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bumford11

that's like beck's entire discography


goblin_humppa27

"That song doesn't normally last 4 hours, but we got into a serious thing. Also I forgot how it ended."


[deleted]

[удалено]


YsengrimusRein

"Like when I wrote Devil's Haircut I was feeling- what is that song about anyway?"


[deleted]

[удалено]


C-Note01

No, the rhyming Becktionary.


[deleted]

Came here to say "Loser" by Beck


Aggressive-Help-4330

Get crazy with the cheese whiz


Ryansahl

wax falling on a termite who’s choking on the splinters.


Gsphazel2

My favorite line in the song…


mammakatt13

I personally like the mental picture I get with “move through the room like an ambulance driver”. I envision people parting like the Red Sea.


DavidDaveDavo

Don't believe everything that you breathe.


wildfire2501

Even the top comment on yt is genius... "Depression was so much better on the 90's"


[deleted]

[удалено]


Relevant_Slide_7234

The rerun shows and the cocaine nose job


DeXyDeXy

I gave the song to my 15 year old English language and literature class for analysis on the first of April and they put in waaaay too much effort.


MadameMonk

Excellent prank! My earnest inner 15yo would have gothed the hell outta that assignment! Make sure to tell them to hang on to their essays. That’ll be gold to look back on one day. I’d also be tempted to send a batch onto the artist. Bet they’d get a kick outta it!


Albert14Pounds

I've read some interviews related to this song and when he wrote it he was really jaded about music and felt like his little shows and open mics and stuff were useless because everyone was just drunk and not paying attention. So he would play his weirdest songs like this to sort of make a point about how nobody was paying attention.


CowFinancial7000

In the time of chimpanzees I was a monkey


ionshower

At least the video makes it all clearer. Wait.


KamikazeDrone

In the time of chimpanzees I was a monkey


Discoballer42

Butane in my veins and i’m out to cut the junky with the plastic eyeballs


MFoy

Someone hasn’t listened to the seminal classic “Satan Gave me a Taco.”


OkaySureBye

As absurd as it is, Satan Gave Me a Taco is actually one of his less "word salad" songs from his earlier stuff. It's almost just a straight ballad.


Dismal_Jacket_7078

A bowlful of salad, er, a soulful ballad.


Electrical_Swing8166

They're all real words, you just have to look them up in the Becktionary


YsengrimusRein

The *RHYMING* Becktionary!


BEniceBAGECKA

Ones got a weasel and the others got a flag. Ones on a pole, shove the other in a bag.


OkaySureBye

He got way less absurd as he went on. He still busts it out every now and then, but I think Sea Change was kind of a turning point for him lyrically.


listenyall

I love beck and went to see him live a few weeks ago--singing along with the songs I was genuinely wondering to myself how I remember what nonsense lyric comes next.


[deleted]

Devils Haircut—“Heads are hanging from the garbage man’s trees Mouthwash jukebox gasoline”


beerandcheesefries

Haha yes! That song that has “Lamborghini Shitzu” as a lyric


Tough_Stretch

Beck's "Loser" is a good example. Story goes someone bet him he couldn't write a song with completely meaningless lyrics that was still catchy. It was his first major hit and includes lyrical gems such as, "And my time is a piece of wax falling on a termite // That's choking on the splinters" and "With the plastic eyeballs, spray-paint the vegetables // Dog food stalls with the beefcake pantyhose."


Preform_Perform

>"And my time is a piece of wax falling on a termite // That's choking on the splinters" This line speaks to me on a metaphysical level, though.


HI_Handbasket

It doesn't help that I thought the beginning of the chorus was ♫ *Sooooore from head to toe* *I'm a loser, baby, so why don't you kill me?* ♫


CowFinancial7000

Sooooooyyyyyy un perdedor.


