Puzzling lyrics that drive you nuts

[Not a Platypus]

Doing a search came up with loads of misheard lyric threads, but what I want to talk about are the one or two lines in a song that just don't make sense; lines that bug the crap out of you every time you hear them.

There's a radio station here that plays recent songs, but also a few from the 90s. I frequently hear odd lyrics on my drive to and from work, but these two are the worst offenders:


R. Kelly's Ignition Remix (http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/rkelly/ignitionremix.html)

You must be a football coach
The way you got me playin the field
Does he know what "playing the field" means with regards to seeing women? I wonder, 'cause if I'm trying to get a guy to play the field, it's because I'm not that interested and would prefer that he goes off and sees other ladies.

Now it's like murder she wrote
Once I get you out them clothes
I have no idea what that means. None at all. Is everything clear while she's clothed, but it's suddenly a mystery once she's naked? A murder mystery with an old white lady?


Then there's Neneh Cherry's Buffalo Stance (http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Buffalo-Stance-lyrics-Neneh-Cherry/5F3996BA3908A54648256A84002B0A02)

We always hang in a Buffalo Stance
We do the dive every time we dance
What, exactly, is a buffalo stance? No clue. Not a one.



So what lyrics poke at you regularly? Oh and if you know what mine mean, feel free to explain.

[panache45]

The entire song "You're So Vain." (If the song's not about me, then what do you mean by "you"?)

[alice_in_wonderland]

The entire song "You're So Vain." (If the song's not about me, then what do you mean by "you"?)

I don't know if we're supposed to answer or not, but You're so vain is about a particular person and the point is that you'd have to be obnoxiously vain to think it was about you, even if it was.

Like if I'm bitching about "Guy A" a guy would have to be pretty vain to assume it was him, even if it was.

[Dung Beetle]

I can find something to puzzle over in the lyrics of almost any song, so I guess I'll just start with the song that's stuck in my head right this moment: Paul Simon's Loves Me Like a Rock.
My mama loves me
She loves me
She gets down on her knees and hugs me
And she loves me like a rock


You mean one of those cute litte Pet Rocks from the seventies? Maybe she was a geologist? A crackhead?

[tdn]

Tennessee Waltz:

I was dancin'
With my lady
To the Tennessee Waltz

'The hell? You're writing a song about a past event in which the music was that which you are now currently writing? Is this some sort of time warp thingy?

Gilbert and Sullivan's Thespis:

Mercury: Here come your people
Thespis: People better now

I contend that not a single person in the world knows what that means. Lord knows many have tried to figure it out. All have failed.

[gigi]

"She loves me like the Rock of Ages"; she loves him in a steadfast way that will never change?

Now it's like murder she wrote
Once I get you out them clothes

He'll inspect every inch of her for "clues"??

[Autumn Almanac]

I think the "Ignition" lyrics are purposefully absurdist. My favorite line from that song is "We got food everywhere/As if the party was catered." If there's food everywhere, than the party actually was catered! It's not a simile!

[Hampshire]

Hootie and the Blowfish "Everytime I look at you I go blind."

Is that supposed to be a compliment or an insult?

[Marley23]

Most of a Hollaback Girl. I guess the most confusing line is "This my shit/this my shit." I don't even bother wondering why she spells bananas, because that might be the funniest, dumbest thing I've ever heard in a song.

[glee]

I don't know if we're supposed to answer or not, but You're so vain is about a particular person and the point is that you'd have to be obnoxiously vain to think it was about you, even if it was.

Like if I'm bitching about "Guy A" a guy would have to be pretty vain to assume it was him, even if it was.

Absolutely. Carly has even revealed who she wrote the song about:

Carly's participation in this year's charity auction created an intense media buzz when she offered to reveal the identity of the person(s) she had in mind when she penned the song "You're So Vain" to the highest bidder, but only after they agreed to abide by a confidentiality agreement.
...
On August 4th, the gavel cracked at $50,000 for Carly's "Dream Secret". The winner (Dick Ebersol - an NBC executive) and nine of his friends will join Carly at her home in a few weeks, at which time she will sing You're So Vain while her guests enjoy peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and vodka on the rocks. At midnight, Mr. Ebersol alone will learn Carly's closely guarded secret.

http://www.carlysimon.com/vain/vain.htm

[gigi]

Most of a Hollaback Girl. I guess the most confusing line is "This my shit/this my shit." I don't even bother wondering why she spells bananas, because that might be the funniest, dumbest thing I've ever heard in a song.Without knowing the song, "This my shit" would mean "This is my shit" to me.

