# Songs you can't understand at all w/o the lyrics **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 2, 2005, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-understand-at-all-w-o-the-lyrics/324395 "2005-10-02T00:06:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**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 2, 2005, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-understand-at-all-w-o-the-lyrics/324395/1 "2005-10-02T00:06:02Z")
A couple of months ago, I tried Napster. They have a feature where you can check out Billboard charts from various years. On one I ran across the Hanson, uh, “classic”, “MMMBop”. I remember when this first came and it ended up being played about a million times a day. I streamed it and realized I couldn’t understand a damned thing they were saying other than the title! I Googled the lyrics and tried to listen to the song while reading the lyrics. WTF? How can somebody mutilate a bunch of simple words like that? Many, many moons ago, a co-worker gave me a copy of the Dead Kennedys’ “Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables”. I had never listened to punk music and couldn’t understand a single word being screamed. It sounded like Jello Biafra was singing so fast, he didn’t have time to say the entire words. Oddly though, when I read the lyrics, he seemed to slow down considerably. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2005, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-understand-at-all-w-o-the-lyrics/324395/2 "2005-10-02T00:27:58Z")
Oh, jeez…The number of artists I have that sing in English, but it’s not their first language, and they thus have inpenetrably thick accents are too many to count. A specific example I’ve been listening to lately…MIA’s Arular…there’s, maybe, 3 songs I can follow properly without the lyrics in front of me (Banana Boat Skit, Freedom Skit, and Sunshowers). 10$ and Galang I can understand enough to get the general gist of the song. The rest…not a chance. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2005, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-understand-at-all-w-o-the-lyrics/324395/3 "2005-10-02T01:02:31Z")
“Squeeze Me Macaroni” by Mr Bungle. Every single line is dirty either in implication or in actual words, but I didn’t catch hardly any of that just listening to it cause it’s sung so fast and weirdly (for instance, radically changing singing styles in the middle of a word.) If no one knew the lyrics it would almost pass being played on a regular radio station! But then I had to look up the lyrics… :eek: for instance (you’ve been warned): Chef Boy Ardee And the Three Musketeers Shove Charleston Chews in their rears like queers Holy moly, guacamole! said my Chips Ahoy I’m gonna pinch a ravioli on the Pillsbury dough boy ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2005, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-understand-at-all-w-o-the-lyrics/324395/4 "2005-10-02T01:53:44Z")
I was listening to Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song” on the radio today, and I realized that except for the “We come from the lands of the ice and snow, from the midnight sun where the hot springs grow” I cannot understand a word of it. And I like the song a lot.