Is Jason Mraz one of the worst lyricists ever, or what?

[bif]

I like the guy. He has a nice voice, writes some good songs and all. But his lyrics are almost embarrassing.Here's an example:

A squirrel in the tree is he watching me
Does he give a damn?
Does he care who I am?
I'm just a man, is that all I am
Are my manners misinterpreted words or only human?
I'm human

Murderous crow, hey what you know
What you reading about, what you hold in your toes
Is that a twig, are you a dove of peace
A black dove undercover, with another puzzle piece
Are you a riddle to solve all along?
Or am I over thinking thoughts of human after all

[bif]

1. Another great example...

I'm sippin' coffee at a quarter to two
I wake and I'm dialin' and my mind's runnin' to you
No wonder I'm a one woman man
She keeps my heart in a jar on the nightstand

I should tell her that she couldn't be more
Opposite than a foot in the door
There's no one else I would rather go out with
That's hell when I see them standin' there

Me and my mouth, we don't mean to be rushin'
We talk about thee freely 'cos we crushin'
I wanna shake both sides of the butt, yeah
Theoretically yes, ain't we lucky

[cbdo2007]

2. Compared to everything else on the radio - he's Bill Shakespeare

Compared to poets and stuff you aren't going to hear on the radio, yeah it's pretty bad.

The bar in pop music at this point is set so horribly low, that you can get away with writing some pretty shitty stuff and people will buy it and they'll play it and he'll get laid by girls who think he's a lyrical genius every night. I think those are more his goals than actually writing something people will contemplate too much.

[bif]

3. Sad but true

[graywarrior]

4. Yeah, well Lady Gaga ain't no Shakespeare

Let's have some fun, this beat is sick
I wanna take a ride on your disco stick
Let's have some fun, this beat is sick
I wanna take a ride on your disco stick

[Arugula Latte]

5. That song quoted reminded me of Neil Diamond's "I Am, I Said"

"I am," I said
To no one there
An no one heard at all
Not even the chair

Dave Barry once wrote that Neil had considered other lines including "So I ate a pear."

[grace0418]

6. What.

In other words, I've heard a lot worse. I like some of his stuff. Not everything has to be Shakespeare. At least he does more with lyrics than the average "Girl, I wanna get witchu, on the dance floor..."

[PassingFair]

7. Wrong! Here is the acknowledged WORST rhyme scheme ever written:

Billy Mack is a detective down in Texas
You know he knows just exactly what the facts is
He ain't gonna let those two escape justice
He makes his livin' off of the people's taxes

[Joe the Liberal]

8. Today's music isn't about lyrics. n/t

[Demoiselle]

9. It ain't about music, either, as far as I can tell.

(Aging hippie here, mourning the good old days.)

[Joe the Liberal]

11. Lol yup. n/t

[Odin2005]

12. It's about something to dance to for most people of my generation (I'm 23)

:hi:

[Iggo]

10. He's a fucking hat-guy.

I hate hat-guys.