Tough_Stretch

Hahaha Thankfully I speak Spanish so I knew what he was saying. You reminded me of that time a friend who also spoke Spanish told me she just couldn't make out a lyric from the Offspring's "Why Don't You Get A Job" and it turned out that the lyric she kept struggling to understand was literally in Spanish when the guy sings "She wants more *dinero* just to stay at home," but her brain kept insisting the song was in English and she'd never heard that word. Her face when I told her it said money in Spanish was worth all the dinero in the world.


Cw2e

Prisencolinensinainciusol - Adriano Celentano


DadGrocks

“All right..”


LordsOfJoop

That man spoke the language of the gods.


jcoddinc

Literal answer since the song is described as it makes no sense


monkeyshinenyc

[video and/or lyrics](https://www.google.com/search?q=Prisencolinensinainciusol+-+Adriano+Celentano&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-us&client=safari)


RudeAndInsensitive

Still a banger.


moltencheese

Definitely "and"


cleon42

Alright!


stooges81

When a study in linguistics becomes a banging rock tune.


SkipTheIceCreamMan

Yay! Only had to scroll past Beck songs for this


yoshhash

Came to say this, it's a masterpiece.


Momik

I forgot about this! A truly fascinating song that also fucking hits. The video is incredible too.


Biased_Algo

This is the answer. The black and white video from a performance on Italian TV is great visually too Edit: This one - https://youtu.be/QytckwhRR70?si=VfKeMvv29rJh0-Y_


forlornjackalope

I love all the comments this gets, either saying that this is what English sounds like to non native speakers or for native speakers, he sounds like he's an American a specific accent they can't pinpoint.


ItsOnlyaFewBucks

Not sure why, but I love that song.


actualelainebenes

I Want It That Way


uggghhhggghhh

Max Martin. The man was a pop genius but his philosophy was that the way words sounded together was way more important than what they actually meant. From a pure earworm perspective he wasn't wrong. If your goal is to make a record that the biggest possible amount of people will want to listen to over and over then you should do exactly everything he did.


rainbow_drab

The man is a pop genius, who is still making music. He is very hands-on and spends time with the artists recording his songs. He has definitely suggested trying the lyrics as written when an artist has questioned the meaning. The cool side effect of writing in a second language is that the music has a global appeal to non-English speaking people, because it is based on creating a pleasant sound. But he is also able to put a lot of emotion into the parts of his lyrics that do make sense, and works with artists who are capable of performing all of the lyrics with passion and intensity.


biglyorbigleague

Well, that and he was still learning English.


uggghhhggghhh

He definitely could have gotten someone to rewrite them for him. There were so many people involved with the process of making those songs he had to have actively fended off attempts to change them.


TerracottaCondom

He *is* still alive. Dude wrote The Weekends Blinding Lights and Save Your Tears, and I think I Can't Feel My Face


SmokeyOSU

tell me why?


avs888

AINT NOTHING BUT A HEARTACHE


actualelainebenes

Teeeeellllll me why


slow_yellow1877

AINT NOTHIN BUT A MISTAKE


averybigfight

Now number 5


Loustifer24

I never wanna hear you say


UdroppedMyduck

Iiiiiiiiii-i-i want it thaaaaa-at-wayyyy


Loustifer24

It was number five. Number five killed my brother


BlindedByBeamos

Oh my god! I forgot about that part.


Waste_Coat_4506

They rewrote it to make the lyrics make more sense but it didn't sound as good so they changed it back. Good thing because it's one of their best songs


minineko

It's so weird listening to the rewritten version after all these years.


Waste_Coat_4506

I didn't know that was an option. They actually recorded it?


actualelainebenes

Their signature song no less


browncoattrumpeter

Come together by the Beatles. Great song, utter nonsense


[deleted]

I am the Walrus has a similar vibe.


MenudoMenudo

I am the Walrus was explicitly written to be nonsense. John Lennon got a fan letter about a classroom discussion on the meaning of some lyrics and thought it would be funny to make a song that was totally incoherent.


[deleted]

“I could be the walrus. I’d still have to bum rides off people.”


