Issue Date: July 18, 2004
Lyrics and then some
Savvy Internet Users have been Googling elusive song lyrics for years. Lyricsondemand.com and Lyrics.com are just two of the sites out there. But these Webheads are unwittingly depriving themselves of the gold mine of juicy music trivia that is Songfacts.com. More than just regurgitating lyrics, the site is a virtual "Behind the Music."
The menu of artists and songs accessible from the main page is longer than the live version of "Bohemian Rhapsody." Clicking your choice pulls up some of the most comprehensive information available on the Internet: the song's lyrics, release dates, writers and (most interesting) surprising facts. For example, what's odd about Bryan Adams' hit "Summer of '69," in which he sings about his band breaking up because "Jimmy quit and Jody got married"? Well, in the summer of '69, Adams was only 9.
As with all lyrics sites, nothing at Songfacts is gospel. The site collects obscure knowledge but compromises accuracy by allowing registered users to post comments and lyrics. Be especially wary of anything attributed to an individual user.
Still, taken with due skepticism, the site delivers an abundance of trivia. Songfacts tells you Eminem's 2000 hit "Stan" misinterprets a pop classic. In Eminem's rap, a crazed fan wails: "You know that song by Phil Collins, 'In the Air Tonight,' about that guy who could have saved that other guy from drowning but he didn't? ... That's kind of how this is." But the "In the Air Tonight" file says the lyric, written by Collins in 1979 after divorcing his first wife, is merely symbolic. W
-- David Andrukonis
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