Swearing in Songs

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32-20-Blues

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How does everyone feel about swearing in songs? I'm talking about normal rock songs, or singer/songwriter stuff - not metal or rap. Is it cool when it is used appropriately, or does it just turn the listener off?

Personally, I have no opinion, but would be interested to know any thoughts.
 
The only reason I started listening to John Lennon was "Working Class Hero"... ;) I'm not saying that it works in every song by every artist, sometimes it seems a little excessive... But used in moderation, it can really add something to the mood of the song, and the emotion of the listener. But, that's only one lowly man's opinion. :)
 
pikingrin said:
The only reason I started listening to John Lennon was "Working Class Hero"... ;)
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That's crazy, the exact same thing happened to me! I mean, I knew the Beatles, but I was about 12 and it was played on the radio real late one night when me and my Dad were driving somewhere. Next day, I borrowed eleven pounds off my bro and bought Lennon Legend. Crazy that you heard that first too.
 
Roger Waters does it tastefully. I don't mind, if it's appropriate.
 
You did what?

You fucking borrowed money from me?? 11 pounds....plus inflation over 10 years...in euro...thats at least 25 bills. Sort that out man. And everyone swears; Bruce Springsteen, Adam Durritz, Ed Vedder....just scanning the 3 CDs i own... but its how its done. Led Zeppelin don't swear; they write songs about giving people every inch of their love...i'm not sure which is worse. Like the darkness use motherf*&^$r to a large degree and they come across as retarded. John Lennon uses it and hes the coolest thing since....since they discovered all that ice on the north pole. Depends on the guy I guess.
 
the first time I noticed swearing in a lyric was "Who are you" by the Who. I think it depends on the context. If it's about being stuck in traffic or someone cuts you off when you're driving or that girl is just driving you insane...yeah...everyone wants to let out a blast in that situation. But if you're spouting out lyrics with "F" words for every other word, to me atleast, it sounds kiddie. Now if they bleep it on the radio, will people buy it just to hear what they said? Probably not.

I mean, the word shit is used all the time "I hate this shitty jog" but something like "you F8ckin' whore, all those loads you though you were swallowing was actually puss from the scab covered cox you're used to sucking..." well...that's a little kid tune. Cussing for the sake of it is a little tacky. It depend where you're doing it too...who your audience is. This song will probably never get played in a mall, but one supermarket I worked at had Rick Derringer's Rock and Roll Hoochie Coo playing over the sound system and I informed the female manager the the P word was in that song. She was like "Whaaaa????" they couldn't change it because it was programmed. :)

I can just picture a Brady Bunch type fam stopping at the supermarket on their way home from church and hearing "sweet lil pussy gonna do it to you" over the sound system...althought Alice might be into it...


J.P.
 
I'm not normally impressed by it.
The PMRC back in the 80's really lit the fuse on it. Before that, it was pretty frowned-upon, even for metal. Swearing was relegated to the throw-away track on the album or the song that was designed to be super obnoxious.

Once they started putting 'expicit lyrics' stickers on everything, everyone would run out and buy the albums with the stickers. It became a selling point. For a couple years after that, record companies were begging artists to swear somewhere on the record. It was all downhill from there.

I liked the inuendo, it takes a little more creativity to come up with "I wanna give you every inch of my love" than it does to come up with "wanna fuck?"
 
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well to me swearing and cussing in songs can either make an incredibly deep and profound punch to your lyrics, or if used inapropriately, it can make you look just plain stupid...
and as for the inuendo, i agree 100% with farview
 
Most of the time there is a better, more creative, more impactful way of getting the same thing across. As noted many times in the thread already, its the rare case when it IS the best way to get something across.

I remember grinning from ear to ear in high school one day walking down the hall with Axle Rose swearing away in my headphones. Can't remember which song, but it sure did make me feel bad in a good kind of way at that age. (shrug)

-C
 
anything is a joke when its done 900 million times for the same reasons...
I think at this point,the music-billboard world's cup runneth over of
FAKE cussing.

FAKE cussing is right up there with grabbing your crotch every 5 seconds in rap. and add...or smashing of the guitars in the 70's it got kind of?? Fake.

my 2 cents
 
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it certainly helps to accent the mood/feeling you want in a song

having said that I've never written any swearing into my stuff
 
I don't care one way or the other but then again maybe I'm inoculated to the impact since I hear and use swear words on a daily basis. I mean the radio djs down here call women bitches, say ass, damn all on the air. Cable tv is no better.

I guess times have changed a few years ago Wally Cleaver saying "aw shucks pa" was pushing the enveleope not to mention the Bradys sleeping in the same bed.
 
If you need to swear to get your point across, your skill with the English language (or whatever language you write in) is weak. There's nothing wrong with swearing imo, but when it becomes a crutch for faking emotional impact than you need to get out the thesaurus and practice a bit more.
 