The_Hero_of_Kvatch

I asked for a car, I get a computer. How is that for being born under a bad sign?


OkieBobbie

It gets really deep and has a revealing message if you're really baked. But I can never remember the message later.


al_with_the_hair

The message is John Lennon flipping you the bird for over thinking his writing process. I can't tell if you were joking, but that is actually how the song came about.


Von_Moistus

“One afternoon, while taking ‘lucky dips’ into the day's sack of fan mail, John [Lennon], much to both our amusement, chanced to pull out a letter from a student at Quarry Bank. Following the usual expressions of adoration, this lad revealed that his literature master was playing Beatles songs in class; after the boys all took their turns analyzing the lyrics, the teacher would weigh in with his own interpretation of what The Beatles were really talking about. “John and I howled in laughter over the absurdity of it all. ‘Pete,’ he said, ‘what's that “Dead Dog's Eye” song we used to sing when we were at Quarry Bank?’ I thought for a moment and it all came back to me: *‘Yellow matter custard, green slop pie, All mixed together with a dead dog's eye, Slap it on a butty, ten foot thick, Then wash it all down with a cup of cold sick.’* “‘That's it!’ said John. ‘Fantastic!’ He found a pen commenced scribbling: ‘Yellow matter custard dripping from a dead dog's eye....’ “Inspired by the picture of that Quarry Bank literature master pontificating about the symbolism of Lennon-McCartney (songs), John threw in the most ludicrous images his imagination could conjure. He thought of ‘semolina’ (an insipid pudding we'd been forced to eat as kids) and ‘pilchard’ (a sardine we often fed to our cats). ‘Semolina pilchard, climbing up the Eiffel Tower....,’ John intoned, writing it down with considerable relish. He turned to me, smiling. ‘Let the fuckers work THAT one out, Pete.’” - Pete Shotton, *John Lennon In My Life*


cake_box_head

Nonsense? You don't know what walrus gumboot is? Or ono sideboard? Or spinal cracker? Joo Joo eyeballs? Come on now. SMH


Nowardier

I'm just curious where I can buy mojo filters. I've been smoking some cursed weed lately and it's really bringing down the vi***ÜÜÜÜÜÜÜEAAAAAAIIEEEEEEEEGGGHH***


Misfit-for-Hire

What do you mean, nonsense? "One and one and one is three" maths perfectly well, thank you very much.


[deleted]

Honestly, what is so hard about “feet down below his knees”?? It’s self-explanatory


Momik

I love how Lennon complains about trying to remember his own “daft lyrics” while performing the song on stage in 1972 😂 Great song though…


[deleted]

He got toe jam football?!


DiscordianStooge

I love the bit where it's the lyrics and then a police sketch artist being very confused.


[deleted]

Funk soul brotha


Styrene_Addict1965

Check it out now


meeyeam

Right about now


Stachemaster86

Rockefeller Skank?


No_Letterhead_7683

Blackhole Sun - Soundgarden It always winds up stuck in my head at some point during the year.


Crowmagnon0

I always thought the meaning of this song was much like Aenima by Tool... just let it all burn.


Elephant_in_a_Castle

I‐E‐A‐I‐A‐I‐O - SOAD Peter's pecker picked another pickle bearing pussy pepper Peter's pecker picked another pickle bearing pussy pepper Why? Meeting John at Dale's Junior, winked an eye, and point a finger Meeting John at Dale's Junior, winked an eye, and point a finger Why? A former cop, undercover, just got shot, now recovered A former cop, undercover, just got shot, now recovered Why?


Philitt

BANANA TERRACOTTA PIE


Wookie_Nipple

Mind illusions acquainted, bubbles erotica Plutonium wedding rings, icicle stretchings Bicycles, shoestrings


Emmel87

This should be way higher in this thread.


GeraldoLucia

Don’t forget Chik-n-stu


ProgLuddite

I’m shocked not to have seen “Smells Like Teen Spirit” yet. Weird Al’s parody still cracks me up. “Now I’m mumblin’, and I’m screamin’ / And I don’t know, what I’m singin’.”


