Subject: RE: Worst Song? From: Little Hawk Date: 26 Apr 06 - 10:39 PM "Space Oddity" is of course brilliant, and does not need me to defend it. ;-P I have to agree about Red Sovine, though. Hoo-wee! I listened to Giddy-Up and Go and here I am awash in tears... Here's a beaut from Dell Reeves, 1965: Girl On The Billboard WHO IS THAT GIRL WEARING NOTHING BUT A SMILE AND A TOWEL IN THE PICTURE ON THE BILLBOARD IN THE FIELD NEAR THE BIG OLE HIGHWAY? ROLLING DOWN THE HIGHWAY IN MY JIMMY, HAULING FRIEGHT FROM CHICAGO TO ST. LOUIE; LAWD, I SEE HER EVERY DAY. A DOUBLE CLUTCHING WEASEL LIKE ME HARDLY GETS A GIRL ANYWHERE WHO`LL LOOK AT ME THAT WAY, LIKE THE GIRL WEARING NOTHING BUT A SMILE AND A TOWEL IN THE PICTURE ON THE BILLBOARD IN THE FIELD NEAR THE BIG OLE HIGHWAY. WOW!, WHAT A GIRL WEARING NOTHING BUT A SMILE AND A TOWEL IN THE PICTURE ON THE BILLBOARD IN THE FIELD NEAR THE BIG OLE HIGHWAY. I BET IT WOULDN`T TAKE HER VERY LONG TO GET GONE IF SOMEONE WOULD PULL A DIRTY LITTLE TRICK AND TAKE HER TOWEL AWAY. I SLOW MY JIMMY DOWN TO TWENTY, THAT`S HOW MANY WRECKS I SEE THERE EVERY DAY, CAUSED BY THE GIRL WEARING NOTHING BUT A SMILE AND A TOWEL IN THE PICTURE ON THE BILLBOARD IN THE FIELD NEAR THE BIG OLE HIGHWAY. I LOVE THE GIRL WEARING NOTHING BUT A SMILE AND A TOWEL IN THE PICTURE ON THE BILLBOARD IN THE FIELD NEAR THE BIG OLE HIGHWAY. I GUESS I`M GETTING BOLDER `CAUSE I`D RATHER KISS AND HOLD HER THAN JUST KEEP A-LOOKING AT HER EVERY DAY. AT FOUR FORTY FIVE COFFEE DRINKING - EATING TIME, JIMMIE SHIMMIED WHILE I WOKE UP THE ARTIST THAT PAINTED THAT DISPLAY OF THE GIRL WEARING NOTHING BUT A SMILE AND A TOWEL. DOG-GONE THAT GIRL WEARING NOTHING BUT A SMILE AND A TOWEL IN THE PICTURE ON THE BILLBOARD IN THE FIELD NEAR THE BIG OLE HIGHWAY. THE SLEEPY-HEADED PAINTER SAID THE GIRL WASN`T REAL, AND I`D BETTER GET THE ( COO- COO) ON MY WAY. ON ROUTE 66 FROM THE BILLBOARD TO CHICAGO, YOU WILL FIND TINY PIECES OF MY HEART SCATTERED EVERY WHICH-A-WAY, SHATTERED BY THE GIRL WEARING NOTHING BUT A SMILE AND A TOWEL IN THE PICTURE ON THE BILLBOARD IN THE FIELD NEAR THE BIG OLE HIGHWAY. IN THE PICTURE ON THE BILLBOARD IN THE FIELD NEAR THE BIG OLE HIGHWAY. |
Subject: RE: Worst Song? From: Ferrara Date: 26 Apr 06 - 10:39 PM Does anybody have a recording of Allen Dameron singing "Fort Worth"? I would love to have a copy. Don't think he ever put it on a CD, he just said he loved to sing it because it was such an awful song. Supposedly it's being sung by a guy hiding from the law -- Forth Worth is such a lovely place to disappear into -- On the muscle of my arm There's a red and blue tattoo Saying, "Fort Worth, I love you!" Allen (who lived in San Antonio) used to introduce the song by saying "Fort Worth is like a giant exhaust fan -- if you stand in front of it, it blows; and if you stand behind it, it sucks." |
Subject: RE: Worst Song? From: catspaw49 Date: 26 Apr 06 - 09:44 PM Always a winner thread topic......... Okay........ANYTHING ever done or thought about being done by Red Sovine........"Giddy-up go Daddy...Giddy-up Go."............yeah right.....just take all of Red's bullshit and giddy it's ass up and on outta' here. What crap! And I can't let one of these go past without mentioning Bobby Goldsboro and "Honey."........Ain't that just the sappiest piece of shit you ever heard? Makes for good parody though........ See my stiff dick, I'm so afraid That since you're dead I can't get laid And I needa' fuck! Then of course there's the David Bowie thing about Major Tom the psychotic astronaut......... Ground Control to Major Tom You really have fucked up ........or words to that effect. It's aptly titled "Space Oddity".........now ain't that the truth? Little Hawk will be along to explain the deeper meanings of this winner and it's relationship to the Cosmos, the Tri-Lateral Commision, and a Lithuanian pants presser named Harold.........Whatever it is, YOU figure it out! Spaw |
