Agree, As you sat so much to pick form Some very good one liner's

She's only 17 but she know how to make boys fight,

I need to scream every now and again Try to understand it's only me,

Fly's everywhere buzzing in the air filling my body with filth and disease

He said I'll let you into my big secret  Ray The final truth is there is no truth

When I was a boy I was told that heaven was hot and hell was cold If I told lies I would freezes my soul but it didn't seen to matter 

The band was good and it was a Saturday night  That's all that really matters

Your born in tears and you die in pain That's your limit

Agree. Didn't think this one through. Great wording to 99% of his rat song's

I notice a lot from reading songlyrics that singers seem to be obsessed with things like explaining their love lives, and the problems contained theirin. This can be very self indulgent, seeing that most fans do not know the artist personally. The Rats lyrics were for the most part pretty outward looking, and Bob never got into the habit of telling us about his love life. In general that is true of most of the punk era bands. 

An obvious one, but don't think an opening line gets any better than "the silicon chip inside her head gets switched to overload"

Would agree with Mark and Argee on the overall brilliance of the lyrics for Rat Trap. Really love those longer story telling songs like Joey, Rat Trap etc, the type of song that became more infrequent the longer the Rats career went on as the lyric sheets became shorter.

"Our eyes are dry but we're bored to tears" - I Can Make It

"They kissed with their eyes "goodbye" - Living in an Island

"You get hooked so quick to anything, even your chains" - When the Night comes

"Look at the brickwall gravestone where some kid has sprayed
Saying nobody could be bothered to rule here O.K." - Joey

Ah, there's so many!!

-- Edited by Lisa on Friday 7th of March 2014 07:56:23 AM

Anybody ever notice the lines from the childrens movie The Jungle Book- a song called I Wanna Be Like You most probably is the origin of Bobs ire and wish to be not like anyone else. The song was released in 1967 and doubtless Bob heard it at some stage.

Ooh-bi-doo, I wan'na be like you 
I want to walk like you, talk like you, too 
You see it's true, an ape like me 
Can learn to be like you, too 

-- Edited by noelindublin on Monday 10th of March 2014 02:19:16 PM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEEPaYD5KZE

Here's the song I Wanna Be Like You(The Monkey Song), which Bob might have borrowed from, just in case anyone does not know it.

A worm in one ear and slug in the other. It doesn't look like her are you sure that's mother. ( I know where he was going with on this line) 

Mark L wrote:

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Not one of my favourite lines,  but I'd be interested to know what he was driving at with this one......

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 He talks about going down to the graveyard to visit the dead his mum had been dead along time so in ref to the dead he's saying the earth has claimed her back 

manatthetop wrote: He talks about going down to the graveyard to visit the dead his mum had been dead along time so in ref to the dead he's saying the earth has claimed her back

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Thanks,  now I understand. 

Mark L wrote:

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Not one of my favourite lines,  but I'd be interested to know what he was driving at with this one......

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 it's called Surrealism Mark. Or maybe just dream imagery. Everything does not have to be linear to make sense. I love  Please Don't Go, and its lyrics though I know its not everyones cup of tea. Try seeing it as a glimpse into Bob's subconscious. Likewise with Mood Mambo. All a bit like a William Burrough's 'cut up'

Good lyrcs can take many different forms apart form just plain 'storytelling'. Captain Beefheart was a very good example of a  brilliant surrealist lyricist than always read well and made 'sense'.

Mark L wrote:

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Not a fan of either Please Don't Go or Mood Mambo. Together with Red,  they are Mondo Bongo's weakest songs. I think Geldof writes best when he's storytelling rather than surrealisming. If you can imagine a word like that exists!

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 Each to there own Mark. Overall. I think the rats songs are well up there with the best of them. I do have to point out in my opinion the weak album out of the 6 for me goes to V Deep. But in saying that I do like Skin on skin, House of fire, Up all night (Still think the USA one is better) Talking in code (Better live) Never in a million years (hit and miss for me anyway) Little death?? (play now and again) Charmed lives ( Never) This song, and I know it's the rats, but I just can not for the life of me get into this track. He watches it all ( I think this should have been a single) Bitter end ( Bitter song) Storm breaks ( Not for me)

For me the 3 singles should have been House on fire (Which was a single) He watches it all. Then. Skin on skin. 

