|
|
Post by nickheynes on Aug 14, 2017 7:44:27 GMT
Lift me up is one of my fave JL songs but I can't think of any others where he sings or mentions "love" as he does in this song.
Anyone else have any ideas or examples of where he does?
|
|
|
|
Post by raybram on Aug 14, 2017 8:56:39 GMT
Shine a little love, Need her love, Yours Truly 2095
|
|
|
|
Post by eloneen on Aug 14, 2017 11:39:16 GMT
Lift me up is one of my fave JL songs but I can't think of any others where he sings or mentions "love" as he does in this song. Anyone else have any ideas or examples of where he does? I've been thinking something similar, and wondering if there are any ELO songs where Jeff says "I love you." I can think of I want you, I miss you, I need you, I have someone to love me, I need her love, etc. The robot in "Yours Truly, 2095" does, but when does Jeff say this? |
|
|
|
Post by babyzoomer on Aug 14, 2017 12:03:05 GMT
JL has a standard reply to this issue (someone once referred to this as "the cassette" but I can't remember why) about an event in his childhood when he and his Mum (and an Aunt?) heard a Roy Orbison song on the radio, and the two ladies reacted negatively to the overt emotion in the song; whilst probably somewhat apocryphal and overblown, the story nevertheless says to me that JL is less than comfortable at being explicitly 'lovey dovey', even in the lyrics of a song which otherwise he refuses to attach any importance to.
And yet here is a man who has written love songs to whales, and the earth/Gaia etc. Jeff is not a really overt or showy person or performer; probably makes him absolutely irresistible to the ladies. How would I know?
If you are looking for nuance - "I can tell by the way your curtains hang - I know which way the wind blows".
I refuse to elucidate the alternative meanings, but just let your mind wander....
|
|
|
|
Post by elophile on Aug 14, 2017 12:50:06 GMT
As far as "lovey-dovey" lyrics go I think Discovery is really the only place you find them:
Need Her Love
Midnight Blue
Wishing
But I think Jeff's written a lot of very poignant if not overt love songs:
Bluebird is Dead (I think if I could ask Jeff about any of his songs it would be this one)
Strange Magic
Waterfall
Telephone Line
I've always found Do Ya's lyrics oddly romantic and very honest about the nature of desire:
Do you, do you want my love? Do you, do you want my face? Do you, do you want my mind?
I think Ma-Ma-Ma Belle is Jeff's most lustful song.
|
|
|
|
Post by eloneen on Aug 14, 2017 13:05:06 GMT
As far as "lovey-dovey" lyrics go I think Discovery is really the only place you find them: Need Her Love
Midnight Blue
WishingAnd what's really interesting to me is that those are among the ELO songs I like the least. They seem sort of cloying to me. I love, love, love, "Telephone Line," though, and I really like most of those others you listed with it. I think JL made a good call in deciding to sing about love the way he does most of the time. It suits him better, I think. |
|
|
|
Post by babyzoomer on Aug 14, 2017 13:24:24 GMT
There are some who would say (not me!) that the words:
'You got me shakin', got me runnin' away; you got me crawlin' up to you everyday....
Are equally valid as love lyrics.
Beauty (and love) are in the eye of the tiger (oops beholder). Is a tiger just a big puss?
I think (in spite of the hype that says JL wrote the lyrics to many songs in the back of a taxi on the way to the final recording session) that JL is a sensitive and poetic individual - even more so after his exposure (in the mid 80's to the late 90's) to a range of other composer/lyricists at extremely close range. And he never wrote a song about Peaches. Or Elvis.
