Song lyrics that bug you because they are illogical.

[Danestress]

For some reason, I think a lot about Whitney Houston and "The greatest love of all" which is self love.  Apart from my objection to the idea that loving yourself is the greatest love, it sort of makes me heartsick to think about how her life ended.  

[freeindeed]

The first song that popped into my mind (had to copy and paste the lyrics) was this one. The dude is completely unreasonable.

 

I'd catch a grenade for you

Throw my hand on a blade for you

I'd jump in front of a train for you

You know I'd do anything for you

Oh, I would go through all this pain

Take a bullet straight through my brain

Yes, I would die for you, baby

But you won't do the same

 

Yes!!! This. My ds10 acts this song out and it cracks me up every time. I really need to video him & post it. It's great.

[Chelle in MO]

Darius Rucker singing,

 

"Cause I've got a roof over my head,
the woman I love laying in my bed
And it's alright, alright, alright, alright"

 

I like Darius, but I always wonder if the woman is laying eggs or carpet or bricks...

 

:lol:

 

Eta:  O.k.  That doesn't bug me because it's illogical, but because it has poor grammar.  Do I have to stand in the corner for not following the rules?

[hillfarm]

My 14yo dd loves to listen to pop music on the car radio. However, I'm not too thrilled with many of the lyrics. So when something really grates on me, I make up my own alternate words. Lately I have been having a lot of fun with the Daft Punk song, We're Up All Night to Get Lucky.

 

First of all, not exactly what I want to hear my 14yo singing. Secondly, it takes you all night? Surely you could find someone by midnight or so! And finally, my replacement lyrics are exchanged for the "We're up all night to get lucky" part. I sing loudly and with great abandon, "We're up on Mexican monkeys!" This, because we just finished a biology unit on tropical primates and yeah, we studied quite a bit about Mexican monkeys - we're up on Mexican monkeys!

 

(Look)

We've come too far to give up who we are
So let's raise the bar and our cups to the stars

She's up all night 'til the sun
I'm up all night to get some
She's up all night for good fun
I'm up all night to get lucky (or, I'm up on Mexican monkeys!)

We're up all night 'til the sun
We're up all night to get some
We're up all night for good fun
We're up all night to get lucky (or, we're up on Mexican monkeys!)

We're up all night to get lucky (or, we're up on Mexican monkeys!)
We're up all night to get lucky (or, we're up on Mexican monkeys!)
We're up all night to get lucky (or, we're up on Mexican monkeys!)
We're up all night to get lucky (or, we're up on Mexican monkeys!)

 

Pretty silly, but it makes the song much more enjoyable to me! :lol: 

 

[Truscifi]

Soundgargen's Black Hole Sun.  It makes no sense. 

 

In my eyes, indisposed in disguise as no one knows

Hides the face, lies the snake and the sun in my disgrace

Boiling heat, summer stench, 'neath the black the sky looks dead

Call my name through the cream and I'll hear you scream again
Black hole sun, won't you come? And wash away the rain Black hole sun, won't you come? Won't you come?
Stuttering, cold and damp, steal the warm wind tired friend

Times are gone for honest men and sometimes far too long for snakes

In my shoes, a walking sleep in my youth I pray to keep

Heaven send Hell away, no one sings like you anymore
Black hole sun, won't you come? And wash away the rain Black hole sun, won't you come? Won't you come?

 

 

 

 

 

[ktgrok]

Wake me up, before you go-go 'cause I'm not planning on going solo...

As in, wake me up from my disco nap before you go out partying, I want to go with you. I don't want to wake up, find you gone, and go out clubbing by myself.

[ktgrok]

How 'bout "When that Honkey-tonk went donk-a-donk..." or however it goes. :rolleyes He also goes on to say she's got it, "...goin' on like Donkey Kong..." What? The song does have a good beat, though.

It's Honky Tonk Badonkadonk. Honky Tonk is slang for a country bar. Badonkadonk is slang for a rear end. So she has a butt fit for a country dance hall. Equivalent would be disco booty, lol.

[Dandelion]

Soundgargen's Black Hole Sun.  It makes no sense. 

 

In my eyes, indisposed in disguise as no one knows

Hides the face, lies the snake and the sun in my disgrace

Boiling heat, summer stench, 'neath the black the sky looks dead

Call my name through the cream and I'll hear you scream again

Black hole sun, won't you come? And wash away the rain Black hole sun, won't you come? Won't you come?