Subject: RE: Worst Song? From: Little Hawk Date: 26 Apr 06 - 08:23 PM But what's so objectionable about "Midnight At The Oasis"? (other than it being overplayed on the radio) |
Subject: RE: Worst Song? From: Little Hawk Date: 26 Apr 06 - 06:03 PM "The Night Chicago Died" and "Billy, Don't Be a Hero" were written by the same songwriters -- Peter Callander and Mitch Murray. Whoa! The songwriting team from hell. The Abracadbra song is simply dreadful, by the way. |
Subject: RE: Worst Song? From: beardedbruce Date: 26 Apr 06 - 05:27 PM http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/Music/04/25/worst.songs/index.html |
Subject: RE: Worst Song? From: Little Hawk Date: 26 Apr 06 - 02:39 AM Let me add the one about the Battle of New Orleans. It is the classic example of tobaccy-chewin' and a-spittin' and a-grinnin' and a-scratchin' Ay-merican hillbilly chic bravado, and I hate it. Makes me sick. Anyway, Andrew Jackson was a murdering S.O.B. who broke treaties, exterminated Indians and stole their land, and I don't admire him one bit. |
Subject: RE: Worst Song? From: Boab Date: 26 Apr 06 - 02:01 AM "British Grenadiers" by a mile! |
Subject: RE: Worst Song? From: Little Hawk Date: 25 Apr 06 - 10:25 PM I like the Dylan approach in that song, leeneia, because it was shockingly honest....at that time in songwriting history...to so clearly state those kind of feelings, those contradictory and self-serving impulses, which so many people indeed have in real life, but would not have thought of admitting to in a popular song until Bob Dylan came along. It was his ability and willingness to write just such stuff as that which demolished Tin Pan Alley's inane hold on the songwriting business, and opened the door to songs that exposed every level of real human motivation...both light and darkness. Remember, love songs back then were of a few totally predictable and cliche formula varieties. Dylan broke the mould. He dared to expose his own fickleness, as well as that of other people, and he laid bare the contradictions that can arise in a close relationship. How many of us have felt (in some bitter moment) that someone "wasted our precious time" in the wake of an intimate relationship? Just about all of us, I'd say. And yet in another moment we may feel tender about them, we may miss them, we may feel all kinds of regret. He expressed all of it, and he wasn't afraid to. That's what makes the song so damn powerful. That's why so many (including females) have covered it. Same deal for "It Ain't Me, Babe". Those songs were just stunningly honest at the time they came out, cos no one else had said it so straight as Dylan did. No one else had expressed the complexities of attraction and rejection as he did. His awareness of his own as well as the other person's dark side is what gives his songs the strength they have. You can love people...and hate them...and want them...and want to get away from them forever...and it can ALL be carombing around inside your skull at one and the same time! That's why he said it. He was not writing to the commercially accepted formula that delivers just one simple, dumb message...as if that was all there was to say about the matter. |
Subject: RE: Worst Song? From: GUEST,.gargoyle Date: 25 Apr 06 - 10:05 PM The song from the heart that is never sung.
