songs with full lyrics, in english - yet you have no idea what they're about...

I mean, what the FUCK?

i hope that satisifies you Matt ;)

Not to conjure the ghost of ol' Uncle Charlie Manson, but what the fuck is "Helter Skelter" about, eh?

beefheart's songs are compact and oblique but they're usually crackable (most of them are abt sex, in fact)

white shade of pale is about making pasta

Pretty much everything by Beck.

I wanna get with you. And your sister. I think her name's Debra. I understand that, I appreciate that, I have adopted that as a mantra even more powerful than "in a time of chimpanzees I was a monkey"

Speaking of which, a good portion of Robyn Hitchcock's songs make no sense, but the words sound cool.

Some of Beefheart's lyrics are alliteration puzzles, but some make quite good sense in an acid fried farmer way. Some days a woman has to hit a man to make him understand.

"The blessing of the turtles, the eggs lay on the lawn
Paint a pretty picture for me to sit upon
The calling of the rabbit, the falling of the hare
The hat man then begins to play, a song is everywhere

You want the obvious
You'll get the obvious
Tell them Groucho said, you're just another onionhead

Another Virgin Mary, another case is shut
Have another helping, prime cut of baby's butt
A sip of holy water, a shot of saving grace
Another western mystic, the words pore out my face

You want the obvious
You'll get the obvious
I'll shave my skull instead, be just another onionhead
"

i have an idea,but i'm not quite sure.explain someone?

Can't help you - but blueski's interpretation of Informer reads like a college essay! Did you major in white-boy rap? ;)

"welcome back my friends, to the show that never ends"..."Karn Evil #9" or whatever that song was called...and whatever that song was about...

Life on Mars? is pretty much nonsense as far as I can tell.

Life on Mars is about watching movies, specifically pulp/sci-fi movies

It's about watching life as a movie, melancholic detachment, yeah

Bernie Taupin to thread.

...followed by Liz Frasier

Pearl Jam's "Yellow Ledbetter"

Procol Harem's "A Christmas Camel"

Ghostface Killah's "Nutmeg."

My eyes convinced, eclipsed with the younger moon attained with love.
It changed as almost strained amidst clear manna from above.
I crucified my hate and held the word within my hand.
There's you, the time, the logic, or the reasons we don't understand.

Sad courage claimed the victims standing still for all to see,
As armoured movers took approach to overlook the sea.
There since the cord, the license, or the reasons we understood will be.

Down at the edge, close by a river.
Close to the edge, round by the corner.
Close to the end, down by the corner.
Down at the edge, round by the river.

Sudden call shouldn't take away the startled memory.
All in all, the journey takes you all the way.
As apart from any reality that you've ever seen and known.
Guessing problems only to deceive the mention,
Passing paths that climb halfway into the void.
As we cross from side to side, we hear the total mass retain.

Down at the edge, round by the corner.
Close to the end, down by a river.
Seasons will pass you by.
I get up, I get down.

Good call. Then again, most of Anderson's lyrics to thread.

Oh, and Elizabeth Fraser doesn't generally sing English words.

oh, I know, but when she does...

Beetles and eggs and blues and pour a little everything else
You steam a lens stable eyes and glass
Not get pissed off through my bird lips as good news
Still we can find our love down from behind
Down far behind this fabulous, my turn rules
Beetles and eggs and blues and bells and eggs and then blued
Beetles and eggs and blues and pour a little everything else
You steam a lens stable eyes and glass
Not get pissed off through my bird lips as good news
You'll hang the hearts black and dull as the night
We hanged your pass and start being as you in ecstasy
Still being cried and laughed at before
Should I be sewn in hugged I can by not saying
Still being cried and laughed at from light to blue
And should I be hugged and tugged down through this tiger's masque
And should I be sung and unbroken by not saying
You mind not saying
He'll hang that heart's black and dull as the night
Still being cried and laughed at from behind me, from gains
We hanged your pass and star being as you in ecstasy
Still being cried and laughed at from behind me, from gains
Should I be sung and unbroken by not saying
Still being cried and laughed at from behind me, from gains
Hugged and tugged down through this tiger's masque for key

"I would do anything for love, but I won't do that" comes to mind.

henry s, you're right. That definitely qualifies!

