And made the almost as hideous “Summer of Love”.
Fun fact, Bernie Taupin wrote the lyrics to We Built This City.

That album had some great stuff on it. Why they later churned out awful dreck like "We Built This City" I have no idea.

Miracles, Fast Buck Freddy, Ride the Tiger, those were great tunes. I even enjoyed some of the Mickey Thomas stuff like Jane and Laying It On the Line - it wasn't as good, but it was nowhere near as bad as the Starship dreck.I've heard that the reformed JEFFERSON Starship stuff from the late 90s and 00s was good, but I've never heard it.

BTW - Rocket Man has no rhymes in it. Nothing rhymes.

The closest it comes (that I can think of) is "Long long time" and "again to find". It's close, but still no cigar.

I love a good steam but it’s a struggle. At one Y I used to go to I used to pick a number of songs to last through. 4-5 is a good 15-20 minutes. Rocket Man came on and I listened to the words. I had no idea.

1) You're Havin' My Baby (Paul Anka); 2) Danny's (Dumb) Song (Loggins/Messina); 3) Never Been To Me (Charlene--whoever the hell she is); and 4) Everything Leo Bleepin' Sayer ever did.

(I'll save the Bee Gees disco catalog for another day.....)





Long Live Rock!! - - - - - - - - - - - -

Paul Anka is music? News to me. hehehe

I noticed this thread. That and "It Was A Very Good Year," that funereal Frank Sinatra song.

I'm not familiar with most of the others, but I actually like Danny's song! I can't help but love a lyric like "Even though we ain't got money, I'm so in love with you, honey," and the tune is great, imo.

To each his or her own!

Kenny Loggins wrote it for his brother because he couldn't afford to give his brother a present for his little kid.

Please don't hate me or feel sorry for me. That was music that made me feel happy. We even danced to some of it in Jazzercise!

Afternoon Delight
Made even worse by subjecting myself to the video.

https://m.

on July 10, 1976, it was #1 single on the Billboard 100

it does have a well-crafted and well-sung vocal arrangement.

I mean, they could have just phoned in simple 4 part harmony, but there is some thought put into it, with some suspensions and a couple of times when there are moving inner parts.

Especially because of the muskrat chittering noises.

Supposedly Captain and Tennille sang it at some state dinner, and Kissinger was completely confused….

Or "Ooga Chaka, Ooga Chaka, Ooga ooga ooga chaka" version of Hooked on a Feeling by Blue Swede.

That was one dumb song

I loved the Captain and Tennille, but that song was the worst!

That was mine. Especially the "performance" from the TV C&T Variety show with the muskrat puppets. Aaargh!!! I had suppressed that memory, or so I thought.

Sue was a sort of novelty country act but her songs were strictly bubble gum. Paper Tiger was kinda good though..sort of a a feminist anthem of the day

I could listen to We Built This City on repeat all day rather than catch even three seconds of LST.

Of course, they did as a folk song and didn't try to turn it into a slick pop number, and it sounded totally different and even had a different title, but I love it. 😁

waiting room picking at my guitar. I recognized the voice but not the man, but he helped me with some fingering because I was trying to play and learn The Garden Song.

Seeger was one of the nicest men I ever met in my like. Old Folkie, if you like Harry Chapin (who is another of my idols), spent about ten minutes with me until I built up the nerve to ask if I was playing his song. He smiled and said "well, I did record it a long time ago but it isn't my song."

Then I heard "Mr. Seeger" called from a room and he got up and walked into an office to do business.

Thanks for a sharing this. I absolutely love Pete Seeger, too! (Present tense, because my love and respect for him will never die, even though he's gone now. )

Jay Siegel, the Tokens' singer, liked the project so much he was in several of the videos for "The Liar Tweets Tonight."

it might be related to then apartheid South Africa. Who ever was originally singing it or someone else. Pete Seeger, maybe.

The idea idea being that The Lion was at some point going to wake up. Either Pete S or someone else in live concert chanted to the Black African audience "You are the lion". Prophecyizing that one they would rise up and defeat apartheid.

You're Having My Baby and MacArthur Park.

I liked it because it had actual dynamics and tempo/melodic changes unlike most of the popular songs of the time.

But the lyrics were pretty frightful that's for sure "someone left the cake out in the rain" and "sweet green icing flowing down" are so weird it's tough to get past them.

I'm like, "Who's Richard Harris?"
"You know that song MacArthur Park?"
"No???"
"You know the song about the melting cake in the rain and the icing flowing down. I'll never have that recipe again...Oh no!!!!"
"Oh"

And if we needed any additional proof of Richard Harris' lack of singing ability, his performance in "Camelot" sealed the deal. Loved him in "This Sporting Life," where all he did was some fine acting...

Even as 7 and 9 year olds, my sister and I would sing sad operatic versions of it into our hairbrushes and then collapse laughing.

made me laugh! 😁 Good fun!