Sincerely,
Are we playing D&D here?????....this question was a "no-brainer." |
Subject: RE: Worst Song? From: GUEST,leeneia Date: 25 Apr 06 - 08:49 AM For pure hypocrisy, I vote for "Don't Think Twice, That's All Right," by the supposedly liberal Bob Dylan. Every time I hear: I don't say you treated me unkind you could've done better but I don't mind. You just sorted of wasted my precious time. Don't think twice, that's all right. Talk about sticking the knife in and twisting it! ---------- And when he sings that he'll be walking on the dark side of the road, I figure it's so he won't have to pay child support. ---------- I also agree about "Green Green Grass of Home". That song is sick. Speaking strictly musically, I vote for The Gambler, a strong contender for The Modern Song Closest to Having One Note. |
Subject: RE: Worst Song? From: greg stephens Date: 25 Apr 06 - 06:05 AM Definitely "Streets of LOndon". And the more people turn up saying how meaningful it is, the more it makes want to heave. And I may say that I have a great admiration for Ralph McTell: everyone's entitled to an off day. I experience a similar medical reaction to "Imagine", they really ought to issue brown paper bags with thw record. |
Subject: RE: Worst Song? From: Wilfried Schaum Date: 25 Apr 06 - 05:19 AM Where have all the flowers gone - arrgh! |
Subject: RE: Worst Song? From: Little Hawk Date: 24 Apr 06 - 05:48 PM I never liked it much other. It seemed just, well, a bit trite or contrived. Kind of like one of those black velvet paintings or something. |
Subject: RE: Worst Song? From: melodeonboy Date: 23 Apr 06 - 08:28 AM I have to say that I thought it naff the first time I heard it (I think it was mainly the style of singing that got to me), which was a long, long time ago; probably about the time that others were finding it fresh and exciting! |
Subject: RE: Worst Song? From: Little Hawk Date: 22 Apr 06 - 09:52 PM Yes, it is a pretty blatant copy (musically) of that little Al Stewart tune. You're right, it was fresh and seemed quite relevant at the time. It has become an overplayed cliche in the decades that followed. That can easily happen and often does with hit songs. |
Subject: RE: Worst Song? From: Danks Date: 22 Apr 06 - 03:34 PM One thing that classical music followers can do, and followers of most other styles of music find difficult, is listen to a piece of music and judge it with an historical perspective. For example, no classical fan would critize Mozart for having a very narrow harmonic pallet as compared to, say, Wagner. So when we critize "The Streets of London", we must do it in the context of its conception - in the 60s. Then it was fresh, made you think, and had a lovely clawhammer ( that's what we called it then) guitar accompaniment. I can still remember the tremendous buzz it caused on the folkscene. Long before I heard it - and before it was recorded, the word went out about this great new song by Ralph McTell. Interestingly, Ralph can't be blaimed for the tune! It appears ( it has been alleged) that he lifted it - unwittingly, from Al Stewart's song " Samuel, Oh how you've changed!" |
Subject: RE: Worst Song? From: GUEST Date: 22 Apr 06 - 02:26 PM A friend of mine once wondered what a truly bad song was. I told her that it's the kind of song that, when you're rolling paint on a high ceiling from a ladder, you have to stop, climb down, and change the radio station, then climb up again. If you have to visit the bathroom between the down and up, it's really, REALLY bad! Sue |
Subject: RE: Worst Song? From: Mr Fox Date: 22 Apr 06 - 12:52 PM 'Streets of London is OK early McTell. Not the best song he's ever written (That would be 'Jesus Wept' or 'Peppers and Tomatoes') but not the worst either. It's just been done to death. |
Subject: RE: Worst Song? From: Little Hawk Date: 21 Apr 06 - 09:27 PM There are many really obnoxious and fatuous songs which have chord progressions and a moral. |
Subject: RE: Worst Song? From: GUEST,Joe_F Date: 21 Apr 06 - 09:05 PM I regret to inform this company that "Streets of London" is on my Top 300 list. It has chord progressions and a moral. --- Joe Fineman joe_f@verizon.net ||: Little things console us, because little things afflict us. :|| |
