Owl City- Fireflies

Finally, a new post!  Looks like the weekend will be the likeliest time for me to post.  Anyhow, this is a song with sucky lyrics that kind of pains me to do.  I love this song, namely Fireflies by Owl City.  Or it's more that I love the production value and music.  But the lyrics?  Blearrrgh.  A perfect Sucky Lyrics song! :)

You would not believe your eyes
If ten million fireflies
Lit up the world as I fell asleep

'Cause they'd fill the open air
And leave teardrops everywhere
You'd think me rude
But I would just stand and stare

I'd like to make myself believe
That planet Earth turns slowly
It's hard to say that I'd rather stay
Awake when I'm asleep
'Cause everything is never as it seems

'Cause I'd get a thousand hugs
From ten thousand lightning bugs
As they tried to teach me how to dance

A foxtrot above my head
A sock hop beneath my bed
A disco ball is just hanging by a thread

I'd like to make myself believe
That planet Earth turns slowly
It's hard to say that I'd rather stay
Awake when I'm asleep
'Cause everything is never as it seems
When I fall asleep

Leave my door open just a crack
(Please take me away from here)
'Cause I feel like such an insomniac
(Please take me away from here)
Why do I tire of counting sheep
(Please take me away from here)
When I'm far too tired to fall asleep

To ten million fireflies
I'm weird 'cause I hate goodbyes
I got misty eyes as they said farewell

But I'll know where several are
If my dreams get real bizarre
'Cause I saved a few and I keep them in a jar

I'd like to make myself believe
That planet Earth turns slowly
It's hard to say that I'd rather stay
Awake when I'm asleep
'Cause everything is never as it seems
When I fall asleep

I'd like to make myself believe
That planet Earth turns slowly
It's hard to say that I'd rather stay
Awake when I'm asleep
'Cause everything is never as it seems
When I fall asleep

I'd like to make myself believe
That planet earth turns slowly
It's hard to say that I'd rather stay
Awake when I'm asleep
Because my dreams are bursting at the seams

Let me start by saying that I'm an insomniac, as in at times I uncontrollably can't fall asleep even though I'm exhausted.  So yes, I understand that this song is partially about that.  And guess what?  Doesn't depict it well.  At all.  In any way. 

There are so many problems here.  We've got the chorus, with the whole planet earth turning slowly thing and rhyming asleep with either seams/seems (WHICH DOESN"T RHYME) or....asleep.  Sigh.  But then we get incredibly bizarre images like fireflies leaving teardrops or saving a few in a jar for when his dreams get truly bizarre (hey, at least that one rhymes).  What does any of this mean?  Don't the fireflies keep him awake (believe me, if you're truly an insomniac, the last thing you want is fireflies waking you up)?  Where did they come from?  Why do I care?   Honestly, I'm getting a headache trying to figure it out.  Thanks, Owl City.  Thanks.

Happy New Year's Eve!

Hi everyone!  I apologize for not posting on Monday like I said I would, but plans changed and all that.  Anyhow, I'll be back next week with an update.  Yes, I said an update.  I've decided to make this blog a weekly thing, both for my sanity and to be realistic.  I haven't decided what day I'll be updating every week, but if I had to guess I'd say Wednesday.  See you in 2010!

Day 10- That Was Then But This Is Now

I feel like I haven't done silly lyrics here.  Silly lyrics are always harder to determine in terms of badness, since often they're not written to be deep or even necessarily make any sense.  I think the fine line is when the lyrics transition from being just goofy to sort of reaching a point and then collapsing.  THEN I can ridicule them.  For example, this gem from ABC's That Was Then But This Is Now...

"More sacrifices than an Aztec priest
Standing here straining at that leash
All fall down
Can't complain, mustn't grumble
Help yourself to another piece of apple crumble!"


Whoa.  THAT is bad stuff.  The rest of the lyrics are pretty awful and awkward too, but seriously.  How did the mustn't grumble/apple crumble line happen?!  I mean, that requires some thought.  It's actually a decent rhyme, and certainly original, but ugh.  Just ugh.  I'm actually not even sure if this counts as goofy lyrics.  Really just plain awful lyrics is more like it.