Checks...yep, right there (http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/gwenstefani/hollabackgirl.html) in the first line

[carnivorousplant]

From Sympathy for the Devil (http://www.lyricsfreak.com/r/rolling+stones/sympathy+for+the+devil_20117881.html)


And I laid traps for troubadours
Who get killed before they reached bombay

The Hell does that mean, if you'll pardon the expression?

[Marley23]

Without knowing the song, "This my shit" would mean "This is my shit" to me.

Checks...yep, right there (http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/gwenstefani/hollabackgirl.html) in the first line
I got that, but I have no idea what "this" is. The song doesn't give a single clue what her shit is. It might be hard to keep discussing this...

[JSexton]

Heard a Black Eyed Peas song on the radio, where I'm pretty sure one of the lyrics was something like "I'll play Bobby, you play Whitney." And it was song about how much he loved her. Um, of all the relationships in the world, that'd be one of the last I'd use to demonstrate my love.

"Hey baby, wanna be the Tina to my Ike?" is worse, but only by a little bit.

[Marley23]

"Hey baby, wanna be the Tina to my Ike?" is worse, but only by a little bit.
"Eva to my Adolph?"

[Fish]

The entire song "You're So Vain." (If the song's not about me, then what do you mean by "you"?)
The way I read it, hundreds of people will listen to that song on the radio, but only one of them is vain enough to say, "Aha, I'll bet it's about me!" while the rest of us wonder, "What jerk did she write that about?"

[bordelond]

Greg Kihn's "The Breakup Song (They Don't Write 'Em)":

We been living together for a million years/
Uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh/
But now it feels so strange out in the atmospheres / ...

:confused:


Any of you all ever take a peek at America's lyrics? "Horse With No Name"? "Ventura Highway"? "Tin Man"?

[control-z]

From Sympathy for the Devil (http://www.lyricsfreak.com/r/rolling+stones/sympathy+for+the+devil_20117881.html)

And I laid traps for troubadours
Who get killed before they reached bombay

The Hell does that mean, if you'll pardon the expression?

Well troubadours were medieval travelling musicians. However some say that lyric refers to the Beatles who went to India and got all metaphysical.

[Nutty Bunny]

Hootie and the Blowfish "Everytime I look at you I go blind."

Is that supposed to be a compliment or an insult?

I don't know, but you can blame that on the band that originally did the song, 54-40. Their lead singer sings backup on the Hootie version, too.

But I never thought of that. It does sound like an insult.

[gigi]

Um, of all the relationships in the world, that'd be one of the last I'd use to demonstrate my love.
"Butterfly" always gets me:

Whatever tickles your fancy Girl
It's me and you like Sid and Nancy

:eek:

I got that, but I have no idea what "this" is. The song doesn't give a single clue what her shit is. It might be hard to keep discussing this...Like, the song is her shit, not someone else's, and she can roll how she wants to, in her own inimitable style. Now it's her turn, pay attention, playah. :p

[gigi]

Hootie and the Blowfish "Everytime I look at you I go blind."

Is that supposed to be a compliment or an insult?
Hmmm. He's blinded by her beauty. Or, he uses her picture when "taking care of himself". Either way, compliment!

I'm just full of answers, today, huh! :dubious:

[brewha]

Listen to any Rob/White Zombie song and see if you can figure out what any of it means.

Here's a verse to decipher:

Yeah inbreed the witches
and woship the dogs
Deformed and fuck'n lazy
Damn yourself and choke
On my name I'd love to love ya baby
Deadringer rats swinging in the trees
Immaculate conception Bury me an angel God I need
some inspiration

[Marley23]

I think you've broken up some of those lines in weird places, but he's writing in images and impressions, not telling a story. Those kinds of lyrics rarely make 'sense,' especially without the music. But I always liked "Bury me an angel, God I need some inspiration."

[Dr. Rieux]

Just about every damn sing Duran Duran ever did.

[Little Plastic Ninja]

We had to sing part of "You Can Call Me Al" in choir class. Also that Love Me Like A Rock song. One of those horrible medleys they seem to love.

No, I never could figure out what that first song meant. The second one made a little more sense, though "She love me like a rock" was still kind of weird.

[AskNott]

From Sympathy for the Devil (http://www.lyricsfreak.com/r/rolling+stones/sympathy+for+the+devil_20117881.html)

And I laid traps for troubadours
Who get killed before they reached bombay
The Hell does that mean, if you'll pardon the expression?

