h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

This song i know very well and has been sung usually with freinds staggering home from the pub, or at closing time to heard the party dwellers to leave on a happy note, i must admit the version done by maddonna is a bit on the crap side, due too the fact that when the song hits a cresciendo at the point when the lyrics go "helter skelter in the summer shelter , birds flew out to the fallout shelter."
well what can i say but the maddonas version sounds a bit on the pathetic side , but i guess thats me as enough people have bought the record ohh well cheers westy

Madonna's cover of 'American Pie' was a travesty. It inspired another parody, though, which I believe is called 'American Pie Eulogy' and came from jokeaday.com It's significantly more enjoyable than actually listening to Madonna's version.

YEP I CAN CERTAINLY BELIEVE THAT BUT I GOT TO GIVE IT TOO HER SHE STILL LOOKS DAMN FINE WHERAS I THINK DON MACLEAN IS DEAD IS HE NOT??

Madonna ain't -that- hot.
And I think MacLean is still alive. wanna know why I think that? Look in the other thread here

I don't have nothing against the Madonna cover. It's ok, and probably a cash-in on the over-rated fame of American Pie, but then I seem to interperet all pop music as sell-outs *^_^*. Because it's true...

however i reckon the song vincent is one of don macleans best ever songs, however it certainly not one of those songs to listen too while feeling a little down due too the fact you will shortly reach for the hangmans noose, in a matter of minutes due too the fact that it is a very touching song


here is a some of the lyrics for it

"starry starry night
portraits hung in empty halls
frameless heads on nameless walls
with eyes that watch the world and cant forget
like the strangers that you met
the ragged men in ragged clothes
the silver thorn the bloody rose
lie crushed and broken upon the virgin snow
now i think i know what you tried to say to me
and how u suffered for your sanity
and how u tried to set them free
they would not listen
they are not listening still
perhaps they never willllllllllllllllllll"




brilliant lyrics but kind of depressing

wety away

If I named some poignant and/or clever Heavy Metal songs, would you believe me?

Take some Iron Maiden numbers:

Twighlight Zone: about a dead guy trying to get through to his girlfriend. Vocals and guitar work up the atmosphere

Fortunes of War:
"After the war, and now that they've sent us homeward
I can't help but feel that I'm on my own
No one can see just what this conflict has done to
The minds of the men who're on their way home
I'm scarred for life, but it's not my flesh that's wounded
So how can I face the torments alone?
The vivid scenes, and all the recurring nightmares
I lay down and sweat until it gets light..."

Wasted Years: has actually began part of my philosophy for life, if you can put it like that. It makes you give yourself a kick up the backside, and stop yearning for the glory days.

What I'm saying is that it's all well for famous guys like McLean to write great songs, but equally great and thoughtful stuff can come from unexpected quarters.
Not that Iron Maiden aren't famous, but they are slightly underrated, especially on h2g2.

Mike A, Don MacClean is only famous because he wrote American Pie. Vincent was great, but you never hear it on the radio. You never hear any of the songs on his "Greatest Hits" album on the radio except for American Pie.

The only problem with Heavy Metal lyrics is that I can never actually hear them over the guitars

IRVING THATS NOT COMPLETELY TRUE AS FOR EXAMPLE IRON MAIDEN BEING A HEAVY METAL BAND IS IT NOT ? WELL THE SONG OF THEIRS CALLED NOTHING ELSE MATTERS HAS ONE OF THE BEST EVER GUITAR SOLOS I HAVE EVER HEARD AND TO BE HONEST IT IS QUITE A QUIET SONG REALLY . BUT WHAT AM I TO ARGUE ABOUYT THESE THINGS CHEERS WESTY OUT

Anyone heard Strange World by Maiden? Or the start of The Clansmen? How many other bands would use an acoustic guitar, as they did in Prodigal Son?

Actually, Pearl Jam use acoustics, but they're hardly 'metal'.

I find it's the death/thrash metal guys who you can't hear through all the feedback. Unfortunatly, these are the genres people stereotype HM with. Has nobody hear heard Samson, or Saxon? They, like Maiden, have audible vocals.