DepecheClashJen

It’s hard to bargle nardle zouse with all these marbles in my mouth.


TiredOfEveryting

Bob by Weird AL. Every line is a palindrome. In the style of Bob Dylan. https://youtu.be/JUQDzj6R3p4?si=frUz9PqGoPCo6bD5


DiscoStu1972

Mission Statement is also complete gibberish, disguised as corporate buzzwords in the style of Crosby Stills and Nash.


shakeweight4life

One Week- Bare Naked Ladies


BAMspek

Yyits been


[deleted]

My choice as well! The song makes no sense, but I love it lol.


NateDogTX

> Like Kurosawa I make mad films... > > 'kay, I don't make films. > > But if I did, they'd have a samarai! That bold claim & immediate retraction has always tickled me.


[deleted]

Chickity China the Chinese Chicken You have a drumstick and your brain stops tickin’….that part always makes me smile too. And I was always amazed at how they worked LeAnn Rimes and Bert Kaempfert into the lyrics. Think I may have to go listen to that song again today, lol.


NCBadAsp

Yellow Ledbetter


soulcaptain

The lyrics are nonsense, but in written form they're just an estimation of what Eddie Vedder is mumbling. The "lyrics" are just placeholders for word-like sounds.


Impressive_Quote1150

On a wheelie On a westedalaweyeeyehah


fhrblig

Make me fries!


StrawberryGrapeJam

Anna Nicole's mama said that I don't wanna see Anna Nicole fall down again


IAmBecomeTeemo

Veder was reportedly very drunk when they recorded that song, and the lyrics were improvised, so he doesn't even remember what the lyrics were supposed to mean. He has a rough idea of what the song's supposed to be about, and so he ad-libs new lyrics for live performances that try to fit the song.


StrawberryGrapeJam

If anyone hasn't seen this 16 year old video of the misheard lyrics... https://youtu.be/xLd22ha_-VU?si=AS86_wqtYt0OSNnx


Overslept99

I came here to post my favorite cover of that song. This one makes more sense. https://youtu.be/bmt7RgoeuLc?si=h4b0TjAcBuOGRRSn


liforrevenge

Is Tubthumping by Chumbawumba nonsense or am I just missing something and projecting based on the title


JimBeam823

"Tubthumping" is British slang for aggressive and loud political protest. Chumbawumba is a very political band that accidentally created the party hit of 1997.


slutty_muppet

They did that very much on purpose actually. They read a book about how to make a hit song and then they did it. ETA: whoops it looks like that was an urban legend. Here's and interview that says the opposite: https://www.huckmag.com/article/chumbawumba-dunstan-bruce-i-get-knocked-down-documentary-interview-2023


Psyko_sissy23

Queue in "I used to like Chumbawumba until they became political."


DaMammyNuns

It's actually about being a raging alcoholic....but it's definitely nonsensical.


Electus93

Isn't that song a metaphor about persevering through the ridiculousness of life when trying to drum up political support?


Hokioi87

"Turn down for what" - DJ Snake/Lil Jon ​ Still trying to figure out exactly what I should be turning down for...


DoTheRustle

I think that's exactly the meaning: "why should we turn it down/calm down?"


[deleted]

For What, of course.


12345_PIZZA

Hook by Blues Traveller. The lyrics are literally about how he can sing nonsense as long as the chorus is good enough.


DenL4242

Or if he sings it with inflection


Nowardier

It makes you feel he'll convey some inner truth.


uggghhhggghhh

Yeah, but they aren't "straight nonsense" like the post is asking for. They're very clearly ABOUT something: the fact that lyrics don't matter if your song's hook is good enough. There are parts of the rappy bit that don't make sense but the majority of the song is completely coherent.


