put me on a shelf
And kept me for yourself
I can only blame myself
You can only blame me
And I could write a song
A hundred miles long
Well that's where I belong
And you belong with me
And I could write it down
And spread it all around
Get lost and then get found
or swallowed in the sea
You put me on a line
And hung me out to dry
And darling, that's when I
decided to go see
You cut me down to size
And opened up my eyes
Made me realize
What I could not see
And I could write a book
The one they'll say that shook
The world and then it took
It took it back from me
And I could write it down
And spread it all around
Get lost and then get found
And you'll come back to me
Not swallowed in the sea
And I could write a song
A hundred miles long
Well that's where I belong
And you belong with me
The streets you're walking on
A thousand houses long
Well, that's where I belong
And you belong with me
Oh, what good is it to live
With nothing left to give
Forget, but not forgive
Not loving all you see
All the streets you're walking on
A thousand houses long
Well, that's where I belong
And you belong with me
Not swallowed in the sea

You belong with me
Not swallowed in the sea
Yeah, you belong with me
Not swallowed in the sea

Take a bow, Mr. Martin.

― Deluxe (Damian), Tuesday, 6 December 2005 14:43 (nineteen years ago)

three years pass...

no one here has mentioned the dancefloor. i mean, give me a fucking break already. not that much interesting shit happens there.

― musically, Wednesday, 12 August 2009 01:37 (sixteen years ago)

and what's with all the LOVE SONGS, huh? why do all these people write songs about LOVE? why is THAT interesting? HUH?

― thomp, Wednesday, 12 August 2009 01:44 (sixteen years ago)

From an old Motown song:
"I'd rather go blind than to see you walk away"
(Excessive cellulite on the arse will do that to you....)
― ron critchlow, Friday, November 11, 2005 3:14 PM (3 years ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

^ can someone explain this joke to me

― thomp, Wednesday, 12 August 2009 01:47 (sixteen years ago)

blindness is preferable to having to look at someone's butt

― musically, Wednesday, 12 August 2009 02:51 (sixteen years ago)

"Love you long time" references have been played out and should be retired by now.

― musically, Monday, 17 August 2009 02:55 (sixteen years ago)

you should never rhyme heaven with "seven" or "eleven" anymore. I hate it literally every time

― Whiney G. Weingarten, Monday, 17 August 2009 02:56 (sixteen years ago)

I love "dancefloor". Then again, "Vogue" and "Pump Up the Jam" are two of my all-time faves

― claws of jungle red (Stevie D), Monday, 17 August 2009 03:18 (sixteen years ago)

model/bottle couplets have really become the modern moon/june/spoon. really never a time that it doesn't annoy me.

― some dude, Monday, 17 August 2009 03:23 (sixteen years ago)

"Self" rhyming with "shelf." Aargh.

Wait, when does THIS happen?

― cosmic abbigong (Abbott), Monday, 17 August 2009 20:27 (sixteen years ago)

when taking your one off the other

blindness is preferable to having to look at someone's butt

― musically, Wednesday, August 12, 2009 2:51 AM (5 days ago) Bookmark

my god, what a terrible joke

― thomp, Monday, 17 August 2009 20:29 (sixteen years ago)

admittedly the guy who made it seems to have not posted since 2005, so i'm not sure why i'm so bothered

― thomp, Monday, 17 August 2009 20:31 (sixteen years ago)

•rain falling down
•tears falling down like rain

Never saw it fall up, nope.

"waiting/anticipating" OTM.

cliche in EVERY line has to be Des'Ree's goddawful "Life (Oh Life)".
Any more contenders to songs with them in every line, I'd like to hear it
IIRC, Bryan Adams' "Everything I Do, I Do It For You" might be a contendah.

― staggerlee, Tuesday, 18 August 2009 00:09 (sixteen years ago)

Lines/songs beginning with "sitting here" or "standing here" or some other such iteration

― Eric H., Tuesday, 18 August 2009 00:17 (sixteen years ago)

i would love to hear a song begin with "squatting here"

― m0stlyClean, Tuesday, 18 August 2009 02:07 (sixteen years ago)

...or even "crouching here"

― m0stlyClean, Tuesday, 18 August 2009 02:07 (sixteen years ago)

'Down on my knees' or some variation on that. Though, to be fair, I don't have a problem with it. I was listening to music on shuffle the other day and four songs in a row included it. One was

Prince - Dinner With Delores
'Damn, Delores, pick another subject please
Introduce the carpet 2 something other than your knees'

Another was, Steely Dan - Do It Again
'Then you love a little wild one
And she brings you only sorrow
All the time you know she's smilin'
You'll be on your knees tomorrow '

Both of which gave a unique spin to things. I'm sure there's half a billion examples of abuse.

― Popture, Tuesday, 18 August 2009 04:09 (sixteen years ago)

along the same lines as 'shivers/spine' upthread, there's also 'chill/bone', in which 'bone' usually rhymes with 'alone'.

The ubiquitous 'lovelight' was mentioned earlier as well, my favourite example of which must be "You didn't have to turn on the lovelight, whoa, it was on."