Gimme the ring, kissed and toll'd
Gimme something that I missed (gimme the ring)
A hand to hold, wild and what it seems(gimme the ring)
Kill the king, when love is the law,
And the we'll turn round... (gimme the ring)
Gimme dream child
And do you hear me call? (gimme the ring)
On the loan and on the level
...still on the floor (gimme the ring)
Sing dream child
And do you hear at all?

(sing)
(sing)
Hey now, hey now now, sing this corrosion to me
Hey now, hey now now, sing this corrosion to me
Hey now, hey now now, sing this corrosion to me
Hey now, hey now now, sing...

Gimme siren, child and do you hear me?
Gimme siren, child, and do you hear me call?
Sing, child, of right and wrong
Gimme things that don't last long
Gimme siren, child, and do you hear me call?

(sing)
(sing)
Hey now, hey now now, sing this corrosion to me
Hey now, hey now now, sing this corrosion to me
Hey now, hey now now, sing this corrosion to me
Hey now, hey now now, sing...

On daze, like this
In times like these
I feel an animal deep inside
Heel to haunch on bended knees
Living on if and if I tried,
Somebody send me... please...
Dream wars and a ticket to seem
Giving out and in
Selling the don't belong
Well, what do you say
D'you have a word for giving away?
Got a song for me?

(sing)
(sing)
Hey now, hey now now, sing this corrosion to me
Hey now, hey now now, sing this corrosion to me
Hey now, hey now now, sing this corrosion to me
Hey now, hey now now, sing...

I got nothing to say I aint said before
I bled all I can, I wont bleed no more
I dont need no one to understand
Why the blood run hold
The hired hand
On heart
Hand of god
Floodland and driven apart
Run cold
Turn
Cold
Burn
Like a healing hand
Like a healing hand
Like a healing hand
Like a healing hand

Most everything by Guided By Voices?

PAVEMENT - In The Mouth A Desert

Can you treat it like an oil well
When it's underground out of sight
And if the sight is just a whore sign
Can it make enough sense to me

Pretend the table is a trust knot
We'll put our labels down, faith is down
And watch the yards of twine unravel
And you'll never get it back

It's what I want (it's what I want)
It's what I want (one gets down)
It's what I want (it's what I want)
Don't you know
I could make it dry, make it dry, make it dry
Make it dry

I've been crowned, the king of it
And it is all we have so wait
To hear my words and they're diamond sharp
I could open it up if it's up and down

It's what I want (it's what I want)
I see a bagluck, a little bar (all on time)
Don't you know that it's what I want
(that's what I want)
I see your bag and it makes me try
Make me try, make me try, make me try

I've been down, the king of it
And it is all we have, I've been down
If I could wait to hear those words
They're diamond sharp today

Hear the rime of the ancient mariner
See his eye as he stops one of three
Mesmerises one of the wedding guests
Stay here and listen to the nightmares of the sea.

And the music plays on, as the bride passes by
Caught by his spell and the mariner tells his tale.

Driven south to the land of the snow and ice
To a place where nobody's been
Through the snow fog flies on the albatross
Hailed in God's name, hoping good luck it brings.

And the ship sails on, back to the North
Through the fog and ice and the albatross follows on.

The mariner kills the bird of good omen
His shipmates cry against what he's done
But when the fog clears, they justify him
And make themselves a part of the crime.

Sailing on and on and north across the sea
Sailing on and on and north 'til all is calm.

The albatross begins with its vengeance
A terrible curse a thirst has begun
His shipmates blame bad luck on the mariner
About his neck, the dead bird is hung.

And the curse goes on and on at sea
And the thirst goes on and on for them and me.

"Day after day, day after day,
we stuck nor breath nor motion
as idle as a painted ship upon a painted ocean
Water, water everywhere and
all the boards did shrink
Water, water everywhere nor any drop to drink."

There calls the mariner
There comes a ship over the line
But how can she sail with no wind in her sails and no tide.

