The song with the most undecipherable lyrics. What say you? [Archive]

Bobdude161

Mar 14, 2007, 05:39 AM

iGav

Mar 14, 2007, 06:28 AM

The whole of 'Murmur' by R.E.M. is exactly like that, I don't think even Stipe knows what the ****** he's singing about. ;)

Sdashiki

Mar 14, 2007, 10:05 AM

I was listening to Pearl Jam's "Even Flow" today and I just thought, "Wow WTF is he saying?" Did he get shot in the mouth and in his recovery couldn't move his jaw at all to annunciate his words? I think whoever shot him in the mouth should've finished the job, metaphorically speaking of course. ;)

So now it is time to ask, what song lyrics do you think are extremely undecipherable?

i was just listening to Evenflow and I have to say, I dont know what you are talking about.

ive had Ten for a long long time and probably listened to the song far too many times in the past. so maybe it warps my lyrical listening, but I dont know of many parts in the song you cant understand.

its not like "There's a bathroom on the right"

ezzie

Mar 14, 2007, 10:12 AM

i love of montreal, but i have the hardest time picking out their lyrics. maybe it's just me.

and i agree, iGav, early R.E.M. is fun to decipher. i was just listening to "catapult", and he even manages to make that particular word a bit hard to understand. ;)

still love me some stipe, though. :p

PlaceofDis

Mar 14, 2007, 10:16 AM

anything by Isis, nearly impossible to hear him singing in the first place, but to try and figure it out... *shrug*

epochblue

Mar 14, 2007, 10:17 AM

I have a very difficult time understanding the words to most Clap Your Hands Say Yeah songs, but the ones that give me the most trouble are "Lost And Found (Over and Over Again)" and "Gimme Some Salt."

...and I understand most of the lyrics to Evenflow, but like one of the posters above me, I've listened to that song (and most PJ songs) about 1000 times each, so by now I kind of have it figured out.

iSaint

Mar 14, 2007, 10:18 AM

I think "Louie, Louie" is one of the most famous of the indecipherable songs.

REM was the first band I thought of when I read the thread title. It's fun to sing to, though.

Kernow

Mar 14, 2007, 10:19 AM

Anything by My Bloody Valentine, particularly from the Loveless album. Everything is just a swamp of noise. Which is nice. :)

epochblue

Mar 14, 2007, 10:21 AM

Oh - I thought of another one: "What's the Frequency Kenneth" by REM. I have NEVER been able to figure out what Stipe is saying in that song...

Chaszmyr

Mar 14, 2007, 10:24 AM

I don't know about the most undecipherable song, but seeing this thread title made me think of oldskool Green Day.

ezzie

Mar 14, 2007, 10:25 AM

Oh - I thought of another one: "What's the Frequency Kenneth" by REM. I have NEVER been able to figure out what Stipe is saying in that song...

when i was a senior in high school, i became obsessed with R.E.M. i looked up the lyrics to every one of their songs (at that point, UP had just come out) so i can say that i used to know the lyrics to every R.E.M. song. i really had way too much time on my hands.

to this day i can still sing along, word for word, to "it's the end of the world as we know it..."

which would have gotten my vote once upon a time. :)

iGav

Mar 14, 2007, 11:45 AM

to this day i can still sing along, word for word, to "it's the end of the world as we know it..."

That's baby**** in comparison to the chorus from Ignoreland (http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?playlistId=1586913&s=143441&i=1586901). :p :p :p

ezzie

Mar 14, 2007, 11:48 AM

That's baby**** in comparison to the chorus from Ignoreland (http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?playlistId=1586913&s=143441&i=1586901). :p :p :p

ok, you got me there. ;)

bartelby

Mar 14, 2007, 11:51 AM

when i was a senior in high school, i became obsessed with R.E.M. i looked up the lyrics to every one of their songs (at that point, UP had just come out) s... :)

What's that, about 5 years ago.

Their last few albums were awful. Green was the last great album.

ezzie

Mar 14, 2007, 11:54 AM

What's that, about 5 years ago.

Their last few albums were awful. Green was the last great album.

8 years ago, actually. time flies. :rolleyes:

i did like Up, but i agree that everything after that was sub-par. i have every album made through 1999...after that, i didn't like any of their new music.

to each his own, i suppose....i quite liked the more experiemental stuff. :)

MacBoobsPro

Mar 14, 2007, 11:54 AM

The video at the top of the page. The music 'Sean Paul - Nuttin a go so - Bubblin Remix'. :confused:

(Amazing-ish soccer skills vid)

http://www.connectedinternet.co.uk/2007/01/07/amazing-football-juggling-videos/

bartelby

Mar 14, 2007, 11:56 AM

8 years ago, actually. time flies. :rolleyes:

i did like Up, but i agree that everything after that was sub-par. i have every album made through 1999...after that, i didn't like any of their new music.

to each his own, i suppose....i quite liked the more experiemental stuff. :)

Time certainly does fly. I started listening to REM with Life's Rich Pageant, 21 years ago:eek:

New Adventures in Hi-Fi is pretty cool though. I prefer it to Monster.

epochblue

Mar 14, 2007, 12:02 PM

Welp, thought of another one: "Informer" by Snow.

haha - makes me laugh just thinking about it, though :)

bartelby

Mar 14, 2007, 12:03 PM

Welp, thought of another one: "Informer" by Snow.

haha - makes me laugh just thinking about it, though :)

That's a good one!

I think the problem was the lyrics were just gibberish!

epochblue

Mar 14, 2007, 12:05 PM

That's a good one!

