Best and Worst prog lyrics

Triumvirat is one of my favorite bands too and IMO Mister Ten Percent is an incredible prog epic. But even the greatest songs can have less than stellar lyrics. ;) By the way of contrast: the lyrics to the Million Dollars section are witty and well written.

Worst Triumvirat lyrics imo:

When you came home late from school
Your daddy's acting like a fool
Have you talked to smaller toys
Playing the game
Have you talked to smaller toys
Playing the game

To me it's the bottom of the barrel of uninspired cliché amateur love song lyric writing. Pure cringe, I'd say.

I have an unreasonable hatred of the song "A Trick of the Tail". Specifically the line "Am I wrong to believe in the city of gold that lies in the deep distance, he cried and wept." Now I know Gabriel didn't write all the lyrics he sung, but the band's attempts to write in that style after he left always fell flat. Really any Collins era song that tried to be "playful" was very cringey. "Illegal Alien" was the worst of the worst, but I'd hardly call that prog.

Best lyrics in prog rock? Probably something from Pink Floyd. Anything from Animals. Echoes, Dark Side. I'll settle for Wish You Were Here.

But the worst lyric goes to one of the best bands in all respects, Jethro Tull.

The Curse.


Young Gladys was a silky maiden
At thirteen, she was going strong, yeah.
Oh, Gladys.
Nicely filled out, fully laden,
But down below there was something wrong, yeah.
Oh, Gladys.
Nobody told her about the secrets
That ladies have to hide
Mom had no words to describe the things
That happened inside.
Need someone to help me,
I feel that there's a curse on me, oh.
Went down into the local disco,
For what used to be the one night, yeah,
Oh Gladys.
Felt a searching hand to frisk her,
Along the legs of the water line, yeah,
Oh Gladys.
Now Gladys knew she was in no condition
In no mood to play
I cracked a knee in her soft spot, nothing
Had got in her way.
I want no one to touch me,
I feel there's a curse on me, oh.
Directed down to the local drugstore
Got fixed up, now she's doing fine, yeah
Oh Gladys
Equipped with various kinds of apparatus
You know the feminine hygiene kind, yeah
Oh Gladys
Must have been a man to do these things
Who won her fall from grace
That day he programmed me
(That lady programmed me?)
You should have seen the smile on his face
He said 'You'll need someone to help you
When you feel like cursing me', oh.

kirk782 wrote: "So cast your eyes to America And see how a poor negro dies So cast your eyes into the sky And see how a white negro flies" While I am sure the songwriter had noble intentions, but 'Out of Focus' weren't doing themselves any justice when writing those last two lines, especially considering that the final line is also the name of the song.

Hi,

At the time, they weren't the only ones making incendiary comments about many things. You'll want to watch the film PERFORMANCE, or simply pick up the soundtrack album, and listen to THE LAST POETS ... it was a time for the "Black Power" thing in America, and it's lyrics and moments were not exactly clean or clear with Lysol, just the way we like them!

That things were not any better in Europe is not a surprise, but making this comment some 50+ years later, is very scary ... what happened yesterday is not the same as today, although I don't understand how we can be critical of these lyrics, and ignore RAP these days, when its own lyrics are ... way more lively and scary than the ones we heard 50 years ago, though I am not sure I would want to discuss those differences. Even within "krautrock" there was a lot of political commentary, and not all communes and groupings were exactly free of politics and sticking strictly to keeping the women as subjects for the men ... and not many of those men gave a damn about the emancipation of women, and their advances in Westernized societies, though there still is the same issue in other parts of the world, where women are not "free".

The only thing that scares me, is us putting our heads in the sand and ignore history, and realize that many times, these are not exactly independent comments, not brought out by something else ... and the artistic challenges and changes in the 20th century were all very strong and stood out for many things ... you really think those lyrics are any better/worse than Picasso's Guernica? You can't see the child looking out the window and seeing broken up bodies in the street? ... ok ... I get it ... we're all blind and refuse to accept so many artists have tried to show us ... but we will think that the sugary crap is some kind of a better lyric ...

Sail away, the ship of my life
Take me to the edge of the world
There I'll find my gold
There I'll find my dream
And someday I will return
When the world has changed

From Shangri-La by Druid. Penned by Dane.
Not the most creative lyrics, but this is imo a really effective chorus. It has an "epic" quality to it.

Jaketejas wrote: Not the greatest And we can fly from here And we can fly from here And we can drink some beer And we can have a Happy New Year …

Been a hot minute since I've heard the album, I was going to check it out again, but now...

Interesting
Yesterday a morning came, a smile upon your face
Caesar's palace, morning glory, silly human race,
On a sailing ship to nowhere, leaving any place,
If the summer change to winter, yours is no disgrace

Not the greatest
And we can fly from here
And we can fly from here
And we can drink some beer
And we can have a Happy New Year …

Edited by David_D - December 31 2023 at 04:41

I don't think that anything can get any worse than this.

Oh I need the bathroom
Oh I need the bathroom
Oh keep on fighting
Oh I need the bathroom

And oh it's keeping on
Oh keep on fighting

Oh I need a bathroom
We're 'bout keeping on
Oh keep on fighting
And you keep me on

Then call again to Alaro
Maybe things will change, things tomorrow
And call again - keeping on

Oh I need a bathroom
Oh I need a bathroom
Oh keep on fighting
Oh

And yet it seems tomorrow maybe change things
I don't know if you're right
Oh keep on rocking
Oh keep on fighting
Oh