That’s an excellent example.
Good one. What’s the Frequency, Kenneth? is another REM example.
Maybe it’s time I had some time alone.
Killer Queen by Queen, for the win. I just found this lyrics page, and what I always thought was “Morgatron” (whatever the fuck that is) seems to be “Wanna Try?”.
It was a HUGE hit and nobody understood half of it.
“Song 2” by the aptly named Blur.
I got my head shaved
By a jamochey (?)
It wasn’t easy
But nothing is
And I always thought “Well, I don’t think I’ve ever had a jamochey shave my head so I guess I can’t call him on this.”
But I suspecting I might have the lyrics wrong, I looked them up:
I got my head checked
By a jumbo jet
It wasn’t easy
But nothing is
Really? Because that doesn’t make much more sense than what I thought I was hearing.
Another one would be “Everything Zen” by Bush.
I always though the chorus was “I don’t believe in Hell since Daniel”. It’s actually “I don’t believe Elvis is dead, yeah”.
But in a song whose actual lyrics include the lines “Mickey Mouse has grown up a cow/Dave’s on sale again” and “Raindogs howl for the century/A million dollars a steak” I think my lyrics make just as much sense as Gavin Rossdale’s.
This thread is hilarious!
I nominate Safety Dance. After the first couple of lines, I can only make out the last word of each sentence.
Then there’s Captain Beefheart. The man who wrote the following lyrics in various songs:
Men let your wallets flop out,
and women open your purses,
Cause a man or a woman without a big eyed bean from Venus
Is suffering with the worstest of curses
Well I used to go to school
With a little red box
And I used to have my pig go with me
We walked for blocks
I don’t wanna kill my china pig
His tail curled five times in a circle round
It’s glazed
I feel like a glass shrimp in a pink panty
With a saccharine chaperone
Make invalids out of supermen
Call in a shrink
And pick you up in a girdle
I wanna find me a woman who’ll hold my big toe till I have to go
I wanna find a blue swirl plastic ocarina
About five miles long
And play with them sweet potatoes all night long
Making love to a vampire with a monkey on my knee
The pond shined dry like a lady’s compact
Lilies leaped like flat green hearts with white hearts
Squirting yellow pollen cocks
A jack rabbit raised his folded ears
A beautiful sagebrush jack rabbit
And an oriole sang like an orange
His breast full of worms
And his tail clawed the evening like a hammer
His wings took to air like a bomber
And my rain can caught me a cup of water
Well my cigarette died when I washed my face
Dropped some drops in an ashtray hit a wrong place
Woman at my blinds to see spiders spinning lines
It’s as safe as milk it’s as safe as milk
Now she’s the Sheriff of Hong Kong gone
I bite the end of her sash
And she’s off in a flash
And we’re long gone gone
To Hong Kong Kong
Momma still knew she was the one
She was the one who stole the pie from old Momma Eye
Window bare rocking chair groaning like a grizzly bear
And the ice cream man searching high and low
For his a la modes for his a la modes
Maybe not gibberish. But you get the feeling that Don Van Vliet was hearing things the rest of us weren’t.
How to Dress Well - You Won’t Need Me Where I’m Goin’. He kind of does a lo-fi take on R&B, so by the time he really gets going in this song you’ve got no idea what he’s saying.
Crystal Castles - Alice Practice. Video game sounds and the distorted, shouty vocals of Alice Glass. Sounds like gibberish.
Showing my age here: “Witch Doctor” David Seville
Ooo eee, ooo ah ah ting tang
Walla walla, bing bang
Ooo eee, ooo ah ah ting tang
Walla walla, bing bang…
Ooo eee, ooo ah ah ting tang
Walla walla, bing bang
Ooo eee, ooo ah ah ting tang
Walla walla, bing bang
I have no problem with either of them. However My Bloody Valentine is a mess
Chuck Es In Love – Ricki Lee Jones
These lyrics are borrowed from David Bowie, from his song “Life on Mars,” except it’s “Lennon” instead of “Dave”
And then there’s Elton John’s immortal Solar Prestige a Gammon:
Solar prestige a gammon
Kool kar kyrie kay salmon
Hair ring molassis abounding
Common lap kitch sardin a poor floundin
Uh, yeah.
Saturday night I was downtown,
Workin’ for the FBI.
Sittin’ in a nest of bad men,
Whiskey bottles pilin’ high.
Bootleggin’ boozer on the west side,
Full of people who are doin’ wrong.
Just about to call up the DA man,
When I heard a woman singin’ a song.
A pair of 45s made me open my eyes,
My temperature started to rise.
She was a long cool woman in a black dress,
Just a five-nine [5’ 9"] beautiful tall.
With just one look I was a bad mess,
'Cause that long cool woman had it all.
Let me know if you want the rest.
This line reminded me that I thought the Mr. Mister hit “Kyrie” was full of gibberish because I knew nothing of the liturgical references it built upon.
Of course, on second thought,
doesn’t actually make any sense at all, now that I know what “kyrie eleison” means.