# Song lyrics that make you go "Wait, what?" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 1, 2011, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-make-you-go-wait-what/598263 "2011-10-01T17:39:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2011, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-make-you-go-wait-what/598263/61 "2011-10-06T12:55:47Z")
> [@Labdad](#): > > Quote: > Originally Posted by PlainJain > Keep a-wearing your bracelets and your new rara > Cross your heart with your living bra > > To expand on what **Biffy** says, when I was in high schoool in 1968, “rah rahs” was a term for the black and white saddle shoes many of the girls wore. Just about every high school cheerleader in those days wore saddle shoes as part of her uniform. Hence the use of the term. > > I always heard that as “new rah-rahs” instead of “new rara,” so that line has always made sense to me. > > I’m probably completely mistaken. 😕 And a [ra ra](http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=ra+ra+skirt&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&biw=991&bih=647) is also a short skirt, for what it’s worth. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2011, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-make-you-go-wait-what/598263/62 "2011-10-06T15:59:26Z")
“Fly robin fly…up into the sky!” ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2011, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-make-you-go-wait-what/598263/63 "2011-10-06T18:49:35Z")
How do those lyrics not make sense? ---
**Author:** ![SiXSwordS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/49beb7/32.png) [@SiXSwordS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SiXSwordS)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2011, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-make-you-go-wait-what/598263/64 "2011-10-06T19:16:39Z")
I’m not sure this counts since it’s meant to be nonsensical. From Dig A Pony: “I load a lorry Well you can syndicate any boat you row Yeah you can syndicate any boat you row I told you so” ---
**Author:** ![Gymnopithys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/fbc32d/32.png) [@Gymnopithys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gymnopithys)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2011, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-make-you-go-wait-what/598263/65 "2011-10-06T19:39:28Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > The mother lode for truly WTF! lyrics is, surely, I Am the Walrus, for example: > Semolina pilchard, climbing up the Eiffel Tower. > Elementary penguin singing Hari Krishna. > Man, you should have seen them kicking Edgar Allan Poe. > But really I could have chosen any lines from the song. In 1999 the original manuscript was sold for 80’000 British pounds :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2011, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-make-you-go-wait-what/598263/66 "2011-10-06T21:44:35Z")
FUCK! Post eaten. Take 2. > [@Lacunae\_Matata](#): > > “Guilty feet have got no rhythm.” > Wait, what?! > [@Quercus](#): > > Well, not that I’m endorsing the quality of the song, but this does at least make sense to me: the singer is feeling bad that he screwed over his friend, and can’t enjoy going out and partying because of that. I refuse to remember enough of the lyrics to think about why the singer is feeling guilty, though. Careless Whisper, by George Michael. It’s about a man who cheated on his girlfriend. Now he’s feeling guilty, and it keeps him from being able to close dance because he’s too distracted by his guilt to concentrate on what his feet should be doing. And given the careless whisper, she knows, thus the part about hurting each other with the things they want to say. And the dancing is also a metaphor for their relationship and the closeness, the cheating has come between them and ruined it. It’s really a poetic line and not particularly confusing or strange. > [@bup](#): > > “Sun-kissed skin so hot, it’ll melt your popsicle” > > Wow, that must be hot. You know what else melts popsicles? > > ANYTHING! As a euphamism, I’d rather not have my popsicle _melted_, i.e. limp and soggy. YMMV. > [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > Pretty much all of “Stairway to Heaven,” but these lines give me the most pause; > “If there’s a bustle in your hedgerow, don’t be alarmed now, > It’s just a spring clean for the May queen.” The May Queen of the Fairies that lives in your hedgerow outside your window. Doesn’t really make sense in the context of the song, but is part of their interest in mysticism and mythology. That album has references to _The Lord of the Rings_. ---
**Author:** ![TomS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@TomS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TomS)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2011, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-make-you-go-wait-what/598263/67 "2011-10-07T05:35:24Z")
Eyes on the Rabbit -by Melvin Van Peebles You know, when it’s right between you and her It sort of seems like all of eternity was a pyramid. Just leading up to that moment. Like people moved out of tents and into huts, From huts into houses, just so someone could build a room for you and her to lay in. [[shortened quote]] Wait! What?.. ---
**Author:** ![cactus\_waltz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@cactus\_waltz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cactus_waltz)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2011, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-make-you-go-wait-what/598263/68 "2011-10-07T07:07:31Z")
Am I alone in thinking “I Am the Walrus” is not that strange? I mean, it’s certainly _out there_, but it’s consistently so for the whole song. It’s thematic. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2011, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-make-you-go-wait-what/598263/69 "2011-10-07T18:45:43Z")
A reminder: please don’t quote more than one verse of any song under copyright. ---
