Song writing changes
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For years now I have wondered If the riches and the way of life that Paul is cocooned in has had an impact on his song writing and perhaps this is why he is not connected with a younger audience. I was thinking of the big acts of today and it's seems a consistent theme that as they become engulfed with a world of yes sir no sir etc etc they lose the big thing that connects. Think of the power of Those early songs telling us of hopes of love, hopes of work, hope of a better life. Then think how can someone that can close the Empire State building or close a department store just so that they visit really write from the heart I found this Paul McCartney's, "The Other Me" The Dumbest Lyrics: I know I was a crazy fool For treating you the way I did But something took a hold of me And I acted like a dustbin lid Why They're Dumb: 'And I acted like a dustbin lid?' Come on Paul! You wrote 'Hey Jude' and 'For No One,' for god's sake! Let me present to you: TOP 5 LYRICS THAT WOULD FIT A WHOLE HELL OF A LOT BETTER THAN 'ACTED LIKE A DUSTBIN LID': 5. And I acted like I never did 4. And my feelings, I will never rid 3. And I asked you for a couple quid (well, it's better than dustbin lid!) 2. And then I finally hit the skids 1. And I acted like a little kid For some strange reason, though, I think that it was poetic license. With all the lyrics he could've written, I think he chose it for a reason. He was rather brave for putting those lyrics down, at the risk of being ridiculed (and boy oh boy was he ever!). As for me, dustbin lid is part of my vocabulary. As an expletive. ('YOU STUPID DUSTBIN LID!'
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As you said, when Paul wants to, he can write some great lyrics. Here There and Everywhere, For No One, Hey Jude, Let It Be, The Long and Winding Road, Too Many People. The challenge for Paul is being vulnerable, which is the cornerstone of all great art: exposing your soul to the world. For No One might be his most vulnerable song, which is why it is one of his greatest. I think Early Days hits the mark for the same reason, his vulnerability, letting the world know the truth about him. And what's wrong with that?
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Now the 'dustbin lid' lyric has been doing the rounds for years..... geez, make that decades.... I remember when the album reviews came out, the critics went nuts on that.... it did seem lame. But... then again... on reflection....maybe it was genius.... maybe he was saying he'd had enough of the "garbage" and wanted closure on the relationship in mention in the song, thus 'acting like a dustbin lid'.... slamming shut on the rubbish of it all. Quite clever perhaps? Maybe I am just clinging (not in a cling wrap way)....
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I think this comes from how he writes his songs. He has a melody and blocks out the lyrics by singing whatever fits the melody. Sometimes it works out great. like in Jet "And Jet I thought that the major was a little lady suffragette" What the heck is a "suffragette'? But it works in this song Dustbin lid doesn't Just like 'salamander' doesn't in Getting Closer. Thankfully he came up with better lyrics for 'Yesterday' 'scrambled eggs baby how I love your legs' It just shows he works hard on his lyrics when he feels he has a great melody to work with.
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Paul's songs are melody driven, not lyric driven. Bob Dylan's songs are lyric driven, not melody driven.
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dcshark:
I think this comes from how he writes his songs. He has a melody and blocks out the lyrics by singing whatever fits the melody. Sometimes it works out great. like in Jet "And Jet I thought that the major was a little lady suffragette" What the heck is a "suffragette'? But it works in this song Dustbin lid doesn't Just like 'salamander' doesn't in Getting Closer. Thankfully he came up with better lyrics for 'Yesterday' 'scrambled eggs baby how I love your legs' It just shows he works hard on his lyrics when he feels he has a great melody to work with.
A suffragette was a member of the womens 'right to vote' movement in the UK about 100 years ago or more. They were a bit vociferous and set in their ways. I agree with the 'dustbin lid' lyric - it stood out when I first heard it. I believe it is cockney rhyming slang for 'kid'. I guess the syllables in dustbin lid fitted better than kid but it is still poor.
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dcshark:
I think this comes from how he writes his songs. He has a melody and blocks out the lyrics by singing whatever fits the melody. Sometimes it works out great. like in Jet "And Jet I thought that the major was a little lady suffragette" What the heck is a "suffragette'? But it works in this song Dustbin lid doesn't Just like 'salamander' doesn't in Getting Closer. Thankfully he came up with better lyrics for 'Yesterday' 'scrambled eggs baby how I love your legs' It just shows he works hard on his lyrics when he feels he has a great melody to work with.
A suffragette is a woman trying to get the vote: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suffragette And dustbin lid is a Cockney rhyme for "kid": http://www.cockneyrhymingslang.co.uk/slang/dustbin_lid
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Please, for the last time, 'Dustbin Lid' is cockney rhyming slang for 'KID' So actually, the lyric is very CLEVER. Glad to clear that one up.
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ewanme:
Please, for the last time, 'Dustbin Lid' is cockney rhyming slang for 'KID' So actually, the lyric is very CLEVER. Glad to clear that one up.
