Black list...

[Slackmaster2K]

I'm starting a list of words that I'd really rather not ever hear again in another song. Feel free to contribute.

heart
soul
rain
dark
black
<the artist's own name>
<some other artist's name...damn namedroppers>
rock
yeah
pain
crying
tears
heaven
tonight
car, cars, hotrod, mercury, etc
girl
boy
sexy
Lolly Pop
daddy
mommy
grandpa
grandma
brother
downtown
knife

Slackmaster 2000

[Krystof01]

You've really lost it mate. Hard times I guess.

Get rid of Love as a word and anger as a message-solved your problem, there's now no lyrics to slate.

[monty]

Time to leave Bozeman.

[gibs]

eyes, lips, hair, pick up trucks, trailers, road, and the two most over used string of words "you make me feel brand new" and "I've never felt like this before".....oh, and "pina colada" and "margarita"....gibs

[Salabim]

candy

mainly aimed at that bloody mandy moore song

Tim

[Tucci]

moon and stars

[GordWait]

Oh man, how can you forget

"baby"

This has to be the first on the list of banned lyrics!

bash bash bash bash.. ah - now I feel better.
Gord

[dobro]

How about a list of words that are difficult to get into a song *without* making you laugh? Nipple. Aardvark. Piffling. Bumcrack.

[tungus]

I would be happy if people just quite using the terms "happy camper" and "been there done that," granted you dont find them in songs too often.

[dragonworks]

I dont want to hear anyone spelling words in songs anymore. Last time I saw you I was doing F I N E fine, if you cant make the lyric fit, rewrite them. Mickey Mantle asked
Paul Simon if he was Pauls hero how come he
used Joe DiMaggio in the song and Paul replied, sylables.

[Michael Jones]

Yeah, what Tungus said.......

Dude! Tungus its cool to see someone else from near Nashville.

[Helmut]

Here are my award winning lyrics for year2000:

Yeah baby yeah baby, you like it hey yeah. Kiss baby, smooth , year 2000 party hey baby yeah. I'll be your daddy tonight little lollipop yeah ha.........

I am sure if someone puts a good rave beat to this we can strike gold with this on MTV.

[S8-N]

Lets not forget rap.

Nigga/ trigger
Glock/ cock
Ho/ dough
AK/ pay
Dick/ lick/ chick/ sick/ trick
drug/ slug
rhyme/ crime
hood/ wood
jackin'/ packin'
booty/ duty

[dave m]

I'd like to see if somone can fit diarrhea into a song. Like, "I'd go to see ya' but I got diarrhea."
davem

[yamahacut1]

My favorite arrangement of words goes like this - "YOU, YOU LIGHT UP MY LIFE". I could listen to that all day, every day...

[Track Rat]

This is GREAT. I just copied all this down and I have a song!!

[iddybiddyman]

In my heart and soul
The dark rains tears
cryin
Slim Shady's mamma
Dr. Drees (sp?) daddy
Took a knife downtown
With the sexy boys and girls
Cryin
Slim Shady's grandma
And Dr.. Dree's Grandpa
With the brothers and sisters
And the lollipop misters
cryin
Slackmaster's thread's
gotton dark and shady?
(Did I miss anything?)

[foo]

Hey Slack,

If we banned all those words, I wouldn't have any songs left to record.

(Hmmm what does that tell me about my stuff?)

It's not going to sell in Montana, I guess.

As for using other people's names in songs, I gotta disagree. You can create an instant mood by doing it.

Tom Petty (not a huge fave, but he comes to mind right now) made a reference to Del Shannon on the car radio in one of his songs, and it just created this scene in one line of the song.

foo

[Dougie Johnson]

Any lyric with a variation on the word "Rock n Roll"
I wanna rock n roll
Let's rock
You rock me
Rock my world
etc...
etc...
etc...

[Graymalkin]

Basically, I'd advocate banning any cliche words or phrases, but then, we'd make most country & rap extinct (hmmm . . . not a bad concept).

So,

"Woke up this morning . . . "
Well, yeah, unless you flippin' work third shift!

Any attempt to express depth of love by using physical effort to overcome geological obstacle: "Climb the highest mountain, swim the deepest ocean."
AND anything that suggests we are immortal: "Love you until the mountains crumble"; "Loved you before there were stars in the sky"; "Our love is older than the ocean"; "Our love will last forever".
Oh, enough, already! You've known the girl a whole 3 months! By next spring, she'll be a memory. So much for eternity!

"Come to realize, Came as no surprize; Dance/Romance". Geez - wake me when it's over!

The tendency of Country songwriters to create entire songs from colloquialisms, common phrases, and any "clever" play-on-words. I'd provide a few of the thousands of examples extant, but it's just too damn excruciating to think about.

We could pretty much do without Rap in general. Cliche ain't even the word. More like Intentional Monotony.

Think by following these "anti-cliche" rules we'd be eliminating 99% of songs written every day in the US alone? Possibly. But, considering the extent of the English language, and the fact that the same few hundred words are continuously recycled in song, would that really be so bad?
Heck, turn on your radio. Hear any real inspiration there, mate? Anything truly fresh and creative in terms of lyrical content?
Not too danged often, wouldn't you say?
I rest my case.

[TMX Bob]

Originally posted by foo
Tom Petty (not a huge fave, but he comes to mind right now) made a reference to Del Shannon on the car radio in one of his songs, and it just created this scene in one line of the song.

foo

That's an example of a great songwriter doing it the right way. Not everyone's that good at telling a story.

[foo]

There's another line in a Steely Dan tune (I think):

'Turn up the Eagles, the neighbours are listening'

Tells you a lot about the 'narrator', huh?

I guess you're right - used by skilled guys, it works great.

foo