Subject: RE: Worst Song? From: Little Hawk Date: 21 Apr 06 - 08:20 PM It is beyond the pale as far as I'm concerned. Downright embarrassing. I wrote a parody of it in retaliation against those who will not stop performing it at our gatherings. |
Subject: RE: Worst Song? From: melodeonboy Date: 21 Apr 06 - 06:42 PM Well, Danks, you make a good case in support of "Streets of London", but I have to admit that when I saw the title of this thread, that was the first song that came to my mind! Yes, the lyrics are arguably meaningful. However, for me the melody's rather wet and the whole thing smacks of that mid-Atlantic soft pop-rock that flourished during and slightly after the sixties. And why do people keep singing the bloody thing? (Actually, I must admit that of late it seems, in some places at least, to have joined, thankfully, that list of songs that are considered beyond the pale.) |
Subject: RE: Worst Song? From: Little Hawk Date: 21 Apr 06 - 06:17 PM Ugliest Girl In The World The woman that I love she got a hook in her nose her eyebrows meet, she wears second hand clothes She speaks with a stutter and she walks with a hop I don't know why I love her but I just can't stop You know I love her Yeah I love her I'm in love with the Ugliest Girl in the World If I ever lose her I will go insane I go half crazy when she calls my name When she says babababababy I l-l-love you There ain't nothing in the world that I wouldn't do You know I love her Yeah I love her I'm in love with the Ugliest Girl in the World The woman that I love she got two flat feet Her knees knock together walking down the street She cracks her knuckles and she snores in bed She ain't much to look at but like I said You know I love her Yeah I love her I'm in love with the Ugliest Girl in the World I don't mean to say that she got nothing goin' She got a weird sense of humor that's all her own When I get low she sets me on my feet Got a five inch smile but her breath is sweet You know I love her Yeah I love her I'm in love with the Ugliest Girl in the World The woman that I love she a got a prizefighter nose Cauliflower ears and a run in her hose She speaks with a stutter and she walks with a hop I don't know why I love her but I just can't stop (written by Bob Dylan and Robert Hunter) |
Subject: RE: Worst Song? From: Little Hawk Date: 21 Apr 06 - 06:13 PM I agree about Wiggle Wiggle, BB. Lay Lady Lay, however, has a certain rustic charm and warmth, given the fact that it was written in regards to and very much in the mood of his happy marriage with Sara at the time (1967 or '68). Interestingly enough, though, Bob Dylan did not think it was a very good song and in his own words "begged and pleaded" for the record company NOT to release it as a single. They did and it was a hit. Another possibility for WORST song: "Feelings" |
Subject: RE: Worst Song? From: GUEST,DB Date: 21 Apr 06 - 05:50 PM I'd like to vote for (or possibly against): 'The Streets of London' 'The Streets of Athenry' 'Imagine' The latter isn't, of course, a folk song - but then neither are the other two! Oh yes, and let's not forget 'The Constant Lovers' - "Ohhh, ohhh, ohhh my love is gone ..." "Yes and you can piss off as well!!!" |
Subject: RE: Worst Song? From: beardedbruce Date: 21 Apr 06 - 04:33 PM Or Lay, lady, lay, lay across my big brass bed Lay, lady, lay, lay across my big brass bed Whatever colors you have in your mind I'll show them to you and you'll see them shine Lay, lady, lay, lay across my big brass bed Stay, lady, stay, stay with your man awhile Until the break of day, let me see you make him smile His clothes are dirty but his hands are clean And you're the best thing that he's ever seen Stay, lady, stay, stay with your man awhile Why wait any longer for the world to begin You can have your cake and eat it too Why wait any longer for the one you love When he's standing in front of you Lay, lady, lay, lay across my big brass bed Stay, lady, stay, stay while the night is still ahead I long to see you in the morning light I long to reach for you in the night Stay, lady, stay, stay while the night is still ahead |