Stuttering, cold and damp, steal the warm wind tired friend

Times are gone for honest men and sometimes far too long for snakes

In my shoes, a walking sleep in my youth I pray to keep

Heaven send Hell away, no one sings like you anymore

Black hole sun, won't you come? And wash away the rain Black hole sun, won't you come? Won't you come?

 

 

 

You win!  

[DarlaS]

"Blinded by the Light" was the first one I thought of as well.  I saw an interview once with Bruce Springsteen where he blamed the cover versions of that song, which tweaked the original lyric (I can't remember what it originally was, but it was clearer that it was "deuce" and just made more sense) for completely messing up the song because of the misunderstood lyric.

Some of the cover versions do sing it wrong.

 

I used to have that Springsteen album--on vinyl.

 

Growin' Up has some pretty illogical lyrics too:

 

"I stood stone-like at midnight, suspended in my masquerade

I combed my hair till it was just right and commanded the night brigade

I was open to pain and crossed by the rain and I walked on a crooked crutch

I strolled all alone through a fallout zone and come out with my soul untouched

I hid in the clouded wrath of the crowd, but when they said, "Sit down," I stood up

Ooh... growin' up"

[Dandelion]

My 14yo dd loves to listen to pop music on the car radio. However, I'm not too thrilled with many of the lyrics. So when something really grates on me, I make up my own alternate words. Lately I have been having a lot of fun with the Daft Punk song, We're Up All Night to Get Lucky.

 

Have you seen Obama's rendition?  It's pretty funny (and no, this is not political).   :tongue_smilie:

 

Basically, they pulled words/phrases from various speeches of his to piece together the song, and set it to music. 

 

[Word Nerd]

As in, wake me up from my disco nap before you go out partying, I want to go with you. I don't want to wake up, find you gone, and go out clubbing by myself.

I get it just fine—but I still think it's dumb.

[PeacefulChaos]

Lol... 

Well...

I listen to K(orean)pop music and they throw in random English phrases here and there, right?  And sometimes they make total sense - most of these singers do, after all, know English pretty well (at least the ones that I'm most familiar with - I'm sure that isn't the case with ALL of them) - but sometimes... yeah.  

 

Off the top of my head, one of them is basically a party type song, right?  And the guy goes (in English): 

I can't, baby don't stop this

followed by (roughly) 'just go corrupt today/ go crazy and rave/ let's go' or something like that.

I don't know what he's talking about there.  The I can't and the baby don't stop this don't make sense to me.  

Later in the same song, another guy says,

Mama, just let me be your lover

That one makes sense.   :lol:

 

In another one by the same group, the pre-chorus says,

Every day and night I'm so mean

Cause I'm so real

And I'm sorry

(But I can't change)

 

I don't know why being real = being mean.  Well, I guess maybe sometimes I'm so real that I'm so mean, but.... what?

And then, I'm sorry but I can't change... well, then... 

[poppy]

Why Black Hole Sun is the worst song ever.... http://www.avclub.com/articles/anthony-jeselnik-on-why-he-hates-black-hole-sun,99874/

[Truscifi]

Why Black Hole Sun is the worst song ever.... http://www.avclub.com/articles/anthony-jeselnik-on-why-he-hates-black-hole-sun,99874/

 

"slowed him down enough for maximum atrocity".  Yes.

[Truscifi]

Ok, this one is not so much illogical or nonsensical, it just bugs me - U2's I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For.  He never says what he's looking for!  Also With Or Without You.  "I can't live with or without you."  So, can he just not live?

 

And Meatloaf.  "I would do anything for love, but I won't do that."  Well, first, that means you would in fact NOT do anything for love, and second, what is "that"?

[sewingmama]

I know this is supposed to be a classic but I was just thinking about this the other day

 

I dont get any of the lyrics for American Pie

 

Maybe it has meaning where you guys are...but here in Australia...not so much. ;)

[ocelotmom]

Ok, this one is not so much illogical or nonsensical, it just bugs me - U2's I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For.  He never says what he's looking for!  Also With Or Without You.  "I can't live with or without you."  So, can he just not live?

 

And Meatloaf.  "I would do anything for love, but I won't do that."  Well, first, that means you would in fact NOT do anything for love, and second, what is "that"?

U2 - I was a big U2 fan as a teen, and a boyfriend once told me about a wedding he'd been to where the groom sang "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For". It sounds horribly romantic if you disregard the title line.

 

Meatloaf - he won't leave, and he won't screw around. I have a feeling we came in halfway through a big fight. Either that, or he's addressing her concerns that she hasn't voiced yet but he picked up telepathically.

[JuleeTN]

That One Direction song "That's What Makes You Beautiful" drives me nuts.