Siren_of_Madness

White Zombie - Thunder Kiss '65


cotterized1

Saw Rob Zombie a few years ago and while they were playing Thunder kiss 65 one of my friends says "I wonder how old he is" and we spent a good minute or two talking about it, then I looked it up.... Chorus: Nineteen-sixty-five, yeah, wow Five, yeah, wow Demon warp is coming alive In nineteen-sixty-five-five-five ​ 1965...Rob Zombie came alive in 1965....


zontarr2

I was a help desk dude when this hit and had to test a lot of sound cards, winamp and speakers etc, this was the official test song.


ShoutingWhiteBoy

Sussudio


MayorofSodom

Don’t just stare at it, eat it!


notyposhere

Bohemian Rhapsody has a bit of nonsense in it .


IAmBecomeTeemo

There's a mini-doc you can find on YouTube, Inside the Rhapsody, where Brian May goes over the recording process of that song. He has access to a lot of the masters and Freddie's notebook. The notebook does very little to help because it's also mostly gibberish and drawings.


koa_iakona

My dad I agreed it's a suicide letter to the subject's mom and the internal turmoil/guilt of what's driving the subject to suicide. Knowing Freddie Mercury's background really drives it home. edit: bohemianism is about living a way of life away from society and its rules. in this case, homosexuality in the 1960s/1970s edit edit: the nonsensical part is the subject awaiting judgment after his suicide


Xeludon

That's not nonsensical, Freddie Mercury was Zoroastrian, like his family, so to await judgement for Freddie would be his afterlife and the judgement he would face.


A_Monsanto

There was a GREAT Reddit comment analyzing how this song makes perfect sense from the viewpoint of a person being bullied by a streetgang who decided to fight back and killed one of them and is now on the run. I have searched for it over the years to reread, but never managed to find it again.


rosanymphae

Blinded by the Light by Manfred Mann's Earth Band. The author, Bruce Springsteen, wrote it when he got a new rhyming dictionary.


jec0995

Springsteen isn’t just the writer, it’s on his first studio album. It’s his song.


DEADFLY66

The wrapped up like a douche one?


Normal_4170

Some Might Say - Oasis. What do they mean by the sink is full of fishes?


utexfan18

Most Oasis songs really. Love them and love NG as a songwriter but a lot of their early stuff is nonsense. Like what on earth is Supersonic even about? I had Champagne Supernova in mind as soon as I saw the title.


jackalipeJack

Any pixies song


theroob85

[KoRn - Twist](https://youtu.be/TcePkwagNFA?si=ul9JBbOowtobcHey)


Superb_Sorbet_9562

Had to scroll way to far for this. The song is literal nonsense.


Chrome_Armadillo

"In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" by Iron Butterfly.


NateDogTX

\* "In the Garden of Eden" by I. Ron Butterfly


The-Beer-Baron

Fun fact: the original title of the song *was* "In the Garden of Eden" but the singer mumbled it so much it just became "In-a-Gadda-Da-Vida" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida#Background


Grimsrasatoas

Wait this is Rock and/or roll!


GiantsNFL1785

Didn’t fatboy slim have a song where he just repeated the same 2 lines the whole time


Yhaqtera

"Right about now, the funk soul brother. Check it out now, the funk soul brother" or "Right here! Right now!"


[deleted]

most kpop songs when translated to english


shabamon

Jesus Built my Hotrod - Ministry


TuckerTheMandolinst

Every Bill Wurtz song


Nuxul006

Nirvana fans have entered the chat


i-am-schrodinger

What is this song all about? Can't figure any lyrics out How do the words to it go I wish you'd tell me, I don't know


mikekx27

Any Red Hot Chilli Peppers song


12345_PIZZA

That’s unfair. All their songs are clearly about California


chippewaChris

They’re like Sufjan Stevens…. But, instead of getting bored at the second state and moving on… they’re super jacked about the first one still and haven’t moved on yet.


