I know I skimmed this thread quickly, but is it possible that I’m really the first to mention the WKRP in Cincinnati closing theme?
Granted, they sound like gibberish because they are, but still … 
One of the great things about the Internet is that now we can find out what the hell those guys were singing back then. One line I could never get was from the Lovin’ Spoonful’s “Summer in the City”: “Despite the heat it’ll be all right”.
“In the Summertime” by Mungo Jerry was a particularly tough one. Lines like “You can stretch right up and touch the sky”, “You can make it, make it good in a lay-by”, and “We’re no threat, people, we’re not dirty, we’re not mean” totally stumped me.
(By the way, in a previous thread I mentioned MetroLyrics’ hilariously wrong attempt at the lyrics.)
Even after Weird Al mocked the song it wasn’t until recently that it occurred to me to go online and look up the lyrics.
“3x2=6” By Vanity 6
“Saturday Night” by Herman Brood and His Wild Romance:
(Links broken because some of from the Vanity vid are borderline nsfw.)
Yes, but the point is that the original title of the song was In-the-Garden-of-Eden. Even the band went with the gibberish title that the slurred words suggested when the lead singer mouthed them.
In the department of “Lyrics that sound like gibberish because they are” is “Nobody Understands Me,” by Sandra Boynton, as sung by Meryl Streep (sample here), on the album Philadelphia Chickens.
Inna Gadda Da Vida - Was Originally In the Garden of Eden, but filtered through a gallon of cheap red wine, this was the gibberish that became the hit.
Louie Louie by the Kingsmen - was recorded in a studio with ONE mic hanging from the ceiling, the lead singer had to stretch up and shout to be heard above the cymbal crashes.
English accents to American ears made Cream, Stones, Beatles and other band’s syntax not very clear.
I read an interview in a recording trade publication, (Mix Magazine?), and a rock engineer confessed that he treated the vocals as just another element in the mix, thus mixing them too low in my opinion.
I produce mostly American folk, Irish folk, and bluegrass. I mix the vocals so even listening at low volumes, you can hear the singer’s poetry.
It’s a DELIBERATE choice.
David
Kurt Cobain wrote the song as a joke - he even stole the famous riff from Boston’s “More Than a Feeling”. I think he was more suprised than anyone that it became a monster hit.
John Mellencamp Small town. Pretty understandable lyrics until this part in bold:
But I’ve seen it all in a small town
Had myself a ball in a small town
Married an L.A. doll and brought her to this small town???
Now she’s small town just like me
Until I looked up the lyrics for this thread I had no idea that is what was being sung.
Wow, he sings slowly and he’s still difficult to understand. I think he needs to work on his enunciation.
Mares eat oats
And does eat oats
And little lambs eat ivy
A kid’ll eat ivy too,
Wouldn’t you?
Sometimes I give myself the creeps
Sometimes my mind plays tricks on me
It all keeps adding up, I think I’m cracking up
Am I just paranoid, hu-blah-blah-blah
-Green Day
Most things by Red Hot Chili Peppers.
The next line is “Am I just stoned?” Which isn’t garbled at all.
I have to go with FordTaurusSHO94 on this one. That’s what it sounds like to me also.
Anything by the Cocteau Twins.
Beautiful but barmy. I just googled for a link and it threw up this beauty. I think I just fell in love all over again.
The group Yes had a penchant for impenetrable lyrics. From Siberian Khatru:
It gets more opaque from there, IMHO.
Pretty much anything by The Mars Volta. I love them, but they are nearly incomprehensible, and even when you do figure out what word is being said, it rarely makes sense in context with the words that came before and those that came after!
The song I first fell in love with is Eriatarkas…here’s the chorus…I think.
How about “It’s The End Of The World As We Know It [And I Feel Fine]”?