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-   -   songs about writer's block? (http://www.sonicyouth.com/gossip/showthread.php?t=21795)

atsonicpark 05.11.2008 05:09 PM

songs about writer's block?
 
So, let's post all the songs we know that you think are about writer's block...

Nirvana - On a Plain (this is debateable as are all of his lyrics, but the randomness of the lines and things like "what the hell am I trying to say" seem to suggest writer's block)

KoRn - Ass Itch (obviously. "I hate writing shit, it is so stupid" etc)

Fugazi - Epic Problem (well, this is obviously him trying to write a letter but he can't think of the words to say, so...)

pbradley 05.11.2008 06:01 PM

every Pixies song?

demonrail666 05.11.2008 06:24 PM

The Smiths, 'Stop Me If You Think That You've Heard This One Before'. Although that's probably a sideswipe at people who think all Smiths songs sound the same.

atsonicpark 05.11.2008 06:26 PM

You know..

That's my favorite smiths song.

ohfuchsia 05.12.2008 12:41 AM

there she goes my beautiful world by nick cave.

Death & the Maiden 05.12.2008 02:07 AM

The Fall - How I Wrote Elastic Man

Pookie 05.12.2008 02:25 AM

(I Got A) Writer's Block

Can't remember who it's by.

ZEROpumpkins 05.12.2008 02:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pookie
(I Got A) Writer's Block

Can't remember who it's by.

:D that reminds me of that post a while back called (I got some) Lego Blocks

Danny Himself 05.12.2008 05:39 AM

"Well I'm hunched over a typewriter
I guess you'd call that painting in a cave
And there's a word I can't remember,
And a feeling I cannot escape.
Now my ashtray's overflowing and
I'm still staring at a clean white page.
Oh, and morning is at my window,
She is sending me to bed again."

"Another Travelin' Song" - Bright Eyes

ZEROpumpkins 05.12.2008 06:54 AM

Pffft Bright Eyes

All my songs are about writers block, that is my non-electronic songs. Basically I see lyrics as meaningless crap used so the vocals can sound harmonious with the music. Hell it's why I like Weezer so much, because I pay no attention to Cuomo's lyrics.

atsonicpark 05.12.2008 07:03 AM

"i got a writer's block"
"i got a catholic block"
"i got a body rot"

SonicBebs 05.12.2008 10:38 AM

Underneath The Biggest Skies by larpe

Danny Himself 05.12.2008 01:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ZEROpumpkins
Pffft Bright Eyes


Stop having snobby, unfounded views on bands! Enough!

Fred Cracklin 05.12.2008 03:05 PM

old news, but...
New Cure Album Stalled By Smith's Writer's Block

 
December 06, 2006,

http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/..._id=1003493707

Everyneurotic 05.12.2008 03:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Danny Himself
Stop having snobby, unfounded views on bands! Enough!


just remind him he likes primus.

Fred Cracklin 05.12.2008 03:12 PM

a song not exactly about writer's block, but perhaps the lyrics provide a somewhat satirical reference to the act of songwriting...
perhaps the bolded part below betrays just a touch of writer's block present during the process of writing the words...

Birdie in the hand for life's rich demand
The insurgency began and you missed it
I looked for it and I found it
Miles Standish proud, congratulate me

A philanderer's tie, a murderer's shoe

Life's rich demand creates supply in the hand
Of the powers, the only vote that matters
Silence means security silence means approval
And Zenith on the TV, tiger run around the tree
Follow the leader, run the churn into butter

Let's begin again, begin the begin
Let's begin again like Martin Luther zen
The mythology begins the begin
Answer me a question I can't itemize
I can't think clear
You look to me for reason
And it's not there
I can't even rhyme
Here in the begin

A philanderer's tie, a murderer's shoe
Example: the finest example is you

(repeat chorus)

A philanderer's tie, a murderer's shoe
Let's begin again, begin the begin
Let's begin again

byrikdad on 08-22-2006 @ 05:06:20 PM
This song laughs at the idea that technological or social innovation is really progress. The narrator is proud (Miles Standish -- one of the first American colonialists -- proud) and wants to be congratulated. But the "progress" is simply change, not advancement.

The power of innovation is respectable (a "tiger") but it doesn't lead forward ("run around the tree") -- just in circles. The tigers in "Little Black Sambo" end up destroying themselves for their efforts.

The development of a consumerist culture enrichens a few ("the powers") and is silently approved of, and thus allowed to continue.

byMickeyPhilly on 02-11-2007 @ 04:00:29 AM The title is also a play on the popular bossa nova/jazz standard "Begin the Beguine".

