# Song lyrics: clear yet incomprehensible? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 30, 2001, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-clear-yet-incomprehensible/70719 "2001-06-30T11:45:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Opengrave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/919ad9/32.png) [@Opengrave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Opengrave)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2001, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-clear-yet-incomprehensible/70719/21 "2001-07-03T17:52:23Z")
**In Flames** can be pretty cryptic at times. I know this is about man being ‘centered’ on failure but it is pretty out there… Gyroscope from the _Whoracle_ album: Geology is digging through my brain a manta engulfing the world to throw it up once again to a guild of lifted daggers Neo-wolf, but older again than the Lupus itself linked its fur to the gyroscope of time a collection of failures A diabolical sequence of stabs written in cunning stones from the fossilised den of thieves our lives die Neo-wolf, but older again than the Lupus itself linked its fur to the gyroscope of time a collection of failures I see the nursing all-mother spitting out a trail of termites in the mouth of her first-born hope breasts ripe with smog-filled rebellion Apathy dressed in violence white insectoid legs curse her lips and the mouth receptive only to pain Neo-wolf, but older again than the Lupus itself linked its fur to the gyroscope of time a collection of failures ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2001, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-clear-yet-incomprehensible/70719/22 "2001-07-03T18:11:38Z")
Counting Crows had a good one like this in “Round Here.” _Well, I walk in the air Between the rain Through myself and back again Where, I don’t know_ Um…what? :😕: ---
**Author:** ![Ruffian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71e660/32.png) [@Ruffian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruffian)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2001, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-clear-yet-incomprehensible/70719/23 "2001-07-03T18:21:29Z")
Alanis Morissette has a song called “Not the Doctor” on her _Jagged Little Pill_ album. Most of the song’s meaning is very clear: I am _not_ responsible for your emotional or mental well being. But there’s one line in the chorus that has driven me batty ever since I took a liking to the song–I have no idea what the bolded line means: “Visiting hours are nine to five, But if I show up at half past six, well I Already know that you’ll find some way to sneak me in, and oh, **Mind the empty bottle with the holes along the bottom** You see, it’s too much to ask for And I am not the doctor.” Some songs, like the aforementioned Sheryl Crow piece (as well as her deliberately insequiter “The Na Na Song”), just make very little sense to me and so they don’t bother me nearly as much. I just take them to be random thoughts and personal anecdotes that sound good, but make no sense to us. What drives me nuts are the songs that **almost** make complete sense, then toss in a line like the one above that leaves you wondering “_What_ the _hell_?” ---
**Author:** ![Ruffian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71e660/32.png) [@Ruffian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruffian)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2001, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-clear-yet-incomprehensible/70719/24 "2001-07-03T18:26:06Z")
…that would be deliberately **non** sequit **u** r, not “insequiter,” whatever the hell THAT means. Grumble. ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2001, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-clear-yet-incomprehensible/70719/25 "2001-07-03T19:08:06Z")
I remember thinking that most of the songs on **The Cars** first album was just stream-of-free-associating-gibberish. A sample: you can tuck it on the inside you can throw it on the floor you can wave it on the outside like you never did before you get the diplomatic treatment you get the force fed future get the funk after death get the wisenheimer brainstorm (I’m in touch with your world) so don’t you try to hide it (I’m in touch with your world) and nobody’s gonna buy it it’s such a lovely way to go it’s such a lovely way to go I been lying on your feathers you keep talkin’ about the weather I’m a psilocybin pony you’re a flick fandango phoney it’s a sticky contradiction it’s a thing you call creation everything is science fiction and I ought to know ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2001, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-clear-yet-incomprehensible/70719/26 "2001-07-03T22:21:38Z")
There’s one dance song I’ve been hearing at the bar for years and have never understood what a particular phrase meant. A part of the chorus goes “What’s she gonna look like with a chimney on her?” I have no clue what it means. It’s very clear…I’m not misunderstanding words. It’s repeated (in typical dance song fashion) multiple times over multiple iterations of the chorus. Those are the words. But I have no clue what it means. jayjay ---
**Author:** ![Journeyman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/779978/32.png) [@Journeyman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Journeyman)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2001, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-clear-yet-incomprehensible/70719/27 "2001-07-04T00:24:43Z")
Cream’s White Room definitely belongs in the “What the fuck?” catagory. ---