Once before, when the SDMB danced around that one, somebody came in to tell us about the "hippie trail" of backpackers who travelled across south Asia in search of enlightenment. Several of them were robbed and killed by local bandits.


Hootie and the Blowfish "Everytime I look at you I go blind."

Is that supposed to be a compliment or an insult?
I'm guessing it's a compliment, sort of an update of an older song.
"There are clouds in the sky,
Maybe millions of people go by,
But they all disappear from view,
'Cause I only have eyes for you."

By the way, it's a futile quest to try to make sense out of some Paul Simon songs.

[ralph124c]

There was a song (from the end of the disco era) which always puzzled me; I think it went like this:
-"..its too hot, too hot baby, gotta run for shelter, gotta find the shade"
I also though it sounded like:
".. its two o'clock, two o'clock, gotten run like rats, from the mess that we made"
neither of which seemed to make any sense.

[Rigamarole]

I think the "Ignition" lyrics are purposefully absurdist. My favorite line from that song is "We got food everywhere/As if the party was catered." If there's food everywhere, than the party actually was catered! It's not a simile!


Err, not necessarily. I can throw a party and put food everywhere myself. To me "catered" implies that a third party has done the catering. (This may or may not be true in the strictest definition of "cater", but it's how it generally seems to be used)

I don't think it's meant to be "purposefully absurdist" so much as it's meant to rhyme.

[meow meow]

"Butterfly" always gets me:

Whatever tickles your fancy Girl
It's me and you like Sid and Nancy



Back in my singer/songwriter days I had a line that went:

I like your pants, you're so fancy
Will you be the Sid to my Nancy

Nobody better steal that, now.

[Alive At Both Ends]

If you can make sense of these lines from "Supper's Ready" by Genesis -

There's Winston Churchill dressed in drag,
he used to be a British flag, plastic bag, what a drag.
The frog was a prince, the prince was a brick,
the brick was an egg,
the egg was a bird,
Hadn't you heard?
Yes we're happy as fish, and gorgeous as geese,
and wonderfully clean in the morning.

- you'll be doing better than me.

[Hippy Hollow]

There was a song (from the end of the disco era) which always puzzled me; I think it went like this:
-"..its too hot, too hot baby, gotta run for shelter, gotta find the shade"
I also though it sounded like:
".. its two o'clock, two o'clock, gotten run like rats, from the mess that we made"
neither of which seemed to make any sense.
"Too Hot" by Kool & The Gang.

It's clear Gwen Stefani is planning ahead. By writing and performing vapid earworms that no doubt are played by every high school in the nation at pep rallies, she's setting herself up for a wave of nostalgia tours about fifteen years from now. (Must have paid attention to the fate of her husband, who rode the grunge wave with Bush, then crashed when people realized they were utter crap.)

Speaking of which... Bush had to have the absolute worst lyrics ever. Case in point:

Breathe in breathe out
Tied to a wheel fingers got to feel
Bleeding through a tourniquet smile
I spin on a whim slide to the right
I felt you like electric light
For our love
For our fear
For our rise against the years and years and years

And what the hell is a "razorblade suitcase?"

[Autumn Almanac]

I can throw a party and put food everywhere myself.
But you wouldn't do it yourself if you had R. Kelly's money. ;)

Speaking of which... Bush had to have the absolute worst lyrics ever.
I think you're kind of missing the point of Bush lyrics. To borrow from Marley23, "he's writing in images and impressions, not telling a story."

[Marley23]

I think you're kind of missing the point of Bush lyrics. To borrow from Marley23, "he's writing in images and impressions, not telling a story."
Although not everybody who does that is good at it. ;) There are some bits in that passage that are okay. I think my "worst-ever" lyrics title is reserved for Jim Steinman.

[World Eater]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Louie Louie. :)

[gigi]

Although not everybody who does that is good at it. ;) There are some bits in that passage that are okay. I think my "worst-ever" lyrics title is reserved for Jim Steinman.Hee. posts 44 and 45 (http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=402489)

[Diceman]

How about that song "She's a Brick House." Is this supposed to be a complement? I've actually asked several women I know about this song, and none of them would appreciate being described metaphorically as a large masonry structure.

[NDP]

From Sympathy for the Devil

Quote:
And I laid traps for troubadours
Who get killed before they reached bombay


The Hell does that mean, if you'll pardon the expression?

