Coldplay - Viva La Vida - ongoing discussion - Page 19

LemonMelon · 06-26-2008, 06:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zootlesque

You're comparing Bono's best lines over the last 30 years to Chris's attempts over about 8 years? Gimme a break!

Bono came up with some pretty damn cool lines in his first 8 years. What's Martin's best? Viva's title track? Give me a break.

LemonMacPhisto · 06-26-2008, 06:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by namkcuR

Difference: Chris Martin never wrote lyrics like following to make his worst lyrical moments forgivable...

"time is a train/makes the future the past/leaves you standing in the station/your face pressed up against the glass"

"in my dreams/I was drowning my sorrows/but my sorrows they learned to swim/surrounding me/going down on me/spilling over the brim"

"between the horses of love and lust/we are trampled underfoot"

"every artist is a cannibal/every poet is a thief/all kill their inspiration/and sing about their grief"

"a man will rise/a man will fall/from the sheer face of love/like a fly from a wall"

"and you can dream/so dream out loud/you know that your time is coming round/so don't let the bastards grind you down"

"and if you look/you look through me/and when you talk/it's not to me/and when I touch you/you don't feel a thing"

"they want you to be jesus/they'll get down on on knee/but they'll want their money back/if you're alive at thirty-three"

"Intransigence is all around/military still in town/armor-plated suits and ties/daddy just won't say goodbye/referee won't blow the whistle/god is good but will he listen/I'm nearly great but there's something missing/I left it in the duty free/it never really/belonged to me"

"you hurt youself/you hurt your lover/then you discover/what you thought was freedom was just greed"

"september/streets capsizing/spilling over down the drain/shards of glass/splinters like rain/but you could only feel your own pain/october, talks getting nowhere/november, december/remember, we just started again"

"so love is hard and love is tough/but love is not what you're thinking of/so love is bigger/bigger than us/but love is not what you're thinking of/it's what lovers deal/it's what lovers steal/you know I've found it hard to recieve/'cause you, my love, I could never believe"

"there's a kite blowin' out of control on a breeze/I wonder what's gonna happen to you/you wonder what has happened to me"

"a man dreams one day to fly/a man takes a rocket ship into the sky/he lives on a star that's dying in the night/he follows in the trail, the scatter of light"

"when the night is someone else's/and you're trying to get some sleep/when your thoughts are too expensive/to ever want to keep"

just to name a few.

That helps.

Screwtape2 · 06-26-2008, 06:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by namkcuR

Difference: Chris Martin never wrote lyrics like following to make his worst lyrical moments forgivable...

"time is a train/makes the future the past/leaves you standing in the station/your face pressed up against the glass"

"in my dreams/I was drowning my sorrows/but my sorrows they learned to swim/surrounding me/going down on me/spilling over the brim"

"between the horses of love and lust/we are trampled underfoot"

"every artist is a cannibal/every poet is a thief/all kill their inspiration/and sing about their grief"

"a man will rise/a man will fall/from the sheer face of love/like a fly from a wall"

"and you can dream/so dream out loud/you know that your time is coming round/so don't let the bastards grind you down"

"and if you look/you look through me/and when you talk/it's not to me/and when I touch you/you don't feel a thing"

"they want you to be jesus/they'll get down on on knee/but they'll want their money back/if you're alive at thirty-three"

"Intransigence is all around/military still in town/armor-plated suits and ties/daddy just won't say goodbye/referee won't blow the whistle/god is good but will he listen/I'm nearly great but there's something missing/I left it in the duty free/it never really/belonged to me"

"you hurt youself/you hurt your lover/then you discover/what you thought was freedom was just greed"

"september/streets capsizing/spilling over down the drain/shards of glass/splinters like rain/but you could only feel your own pain/october, talks getting nowhere/november, december/remember, we just started again"

"so love is hard and love is tough/but love is not what you're thinking of/so love is bigger/bigger than us/but love is not what you're thinking of/it's what lovers deal/it's what lovers steal/you know I've found it hard to recieve/'cause you, my love, I could never believe"

"there's a kite blowin' out of control on a breeze/I wonder what's gonna happen to you/you wonder what has happened to me"

"a man dreams one day to fly/a man takes a rocket ship into the sky/he lives on a star that's dying in the night/he follows in the trail, the scatter of light"

"when the night is someone else's/and you're trying to get some sleep/when your thoughts are too expensive/to ever want to keep"

just to name a few.

I'm sorry but I have to same half those lyrics aren't that good.

lazarus · 06-26-2008, 06:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by namkcuR

"so love is hard and love is tough/but love is not what you're thinking of/so love is bigger/bigger than us/but love is not what you're thinking of/it's what lovers deal/it's what lovers steal/you know I've found it hard to recieve/'cause you, my love, I could never believe"

"when the night is someone else's/and you're trying to get some sleep/when your thoughts are too expensive/to ever want to keep"

Out of context, these aren't very good.

And WILATW has way better lines.

"I'm in the waiting room
I can't see for the smoke
I think of you and your holy book
When the rest of us choke"

FTW.