I think the problem was the lyrics were just gibberish!

http://www.songmeanings.net/lyric.php?lid=108061

...looks like there are actual lyrics, although, I wouldn't exactly call them "good." ;)

iGav

Mar 14, 2007, 12:06 PM

ok, you got me there. ;)

It's a bastard isn't it. :p

Their last few albums were awful.

I think UP was a masterful album, exactly what they needed to do after losing Berry.

I think Reveal is vastly underrated.

I also think Around The Sun is approximately half a great album, with about 5 albums worth of what usually makes up the token filler songs on their albums. :p

But they've got a new producer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacknife_Lee) for the next one, and Buck's been uttering about hard, fast songs... so maybe the new one might be a little more edgy than McCarthy's overproduced efforts of the past few years.

bartelby

Mar 14, 2007, 12:10 PM

http://www.songmeanings.net/lyric.php?lid=108061

...looks like there are actual lyrics, although, I wouldn't exactly call them "good." ;)

Did I say "gibberish"?

I meant bollocks:)

Jasonbot

Mar 14, 2007, 12:11 PM

Lots of Heavy Metal lik eNapalm Death, Slipknot and Children of Bodom, thats undecipherable stuff!

IJ Reilly

Mar 14, 2007, 12:19 PM

I think "Louie, Louie" is one of the most famous of the indecipherable songs.

So much so, it was assumed that the lyrics were obscene, and the record was banned in some places. That's once kind of indecipherable lyric (mumbled). The other is when the words are clear, but their meaning is a puzzle. Just about any lyric from REM or Steely Dan would qualify in that category. Is it deep, poetic, or total nonsense?

Phat Elvis

Mar 14, 2007, 12:58 PM

Oh - I thought of another one: "What's the Frequency Kenneth" by REM. I have NEVER been able to figure out what Stipe is saying in that song...

Got to love 'the google'

http://ask.yahoo.com/20010619.html

and

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What's_the_Frequency,_Kenneth%3F

calculus

Mar 14, 2007, 01:16 PM

'Into The Valley' (http://www.punk77.co.uk/groups/skidsintothevalley.htm) by The Skids was completely indecipherable. The words don't make much sense when you see them. The song was used in a TV advert for a brand of cassette tape (can't remember which) - while the song played someone held up cards with the wrong words on. Anyone remember it?

Chrismcfall

Mar 14, 2007, 01:42 PM

This one?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxELSzay2lc

erickkoch

Mar 14, 2007, 01:45 PM

ezzie

Mar 14, 2007, 01:50 PM

It's a bastard isn't it. :p
yeah, 'tis. :p

I think UP was a masterful album, exactly what they needed to do after losing Berry.

agreed...i found it to be a breath of fresh air and a work of art...and way more intelligible than some of their previous work. ;) (ah, always trying to stay on topic...)

seriously, though...we need to go somewhere and have an R.E.M. appreciation thread. :D

calculus

Mar 14, 2007, 01:54 PM

This one?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxELSzay2lc

That was another one in the same series (Desmond Dekker's Israelites)

It was this one (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAsmf1LGcpA)

OwlsAndApples

Mar 14, 2007, 02:02 PM

I find the lyrics posted on the internet for several Graham Coxon songs quite funny...sometimes the accent can be too much for people :p

I struggle with Babyshambles' song 'Pentonville'. Live versions of Sex Pistols' songs are impossible to decipher. To be honest, their recorded versions aren't much clearer...;)

Jasonbot

Mar 14, 2007, 02:06 PM

Anything by Rammstein (because I don't speak German).

Everything by Napalm Death. If they gave awards for undecipherable lyrics these guys would win. Listen to their iTunes sample tracks and you'll know what I mean.

Wow, I also gave the eg. of Napalm on pg.1 They frikken rock! But their music is truly undecipherable :(

Sherman Homan

Mar 14, 2007, 02:12 PM

This one?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxELSzay2lc

Hysterically funny ad!

mike3k

Mar 14, 2007, 02:26 PM

"You Enjoy Myself" by Phish.

aloofman

Mar 14, 2007, 02:38 PM

It's funny that the original OP was about "Even Flow", when that's not even close to being their most indecipherable song. Even among their famous songs, "Yellow Ledbetter" is much harder to understand. I don't think Eddie Vedder has ever sung the same lyrics twice to it.

Killyp

Mar 14, 2007, 05:28 PM

'Wake Up Call' by The Prodigy. Wins hands down, even over ANYTHING The Kingsmen have recorded...

mcarnes

Mar 14, 2007, 05:51 PM

'Tinderbox' by Hark Deckel. Weird as hell.

FullCollapse

Mar 15, 2007, 04:22 PM

the vocalist from Converge is really hard to understand... and Bright Eyes. the guy sounds like he's singing with marbles in his mouth.

Veritas&Equitas

Mar 20, 2007, 01:31 AM

Well, since it's in...I don't know, Elvish? Finnish?...I'd say "Untitled #1" by Sigur Ros

FullCollapse

Mar 20, 2007, 02:09 AM

i know on at least one album sigur ros just made up a language, and you were supposed to put your own meaning to the lyrics. kind of a cool idea really, but a really strange one at the same time.

ModestPenguin

Mar 20, 2007, 02:34 AM

I cant understand the fallout boy brat.

one more reason to stab him next time I get the chance...

Suture

Mar 20, 2007, 08:12 AM

First one that came to mind was "Yellow Ledbetter" by Pearl Jam.

epochblue

Mar 20, 2007, 08:43 AM

i know on at least one album sigur ros just made up a language, and you were supposed to put your own meaning to the lyrics. kind of a cool idea really, but a really strange one at the same time.

Yes, they did. They call that language "Hopelandic" and I think it's supposed to be only roughly similar to Icelandic. And to go to lengths like that to obscure your lyrics, they shouldn't be allowed in this thread! ;) :D