Lyrics that made you go "huh?"

[Muffinhead]

Originally Posted by Kip Carter

From "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard"

Goodbye to Rosie, the Queen of Corona

Who is Rosie the Queen of Corona and where is Corona?

Corona is a neighborhood in Queens, NY. I think that is what Paul Simon is referring to in that song.

[DupleMeter]

Originally Posted by KasperT

And how about the lyrics to "Badge"? There's probably some esoteric meaning there, somewhere.

The entire song evolved around the fact that Clapton just got the first chorus pedal ever & came up with that bridge section. From an interview I read, Clapton stated that he & Harrison were just calling out lines and writing them down as fast as they could. So quickly, that he insists some of the lines were written down wrong...including the title, which was originally "Bridge" because that's how the song started.

[DupleMeter]

Originally Posted by Kip Carter

And the debate will rage on beyond the end of time just what 'American Pie' was REALLY about!

What debate?? It's obviously about pie

[Long Jon]

Mmmmmmm.... Pie !

[Diamond Dave]

Originally Posted by ewalling

That means his 'head', surely. I've always understood that line to mean that the solution to his, Jude's, problems can be found by thinking rather than by knee-jerk emotion. What's "on his shoulder" is his head, i.e., his brain. The "movement" is activity. He's telling Jude to think calmly and rationally.

Nah, I've read McCartney interviews where he said that just kind of came out because it sounded good while he was composing it on the piano. People have tried to rationalize it, but Paul was just looking for the right number of syllables.

EDIT: From Wikipedia (so it must be true):

When McCartney introduced Lennon to his new composition, he came to "the movement you need is on your shoulder" and told Lennon "I'll fix that bit." Lennon asked why, and McCartney answered "... it's a stupid expression; it sounds like a parrot." Lennon parried with "You won't, you know. That's the best line in the song." McCartney thus left the line in and later said "... when I play that song, that's the line when I think of John, and sometimes I get a little emotional during that moment."

Originally Posted by Earwitness

The REM album "Murmur" is one of my favorites, but I can' make out hardly anything that the songs are about.

REM began to go downhill about the same time Stipe became intelligible (on Out of Time, if you ask me).

Originally Posted by Jukie

A Beatles song that really makes me shake my head is "Run For Your Life". Really catchy tune but talking about killing the girl if she goes out with someone else. What on earth could John have been thinking when he wrote that?

John was a cynical SOB. Paul was composing "I Saw Her Standing There" in his living room and had penned "She was just 17 / Never been a beauty queen," when John arrived and shook his head. It quickly became "She was just 17 / You know what I mean." Yes, John. We call that statutory rape in the US today!

[ahorsewithnonam]

Take a time machine to let's say the summer of 75..... Get high. Sit on the roof of the Venice hotel...later called The Morrison....named after Jim of course...as he lived there and wrote a lot of songs late at night on the rooftop. About 4am when the moon settles over the Pacific.....you realize exactly what Jim meant when he said..."let's swim to the moon baby". .....on Moonlight Drive.

[ewalling]

Originally Posted by Diamond Dave

Nah, I've read McCartney interviews where he said that just kind of came out because it sounded good while he was composing it on the piano. People have tried to rationalize it, but Paul was just looking for the right number of syllables.

EDIT: From Wikipedia (so it must be true):

What 'interview'? You'll have to do better than that!

And anyway, in art, artist intention is only part of the story. Artists may come out with something they think profound that means nothing, and something they think means nothing that is profound. We are not self-contained, individual pods; we are part of a vast culture and ideas and music can flow through us without our being fully conscious of what it means or where it comes from. In other words, no artist fully knows his or her work because none of us fully knows why certain thoughts and ideas come to us or what they mean. Many artists welcome insights into their work which they had never thought of themselves.

[MBE]

Originally Posted by Jupiter Tarts

Having grown up in the 90s with the likes of Nirvana and Red Hot Chili Peppers, there was always a WTF moment when it came time to learn the lyrics.

How about some of Gavin Rossdale's (Bush) lyrics?

"I'm never alone
I'm alone all the time
Are you at one or do you lie?
We live in a wheel
Where everyone steals
But when we rise it's like strawberry fields"

Still love the song though...

[smpetty]

I love Nirvana and I believe that Kurt Cobain was one of the biggest talents in music in my lifetime. But their song "Something In The Way" is incomprehensible...

Underneath the bridge
The tarp has sprung a leak
And the animals I've trapped
Have all become my pets
And I'm living off of grass
And the drippings from the ceiling
It's okay to eat fish
'Cause they dont't have any feelings

Huh?

[Randmo]

Itchykoo Park

I feel inclined to blow my mind
Get hung up feed the ducks with a bun
They all come out to groove about
Be nice and have fun in the sun

[architype]

I think Jay Ferrar of Son Volt writes some of the most evocative lyrics I've ever heard. He strings together phrases that seem to be disconected, but they paint a picture in your mind that probably is different for everyone hearing the song. For me he is more like a painter than a poet.
I love this verse from "Tear Stained Eye"

Seein' traces of the stars that came before
Hittin' the pavement still asking for more.
When the hours don't move along,
worn out wood and familiar songs.
To hear your voice is not enough,
it's more than a shame.

[wonderfulremark]

Originally Posted by Diamond Dave

The Beatles. Hello!

"The movement you need is on your shoulder."

"...and a butter pie. A butter pie? The butter wouldn't melt so they put it in the pie." (okay, that's Paul)

And so on...

Yup, the beates takes it.

"Dig a Pony"

[Azaro Ariño]

Just Dropped In - Kenny Rogers

Surprised no one said it yet. And if someone did, I'm not surprised

[seannx]

From Bob Seger's "Against the Wind"
Wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then.

[MHC]

Originally Posted by devellis

Pretty sure this means that hide glue is good.

Now THAT'S funny.