Impressive Nonsense Lyrics

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What are your favorite nonsense lyrics?

Nude Spock, Saturday, 8 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Some of my faves. Can you guess who they're from?...

Gonna grind me a white castle slider outa indias sacred cow

...and when all the sausages dance like Ray Bolger on the hood in a traffic jam....

Like a bedpan, like a sea horse, like a hiccup...

pass me some of that dumb ass over there . . .

Dropkick me Satan...through the goalposts of hell!

It's like getting a blowjob from your mom in the backseat of a cab on the way to sunday schoooooool

...and they all had boners and swollen clits...

i smoke elvis presleys toenails when I wanna get high

I can't walk so I guess I'm gonna stay at home
you can have my legs just leave my mail alone
and I can't talk, so I guess I got nothin' to say,
I'll keep my eyes, just take these tears away....

i'd rather be a matchstick than a lighter, i'd like to watch the wood curl up and burn

Nude Spock, Saturday, 8 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

"Hail the grammar police / Set me up with your niece / Walk to Baltimore / And keep the language off the streets"

"Exclamation mark click click click click click click click click click click click exclamation mark click exclamation mark click click click click click click click"

"What about the voice of Geddy Lee" ...oops, wrong thread.

OleM, Saturday, 8 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Nude Spock: "Dropkick me Satan...through the goalposts of hell!"

Hm. Foetus, is it?

OleM, Saturday, 8 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Yeah, Malkmus will always take the crown in a thread like this, particularly with Pavement b-sides. "The yearling took the purse and the goth kid has a hearse?" "Nun is to church as the parrot is to perch?"

Runners-up: The Sugarplastic. The Sugarplastic strike me as masters of making ridiculously inscrutable strings of lyrics become weirdly compelling:

"Handle it with caution cause it's not even mine ... Take a piece of politic and boil it in brine ... Grab her by the wings and drag her to the altar."

"I might say so-and-so is only you but my nominal description doesn't work in W-sub ... I really don't know why these numbers never bothered him -- take the matter up with Good Lord Jim ... Hats off, Sam Lloyd, stay another day, cause X is for great king Xerxes and always stays that way."

"Little teeth, little teeth, it's a wonder you can eat -- throw your food upon the floor, mash it up with your feet. ... Little teeth, you're the synagogue and little teeth, you're the son of god."

Nitsuh, Saturday, 8 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

"Capers", the Birthday Party. Total nonsense, a bit scary nevertheless!, "I had a dreadful diehood diehard drunken sunken.. (blah blah)..I had a wonderful diehood thanks to my fa-fa-family."

daria gray, Saturday, 8 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

http://www.timothompson.com/archive/images/pavesquirrel.jpg
(thanks to timothompson for the photo;
sorry for leeching your bandwidth)
Ahhh, Malkmus nonsense lyrics. "Harness yr Hopes" is indeed classic, but my vote for best mostly nonsensical lyric has to go to "I spent a long week waiting for my laundry with Steve / I spent a long while waiting for my hair to recede".

In fact, there's a lot of nonsensical gems in those first singles compiled on Westing. I recently listened to Forklift closely enough to realise that actually it *isn't* just nonsense (though the story about going out of town to make a fortune, getting smashed and losing it all is kind of deranged, but so it should be), and sadly I think he doesn't sing "this I ask: that you serve as a forklift too" as the lyrics .txt on the internet says he does. That would've been, hmm, poignant and quoteable nonsense. Instead I fear he merely rages further at his boss and tells him to shove his forklift. Oh well.

I love this kind of thing, so I will probably return with non- Pavement answers at some point. If Pure Morning's "All The Guests Smile So Sweetly" really does contain the line, "I guess it was the FOX that tasted viiiiile!" (it sounds something like this) then I vote for that. Plus I guess much of Modest Mouse's "Heart Cooks Brain" might count, but it feels like it means stuff to me, so I can't bring myself to call it nonsense.

Hmm. I feel like Token IL* Stereotypical Indie Kid now. Well, I guess I am.

Rebecca, Saturday, 8 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Whoops, sorry about the width, thought it'd inherit the width of whatever it was nested in and not the whole page. I'm stupid and should stop showing off. Sorry.

Rebecca, Saturday, 8 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

beck is the god of this genre.

chaki, Saturday, 8 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Foetus? Maybe that goalposts of hell thing *was* lifted. The band I was referring to does tend to steal things. Funny thing is Malkmus completely escaped me, yet nothing he strings together makes much sense. I can't believe he remembers all that. He's got a lot of lyrics.