Once before, when the SDMB danced around that one, somebody came in to tell us about the "hippie trail" of backpackers who travelled across south Asia in search of enlightenment. Several of them were robbed and killed by local bandits.
I may have been way off base on this but I used to think it was a reference to the Thuggee. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thuggee)

[Just Ed]

How about that song "She's a Brick House." Is this supposed to be a complement? I've actually asked several women I know about this song, and none of them would appreciate being described metaphorically as a large masonry structure.But they'd probably appreciate "stacked (http://www.straightdope.com/columns/030704.html)" (or at least understand the meaning).

[carnivorousplant]

I may have been way off base on this but I used to think it was a reference to the Thuggee.
A good point, but given the imagery one has become accustomed to from the Rolling Stones, "troubadours" must be some reference to musicians, raconteurs or artists of some sort.

[dotchan]

System of a Down, whose often incomprehensible lyrics are infamous, doesn't seem to make that much more sense when you actually read what they're trying to sing.

In Toxicity, for example, the singer asks:

New, what do you own the world?
How do you own disorder, disorder?


:confused:

What is the function of the word "new"? New what?

[Siam Sam]

The lyric "For there ain't no one for to give you no pain," from the song "Horse with No Name" by America. I haven't been able to work out if someone or no one is or is not giving / about to give someone pain.

[betenoir]

From Sympathy for the Devil (http://www.lyricsfreak.com/r/rolling+stones/sympathy+for+the+devil_20117881.html)


I've heard it was a reference to Brian Jones who had recently kicked the bucket.

[Dijon Warlock]

Well, damn...I looked up my favorite "can't figure 'em" lyrics to make sure I had the artist right, and found the words that I never understood.

Back in the day, it was a hit song. Lately, I hear it on the informercial "'70's Music Explosion" with Greg Brady and somebody else. The song was evidently written by someone named Alicia Bridges...

I always heard it as:

"I love the nightlife, I love to boogie, out on the disco and owowougghrelyeahh..." which (needless to say) didn't make any sense.

By researching this song to post to this thread, I've found that the true lyrics are:I love the nightlife,
I got to boogie on the disco 'round, oh yea.This, unfortunately, doesn't make much more sense than how I heard it. The "disco 'round"?

Greg Lake (w/Sinfield sometimes) could write some pretty nonsensical lyrics during his ELP days, but I mostly didn't pay attention to them. It was like he just pulled random expressions out of a phrasebook that rhymed:You see it really doesnt matter
When you're buried in disguise
By the dark glass on your eyes
Though your flesh has crystallised
Still...you turn me onThere may be an om in moment
But there's very few folk in focus
Not the first, not the last, not the least.
You needn't be well to be wealthy
But you've got to be whole to be holy
Fetch the rope, fetch the clock, fetch the priest.
Oh this planet of ours is a mess
I bet Heaven's the same
Look the madman said, "Son,
As a friend, tell me what's in a name,"
Hallowed be thy name.Maybe I'm just insufficiently sophisticated, but I do love some of his lyrics. "Lucky Man" (for example) is a brilliant and beautiful song, IMO.

[Threadkiller]

"Eva to my Adolph?"

It started like Romeo and Juliet but then it ended in tragedy.

[Johanna]

In the '70s Yes was famous for lyrics in which the phrases had no discernable linear meaning, and the syntax of the English language was thrown out the window to boot.

Linguists like to quote the sentence "Green ideas sleep furiously" as an example of a sentence that makes no sense, but in which the syntax is perfectly arranged. A lot of puzzling lyrics are like that. But Jon Anderson went further and deconstructed English syntax itself, so that you no longer have any idea what relation any word has to any other word. I think this takes the lyrics to a depth of obscurity most songwriters only dream of attaining.

My eyes convinced, eclipsed with the younger moon attained with love.
It changed as almost strained amidst clear manna from above.

"Close to the Edge"I have a personal rule: Deduct 100 points anytime someone rhymes "love" with "above." It's been overdone. It was overdone before Jon Anderson was born.

Guessing problems only to deceive the mention,
Passing paths that climb halfway into the void.
As we cross from side to side, we hear the total mass retain.That isn't English!

And space between the focus shape ascend knowledge of love.
As song and chance develop time, lost social temp'rance rules above.He rhymed it again :smack: twice in the same song, while fracturing the syntax even further.

The music dance and sing
They make the children really ring

"Roundabout"It's like slips of paper were cut up with sequences of words from unrelated sentences, jumbled in a hat, and randomly pulled out while writing the song. Except that he rhymes the jumbled lines. The rhyming is the only remaining semblance of ordered language and seems oddly out of place here.

