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I love you sweet leaf, here's a drum solo to prove it

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I heard Black Sabbath's "Sweet Leaf" on the radio at lunch. A more elephant-footed blooze stomp there has rarely been in rock, and yet Ozzy's (almost) poignant lyrics seem to be in another world. I wonder if it was a case of Tommy and the boys having a stack of riffs, and Ozzy having some words, and the team forcibly mashing them into a song.

So, list some songs where the words and music seem to have nothing in common.

― dleone (dleone), Friday, 25 October 2002 16:59 (twenty-three years ago)

Depresso lyrics set to bouncy pop, a la Quasi and a million other bands. Maybe an overexploited conceit, but a good one.

― Aaron A., Friday, 25 October 2002 17:10 (twenty-three years ago)

b-b-b-but sweet leaf's about pot, made by potsmokers for potsmokers. with pot-logic lyrics: "I love you sweetleaf, though you can't hear". everything's in common!

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Friday, 25 October 2002 17:11 (twenty-three years ago)

why do you think he's coughing like that?

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Friday, 25 October 2002 17:12 (twenty-three years ago)

Yeah, I know Fritz -- it just sounds funny to hear him screaming "I love you" over and over with that big rhino beat going on.

How about Rush, "Freewill": Lines like "All preordained, a prisoner in chains, a victim of venomous fate" read like goth poetry, and might actually work as black metal -- but Rush's DeVry prog-pop makes them twice as clunky as they already are.

― dleone (dleone), Friday, 25 October 2002 17:13 (twenty-three years ago)

devry prog! heh heh

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Friday, 25 October 2002 17:15 (twenty-three years ago)

haha

this is a great question!! for now I'll say the Strokes, because it always sounds to me like the lead singer's doing karaoke for some reason.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Friday, 25 October 2002 17:50 (twenty-three years ago)

Half of girl-group/Motown stuff, no? Sad lyrics, peppy pop.

― wl (wl), Friday, 25 October 2002 17:58 (twenty-three years ago)

but ozzy's 'i love you' is really 'i want to have messy smack head sex with you'. so the music is pretty apt.

― slit magnet, Friday, 25 October 2002 18:23 (twenty-three years ago)

its a good question but I don't have any answers to this. but its a good q.

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Friday, 25 October 2002 19:18 (twenty-three years ago)

To be filed in the "depressing lyrics with peppy music" folder:

XTC's "Ball and Chain"
Adrian Belew's "War in the Gulf Between Us" (is there a "Titles with Crappy Puns" thread yet?)
Kirsty MacColl's "Innocence"

― Joe (Joe), Saturday, 26 October 2002 01:27 (twenty-three years ago)

Then there's all those peppy songs with Serious Political Lyrics, eg Elvis Costello 'Oliver's Army' and Clash 'Spanish Bombs'.

― Keith McD (Keith McD), Saturday, 26 October 2002 11:32 (twenty-three years ago)

Adrian Belew's "War in the Gulf Between Us" (is there a "Titles with Crappy Puns" thread yet?)
You bet!

― Sean Carruthers (SeanC), Saturday, 26 October 2002 12:45 (twenty-three years ago)

eighteen years pass...

You introduced me to my mind

― calstars, Sunday, 13 June 2021 21:35 (five years ago)


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