Song lyrics that don't make sense

I'm not talking about Louie Louie, I'm talking about lines that you understand, but make no sense.

I heard "hit em up style" by Blue Cantrell on the way home (don't you judge me) and was thrown by the line "and I paid, all the bills about a month too late."  You're mad at the guy for cheating on you so you spent all his cash...but still paid the bills?  I mean, why sit there and write out a stack of checks and mail them in late? Just skip it girl, since you're (about) a month late they effectively did not get paid as far at the utility companies are concerned. Makes no sense. 

And Justin Timberlake, I love you man, but "you cheated girl, my heart bleeded girl."  BLEEDED?  Come on man, your 4th grade English teacher is slapping her forehead and wondering where she went wrong. 

pinchvalve said:

And Justin Timberlake, I love you man, but "you cheated girl, my heart bleeded girl."  BLEEDED?  Come on man, your 4th grade English teacher is slapping her forehead and wondering where she went wrong. 

LOL.  Thank you!

I really enjoy some modern music, but the stuff that glorifies outright ignorance I just can't stomach.

There's a line from Help Is On The Way by Rise Against that goes "We keep axes in the attic to see cameras in the sky." Every other bit of that song makes perfect sense, but I do not get that line.

Any song by U2 that I've had the displeasure of hearing, their lyrics contain many layers of wrongness but the fact that they don't make sense is one of them. Just their lyrics are like nails on a chalkboard to me.

I can give a lot of leeway for nonsensical lyrics though. Especially if the song is about trippin' balls:

" why you wanna stop this flame if it's still burning?"

Sir, do you understand how fire and the process of extinguishing fire typically works?

EDIT: also Pinchvalve, 10 points for your tags on this thread.

The Eagles - Hotel California. Was so nonsensical that it attracted theories about hidden satanic messages. The lyrics make a little sense if you imagine that it's about a couple hooking up and doing a E36 M3load of drugs. My parents danced to this at their wedding which was a fairly ballsy choice in retrospect. Sounds good at least, not a bad song.

I’m actually a major fan of Jon Anderson’s lyrics in the early Yes albums for this exact reason - they make no literal sense, but they paint an imagery that transcends the individual words:

”I’ll be the roundabout, the words will make you out & out. I’ll spend the day your way.”

”A seasoned witch could call you from the depths of your disgrace. And rearrange your liver to the solid mental grace.”

”Love comes to you and you follow. Lose one on to the heart of the sunrise. Sharp, distance. How can the wind with its arms all around me.”

But I still don't know if it's  box or a bag.

How about...." Tonight there's gonna be a jailbreak, somewhere in this town"

I'm thinking that this proposed jailbreak will be at the jail

Daylan C said:

But I still don't know if it's  box or a bag.

Potato wave

NickD said:

There's a line from Help Is On The Way by Rise Against that goes "We keep axes in the attic to see cameras in the sky." Every other bit of that song makes perfect sense, but I do not get that line.

They use the axes to cut holes in the roof to see the cameras in the sky

Eddy Grant - Electric Avenue doesn't make much sense unless you know that it's a protest song. Electric Avenue is the name of a real street in England.

"Because I speak of the pompatus of love"

Steve baby, what the berkeley is a "pompatus"?

"Duke of earl"  Wtf?

"Who do you love?" George.. My english teacher explained repeatedly.. it's "whom do you love?"...

"We want anarchy!" No you don't! You have a recording contract. If there were anarchy, you wouldn't get paid.

I think early Static-X wins this one, hands down.  Their song Wisconsin Death Trip in particular.  Great song, by the way.

What's wrong?

Don't you sing dong ding dong

Push it I'm a phony

Hook it up and right awayyyyyyyy

Motion

can't you feel the motion

You can see right through me

we connect you're a part of me

GameboyRMH said:

The Eagles - Hotel California. Was so nonsensical that it attracted theories about hidden satanic messages. The lyrics make a little sense if you imagine that it's about a couple hooking up and doing a E36 M3load of drugs. My parents danced to this at their wedding which was a fairly ballsy choice in retrospect. Sounds good at least, not a bad song.

'She got the Mercedes Bends'.  A total nonsense line.

Adrian_Thompson said:

GameboyRMH said:

The Eagles - Hotel California. Was so nonsensical that it attracted theories about hidden satanic messages. The lyrics make a little sense if you imagine that it's about a couple hooking up and doing a E36 M3load of drugs. My parents danced to this at their wedding which was a fairly ballsy choice in retrospect. Sounds good at least, not a bad song.

'She got the Mercedes Bends'.  A total nonsense line.

Not sure if it's true, but read that they got flack from Mercedes for the line "She got the Mercedes-Benz", so they changed it...

Edit - Also found this Bends

Almost anything by cake, beck, or the beastie boys on the intergalactic album....

But some of the worst lyrics are in the best melodies.....

It may make some sense to some people, and it's a great song, but...

Helplessly hoping her harlequin hovers nearby
Awaiting a word
Gasping at glimpses of gentle true spirit he runs
Wishing he could fly
Only to trip at the sound of goodbye

Wordlessly watching he waits by the window and wonders
At the empty place inside
Heartlessly helping himself to her bad dreams he worries
Did he hear a good-bye?
Or even hello?

They are one person
They are two alone
They are three together
They are for each other

Stand by the stairway you'll see something certain to tell you
Confusion has its cost
Love isn't lying it's loose in a lady who lingers
Saying she is lost
And choking on hello

They are one person
They are two alone
They are three together
They are for each other

GameboyRMH said:

The Eagles - Hotel California. Was so nonsensical that it attracted theories about hidden satanic messages. The lyrics make a little sense if you imagine that it's about a couple hooking up and doing a E36 M3load of drugs. My parents danced to this at their wedding which was a fairly ballsy choice in retrospect. Sounds good at least, not a bad song.

Makes perfect sense if you realize the “Hotel California” is the Camarillo State Hospital for the criminally insane. (My wife interned there)

You can check in any time you like, but you can never leave. 

Hungary Bill said:

"Because I speak of the pompatus of love"

Steve baby, what the berkeley is a "pompatus"?

There's a story behind that.  "Pompatus" is actually a reference to a '50s song called "The Letter" by the Medallions.  The original word is "puppetutes", a made-up word meaning a kind of 1-dimensional love slave / fantasy figure or a "puppetute of love".  Steve misheard the lyric or bumbled the delivery as "pompatus".

It still doesn't make any damn sense, but there it is.

Dusterbd13-michael said:

Almost anything by cake, beck, or the beastie boys on the intergalactic album....

But some of the worst lyrics are in the best melodies.....

Lyrical nonsense or no, Cake melodies make up for anything else.

And I don't even think Cake lyrics are nonsensical.  They use a lot of offbeat metaphors, but they're mostly sensical.

A Horse With No Name, by America:

I've been through the desert on a horse with no name
It felt good to be out of the rain
In the desert you can remember your name
'Cause there ain't no one for to give you no pain

In reply to stuart in mn :

I believe it's:

"In the desert, you can't remember your name, 'cause there ain't no one there for to give you no name."

It's probably a quadruple negative by the time you parse through it all, but it makes a little more sense that way.