Cold summer listening
hot colour melting the anger to stone

"Long Distance Runaround"Yeah, I remember how psychedelics were everywhere in those days...

I could go on citing incoherent Yes lyrics all day, but I'll finish with the possibly the most discombobulated English of any Yes song, "Heart of the Sunrise"Lost on a wave and then after
Dream on on to the Heart of the Sunrise
SHARP-DISTANCE
How can the wind with so many around me
Lost in the cityThe music swells to this emotional, dramatic intensity. Musically, it's a great song. And you listen for meaningful lyrics to go with this sweeping symphony of emotion only to hear a puzzling word salad.

[carnivorousplant]

I've heard it was a reference to Brian Jones who had recently kicked the bucket.

Brian Jones died in July, 1969. Sympathy for the Devil was the first cut on the album "Beggar's Banquet", released 5 December, 1968.

[Biffy the Elephant Shrew]

And space between the focus shape ascend knowledge of love.
As song and chance develop time, lost social temp'rance rules above.

He rhymed it again :smack: twice in the same song, while fracturing the syntax even further.
Not to mention the scansion. I dont mind "temp'rance" so much, but he has "knowledge" accented on the wrong syllable. What's the point of using nonsense lyrics when they don't even scan?

[Spoons]

If you can make sense of these lines from "Supper's Ready" by Genesis -

There's Winston Churchill dressed in drag,
he used to be a British flag, plastic bag, what a drag.
The frog was a prince, the prince was a brick,
the brick was an egg,
the egg was a bird,
Hadn't you heard?
Yes we're happy as fish, and gorgeous as geese,
and wonderfully clean in the morning.

- you'll be doing better than me.Perhaps the idea is not to make sense of them at all. From the Wikipedia entry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supper's_Ready) for "Supper's Ready":

Nearly 23 minutes in length, the song could be described as a medley of seven separate shorter songs, although some musical and lyrical themes do re-appear throughout.... "Supper's Ready" may be considered a good example of the long, multipart songs often recorded by progressive rock bands of that era.

[snip]

Lyrically, ["Willow Farm," the section quoted above] has a Python-esque quality, dealing with elements of the absurd in the English psyche, mentioning Winston Churchill, dressing in drag, and numerous elements of word play, boarding schools and agricultural depravity.So, perhaps it's simply meant to be absurd, to be word play, without any deeper meaning.

[Johnny L.A.]

'="http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a4_065.html"]Pompitous of love' used to puzzle me.

[Johnny L.A.]

Crap.

'Pompitous (http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a4_065.html) of love' used to puzzle me.

[betenoir]

Brian Jones died in July, 1969. Sympathy for the Devil was the first cut on the album "Beggar's Banquet", released 5 December, 1968.

Hmmm...fair enough. Maybe they were hoping. Or expecting. Poor Mister Jones. Whereras you can't kill Mister Richards with a stick.

[SSG Schwartz]

Although there have been many covers of the Velvet Underground song, I'll never understand the meaning of Sweet Jane (http://www.lyricsfreak.com/v/velvet+underground/sweet+jane_20143864.html)

Sgt Schwartz

[SSG Schwartz]

Also, I just thought of Sara Evans' "Always be my Baby"

There I was
Twenty-one
I was so ashamed of what I'd done
On a country road
Parked one night
What started out so innocent crossed the line
There was no denying I had let God down
But instead of being angry
He let his love surround me and I heard

What did she do? Lose her virginity AT 21?, have an abortion? Freaky sex act? What could she do on a back country road that would make a religious person fear God?

Sgt Schwartz

[Johanna]

http://www.songmeanings.net/

[want2know]

My favorite REM song is What's the Frequency, Kenneth? ; at least musically.

But I'll be damned if I know what any of the lyrics mean!

"Butterfly decal, rear view mirror, dogging the scene"

"You said that irony was the shackles of youth"

"You wore a shirt of violent green"

:confused: :confused: :confused:

[H3Knuckles]

First off, R. Kelly is an idiot. The songs don't make sense because he's just that idiotic. This is the man who released a series of songs titled trapped in the closet, that aren't about being gay. The man who videotaped himself peeing on an underage girl as a practice of sexual degradation. Many of his songs are ridiculous, especially many of his love songs, which completely fail to express anything even slightly romantic.