Subject: RE: Worst Song? From: beardedbruce Date: 21 Apr 06 - 04:23 PM How about Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a gypsy queen, Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle all dressed in green, Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle 'til the moon is blue, Wiggle 'til the moon sees you. Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle in your boots and shoes, Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, you got nothing to lose, Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, like a swarm of bees, Wiggle on your hands and knees. Bridge #1: Wiggle to the front, wiggle to the rear, Wiggle 'til you wiggle right out of here, Wiggle 'til it opens, wiggle 'til it shuts, Wiggle 'til it bites, wiggle 'til it cuts. Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a bowl of soup, Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a rolling hoop, Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a ton of lead, Wiggle - you can raise the dead. Bridge #2: Wiggle 'til you're high, wiggle 'til you're higher, Wiggle 'til you vomit fire, Wiggle 'til it whispers, wiggle 'til it hums, Wiggle 'til it answers, wiggle 'til it comes. Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like satin and silk, Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a pail of milk, Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, rattle and shake, Wiggle like a big fat snake. |
Subject: RE: Worst Song? From: Little Hawk Date: 21 Apr 06 - 04:18 PM Here's a contender... Never Bite A Married Woman On The Thigh Never bite a married woman on the thigh oh my Cause she just can't rub it off no matter how she'll try And when she gets home at night her man will ask her why Then she'll say it's just a birthmark or some other silly lie But he'll get suspicious and then he will start to pry Then she'll get hysterical and she will start to cry And he'll say I don't blame you but tell me who's the guy So she'll admit to everything and he will say bye-bye And he'll buy an airline ticket and he'll fly across the sky And then he'll come and find you and he'll punch you in the eye Then he'll rent a cheap hotel room and he'll hang himself with his tie And when she gets the news she'll take an overdose of sleeping Tablets and she's gonna lie on the couch and die So never never never never never never never bite a married woman on the thigh |
Subject: RE: Worst Song? From: GUEST,Bearing the scar Date: 21 Apr 06 - 04:00 PM Am I the only one who grew to hate 'THE BIRDIE SONG' as one of the greatest musical vilenesses since time began!! |
Subject: RE: Worst Song? From: GUEST,bseed(charleskratz) Date: 21 Apr 06 - 03:42 PM If you've ever been to Disneyland, you certainly know there is no worse musical experience than "It's a Small World"--but the Doors "Light My Fire" comes close: it has probably the most inane lyrics ever written (oh, there's always the Everly's "When"--"When...when you smile...when you smile at me...then...then...then I know...our love will always be..." Hasten, Jason, bring the basin. "The Green, Green Grass of Home" performed by Tom Jones is right up (down) there, but by Johnny Cash it's worth keeping. --seed |
Subject: RE: Worst Song? From: Little Hawk Date: 21 Apr 06 - 03:24 PM Neil is right up there all right. But can he match Paul Anka? I think Paul edges him out by a hair or two, if not by a nose. So you like "Sylvia's Mother", BB? Well, I guess that explains how you could write all those sonnets too... ;-) |
Subject: ADDPOP: I Am...I Said (Neil Diamond) From: Joe Offer Date: 21 Apr 06 - 03:18 PM Well, I think I'd vote for Neil Diamond's Play Me as the Worst Song in the Digital Tradition. I think that Dick Greenhaus, for whom I usually have the highest respect, was thinking Truly Evil Thoughts when he included that one in the database. Even worse is Neil's "I Am...I Said," which I couldn't find posted or in the DT. Could it be that nobody has posted that sappy masterpiece here? -Joe Offer, throwing his head back to howl- I AM... I SAIDWritten by Neil DiamondL.A.'s fine, the sun shines most the time Well I'm New York City born and raised "I am," I said