Musically. Words…oh well. Songwriter Jimmy Webb wrote an autobiography titled “The Cake and the Rain.” 😊
Fun fact: Webb wrote the song with The Association in mind, who turned it down. They would have been awesome.

But musically it’s ok IMO. Maynard Ferguson did a killer version of it. Being strictly instrumental, the listener is spared the word salad lyrics.

Harris was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease in August 2002, reportedly after being hospitalised with pneumonia.[39] He died at University College Hospital in Bloomsbury, London, on 25 October 2002, aged 72.[40] Harris had quipped that "It was the food!" as he was wheeled out of the Savoy Hotel for the last time.

_____________

Followed by: "And I will never have the recipe again!!!!" (I added that one)

group of people who absolutely hate it.

But I'm the only person with the MacArthur Park ringtone.

I’d also nominate Worst that Could Happen by Brooklyn Bridge and Ruby, Don’t take your Love to Town by Kenny Rogers. The first is about a guy who, instead of being even superficially happy for his sex partner, he is bummed she is getting married because that means he can’t have her anymore, yet he would never marry her because “it’s not my scene” and Roger’s’ song includes the line about if he could walk he’d get his gun and put her in the ground. Chauvenistic pigs at their worst.

Song is practically about an abusive narcissist trying to regain his supply and be obsessive about not giving in and is a whinefest about how terrible his life has become without her in it.

Decided to see if anyone already had, and ta-da!

Another gem by Jimmy Webb. Musically great, lyrically cringe. “A girl like you needs to be married”…you unhip thing.
His autobiography was a fun read. Sounds like a great guy in spite of this. It was the 70s.

So bad musically and lyrically!

Thanks for playing. I win.

why is all social media so flip and smug in responses?

I certainly don't know why Balkad of the Green Berets would not be eligible for this.

Sounds like an incel stalker working himself up to commit rape.

Johnny Get Angry -- Joanie Summers. Masochistic woman begs her boyfriend to show her who's the boss.

My Sharona -- The Knack. Every word is totally creepy and cringeworthy.

Young Girl -- Gary Picket and the Union Gap. Pedophile sex attraction song that blames the girl for being too sexy for her age.

Along with the lines:

"Although you know that it's wrong to be
along with me
That come on look is in your eyes."

I personally never had a problem with Gary Puckett's songs.

He also claims that she has "that come on look" in her eyes.

If you have ever encountered a pedophile, which I have (in work and volunteer settings), you know that the words of the song are how pedophiles think and talk.

To a pedophile, an 11 year old girl in a family pool with her friends is being deliberately seductive by wearing a bathing suit. When she looks up at him to see who just entered the yard, he sees a "come on look" in her eyes. I encountered that attitude when I was a volunteer Big Sister for a 5th grade girl whose stepmother's 25 year old brother molested her. She was terrified of him but eventually told her teacher, who called police. He insisted that she continually came on to him. He saw the look of fear in her eyes as seductive.

The second time was when I was doing some work for a domestic violence agency which offered women's support groups, housing, and a day care center. There was a guy who worked there part time. Another employee heard from someone she knew that he had a rape conviction. I was there when she asked him directly about it. He said that it was "only" statutory rape because the girl was 14 and he was 34 but she had acted older and lied about her age. A background check by the agency director showed that he knew the girl, her family, her age, and took advantage of her trust in him. He insisted that she dressed and looked older when SHE supposedly seduced HIM.

He was fired, along with the supervisor who hired him without a background check.

Doesn't it sound at all strange that a guy who knows a girl is underage sings about his longing and desire for her that he finds hard to resist? A man with a healthy attraction to age appropriate women would not be so obsessed with an under age one.

and at the end of the song he tells to to get lost. He did exactly what I did when I was invited to one of my student's homes in China for dinner by her parents only to get there to see the student was alone and tried to do something with me because "I love you, teacher."

I couldn't get out of that house fast enough!

"With the charms of a woman
You've kept the secret of your youth
You led me to believe your old enough
to give your love
But now it hurts to know the truth"

"Beneath your perfume and makeup
You're just a baby in disguise
And though you know that it's wrong to be
Alone with me
That come on look is in your eyes

So hurry home to your mama
I'm sure she wonders where you are.
"Get out of here
Before I have the time
To change my mind
Because I'm afraid we'll go to far."

Young girl, get out of my mind
My love for you is way out of line
Better run girl
You're just too young girl

an underage girl. No age given. Throughout the song, he blames the girl for his attraction to her. By remarkable coincidence, that is the same mentality of pedophiles.

His voice isn’t as great anymore but he has an entertaining show. He admitted a lot of his hits had “mature themes” and wouldn’t be played on the radio today.

same with stalking

It sounds good but is kind of creepy.