― Daniel Giraffe, Tuesday, 18 August 2009 07:07 (sixteen years ago)

Any song about human flight - "I believe I can fly", "I want to Fly away" etc...

Just ends up sounding like Orville.

― dog latin, Tuesday, 18 August 2009 12:04 (sixteen years ago)

Not sure that's such a bad thing

― Aw naw, no' Annoni oan an' aw noo (Tom D.), Tuesday, 18 August 2009 12:20 (sixteen years ago)

xp that would take out the absolutely wonderful "Tonight We Fly" by the Divine Comedy.

― anagram, Tuesday, 18 August 2009 12:21 (sixteen years ago)

the objective/selective/collective rhyme in that Soul II Soul track strikes me as very hackneyed

― Daniel Giraffe, Wednesday, 19 August 2009 12:21 (sixteen years ago)

Popture, those excerpts strick me as good uses of a cliche!

― post-contrarian meta-challop 2009 (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 19 August 2009 12:37 (sixteen years ago)

"like a thief in the night"

:-(

― Background Zombie (CharlieNo4), Wednesday, 19 August 2009 13:30 (sixteen years ago)

"up against the wall"

― musically, Wednesday, 19 August 2009 14:55 (sixteen years ago)

Full or weird names used for purposes of crappy rhyme

"Jimmy Mack, when are you coming back?"

and ... others that escape me

― ledge, Wednesday, 19 August 2009 15:03 (sixteen years ago)

Sheena in "Funky Cold Medina"?

― less attractive women need to make up for it in "garage" (clotpoll), Wednesday, 19 August 2009 16:26 (sixteen years ago)

cliche in EVERY line has to be Des'Ree's goddawful "Life (Oh Life)".
Any more contenders to songs with them in every line, I'd like to hear it

How about Amazed by Lonestar;

Every time our eyes meet
This feeling inside me
Is almost more than I can take
Baby when you touch me
I can feel how much you love me
And it just blows me away
I've never been this close to anyone or anything
I can hear your thoughts
I can see your dreams

I don't know how you do what you do
I'm so in love with you
It just keeps getting better
I want to spend the rest of my life
With you by my side
Forever and ever
Every little thing that you do
Baby, I'm amazed by you

The smell of your skin
The taste of your kiss
The way you whisper in the dark
Your hair all around me
Baby you surround me
You touch every place in my heart
Oh, it feels like the first time, every time
I want to spend the whole night in your eyes

― Hey mighty brontosaurus! (Boxing Kangaroo), Wednesday, 19 August 2009 16:41 (sixteen years ago)

Songs I really like despite containing lyrical cliches I can't stand:

PJ Harvey - Rid of Me (fire/desire)
Fats Waller - Ain't Misbehavin (myself/shelf) (Oddly, it bothers in many other versions of the song)
Get Up Morning - Eddy Current Suppression Ring (songs about getting up in the morning).

― bendy, Wednesday, 19 August 2009 18:40 (sixteen years ago)

Realized today that "Eternal Flame" by the Bangles is composed almost entirely of cliches. Yet somehow the fantastic melody redeems it (and despite the incredibly awful singing, yet!) - I can't summon anything like the contempt it would seem to deserve.

― staggerlee, Friday, 21 August 2009 04:21 (sixteen years ago)

this stupid fucking Cage The Elephant song that's been a hit the last few months has a chorus that's pretty much back to back cliches:

There ain't no rest for the wicked, money don't grow on trees, I got bills to pay, I got mouths to feed, there ain't nothing in this world for free.
I know I can't slow down, I can't hold back though you know I wish I could, oh no there ain't no rest for the wicked, until we close our eyes for good.

― best of the madmen slog (some dude), Friday, 21 August 2009 04:23 (sixteen years ago)

reggae lyric cliches could have a thread of their own, but the one that always comes up is the school/rule rhyme, e.g. when I was a youth in school, me never take in the golden rule

― Daniel Giraffe, Wednesday, 26 August 2009 11:46 (sixteen years ago)

Use of "till the early morn" really really bugs me.

― Peinlich Manoeuvre (NickB), Wednesday, 26 August 2009 11:50 (sixteen years ago)

"till the early morn" is a classic imo, esp if rhymed w/ "break of dawn"

― you might be a goole, but what's a goole to a goblin? (The Reverend), Wednesday, 26 August 2009 12:01 (sixteen years ago)

Another one that always pisses me off is describing something/someone as being "sweeter than wine".

― Hey mighty brontosaurus! (Boxing Kangaroo), Friday, 28 August 2009 21:47 (sixteen years ago)

there's a "lies / eyes" in the little boots single that is only annoying me because it's the bit that spotify are playing me all the time

the cage the elephant ones aren't lyrical cliches, they're just truisms really - nb. i can't imagine that being a good song, though

― thomp, Friday, 28 August 2009 21:59 (sixteen years ago)

"…color tv"

― naus, Friday, 11 September 2009 05:50 (sixteen years ago)

They've definitely had their moments, but I could never hear Gucci and Louis Vuitton in another rap or r&b song and be perfectly happy.

― send a hilarious message or make a "wild" statement (Whitey on the Moon), Friday, 11 September 2009 06:29 (sixteen years ago)

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