# Masked Ball in Eyes Wide Shut: Lyrics? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 25, 2002, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/masked-ball-in-eyes-wide-shut-lyrics/129586 "2002-09-25T05:58:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ricksummon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ricksummon/32/3333_2.png) [@ricksummon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricksummon)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2002, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/masked-ball-in-eyes-wide-shut-lyrics/129586/1 "2002-09-25T05:58:37Z")
Are there any actual lyrics to the Masked Ball song in Eyes Wide Shut, or is what they’re singing just nonsense? ---
**Author:** ![Violet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ebca7d/32.png) [@Violet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Violet)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2002, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/masked-ball-in-eyes-wide-shut-lyrics/129586/2 "2002-09-25T06:58:47Z")
I saw the movie once, but can’t recall the music. Does this help: > [@](#): > > The late director Stanley Kubrick’s masterful pairing of image, song, and symphony has forever imbued an impossibly eclectic body of music with indelible psychic connotations. Typically disparate, yet utterly evocative of the film’s complexity of mood and psychosexual undercurrent, it initially glides effortlessly from old Kubrick favorite Ligeti (an excerpt and reprise of “Musica Ricercata II” rendered as a stark, minimalist dirge by pianist Dominic Harlan), through a Shostakovich waltz and Chris Isaak’s edgy “Baby Did a Bad Bad Thing” to the schmaltzy ballroom sop of “When I Fall in Love.” See [http://www.romwell.com/entertainment/FromMovies/Frommix.htm](http://www.romwell.com/entertainment/FromMovies/Frommix.htm) ---
**Author:** ![ricksummon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ricksummon/32/3333_2.png) [@ricksummon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricksummon)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2002, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/masked-ball-in-eyes-wide-shut-lyrics/129586/3 "2002-09-26T06:30:42Z")
> [@](#): > > Does this help: No, because it doesn’t even mention the Masked Ball song at all, much less the lyrics to it. You know the scene in Eyes Wide Shut where they’re having the masked orgy and the “high priest” guy is chanting? Is he chanting any actual words or is it just gibberish? ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2002, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/masked-ball-in-eyes-wide-shut-lyrics/129586/4 "2002-09-26T06:42:52Z")
The chanting may not be nonsense originally but it is played in reverse. See [this](http://www.amzmusiczine.com/03_00/jpook.htm) . ---
**Author:** ![Pucette](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/278dde/32.png) [@Pucette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pucette)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2002, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/masked-ball-in-eyes-wide-shut-lyrics/129586/5 "2002-09-26T17:44:51Z")
Wow. What a cool question, and what a cool answer. I just recently started listening to that song again, too. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2002, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/masked-ball-in-eyes-wide-shut-lyrics/129586/6 "2002-09-26T21:09:58Z")
I don’t recall where exactly I read this, so I can’t provide a concrete cite. However, I’m fairly certain this is true. In the theatrical release of the film, Kubrick used a chant from somewhere in Asia – I seem to recall India specifically. This was met with protests; it’s apparently some sort of important religious verse (think the Baghavad Gita), and transplanting it into the orgy was highly offensive to some people. Thus, for the home-video release, the studio (Warner Brothers) got Kubrick’s estate (his wife, who painted the art in the Harfords’ apartment, and his son-in-law, who produced the movie) to agree to change the music. I don’t know what it is now, but it’s evidently a more innocuous selection. I imagine additional details could be unearthed with some dedicated Googling. ---
**Author:** ![Dreaming\_of\_Maria\_Callas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f14d63/32.png) [@Dreaming\_of\_Maria\_Callas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dreaming_of_Maria_Callas)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2002, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/masked-ball-in-eyes-wide-shut-lyrics/129586/7 "2002-09-26T22:48:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Cervaise \* > \*\*In the theatrical release of the film, Kubrick used a chant from somewhere in Asia – I seem to recall India specifically. This was met with protests; it’s apparently some sort of important religious verse (think the Baghavad Gita), and transplanting it into the orgy was highly offensive to some people. > > Thus, for the home-video release, the studio (Warner Brothers) got Kubrick’s estate (his wife, who painted the art in the Harfords’ apartment, and his son-in-law, who produced the movie) to agree to change the music. I don’t know what it is now, but it’s evidently a more innocuous selection. > \*\* What you’re talking about isn’t “Masked Ball” (the song brought up in the OP), but rather “Migrations”, the subsequent track. “Masked Ball” plays during the black mass/lesbian homoeroticism part and “Migrations” during Dr. Hartford’s wandering through the mansion afterwords. Naturally some in Hindu community wasn’t terribly happy with having the Bhagavad Gita recited as people are having sex in groups in the background. UnuMondo ---
**Author:** ![TruthMakesPeace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6f9a4e/32.png) [@TruthMakesPeace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruthMakesPeace)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2015, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/masked-ball-in-eyes-wide-shut-lyrics/129586/8 "2015-06-01T04:53:23Z")
> [@ricksummon](#): > > Are there any actual lyrics to the Masked Ball song in Eyes Wide Shut, or is what they’re singing just nonsense? “Awwwwwwwwww black prawn Mc Noodle.” It sounds like he is singing about a new fast food dish, dark shrimp with noodles. Can anyone determine the other lyrics? [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTwRRwUb4IE) ---
**Author:** ![TruthMakesPeace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6f9a4e/32.png) [@TruthMakesPeace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruthMakesPeace)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2015, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/masked-ball-in-eyes-wide-shut-lyrics/129586/9 "2015-06-01T05:12:24Z")
> [@ricksummon](#): > > Are there any actual lyrics to the Masked Ball song in Eyes Wide Shut, or is what they’re singing just nonsense? “Awwwwwwwwww! Black prawn Mc Noodle. Yes, did he who is ordering all got cheese.” He is singing about a new fast food dish, dark shrimp with noodles, with an optional side dish. [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTwRRwUb4IE) ---
**Author:** ![TruthMakesPeace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6f9a4e/32.png) [@TruthMakesPeace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruthMakesPeace)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2015, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/masked-ball-in-eyes-wide-shut-lyrics/129586/10 "2015-06-03T02:10:52Z")
[Red Cloak] Awwwwwwwwww! Black prawn Mc Noodle. Yes, did he who is ordering all got cheese. [2nd singer] Oooh you’ll dare tell tall tale Cynthia. Don’t set a belief in sh\*t all or she goes anywhere. Where’s everybody goes any bath and then all three chin all til kind a tell Chickadee Viva cha did cha cha Vasna Vali pa Knee Da hoo…