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.

It’s a Sin is a cracking tune, and one of the better ones for NT’s voice, but there’s a bit in the lyrics,
‘At school they taught me how to be (whatever it was)
They didn’t quite succeed.’

Well then, they didn’t teach you, did they? They tried to teach you. Make that work in the lyrics, you big old smuggins.

Yes they still thought him. He just didn't learn.

Taught 😊😊

The school was very hard line Catholic, run by priests. The ‘didn’t quite succeed’ is meant to be ironic and to emphasise how he didn’t fall in line with their teachings of being ‘so pure’.

According to my cousin, the priests are long gone, but all the old boys jokingly refer to it as their school song.

John Legend All of Me

My head's underwater
But I'm breathing fine
You're crazy, and I'm out of my mind

You're my end and my beginning
Even when I lose, I'm winning

It’s like corporate inspiration speak word salad. Stick an line from that song on a poster with a picture of a bear catching a fish and put it on the wall of an office and no one would be any the wiser.

I wouldn't even go so far as to describe it as awful - it's in tune - but it's average, dull and emotionless. He gets the songs sung perfectly adequately, but they never rouse any great feeling in me, personally. There are hundreds of other singers who could sing them much better.

In the same way that I could paint my hallway with a tin of Dulux and do a fine good job, but nobody would ever mistake my work for Michelangelo or rave about how amazing it was.

The only PSB song that I would really choose to listen to is What Have I Done To Deserve This - but that's only because of Dusty.

On the other hand, though, I quite like the (majority) spoken bit of Desiderata by Les Crane, albeit in a somewhat cheesy way - like a cuddly grandad imparting his knowledge of years; but the singing bit, when the chorus chime in with the "You are a child of the universe..." grates on me.

I'm certain I'm not her key target demographic in the least, but that song by Mabel, where she rhymes 'business' firstly with 'business', and then again with 'business' is just dreadful!

I like Lucy Porter's routine on that song - where she argues that it's basically either a love song or a stalker song in principle, entirely depending on your budget!

I used her body just like a bandage
She used my body just like a wound

Sorry, Jim, I usually love your amazing way with language and imagery; but that bit is just grim.

For a very long time I thought I must have been singing the lyrics wrong of Somebody Depeche Mode. But I wasn't.

Someone who'll stand by my side and give me support
And in return, she'll get my support

The second support ruins the whole song for me.

They could have changed it up a bit. Gone to a resort. Joined his cohort. Not ended up in court. Never fought.

This one will bug me forever.

A Man Needs A Maid by Neil Young always makes me cringe. It’s the most overblown and dramatic orchestral song, but the subject matter is so inappropriate.

”Just someone to keep my house clean,
Fix my meals and go away…
A MAAAAAIIIIIIIIIID! A MAN NEEDS A MAID
{DUN DUN DUN}
MAIIIIIIIIIID”

I mean, I love it but what the hell.

He must've had drag queens/trans women on the brain in 68/69 between this and Loretta Martin in Get Back!

I’ve never seen it as sarcasm

I think the young girl was Agnetha? Sure the avatar said that at the Abba arena show

Yes, I'd forgotten that song!

I’m pretty sure it is sarcasm- he’s saying she’s the sort of person who would have forgotten about him in a year, which is implied throughout the song (‘last Christmas, I gave you my heart, the very next day, you gave it away’)

The woman waves at George Michael in the last Christmas video , so I guess she does recognize him. I'm sure it's her anyway ?
( Although we now know that he wouldn't have been that interested anyway )

This was the one I came on to post!

@StMarieforme

Context is everything.

Quite. And I'm glad that at least one poster seems to recognise this .

I'm in agreement with most of your comments .

Recognise also has the potential other sense of 'accepting' too.

You can know, remember and acknowledge full well who somebody is - their name/basic identity etc. - without ever accepting their claimed/desired position, be it as a controversial world leader, somebody who wants to be your friend/partner or anything in between.

Big round of applause for @StMarieforme for dissecting everyone's post

Let people post their thoughts without picking apart, please

Nothing wrong with the name - the actual line from the song is meant to be a woman who’s just walked in on her other half in bed with someone else and the someone says “the names shaniqua and WOT?” - it’s just very cringe!

I know its been said before but Never Ever by the All Saints is the worst possible cringe.

It was also wrong that they picked Shaznay to say the line about the black hole.

'Tis the season! I love Annie Lennox but in the Eurythmics cover of "Walking in a Winter Wonderland" we always laugh at the ad-libbing:

🎵 walking in a winter wonderland
Let those sleighbells ring!
🎵 walking in a winter wonderland
Tell it like it is!

Echo and the Bunnymen

Spare us the cutter
Spare us the cutter
Couldn't cut the M-M-M-Mustard!

I don't know what this cutter is and McCulloch won't tell us, so I'm not sure if it's good or bad that he can't cut the mustard.