**Author:** ![zeroth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/839c29/32.png) [@zeroth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zeroth)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2001, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-clear-yet-incomprehensible/70719/28 "2001-07-04T14:04:11Z")
How about this: Chainsuck’s “My Only Son” “My daughter was my only son But I thought I could bring him 'round I never knew she had a gun I swear I never meant for her to take him down” Also, from “Shindo” also by Chainsuck "We pulled into a gas station An antique ambulance was in the yard I asked for directions and he laughed and said for girls it’s too hard Shindo" These are not the only clear-yet-unlear lyrics I know of, just the ones that I thought were particularly weird. [Okay, and I admit, I’m too lazy to walk across the room and get out more of my CDs to quote. 😃] A lot of Belly’s lyrics are like that, but I read somewhere that Tonya Donnelly writes about her dreams a lot, which aren’t supposed to make sense necessarily. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGrenze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@KarlGrenze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGrenze)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2001, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-clear-yet-incomprehensible/70719/29 "2001-07-04T14:35:16Z")
**zeroth** : > [@](#): > > My daughter was my only son His son is an homosexual, transexual, or transvestite. > [@](#): > > But I thought I could bring him 'round The father thouhgt he could change his son’s choice. Also, the father is not very happy about his son’s lifestyle. > [@](#): > > I never knew she had a gun His son owns/has a gun. > [@](#): > > I swear I never meant for her to take him down His son comitted suicide. The father never thought that his nagging(and other pressures) would make his son comit suicide. My two cents. ---
**Author:** ![Why\_A\_Duck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/13edae/32.png) [@Why\_A\_Duck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Why_A_Duck)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2001, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-clear-yet-incomprehensible/70719/30 "2001-07-04T14:45:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ruffian \* > Alanis Morissette has a song called “Not the Doctor” on her _Jagged Little Pill_ album. … I have no idea what the bolded line means: > > **Mind the empty bottle with the holes along the bottom** Google is your friend. Trust Google. Go [Here](http://www.istnet.net.au/~cawdor/biography.html) to find this: > [@](#): > > _In the song “Not the Doctor”, Alanis warns her lover to “mind the empty bottle with the holes along the bottom”. The bottle is used to represent the self esteem of a clingy lover. No matter how much she tries to build him up, he knocks himself down again, leading to a no-win situation. Similarly, no matter how often you fill a bottle with holes in it, it will inevitably empty itself. Alanis says that its not only written to past boyfriends, but to herself as well. "At the same time that I’m writing it to someone else, I’m writing it to myself in a round about way._ ---
**Author:** ![Ruffian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71e660/32.png) [@Ruffian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruffian)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2001, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-clear-yet-incomprehensible/70719/31 "2001-07-04T15:53:47Z")
pcubed, you are my **hero!** ---
**Author:** ![Why\_A\_Duck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/13edae/32.png) [@Why\_A\_Duck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Why_A_Duck)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2001, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-clear-yet-incomprehensible/70719/32 "2001-07-04T16:13:15Z")
Thanks. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2001, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-clear-yet-incomprehensible/70719/33 "2001-07-04T16:25:01Z")
McArthur’s Park: McArthur’s Park is melting in the dark the sweet, green icing flowing down Someone left the cake out in the rain I don’t think that I can take it because it took so long to bake it and I’ll never have that recipe again Oooh, nooooo Huh? :confused Everone’s tried to figure out what some of the Lines in “American Pie” are. Don McLean (sp?) ain’t sayin’… Other songs I can’t figure out: Strawberry Fields Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds I am the Walrus ---
**Author:** ![DrewG27](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DrewG27](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrewG27)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2001, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-clear-yet-incomprehensible/70719/34 "2001-10-28T15:01:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by TripingJimiThing \* > \*\*A personal favorite from the Dave Matthews Band > > “Would you like to play > With a fool holding hands > With a one-eyed jack of spades > While on the deck they sing > All of the captain’s cards are kings > Still he and the queen are lost at sea > I hope it isn’t you and me. > And I’ll be back 'round again > Yes I’ll walk in time with you old friend > And we’ll find that place > That we had danced in so long ago. > And in plays to write the wire in > I’ll come back again > Torching time and talking rhymes in > I’ll come back again > With this resigned > The letter I sign.” > > - The Song That Jane Likes > Any takers?? \*\* I realize this is a rather old thread, but I figured its my duty as a SDMB poster to fight ignorance, so I’ll answer this one, DMB brethern: The Song That Jane Likes means absolutely nothing. Dave Matthews himself has said that the song has no meaning. They are just lyrics, made up to sound cool to the rythm. And as for the name, if you didnt know, it comes from his sister Jane’s fondness for the song. