Some were released decades after they were first written
"I saw a lion he was standing alone, with a tadpole in a jar." There have been many interpretations of these lyrics, with the lion being associated with Robert Plant's mane-like hair. As for the tadpole, it has been suggested it's a metaphor for semen, but of course, the meaning of the lyrics remain open to interpretation.
"Water dissolving... and water removing, there is water at the bottom of the ocean, remove the water, carry the water, remove the water from the bottom of the ocean." Tell us again what you'd like to do with the ocean water?
"Now I’m Four Five Seconds from wildin’." Are you four, five, or 45 seconds from "wildin'"? Perhaps there's some math involved and you mean 4x5 seconds? Which is 20 seconds in total. What do you think?
"Now you see this one-eyed midget shouting the word 'NOW,' and you say, 'For what reason?' and he says, 'How?,' and you say, 'What does this mean?' and he screams back, 'You're a cow, give me some milk or else go home.'" In 2016, Dylan was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature "for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition." Who are we to question his lyrics, right?
"What about elephants? Have we lost their trust?" Well, like with other wild animals, we're pretty sure elephants never trusted us in the first place.
"Clap along if you feel like a room without a roof." How would one know how a room without a room feels? Do rooms even have feelings? And even if they did, not having a roof doesn't sound great, does it?
"Beats so big I'm steppin' on leprechauns," and "Them chickens jackin' my style." Two brilliant nonsense lines that make this song so great.
Not only were they "being hit by purple rain" (this was 12 years before Prince's famous song), but the lyrics also mention "alligator lizards in the air." Did they mean dinosaurs? Either way, we'd love to see that!
"My heart is bound to beat right out my untrimmed chest." Pat Monahan is clearly proud of his hairy chest, otherwise why would he mention it in a song?
"Set fire to the rain." We get it, Adele, it does sound poetic. Even if it's actually impossible to achieve. But don't take our word for it; feel free to try it yourself!
"This hit, that ice cold Michelle Pfeiffer, that white gold." We really can't see the connection between these elements. At all.
"Doesn't really matter if you're on the run/ It seems like we're meant to be." Everyone loves a fugitive, right?
"Oh I'm just a girl/ Guess I'm some kind of freak/ 'Cause they all sit and stare with their eyes." How would they stare at you, Gwen, without using their eyes, exactly?
"Plant a seed, plant a flower, plant a rose/ You can plant any one of those/ Keep planting to find out which one grows/ It's a secret no one knows." Because horticulture is such a secret, mysterious craft, right?
"There’s vomit on his sweater already, mom’s spaghetti." Sure, it rhymes. And it's kind of gross, too.
This is probably one of the craziest (and most clever) lyrics ever written. Here's just a taste: "With the plastic eyeballs/ Spray-paint the vegetables/ Dog food stalls with the beefcake pantyhose."
"I turn my chin music up." What exactly is "chin music," Nick?
"I say what's next, what's next, what's N-X-E-T." It's safe to say the rapper would fail at a spelling competition...
Sources: (WhatCulture) (Glamour) (Bustle)(Grunge) (WatchMojo) (Cutacut) (Redbook) (Cosmopolitan)
See also: These are the most annoying songs ever — do you agree?
Famous lines include: "kool kar kyrie kay salmon," and "common lap kitch sardin a poor floundin." We dare you to make sense of these words (are they even words?).
"Are we human, or are we dancer?" That's a tough question to answer. Supposedly, we could be both, providing the grammar is correct.
Go ahead and try to interpret these lines: "I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together." "Elementary penguin singing Hare Krishna," and "I am the egg man / They are the egg men / I am the walrus / Goo goo g'joob."
"I wish I could eat your cancer when you turn black." For decades, fans have been trying to figure out what Kurt Cobain meant when he sang these words.
"The knee-stocking flavor is the favorite treat / Of men that don't bother with the taste of a teat." Surely Rivers Cuomo had his hash pipe with him when he wrote the lyrics to this song...
The operatic song about a murder confession has some really bizarre references thrown in the lyrics, namely Scaramouche (a 16th-century Italian comedy character), Galileo (the astronomer), the Fandango (Spanish dance), Figaro (a barber character in plays), Bismillah (Arabic for "in the name of Allah"), and Beelzebub (Satan). Why? Only Freddie Mercury could answer that question.
Featured in the Fab Four's 1967 album 'Magical Mystery Tour,' this song has some of the craziest lyrics ever written by the band, and according to John Lennon the point was for it to be impossible to decipher its meaning.
"I only wanna die alive." While you need to be alive in order to die, dying and remaining alive is not possible, unfortunately.
"When I was a geisha, he was a samurai/Somehow I understood him when he spoke Thai." Aren't geishas and samurais from Japan?
"I'm a low brow but I rock a little know how / No time for the piggies or the hoosegow." Taking into account that the band used to perform undressed with just socks covering their private parts, this lyric may (or may not) make some sense.
Music lyrics can vary greatly, from poetic verses to casual dialogues, and everything in between. Unlike other types of writing, music lyrics have few rules, so pretty much anything goes. This artistic freedom means that sometimes lyricists push boundaries, either by writing really crazy stuff that no one understands, utilizing some clever wordplay, or even using incorrect grammar.
In this gallery, you'll find a bit of everything. But all these lyrics do have something in common: they make no sense whatsoever! Click on and see for yourself.
Famous song lyrics that make absolutely no sense
Some of these are complete nonsense
MUSIC Tunes
Music lyrics can vary greatly, from poetic verses to casual dialogues, and everything in between. Unlike other types of writing, music lyrics have few rules, so pretty much anything goes. This artistic freedom means that sometimes lyricists push boundaries, either by writing really crazy stuff that no one understands, utilizing some clever wordplay, or even using incorrect grammar.
In this gallery, you'll find a bit of everything. But all these lyrics do have something in common: they make no sense whatsoever! Click on and see for yourself.