Blackeyed Peas are equally unsuited to writing lyrics. All I need point out is that there 3 recent "hits" consist of: Let's get retarded in here (cleaned up as let's get is started in here for the radio version), My bump (an entire song about a girl using her, presumably impressive, ass to manipulate a guy), and don't fuck with my heart (radio-edited to don't funk with my heart; this is the one referenced earlier in the thread).

As for Gwen Stefani's Hollaback Girl, I don't get what's so hard to understand about this. The lyrics are a disjointed mess, but this is typical of the kind of song it's meant to be- rapper braggadocio. When guys wolfwhistle and catcall a passing girl, this is considered giving a "holla," and hollaback girls are the floozies who will respond to this. The song is her asserting that she's strong, independent, no fool, and don't mess with her (because "this my shit;" this music is her stuff --> look at how cool she is --> she's a bad-ass). This shit's bananas is refering to the situation of someone disrespecting her is crazy.

[H3Knuckles]

My favorite REM song is What's the Frequency, Kenneth? ; at least musically.

But I'll be damned if I know what any of the lyrics mean!

"Butterfly decal, rear view mirror, dogging the scene"

"You said that irony was the shackles of youth"

"You wore a shirt of violent green"

:confused: :confused: :confused:

I can't really explain specific lyrics, but I would like to ask if you're aware of the song's genesis? "What's the frequency Kenneth?" was shouted at TV news reporter Dan Rather by one of two assailants as they beat him 1986. It's possible that the lyrics are meant to sound like the nonsensical ravings of a madman. Or just the usual REM disestablishment wistful youth bullshit.

I'm sorry... REM writes great music, but Michael Stipe is a self-absorbed psuedo-intellectual moron. There, I said it.

[look!ninjas]

Could you put my hands away?
Could you be my man?
Serve it up, don't wait
Let's see about this ham

- From "Hands Away"

It's the ham part that really gets me. Was he just thinking about having lunch when he wrote that song? Paul, what happened?

[elfkin477]

Tennessee Waltz:

I was dancin'
With my lady
To the Tennessee Waltz

'The hell? You're writing a song about a past event in which the music was that which you are now currently writing? Is this some sort of time warp thingy
That's what puzzles me about the song "Inside of You" by Hoobastank:

So can I ask you this?
Not to be forward, miss,
But I think I'll kill myself
If I never know...

What do I have to do
To get inside of you?
To get inside of you?
Cuz I love the way you move,
When I'm inside of you.
When I'm inside of you...

Um, what? If he'll kill himself if he doesn't get to sleep with her, how can he love the way... we shifted time part way through the chorus, or he means he's imagined how it would be?

[Johanna]

Like Billy Pilgrim... unstuck in time.

[Annie-Xmas]

The entire song "You're So Vain." (If the song's not about me, then what do you mean by "you"?)

What the hell are "clouds in my coffee"?

[gigi]

What the hell are "clouds in my coffee"?
WAG; "I had some dreams, they were clouds in my coffee"

Her mind wandered to higher soaring dreams while she did mundane things like drink her morning coffee??


<<Can you (http://www.carlysimon.com/askcarly/archives/archive-052001.htm) tell me what the meaning of the phrase "clouds in my coffee" has in the context of your song "You're So Vain"? I can't quite pin down the metaphor. What are the "clouds" in your coffee? Samantha - Dearborn, MI

"Clouds in my coffee" are the confusing aspects of life and love. That which you can't see through, and yet seems alluring...until. Like a mirage that turns into a dry patch. Perhaps there is something in the bottom of the coffee cup that you could read if you could (like tea leaves or coffee grinds). Carly Simon 5/17/01>>

[WOOKINPANUB]

Crap.

'Pompitous (http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a4_065.html) of love' used to puzzle me.

I used to be confused about this until I "figured out" it was "properties of love". Yup, that's it. Mystery solved. All the poor souls that have been perplexed by this no-nonsense phrase should have just asked me :rolleyes:

Seriously, I thought no way could it be "pompitous" (even though that's exactly how it sounds) so I had to assign a real word to it. "Properties" even makes sense. Imagine my deflated I was when I saw Cecil's column on it several years later.



- WOOKINPANUB, who likes to make shit up.

[corkboard]

This one has made me chuckle every time I've heard it since I was a kid:

It Stoned Me, by Van Morrison

And it stoned me, to my soul
Stoned me like a jelly roll

It just makes me laugh, to picture a stoic guy like him writing such a goofy-sounding lyric. Although, maybe he's saying "it stoned me. [oh, by the way-] I'd like a jelly roll." Which, considering the way he looks these days, wouldn't surprise me.

