«Today’s Lyrics Are Pathetically Bad» Rick Beato

I thought Iris had health issues that prevented her from touring. I guess I'm not up to date on her situation.

One example of pathetically bad lyrics from a song in the 1950s is "Surfin' Bird" by The Trashmen. The song is notorious for its repetitive and nonsensical lyrics, which primarily consist of variations on the phrase "bird is the word" and other silly vocal sounds. The lyrics include lines like:

- "A-well-a everybody's heard about the bird"
- "B-b-b-bird, bird, bird, b-bird's the word"
- "Papa-ooma-mow-mow"

Critics have pointed out that the song seems to lack creativity, relying heavily on repetitive phrases and nonsensical sounds rather than meaningful lyrics. This has led to the perception that the songwriters were more focused on creating a catchy tune than on crafting substantial lyrics [[2]](https://forum.rpg.net/index.php?threads/50s-and-60s-song-lyrics-did-they-even-try.135243/).

Another example often cited for its lack of depth is "The Purple People Eater" by Sheb Wooley, which features whimsical and absurd lyrics about a creature that eats purple people. The overall tone and content of such songs from the era often reflect a playful, yet simplistic approach to songwriting that can come off as "pathetic" by today's standards [[2]](https://forum.rpg.net/index.php?threads/50s-and-60s-song-lyrics-did-they-even-try.135243/).

These examples illustrate how some 1950s songs, while catchy, can be viewed as having lyrics that are trivial or lacking in substance.

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Learn more:
1. [Pathetic songs and pathetic lyrics - Digital Spy](https://forums.digitalspy.com/discussion/2313052/pathetic-songs-and-pathetic-lyrics)
2. [50s and 60s song lyrics (Did they even try?) | Other Media | RPGnet Forums](https://forum.rpg.net/index.php?threads/50s-and-60s-song-lyrics-did-they-even-try.135243/)
3. [- YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQoWUtsVFV0)

@immatthewj

I would confess not all that much. But in a way that makes my point. During the 60s and 70s you didn’t have to search high and low or put a great deal of effort into finding great songs. In fact, it was hard to miss them. All you had to do was turn on your radio (yes, we listened to the radio back then) and you couldn’t avoid hearing great songs.

Sure, I remember those days. But keep in mind that back then, record companies were largely run by people who were willing to take on a much broader variety of artists. They all had their roster of hit makers but that wasn’t their sole focus. These days, it’s a very different story. It’s all about the bottom line. There’s no perceived upside or cachet to releasing recordings by more obscure or idiosyncratic artists, so these artists must go their own way or find small labels willing to take them on. This means what’s on commercial radio is much more homogenized than it was when we were young. If you want to hear "the good stuff", you need to tune into independent radio stations such as KVMR online, read online music magazines,and utilize streaming platforms. The All Music Guide online is useful. as well. How much effort is required to type in a few search terms and and operate a mouse? Not much!

One of the major pluses about streaming that gets mentioned over and over here is the access it provides to massive amounts of music. Never before in history has there been such easy access to so much music. Even if you don’t stream (I don’t) Spotify is a terrific resource for exploring new sounds.

Another good newer artist is Allison Russel. I love her song, Eve Was Black. Another new singer song writer is Sierra Ferrell from where I grew up in West Virginia. Her song American Dreaming is pretty good. 

But in general, outside of Americana, bluegrass and world music, I really dislike most new music. 

Luv Allison Russell 💙