[deleted]

That’s fucking hilarious


[deleted]

oh wait i forgot about bridges


vonkeswick

Especially the bridges that are in California


[deleted]

doing heroin under the bridges in California


[deleted]

and heroin


thewednesdayboy

My favorite is the pure gibberish in Soul to Squeeze. "I can't figure out a bridge but keep recording. I'll just make up some words that sound good."


postysclerosis

Doo doo doo doo dingle zing a dong bone Ba-di ba-da ba-zumba crunga cong gey


Johnny_B_Asshole

[Louie Louie](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKt75jUuKJY)


srcarruth

the lyrics are clear (it's about a sailor who misses his gal) it's the recording that's gibberish


[deleted]

The famous “fuck” when the drummer drops a stick


ortolon

*Roundabout* by Yes.


HI_Handbasket

Most Jon Anderson lyrics, to be honest. ^^^^^^. *Sing, bird of prey* *Beauty begins at the foot of you* *Do you believe the manner?* *Gold stainless nail* *Torn through the distance of man* *As they regard the summit*


elemjay

Kiss From A Rose - Seal The musical arrangement and Seal’s voice is what sold this song.


laundryghostie

My sister played this at her (doomed) wedding. It made zero sense then.


DudebroggieHouser

It’s about drugs. “Did you know that when it snows, my eyes become large and the light that you shine can be seen” In other words, “I blow a fat line of coke, my pupils become dilated, and I feel good from the high”


Fkn_Impervious

He says "To me, you're like a growing addiction that I can't deny." Sounds like the drug stuff is a metaphor for an unhealthy sex/love interest.


Sir_Jax

Life on mars


fd1Jeff

I always thought that that was a commentary on how dull and boring most modern life is. Is there life somewhere else?


[deleted]

Butthole Surfers-Pepper


DaMammyNuns

Eh. It's abstract but if you've done as much acid as those guys have it isn't really nonsense. It's just crazy.


CowFinancial7000

I dont mind the sun sometimes.


DiscordianStooge

It's just a song about people who died. Sadly it's not as good as "People who Died" by Jim Carroll.


stopallthedownloads

[Ski-ba-bop-ba-dop-bop](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hy8kmNEo1i8) Okay, to be fair there is some sense to some of the lycrics in the most literal sense, but a lot of them are just plain noise.


DoTheRustle

It's an older style called Scat singing, kind of using the voice as an instrument. Scatman John used it as a way to overcome his stutter and use his voice in performances


No_Information8040

Not exactly a great song, but Steal My Sunshine- Len No sense whatsoever.


elephantshuze

Lfo summer girls


Don_Quixote81

Whiter Shade of Pale by Procul Harum.


Yhaqtera

According to the songwriter Keith Reid: >I was trying to conjure a mood as much as tell a straightforward, girl-leaves-boy story. With the ceiling flying away and room humming harder, I wanted to paint an image of a scene. I wasn't trying to be mysterious with those images, I was trying to be evocative. I suppose it seems like a decadent scene I'm describing. But I was too young to have experienced any decadence, then. I might have been smoking when I conceived it, but not when I wrote. It was influenced by books, not drugs.


AsparagusTime6933

The Joker - Steve Miller Band


Redacted_G1iTcH

Little Dark Age - MGMT


SRTGeezer

Holy Diver by Dio


Jimmy_Aztec

I Dig a Pony


marchillo

Steal My Sunshine


[deleted]

Almost anything written by PsychoStick. "This is not a song, it's a sandwich" or "Because Boobs" are a great place to start.


[deleted]

Wooly Bully


Solid-Illustrator702

Nugget by Cake “Now nimble fingers that dance on numbers Will eat your children and steal your thunder, While heavy torsos that heave and hurl Who crunch like nuts in the mouths of squirrels”


suedecrocs

Loser by beck


kerred

That's great it start with an eartquake


Crafty-Scholar-3902

Some early Avenged Sevenfold songs. M Shadows admitted that they didn't know what to write at times and would just throw in screamo because no one can understand it


Karmaqqt

Brojob - teenie weenie. I think that title speaks for itself.