Bits in songs that make you cringe

[HolidayAtNight]

Inspired by the thread the other day about "More Than Words" by Extreme. Like many posters, I hadn't heard the song in years, so went to listen to it. It was all going well until the bit when he sings "Hold me close don't EVAH LET ME GO" and I had to turn it off immediately.

What bits of songs do you find jarring and/or embarrassing? I have so many, but will try to choose a few. Lines where they've had to awkwardly shift the words around or use old-fashioned vocab/syntax to make them fit are definitely among the worst offenders.

In "Upside Down" by Diana Ross: "Respectfully I say to thee..." Whyyyy

In "A Spaceman Came Travelling" - the bit where he sings about a baby's cry and then the guitar imitates a newborn crying. This might be the worst one.

In "Come On Eileen" - "You in that dress, my thoughts, I confess, verge on dirty" Just no. The awkward old-fashioned phrasing, and the way his voice goes when he sings "dirty". Unbearable.

😆

The Katy Perry one, "Do you ever feel,
Like a plastic bag.."

No, no I don't.

"Smell like I sound" is another one that always makes me wince, in "Hungry like the Wold".

I agree that it's a very creepy song - shame, as Neil is a very talented songwriter and performer, and I love a number of his songs.

But I don't think he was actually saying that he WAS her big brother; just that they were neighbours or something and it kind of seemed like that!

Or were you pointing it out to demonstrate that he was clearly older than her (by how much, we don't know, to be fair)? I don't think that would be in question, would it, if he's remarking on the fact that she's 16? If he too were 16, why would he even think to mention it?

Then again, Tom Petty sang about his 'American Girl' when he too was American, so why point it out - so who knows?!

I know this thread is supposed to be about "bits" of songs that make us cringe, but are we allowed entire songs, if it is they make us cringe so hard we fear we may turn inside out? If so, I'm nominating this. I don't care if Sally Lindsay was in the choir, it changes nothing.

That one kind of makes me smile. I also have a soft spot for Blondie’s “oh buccaneer, won’t you help me put my truck in gear” which has a similar vibe…

Mel C

“I couldn't live without my phone
But you don't even have a home”

Used to make me cringe every time I heard it!

The old pneumonia/phone ya line. Argh.

To be fair, though, nobody ever seems to complain about Leonard Cohen's equally iffy 'do ya/hallelujah' line!

@Hotmess101 you and me both re A Spaceman Came Travelling. I still chuckle the first time I hear it when I start playing Christmas music every year. I’m convinced Chris got possessed at the end of that one and I have in the past pictured him being dragged away from the microphone by men in white coats as the song fades.

This bit... 👇

Oh yes, i have done the critical thinking that they were probably next door neighbours, and as she grew up he started to see her differently.

But.......this was a grown man with a grown mans voice singing it so it sounds really creepy! Maybe with Donny Osmond in his "Puppy Love" era singing, it wouldnt have sounded so bad! Maybe the fact that its 16 influences me, because over here the age of consent is 16 so it comes across as "now its legal!!" as opposed to it being 18 in the US. Presumably it was about them being allowed to date and not about shagging!

I also love Neil Sedaka, "The Hungry Years" is a beautful evocative song that often makes me tearful if I am a bit drunk!

I'll bet every grandma in the country dreaded opening her presents that Christmas, as they would have had an extremely good idea what one of the gifts would be - maybe more than one if they had multiple grandchildren!

It was the grandma equivalent of the 'best teacher' mugs that school staff receive 25 of each at the end of every single year!

Agreed. I heard it on Radio 2 the other day and I couldn’t believe how shocking the lyrics are! Not for daytime playing, surely.

Oasis… ‘She’s got a sister… and on the palm of her hand is a blister’ Seriously?

ABC - The Look of Love. There’s s talking bit that is just so 80s … and the definition of cringe.

Is that one by The Wurzels?!

Hey, Soul Sister by Train when he says his heart is bound to beat right out of his untrimmed chest 🤢

The bit in the Simply Red song Something got me Started (I think) where a woman speaks then Mick Hucknell makes a weird grunty/growly/sex sound:
Her 'I really love you. Aah'
Him 'Grrraagh' (or something like that)
Ick. Ick Hucknell. 🤢

And that line, right at the start, "Though you may be far away, We think of you".

Where is she? On holiday? Dead? Or just in another part of the UK? Which, naturally, begs the question, who moved away from who, and why?

On the plus side, I'm thinking of going on Dragons Den, with my invention of a fridge magnet that plays "There's No One Quite Like Grandma" every time the door is opened, leading to instant nausea and thereby reducing the chances of consuming the contents of said appliance.

But she only comes when she's on top 🤣

Now you've reminded me, oh fuck yes, put it on the list!

Clair. Gilbert O'Sullivan. Very creepy or what?

MacArthur Park is melting in the dark
All the sweet green icing running down
Someone left the cake out in the rain

Apparently this last sentence was an early utterance/obsession of mine

Vomit inducing! I hated the song from the word go. “Don’t fear me baby, it’s just Justin” - errr, more like get the pepper spray out pronto!
I’ll never forget Bo Selecta taking the mick out of Justin Timberlake at the time, which was highly underrated. They had him with a random puppet man with a dog collar on, who he called “The Reverend JT.” Better than the Craiiiiig Dayyyyvid as far as I’m concerned. Even finished the one sketch with his signature “it’s Just Justin!”
s

Speaking of cringeworthy, I always found the entire song Senorita by the aforementioned to be a prime example. That stupid bit in the middle, “I don’t know what I’m thinking of” for one and the fact he sounds like he’s doing an impression of a dying fly in that breakdown - “oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh” - bit.

Yes, indeed - I hadn't thought about the fact that it would be 18 in the USA. They quite probably did just mean hugging and kissing - which, confusingly, was widely referred to as 'making love' in the 50s!

You're right that it does sound even worse the older Neil gets. Not that it has the same sinister overtones, but it must seem very strange when 83yo Cliff Richard sings "We're the young ones... we may not be the young ones very long" at concerts! Not to mention the stated belief that, 'when he's older', he probably will get married and have a child!

It must sound like a running joke - a bit like the pop music equivalent of the doddery elderly boss in Are You Being Served being constantly referred to as 'YOUNG Mr Grace'

I firmly agree on The Hungry Years. I know it's a bit cheesy, but I also love The Miracle Song. For a bit of a 'curve ball', there's also a video of Neil on YouTube singing an English-language version of Nessun Dorma.

I’m a bit too familiar with PJ and Duncan’s back catalogue. I think this one is even worse than “Eternal Love.” And they take themselves sooo seriously in the video Enjoy:

Oh need to have a look for the Nessun Dorma!

And I love that you have that knowledge of Are You Being Served.......I feel a meeting of minds here!

I think there is an actual real life ‘Clair’ that inspired the song, like a relative or godchild. Sure I’ve seen her interviewed about it.

Well funnily enough I remember the local radio station at the time wouldn’t play BabyBird during the daytime initially because of the suggestive lyrics.
They soon relented though.

If you think they’re bad, listen to BabyBird’s follow-up song “Candy Girl” sometime. The entire song could qualify as being cringeworthy but the choruses tend to go, “And that's fine & dandy
When you lick my candy girl
(And I don't mean that rude)
When you lick my
When you lick my candy.”