Maiden's songs have covered long distance running, the genocide of the American indians, the invasion of Celtic Britain, and the heriocs of British WW2 pilots. But not from a "we f***ing killed them all!" perspective.

That's why I said "I" instead of the all inclusive "you". Because I meant that the songs *I've* heard generally drown out the lyrics. Many alternative, punk, rock, and pop stars are guilty of this, as well. I guess I'm just a word person

Simulpost!

Very simulpost! I don't think I'm exactly qualified to argue the pros and cons of HM, as I'm not really a fan. I don't, however, categorily pan it like I do *shudder* disco and techno. Actually, disco has a few redeeming qualities when compared to techno. Again, I'm a word person.

~Irving

THE TUNE AS WELL AS THE LYRICS IS VERY IMPORTANT FOR EXAMPLE PARISEAN WATERWAYS BY GARY MOORE IS JUST A GUITAR SOLO WITH NO SINGING AND IT IS AMAZING. HOWEVER THE SONG PRAISE YOU (FAT BOY SLIM ) HAS HARDLY GOT ANY LYRICS ON IT BUT I REMEMBER BEING WITH MY GIRLFREIND AND MY MATES IN A CLUB AND JUST GOING APESHIT . PINTS OF LAGER WHERE GETTING POURED OVER EACH OTHER THE SWEAT WAS FLYING NO ONE GOT STRESSED OUT EVERY ONE JUST HAD A REALLY GOOD TIME

SO ITS NOT JUST THE SONGS ITS THE MEMORIES OF THE TIMES YOU HAD WITH THOSE SONGS ,

I ALSO HAVE A REALLY GOOD MEMORY OF A CERTAIN SEXUAL INTERLUDE WITH MY GIRL FREIND CAROLINE TO THE SONG FEELING GOOD BY NINA SIMONE BUT WE WONT GO INTO THAT

Do you always write in capitals?

Don't you just hate it when the only way you can postivily describe a song is by saying "it sounds great". I wrote an album review, for personal kicks, on h2g2 a few days back, and I reckon I did pretty good considering how inept I am at describing songs. I think I was trying not to repeat "the guitars and vocals are great" over and over again.

I SEE (oops) thats better i see where you are coming from . i reckon the best way to describe a song is too see the reaction of other people, for example the song jump around, it comes on in a club and people start going mental total uephoria is iminent. and every one has a really good time but you get the flip side, on songs like "walk this way" which was done by the motley crew "feat" run DMC
and people really start getting the air guitars out, and running around like madmen on the moors if you know what I mean.

I can't stand "Praise You". Or "Jump Around". And I thought (in fact I know) that "Walk this Way" was done originally by Aerosmith, and later by Run DMC featuring Aerosmith. . .

When there's no song -- if it's endless soloing or just the same phrase repeated over and over again and altered electronically -- I just phase it out, and eventually it just plain gets on my nerves. Same with songs that have mindless lyrics (especially anything by Cypress Hill. Insane makes me want to commit suicide). I have all sorts of respect for people who can meaningfully craft instrumental music, but It just doesn't speak to me, personally.

YEH I UNDERSTAND HOWEVER YOU MIGHT BE ABLE TO ASSOCIATE A SONG WITH A TIME YOU HAVE HAD WHICH WAS ABSOLUTELY STONKING CAN YOU SEE WHERE I AM COMING FROM

CHEERS WESTY

Yes, I know exactly what you mean. Well, not *exactly* what you mean. Really, I know that the opposite can be true and that I assume what you say is true. I'm afraid that my most powerful song memories are from rough situations with ex-girlfriends... But yes, I know what you mean.

Song memories...

I associate songs like Sea Of Joy, I Ain't Got You and I Want To Know from the History Of Eric Clapton album, I associate them with the christmas of '98, when I was stuck in bed with flu.
Actually, christmas eve then was the first time I listened to the end of Tubular Bells (from the Milestones compilation) and Smoke On The Water (on same album). I stumbled downstairs, started listening to each song, and thought "wtf is this shit???", I was so goddamn delerious!