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Original poster

to get disproportionately angry when songs do not make sense

564 replies

WTAF · 14/12/2011 21:44

In the car today, radio on, and they start playing All Around The World by Lisa Stansfield. Instantly I felt the rage creeping up.

'Been around the world and I, I
I can't find my baby,
I don't know why, why he's gone away '

YES YOU FUCKING DO, LISA! Allow me to refer you to your own words, not 30 seconds ago, when you said (and I quote):

'We had a quarrel, and I let myself go
I said so many things, things he didn't know
And I was oh, oh so bad'

And then, and then, LISA, you go on to say

'I did too much lying, wasted too much time'

So you do know, you know exactly why he's gone away, so you should just STFU and concentrate on finding him to apologise. Not singing that bullshit trying to make us feel sorry for you, when clearly it is all YOUR FAULT.

I feel better for that. Anyone else?

OP posts:
DoesNotGiveAFig · 15/12/2011 09:02

It's dancer singular:

"There remains confusion and debate over the line "Are we human, or are we dancer?" in the song's chorus due to its grammar.[9] Debate raged across the internet over whether the lyrics said "dancer" or "denser", a misunderstanding which invoked conflicting interpretations of the song's meaning.[10][11] On the band's official website, the biography section states that Flowers is singing "Are we human, or are we dancer?" and also says that the lyrics were inspired by a disparaging comment made by Hunter S. Thompson, where he stated America was raising "a generation of dancers".[12][13] In an interview with Rolling Stone, Flowers said that he was irritated over the confusion about the lyrics and also that fans were unhappy with the song's dance beat: "It's supposed to be a dance song, [the beat] goes with the chorus...If you can't put that together, you're an idiot. I just don't get why there's a confusion about it."[14]"

HedleyLamarr · 15/12/2011 09:36

Polarbear it's a tad early for gin & tonic. Grin

TheRealMrsHannigan · 15/12/2011 09:58

Katy Perry

'Do you ever feel, like a plastic bag...'

Erm, no, can't say that I ever have. Fucking weirdo. Hmm

filipolarbear · 15/12/2011 10:19

Never too early hedley hic! Ha ha, better than being like elsa, into alka seltzer, doing it with a doctor, on a helicopter, sniffing in a tissue selling the big issue. God it does my fruit in.

complexnumber · 15/12/2011 10:47

"Here she comes just walking down the street, singing ooh wah diddy diddy dum diddy doo"

AVOID THIS GIRL, cross the street, look into a shop window, pretend you are on the phone, whatever you do, do not make eye contact! She is the nutter on the bus.

complexnumber · 15/12/2011 10:51

Ooh another one that has made me laugh for years, from Elvis and 'All Shook Up':

"I'm itching like a man up a fuzzy tree"

wtf is a fuzzy tree, and why would a man be up one?

Deberny · 15/12/2011 10:56

Take on me.... Shock
Take me on.... Smile

Phrasal verb type 2 with pronominal object
must go between the verb and the particle
Tsk.

hellsbells76 · 15/12/2011 10:58

LOVING this thread. RE Live and Let Die though...without wishing to be a McCartney apologist, I think it's 'the ever changing world in which we're living'. Convoluted but at least grammatically correct.

Dontbugmemalone · 15/12/2011 11:13

Re Ironic. The ironic thing about the song is that nothing in the song is ironic, just misforunate.

HoHoOpotomus · 15/12/2011 11:20

"Everything I do I do for you"

Really Brian?

When you go to the loo, to do a poo, do you do it for "you"?
I don't think so!

LadyClariceCannockMonty · 15/12/2011 11:29

Veering slightly off topic, I give you PJ Harvey's The Words That Maketh Murder:

'What if I take my problem to the United Nations?'

Makes grammatical sense, but HOW BORING AND BANAL??!?!

I also worship Prince for, well everything, really, but particularly for writing 'I can see whomever I choose.'

ViviPrudolf · 15/12/2011 11:31

CONVULSING with mirth.

CountBapula beat me to it with "where dreams are made of"

Bookmarking this thread to resurrect every time I have a steam-out-of-ears lyric moment

LimburgseVlaai · 15/12/2011 11:45

Clash - Should I Stay Or Should I Go :

If I go there will be trouble
And if I stay there will be double
So you've gotta let me know
Should I stay or should I go

Pretty obvious what you should do, isn't it???

PoppadumPreach · 15/12/2011 11:53

have yourself a merry little christmas

WHY THANK YOU, YOU PATRONISING FUCK

From now on our troubles will be out of sight

REALLY? WHY? I DON'T THINK SO. IF WE DO MANAGE TO GET THROUGH CHRISTMAS WITHOUT FIGHTING THEN IT WILL BE A FUCKING MIRACLE AND WHEN WE GET THAT CREDIT CARD BILL IN JANUARY......

