Johnny Marr, 'Hi Hello' - the worst lyrics and song title in musical history?

I think Call The Comet is quite good. It's miles better than The Messenger, that was so boring that I never even bothered with Playland. But this has enough echoes of the eighties Big Music (Echo & The Bunnymen, Simple Minds, Psychedelic Furs) to make it all rather grandiose and interesting to me. As a lyricist and a singer Marr will never be more than decent at best, but for me this is a solid 7/10 after two listens.
 
if this was Ms lyrics people would be howling at the moon.johnboy get to your bed.
 
I don’t know why this is even a thing. Marr isn’t one of the most well-regarded lyricists in popular music, nor has he ever claimed to be / wanted to be / got a reputation to live up to.

Taste in music is subjective, personally this touches me a lot more than any of Morrissey’s lyrics, music or interviews have in a long time. It’s a great tune, the story about his daughter is lovely; it’s a song for people who have love in their lives, something the majority of solow wouldn't understand.
 
"New Dominions" is the most boring song I've heard in a very long time.
 
A lovely piece of music but sadly ruined by an idiotic song title and what experts agree are among the worst lyrics of all time.
Just check these out:

"When are you coming up
Get away now and go to bed
I'm gonna pick you up
Hear what you say and you're going so fast

And I see you coming down that line
See the future for tomorrow's child
And I watch you when you're losing your mind
And you can't let go

All the places, all the steps
You clamber up the beaten track
When you've fallen and you keep on climbing
You never look back

So hi hello
Whatever you need and wherever you go
I can't say no
One heart beat, any place we run

And I see you coming down that line
See the future for tomorrow's child
And I'll find you when the lights are blinding
And you can't get home

It's never soon enough
And forever's gonna come too fast
Time is calling us
Gets in the way and unfolds the past"

Empty bland meaningless cliche follows empty bland meaningless cliche.
Such a shameful waste of wonderful music.


Who was able to translate? :straightface:
Perhaps it was better when we couldnt make out the lyrics...
resembles one of g23 silly new age-y posts:squiffy:
 
I've just realized that Hi Hello isn't even the most gorgeous song on "Call the Comet", it's the stunning album closer "A Different Gun".

 
I would also suggest, not many can write a (decent) Morrissey vocal melody. For all his present-day arsery, his musical contribution to those songs often gets overlooked. His odd song structure, with little regard for the conventional format, and peculiar melodies which seem somehow biologically attached to the lyrics are unlike anybody else's work. I wonder if that's why Morrissey managed to edge ahead of Marr in their solo careers: he had two unique skills, whereas Marr only had one (great though it was/is).

Spot on. There should be a whole book written about The Smiths/Morrissey/Marr from this perspective.

Marr will never be able to write songs as great as The Smiths, or Morrissey at his best, for the above reasons. He simply doesn't have the vocal skills or the lyrical talent that Morrissey has. Morrissey has demonstrated, again and again, that because of the particular skills he has, he can take a quite rudimentary and/or bland piece of music and craft a great song from it - he doesn't need great music to make a great song. Marr, on the other hand, even when working with his own promising material, is only ever going to be able to overlay a vocal that relies on cliched lyrics and conventional, derivative phrasing. Although, furthermore, there's also the fact, which I rarely ever see mentioned, that even his music has never approached the subtlety, complexity and melodic richness of early Smiths stuff - and I don't know why that is exactly: lack of inspiration perhaps, or maybe the input that John Porter and Andy Rourke had, and also the fact that a lot of his musical harmonies were laid down after Morrissey's idiosyncratic vocal melodies had gone on the track. But certainly when you see him playing live in the Smiths gigs, there's no doubting his musical genius. I suppose these days he doesn't even want to play stuff that complex, as he has to sing at the same time.
 
It's funny that some people who watched Hi Hello on Youtube really think this song is a message to Morrissey, and they even find some "сlues" in it, for example, "It's never soon enough" ))
 
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