Song lyrics that don't make sense

Duke said:

And I don't even think Cake lyrics are nonsensical.  They use a lot of offbeat metaphors, but they're mostly sensical.

 

I have, however, wondered if the driver in "The Distance" is actually a ghost. If he was flesh and blood, wouldn't he have gotten a black flag for staying out on course when "somebody left long ago with the cup?"

To be fair though it is hard to put lyrics into melodies and sometimes you get some weird ass semi literate things because it has to fit there

In reply to Antihero :

I was reading through the thread and was reminded of something Randy Bachman said - it's about how the lyrics sing. One example is RB wrote a song These Arms, Burton Cummings took the lyrics and this sings better as These Eyes and the rest is history.

Rons said:

In reply to Antihero :

I was reading through the thread and was reminded of something Randy Bachman said - it's about how the lyrics sing. One example is RB wrote a song These Arms, Burton Cummings took the lyrics and this sings better as These Eyes and the rest is history.

It's a good quote really. I admit I've written basically word salad before as a first draft of lyrics lol

In reply to Antihero :

I remember reading where Frank Zappa said he would sometimes use seemingly nonsensical words because they flowed better.

Daylan C said:

In reply to Antihero :

I remember reading where Frank Zappa said he would sometimes use seemingly nonsensical words because they flowed better.

It actually sort of works to start with.

In reply to Antihero :

It works for Beck.

Jeremiah was a bullfrog
He was a good friend of mine
I never understood a single word he said
But I helped him drink his wine
And he always had some mighty fine wine.

MrJoshua said:

Daylan C said:

But I still don't know if it's  box or a bag.

Potato wave

Make me fries. 

Is Blue Cantrell just Jerry's depression with a record deal?

There was only one thing I could do, and that was to ding-a-lang dong my ramma-lamma ling-long.

NickD said:

There's a line from Help Is On The Way by Rise Against that goes "We keep axes in the attic to see cameras in the sky." Every other bit of that song makes perfect sense, but I do not get that line.

I'm unfamiliar with the song, but in flood prone areas you're supposed to keep axes in the higher floors of your house so you can hack a hole in the roof and get out.  Presumably the "cameras in the sky" are the cameras on news helicopters broadcasting the destruction.

Antihero said:

How about...." Tonight there's gonna be a jailbreak, somewhere in this town"

 

I'm thinking that this proposed jailbreak will be at the jail

"Jail" could be a metaphor for any societal pressures holding you back - your parents, your girlfriend, whatever.  The lyrics are delightfully vague, you can interpret them to mean whatever you want it to mean.

CJ said:

Jeremiah was a bullfrog
He was a good friend of mine
I never understood a single word he said
But I helped him drink his wine
And he always had some mighty fine wine.

Mere words cannot describe how much I loathe that song.

In reply to Duke :

You must have loved that episode of The X-Files when Mulder kept singing it to annoy somebody into helping jim.

“It’s been a long time, since you wore your pillbox hat. It’s been a long time, since we drove your Pontiac.”

“How much did you pay for the chunk of his guitar the one he ruthlessly smashed at the end of his show, and how much will he pay for a brand new guitar one which he’ll ruthlessly smash at the end of another show, and how long will the workers keep building him new ones? As long as their soda cans are red white and blue ones.”

Seems a stretch to make them rhyme 

chandler said:

“How much did you pay for the chunk of his guitar the one he ruthlessly smashed at the end of his show, and how much will he pay for a brand new guitar one which he’ll ruthlessly smash at the end of another show, and how long will the workers keep building him new ones? As long as their soda cans are red white and blue ones.”

This doesn't seem like a nonsensical stretch to me at all.  That entire song is a vicious skewering of the music industry, from the sellout artists to the corporate sponsors to the pretentious consumers.  It makes perfect sense.

Duke said:

chandler said:

“How much did you pay for the chunk of his guitar the one he ruthlessly smashed at the end of his show, and how much will he pay for a brand new guitar one which he’ll ruthlessly smash at the end of another show, and how long will the workers keep building him new ones? As long as their soda cans are red white and blue ones.”

This doesn't seem like a nonsensical stretch to me at all.  That entire song is a vicious skewering of the music industry, from the sellout artists to the corporate sponsors to the pretentious consumers.  It makes perfect sense.

Yeah, you got me. That’s my favorite song and I just like to type cake lyrics... sorry!

Hungary Bill said:

There was only one thing I could do, and that was to ding-a-lang dong my ramma-lamma ling-long.

 

That entire song is a hot mess, but it's perfect that way.

I was told by somebody that that is what car guys sound like talking about their hobby.

"Wait. You mean you've not ding-a-lang-longed your ramma-lamma-ling-long on your hotrod? Dude, you're going to blow your engine!"

 

"Are we human, or are we dancer?"

Another one that bugs me, johnny cash "the father hen will call his chickens home". Father hen? You mean the berkeleyin rooster? 

Knurled. said:

Antihero said:

How about...." Tonight there's gonna be a jailbreak, somewhere in this town"

 

I'm thinking that this proposed jailbreak will be at the jail

"Jail" could be a metaphor for any societal pressures holding you back - your parents, your girlfriend, whatever.  The lyrics are delightfully vague, you can interpret them to mean whatever you want it to mean.

Sure, a lot of lyrics are like that. It doesn't make it any less funny though either

chandler said:

Duke said:

chandler said:

“How much did you pay for the chunk of his guitar the one he ruthlessly smashed at the end of his show, and how much will he pay for a brand new guitar one which he’ll ruthlessly smash at the end of another show, and how long will the workers keep building him new ones? As long as their soda cans are red white and blue ones.”

This doesn't seem like a nonsensical stretch to me at all.  That entire song is a vicious skewering of the music industry, from the sellout artists to the corporate sponsors to the pretentious consumers.  It makes perfect sense.

Yeah, you got me. That’s my favorite song and I just like to type cake lyrics... sorry!

It's in my top 5 favorite songs, too.

Yeah, she's built for speed like a black castrum doloris
Good for the needy, like Neechy, Froyd and Horris
But I'm skin, flint, broke, making no money, making jokes
But baby, I won't joke with you

My feet are burning like I roll 'em in hypocaust
But the Roman's are gone, they changed their name because their lost
She writes letters like a jack chick comic
Just a bunch of propaganda, make my fingers histrionic; like this, and this

I mean, she's my baby
But she makes me get avuncular
And when my monkey is jumping
I got no time for making up for her

I fantasize about the hospital
The army, a silo, confinement, in prison
Any place where there's a time to clear my vision

Great song Jack White, but WTF? 

And yet no mention of Tool/A Perfect Circle in all these replies????

"I ain't as good as I once was, but I'm as good once as I ever was" -Modern country, so it was bound to be stupid.

The Beatles don't sing "Coo coo ka choo", that's Paul Simon. Lennon says "Goo goo ga joob".

Glen Danzig, what exactly is "an omelet of disease"

"The music's so loud, you can hear the sound" - makes sense.