Comments on: Weekend Word Wrap: lyrics that don’t make sense

By: Kirsten

Kirsten — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 18:40:04 +0000

Macy Gray’s “I Try”
Even though I know the correct lyrics, I hear other ones whenever I listen to the song:
Actual Lyrics:
“My world crumbles when you are not near.”
Heard lyrics:
“I wear goggles when you are not here.”

By: Nyx

Nyx — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 20:46:26 +0000

The line is “make the white queen run so fast, she hasn’t got time to make you wise”, not “make you a wife” as someone else had suggested. My basic understanding of the chess game analogy in “Alice through the Looking Glass” includes two points that may apply: The chess game is the Red Queen’s game and she suggests that Alice play the White Queen’s pawn. In this sense, the Red Queen may be seen to have made the White Queen run so fast during the game. The White Queen does have the conversation with Alice about running so hard but only remaining in the same place, not being able to advance. At some point in the book, White makes an illegal move by not moving out of check, an unwise move that a child might make, hence the White Queen perhaps runs so fast that she doesn’t even have time to gain the wisdom to avoid the foolish mistake of failing to move out of check. I don’t know if this is what the songwriters actually meant but I do like the analogy of running so hard and fast that you can’t even see what a dumb thing you’re doing and how you’re missing the most obvious and necessary thing you should be doing to move out of harm’s way.

By: David

David — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 05:01:35 +0000

Right on Devon. Now if we could only convince the songwriter!

By: Devon

Devon — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 04:17:04 +0000

But… but… “What if God were one of us” IS perfectly correct grammar. (I’ve run across other posts that touch on this and have managed to refrain from replying, but I can’t stand it anymore.)

This is an example of the subjunctive mood, which expresses something contrary to fact, wished for, imagined, conditional or hypothetical. Past tense verbs in the subjunctive mood are identical to past tense indicative except for the verb “be”.

Subjunctive: “If I were taller, I could reach the top shelf.

Indicative: “He was tall, and he could reach the top shelf.”

Subjunctive mood seems to be disappearing from the vernacular. But I still get a pain in my ear when I hear someone say, “If I was…” instead of “If I were…”

We now return you to your regularly scheduled misheard lyrics discussion. :)

By: Jeff Coleman

Jeff Coleman — Sat, 25 Aug 2007 22:03:02 +0000

Like many songwriters, Paul McCartney would often compose a song by writing the melody first, with nonsense lyrics as placeholders. The most famous example of this is Yesterday, which began life as “Scrambled eggs, I really love your legs”.

When Paul was writing “Hey Jude”, he had a placeholder line “The movement you need is on your shoulder”. He was planning to change it, but John Lennon convinced him to keep it, because he liked the sound of it! John liked nonsense lyrics :)

By: Jeff

Jeff — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 20:25:47 +0000

“One Week” by Barenaked Ladies is mostly stream-of-consciousness lyrics that don’t make a lot of sense. Here’s an example:

Chickety-China,
The Chinese chicken,
You have a drumstick
And your brain stops tickin.

By: P!

P! — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 05:08:04 +0000

The Smashing Pumpkins’ – “Where Boys Fear to Tread”

Candy cane walks down
To build a bonfire
To break my fall.
…
A go, go, go kids,
A go, go, go stop,
A suck, suck, suck kiss,
A suck, suck, suck style.

By: EddieRocks

EddieRocks — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 15:39:00 +0000

Yellow Ledbetter’s lyrics change each performance, but more recent performances hint at the core meaning: lately when performed, the song tells of learning that a loved one has been lost in war. Those left behind simply sit and wonder why and blame themselves.

“and now, he’s coming home in a box or in a bag.”

But I’ve also read where Vedder just goes with whatever lyrics move him.

By: Anne

Anne — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 14:44:42 +0000

The May Queen was a term used to refer to Queen Elizabeth the first.

By: Stew

Stew — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 13:43:54 +0000

My 10th grade english teacher had us analyze the lyrics to Stairway to Heaven as an in class assignment. Many of the words relate to Lord of the Rings. Wish I had my notes. I am sure we talked about those specific lyrics.