I miss the earth so much; I miss my wife

and so on

he was rather obsessed

this is to say nothing of the "i'm not the man they think I am at all" line

Were really really awful.

Example: In an otherwise fine song, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, full of pathos, feeling, suddenly the whole is like a toilet flushing in a symphony call when I hear "hunting the horny-backed toad".

I can't take any more bad water
I've been poisoned from my head down to my shoes

"Border Song"

And also, song titles from hell:

I Feel Like A Bullet (In The Gun Of Robert Ford)

whaaah?

as for this:

"paying your HP demands forever"

what does that mean? is that a british thing? or was bernie talking about having to constantly refill the toner on his lover's hewlett-packard printer?

I always figured Levon sold cartoon balloons as an eccentric millionare-type hobby. Keeps him in touch with the common people, see.

I didn't say I didn't like it! Obv. the fact that Levon made me think about the economics of balloon sales says something for the quality of the lyrics.

It would never occur to me that these words should be sung in order.

is this an expression that i just missed, or is it a UK thing, or just the worst metaphor ever?

(Saturday Night's Alright (For Fighting)

meta: i love the songs too, but dagnabbit some of this is just bizarre. the levon bit made me laugh very hard.

But I mean, I never even really thought about it before.

And isn't barrel of monkeys an expression for a fun and wild time? I'm not UK-ish, though, so I could be wrong.

And then, in the next verse, he sends "Jesus" off to Venus on a balloon

I always wondered if Jesus was maybe kinda like Forrrest Gump or Rainman or something and he just likes to sit around making balloons all day...maybe this would explain the balloon business because if he's rich then he could afford to sell balloons on the side just to give his son something to do....

I think it went:

"Hey hey I'm a Monkee
And I was the funny one
I also sang half the songs,
As well playing the drums"

But while they are indeed very bad, the line that follows is mystifying:
"And there's no one there to raise them if you did"

?? Is the idea that his wife isn't there? But then how did his kids get there? Or is he saying you can't get a good nanny on Mars? a head-scratcher... Love that song though

I pretty much agree with Kenny here. The line "Anyway, the thing is, what I really mean" is followed by one of the tritest lines in songcraft, "Yours are the sweetest eyes I've ever seen". Both lines work perfectly fine in the song.

Here's a little blurb about the lyrics to "Solar Prestige A Gammon", a song which I had not thought about for a while before clicking this thread. But I knew the chorus by heart! Phonetically speaking.

http://members.langoo.com/steve4nlanguage/steve4nlanguage3.html

and I am still fixated on Saturday Night's Alright (For fighting)

My sister looks cute
in her braces and boots
a handful of grease in her hair

At what point in human history is being greasy associated positively with being a girl?
and a whole HANDFUL? Are you picturing this? She's a girl, not a scone, she doesn't need shortening!

That said, would anyone like to explain two head-scratchers from "Bennie And The Jets" to me?

Hey kids, shake it loose together
The spotlight's hitting something
That's been known to change the weather
We'll kill the fatted calf tonight
So stick around
You're gonna hear electric music
Solid walls of sound

Say, Candy and Ronnie, have you seen them yet
But they're so spaced out, Bennie and the Jets
Oh but they're weird and they're wonderful
Oh Bennie she's really keen
She's got electric boots a mohair suit
You know I read it in a magazine
Bennie and the Jets

Hey kids, plug into the faithless
Maybe they're blinded
But Bennie makes them ageless
We shall survive, let us take ourselves along
Where we fight our parents out in the streets
To find who's right and who's wrong

Those are some pretty excellent lyrics for the most part - I especially love the final lines and the "electric music, solid walls of sound" bit. I still mishear the opening line all of time as "hey kids, Satans meets the devil."

hmm, that one always seemed straightforward to me. she rocks so hard she can cause earthquakes.

Hey kids, plug into the faithless

um, something about worshiping false gods, idols, etc? not only can she cause earthquakes, she might be the devil too. but she sure can rock.

i can't find, oh the right romantic line
but see me once and see the way I feel
don't discard me just because you think i mean you harm
but these cuts I have, they need love to help them heal

i'm not a big fan of the belittling words "just because" in line 3, which just seem to be the wrong words for the occasion -- as if to suggest that the harm he may cause is of no consequence and his lover would be selfish to take it into conideration.

and i'm uttered baffled by the "but" that begins line 4.

Hmm. I always (mis-?)heard this lyric as "don't discard me just because you think I'm in your heart" -- which I interpreted as Elton reaching out to someone who's afraid of making an emotional connection/commitment.

oops.