**Sicy** · 06-26-2008, 06:25 PM

Where's my damn train wreck smilie.

GibsonGirl · 06-26-2008, 06:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by namkcuR

Difference: Chris Martin never wrote lyrics like following to make his worst lyrical moments forgivable...

[lyrics]

just to name a few.

Every song you just quoted there was written between 1990-2000. Bono had several years and albums-worth of practice by that point, so one would hope the lyrics would be good.

Zootlesque · 06-26-2008, 06:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LemonMelon

Bono came up with some pretty damn cool lines in his first 8 years. What's Martin's best? Viva's title track? Give me a break.

Okay you got me there but I don't agree that it's easy to forgive Bono's worst lines just cos he wrote several gems! A cringeworthy lyric is a cringeworthy lyric.

Screwtape2 · 06-26-2008, 06:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lazarus

And WILATW has way better lines.

"I'm in the waiting room
I can't see for the smoke
I think of you and your holy book
When the rest of us choke"

FTW.

I like that lyric too.

namkcuR · 06-26-2008, 06:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lazarus

Out of context, these aren't very good.

And WILATW has way better lines.

"I'm in the waiting room
I can't see for the smoke
I think of you and your holy book
When the rest of us choke"

FTW.

Now don't get me wrong, I love that one, but I think you're discounting the one I put....thoughts too expensive to ever want to keep...come on, everyone's had that moment, lying in bed at night thinking things you wish you weren't thinking. I think it's a great lyric.

Zootlesque · 06-26-2008, 06:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sicy

Where's my damn train wreck smilie.

Oh no you're not locking this thread yet! It's still too much fun!

GibsonGirl · 06-26-2008, 06:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lazarus

And your position was, what, exactly? Didn't you post charts and graphs musically PROVING that the songs had nothing in common, and became flustered when people didn't give a shit about the math, and still thought they sounded similar?

I stand by what I said. Musically speaking, the songs simply don't match up. There are vague similarities - a synth fade in plus uplifting chord phrasings - but not enough to pass it off as a rip off.

VintagePunk · 06-26-2008, 06:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lazarus

And of course, the difference is also that Bono usually manages to sell even his worst or trite lyrics. I think the end of Kite is a bit sloppily written, but it's such a great distillation of his look back, and he does it very wistfully.

Bono's vocal presentation of his lyrics is what makes him so great, not the words themselves.

I agree with the wistfulness of that line. It's apparent in the delivery, as if he's putting a cultural time stamp on when the feelings/events of the song were brought forth for him. I like it, although I do agree that if someone were simply reading it, it would seem awkward and as out of place as hell.

I've also always taken the voice/tortoise line as sort of tongue-in-cheek, so that doesn't bother me, either.

I do agree with whoever made the statement about "heavy as a truck," though. Awkward. I initially thought he was saying "heavy as a church," and I totally got that, sometimes churches can seem oppressive, and it fit well within the context of the song. I like mine better, dammit.

Popmartijn · 06-26-2008, 06:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sicy

Where's my damn train wreck smilie.

We already ran over that one. It's too late now. We're on course for a collision with the universe.

lazarus · 06-26-2008, 06:29 PM

There is no writer that doesn't have his share of crap. I could show you filler on Dylan albums that you'd never think he'd put to tape.

Back to what I said, you either have to have a good lyric or a great read of a bad one, and Bono usually manages to cover his ass in the singing department. I hate "I know it aches and your heart it breaks" in Walk On, but I still love the song because how he drives the purity of the line with his passion.

Martin, on the other hand, doesn't have the great lyric to bad lyric ratio that Bono does, and couldn't sell a sugar cube to a fucking horse.

LemonMelon · 06-26-2008, 06:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zootlesque

Okay you got me there but I don't agree that it's easy to forgive Bono's worst lines just cos he wrote several gems! A cringeworthy lyric is a cringeworthy lyric.

Yeah, but, again, you're comparing Bono, who HAS written some truly genius lyrics, to a guy whose best has been palatable or, worse yet, suitable for the music. It's all about writing the classics.

06-26-2008, 06:25 PM	#275
Sicy Sizzlin' Sicilicious Forum Administrator Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: On The Dance Floor Posts: 52,807 Local Time: 09:33 PM Images: 111	Where's my damn train wreck smilie. __________________ *sicy[at]interference.com*

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06-26-2008, 06:29 PM	#284
lazarus Rock n' Roll Doggie ALL ACCESS Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Los Angeles, California Posts: 7,226 Local Time: 09:33 PM	There is no writer that doesn't have his share of crap. I could show you filler on Dylan albums that you'd never think he'd put to tape. Back to what I said, you either have to have a good lyric or a great read of a bad one, and Bono usually manages to cover his ass in the singing department. I hate "I know it aches and your heart it breaks" in Walk On, but I still love the song because how he drives the purity of the line with his passion. Martin, on the other hand, doesn't have the great lyric to bad lyric ratio that Bono does, and couldn't sell a sugar cube to a fucking horse.