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Lyrics Not Pulled from the Rock n' Roll Handbook - Printable Version

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Lyrics Not Pulled from the Rock n' Roll Handbook - potsie - 09-13-2016

In the negative review of the Hip that Tthip posted, the writer calls the Hip's lyrics "mainly pretentious and often incoherent or just plain silly." This got me thinking about some of Gord's lyrics that could potentially fit this description. I personally love Gord's occasional incoherence and weirdness and like to think of these type of lyrics as something that Gord didn't just pull straight out of the rock n' roll lyric handbook. The one that comes to mind for me is from Tiger the Lion:

"John Cage had come to feel
That art in our time
Was far less important
Than our daily lives"

This reads like something Professor Downie would lecture to a liberal arts class. There is no one in rock, besides Gord, that could deliver those lines without sounding cringe worthy.

I'm interested in hearing what you think are some of Gord's most head-scratching, cerebral, or weird lyrics. Or even something you think borders on pretentious. I don't want to walk on the well worn path of "favourite" lyric threads, but would like to hear about lyrics or lines that make you go, WTF? Lines that could only have come from the twisted mind of the Hip's front man.

Re: Lyrics Not Pulled from the Rock n' Roll Handbook - sonichka11 - 09-13-2016

"Cold wind blowing over your private parts."
Someone please explain this line/song to me! :lol:

Re: Lyrics Not Pulled from the Rock n' Roll Handbook - cochise - 09-13-2016

Coconut Cream.

Enough said

Re: Lyrics Not Pulled from the Rock n' Roll Handbook - direwolf74 - 09-13-2016

cochise Wrote:Coconut Cream.

Enough said

Yup. :thumb:

Re: Lyrics Not Pulled from the Rock n' Roll Handbook - andrew sharpe - 09-14-2016

Gord is such a brilliant writer that when I don't understand a lyric I assume it's me. Dude is just operating on a different plane.

Re: Lyrics Not Pulled from the Rock n' Roll Handbook - cochise - 09-14-2016

When I first heard "Music @ Work", I thought the one line was "when the sunlight hits the honour bar, don't hesitate". I thought it was such a great line about a band on the road, living the stereotypical lifestyle, staying in hotels, drinking as soon as you woke up, literally out there on the road putting their music to work.

Then when I got the CD and found out the actual line was "when the sunlight hits the olive oil, don't hesitate", it made me scratch my head. I can make assumptions what Gord meant by the line, but will never really know for certain.

Similarly in Queen of The Furrows, the line "watch yourself, I said to my toasted western"? All I can picture there is some guy at breakfast, baked out of his mind. Although that may fit, as somehow I always got the feeling that song was kind of about pot farming. Talking about farming under the night moon, making their way by feel through the fields, eyes up and ears down low, etc.

But who knows. I think that's what makes Gords lyrics so great. They are not your cookie cutter, cut & dry meaning type of lyrics. They are so vague and different that they can mean different things to different people, which in the long run probably makes people have a much closer connection to his lyrics and Gord in general. Every line, every verse, molds into something that person has or is experiencing in their own life.

And I am sure over the years, Gord has had some fun with this...."what can I put in here to make people really wonder WTF?" :thumb:

Re: Lyrics Not Pulled from the Rock n' Roll Handbook - potsie - 09-14-2016

direwolf74 Wrote:
cochise Wrote:Coconut Cream.

Enough said

Yup. :thumb:

If I could ask Gord to go back to the typewriter for one song, it's this one. Killer opening riff, great music. Could have been a giant with a different set of lyrics.

Re: Lyrics Not Pulled from the Rock n' Roll Handbook - direwolf74 - 09-14-2016

potsie Wrote:
direwolf74 Wrote:
cochise Wrote:Coconut Cream.

Enough said

Yup. :thumb:

If I could ask Gord to go back to the typewriter for one song, it's this one. Killer opening riff, great music. Could have been a giant with a different set of lyrics.

Agreed. The lyrics for that song always seemed really silly and nonsensical. Almost like a throw-away nursery rhyme kinda thing.

Re: Lyrics Not Pulled from the Rock n' Roll Handbook - emperor penguin - 09-14-2016

Every single lyric in Eldorado. If anyone's figured that one out or has an opinion about what the song is about please let me know.

Re: Lyrics Not Pulled from the Rock n' Roll Handbook - andrew sharpe - 09-14-2016

cochise Wrote:When I first heard "Music @ Work", I thought the one line was "when the sunlight hits the honour bar, don't hesitate". I thought it was such a great line about a band on the road, living the stereotypical lifestyle, staying in hotels, drinking as soon as you woke up, literally out there on the road putting their music to work.

Then when I got the CD and found out the actual line was "when the sunlight hits the olive oil, don't hesitate", it made me scratch my head. I can make assumptions what Gord meant by the line, but will never really know for certain.
Olive oil goes bad when exposed to sunlight. So I think it's just Gord saying gogetterdone. When in doubt, hipmuseum http://www.hipmuseum.com/philo.html

Re: Lyrics Not Pulled from the Rock n' Roll Handbook - sean.bonner - 09-14-2016

'Let's take it to the top
Of the tobacco nation
We can aim the dish
For hardcore invitations'

Re: Lyrics Not Pulled from the Rock n' Roll Handbook - mark - 09-14-2016

emperor penguin Wrote:Every single lyric in Eldorado. If anyone's figured that one out or has an opinion about what the song is about please let me know.

i always assumed it was about a recovering alcoholic

Re: Lyrics Not Pulled from the Rock n' Roll Handbook - emperor penguin - 09-14-2016

mark Wrote:
emperor penguin Wrote:Every single lyric in Eldorado. If anyone's figured that one out or has an opinion about what the song is about please let me know.

i always assumed it was about a recovering alcoholic

That makes total sense.

Re: Lyrics Not Pulled from the Rock n' Roll Handbook - Moof_Milker - 09-14-2016

sean.bonner Wrote:'Let's take it to the top
Of the tobacco nation
We can aim the dish
For hardcore invitations'
As a kid who did a lot of nighttime back yard skating rink flooding (...we had the best rink around!), this song speaks to me. I hear it and immediately feel myself out in the cold dark yard with a garden hose in my hand flooding that rink. "When the clouds are low...700 and sinking" Those low hanging clouds forming the ceiling of that outdoor rink. The verse you quote, for me, is about this: the time spent with your buddies after playing shinny. Usually in the basement, lots of drinking, smoking, and at some point the tv gets flipped to some t&a on the satellite. I had lots of experiences like this growing up, especially around the time this song came out in the mid 90s. That's what it means to me anyway. Who know what Gord was thinking though....like most of his writing, it's abstract by design.

Re: Lyrics Not Pulled from the Rock n' Roll Handbook - cochise - 09-16-2016

Not sure why it just popped into my head, but thinking about this thread reminded me of the comedy Walk Hard that was out a few years back. The part where Dewey Cox is going through his Dylan phase.

[youtube]9u5x9pdInTU[/youtube]

"you guys are idiots, this song is very deep" Big Grin

Although I think the funniest part of the movie is when he goes through his Brian Wilson phase. All in all a pretty comical movie/mocumentary.