The end of CD/Album liner notes and correct lyrics?

I was looking up some lyrics from various groups and some of the stuff the Internet sites have as the correct lyrics are completely off the wall. You used to get reliable lyrics from the group in the album liner notes, but since CDs are practically dead we might be left guessing. I still don't know why EVERY group doesn't have lyrics on their sites! I've checked a couple, Metallica and Rob Zombie and don't see any. I really love the bands that have the common sense to post lyrics with their new song videos (Shinedown for one).

I know I'm in the minority on this one but I like having physical media vs digital. I stream a lot of stuff but if I love a movie, band, I want a Bluray or CD.

Sluis Van Shipyards said:

I was looking up some lyrics from various groups and some of the stuff the Internet sites have as the correct lyrics are completely off the wall. You used to get reliable lyrics from the group in the album liner notes, but since CDs are practically dead we might be left guessing. I still don't know why EVERY group doesn't have lyrics on their sites! I've checked a couple, Metallica and Rob Zombie and don't see any. I really love the bands that have the common sense to post lyrics with their new song videos (Shinedown for one).

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Mind you the CD liner lyrics were not always done by the actual artist so that wasn't necessarily bulletproof either. There were some instances where CD lyrics were obsolete or incorrect, I still remember having a release of Paranoid with hilariously wrong lyrics, or an Ozzy disc where two lines were completely different in the lyrics sheet than what's sang, but agreed I know what you mean. I was looking at something the other day online and I was like, nope, pretty sure that's not what they say on the record. I also very much liked to read the "thanks to" bits of CD liners, there were often some easter eggs there. Loreena McKennitt has wonderful album liner notes where there are short summaries of the main concept and ideas that led to the creation of certain albums and those are usually translated to many many languages so wherever you are from you can form an emotional connection to the music and understand the basis of it even if you don't necessarily understand the lyrics.

Psab keel said:

I know I'm in the minority on this one but I like having physical media vs digital. I stream a lot of stuff but if I love a movie, band, I want a Bluray or CD.

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Same here. I have a Kindle, Netflix, whatnot (although not Spotify or iTunes), and could save an awful amount of space by not having my bookshelves, my stereo set or my bluray player...but I just like having things on a shelf that I can take out. It bothers me that Netflix stuff like Stranger Things or Annihilation never came out on Bluray or DVD in the UK, only via stream. I'd probably go as far as buying a multi-region Bluray player and ordering those and a couple other releases from the States just so that I can have them on my shelf.

Ditto because when the clouds go down and they will I will be jamming and watching without missing a beat :lol

Psab keel said:

I know I'm in the minority on this one but I like having physical media vs digital. I stream a lot of stuff but if I love a movie, band, I want a Bluray or CD.

Click to expand...

sztriki said:

Mind you the CD liner lyrics were not always done by the actual artist so that wasn't necessarily bulletproof either. There were some instances where CD lyrics were obsolete or incorrect, I still remember having a release of Paranoid with hilariously wrong lyrics, or an Ozzy disc where two lines were completely different in the lyrics sheet than what's sang,

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[pedant]

Actually, at least in the case where you see lyrics reproduced on an “official” product (as opposed to a fan’s transcription on the internet, differences in lyrics between what is sung and what is written are usually attributable to the lyrics that were submitted when the copyright was registered for the song. The copyright for the musical work (which can include accompanying lyrics) may have been registered before the artist decided to change the lyrics while recording them, or the artist may have chosen to register slightly different lyrics for purposes of those different lyrics being used later in songbooks, etc.

(A good example of the former is “All Dead, All Dead” by Queen, which contains an introductory verse that was later dropped from the record, while an example of the latter is the song “Ignoreland” by R.E.M – on the record, Michael Stipe clearly sings “my, CBS TV tells a million lies” – since that would have been clearly libelous if reprinted over and over again in a songbook, the copyrighted version that appears in liner notes and songbooks states that the lyrics are “my skin, my ass, TV tells a million lies.” )

[/pedant]

M

mkstewartesq said:

[pedant]

Actually, at least in the case where you see lyrics reproduced on an “official” product (as opposed to a fan’s transcription on the internet, differences in lyrics between what is sung and what is written are usually attributable to the lyrics that were submitted when the copyright was registered for the song. The copyright for the musical work (which can include accompanying lyrics) may have been registered before the artist decided to change the lyrics while recording them, or the artist may have chosen to register slightly different lyrics for purposes of those different lyrics being used later in songbooks, etc.

(A good example of the former is “All Dead, All Dead” by Queen, which contains an introductory verse that was later dropped from the record, while an example of the latter is the song “Ignoreland” by R.E.M – on the record, Michael Stipe clearly sings “my, CBS TV tells a million lies” – since that would have been clearly libelous if reprinted over and over again in a songbook, the copyrighted version that appears in liner notes and songbooks states that the lyrics are “my skin, my ass, TV tells a million lies.” )

[/pedant]

M

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Oh yea, that goes without saying. I have Ozzy's Bark at the Moon on CD from the 80s, first edition. Plenty of small differences in the sung lyrics and the lyrics sheet and it's obviously an earlier version on the print.
But when I read "The specs in the sky" instead of "Reflex in the sky" on a remastered version of Paranoid or "shed the guild of former day" instead of "shed the guilt" in Dickinson's Chemical Wedding then I'm calling bull on the sheet. Of course, I'm being pedantic here too, because it really is a minority that the official CD liner notes are incorrect.

sztriki said:

Mind you the CD liner lyrics were not always done by the actual artist so that wasn't necessarily bulletproof either. There were some instances where CD lyrics were obsolete or incorrect, I still remember having a release of Paranoid with hilariously wrong lyrics, or an Ozzy disc where two lines were completely different in the lyrics sheet than what's sang, but agreed I know what you mean.

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Interesting play on this, is the ending theme to Xenosaga: The Animation, which is in Engrish. The first chorus contains the following:
We p(l/r)ay among the clouds
In the pitch-blackness of night
Our voices ascend to the stars

Both pray and play fit the lyrics fine. And are both perfectly valid interpretations of the word used. The official subs for the anime use "play," but I'd personally always felt "pray" felt more appropriate, since there's a line about voice right after. Imported the soundtrack, which had the kanji lyrics, and, 'lo and behold, the kanji supports the "pray" lyric. So the official lyric for the Japanese version is pray and the official lyric for the English version is play.