Brandon Boyd as a lyricist?

michaelcassio

I threw on a couple of Incubus records tonight, which I hadn't done in a while, and I got to thinking about Brandon Boyd's lyrics. What are your opinions? First of all, I think he has an amazing voice and vocal range. Second, I think his lyrics, for the most part, are amazing. What do you all think? What are your favorite Incubus lyrics? etc...

Rhinocerous Surprise

I'm not really that familiar with Incubus - just heard some of the singles and whatever. But I always thought Boyd had a tendency to try a little too hard with his lyrics. For example, Wish You Were Here, to me, reads like faintly embarrassing poetry.

I dig my toes into the sand
The ocean looks like a thousand diamonds
Strewn across a blue blanket
I lean against the wind
Pretend that I am weightless
And in this moment I am happy...happy

I lay my head onto the sand
The sky resembles a backlit canopy
With holes punched in it
I'm counting UFOs
I signal them with my lighter
And in this moment I am happy...happy

Skooled

We need a SCIENCE 2

restlesssoul

Skooled wrote:

We need a SCIENCE 2

i second that..

vitamin rocks..at least its still in the setlists...ive seen em 4 times and got that one 4 times, but the last time was a slowed down shitty version....

wavescamecrashing

i think he's pretty good, i prefer the make yourself lyrics to anything else.

seeing them live soon.

Schoki

I Like Incubus but listening to his lyrics in Love Hurts makes me throw up.

chris01

The new Incubus album blows (but i like the melody of Dig) and i wasnt a big fan of the last one but their stuff previous to it i loved.

His lyrics on SCIENCE and Make Yourself are awesome, and Mike E is one of my fav guitarists.

crazymerrie

megalomaniac is one of the best Incubus songs lyrically...
I have other personal favorites… but everyone should appreciate this -

"If I met you in a scissor fight
I'd cut off both your wings on principle alone" Genius, pure genius.

Im excited about seeing them again this Saturday in San Diego… but I was looking at the past set lists for this leg of their tour and they look pretty much identical each show… averaging 16 songs or so. Im already disappointed that the show is not going to be exciting enough or long enough… being a PJ fan just gives you too high expectations for everyone else!

Mike_Muse_Rage

His vocal range is pretty average, nothing special. Lyrics are okay but they're not what attracts me to Incubus. The amazing drumming, bassing and guitaring does.

bharQ

I am a fan of the old incubus.. 19 year old with a head full of mushrooms vs. 28 year old with his shirt off:

Imagine your brain as a canister filled with ink,
yeah, now think of your body as the pen where the ink resides.
Fuse the two; KAPOW! What are you now?
You're the human magic marker, won't you please surprise my eyes?!
It's in your nature, you can paint whatever picture you like.
no matter what Ted Koppel says on channel 4 tonight.
So modify this third rock from the sun,
by painting myriads of pictures with the colors of one.
I'm sick of painting in black and white
my pen is dry, now I'm uptight.
So sick of limiting myself to fit your definition.
Picture the scene, where whatever you thought,
would, in the blink of an eye, manifest and become illustrated.
You'd be sure man that every line drawn reflected a life that you loved not an existence that you hated.
So, must we demonstrate that we can't get it straight?
We've painted a picture, now we're drowning in the paint.
Let's figure out what the fuck it's about,
before the picture we painted chews us up and spits us out.
I'm sick of painting in black and white
my pen is dry, now I'm uptight.
So sick of limiting myself to fit your definition.
Redefine.

DaytimeDilemma

Yes, it all went downhill after Science. Though Make Yourself had some good lyrics. But I agree that after they stopped doing shrooms and smoking green, his lyrics have suffered. Example:

Met my match today
Felt the blood rushing and mingling
A curious and enigmatic thing
Now spiders in my dreams...
Synchronicity weaves like a web
When you were meant to be a meal!

I want you bad!
I want you bad!
I understand why they say,
"High school never ends"

I'll never act my age
But you can tell by the lines in my smile
That I have been around for awhile
So, insecurities
Are about as useful as trying
To put the pin back in the grenade

I want you bad!
I want you bad!
I understand why they say,
"High school never ends"

I want you bad!
I want you bad!
I understand why they say,
"High school never ends"

This isn't coincidence
There's no such thing
This isn't coincidence, no
This isn't coincidence
It's no such thing.
This isn't, no

I want you bad!
I want you bad!
I understand why they say,
"High school never ends"


Worst. Chorus. Ever.

blacknapkins

Skooled wrote:

We need a SCIENCE 2

LOL ... spoken like a "true" fan.

