Friday 5 for August 24: Lyrical Gangsta

Questions from Scrivener's Friday 5 blog....

1. What’s a stupid lyric from a song you like?

I really love the music of Caro Emerald. Way back in 2009 I discovered her on "The 61" website when I stumbled into her song "A Night Like This"... good song.. and I shortly found "Back it Up" on the same site. Both songs were eventually issued to her debut album Deleted Scenes from the Cutting Room Floor. Both songs became big hits in Europe but never clicked so much in the U.S.

I bought the album on iTunes and have followed Emerald for the past 10 years or so. She is one of my most played artists on Last FM. Caro is not a native English speaker as she is from Denmark. So I guess when they needed lyrics, non-sensical ones were added into the song... and guess what.. in their own quarky way they work!



Caro Emerald - Back it Up

I can't stop shakin'
The room has a groove and the floor
It's almost earthquakin'
Uhuh

Look what we're makin'
History out on the floor
And it's just awakin'
Uhuh

So get that needle in the core
Scratch that back and gimme more
You know zactly what I came here for
Back it up and do it again

From the middle to the top to the end
Ba dlu dla dlun dloday
Ba dlu dla dlun dloday
Back to the middle to the front to the end
Za dlu dla dlun dloday
Everybody ba dlun dloday
I don't care if he's a friend
From the front to the middle to the back to the end

Back, back, back, back it up (I wanna)
Back, back, back, back it up (I wanna)
Back, back, back, back it up (I wanna)
Back it up and do it again
Back, back, back, back it up (I wanna)
Back, back, back, back it up (I wanna)
Back,…

2. What’s a pretty good lyric from a song you dislike?



It is quite funny that through the many songs that pioneering rock n roller Chuck Berry is known for, the guy never had a #1 hit with such stalwart songs as "Johnny B. Goode," "Rollover Beethoven," "Sweet Little Sixteen," or "You Can Never Tell" in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Berry was a huge influence on rock artists such as The Beatles and The Rolling Stones.

In 1972 Chuck Berry finally got a #1 record on the Billboard Hot 100... and it was not a rock n roll song! The novelty hit "My Ding A Ling" was very popular on the radio in the late summer and fall of that year... so much so that it went to the top and annoyed a lot of listeners back then.

I don't exactly hate the song, but it certainly is not on my Top 12,000 or 23,000 of favorite songs... it is far down in the ranks of my 24,000 song iTunes library... but I have it (was included on one of those year by year Billboard Top 10 CDs issued by Rhino Records in the 1990s).

The song goes way beyond the mentioned "my grandmother bought me a cute little toy".... and holds it in a swim across old turtle creek...

In the end he comes up with this....

Hmm, this here song it ain't so sad
The cutest little song you ever had
Those of you who will not sing
You must be playing with your own ding-a-ling

My ding-a-ling, my ding-a-ling, I want you to play with my ding-a-ling!
My ding-a-ling, my ding-a-ling, I want you to play with my ding-a-ling!

Oh, your own, ding-a-ling, your own ding-a-ling, we saw you playing with your ding-a-ling

Yes, the song is NOT a masterpiece but is there to make you snicker and laugh... and well, I am sure that helped Berry with his retirement years later....


3. What’s a good non-Weird-Al-Yankovic lyric about food and drink?

By disallowing Weird Al, I had to go fish in my Doctor DeMento library of food songs... and of course I came up with this classic... lucky it was not animal songs cause I would have given you "Dead Puppies" or "My Dead Dog Rover".... muhahahahaha....  So just "Eat It!"



Barnes and Barnes.... FISH HEADS!

Fish heads, fish heads
Roly-poly fish heads
Fish heads, fish heads
Eat them up, yum

Fish heads, fish heads
Roly-poly fish heads
Fish heads, fish heads
Eat them up, yum

In the morning, laughing, happy fish heads
In the evening, floating in the soup

Ask a fish head anything you want to
They won’t answer, they can’t talk

I took a fish head out to see a movie
Didn’t have to pay to get it in

They can’t play baseball, they don’t wear sweaters
They’re not good dancers, they don’t play drums

EAT AT HOME

Paul McCartney and his wife Linda have a pretty good song about "eating" heh... I don't think he's singing about food...

Come on, little lady,
Lady, let's eat at home
Come on, little lady,
Lady, let's eat at home, eat at home, eat at home

Come on, little lady,
Lady, let's eat in bed
Come on, little lady,
Lady, let's eat at bed, eat in bed, eat in bed

Bring the love that you feel for me
Into line with the love I see,
And in the morning you'll bring to me love

Just thought of another one... only people in Hawaii will probably know this... "Filipino Christmas" by Frank DeLima.... "black dog roasting on the open fire" It's a mashup of well known Christmas melodies.



4. What’s a good song lyric to describe your week?

The music more than the lyrics are frantic and somewhat descriptive of my week or even just a day or days, depending on the month. Been having some anxiety lately about the hurricane and feeling not as prepared as I could be... like forgot to buy a bath tub stopper, and they are now all sold out... plus I am working on an online newsletter and the people either send their articles at the last minute or even worst change their articles after I send out 3 proofs and have the thing set up for automatic mailing on Monday.. and now I have to make those changes... not very hard but I like to think when something is done... it is done... move on to the next project...



Billy Joel - PRESSURE

You have to learn to pace yourself
Pressure
You're just like everybody else
Pressure
You've only had to run so far
So good
But you will come to a place
Where the only thing you feel
Are loaded guns in your face
And you'll have to deal with
Pressure

You used to call me paranoid
Pressure
But even you can not avoid
Pressure
You turned the tap dance into your crusade
Now here you are with your faith
And your Peter Pan advice
You have no scars on your face
And you cannot handle pressure

All grown up and no place to go
Psych 1, Psych 2
What do you know?
All your life is Channel 13
Sesame Street
What does it mean?

I'll tell you what it means
Pressure
Pressure

Don't ask for help
You're all alone
Pressure
You'll have to answer
To your own
Pressure
I'm sure…

5. What’s a good song lyric about inclement weather?

I get frustrated when it is sunny, I am outside... and then it starts to rain... like what the f***??? Of course this weekend I am waiting for BIG RAIN and WIND blowing in from Hurricane Lane. Ugh!



Creedence Clearwater Revival - Have You Ever Seen The Rain
The song was also covered by Joan Jett in 1990.

Someone told me long ago
There's a calm before the storm
I know!

It's been comin' for sometime
When it's over, so they say
It'll rain on a sunny day
I know!

Shining down like water
I wanna know, have you ever seen the rain?
I wanna know, have you ever seen the rain
Comin' down on a sunny day?

Yesterday and days before
Sun is cold and rain is hard
I know!

Been that way for all my time
'Til forever on it goes
Through the circle fast and slow
I know!

It can't stop, I wonder
I wanna know, have you ever seen the rain?
I wanna know, have you ever seen the rain
Comin' down on a sunny day?