FunkDaddy said:
If you need to swear to get your point across, your skill with the English language (or whatever language you write in) is weak. There's nothing wrong with swearing imo, but when it becomes a crutch for faking emotional impact than you need to get out the thesaurus and practice a bit more.
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Okay. Joyce, Heaney and even Beckett would argue otherwise, but I take your point.

Plus, there is a tendency to confuse narrator with author, particular when it comes to songwriting. Although Ulysses, for example, is biographical to an extent, Leopold Bloom is not James Joyce. Therefore, Bloom's obscenity should not really reflect on Joyce on a personal level. Can a ballad written from the point of view of someone other than the author include ideals or vocabulary that may not be the author's? If you follow.
 
As a general rule, art reflects life. Our society has become so immune to swearing (as someone else said "inocolated) that it is now considered almost an acceptable part pf communication. I find very little merit in the hip hop music with lyrics that encourage killing and treat woman as no more than sex objects, but that reflects life, or at least life as it is in a very sad part of civilized culture.

I tend to agree with the concept that one who must result to vulgar lanquange to get a point across (in song or in life) is lacking in both verbal and social skills. I find it all too normal to hear people swear in front of woman and worse, children. This reflects no respect for others and little self respect for the person choosing to swear.

I don't recall who it was, but a well know person, known as an intellectual once said something to the point "I've never met a person, who used profanity, who interested me in conversation". Personally, I find people who routinely used profanity to be boring and given ehough time in conversation to reveal themselves to be rather ignorant.

In answer to the original question, I personnally do not think swear words belong in lyrics any more than I think something like a crucifix in urine is art - but - art reflects society and society has determined that vurgar words and images are acceptable.
 
mikeh said:
I find it all too normal to hear people swear in front of woman and worse, children. This reflects no respect for others and little self respect for the person choosing to swear.
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I have never understood the stigma surrounding the issue of swearing in front of women. In fact, I find it oddly condescending. Does the fact that they are female preclude them from the ability to deal with a curse? I know women with mouths like sailors, it doesn't bother them. In fact, it has almost become an issue of feminism.

'Oh no, their pretty little heads will explode!'
 
32-20-Blues said:
I have never understood the stigma surrounding the issue of swearing in front of women. In fact, I find it oddly condescending. Does the fact that they are female preclude them from the ability to deal with a curse? I know women with mouths like sailors, it doesn't bother them. In fact, it has almost become an issue of feminism.

'Oh no, their pretty little heads will explode!'
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This depends on your age. The idea behind it is that you are putting women up on a pedestal. It's a show of respect that you would alter your crude speach patterns around them. Just like most people wouldn't say things like "Hey Grandma, How the fuck have you been." The fact that women have been lobbying for the right to be disrespected just confuses me.
 
the ramones

The Ramones, which many consider to be punk rock fore-runners (on this side of the pond).. have no album released songs with curse words in them (im 98% sure of that)
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by 32-20-Blues
I have never understood the stigma surrounding the issue of swearing in front of women. In fact, I find it oddly condescending. Does the fact that they are female preclude them from the ability to deal with a curse? I know women with mouths like sailors, it doesn't bother them. In fact, it has almost become an issue of feminism.

'Oh no, their pretty little heads will explode!'

Quote:
Originally Posted by Farview
This depends on your age. The idea behind it is that you are putting women up on a pedestal. It's a show of respect that you would alter your crude speach patterns around them. Just like most people wouldn't say things like "Hey Grandma, How the fuck have you been." The fact that women have been lobbying for the right to be disrespected just confuses me.

Thank you Farview - well put.

There was a time when we as a society, were better mannered and males were taught to respect a lady and females were taught to act like ladies worthy of respect.

I too am confused why woman want to be disrectected - or for that mattaer why men somehow think acting disrespectful to woman (or anyone is accepteble.

32-20-Blues
I have known woman who chose not to act like ladies and who took some foolish pride in their ability to swear as much as a man (some of which physically attractive) - however, I always found them to be undesirable simply because I found them to be boring and to have too little class to warrant attention. A good example of why just becasue someone can do something it does not make it right to actually do it.
 
mikeh said:
There was a time when we as a society, were better mannered and males were taught to respect a lady and females were taught to act like ladies worthy of respect.
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That's just the problem - Why should females have to act like ladies worthy of a man's respect any more than another man has to? The days when women looked to a man's reaction to validate their behaviour are long gone. I am in no way saying I do not respect women. Rather, I treat them in the same way as I treat my male friends.

Obviously, I would not say 'How the fuck are you?' to my grandmother, but that is because she is my grandmother, not because she is a woman. If I was in mixed company with friends I felt comfortable with, I would treat both sexes equally. That means swearing in front of women and men, or not, as the occasion dictates.

Placing women on a pedestal leads to dangerous power politics. I would argue that no man has a right to do so. They are people, but just that.

Thanks for the thoughts on this, guys.
 
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