See...onward she comes
Onward she nears out of the sun
See, she has no crew
She has no life, wait but there's two.

Death and she Life in Death,
They throw their dice for the crew
She wins the mariner and he belongs to her now.
Then...crew one by one
they drop down dead, two hundred men
She...she, Life in Death.
She lets him live, her chosen one.

"One after one by the star dogged moon,
too quick for groan or sigh
each turned his face with a ghastly pang
and cursed me with his eye
four times fifty living men
(and I heard nor sigh nor groan)
with heavy thump, a lifeless lump,
they dropped down one by one."

The curse it lives on in their eyes
The mariner he wished he'd die
Along with the sea creatures
But they lived on, so did he.

And by the light of the moon
He prays for their beauty not doom
With heart he blesses them
God's creatures all of them too.

Then the spell starts to break
The albatross falls from his neck
Sinks down like lead into the sea
Then down in falls comes the rain.

Hear the groans of the long dead seamen
See them stir and they start to rise
Bodies lifted by good spirits
None of them spake and they're lifeless in their eyes

And revenge is still sought, penance starts again
Cast into a trance and the nightmare carries on.

Now the curse is finally lifted
And the mariner sights his home
spirits go from the long dead bodies
Form their own light and the mariner's left alone.

And then a boat came sailing towards him
It was a joy he could not believe
The pilot's boat, his son and the hermit,
Penance of life will fall onto him.

And the ship it sinks like lead into the sea
And the hermit shrieves the mariner of his sins.

The mariner's bound to tell of his story
To tell this tale wherever he goes
To teach God's word by his own example
That we must love all things that God made.

And the wedding guest's a sad and wiser man
And the tale goes on and on and on.

Black Box and Phoenix to thread!!!

Anything my the New Pornographers basically.

by*

Oh, and Elizabeth Fraser doesn't generally sing English words.

-- Lostandfound, Wednesday, January 16, 2008 9:28 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Link

oh, I know, but when she does...

Beetles and eggs and blues and pour a little everything else
You steam a lens stable eyes and glass
Not get pissed off through my bird lips as good news
Still we can find our love down from behind
Down far behind this fabulous, my turn rules ...

Yeah, but that transcription is from one of those fan sites where people try to sort out what she's singing, right? In reality, though, she was still doing a sort of glossolalia thing at that point...whereas by the time of Four Calendar-Cafe when she does start singing consistent, identifiably English words, the lyrics are pretty straightforward in meaning. ("Are you the right man for me? Are you safe, are you my friend?", etc.)

Pretty much everything by Coldplay...

Something you should know about Tennis Lyrics

Title: Chris Rea - Tennis lyrics

Artist: Chris Rea

Visitors: 8 visitors have hited Tennis Lyrics since Dec 28, 2007.

Print: Chris Rea - Tennis Lyrics print version

In the morning madness and the stabbing light
She pours the coffee and she says
"what was wrong with you last night? "
"dreams, just dreams my love, we’re half asleep"
But the headline’s on tennis
So it seems, everything’s all right
There’s a girl from the midwest, with a pretty face
Scratched where it itched, they said it was a disgrace
"i don’t wanna go to work today
Wanna stay at home and watch that girl play"
Do you like tennis?
Yes I do

There are people in boats in the middle of the sea
Crying and dying like jews
Do you like tennis?
Freedom is the man with the red grenade
She ran out of gas, got beat and raped
Do you like tennis?
Well do you like tennis?
Yes I do

Black Box and Phoenix to thread!!!

too right..."Funky Squaredance" = wha?

lol none of us mentioned 80s Duran Duran??? WTF is "Union of the Snake" about?

in the mouth a desert = cottonmouth weed blues

Swan, swan, hummingbird
Hurrah, we are all free now
What noisy cats are we
Girl and dog he bore his cross
Swan, swan, hummingbird
Hurrah, we are all free now
A long, low time ago, people talk to me

Johnny Reb, what's the price of fans
Forty a piece or three for one dollar?
Hey captain, don't you want to buy
Some bone chains and toothpicks?