"I am," said I Did you ever read about a frog who dreamed of bein' a king But I got an emptiness deep inside "I am," I said 1971 Prophet Music, Inc. (ASCAP)Posted as a Public Disservice, Copied from http://www.neildiamondhomepage.com/lyricpag.htm, where you can find all of them. I found a page that described Neil as the "Rodney Dangerfield of pop music." I can see the wisdom of that description.... |
Subject: RE: Worst Song? From: beardedbruce Date: 21 Apr 06 - 03:18 PM LH- Sylvia's Mother? Them's fighting words! |
Subject: RE: Worst Song? From: Mr Fox Date: 21 Apr 06 - 03:03 PM 'Imagine' - Dreary glurge with a tune that would disgrace a funeral march. 'All Around My Hat' - 'nuff said. 'Day Trip to Bangor' - Almost killed English folk music stone dead. 'The Mary Ellen Carter' - Doesn't rhyme, doesn't scan, barely makes sense. 'Unicorns' (Shel Silverstein, not Bill Caddick) - Truly vomitous. 'Fields of Athenry' - Once again, 'nuff said. Outside folk (Or indeed, any form of) music: - 'My Heart Will Go On'. Reverse perestalisis guaranteed. |
Subject: RE: Worst Song? From: beardedbruce Date: 21 Apr 06 - 01:56 PM http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/Music/04/21/worst.songs.comments/index.html |
Subject: RE: Worst Song? From: GUEST,maire-aine Date: 21 Apr 06 - 11:50 AM Sonny's Dream. Yuck! Maryanne |
Subject: RE: Worst Song? From: GUEST Date: 21 Apr 06 - 11:45 AM #2 was YELLOW BIRD, by the way.....the worst bastardization ever perpetrated. It travesties a terrific song, one of the most beautiful in the world: the Haitian "Choucoune." |
Subject: RE: Worst Song? From: GUEST Date: 21 Apr 06 - 11:43 AM AND, counting down to #1..........SCARLET RIBBONS! |
Subject: RE: Worst Song? From: GUEST Date: 21 Apr 06 - 07:44 AM Sorry I must have missed Bill Caddicks version of that song, is that the one were Puff the magic dragon rapes the Unicorn. |
Subject: RE: Worst Song? From: Aaron Aardvark Date: 21 Apr 06 - 06:25 AM "Born to be Alive" by Patrick Hernandez always makes me vomit and s**t simultaneously (I've just had to run to the bathroom thinking about it). MacArthur Park is a close second with Seasons in the Sun also there. Aaron |
Subject: RE: Worst Song? From: Danks Date: 21 Apr 06 - 05:59 AM Back to "Streets of London". Critics are expected to give reasons for their opinions, otherwise, why bother! Now, we can criticise a song for various reasons: 1st. melody, 2nd. lyrics , 3rd theme of the lyrics. We can't criticise a song because we don't like the production of the recording, or the singers voice. Now, I would argue that the melody of "Streets" is fine and suits the lyrics. I would say that the lyrics have been well constructed with lovely little touches. And, finally, the theme is very strong - and original; indeed, the message of the song became more relevant as the years past by. |
Subject: RE: Worst Song? From: GUEST,Jackie Paper Date: 21 Apr 06 - 03:44 AM Puff the Magic Dragon makes my teeth curl. |
Subject: RE: Worst Song? From: Bert Date: 21 Apr 06 - 02:55 AM 'Seasons in the Sun' has to be in the running somewhere. |
Subject: RE: Worst Song? From: Doug Chadwick Date: 21 Apr 06 - 02:35 AM My Way DC |
Subject: RE: Worst Song? From: Eye Lander Date: 21 Apr 06 - 02:19 AM Here on the Isle of Wight we have a version of Wild Rover to the Banana Boat Song, and I still like the original. Jillie |
Subject: RE: Worst Song? From: Dave Hanson Date: 21 Apr 06 - 01:24 AM 'The Lightning Express ' by the Everleys, I still cringe, then throw up. eric |
Subject: RE: Worst Song? From: Ron Davies Date: 20 Apr 06 - 11:03 PM I also like both Green Green Grass of Home and Afternoon Delight--the latter probably because of very good associations with it. It does tend to color your view. |
Subject: RE: Worst Song? From: Ron Davies Date: 20 Apr 06 - 11:00 PM "Honey" is indeed an extremely strong contender for that coveted position. Another I'd suggest would be "My Baby Does the Hanky Panky"--the vast majority of which consists of the title. |
Subject: RE: Worst Song? From: Little Hawk Date: 20 Apr 06 - 10:58 PM By the way, I think "Afternoon Delight" is really neat musically, an and entirely inoffensive lyrically. I liked most of the stuff the Starland Vocal Band did. |
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