Lyrical Cliches You Can't Stand

or, as my grandmother used to say, "if my daddy was a choo-choo train, i'd be an engine." i think she was the original MC.

"woke up this morning". URGH. the next line should really be "decided to write a song".

-boston, "more than a feeling"
-bruce springsteen, "empty sky"
-that band that does that "sopranos" theme song

what else? there must be scores of others.

Alabama 3. From, er, Brixton.

xpost: Alabama 3 was truncated to just "A3" for American consumption.

Any more contenders to songs with them in every line, I'd like to hear it>

(when trying to think of an alternative my friend Jefferson recommended that I ask where we getting retardy at)

So don't write a song then.

not to be picky or anything, but that's one of the best reasons to write a song. to express what you can't otherwise articulate.

And I REALLY hate that "hands in the air/just don't care" rhyme too, not just 'cause it's a cliche, but also because it makes no sense: If I truly "don't care" for the music, why the hell should I demonstrate any enthusiasm for chrissakes? Ridiculous.

paul weller, on the other hand, has you eating "a piece of toast / from the one you love most."

it came from their body/isn't that kinda odd-y

Shit man, there was even a Russian pop song that did it: "San Frantsisko / Gorod v stile disko"

"My heart is the dough,
You're the leaven.
If only you didn't
Look like Pat Nevin."

Replacements opened for Tom Petty back when "I'll Be You" was a no. 1 AOR hit (hard to remember sometimes that the Mats did actually have hits). Tom Petty used in three years later. Not a coincidence.

1. Heat Of The Moment
2. Only Time Will Tell
3. Sole Survivor
4. One Step Closer
5. Time Again
6. Wildest Dreams
7. Without You
8. Cutting It Fine
9. Here Comes The Feeling

1. Ready to Rock
2. Don't Say No Tonight
3. So Cold Tonight Let It Go (Dedicated to Jack and Diane)
4. Turn the Light Off
5. It's Gotta Be Love
6. Can't Go On
7. Nobody Knows
8.When You Gonna Satisfy Me
9. Need a Little Rock
10. Broken Down Chevy (God Only Knows)

Ha - I just found this: http://www.anti.com/press.php?CatalogID=80377&pressid=553

O: Did you mind Petty swiping your "rebel without a clue" line?

PW: It miffed me a little bit, but it's all... I'd steal something back from him, if I could find something I liked.

Popture, those excerpts strick me as good uses of a cliche!

"like a thief in the night"

:-(

"up against the wall"

Full or weird names used for purposes of crappy rhyme

"Jimmy Mack, when are you coming back?"

and ... others that escape me

Sheena in "Funky Cold Medina"?

cliche in EVERY line has to be Des'Ree's goddawful "Life (Oh Life)".
Any more contenders to songs with them in every line, I'd like to hear it

How about Amazed by Lonestar;

Every time our eyes meet
This feeling inside me
Is almost more than I can take
Baby when you touch me
I can feel how much you love me
And it just blows me away
I've never been this close to anyone or anything
I can hear your thoughts
I can see your dreams

I don't know how you do what you do
I'm so in love with you
It just keeps getting better
I want to spend the rest of my life
With you by my side
Forever and ever
Every little thing that you do
Baby, I'm amazed by you

The smell of your skin
The taste of your kiss
The way you whisper in the dark
Your hair all around me
Baby you surround me
You touch every place in my heart
Oh, it feels like the first time, every time
I want to spend the whole night in your eyes

Songs I really like despite containing lyrical cliches I can't stand:

PJ Harvey - Rid of Me (fire/desire)
Fats Waller - Ain't Misbehavin (myself/shelf) (Oddly, it bothers in many other versions of the song)
Get Up Morning - Eddy Current Suppression Ring (songs about getting up in the morning).

Realized today that "Eternal Flame" by the Bangles is composed almost entirely of cliches. Yet somehow the fantastic melody redeems it (and despite the incredibly awful singing, yet!) - I can't summon anything like the contempt it would seem to deserve.

this stupid fucking Cage The Elephant song that's been a hit the last few months has a chorus that's pretty much back to back cliches:

There ain't no rest for the wicked, money don't grow on trees, I got bills to pay, I got mouths to feed, there ain't nothing in this world for free.
I know I can't slow down, I can't hold back though you know I wish I could, oh no there ain't no rest for the wicked, until we close our eyes for good.

reggae lyric cliches could have a thread of their own, but the one that always comes up is the school/rule rhyme, e.g. when I was a youth in school, me never take in the golden rule

Use of "till the early morn" really really bugs me.

"till the early morn" is a classic imo, esp if rhymed w/ "break of dawn"

Another one that always pisses me off is describing something/someone as being "sweeter than wine".

there's a "lies / eyes" in the little boots single that is only annoying me because it's the bit that spotify are playing me all the time

the cage the elephant ones aren't lyrical cliches, they're just truisms really - nb. i can't imagine that being a good song, though

"…color tv"

They've definitely had their moments, but I could never hear Gucci and Louis Vuitton in another rap or r&b song and be perfectly happy.