01-14-2018, 12:01 PM
It's an interesting thought that that song works better on the page than as a song lyric. That may indeed be the case, because as I note above, "barbarous threats" sounds precious to my ear. The wider thought is that because music does considerable expressive lifting, you may need fewer words, especially adjectives, in a lyric than in prose or poetry.
I'm just surprised "Leave" is on a par with "Beautiful Thing" here. The former always seemed a really strong composition and recording to me, while the latter comes off to my ear as two great verses bolted to an OTT chorus with an unfortunately phallic ricochet, along with a ghastly, tacky guitar solo. The song is kitsch. "Leave" is not.
I'm just surprised "Leave" is on a par with "Beautiful Thing" here. The former always seemed a really strong composition and recording to me, while the latter comes off to my ear as two great verses bolted to an OTT chorus with an unfortunately phallic ricochet, along with a ghastly, tacky guitar solo. The song is kitsch. "Leave" is not.