Nude Spock, Saturday, 8 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I find Pavement's nonsense lyrics a bit wearying. But then I'm a fan of Emily Dickinson and Robert Frost. I do like baroque stuff sometimes, I suppose, like Tyrannosaurus Rex and ... other poets but this isn't a thread about poetry. The thing is that the baroque is so strongly escapist, it seems inappropriate to use it ... um, to make realistic stuff more poetic.

maryann, Saturday, 8 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Malkmus: "Beware the (?) gypsy children in electric dresses, they're insane/I hear they live in crematoriums and smoke your remains." A favorite of mine.
I think at bottom lots of Malkmus's songs are awfully earnest and romantic to the point where they'd be utterly unlistenable if that side wasn't muted by all the nonsense.

daria gray, Saturday, 8 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

The NME used to run a column of quotes like these in the late 80's. Two I remember appearing:

"And if the day came when I felt a natural emotion/ I'd get such a shock I'd probably jump in the ocean." The Smiths, 'Nowhere Fast'.

"Doctor Faustus: horseshoes splacking, swallows haycart, cart-horse, of the peasant blocking his path." The Fall, 'Doctor Faustus'.

RW, Saturday, 8 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

"Sticky black meat will flood your street, sticky black oil will boil your soil..."

Pretty much everything by the brilliant Robyn Hithcock.

Alex in NYC, Saturday, 8 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Maryann, about Malkmus, I agree with you 100%. Something in his delivery seems just a way out of saying anything with any meaning that might be considered silly. He's not really being funny or terribly witty or crazy, he's just abstract enough that every song has the same sense of, well, almost nothingness. Somehow it makes him cynical and hollow. It comes across as the honest effort of a limited and pretentious man.

Nude Spock, Saturday, 8 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Malkmus: far too slack to be pretentious.

Mitch Lastnamewithheld, Saturday, 8 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Every slacker I know is pretentious. Whatchoo talkin' bout, Willis?

Nude Spock, Saturday, 8 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

You have to kinda work at it to be Rilly pretentious, dontcha? Perhaps not.

Mitch Lastnamewithheld, Saturday, 8 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Well, a slacker has the convenient mask of slackery to hide behind, all the while quoting books, citing obscure material, proving his overall wit, while seeming to effortlessly maintain the cool factor because, "hey, he's just not trying, is he". It's like, "I'm not even trying, I'm just better than you." I have a persecution complex, though. :)

Nude Spock, Saturday, 8 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Devo: Smart Patrol/ Mr DNA. "No one comprehends my potato" "suburban robots to monitor reality"

james, Saturday, 8 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I think the "Nowhere Fast" line makes perfect sense.

sundar subramanian, Saturday, 8 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

ahou ahoi nicht trauig sein
Palais Schienberg

anthony, Saturday, 8 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Sundar, I think the lines make sense too, but it's a bit of a toe- curling rhyme.

Kidney Bingos ("money spines paper lung / kidney bingos organ fun" etc etc) may not look at all inspired on paper, but it seems a good deal more nonsensical than my previous nominations and the song rocks.

Rebecca, Saturday, 8 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Lou Reed: And the funny thing is what happened to her nose
it grew until it reached down to her toes
And when I say her feet smelled I mean her nose
*chuckle*

turner, Saturday, 8 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I think this thread has gone on far too long without anyone saying, "Oh, the snot has caked against my pants, it has turned into crystal." Which I suppose also makes perfect sense, or at least about as much sense as and possibly marginally more than waiting a long week for your laundry with Steve. Jeez, I can't find my knees...

Rebecca, Saturday, 8 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Again I seem to disagree w/lots of people re: Malkmus, I don't think he is shallow at all.. yes, many lines that make no sense, but to me they're making all those that are comprehensible a bit more.. potent, maybe? i.e. 'I'm a prize and you're a catch and we're a perfect match/Like two bitter strangers.' At collge radio I got to hear tons and tons of Pavement-inspired disposable nonsensical indierock, I bought some of it and sold it back again, and yet I still go back to Pavement albums b/c there's much I have a fondness for.

daria gray, Sunday, 9 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

survey said -

does anybody remember "stinkum stankum bee bo buck"??