[Carlyjay]

Frankly, I think "Drops of Jupiter" by Train is one of the worst songs ever written, AND it's pretty much entirely nonsensical. The part that drives me craziest:

Can you imagine no love, pride, deep-fried chicken
Your best friend always stickin' up for you
even when I know you're wrong

That's right, Train, "chicken" and "stickin'" rhyme. Ass-hats.

I'm fully appreciative of songs like Beck's "Loser" that are nonsensical on purpose, but I honestly think Train thought they were being really deep with this song. I'd like to roundhouse kick them all to the face.

[Monstera deliciosa]

WAG; "I had some dreams, they were clouds in my coffee"

Her mind wandered to higher soaring dreams while she did mundane things like drink her morning coffee??


<<Can you (http://www.carlysimon.com/askcarly/archives/archive-052001.htm) tell me what the meaning of the phrase "clouds in my coffee" has in the context of your song "You're So Vain"? I can't quite pin down the metaphor. What are the "clouds" in your coffee? Samantha - Dearborn, MI

"Clouds in my coffee" are the confusing aspects of life and love. That which you can't see through, and yet seems alluring...until. Like a mirage that turns into a dry patch. Perhaps there is something in the bottom of the coffee cup that you could read if you could (like tea leaves or coffee grinds). Carly Simon 5/17/01>>

My take on "I had some dreams, they were clouds in my coffee" was that the woman in the song had illusions about the relationship that were shattered in the clear light of the morning. In other words, she discovered the answer to the cliche question "Will you still love me (respect me) in the morning?" was "no."

Basically, the same as the mirage that turns into a dry patch, only a little less cryptic.

[JKellyMap]

This one has made me chuckle every time I've heard it since I was a kid:

It Stoned Me, by Van Morrison

And it stoned me, to my soul
Stoned me like a jelly roll

It just makes me laugh, to picture a stoic guy like him writing such a goofy-sounding lyric. Although, maybe he's saying "it stoned me. [oh, by the way-] I'd like a jelly roll." Which, considering the way he looks these days, wouldn't surprise me.

I think Mr. Morrison was referring to Jelly Roll Morton, a pioneering New Orleans jazz piano player whose music could very well have put him in a stoned-like state.

[Biffy the Elephant Shrew]

I think Mr. Morrison was referring to Jelly Roll Morton, a pioneering New Orleans jazz piano player whose music could very well have put him in a stoned-like state.
"Jelly roll" is a common blues expression that pops up in a number of Van Morrison songs. The most delicate way to translate it would be "sweet lovin'." (More often in blues songs, it's used as a synonym for "pussy," either in the anatomical sense, or as a substitute for "sex," as in "jelly roll ain't hard to find.")

Of course, given Van the Man's physique, he may after all be referring to his craving for real jelly rolls...

[gigi]

Frankly, I think "Drops of Jupiter" by Train is one of the worst songs ever written, AND it's pretty much entirely nonsensical. The part that drives me craziest:

Can you imagine no love, pride, deep-fried chicken
Your best friend always stickin' up for you
even when I know you're wrong

That's right, Train, "chicken" and "stickin'" rhyme. Ass-hats.I like that phrase, because of the combination of the sacred and the mundane, and good deep-fried chicken is right up there in the pantheon.

[NDP]

My take on "I had some dreams, they were clouds in my coffee" was that the woman in the song had illusions about the relationship that were shattered in the clear light of the morning. In other words, she discovered the answer to the cliche question "Will you still love me (respect me) in the morning?" was "no."

Basically, the same as the mirage that turns into a dry patch, only a little less cryptic.

This is probably another one of those things I was way off base on but I thought the "clouds in my coffee" image was used because of either the cloud-like wisps of steam that rise out of a newly poured cup or to the cloud-like shape cream makes when you first add to your coffee. In both cases, the "cloud" quickly dissipates into nothing much like when one's illusions are shattered by reality.