 

You don't know that you're beautiful.

That's what makes you beautiful.

 

So if he's telling her that she's beautiful and now she knows it, is she no longer beautiful?

 

This is the first song I thought of!  I made so much fun of that song that I completely ruined it for my kids---mission accomplished.

 

So c-come on,You got it wrong,To prove I'm right,I put it in a song,

 

WHAT?  He's going to prove he's right by putting it in a song?  

[Jean in Newcastle]

I understand the lyrics all right, but I call "I'll be Watching You" the "creepy stalker song" and Sting's "Murder By Numbers" is the "happy psychopath song".  

[Truscifi]

I understand the lyrics all right, but I call "I'll be Watching You" the "creepy stalker song" and Sting's "Murder By Numbers" is the "happy psychopath song".  

 

Yes!  I love Sting's music, but seriously...every move you make, every step you take, every vow you break, I'll be watching you?  It's the stalker theme song!

[waa510]

Matchbox 20 "Our Song"

 

You're like a little piece of kerosene

 

 

Piece....a piece of kerosene?? It just sounds strange since kerosene is a liquid. You could change it to 'drop' and it'd be so much better.

[waa510]

Dp

[twoxcell]

 

I know this is supposed to be a classic but I was just thinking about this the other day

 

I dont get any of the lyrics for American Pie

 

Maybe it has meaning where you guys are...but here in Australia...not so much.

It is not just you, the song doesn't make any sense and it drags on forever. Maybe you need to be drunk or stoned to understand. :lol:

[Parrothead]

Ok, this one is not so much illogical or nonsensical, it just bugs me - U2's I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For. He never says what he's looking for! Also With Or Without You. "I can't live with or without you." So, can he just not live?

 

And Meatloaf. "I would do anything for love, but I won't do that." Well, first, that means you would in fact NOT do anything for love, and second, what is "that"?

He can't live with her (physically live in the same home as her) because she makes him nuts, but he can't live without her in his life.

 

In the Meatloaf song at the end she sings about what the "that" is. She says something about sooner or later he will be screwing around and the entire song is him promising he will do everything except cheat on her.

[Parrothead]

I know this is supposed to be a classic but I was just thinking about this the other day

 

I dont get any of the lyrics for American Pie

 

Maybe it has meaning where you guys are...but here in Australia...not so much. ;)

That somg is chock full of symbolism. Once you understand what he is talking about the song is even more lovely. http://understandingamericanpie.com/

[Parrothead]

It is not just you, the song doesn't make any sense and it drags on forever. Maybe you need to be drunk or stoned to understand. :lol:

You have to know something of the history of rock music to understand it. My post above has a link to find the meanings.

 

Eta here is a line by line look at the song. http://www.whrc-wi.org/americanpie.htm

[Guest]

Ok, this one is not so much illogical or nonsensical, it just bugs me - U2's I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For.  He never says what he's looking for!  Also With Or Without You.  "I can't live with or without you."  So, can he just not live?

 

And Meatloaf.  "I would do anything for love, but I won't do that."  Well, first, that means you would in fact NOT do anything for love, and second, what is "that"?

I heard once on the radio that U2 wrote that song after a period of time when they were literally looking for the Fountain of Youth. Musing on their search, they wrote the song. I don't know if there's any validity in that story.

[happymomofboys]

Fade into You by Mazzy Star

 

I want to hold the hand inside you
I want to take a breath that's true
I look to you and I see nothing
I look to you to see the truth
You live your life
You go in shadows
You'll come apart and you'll go blind
Some kind of night into your darkness
Colors your eyes with what's not there.

 

Say what?

[Miss Peregrine]

I always thought "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" was about Christianity/Religion. 

He believed but there was still something missing that made him keep looking.

[Truscifi]

He can't live with her (physically live in the same home as her) because she makes him nuts, but he can't live without her in his life.

 

In the Meatloaf song at the end she sings about what the "that" is. She says something about sooner or later he will be screwing around and the entire song is him promising he will do everything except cheat on her.

 

Well there's the problem.  I've never made it all the way to the end of that song!

[Truscifi]

U2 - I was a big U2 fan as a teen, and a boyfriend once told me about a wedding he'd been to where the groom sang "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For". It sounds horribly romantic if you disregard the title line.

 

Meatloaf - he won't leave, and he won't screw around. I have a feeling we came in halfway through a big fight. Either that, or he's addressing her concerns that she hasn't voiced yet but he picked up telepathically.