Here we are as in olden days, happy golden days of yore

YORE? YORE? WHAT THE FUCK IS A YORE? AND IT'S NOT THE FUCKING OLDEN DAYS, ITS 2011. AND WHAT MADE THE OLDEN DAYS "GOLDEN" ANYWAY? MASS STARVATION, CAPITAL PUNISHMENT, INCURABLE DIEASES??? GET THE FUCKING ROSE-TINTED SPECTACLES OFF MATE.

hang a shining star on the highest bough

STARS ARE HUGE GASEOUS BALLS OF FIRE. YOU WANT ME TO HANG HELL ON A TREE? AT CHRISTMAS TIME? AND HOW COULD I REACH THE HIGHEST BOUGH? WHAT IF I DON'T HAVE A BIG LADDER?

OOOH THIS IS THERAPEUTIC. THANK YOU WTAF FOR STARTING THIS THREAD. GENIUS.

Pursang · 15/12/2011 12:04

Don't know if it's already been brought up but Red Hot Chilli Peppers 'Other Side' drives me bonkers...

'I don't, I don't believe it's bad / slit my throat, that's all I ever'

All I ever WHAT???? Finish your sentences you lanky-haired strangely attractive knobhead.

Katiepoes · 15/12/2011 12:09

Rihanna and her fecking song about cheating

'I don't wanna do this anymore'

THEN STOP

Tracy Thorne's one about Missing You sets me off too - she misses him like the desert misses the rain. BUT THE DESERT NEVER HAD THE RAIN SO HOW CAN IT MISS IT? Gah.

However this effort below is the all time winner for me. This shite was a hit in Holland this year - the singer is Milow, he's Belgian and has clearly taken some form of narcotic (or is an actual serial killer):

I wish you smelled a little funny
Not just funny really bad
We could roam the streets forever
Just like cats but we'd never stray
I sometimes wish you were a mermaid
I could raise you in the tub at home
We could take a swim together
On weekly day trips to the bay

Oh you and me
It would be only you and me
Oh you and me
It would be only you and me

I wish you were a little bigger
Not just big but really fat
Doors you would no longer fit through
In my bed you would have to stay
I often wish that you had feathers
I'd keep you in a giant cage
All day long I'd sit and watch you
I'd sing for you and that would be okay

People say there are plenty of fish
In the sea, baby, all I do is wish

I wish you were a little slower
Not just slow but paralyzed
Then I could plug you into a socket
So you could never run away
I really wish that you were smaller
Not just small but really really short
So I could put you in my pocket
And carry you around all day

The mind boggles.

LePruneDeMaTante · 15/12/2011 12:23

Surprised to see no Pixies on here. I never understand their lyrics (but then I was never a hardcore fan, I bet there are websites devoted to the semiotics of Pixies lyrics).

What, for example, has cement got to do with the Caribou?
???

StopRainingPlease · 15/12/2011 12:45

Oh yeah -

"Do they know it's Christmas time at all?"

Probably not, and why should they, they're mostly not Christians.

Someone mentioned you and I/you and me - according to S Club 7 (Heaven) usage is dependent on which one rhymes with the preceding line:
"Underneath the sky there's a heaven for you and I....
There's an energy between you and me..."

And as for New York
"Concrete jungle where dreams are made of"
Eh?

Pursang · 15/12/2011 12:53

And what about 'I can't see me loving nobody but you / for all my liiiiife'. Aside from the grammatical itchiness, I always think: so you can imagine loving someone for a shorter period of time than your lifespan?? Not very romantic...

mrspepperpotty · 15/12/2011 13:06

Sorry, but I have to stick up for Alanis Morisette here. If you were hunting for a knife and came across ten thousand spoons during your search then I think that could be classed as ironic (because of the the sheer quantity of the fecking spoons).

I agree, however, that rain on your wedding day (along with most of the other examples) is simple bad luck.

DurhamDurham · 15/12/2011 13:10

It's on America's tortured brow
That Mickey Mouse has grown up a cow
Now the workers have struck for fame
'Cause Lennon's on sale again

See the mice in their million hordes
From Ibiza to the norfolk broads
Rule Britannia is out of bounds
To my mother, my dog, and clowns

I love Bowie but even I struggle to try to justify life on Mars lyrics!!

Wamster · 15/12/2011 13:15

Most of David Bowie's lyrics are random.
Love them all the same.
If the opening poster really wants to go off her head, she should listen to a band called Yes's lyrics. Oh dear. Love the band as I do, those words make listen sense.
Oh and of course Pink Floyd know that the grammar is off! Jeez, they're nice, educated middle-class boys fgs and they're a bloody great band, too.

Wamster · 15/12/2011 13:16

Unlike Coldplay who are also nice, educate middle-class boys whose music happens to stink.

DurhamDurham · 15/12/2011 13:17

Modern Love, another Boiwe favourite!

I know when to go out
And when to stay in
Get things done
I catch a paper boy
But things don't really change
I'm standing in the wind
But I never wave bye-bye

Ok then, that clears that up Grin

Kikithecat · 15/12/2011 13:23

Tiger, if it makes you feel any better I think he may have sung "in this crazy world in which we're living.

I like to think so anyway.