Tracer Hand, Sunday, 9 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

most everything on Here Come the Warm Jets

badger, Sunday, 9 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

anthony: Palais Schaumburg! Yes! Time for a _complete_ lyric in this thread, no?

Praterstern Melanie Sommerfrost Harmonie Siegestor Silver Blink Meisterschuss Bischofsstadt Paderborn Nina Weibull Schweizer Gruss Lavaglut MEGIDDO MEGIDDO MEGIDDO

OleM, Sunday, 9 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Argh! It posted by itself, before I was done! And why do my newlines disappear?

Praterstern Melanie Sommerfrost Harmonie

Siegestor Silver Blink Meisterschuss

Bischofsstadt Paderborn Nina Weibull Schweizer Gruss

Lavaglut MEGGIDDO MEGGIDDO MEGGIDDO

Duwo Präsident Romeo Telstar

Goldfassade Dorothy Molde Solo Sympathie

Lieselotte Allgäu Irish Wonder Elmshorn

Diamant Topsi Margo Köster Baltika

Wiener Charme Roter Panther Lady Rose

Duwo Präsident Romeo Telstar

MEGGIDDO MEGGIDDO MEGGIDDO MEGGIDDO MEGGIDDO MEGGIDDO

Duwo Präsident Romeo Telstar

OleM, Sunday, 9 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

My fave Malkmus:
One of us is a cigar stand and one of us is a lovely blue incandescent guillotine

Dog Latin, Sunday, 9 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

"If Mars had life on it, I might find my wife on it" by good old Brian Wilson, has always struck me as quite a silly ryhme! (it's great!!)

james, Sunday, 9 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I always found the lyrics of Lotion impressive...

I am a cipher
I am a cipher
You light the pilot
You make the metaphor come true
There's too much time to think

Love Theme From Santo Gold

james, Sunday, 9 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I'm an aligator I'm a mama pappa commin for you I'm a space invader I'll be a rock n rolling bitch for you ... Keep your mouth shut Spoken like a big monkey bird I been bashin out my brains for the world

Or something like that, but thats about creating a mood.

'One of us is a cigar stand and one of us is a lovely blue incandescent guillotine' Malkmus says this so slow, that I really wanted to know what he actualy said.... now I know... mood shmood.

And beck... something about a carbarator tied to the moon, and something something with the fruit of the ages.

Lou, Sunday, 9 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I remember reading an interview with Malkmus where he said that his lyrics were never serious, had no hidden meanings, and were merely another instrument that made Pavement's songs complete. If that's true, I think the music can be labeled pretension-free.. I've always taken it that way. I've always worked my own meanings into the lyrics.. one of the reasons I like the band so much.

Bobby D Gray, Monday, 10 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

The German new wave around 1981/82 produced lots of memorable nonsense lyrics.
E.g. Trio's smash hit "Da da da ich lieb dich nicht du liebst mich nicht aha aha aha" (Da da da I don’t love you you don’t love me aha aha aha ) or
"Turaluraluralu - ich mach BuBu was machst du" or
"And the monkey wrapped his tail around the flag pole to show his arse hole to the one two three Broken hearts for you and me".
DAF (Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft) had the song "Mussolini" which goes: geh in die knie. wackle mit den hueften. klatsch in die haende. und tanz den mussolini. tanz den adolf hitler. beweg deinen hintern. und tanz den jesus christus.
get up. shake your hips. clap your hands. and dance the mussolini. dance the adolf hitler. move your ass. and dance the jesus christ

alex in mainhattan, Monday, 10 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Take a Fish
And a potato
Hold the fish
and the potato
in your hands - in your hands

Put the potato in the fish
Make it digest it
Smash it up smash it up

This is how you make fishcakes
This is how one makes fishcakes
Smash it up

fishcakes... FISHCAKES

(Bauhaus/ Murphy)

Dave225, Monday, 10 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Soon i discovered that this rock thing was true
jerry lee lewis was the devil
jesus was an architect previous to his career as a prophet
all of a sudden, i found myself in love with the world
so there was only one thing that i could do
was ding a ding dang my dang a long ling long

ding dang a dong bong bing bong
ticky ticky thought of a gun
everytime i try to do it all now baby
am i on the run
why why why why why baby
if it's so evil then?
give me my time, with all my power
give it to me all again (wow)
ding a ding a dang a dong dong ding dong
every where i go

everytime you tell me baby
when i settle down
got to get me a trailer park
and hold my world around
why why why why?