 

I have climbed highest mountain

I have run through the fields

Only to be with you

Only to be with you

 

I have run

I have crawled

I have scaled these city walls

These city walls

Only to be with you

 

But I still haven't found what I'm looking for

 

 

Maybe it's just me, but it seems like he did all that just to be with her and then realized she wasn't really what he wanted, he was still unsatisfied.  That doesn't strike me as romantic.

[Truscifi]

He can't live with her (physically live in the same home as her) because she makes him nuts, but he can't live without her in his life.

 

In the Meatloaf song at the end she sings about what the "that" is. She says something about sooner or later he will be screwing around and the entire song is him promising he will do everything except cheat on her.

 

Okay, that makes sense.

[ktgrok]

Ok, this one is not so much illogical or nonsensical, it just bugs me - U2's I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For.  He never says what he's looking for!  Also With Or Without You.  "I can't live with or without you."  So, can he just not live?

 

And Meatloaf.  "I would do anything for love, but I won't do that."  Well, first, that means you would in fact NOT do anything for love, and second, what is "that"?

"That' is cheat on her. So it should be more of a full stop between phrases. I would do anything for love. But, I won't ever cheat on you. Should be an and instead of a but.

[twoxcell]

 

You have to know something of the history of rock music to understand it. My post above has a link to find the meanings.

 

Eta here is a line by line look at the song. http://www.whrc-wi.org/americanpie.htm

I think I have heard some of those explanations before but I guess it is just not my kind of song. ;)

[Liberty]

As an English major taking several creative writing classes (which stressed the avoidance of cliches), I CRINGED every time I heard these words on the radio (and still do, actually):

 

Every rose has its thorn
Just like every night has its dawn
Just like every cowboy sings his same sad old song
Every rose has its thorn

 

[AlmiraGulch]

Fade into You by Mazzy Star

 

I want to hold the hand inside you

I want to take a breath that's true

I look to you and I see nothing

I look to you to see the truth

You live your life

You go in shadows

You'll come apart and you'll go blind

Some kind of night into your darkness

Colors your eyes with what's not there.

 

Say what?

I adore this song.  Love it.  It's probably the single most beautiful song I've ever heard.  It's about all-encompassing love, losing yourself in someone else.  

[happymomofboys]

I adore this song.  Love it.  It's probably the single most beautiful song I've ever heard.  It's about all-encompassing love, losing yourself in someone else.  

 

I love it too and I know what it's about, but the question was about illogical lyrics.  I want to hold the hand inside you?  It's poetry.  Poetry doesn't have to make sense.

[Chelli]

I know this is supposed to be a classic but I was just thinking about this the other day

 

I dont get any of the lyrics for American Pie

 

Maybe it has meaning where you guys are...but here in Australia...not so much. ;)

 

I took a history class in college that was designed around dissecting that song and its meanings as a way of studying the 1960's. It was one of the coolest classes I ever had.

[Chelli]

The song that drives me nuts is Peaches by Presidents of the United States of America:

 

Movin' to the country gonna eat a lot of peaches 
I'm movin' to the country I'm gonna eat me a lot of peaches 
I'm movin' to the country I'm gonna eat a lot of peaches 
Movin' to the country I'm gonna eat a lot of peaches 
Peaches come from a can they were put there by a man 
In a factory downtown 
If I had my little way I'd eat peaches everyday 
Sun soakin bulges in the shade 

Movin' to the country I'm gonna eat a lot of peaches 
Movin' to the country I'm gonna eat a lot of peaches 
I'm movin to the country gonna eat a lot of peaches 
Movin' to the country gonna eat a lot of peaches 

I took a little nap where the roots all twist 
Squished a rotten peach in my fist 
And dreamed about you woman 
I poked my finger down inside makin' a little room for a ant to hide 
Nature's candy in my hand or can or a pie 

Millions of peaches peaches for me 
Millions of peaches peaches for free 
Millions of peaches peaches for me 
Millions of peaches peaches for free 

 

I listened to an interview with the band and they asked them about this song. They joked about how every one was always trying to figure out this deeper meaning to the song or some kind of symbolism, but it really is just about....peaches.  :001_rolleyes: 
 

[OrganicAnn]

Mellow Yellow has a line about an "electrical banana" but then again it was the psychedelic 60s.   I don't think songs have to logical.   Poetry also have some crazy lines  (Edward Leary and Lewis Carroll) 

 

 

[KungFuPanda]

The kids and I are forming the criteria for the Taylor Swift School of Songwriting. Use the terms "back door" and "first time" copiously. You must also drag out ending vowel sounds. Now we can add nonsensical lyrics. :grin:

 

She's trying to tell you that her first time was through the back door. It's freak code.