Night wings, her hair chains,
Here's your wooden greenback, sing
Wooden beams and dovetail sweep
I struck that picture ninety times,
I walked that path a hundred ninety,
Long, low time ago, people talk to me

A pistol hot cup of rhyme
The whiskey is water, the water is wine
Marching feet, Johnny Reb, what's the price of heroes?

Six in one, half dozen the other,
Tell that to the captain's mother,
Hey captain, don't you want to buy,
Some bone chains and toothpicks?

Night wings, her hair chains
Swan, swan, hummingbird
Hurrah, we are all free now
What noisy cats are we
Long, low time ago, people talk to me
A pistol hot cup of rhyme,
The whiskey is water, the water is wine

Henry's Cocteau lyrics don't make sense because they're random people-on-internet guesses/"interpretations" of what it sounds like Liz might be singing, not actual lyrics.

Pretty much everything by Coldplay...

all explained in Banal Lyric Generator v4.0 documentation appendices

xpost:

true that, but on the later records (like "Heaven Or Las Vegas", where the lyrics I cite are "culled" from) there is enough decipherable English
to make even a card-carrying Dadaist scratch their noggin...

LEVON

Today is gonna be the day
That they're gonna throw it back to you
By now you should've somehow
Realized what you gotta do
I don't believe that anybody
Feels the way I do about you now

Backbeat the word was on the street
That the fire in your heart is out
I'm sure you've heard it all before
But you never really had a doubt
I don't believe that anybody feels
The way I do about you now

And all the roads we have to walk along are winding
And all the lights that lead us there are blinding
There are many things that I would
Like to say to you
I don't know how

Because maybe
You're gonna be the one who saves me ?
And after all
You're my wonderwall

anything Gavin Rossdale ever wrote...

"I Want it That Way" by the Boys of Backstreet doesn't make much sense to me (how exactly do they want it?), but I've never paid great attention to the lyrics there to begin with."

Why post then? Huh?!

Maybe if you had paid attention it would all have become startlingly focussed.

The Fall to thread.

Also, how has 'Macarthur's Park' not been mentioned?

"I would do anything for love, but I won't do that" comes to mind.

Thank god for Wikipedia.

It was a theme she had on a scheme he had
Told in a foreign land
To take life on earth to the second birth
And the man was in command
It was a flight on the wings of a young girls dreams
That flew too far away

Don't push too far your dreams are china in your hand
Don't wish too hard because they may come true
And you can't help them
You don't know what you might have set upon yourself
China in your hand

Come from greed never born of the seed
Took life from a barren land
Oh eyes wide like a child in the form of man
A prophecy for a fantasy, a castle in his mind

Don't push too far your dreams are china in your hand
Don't wish too hard because they may come true
And you can't help them
You don't know what you might have set upon yourself
China in your hand

Load up your guns and bring your friends
It´s fun to lose and to pretend
She´s over bored and self assured
Oh no I know a dirty word

Hello, hello, hello, how long?
Hello, hello, hello, how long?
Hello, hello, hello, how long?
Hello, hello, hello

With the lights out it´s less dangerous
Here we are now, entertain us
I feel stupid and contagious
Here we are now, entertain us
A mulatto, an albino
A mosquito, my libido... Yeah!

I´m worse at what I do best
And for this gift I feel blessed
Our little group has always been
And always will until the end

Hello, hello, hello, how long?
Hello, hello, hello, how long?
Hello, hello, hello, how long?
Hello, hello, hello

With the lights out it´s less dangerous
Here we are now, entertain us
I feel stupid and contagious
Here we are now, entertain us
A mulatto, an albino
A mosquito, my libido... Yeah!

And I forget just why I taste
Oh yeah, I guess it makes me smile
I found it hard, it was hard to find
Oh well, whatever, never mind

Hello, hello, hello, how long?
Hello, hello, hello, how long?
Hello, hello, hello, how long?
Hello, hello, hello

With the lights out it´s less dangerous
Here we are now, entertain us
I feel stupid and contagious
Here we are now, entertain us
A mulatto, an albino
A mosquito, my libido

My denial, my denial...

Almost anything by Devendra Banhart or Marc Bolan. Marvendra Bolanhart?

Van Dyke Parks to thread