In exactly how many Motorhead songs does Lemmy tell someone to shut up?

Listening to Motorhead over many years, it's dawned on me that Lemmy doesn't like other people to run off at the mouth. I've counted five songs where he asks someone to desist from talking or making noise. Are there any more?

1. Shut Your Mouth (no need to cite any lyrics for this one - from 'Hammered')
2. Born to Raise Hell (from 'Bastards' - Lemmy repeatedly tells the guitarist to 'shut up' during a solo)
3. Overnight Sensation (from the album of the same name - 'You're just handing out bad reputations. Why don't you shut your mouth?')
4. No Class (from 'Overkill' - 'Shut up, you talk too loud")
5. Life's A Bitch (from Inferno - 'Don't want to hear your tale /And if you talk too much /You're going to land in jail')

motormouth

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dcv9QY4WdRE

threads like this are why i keep coming to ILM

die you bastard - "you can hear the rumors, shut your mouth"

I'm numbering you, contenderizer, so we can keep track. I hope you don't mind.

6. die you bastard - "you can hear the rumors, shut your mouth"

I've just heard the new Motorhead album 'The World is Yours' - and we have two new entries.

7. 'Born to Lose' (not the old Johnny Thunders song, a new one): "Bite your tongue / Hell is coming and it won't be long"

Some may find this a bit of a stretch. Consider this. If Lemmy tells you to bite your tongue, he's not doing it because he thinks you might like the taste. He's telling you to shut your mouth. He's just found a new way to say it. But not for long.

8. 'Bye Bye Bitch Bye Bye': 'Gonna make a fool of you, watch out / Make your life a misery; make you shut your mouth.'

On another tack - where would Lemmy be without half-rhyming couplets? Back in Hawkwind maybe.

see, there's another angle here suggested by yr point #7: motorhead songs in which lemmy indicates that he is not interested in what you have to say. there are tons of these. be back soon...

Perhaps we could make a compilation album of these tracks and call it 'No Speech 'til Hammersmith'.

9. Killed by Death by Motorhead has some good 'shut ups' in it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gV6noHEd6XE

ah, turns out there aren't as many of the "lemmy doesn't care to to hear what you have to say" lines as i thought. and most of them are sadly indirect. don't really know post-80s motorhead, though, so maybe there are more in the more recent albums. anyway:

10a. pay your price: "i'm tired of listening to crap / i'd rather stab you in the back"

10b. tear ya down: "don't give me all that crap / i just escaped your trap"

10c. stay clean: "can't agree with all the things i hear you say"

10d. heart of stone: "leave me alone / get off the phone / i've got a heart of stone"

10e. ace of spades: "the pleasure is to play, it makes no difference what you say"

10f. shut it down: "you're only shooting the breeze / words are cheap and talk is free"

10g. tales of glory: "your mouth won't set me free / endlessly, endlessly / racket in my ear"

10h. ain't my crime: "don't believe a word, i know you tell me lies"

11. On Your Feet or On Your Knees (from Bastards): 'Shut up, I'm talking to you / It's on television so it can't be true'

Curiously, on 'Sex and Death', Lemmy says:

'We are tired of hearing you say we should be quiet'

I don't know, maybe he's reading from a fan letter or something.

12. Dr Rock (From 'No Sleep At All') - 'Shut up, breathe in / Let's have the address of you next of kin'

Curiously, on 'Sex and Death', Lemmy says:

'We are tired of hearing you say we should be quiet'

sheet, meant to mention that one. one of my very favorite motorhead songs, though i don't know the album at all. should remedy that...

problem with listening to new motorhead is that it always just makes me want to hear old motorhead

problem with listening to new motorhead is that it always just makes me want to hear old motorhead

I don't understand that at all. There are lots of groups I could say that about, but Motörhead isn't one of them - when I decide to listen to them these days, it's always an album they've put out in the last decade, never Ace of Spades or Overkill anymore. I'm completely burned out on the old stuff, but the new stuff still kicks my ass.

don't get me wrong. i like the new stuff, what i've heard of it, but don't own any of those albums. a bunch of tracks here and there, but no full albums. when i'm curious, i'll listen to a few of them, but then just go play on parole or another perfect day again. this is cuz i'm lazy. this thread, though, has got me thinking i need to play catch up. project for winter 2011.

13. Take the Blame (from 'Snake Bite Love') - 'See you on TV, you talk and talk and talk / Blah, blah, blah blah, blah'

I admit this isn't a totally clear cut case. However, I think we're able to affirm with confidence that Lemmy's saying, in effect, that the person on TV is talking crap and should probably shut up. And take the blame.

14. I Don't Believe a Word' (From 'Overnight Sensation') - 'Don't talk to me, I don't believe a word'.

If we were being super-pedantic we might imagine that Lemmy would be happy for his interloctor to talk to someone else - for example, a roadie, or maybe Wurzel. Hence, this is not, without further evidence, a clear-cut case of his telling someone to shut up, as opposed to talk to someone else. However, the context of the song establishes fairly clearly that this is a conversation between two people only, rather than, say, a case of someone annoyinng Lemmy at a cocktail party, or backstage, or at a record company meeting. Elsewhere in the song are lyrics that clearly establish that this is a quarrel in private between two lovers. For example, consider the lyric, 'Don't say that word, I know it's only fools'. That word must surely be 'love'. Or maybe it's 'heroin'. Either way, we can assume this is a conversation in private between two people, most likely Lemmy and a woman who would be his lover, or who wants to tempt him to take herion. Therefore, the argument that the object of his lyric could actually talk to a third party does not hold water. ShShe really only has one option, therefore: to continue talking, or to heed Lemmy's advice and not talk at all - ie, shut up.

This might be my favorite turn-of-phrase of the last year or so:

"motorhead songs in which lemmy indicates that he is not interested in what you have to say."

Thanks

15. Broken (from 'Overnight Sensation') - 'Broken, broken when all guns are smokin' / Then you must be silent, according to the law.'

Does that count? He's telling someone they will have to shut up when certain inevitable conditions apply at some point in their future - i.e., when they meet their doom. I think it qualifies. If I say 'Shut up tomorrow' I'm still telling you to shut up. Happy to discuss this further.

16. Walk a Crooked Mile (from 'Hammered'): 'Don't say nothing - shut your mouth / You're out of time - work it out'

17. Living in the Past (from 'Kiss Of Death'): 'Don't you speak to me no more / After what you said before / After all the things you swore / Don't speak to me no more'

18. Teach You How to Sing the Blues (from 'Motorizer'): 'There's no reason we should listen / Why do you talk so much / You better bite your finger

I'm including this one because Lemmy telling you to bite your finger, in this context, is tantamount to his telling you to shut up.

19. Silence When You Speak to Me (from 'Aftershock'): self-explanatory, also: 'Silence! Silence! / Bite your tongue, stand and burn'