Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Lyrics, Lyrics, Lyrics

I have many friends that would have me believe that song lyrics really don't matter much. If the whole thing is rubbish then I'd have sympathy with that but I've long suspected, in truth, that I wasn't the only one who regards the lyric as an integral part of the song. They don't have to be deep and incisive, and it is sometimes better that they are not, but they matter nonetheless.
I am heartened that I am not alone in this belief as - for about nearly a fortnight now - I have been able to see the search-engine enquiries that resulted in visits to this blog and one of the most frequent is a search for song lyrics.
There are a number of sites that do this as a matter of purpose but take care - they do have a tendency to invite you to click links that may be dubious! Less seriously the lyrics are not always too reliable either as I found this evening when I checked out one such site <http://www.lyricsmode.com> to see what it came up with as the lyrics for the for Amy Macdonald - Let's Start A Band, as someone had looked for them today. I can't really recommend this site as the lyric posted was wrong in many rather obvious ways. Here is my version of it done from the CD:

Let's Start A Band
Put a ribbon round my neck and call me a libertine.
I will sing you songs of dreams I used to dream.
I will sail away on seas of silver and gold
Until I reach my home.

Give me a guitar and I’ll be a troubadour,
Your strolling minstrel, twelfth century, door to door.
I don’t know anymore if that feeling is past.
Will it last?
Oh how can you be sure?

And how do I know if you’re feeling the same as me?
And how do I know if that’s the only place you want to be?

Give me a stage and I’ll be a rock and roll queen,
Your twentieth century cover of a magazine.

Rolling Stone here I come, watch out everyone
I’m singing; I’m singing my song.

Give me a festival and I’ll be a Glastonbury star.
The lights are shining, everyone knows who you are,
Singing songs about dreams, about hopes, about schemes.
Oooh --- they just came true.

And how do I know if you’re feeling the same as me?
And how do I know if that’s the only place you want to be?
And how do I know if you’re feeling the same as me?
And how do I know if that’s the only place you want to be?

And if you want it too then there’s nothing left to do…
Let’s start a band.
Let’s start a band.
Let’s start a band.
Let’s start a band.
(Repeat three times)

If you want it too then there’s nothing left to do.

That said I could simply have copied it from the inlay card of the CD in which, my dubious punctuation aside, it is almost identical. If legal downloads don't come with the same information, such as lyrics, that the equivalent CDs do then that is a matter that the labels should address, and pretty smartly too, as it is hardly rocket science.

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