Every move you make
Every step you take
I'll be watching you

Oh can't you see
you belong to me

The older stuff is better and even more inapropriate now that I think about it - Don't Stand So Close to Me for example. Arguably a straight up pedo song but way more interesting musically than anything on that album with Every Breath. Wrapped Around Your Finger got old fast too, and it was pretty much Every Breath Pt 2., musically..less stalkery

It was about a creepy stalker. Sting said so, and he was weirded out that so many people thought it was a sweet love song!

to nominate "Tea in the Sahara" off Synchronicity.

I don't remember the song. I read the lyrics just now. Still doesn't ring a bell.

I think they're like 30 when they're singing it so, gross either way

(She's) Sexy & 17

Never thought of it that way, just that the singer wasn't a good friend to Jesse, because he had a crush on his girlfriend.

That song is as pedo as you can get.

especially when sung Karaoke style by drunks at a wedding.

... but "He Hit Me and it Felt Like a Kiss" has always been #1 on my list of Worst Song Ever. The Crystals reportedly hated doing it, and that it was written by King/Goffin makes it even more awful.

-- Mal

The title alone is terrible. I think I'll pass on checking it out.

"Yummy Yummy Yummy (I Got Love In My Tummy)" by Ohio Express

It makes me want to lose the contents of my tummy whenever I'm forced to think about it.

People are missing the first part of my post.

The list is subjective to my opinion, but feedback and entries you list could be used in future lists as long as the feedback is relatively polite.

But I enjoy satire.

-- Mal

We Built This City from your list is a close second, possibly tied for first.

I Wanna Talk About Me by Toby Keith
It is actually worse than his "boot in your ass", 9/11 song.

"We talk about your guys of every shape and size
The ones that you despise and the ones you idolize
We talk about your heart, 'bout your brain and your smarts
And your medical charts and when you start"

You know. When you're in the shower check for lady lumps!

My Humps does!

And not even "sexy" vapid, like the Marilyn Monroe archetype. I put sexy in quotes because it's not my cup of tea. However I do "get it" as a lowest common denominator objectification of women, ie I understand what is going on. "My lovely lady lumps" is just gross and weird. Truly WTF. When I found out my teenage (at the time) daughter was getting into Bikini Kill and other Riot Grrrl genre stuff from my college days I was pretty relieved...impressed actually.

OMG, what a pile of vapid tripe that one is!

And then there's Donny --ugh!-- Osmond's "Puppy Love"---what that puppy did wasn't love, but poor housebreaking. I'd need a doo-bag to remotely touch that one.

...with some of cringiest lyrics of all time:

"They're sharing a drink called 'loneliness,
But it's better than drinking alone".

And probably the worst use of an accordion in a pop song (and the instrument can work well as Paul Simon's "Boy In the Bubble" and any half-assed zydeco song has proven) ever.

It’s a limerick on a waltz. He also said it’s probably the worst piano bar song to play because it’s just the same song over and over. People are disappointed when they hear it played because they don’t realize that it’s so repetitive.

I really do, I think it's my favorite Billy Joel song! It's so tuneful, and the lyrics are great, imo.

It's funny how differently people can react to the same song. I don't think any of us are wrong, necessarily; it's very subjective, like the op says.

He said that song was simply a nostalgia thing for him. He and his friends would sing a cappella songs when they were kids.

Billy Graham blasted it during one of his TV broadcasted Crusades we had to watch as children. He said the song was ridiculous because there are no marriages in heaven. Just forget the dead wife and find another.

Yikes.

for making him listen to it
Frownland by Captain Beefheart

I actually like the song. But it was ruined by trump making it his campaign song.

Or “Brand New Key?” Minnie Ripperton’s “Loving You” is nails on a blackboard!!!!!

Last edited Fri Dec 6, 2024, 11:16 PM - Edit history (1)

at people biased against other groups. Randy Newman is a brilliant guy.

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/randy-newman-my-life-in-15-songs-202825/have-you-seen-my-baby-203717/

I am a short person, and I loved that song!

at an event years ago. He could not have been nicer, though he is reserved. I told him a relative was driving several hours to attend his concert with me, and he asked which was his favorite song. Randy then dedicated that song to my relative at the concert.

I improved it by changing it to apply to Trump:

If you hate subpoena coladas
Getting caught and arraigned
If you're full into MAGA
If you have half a brain...

If you like stealing docs at midnight
But need help when you're caught
I'm the lawyer you've looked for
Write to me and I'm bought.

Godawful...

On that song.

I can't remember who did it. Also The East Side of Chicago.

"The Night Chicago Died"? That was by the
English group Paper Lace who obviously knew
nothing about Chicago. I was born and raised there
and every time that came on my flesh would crawl.
Like the Chicago cops having a huge shootout with
the Capone mob when much of the force was in his
pocket. Also, Capone ran the south side not the so called
"east side". Talk about tortured history.