Occaisionally, rock lyrics are poetry, but most often, they’re just words that are really only moving in conjunction with music. That’s perfectly fine, because the lyrics don’t have to stand on their own. How often do you sit around reading the lyrics to songs you aren’t listening to? The words are part of a larger whole that (hopefully) moves us in some way. Lyrics that could truly stand on their own could even be disruptive to the cohesion of a song. That’s not to say that all lyrics should be dummied down so as not to outshine the music. It’s just to say that lyrics have to work within the song. But writing lyrics that are too good is typically the least of the rock songwriter’s worries. At least as often as we get real poetry, we get real crap. I mean crap so bad that you can’t even remember what the music is like, because you can’t hear it over your own laughter.
Chuck and I had the good fortune of running across a prime example earlier today. What compelled us to listen to Alaska’s “School Girl” escapes me now. Based on the title alone, I know we should have seen a lyric disaster barrelling toward us like a freight train. They hit us with this fine example of the worst rock has to offer first:
“Innocent smile, a tender touch,
I have to know if it’s real girl.
To get your lovin’ that I need so much,
I’d beg, borrow or steal, girl.”
Forget that it’s about underage girls and the lyrics are still rotten. Add the endorsement of statutory rape and it’s appalling. When we thought it couldn’t get worse, they just took it to the next level with this little gem that immediately followed:
“(unintelligible) showing, I can’t get enough,
You’ve got me running for cover.
So don’t refuse me, stop making it tough,
Because if I can’t have you, I’ll have your mother.”
Brilliant, gentlemen. You’re a regular bunch of geniuses. What is this obsession with underage girls anyway? Maybe that’s a rock n roll embarrassment for another post. Right now, I have to go listen to something that has a point (or at least is so cryptic that I don’t know it’s as dumb as Alaska).