Lyrics that don't make sense to you.

[PapaMouse]

I don't mean nonsense lyrics, so don't say "Goo goo ga joob" from "I Am the Walrus". I mean lyrics that are supposed to make sense, but if you think about what they say, it's rubbish.

For example: In "Back In My Arms Again", Diana Ross sings

How can Mary tell me what to do
When she lost her love so true?
If it was a true love, how could she have lost him? He dumped her; doesn't sound "so true" to me.

And Flo. She don't know
'Cause the boy she loves is a Romeo
Excuse me, but Romeo is the epitome of fidelity. He was so in love with Juliet (and ONLY Juliet) that when he thought she had died, he killed himself rather than go on without her. Doesn't sound like someone who runs around, which is what they seem to be implying.


Norman Greenbaum, in his hit "Spirit In the Sky", sings
Never been a sinner. I never sinned.
For a song that seems to be sending the Christian message, he seems woefully unaware of what St Paul says in his letter to the Romans: "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" And yet Mr Greenbaum claims that he's never been a sinner. [hmm]



Any other song lyrics that don't really say what the songwriter seems to be trying to say?

[dmsesquire]

From Ben Folds Five's "Mess"...

She will never see
Never see that part of me
I want to be for her
But I could never be for you

So, she will never see this part of him he wanted to be for the other girl but he still wants to be it for this new girl and apparently she can't see it which means he still isn't whatever he couldn't be for her but because he still wants to be it then is it really a part of him?

She will never see it, he wants to be it, and he couldn't be it for the other girl.

It sounds like it's not really part of him, then.

I think I've just confused myself more.

[PapaMouse]

The Eagles' "New Kid In Town":

Even your old friends
Treat you like you're something new.

If he's a new kid in town, how does he already have old friends there?

[fiona]

Tot's "Africa" has a verse which starts...

The wild dogs cry out in the night
As they grow restless longing for some solitary company

I'm still trying to work out how you can have solitary company unless they mean just one more dog. But there is already more than one dog as they say about "wild dogs" crying out.

Great subject BTW PapaMouse. I have been so busy working on trying to get the new version of Feenotes sorted that I never seem to get any time to post on here at the moment. Thank you so much for helping to keep it going. I appreciate it more than you know.

[PapaMouse]

Everybody keeps tellin' me that this affair's not meant to be
If she's his "No Tell Lover", that implies that he's keeping her a secret. So how can "Everybody" be telling him anything about the affair?

I guess he's not so good at keeping secrets. I hope he doesn't work for the CIA.

[PapaMouse]

Though this one is sorta based on an old cliche, it still doesn't really make sense.

Wild horses couldn't drag me away.
But if the horses are wild, you wouldn't be able to hitch them up to whatever. It's tame horses that would be able to do such work.

[PapaMouse]

In the song "How Long (Has This Been Going On), there's a line that says

'Cause I ain't quite as dumb as I seem

So he's almost that dumb, but not quite?

Makes me laugh whenever I hear it.

[PapaMouse]

In the song "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas", there's a line that says

Through the years we all will be together
If the Fates allow

So there's a song celebrating Christmas, and it calls upon a trio of minor deities in the Greco-Roman pantheon?

[PapaMouse]

Strange as it may seem
You can't treat a woman mean.

I hope this is meant to be sarcastic. Otherwise, why would it seem strange? Especially to someone who's saying to "treat her like a lady".

[dmsesquire]

Everybody keeps tellin' me that this affair's not meant to be
If she's his "No Tell Lover", that implies that he's keeping her a secret. So how can "Everybody" be telling him anything about the affair?

I guess he's not so good at keeping secrets. I hope he doesn't work for the CIA.

For years, I thought he was saying "Motel Lover".

[dmsesquire]

Strange as it may seem
You can't treat a woman mean.

I hope this is meant to be sarcastic. Otherwise, why would it seem strange? Especially to someone who's saying to "treat her like a lady".

I think he means "Strange as it may seem (to you)" because he's giving advice to a second person.

[PapaMouse]

For years, I thought he was saying "Motel Lover".

That would fit on the "Lady Mondegreen" thread.

[PapaMouse]

As many times as Clapton says "Lay down, Sally", I don't think he really wants "just to talk to" her.

[dmsesquire]

For years, I thought he was saying "Motel Lover".

That would fit on the "Lady Mondegreen" thread.

I just left a post over there.

[PapaMouse]

"Don't Pull Your Love"

Took me a while to realize that this one doesn't really make sense:

You say you're gonna leave
Gonna take that big white bird
Gonna fly right out of here
Without a single word

How can she leave "without a single word" if she's just told him that she's leaving?