SuperCreep 05.12.2008 03:57 PM

Forgive me if I'm wrong, but wasn't Bob Dylan Wrote Propaganda Songs about Mike Watt's writer's block? I remember reading/hearing that somewhere...

atsonicpark 05.12.2008 07:26 PM

I dunno... but that song's amazing!

Fred Cracklin 05.12.2008 10:31 PM

Type Slowly by Pavement

again, not overtly about writer's block, but if someone is typing slowly, then they are unsure of what they would like to convey...

or at the very least, the act of typing slowly indicates a certain deliberateness...

Sherri you smell different
Get up early in the bed
For you morning comes so easy
Spells have been cast and the urge has been lost
Snipers posted bills as they of our midnight vacation
Back on the planet nowI'm beginning to see just how
You echelon your dreams and they'll come true
Type slowly

One of us is a cigar stand
And one of us is a lovely blue incandescent guillotine
The edge of creation is blurred and blushed
Not a lot of room to grow inside this leather terrarium
People of the bay
It is excruciatingly grey
Face the front when he comes for you
Type slowly

Cherish your memorized weakness
Fashioned from a manifesto lady I am no futurist, etc.
Trolls in the glen are consorting again
The liberals say they don't exist but I know they do
Reïnforce your literal ass
Hit it on the first or second pass
Frozen images suspected few
Type slowly

Type Slowly

by a m drones on 01-28-2008 @ 04:51:30 PM no comments? you're all wrong then. the whole thing just sounds half awake to me but i'm not going to attempt to ascribe meaning. just love it as a surrealist jumble of snipers, reptile homes and fairy-tale bad guys. it's also a vocal tour-de-force from sm, from the softly sung prettiness of 'the edge of creation is blurred and blushed' to the yodel of 'liberals...' gorgeous guitar, lots of genius rhyming ('people of the bay - it is excruciatingly grey', 'trolls in the glen are consorting again'; it is quietly one of pavement's best. is 'brighten' still a bit underrated? i really hope they do get the deluxe version out, cos even though i probably have most of the tracks (i seem to have about seven hundred versions of 'shady lane' for a start), this seemed a fertile period to me, with 'infinite spark', 'starlings' and 'type slowly' especially.

Fred Cracklin 05.12.2008 10:45 PM

I don't know how many songs are specifically about writer's block. My guess is that, yes, of course there are a few, but not all that many.

Google sez:

Just Jack - Writer's Block
I get this writer's block, it comes as quite a shock,
And now i'm stuck between a hard place and the biggest rock,
In my own head consumed. I sit back in my room,
Its like the tapestries of life get tangled in the loom,
I'm like a butterfly, caught in a hurricane,
My pulse is quickening as my heart plays a new refrain

Im lovin' Mary Jane, flyin' with Lois Lane,
On board a bullet train
Don't know yet if i'm glad i came
Don't know yet if i'm glad i came
Don't know yet if i'm glad i came
Don't know yet if i'm glad i came

Sometimes at night i think too much,
About life and love and music and stuff

I'm livin' in the past,
My clocks an hour fast,
Should really go and make a coffee but i can't be arsed,
I've lost my mobile phone,
You'll have to call my home,
On second thoughts just leave a message when you hear the tone,
My grimy windows show the early morning glow,
Another day, another dollar in my one man show,

Im lovin' Mary Jane, flyin' with Lois Lane,
On board a bullet train
Don't know yet if i'm glad i came
Don't know yet if i'm glad i came
Don't know yet if i'm glad i came
Don't know yet if i'm glad i came

I fell out with Mary Jane, I don't speak to Lois Lane and i missed that bullet train
But now i know i'm glad i-
I fell out with Mary Jane, I don't speak to Lois Lane and i missed that bullet train
But now i know i'm glad i-
I fell out with Mary Jane, I don't speak to Lois Lane and i missed that bullet train
But now i know i'm glad i-
I fell out with Mary Jane, I don't speak to Lois Lane and i missed that bullet train
But now i know i'm glad i came
But now i know i'm glad i came
But now i know i'm glad i came

I suppose I could youtube the artist and title and find out what the song sounds like if I wanted.

And there are undoubtedly others too. But all in all, "writer's block" is a bit of an oddball subject for a song. And rock lyrics aren't exactly usually precious poetry that's pored over by the author anyway. The aim is to come up with words that, with the right vocal phrasing, sound good with the music and have at least some vague theme or meaning.


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