|
|
|
|
Post by elophile on Aug 14, 2017 13:38:15 GMT
(in spite of the hype that says JL wrote the lyrics to many songs in the back of a taxi on the way to the final recording session) that JL is a sensitive and poetic individual I do think that Jeff's assertion that he writes the lyrics hurriedly at the last minute is at least a bit of hyperbole... at most an outright lie! I think Jeffery is dishonest about a lot of things that he just doesn't want to reveal the truth about. |
|
|
|
Post by elophile on Aug 14, 2017 14:00:31 GMT
As far as "lovey-dovey" lyrics go I think Discovery is really the only place you find them: Need Her Love
Midnight Blue
WishingAnd what's really interesting to me is that those are among the ELO songs I like the least. They seem sort of cloying to me. I love, love, love, "Telephone Line," though, and I really like most of those others you listed with it. I think JL made a good call in deciding to sing about love the way he does most of the time. It suits him better, I think. Yes, cloying is definitely the right description. I like all of them, especially Midnight Blue (that strummy guitar, right Helmut83 ?) but they are sickly sweet. I don't think that level of sentiment comes naturally to Jeff. |
|
|
|
Post by nickheynes on Aug 14, 2017 14:15:29 GMT
Shine a little love, Need her love, Yours Truly 2095 Ha! Of course .call my self a fan!!!  |
|
|
|
Post by eloneen on Aug 14, 2017 14:43:41 GMT
And what's really interesting to me is that those are among the ELO songs I like the least. They seem sort of cloying to me. I love, love, love, "Telephone Line," though, and I really like most of those others you listed with it. I think JL made a good call in deciding to sing about love the way he does most of the time. It suits him better, I think. Yes, cloying is definitely the right description. I like all of them, especially Midnight Blue (that strummy guitar, right Helmut83 ?) but they are sickly sweet. I don't think that level of sentiment comes naturally to Jeff. So you like the songs that are sickly sweet. I like the ones that are "mercilessly melancholy," which is the way one writer described "Big Wheels."  |
|
|
|
Post by elophile on Aug 14, 2017 15:02:52 GMT
Yes, cloying is definitely the right description. I like all of them, especially Midnight Blue (that strummy guitar, right Helmut83 ?) but they are sickly sweet. I don't think that level of sentiment comes naturally to Jeff. So you like the songs that are sickly sweet. I like the ones that are "mercilessly melancholy," which is the way one writer described "Big Wheels." I love Big Wheels! I see it all so clear, The tenderness, the silent tears..  I guess I like the sickly sweet AND the mercilessly melancholy!! That sounds like a great soap opera name. "Tomorrow on The Sickly Sweet and the Mercilessly Melancholy... will Jeff discover the meaning of life and write a song about it or will he just eat some crackers? Stay tuned for the next riveting episode" |
|
|
|
Post by eloneen on Aug 14, 2017 16:03:10 GMT
I played "Big Wheels" so much growing up that my younger brother thought that it was one of ELO's big hits. Poor thing, he had heard it so many times blasting from my record player in my bedroom (with my accompanying vocals of course) that he didn't know any better.  It's a love song, for sure - the best kind, IMO. Lost love, longing, nostalgia, resignation (about this relationship, not about life). Get me some Kleenex!!  |
|
|
|
Post by elophile on Aug 14, 2017 16:21:31 GMT
I played "Big Wheels" so much growing up that my younger brother thought that it was one of ELO's big hits. Poor thing, he had heard it so many times blasting from my record player in my bedroom (with my accompanying vocals of course) that he didn't know any better. It's a love song, for sure - the best kind, IMO. Lost love, longing, nostalgia, resignation (about this relationship, not about life). Get me some Kleenex!! It really is perfect. One of my all time favorites. The lyric I quoted below really gets to me... |
|
|
|
Post by eloneen on Aug 14, 2017 16:27:28 GMT
I played "Big Wheels" so much growing up that my younger brother thought that it was one of ELO's big hits. Poor thing, he had heard it so many times blasting from my record player in my bedroom (with my accompanying vocals of course) that he didn't know any better. It's a love song, for sure - the best kind, IMO. Lost love, longing, nostalgia, resignation (about this relationship, not about life). Get me some Kleenex!! It really is perfect. One of my all time favorites. The lyric I quoted below really gets to me... Me, too! *sniff, sniff* I agree 100%! |
|