**Author:** ![Rico](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rico/32/3582_2.png) [@Rico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rico)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2011, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-make-you-go-wait-what/598263/70 "2011-10-07T18:52:37Z")
Eagles. “I’m running down the road tryin’ to loosen my load…” Ewww… ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2011, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-make-you-go-wait-what/598263/71 "2011-10-07T18:58:24Z")
> [@Rico](#): > > Eagles. > > “I’m running down the road tryin’ to loosen my load…” > > Ewww… Well, he does have 7 women on his mind. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2011, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-make-you-go-wait-what/598263/72 "2011-10-07T19:08:16Z")
> [@](#): > > You know, when it’s right between you and her > It sort of seems like all of eternity was a pyramid. > Just leading up to that moment. > Like people moved out of tents and into huts, > From huts into houses, just so someone could build a room for you and her to lay in. The pyramid is a visual metaphor about the feeling of everything building up to one specific result, all the swath of human history to create the moment they move in together. > [@](#): > > and I’d help her prepare her projects for her classes the next day. > You see, she was a kindergarten teacher. -No, don’t laugh! > > [snip] > > You know, rabbits can’t talk, > And I never could decide if that was good or bad. > But I know I’m sad. > > I guess, I guess, I guess I’ll put some eyes on the rabbit. > One pink, one yellow, one that funny kind of green, one blue, > One I miss you, one I hope you’ll be back soon, one I hope you’ll be back soon, > And what’s the color for I miss you? I miss you. I miss you. Not particularly confusing. She was a kindergarden teacher, and so they would spend time working crafts for her class together. Then they split up, and now he’s missing her, and feeling mopey, he pulled out craft paper and started doing a kindergarden project like they used to do together. So he cuts out paper rabbits, and can’t decide what to do, so he thinks about making different colored paper eyes and such on the paper rabbits, but in the end they’re only paper rabbits, not her. ---
**Author:** ![SiXSwordS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/49beb7/32.png) [@SiXSwordS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SiXSwordS)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2011, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-make-you-go-wait-what/598263/73 "2011-10-07T19:50:09Z")
> [@cactus\_waltz](#): > > Am I alone in thinking “I Am the Walrus” is not that strange? I mean, it’s certainly _out there_, but it’s consistently so for the whole song. It’s thematic. I thought the same thing about quoting Dig a Pony. Obviously _syndicate every boat you row_ isn’t just a poorly conceived lyric. Some of those lyrics were meant to knot the knickers of the people who interpreted every lyric as being sooooo deeeeeppppp. ---
**Author:** ![Roadfood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9fc348/32.png) [@Roadfood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roadfood)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2011, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-make-you-go-wait-what/598263/74 "2011-10-07T19:59:54Z")
If we’re dredging up oldies, Blue Oyster Cult has some great nonsense: One threat and mundane here at last, Expect to cross one more, Lecherous invisible, Beware the limping cat. Whose black teeth grip, between loose jaws, Still ripe and fully bloomed, A rose and not from anywhere, That you would know or I would care. Or how about the most WTF song _title_: “She’s as Beautiful as a Foot”. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2011, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-make-you-go-wait-what/598263/75 "2011-10-10T06:52:27Z")
A mulatto An albino A mosquito my libido. Yeah! Okay, I can sort of map the last two as if he’s comparing his sex drive to a very tiny object, but I can’t figure out how that relates to a mixed race black person and a person with a pigment disorder. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2011, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-make-you-go-wait-what/598263/76 "2011-10-10T07:04:42Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > A mulatto > An albino > A mosquito > my libido. > Yeah! > > Okay, I can sort of map the last two as if he’s comparing his sex drive to a very tiny object, but I can’t figure out how that relates to a mixed race black person and a person with a pigment disorder. He’s just saying things. He’s not trying to make sense. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2011, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-make-you-go-wait-what/598263/77 "2011-10-10T07:34:30Z")
> [@Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](#): > > You’re on the right track. > > “It’s a place we used to go to in Ilford years ago. Some bloke we know suggested it to us because it’s full of nettles and you keep scratching.” > Ronnie Lane (bass player of Small Faces) > > “Itchycoo Park wasn’t really a park, it was an area in Ilford which was a bombsite, an area of wasteland all wild and overgrown that ran down the railway lines, which was full of stinging nettles.” > Kenney Jones (drummer of Small Faces) They may say that, but the “Bridge of Sighs” and “Dreaming Spires” are both specific references to Oxford. Not only that but there’s a nice green park just round the corner from the Bridge of Sighs (where I also got hiiiiiiiigh when I was a teenager). I’m sure there’s some poetic conflation with Ilford too but those phrases so close together make it unlikely to be a coincidence. ETA: aha, I’m not wrong - the Wikipedia article says: > [@](#): > > The song was first thought of, and largely written, by Ronnie Lane, who had been reading a leaflet on the virtues of Oxford which mentioned its dreaming spires.[6] [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-make-you-go-wait-what/598263.md?page=3)