ding ding donga dong dong ding dong
dingy dingy son of a gun
half my time i tell you baby
never am I all for sure
why why why why why baby
sicky sicky from within
everytime I stick my finger on in ya
you're a wild wild little town bitch
now how 'bout ding a dang dong dong dong ling long
dingy a dingy dong a down

everytime you tell me baby
when i settle down
got to get me a trailer park
and hold my world around
why why why why?

in my dang a ding a ding a ding dong
a sticky sticky son of a gun
ding a danga danga dong dong ding dong
why why never know
why why wack a dong a dang ding dong
then you take it on the bill
ding dang dong don't dong
whoa!

i wanna love ya!

why why why, why why darling
do you do you tell me to play?
half the time I talk about it all now baby
you know what I'm talkin' about I said
why why why it'll
ticky ticky ticky ticky
son of a gun
ding ding dong a bong bong bing bong
ticky ticky thought of a gun

bing bing bang a bang a bang bing bong bing a bing bang a bong
binga bing a bang a bong bong bing bong bing banga bong

bing bing bang a bong bong bing bing binga binga banga bong
bing bing bang a bang bang bing bong

aarrrhhhh...

ding dang a dang bong bing bong
ticky ticky thought of a gun
everytime I try to do it all now baby
am I on the run
why why why
it'll ticky ticky ticky ticky ticky ticky
dawn of a gun
bing bing bang a bong a bong bing bang a
ticky ticky thought of a gun
bing bip bip a bop bop boom bam
ticky ticky through the day

if you got a doubt 'bout baby
the memory is on the bed
why why why why why
darlin' uh it don't know
when my time is on
might tell me never do it on his own
if my time was all as is yours
make me burn a wish
when my time with you is brutish
no I'll never not ever

why why why why why why baby heavy hell
alone and it's here it's this thunder
the thunder oh thunder
oh!

jesus built my car
it's a love affair
mainly jesus and my hot rod

yeah, fuck it!

Kodanshi, Monday, 10 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I forgot to say this comes from Ministry's "Jesus Built My Hotrod", lyrics by Gibby Haines from Butthole Surfers.

Kodanshi, Monday, 10 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

1. The Dadaists in 1900-1920 Germany had the best nonsense lyrics, and they were the OLD SCHOOL ORIGINATORS. Word it up to them.

2. Pavement lyrics aren't really nonsense. They make sense is you read them in context "Nun is to church as parrot is to perch" is just an analogy word game excerpt. Ole Stephen makes a good amount of sense, just in a pun-y way. He is witty chap. Whether or not he is pretentious, um who knows? He didn't tell his band they were broken up, so he's either a pretentious ass or a scared little boy. Or maybe just human. Just not lest ye be.

3. LOUIE LOUIE has the best nonsense lyrics ever. They made them on the spot, plus you can't understand them. So they will be invisible forever. God Bless the Kingsmen.

Gage-o, Monday, 10 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Guided By Voices must rank somewhere in here.

nickn, Monday, 10 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

"Smokin On A Night Train, Chewin On A Jelly Roll" by Mark Mckinny on the Kids in the Hall
Smokin' on a night train, chewin' on a jelly roll,
Smokin' on a night train, chewin' on a jelly roll,
I'm runnin' up a flag without a pole,
I'm walkin' on a shoe without a sole,
Smokin' on a night train, chewin' on a jelly roll.
(OK here i' comes, lesson one.) You can't cook an egg unless you got yourself a frying pan.
(You know it's the truth.) You can't cook an egg unless you got yourself a frying pan.
You shouldn't rob a bank without a plan,
You shouldn't use your tongue to stop a fan.
Smokin' on a night train, chewin' on a jelly roll.
(Now here come lesson number two.) Shouldn't wanna do it if you don't want to not do it right.
Eeba-dabba-dooba-dabba-deeba-dabba-do, all right.
(I ain't makin' this up.)
You don't go dancin' in the day,
You don't golfin' in the night.
Smokin' on a night train, chewin' on a jelly roll. (Yeah.)
Smokin' on a night train, chewin' on a jelly roll.

chaki, Monday, 10 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Louie Louie was a cover. and it's basically a version of Calypso Blues, no? with Louie sitting on the dock, all alone, dreaming of back home in the Caribbean.