I'll be taking a break from the blog until next Monday.  Happy Holidays! 

Day 9- So You Can Cry

I realize, much to my shock, that I haven't touched rap/hip-hop yet here.  It's understandable why there would be so many terrible lyrics in the genre, namely that it is a genre that focuses on the lyrics over the music, although that has started to become less the case now.  Anyhow, there is a ton of truly terrible stuff in rap, and I'll try to highlight it a lot of it here.  The problem is that a lot of songs use kitschy things or nonsense/bizarre phrases intentionally, and I can't count that.  No, I have to look at lyrics where there was actually some serious thought put in, where the artist likely thought that the line was a really good idea.  Here is a prime example of that from Ne-Yo's So You Can Cry...

I won’t attend your pity party / I’d rather go have calamari.

OK, seriously, Ne-Yo?  Really?  This was the best you could come up with?  This sentence serves to paint Ne-Yo as both insensitive and really dumb; probably not what he was going for.  What pains me about this is that I can just see the thought process; heck, if I was brainstorming, I might write that down.  It rhymes, it has a word not often heard in pop music, I can hear the beat behind it.  But you know what?  It should never have gotten past the brainstorming stage, Ne-Yo.  Never.

Day 8- Mariella

OK, I admit, this is going to be a wee bit obscure for us non-Brits, but Kate Nash is a platinum selling artist over there.  I really don't have much knowledge of her to compare this to, but I seem to remember seeing her on a really cool HD music channel called Palladia a while ago and being utterly underwhelmed.  If it was her, then she also belted out the lyrics in a way that made it impossible for me to understand them.  Maybe that's good based on this line from her song "Mariella"...

And she looked in the mirror and she thought to herself "If I wanna play, I can play with me, If I wanna think, I'll think in my head."

Um, HUH?!  I looked up the song lyrics just to make sure there wasn't some deep reason for this line to be in there, and nope!  It's all about a completely introverted girl who never speaks.  OK....  Anyhow, it's so good to know that Mariella has decided to think by using her head.  That's a very sound choice, considering THERE"S NO OTHER PLACE TO "THINK IN" ON THE HUMAN BODY, KATE NASH.  Yeah, I said it.  Look, I know you hear of people, especially guys, thinking with their, um, naughty bits (to use a British term), but that's thinking with, not thinking in.  Subtle, but true.

Day 7- I’m Like a Lawyer with the Way I’m Always Trying to Get You Off (Me & You)

Ladies and gentlemen, I apologize for what you just went through.  Namely having to read that god-awful title and the inevitable fainting/angry yelling/cursing at the sky/uncontrollable bodily function that followed.  This is seriously close to the worst song title I've ever seen, and considering we had Britney's I'm Not A Girl, Not Yet A Woman yesterday, that's pretty damn impressive.  Seriously, Fall Out Boy, what the hell.  This song also has an horrific chorus, which goes...

Me and you
Setting in a honeymoon
If I woke up next to you
If I woke up next to you

Anyone who deigns to listen to Fall Out Boy after those lyrics and that song title need to be rounded up and I don't know, um, forced to take action to make sure that none of us sane people ever have to experience Fall Out Boy ever again.  Yeesh!

Day 6- I'm Not A Girl, Not Yet A Woman

Thank you to Jeni Nielsen for reminding me about this one.  I remember being blown away by this one when I first experienced it, and not in a good way.  It won't be often that I'll knock a song for its title, but this one deserves it.  The title of the song is....

I'm Not A Girl, Not Yet A Woman

OK.  THEN WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU?!  I mean, I guess you could be a "young woman," but guess what, songwriters (cause I know Britney doesn't write her own songs)?  "Young woman" still has the word "woman" in it.  Sigh.  This is just such an epic fail of a title.  I don't know a single person who hasn't rolled their eyes at the title of this song, women included.  Then again, I guess we're not exactly counting on Britney for intellectual titles or ideas.

(On a side note, this picture is the first time I've seen her smiling and with makeup on during her shaved head phase, and she actually looks shockingly decent.)