Words to never use

[Nephew Twiddleton]

Elton John wrote a song called Bitter Fingers in which he lamented the use of nonsense words in 60s songs.

I'll have to give it a listen.

It's a parody, on the Captain Fantastic album.  It's painful.

For some reason that makes me want to listen to it more.

[nostalgicBadger]

What about made up syllables like "sha la la" and "fa fa" and so forth?

No one does that seriously anymore. What is this the early 60s?

Gaga.

I have my doubts that she's doing that seriously, but I stand corrected in that regard.

Define 'seriously'.  

Also, the video for "Man Down" (Rihanna) is playing on my screen right now, and she's doing it -- "rum puh-puh-pum", also "ohhh-woah-waaa" and "ma ma ma"
It isn't just pop singers either -- I've heard this in the Arcade Fire, Wolf Parade, Kanye, Spoon...

Oh, the New Pornographers ("We End Up Together" comes to mind)

[Nephew Twiddleton]

What about made up syllables like "sha la la" and "fa fa" and so forth?

No one does that seriously anymore. What is this the early 60s?

Gaga.

I have my doubts that she's doing that seriously, but I stand corrected in that regard.

Define 'seriously'.  

Also, the video for "Man Down" (Rihanna) is playing on my screen right now, and she's doing it -- "rum puh-puh-pum", also "ohhh-woah-waaa" and "ma ma ma"
It isn't just pop singers either -- I've heard this in the Arcade Fire, Wolf Parade, Kanye, Spoon...

Oh, the New Pornographers ("We End Up Together" comes to mind)

I'm trying to assess whether whoa-a-oh stuff counts.

[Jenne]

Dude, if "yeah" and "no" count, "woah" DEFINITELY counts.

WTF *is* "woah" anyway?

It's another form of "yeah"...isn't it?

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

For the most part, I don't mind the made up words. Especially if you have to build a song around them... that's a craft that takes skill.

[nostalgicBadger]

Right, you can't be selective about which nonsense words do and do not qualify.

That being said, I don't see them as a problem. When a guitarist plucks a string, that string doesn't have a literal meaning. Why can't vocals be an instrument sometimes?

[Luna]

Right, you can't be selective about which nonsense words do and do not qualify.

That being said, I don't see them as a problem. When a guitarist plucks a string, that string doesn't have a literal meaning. Why can't vocals be an instrument sometimes?

They can...  But, as often as not, said instrument runs right up my last nerve and twangs my rage vibe.

If you're going to use voice as an instrument, for fuck's sake, find someone with a VOICE.

[Jenne]

Vocals are an instrument, I always thought.  I, too, have little problem with most of what Teh Twidster listed as issues with music-writing.

...but then I'm no musician. 

[Nephew Twiddleton]

Right, you can't be selective about which nonsense words do and do not qualify.

That being said, I don't see them as a problem. When a guitarist plucks a string, that string doesn't have a literal meaning. Why can't vocals be an instrument sometimes?

That's why I was wondering if whoa should count. It's basically just an Oh sound with a noticeable starting point. Whoa-oh-oh always seemed kind of natural to me (more so than yeah or no which do have meaning). But I see the point there. I guess it's the act of dragging the word. Like Yea-aa-aa-ah sounds better than yeah yeah yeah yeah. The voice always struck me a gliding kind of instrument when not singing anything particularly meaningful.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Whatever.

You fuckers need to stop dogging on Lady Gaga.

She makes my pance tight when she sings.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

I got one:

Choruses that only consist of singing the title over and over again. Notorious violator of said rule: Iron Maiden
Exception: Back up vocalist is singing another lyric in between your title repetitions.

[Cramulus]

"Radio Song" by REM was sort of about how bad music lyrics make people stupid and compliant.

Hey hey hey
Say what?
Hey hey hey
Hey hey hey

Check it out
What are you saying
What are you playing
Who are you obeying
Day out, day in, huh?
Baby baby baby
That stuff is driving me crazy
DJs communicate to the masses
Sex and violent classes
Now our children grow up prisoners
All their lives radio listeners

It always reminds me of 1984... the music in that dystopian future was designed to be vapid doggerel, just something you'd hum and get stuck in your head - specifically not anything thought provoking or challenging. The evil fascists knew that music could unite people or get them charged up for revolution - so they wanted music to be nothing more than a bunch of cliches about love.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

"Radio Song" by REM was sort of about how bad music lyrics make people stupid and compliant.

Hey hey hey
Say what?
Hey hey hey
Hey hey hey

Check it out
What are you saying
What are you playing
Who are you obeying
Day out, day in, huh?
Baby baby baby
That stuff is driving me crazy
DJs communicate to the masses
Sex and violent classes
Now our children grow up prisoners
All their lives radio listeners

It always reminds me of 1984... the music in that dystopian future was designed to be vapid doggerel, just something you'd hum and get stuck in your head - specifically not anything thought provoking or challenging. The evil fascists knew that music could unite people or get them charged up for revolution - so they wanted music to be nothing more than a bunch of cliches about love.

Well fuck. That explains a lot...

[LMNO]

I now quote the entire lyrics for Minutemen's "#1 Hit Song":



On the back of a winged horse,
Through the sky of pearly grey.
Love is leaf-like...
you and me, baby.
Twinkle, twinkle,
blah, blah, blah,...
E.
T.
C.





Also,

I hate to break the derailment streak, but...

How about name dropping any neighborhood in New York? Especially Brooklyn, Williamsburg, the Village, etc.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Right, you can't be selective about which nonsense words do and do not qualify.

That being said, I don't see them as a problem. When a guitarist plucks a string, that string doesn't have a literal meaning. Why can't vocals be an instrument sometimes?

It can be, certainly. My objection was not to the word itself, but to its use as a filler syllable.