michael, Monday, 10 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

HOW could I have not mentioned "Jesus Built My Hotrod," as it's only the best song EVER, hah.
In the same scene what about "Daisy Chain 4 Satan," My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult? Someone please tell me what he's singing before "I need a drink."

daria gray, Monday, 10 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Right: ENO

My, my my, we're treating each other just like strangers I can't ignore the significance of these changes But you can't treat it lightly, And you'll have to face the consequences All my worst fears are grounded You have to make the choice between The Paw Paw Negro Blowtorch and me (no, no, no, no)

By this time time I got to looking for a kind of substitute I can't tell you quite how, Except that it rhymes with dissolute (oh naughty, naughty): But my baby's so lazy, she is almost unable And it's driving me crazy 'Cause her loving's just a fable that we sometimes try, With passion, to recall...

Send for an ambulance or an accident investigator He's breathing like a furnace, so I'll see you later, alligator He'll set the sheets on fire - mmm, quite a burning lover Now he'll barbecue your kitten: he is just another learner lover You have to make the choice between The Paw Paw Negro Blowtorch and me...

That was paw paw Negro blowtorch from here come the warm jets. But as with many weird songs it does make a kind of sence sometimes, it would be difficult to say that this is NOT a song about love (and barbecued kittens) The same goes for david bowies 'life on mars':

See the mice in their million hordes From Ibeza to the Norfolk Broads Rule Britannia is out of bounds To my mother, my dog, and clowns

Again, though I don't have an exact handle on what this particular drug addled freak is saying I CAN say thats it's something to do with England..... How ever this is the same song where micky mouse grows up to become a cow, so what the f**k do I know eh?

Lou, Tuesday, 11 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I listened to Slanted and Enchanted a couple of times. I thought it sounded like a Velvets cover band who don't practise. Did Pavement get any better?

sundar subramanian, Tuesday, 11 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I take it to be Bowie saying that traditional British patriotism was meaningless to his fanbase (or those who may not have been Bowie fans but generally shared that ethos).

Answer to the question: Billy McKenzie's McGonagall tribute.

Robin Carmody, Tuesday, 11 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

five years pass...

Depeche Mode - "New Life"
Sisters of Mercy - "This Corrosion"

Curt1s Stephens, Sunday, 2 September 2007 21:43 (eighteen years ago)

three years pass...

Lavaglut MEGGIDDO MEGGIDDO MEGGIDDO

Haha the recent Holger Hiller revive made me google "duwo präsident romeo telstar" to find out the title of the Palais Schaumburg* song I mentioned here NINE YEARS AGO, in order to see if it's on youtube or something... nope, that post is still apparently the only occurrence of those lyrics on the entire Web. o_O

Goldfassade Dorothy Molde Solo Sympathie.

*) Hiller-less by that time, I believe.

anatol_merklich, Wednesday, 29 December 2010 21:16 (fourteen years ago)

[some personal nostalgia crap deleted]
yes, it was fun :)

Palais Schaumburg - rosen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZI4213qhdOg

meisenfek, Wednesday, 29 December 2010 22:48 (fourteen years ago)

holy shit meisenfek. Utterly grateful. Just allude to something music-related not findable on the web, and ILM turns up. Thanks!!

anatol_merklich, Wednesday, 29 December 2010 23:13 (fourteen years ago)

pleasure! but dont be so thankful for having your holy grails decreased
(btw i'm still looking for 'Fatman crossing' by The Tee Vees *on any media*)

meisenfek, Thursday, 30 December 2010 09:08 (fourteen years ago)

twelve years pass...

so was listening to Weedeater's Goliathan and the song "Bully" came on and I swear dude just screeches "stick your head in doodoo", and then at the end of the song he yells "WEEWEE! DOODOO! DOODOO! WEEWEE!".

even by their standards I wasn't expecting that

waiting for a czar to fall (Neanderthal), Friday, 24 February 2023 19:44 (two years ago)

two years pass...

Red Hot Chili Peppers have a b-side from Blood Sugar Sex Magick that was on the Wayne's World soundtrack, called Sikamikinico. it's a nonsense word that means nothing.

what if all of the California songs replaced the word "California" with "Sikamikinico"

Neanderthal, Tuesday, 8 July 2025 20:21 (three months ago)

sorry, Sikamikanico

Neanderthal, Tuesday, 8 July 2025 20:23 (three months ago)


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