Song lyrics that don't make sense

tuna55 said:

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

You know what it's about?  Losing his lover to a drug addiction.

"harlequin hovers nearby" is the temptation for her to fall off the wagon
"he runs... wishing he could fly... trip at the sound of goodbye" is his conflict.  He wants to leave, but goodbye scares him.
"love isn't lying its loose in a lady who lingers." the love he has for her is found in the woman she USED to be... the lady who lingers.

Knurled. said:

Antihero said:

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

"Jail" could be a metaphor for any societal pressures holding you back - your parents, your girlfriend, whatever.  The lyrics are delightfully vague, you can interpret them to mean whatever you want it to mean.

Still, Antihero's comment made me LOL

Phil Collins is the master of nonsense lyrics as a process to find real lyrics.  He often played songs repeated just singing nonsense syllables until something sounded like it fit.

Sussudio is a nonsense word that he never replaced because it worked.  Sussudio is a generic representation of "any woman."  So it's basically a girl's name, but it applies to all romantic interests.

In reply to wheelsmithy :

there’s a ton of truth to that line from that Toby Keith song, and makes complete sense.

Bubbal said:

In reply to wheelsmithy :

there’s a ton of truth to that line from that Toby Keith song, and makes complete sense.

 

So, basically, I'm not as young as I used to be, but I'm good for one more go? Or one go a night?

pinchvalve said:

Yeah, she's built for speed like a black castrum doloris
Good for the needy, like Neechy, Froyd and Horris
But I'm skin, flint, broke, making no money, making jokes
But baby, I won't joke with you

My feet are burning like I roll 'em in hypocaust
But the Roman's are gone, they changed their name because their lost
She writes letters like a jack chick comic
Just a bunch of propaganda, make my fingers histrionic; like this, and this

I mean, she's my baby
But she makes me get avuncular
And when my monkey is jumping
I got no time for making up for her

I fantasize about the hospital
The army, a silo, confinement, in prison
Any place where there's a time to clear my vision

 

Great song Jack White, but WTF? 

Nietzche (sp?), Freud, and..  I don't recognise the other one, but philosopher and psychoanalyst.

Skinflint is one word - means cheap.

wheelsmithy said:

"I ain't as good as I once was, but I'm as good once as I ever was" -Modern country, so it was bound to be stupid.

That's actually one of the few modern country songs that I can stomach. Hell, it makes me laugh every time.  (Of course, it also isn't a name-dropping 3 minute advertisement for something)

I always thought that meant that he never actually was as good as he remembers it.  Or maybe he isn't consistently good but he still has a moment or two every now and then.

Now, if you want paradoxical mathematics in country music, explain how a dollar is worth less than ten cents.  Maybe the person who wrote that would step over dollars to pick up dimes?

In reply to wheelsmithy :

The first verse is about sex, so he can’t go as many rounds but the one round is as good as any one when he was younger,

second verse about a bar fight, same story, can’t fight as long but can hit as hard once.

In reply to Curtis :

That’s the way David Byrne writes, too. While they were working out the music, he would basically fill in verbal lorem ipsum vocals to get the cadence right. One they left that way was I Zimbra. 

Lyrics that have a deeper meaning are pretty much my favorite. And sometimes the meaning you hear isn't what the writer was writing about. I wrote a song where I purposely left it sort of vague and it's been fun hearing what people think the lyrics are about, I can post them if you guys like and see what you guys think and then tell you what I wrote it about.

There really is no wrong answers on how song makes you feel, it's one of the many great things about music

Just about anything by Dance Gavin Dance fits the bill here.

"Slowly walking down the hall, faster than a cannonball"

A complete contradiction.  A good song by a good band, though.

"Got a devil's haircut in my mind... got a devil's haircut in my mind." Huh?

"it's a python, eatin' a little mouse, wearin' a sailor hat that says 'Snake Farm'."

So...

Is the python wearing the hat or is the mouse?

I love songs that don't make sense unless you paid attention all the way through.   Actual Keller Williams lyrics from the latter half of a song: "perpendicular teeth, in middle America.  Deliver the kidney, in my double decker double-wide."

One problem I have found with trying to understand lyrics in this day and age is that the purported lyrics genii and associated sites seem to be using AI speech recognition instead of actually getting the lyrics from the artists.

To add to the mish mash, don't forget a ton of modern pop songs have been written by people who don't list English as their first language.  See Max Martin for example.

Adriano Celentano may have accidentally written one of the first popular rap songs in a completely made up gibberish that "sounded like American singing to an Italian ear..."

This is sort of obscure, but it always bothered me.

Anyway, Kim Wilde's  'Kids in America'  there is a verse.

....New York to east California

there is a new wave coming I warn ya...

Generally speaking, east California is akin to BFE and I reckon back in the 80's the kids in east California never saw the ' wave '

.

That reminds me of another geographical mistake in songs: “daddy was a cop, on the east side of Chicago”

east side of chicago is Lake Michigan.