Post-turkey and belly-ached at the Shirley Family Thanksgiving Dinner, the progeny hung out around the dartboard in the garage. And, of course, my cousins, brothers and I played music off our iPods with some fuzzy portable speakers, fighting for control of the songbook with every track.

Things got heated when my brother Julian (himself a rapper earning his chops in the Alameda scene) declared himself disenchanted with and disinterested in almost anything the Rock Genre has to offer today because, unlike the Alternative Rock of the 90’s all the Shirley boys once revered, the lyrics of today’s Rock music “suck.”

Julian Shirley aka Juji aka NOT Beck

Well, the band disbanded, the party-goers went home, the dishes were dish-washed but the snub still stings, and now I’m doing something about it. I picked out excerpts from several modern rock songs that show–without the shadow of a doubt–that good lyricism still exist in the genre. All songs were, of course, written in this dawning decade. Take that, naysayers.

And here it is: Proof that rockers can still write.

LAZY JANE by Belle & Sebastian, 2005

In the mud, on your knees
Trying hard not to please
Anyone, all the time
Being a rebel’s fine
But you go all the way to being brutal

ALL I NEED by Radiohead, 2007

I’m the next act
waiting in the wings
I’m an animal
Trapped in your hot car
I am all the days
that you choose to ignore

ECLIPSE by The Beta Band, 2001
(This whole song 6+ minute song is seriously ill, in some absurd way.)

The people with the questions got together
with the people with the books and left the people with answers out
So the people with the answers started to make their way over the hill
to meet with people with the questions and the people with the books

And we all live together on a little round ball
We all sing together when the cuckoo calls

I THINK I’M IN LOVE by Beck, 2006
(Although, if you really listen to most of his new music, it’s Scientologist-inspired paranoia and that’s not cool.)

Probably lay my head on a wooden floor
Tell her I was tired from working the store
Counting all the cash from an old shoebox
Saving up to buy her something she wants

I think I’m in love
But it makes me kinda nervous to say so
I think I’m in love
But it makes me kinda nervous to say so

THE FIXER by Pearl Jam, 2009
(This one’s been quoted in just about every piece written about PJ’s Backspacer release and public resurrection.)

When something’s dark, let me shed a little light on it
When something’s cold, let me put a little fire on it
If something’s old, I wanna put a bit of shine on it
When something’s gone, I wanna fight to get it back again

ONE WING by Wilco, 2009.

I always knew this would be our fate
This is what happens when we separate
This is what happens to all dead weight, eventually

We may as well be made of stone
We can’t be formed

One Wing will never fly
Neither yours nor mine
I fear we can only wave goodbye

VALLEY HI! by Stereolab, 2008
(This song by the British band was sung in French, so, for the purpose of this exercise, I translated the lyrics. The song suffers from it but it’s easier than you learning French.)

Je la monte laborieusement, (I lift it laboriously)
toujours vers le haut (Always upwards)
elle est lourde, ce matériau, (It is heavy, this material)
cette pierre est un fardeau (This stone is a burden)

elle pourrait être construction   (It could be for construction)
utilisée pour une maison   (Used for a house)
je la hisse jusqu’au sommet,  (I hoist it to the summit,)
redescendre, laisser venir.   (Come back down, let it come)

Le message est toujours le meme:   (The message is always the same:)
Il faut observer les lois de la gravité. (You have to observe the laws of gravity)

ANIMAL MIDNIGHT by Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks, 2003
(Did you hear Pavement’s reuniting? Did you?)

Sacrifice for you is just flirtation
And friendship a cold convenience
I wonder sometimes what you’re made of
Is it rayon or is it dust?

How you calibrate your intuition
such that it just feeds the kill
and every single night I try to make you come alive
you shove it right back in my face

And you
you don’t see me
because you
you won’t change
you
you don’t see me
because you
you won’t change

With your big old rushin’ brain
to keep you ahead of the stoplights

DON’T MAKE ME A TARGET by Spoon, 2007

Clubs and sticks and bats and balls
for nuclear dicks with dialect drawls
they come from a parking lot town
where nothing lives in the sun

GUARANTEED NIGHTLIFE by Polyphonic Spree, 2007

Guaranteed nightlife, where everybody shines
I wanna try to wake up with you

Social climb hideout, where fantasies run dry
I never wanna face that with you

But ya never know, when your lovers glow
Has decided to go home

EDUCATION by Mirah, 2009

And I received an education all the while
I’ve come to an understanding
When you say you love me sometimes
That’s all you can give

Love might just be an economy
But I don’t believe in property
We don’t own nothin’
We don’t owe nothin’

I ONLY WANT YOU by Eagles of Death Metal, 2004
(I threw this one in because, it ain’t just about writin’ pretty; it’s rock!)

When I feel like you get too close I put you right down
I never really leave I just slip away
And it’s not my purpose to break your spirit
I’m not really interested in what’s in your heart
I don’t want you to fall in love now so please don’t start

I only want you (4x)

I know that it’s terribly cruel but then I like it
Because you tried to love me I just can’t stay
And I’m not gonna lie just to spare you feelings
Cuz watching you suffer feels much better to me
I’m about to lay destruction on you
I’m not the lover man that you want me to be

I said well…

I only want you

Share on Facebook