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 other one that makes me cringe is Elvis Costello, Oliver's Army.

One line goes "Oliver's Army are on their way" and the next "Oliver's Army is here to stay".

He can't decide whether the word "army" is a singular noun or a plural noun, but the juxtaposition of treating it as plural and then singular in the space of two lines really jars with me.

There is a bit in a sing by a symphonic metal band I like.... about being "r*ped again and again" but the worst is that it is sang not by the vocalist, they had a choir boy sing that section, just felt sorry for the child who had to do it for the album recording.

That plus Baby you can drive my car, but that was cringe and people criticised it when it came out!

Ick Hucknell 😂

I find it annoyingly catchy! If you look on Wikipedia, the song goes back centuries in some form. That's a lot of cringing!

Do they know it's Christmas time Well, tonight, thank God it's them instead of you.

That line is powerful, not cringe. Even all these years later. Hits like a gut punch every time.

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.”

Ditto Peacock by Katy Perry and Lollipop by Mika.

Omg I just relooked up the lyrics to Peacock. I'd love to listen to this album with the dc. But no.

Are you brave enough to let me see your peacock?
Don't be a chicken boy, stop acting like a biotch
I'm a peace out if you don't give me the pay off
Come on, baby, let me see
What you hiding underneath
Are you brave enough to let me see your peacock?
What you're waiting for, it's time for you to show it off
Don't be a shy kind of guy I'll bet it's beautiful
Come on, baby, let me see
What you hiding underneath

I wanna see your peacock, cock, cock
Your peacock, cock
Your peacock, cock, cock
Your peacock, cock

Oh my god, no exaggeration
Boy, all this time was worth the waiting
I just shed a tear
I am so unprepared
You got the finest architecture
End of the rainbow-looking treasure
Such a sight to see
And it's all for me

Run for your life. You can tell who wrote that one!

Thought of another PJ and Duncan classic:

"Like a dog... a dog on a lead - I'm gonna follow you everywhere"!

Very true, I've always found that annoying too... although not the usual part of that song that people tend to object to...

Such a good song. Squeeze have written some great stuff and are somewhat underrated.

Tony Mortimer wrote ‘Stay Another Day’ about his brothers suicide. Think that’s why it has the “touched your face while you were sleeping” line.

You definitely would skip ‘Young Girl’….the next track though may be ‘Lady Willpower’ which is basically the same song with a different title.

As well as everything else, the

Beep, beep, beep, beep, yeeaahh!

Makes it sound like a song on CBeebies!

"Don't stop movin' baby
Ooh that booty drive me crazy wiggle wiggle"
Don't stop out here brothers - thankfully recognised as bad lyrics at the time.

"Girl I want to make you sweatsweat till you can't sweat no moreand if you cry outI'm gonna push it some, more, more"
Rape song! (Originally Bob Marley, covered in the 90s)

"l huff I'll puff and blow you away"
B*witched with their blow job song

"I'm down on my knees, I wanna take you there"
Madonna with her blow job song (like a prayer)

"I swear another nigga couldn't handle it
When you shakin' that thing like whose the ish
With a look in your eyes do devilish, uh
You like to dance all the hip hop spots
Then you cruise to the crews to connect the dots"
Thong song

The worse has to be the bloodhound gang-
"Sweat, baby, sweat, baby sex is a Texas drought
Me and you do the kind of stuff that only Prince would sing about
So put your hands down my pants and I'll bet you'll feel nuts
Yes, I'm Siskel, yes, I'm Ebert
And you're getting two thumbs up
You've had enough of two-hand touch
You want it rough, you're out of bounds
I want you smothered, want you covered
Like my Waffle House hash browns
Comin' quicker than FedEx, never reaching apex
Just like Coca-Cola stock, you are inclined
To make me rise an hour early just like Daylight Savings Time
You and me, baby, ain't nothin' but mammals
So let's do it like they do on the Discovery Channel"

Good morning everyone!

"Take your seaside arms and write the next line"

Can't believe I'm going to have to listen to SIMPLY RED at this hour of the morning.

Ok, that was repulsive. I was expecting it to be bad but it has put me right off my Cornflakes.

The line that makes me cringe every time is Ed Sheeran

You and me are thrifty, so go all you can eat
Fill up your bag and I fill up a plate 🤢

I just hate it so much. In fact a lot of his are cringy, but that is the worst

Stuck on U:

He tells me in his bedroom voice
Come on honey, let’s go make some noise

This thread has opened my eyes to the prolific back catalogue of PJ & Duncan. I thought "Let's Get Ready to Rhumble" (which is definitely in the "bad and I love it without any shame" category) was their only song!

If you listen to that one properly, it's the girl coming onto him having lied about her age, and he's telling her to go.

I thought you were going to mention Run For Your Life when I read the start of your post. He has some possessiveness issues I think!

Going back a bit, Deacon Blue. Real gone kid.

"I'll do what I should have did,
Cos he's a real gone kid."

"I'll show you all the photographs
That I ever got took".

Well at least I know that being illiterate is no bar to being a song writer.