Blind Melon

Fuck SCIENCE 2... we don't need/want Incubus to go back that way... I'm loving this progression that they've been in... looking at vocally alone... I mean, SCIENCE he did more like screaming, then MY he started getting a bit nicer with the singing, same with Morning View... I think the real big jump was MV to ACLOTM... his vocal range got a lot higher, and much nicer... and then with Light Grenades, he really made that vocal range even more fine tuned... I honestly love his voice now, and when it's live, it's even better.

As far as lyrics wise... Make Yourself had the best... MY is my favorite, followed by either Crow or LG... I do love the styles on each album... SCIENCE, more thrash-hard rock, MY more rock, MV more chilled out poetic shit, Crow experimental as hell, and then LG was honestly a mix of all...

So, favorite lyrics... haha, I have a lot... but:

I need a map of your head,
Trans-lated into english,
So I can learn to not make you frown.



I need you in front of me
Saying my name
Saying to me...
"I want you the way you are
You, the way you are"



If I could think I would give in
And let you in on how I feel
Need to spill
Let all of it out right now
And expose every inch in front of them



Twelve pm and my dusty telephone rings.
Heavy head up from my pillow, who could it be?
I hope its you.



If this is right, I'd rather be wrong...
If this is sight, I'd rather be blind.

Trailer

Skooled wrote:

We need a SCIENCE 2

I think we need A CROW LEFT OF THE MURDER 2!!! That's definitely my favorite album of theirs..

kenshunt

how about a fungus amungus 2 lol, fucking terrible

MySmallSelf17

I really like a lot of Incubus' music, but a lot of the lyrics just make me cringe... like somebody said earlier, it's almost like he's trying too hard. A lot of really cliched lyrics, and some really over the top metaphors that are just hilariously absurd, the "scissor fight" one crazymerrie mentioned from megalomaniac is definitely one, another good one is from the song consequence:

"You think that your on the brink, the shit hasn't even begun to hit the fan
The consequence you'll see will be STRANGER THAN A GANG OF DRUNKEN MIMES"

I'll give him credit though, that is definitely a good example of something strange...

allornone

I agree, music is good and sometimes great, but lyrics are just OK. And, by the way, love is a verb here in my room.

Blyss

i always loved when it comes and under my umbrella lyrically.

Haha somehow i don't think his lyrics went downhill just because he stopped taking those drugs, i used to really love incubus now i just don't mind them, i do agree that it went downhill after a while i like morning view love everything previous but anything after that not so much, i get they are "experimental" and i heard them say they dont want to do the same album twice but at times to me it just seems like they try to do too much and are too experimental, esp. light grenades, end rant.

Blind Melon

I honestly don't see Light Grenades being experimental at all (comparing this to the previous album, ACLOTM)... ACLOTM was crazy... I mean, it takes a while for it to grow on you, then all of a sudden, BAM, you love it. The only really experimental part of LG is Pendulous Threads and of course Quicksand plus the more use of keys by Kilmore on it... other than that, it's straight up either acoustic/electric/or electric w/distortion guitar with regular drumming and awesome basslines... not that many effects... it just seems like it's a more "plain" album compared to what ACLOTM brought to the table....

I mean, even lyrically, ACLOTM was quite experimental... sure the lyrics might portray some sort of "political" view, but it's just deciphered by the reader that way... and I think that adds even more to the experimental nature of the album.

civ_eng_girl

mmm.... i love incubus!!

i like the lyrics, although i agree that LG is lacking a little in that department... i really noticed a change when Brandon started dating his girlfriend... there's lots of lovey-dovey 'crap' like Southern Girl, In My Room, Love Hurts, etc... which aren't favorites..

as for faves, I have many:

Out From Under:

Get out from under them
Resist, unlearn, defy
Get out from under precipice and see the sky

Blood On The Ground: (these are just evil! :cool: )

From now on, gonna start holding my breath
When you come 'round and you flex that fake grin
'Cause something inside me has said more than twice
That breathing less air beats breathing you at all.

and,

Seeing you is like pulling teeth
And hearing your voice is like chewing tin foil

Warning: (these a find bizzare, in a funny way )

Floating in this cosmic jacuzzi,
we are like frogs oblivious,
to the water starting to boil,
no one flinches, we all float face down

Aqueous Transmisson: (i know decides2dream will show up here to agree with me )

I marvel at the stars
And feel my heart overflow

greenspirit

Incubus was better when they were ripping off Mr. Bungle and Primus.

NickyNooch

I'm not trying to be mean or offend, but I have always thought Brandon Boyd's lyrics are laughably horrible.