 

 

How about "If you can't be with the one you love, honey, love the one you're with." Illogical or just bad advice?

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5IVuN1N6-Y

 

Any port in a storm?

 

 

 

My kids like to sing "Reach out and touch face" while trying to touch the other one's face. They know it's wrong. They think they're hysterical.

 

However, the lyrics that I hate are "No one else can speak the words on your lips." Gee, really?

[PachiSusan]

Theologically speaking, I am bugged by Garth Brooks "Unanswered Prayers". God always "answers" prayers, sometimes the answer is no. The more theologically appropriate phrase would be "UnGRANTed Prayers.

[PachiSusan]

I took a history class in college that was designed around dissecting that song and its meanings as a way of studying the 1960's. It was one of the coolest classes I ever had.

 

Me too!! Writing the lyrics and every thing that they meant gave us an extra credit of 25 points on our HIstory final in Sophomore year. I ADORE the song "American Pie"!!!

[Truscifi]

The song that drives me nuts is Peaches by Presidents of the United States of America:

 

Movin' to the country gonna eat a lot of peaches 

I'm movin' to the country I'm gonna eat me a lot of peaches 

I'm movin' to the country I'm gonna eat a lot of peaches 

Movin' to the country I'm gonna eat a lot of peaches 

Peaches come from a can they were put there by a man 

In a factory downtown 

If I had my little way I'd eat peaches everyday 

Sun soakin bulges in the shade 

 

Movin' to the country I'm gonna eat a lot of peaches 

Movin' to the country I'm gonna eat a lot of peaches 

I'm movin to the country gonna eat a lot of peaches 

Movin' to the country gonna eat a lot of peaches 

 

I took a little nap where the roots all twist 

Squished a rotten peach in my fist 

And dreamed about you woman 

I poked my finger down inside makin' a little room for a ant to hide 

Nature's candy in my hand or can or a pie 

 

Millions of peaches peaches for me 

Millions of peaches peaches for free 

Millions of peaches peaches for me 

Millions of peaches peaches for free 

 

I listened to an interview with the band and they asked them about this song. They joked about how every one was always trying to figure out this deeper meaning to the song or some kind of symbolism, but it really is just about....peaches.  :001_rolleyes: 

 

 

 

Ha!  I sing this song all the time.  I also really like peaches.  I never thought it had any symbolic meaning, other than maybe they were hungry.  :drool5: :lol:

 

[TXBeth]

A lot of Nichole Nordeman songs annoy me because she often uses the wrong word for what she is trying to say. I know there are several, but the one I can think of right now is

 

Do you cry, do you hope for all things made new?

Try and try to invoke us to live in you

 

Invoke? Seriously? She means provoke. It fits, it rhymes...why didn't an editor catch this?

[Excelsior! Academy]

 

Have you seen Obama's rendition? It's pretty funny (and no, this is not political). :tongue_smilie:

 

 

Basically, they pulled words/phrases from various speeches of his to piece together the song, and set it to music.

 

That was funny! We looked up other obamadubs. My dd liked Call Me Maybe.

[beaners]

I have climbed highest mountain

I have run through the fields

Only to be with you

Only to be with you

 

I have run

I have crawled

I have scaled these city walls

These city walls

Only to be with you

 

But I still haven't found what I'm looking for

 

 

Maybe it's just me, but it seems like he did all that just to be with her and then realized she wasn't really what he wanted, he was still unsatisfied.  That doesn't strike me as romantic.

 

 

It's a reach, but you could say he went through all that just to be with her.  Just being with her wasn't enough though, because he wanted the more fulfilling relationship that comes with marriage.  <- Not how I've ever "read" the song, but you can make the argument for that or any other number of interpretations.

[MyThreeSons]

How about "Blinded by the Light" by Mannfred Mann's Earth Band . . .

A little trivia: this was originally recorded by Bruce Springsteen.

[poppy]

I'm pretty sure Peaches was written to blow the minds of pot smoking college kids. I have heard the theory that it is about women's private parts - many times - but it still doesn't make sense to me.

[OhanaBee]

I really don't like it when the singer prounces things so badly that you have no clue what is being said. 

 

Anyone remember that Richard Marx song "Hold on to the Nights" from the late 80s?.  I worked in the dining hall at my college and one of my coworkers swore up and down that the *real* words were "Hold on to the night.......hold on to the MAMMARIES....."

 

To this day I can't hear it without hearing that particular word.  If only Mr. Marx hadn't slaughtered the word "Memories" on the recording.......<sigh>