[AskNott]

How about that song "She's a Brick House." Is this supposed to be a complement? I've actually asked several women I know about this song, and none of them would appreciate being described metaphorically as a large masonry structure.
To make it on the radio, they cleaned up the old phrase, "she's built like a brick shit house." Lemme 'splain. Outhouses are temporary things; you dig a hole, and you put a little room over it. When the hole is full, you either build a new one, or move the old one over a new hole. You can't move a brick one, so you've built a very sturdy thing that's useless after a few years. It is built better than it has to be. So, a woman who is outrageously shapely, is built better than she has to be, so she's built like a brick shithouse. :D

[ralph124c]

Anybody know what the hell this means? (from "bang a Gong"
-.."well, you' are built like a car, you got a hub cap diamond star haloe...(unintelligible) you dirty frikin are my girl..get it on, bang a gong.."?? :eek:

[Only Mostly Dead]

"Jelly roll" is a common blues expression that pops up in a number of Van Morrison songs. The most delicate way to translate it would be "sweet lovin'." (More often in blues songs, it's used as a synonym for "pussy," either in the anatomical sense, or as a substitute for "sex," as in "jelly roll ain't hard to find.")

Of course, given Van the Man's physique, he may after all be referring to his craving for real jelly rolls...
I was going to post the definition of "Jelly Roll" from urbandictionary.com, but some of the alternate BS definitions are just too disgusting. I can't bring myself to do so. However, the first two definitions on the page agree with this. It's "female genitalia" or, more abstractly, "sex."

Now why "it" (and what exactly is "it" for Mr Morrison? The water?) would stone him like pussy, I know not.

[WOOKINPANUB]

The one that springs to mind now only because I just had the displeasure of hearing it is No Doubt's You Really Love Me (or is that a Gwen Stefani solo?). Anyway, the line "You give me the most georgeous sleep that I've ever had" is as cryptic as it is stupid and irritating. Certainly anything Mr. Rossdale gives her would be gorgeous by association, but how does he give her sleep and what's so gorgeous about it? Man oh man do I hate this song, mostly because of that Jamaican bitch's litte rap or whatever you call it. I usually to like the sound of Jamaican accents but for some reason she makes my blood boil.

[gigi]

Anybody know what the hell this means? (from "bang a Gong"
-.."well, you' are built like a car, you got a hub cap diamond star haloe...(unintelligible) you dirty frikin are my girl..get it on, bang a gong.."?? :eek:Well, you're built like a car
You got a hubcap diamond star halo
You're built like a car, oh yeah
Well, you're an untamed youth
That's the truth, with your cloak full of eagles
You're dirty, sweet and you're my girl

OK, yeah. It's a Madonna-whore thing. She's built like a car=she's got junk in her trunk, a nice back-end. At the same time, she has an innocent ethereal beauty, with a glow like a halo of stars.

The cloak full of eagles I can't help you with. Or this part:

Well, you're slim and you're weak
You got the teeth of the hydra upon you

[cmosdes]

the line "You give me the most georgeous sleep that I've ever had" is as cryptic as it is stupid and irritating.
Just a guess: good sex results in good sleep. That metaphor is often used in movies/tv so I'm assuming that is the point here as well.

[WOOKINPANUB]

Just a guess: good sex results in good sleep. That metaphor is often used in movies/tv so I'm assuming that is the point here as well.

You're probably right. I guess I kind of figured that might be it, but it's such a stupid way to phrase it. Gorgeous just does not fit here.

[Emerald Hawk]

http://www.songmeanings.net/Thanks for the link. I was always confused by KT Tunstall's Black Horse and the Cherry Tree (http://www.songmeanings.net/lyric.php?lid=3530822107858539236&offset=25&page=2#comments).when the big black horse that looked this way,
said hey lady, will you marry me?
(woo-hoo,woo-hoo)

but i said no, no, no,no-no-no
I always felt kind of sad for that poor horse she didn't want to marry, and I hoped he found someone else who would really love him. I didn't want him to get stuck with that old grey mare. Then I found the interview (http://music.barnesandnoble.com/features/interview.asp?NID=1011932&z=y) referenced in one of the comments and decided I was taking it a bit too literally. It's more of a piece of imagery inspired by a black horse she saw in Greece. Oh well.

I will always have my image of the cute talking horse proposing to her :) .

Did you know that a whiffletree is not a type of tree?

[Johanna]

My take on "I had some dreams, they were clouds in my coffee" was that the woman in the song had illusions about the relationship that were shattered in the clear light of the morning.
We examined that phrase in a thread years ago, which is how I discovered that Carly Simon got the imagery when she was flying in an airplane and had just been served coffee. She looked into the cup and saw clouds reflected in the surface of the coffee from out the window. She used it as an image of evanescent illusion... like love sometimes... as insubstantial as clouds are, what could be more insubstantial than the mere reflection of clouds in a liquid that's about to be consumed?