Have to agree with Mark myself. Please Don't Go not a favourite and Mood Mambo not even as positively viewed as that. Unlike our illustrious moderator I do quite like Another Piece of Red however.

Suppose it's no coincidence the first two had me lost lyrically. Would be interested to know what the intended imagery is.

Understood Another Piece of Red at least, which goes a long way to why I rank it higher.

Guess I'm no surrealist either.

Whitehall 1212, again one I like. Prepared to accept I may be in a minority there.

Now this one I think does have imagery, as the sounds conjure up some old 60s black and white movie police Jag, bells ringing in hot pursuit etc etc. Coppers represented by guitars, robbers by the drums, fleeing the scene.

Works for me anyway

Re-read Mood Mambo lyrics in isolation, something I don't think I've done (only ever as track played previously) and without the 'music' I suppose I can see allusions to slick nightcluubers on the pull using their dancing to express themselves, but that, like the track imho anyway, might be crap.

I always have doubts about instrument 'songs' on albums. I need lyrics to conjure up images, and make the song 'about something'- otherwise I just don't know what I am supposed to feel. Bowie's Low is largely full of tracks with few words and is a bit trying, to say the least. Maybe one reason I've never been a fan of classical music is the lack of lyrics.It's very hard to conjure up emotion with just music alone, for me anyway.

I'd go along with Manatthetop and put Whitehall as the weakest track on Mondo Bongo. To think they left this on, and thought Real Different was only worthy of being a B side beggars belief. I can see Suss's point about Whitehall conjuring up images of cops and robbers in some old  Ealing b/W film from the past, or some sort of intrigue on the government block, but I still think it's weak, and not the sort of thing that was gonna help the Rats case when they needed good songs at that time.

Manatthetop said, in Best line from any Rats song:

Okay,  that's fine by me,  Cheerio,  cheerio,  cheerio

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Not a standout line I'd have gone for particularly,  being a bit of a throwaway track and all that, but as you were alluding to before, each to their own...

Mark L wrote:

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Manatthetop said, in Best line from any Rats song:

Okay,  that's fine by me,  Cheerio,  cheerio,  cheerio

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Not a standout line I'd have gone for particularly,  being a bit of a throwaway track and all that, but as you were alluding to before, each to their own...

 

 Mark have a day of. I was just making light of what you has said about Whitehall using a rats line to do it LOL

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Couldn't see the trees for the wood

Or maybe,  yes,  I could?  

All from Dave:

Flirt with death,  but never kiss her. 

The view from on your knees deceives. 

It's all over,  that's too cheap. 

Last 3 words of that last line is Geldof and the band singing it at same time but separately and with different intonation. Very effective.  Works similarly well in Million Years where 'Don't stop now' gets the same treatment. 

It's not the best line but I like it.  

And in the light of day it all worked out and you were right how does that feel

'You took the risk and you opened up Pandora' box/Look what jumped out, now someone's gone and  stolen all the locks'

Just might be relevant in Scotland soon!

Mark L wrote:

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So many, but to name but a few:

Justice isn't blind, it just looks the other way

Heroes going cheap these days, price...a bullet in the head

And now I always wander through fields that never stood

You know most killing is committed at 90 degrees, when it's too hot to breathe and it's too hot to think

Oh everybody tries, it's Dale Carnegie gone wild

The girl in the cake jumped out too soon by mistake, somebody said the whole thing's half-baked

Every line of Rat Trap!

 

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 Agree with you here. Regarding Scotland bob should keep his opinion to himself Come Friday morning no matter what the out come that wee place will be split in two Coming from Ireland I for one know what that is like.

I don't think it gets much better than this:

There's a world outside your window, and it's a world of dread and fear | Where the only water flowing is the bitter sting of tears | And the Christmas bells that ring there, are the clanging chimes of doom | Well, tonight, thank God it's them, instead of you

Rats' song? Sorry, as you were.