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2001, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-clear-yet-incomprehensible/70719/35 "2001-10-28T15:20:43Z")
Tori Amos is quite good at stringing together seemingly incoherent phrases. Take “Silent All These Years” for example: **Silent All These Years © 1990 - Tori Amos** Excuse me but can I be you for a while My DOG won’t bite if you sit real still I got the anti-Christ in the kitchen yellin’ at me again Yeah I can hear that Been saved again by the garbage truck I got something to say you know but NOTHING comes Yes I know what you think of me you never shut up Yeah I can hear that But what if I’m a mermaid In these jeans of his with her name still on it Hey but I don’t care Cause sometimes I said sometimes I hear my voice and it’s been HERE silent all these years So you found a girl who thinks really Deep Thoughts What’s so amazing about really Deep Thoughts Boy you best pray that I bleed real soon How’s that thought for you My scream got lost in a paper cup You think there’s a heaven where some screams have gone I got 25 bucks and a cracker do you think it’s enough To get us there But what if I’m a mermaid In these jeans of his with her name still on it Hey but I don’t care Cause sometimes I said sometimes I hear my voice and it’s been HERE silent all these Years go by will I still be waiting For somebody else to understand Years go by if I’m stripped of my beauty And the orange clouds raining in my head Years go by will I choke on my tears Till finally there is nothing left One more casualty You know we’re to EASY easy easy Well I love the way we communicate Your eyes focus on my funny lip shape Let’s hear what you think of me now but baby don’t look up The sky is falling Your MOTHER shows up in a nasty dress It’s your turn now to stand where I stand Everybody lookin’ at you here take hold of my hand Yeah I can hear them But what if I’m a mermaid In these jeans of his with her name still on it Hey but I don’t care Cause sometimes I said sometimes I hear my voice I hear my voice I hear my voice And it’s been HERE silent all these years I’ve been here silent all these years Silent all these Silent all these years. …the hell? ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2001, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-clear-yet-incomprehensible/70719/36 "2001-10-28T16:06:54Z")
Submitted for your perusal, the oldie classic: [Sally Go Round the Roses](http://www.summer.com.br/~pfilho/html/lyrics/s/sally_go_round_the_roses.txt) ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2001, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-clear-yet-incomprehensible/70719/37 "2001-10-28T17:26:18Z")
David Bowie. God knows I love him, but The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust has its share of both unclear and incomprehensible song lyrics. Still, they’re fun… > [@](#): > > We can’t dance, we don’t talk much, we just ball and play > But then we move like tigers on vaseline > Well the bitter comes out better on a stolen guitar > You’re the blessed, we’re the spiders from Mars From “Hang Onto Yourself” And what exactly is a “mellow thighed chick”? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2001, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-clear-yet-incomprehensible/70719/38 "2001-10-28T17:45:26Z")
**Loser** by Beck. I understand what all the words mean, but together they make no sense. Forces of evil in a bozo nightmare Banned all the music with a phony gas chamber ‘Cuz one’s got a weasel And the other’s got a flag One’s on the pole, shove the other in a bag With the rerun shows And the cocaine nose-job The daytime crap of the folksinger slop He hung himself with a guitar string Slap the turkey-neck And it’s hangin’ from a pigeon wing You can’t write if you can’t relate Trade the cash for the beef For the body for the hate And my time is a piece of wax Fallin’ on a termite Who’s chokin’ on the splinters ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2001, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-clear-yet-incomprehensible/70719/39 "2001-10-28T18:07:51Z")
Mylène Farmer. Not just because she sings in French. Here’s “L’âme-stram-gram” (“soul-stroul-groul?”) In me, in me, you who I love, Tell me, tell me, when it’s no good There’s nothing but that that governs us, Tell me how many times? To share my most abyssal boredom With the first one to come along, who will find it banal, I hear everything you confess, And the swarm chants drunkenness, I hear everyone you condemn, They savage you, they make you charm; It’s ‘l’âme-stram-gram’ In me, in me… In me, in me, you who I love, Tell me, tell me, that it’s no good Mix in and slide the abdomen Into the orifice of me [sic] Absentees, a burden, a friendly ear Confidences, on a couch we psychoanalyze ourselves I hear everything you whisper And the swarm beats the measure; I hear your Oedipus complexes And the swarm manifests itself: it’s ‘l’âme-stram-gram’ ‘âme-stram-gram’, spades and spades and ‘colégram,’ stuff and stuff and ‘ratatam’, ‘âme-stram-gram’ spades queen, ‘âme-stram-gram’ poke me, poke me in the soul, stuffed and stuffed with male cocks, ‘âme-stram-gram’ spades queen/pokes ladies (note: ‘’ = nonsense word; “pique” means “to poke” and “dame” means “lady”; at cards, they mean “spades” and “queen”) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-clear-yet-incomprehensible/70719.md?page=1)