Yeah, I was losing sleep over that clever lyric.
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Yeah, Paul writes some goofy lyrics, but there's nothing wrong with the "dustbin lid" line -- and I say that as one who thinks "Pipes of Peace" is one of the low points of Paul's career. But to come back to the original post, which suggested that Paul can't connect with kids today because he lives in a superstar cocoon. No, he doesn't connect with kids because he's as old as their grandfather. Kids during the Beatles era didn't much get into Bing Crosby or Rudy Vallee. That's the way it goes, every generation. If his lyrics were more consistent in the Beatles days -- which they were -- it's because he had a brilliant editor by the name of John Lennon. If there's one definitive truth about both John's and Paul's solo work it's that it's more up and down in quality then their work in the Beatles, because neither ever again had an editor as good -- and that they respected as much -- as John Lennon and Paul McCartney. But overall, Paul's lyrics have gotten better over the years. "Chaos," MAF or "New" all by themselves have more topflight lyrics than any of his first several '70s albums.
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Yes, Paul has always been a melody guy. It totally amazes me how he can continue to come up with new ones! Some of his lyrics can be weak, but they sound good for the tune! (Same thing with some of John's lyrics...) I've always thought Paul excelled at "story" type songs, such as Eleanor Rigby, Rocky Raccoon, Ob-la-di, My Baby's Request, When I'm 64, Lovely Rita, For No One, etc., etc., etc. It all seems to come together when he tells a story.
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toris:
Now the 'dustbin lid' lyric has been doing the rounds for years..... geez, make that decades.... I remember when the album reviews came out, the critics went nuts on that.... it did seem lame. But... then again... on reflection....maybe it was genius.... maybe he was saying he'd had enough of the "garbage" and wanted closure on the relationship in mention in the song, thus 'acting like a dustbin lid'.... slamming shut on the rubbish of it all. Quite clever perhaps? Maybe I am just clinging (not in a cling wrap way)....
I think we all cling on
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I love Early Days because Paul does not try to disguise his voice in any way. He sings it straight, flaws and all. To me this gives him credibility. He's saying "this is how I am now, get used to it". Bob Dylan has been doing that his whole career, and he's a genius.
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Dustbin_Lid:
I love Early Days because Paul does not try to disguise his voice in any way. He sings it straight, flaws and all. To me this gives him credibility. He's saying "this is how I am now, get used to it". Bob Dylan has been doing that his whole career, and he's a genius.
this is more about song writing then singing but it a good point maybe you should start a thread about his singing
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Nancy R:
dcshark:
I think this comes from how he writes his songs. He has a melody and blocks out the lyrics by singing whatever fits the melody. Sometimes it works out great. like in Jet "And Jet I thought that the major was a little lady suffragette" What the heck is a "suffragette'? But it works in this song Dustbin lid doesn't Just like 'salamander' doesn't in Getting Closer. Thankfully he came up with better lyrics for 'Yesterday' 'scrambled eggs baby how I love your legs' It just shows he works hard on his lyrics when he feels he has a great melody to work with.
A suffragette is a woman trying to get the vote: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suffragette And dustbin lid is a Cockney rhyme for "kid": http://www.cockneyrhymingslang.co.uk/slang/dustbin_lid
Thanks for straightening me out on those terms glad to see I didn't miss anything on the 'salamander' lyric
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IMO, Paul doesn't care a lot about the lyrics. He's a melodist, the biggest melodist in history of rock music, and he will always find his pleasure in the creation of melodies. Lyrics are not very important for him.
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Dustbin_Lid:
I love Early Days because Paul does not try to disguise his voice in any way. He sings it straight, flaws and all. To me this gives him credibility. He's saying "this is how I am now, get used to it". Bob Dylan has been doing that his whole career, and he's a genius.
I think the difference is that Paul's singing voice is so good that even his older, unproduced, voice is pleasant to listen to. Even his flaws sound good. Whereas Bob's voice has always been up for debate. I thought his 60s-70s recordings were listenable. I can't stand his "older voice." Regarding the Other Me, the tune is fantastic, could've been a real standout, but the dustbin lyric is just too distracting.
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McCartney and Dylan are very different and difficult to compare. McCartney is more comparable to Billy Joel or Elton John. Dylan to Neil Young.
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WingsOfMacca:
IMO, Paul doesn't care a lot about the lyrics. He's a melodist, the biggest melodist in history of rock music, and he will always find his pleasure in the creation of melodies. Lyrics are not very important for him.
I think that's utter nonsense. Look at the lyrics to Blackbird, Here Today, Somedays and many, many others, and it's obvious a lot of thought and care went into them. What's true is that he doesn't always put lots of effort into the lyrics. Sometimes he does just get a sound or riff or melody in his head and run with whatever words come into his head, and so we get free-association silliness like Jet and Soily. But to say he doesn't care about lyrics is clearly not true, it's just that for some songs he has other priorities.
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Sir Paul wrote songs that kids and adults will enjoy.