Write Back Weekend "Say Anything"
Last Tuesday I asked you to tell me about the songs you love, even if you have no idea what they are talking about.
About ten years back, Blues Traveler recorded a great song called "Hook" that deals with this very epidemic. Here are part of the lyrics:
It doesn't matter what I say
So long as I sing with inflection
That makes you feel that I'll convey
Some inner truth of vast reflection
But I've said nothing so far
And I can keep it up for as long as it takes
And it don't matter who you are
If I'm doing my job then it's your resolve that breaks
Because the hook brings you back
I ain't tellin' you no lie
The hook brings you back
On that you can rely
As I sat down to compile my list I realized this was a tall order as it afflicts many of the songs I like, and even some I don't.
Without further adieu, here are the chosen few, likable or not. You should know there were many, many honorable mentions though.
1. "MacArthur Park" Donna Summer- Ok, this song takes the cake, no pun intended, of having one of the most non sensical lyrics of all time. Someone left the cake out in the rain? It took so long to bake it and she'll never find that recipe again? Someone get Rachael Ray, stat!
2. "Sheep Go To Heaven, Goats Go To Hell" Cake- Two songs in a row that involve cake. This is SO not intentional! In my book, Cake is one of the most fun, yet most random bands of all time. This song is just one glimpse into their madcap world. Sheep are going to heaven, goats are going to hell. Why exactly? I don't know, but the cows in purgatory aren't too happy about either.
3. "Black Horse and Cherry Tree" KT Tunstall- While we're on the topic of animals, why not segue into KT Tunstall's "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree"? Ok, so there's like a cherry tree and there's a horse. This much I get. But then before I know it, the horse wants to marry the lady and she's all "No, no you're not the one for me." So apparently it was not meant to be. The horse, the lady and the cherry tree that is. I'll take George Washington to block.
4. "Birdhouse In Your Soul" They Might Be Giants- Another great band full of words that make absolutely no sense. Here they are talking about that birdhouse that dwells in your soul. So that explains all the crap, literally, so many of us have to deal with on the inside!
5. "Sussudio" Phil Collins- Ok, there are two arguments here. With this song you can say that Sussudio is some chick's name. I don't know about you, but I've never met a girl named Sussudio in my life, before or after this song so if Phil Collins was all trying to start a new trend, it didn't work. But then again, he says over and over "Just say the word...Sussudio". Maybe that's it people. He just likes saying the word. And if that's the case, back in '85 he got y'all to say it over and over, too.
6. "Down Under" Men At Work-Some would say that songs from the eighties, more than any other decade, make no sense. I would agree although as to be seen shortly, there are quite a few nineties alt-rock bands that could give them a run for their money. In this song we meet a man who meets everyone else who proceeds to ask him if he's from Down Under and if he is, he better run and take cover. More than that, the focus of this song is random rhyming. Nervous/breakfast, under/chunder/plunder/thunder, Brussels/muscles, language/sandwich, Bombay/say, me/plenty. If a third grade gave this to me I'd probably tell them it made no sense and write REDO. But God help me, I blast the song everytime it comes on.
7. "Plush" Stone Temple Pilots - The first time I heard this song I was a sophomore or junior in high school. The alternative thing was just starting to get big and I had switched bedrooms. Don't worry, it all connects in the end. So anyway, like I was saying, I had just switched bedrooms and with it, I got new, plush carpeting. So I liked to blast "Plush" while walking around on my new, plush carpeting. After the first five times of listening to it I realized it had nothing to do with plush carpeting, or, for that matter, plush anything. It was about dogs who were going to smell 'her'. Ewww. But will she smell alone? The jury's still out on that one.
8. "Steal My Sunshine" LEN- Considered by most to be a one hit wonder (though they did have the equally catchy ditty, "Feelin' Alright"), "Steal My Sunshine" is a great, fun time anthem of nonsense. Although this song makes no sense, the writers get credit for using "word a day" like tactics to fool with listeners minds. A big vocabulary they have. Comprehension? Not so much.
9. Anything by Nirvana, REM, Pearl Jam or Greenday - Here are famous bands whose body of work is, in large part, cryptic or nonsensical. At their concerts you reach for your lighter, but you should get our your decoder while you're at it, too.
10. "(Undone) The Sweater Song" Weezer- The first time I heard this song I was hanging out with a few friends, "down the shore" as we say in Jersey. We were cruising around with no particular place to go and on came a song that...also had no particular place to go. The chorus is is about a sweater that comes undone if you pull the thread and walk away. It also has one hit wonder written all over it. Some ten plus years and a gillion hits later Weezer is still rocking today. Ha. Ha. Suckers.
So there you have it. A sampling of songs where everybody's talking at me, but I can't hear a word. they. are. saying.
About ten years back, Blues Traveler recorded a great song called "Hook" that deals with this very epidemic. Here are part of the lyrics:
It doesn't matter what I say
So long as I sing with inflection
That makes you feel that I'll convey
Some inner truth of vast reflection
But I've said nothing so far
And I can keep it up for as long as it takes
And it don't matter who you are
If I'm doing my job then it's your resolve that breaks
Because the hook brings you back
I ain't tellin' you no lie
The hook brings you back
On that you can rely
As I sat down to compile my list I realized this was a tall order as it afflicts many of the songs I like, and even some I don't.
Without further adieu, here are the chosen few, likable or not. You should know there were many, many honorable mentions though.
1. "MacArthur Park" Donna Summer- Ok, this song takes the cake, no pun intended, of having one of the most non sensical lyrics of all time. Someone left the cake out in the rain? It took so long to bake it and she'll never find that recipe again? Someone get Rachael Ray, stat!
2. "Sheep Go To Heaven, Goats Go To Hell" Cake- Two songs in a row that involve cake. This is SO not intentional! In my book, Cake is one of the most fun, yet most random bands of all time. This song is just one glimpse into their madcap world. Sheep are going to heaven, goats are going to hell. Why exactly? I don't know, but the cows in purgatory aren't too happy about either.
3. "Black Horse and Cherry Tree" KT Tunstall- While we're on the topic of animals, why not segue into KT Tunstall's "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree"? Ok, so there's like a cherry tree and there's a horse. This much I get. But then before I know it, the horse wants to marry the lady and she's all "No, no you're not the one for me." So apparently it was not meant to be. The horse, the lady and the cherry tree that is. I'll take George Washington to block.
4. "Birdhouse In Your Soul" They Might Be Giants- Another great band full of words that make absolutely no sense. Here they are talking about that birdhouse that dwells in your soul. So that explains all the crap, literally, so many of us have to deal with on the inside!
5. "Sussudio" Phil Collins- Ok, there are two arguments here. With this song you can say that Sussudio is some chick's name. I don't know about you, but I've never met a girl named Sussudio in my life, before or after this song so if Phil Collins was all trying to start a new trend, it didn't work. But then again, he says over and over "Just say the word...Sussudio". Maybe that's it people. He just likes saying the word. And if that's the case, back in '85 he got y'all to say it over and over, too.
6. "Down Under" Men At Work-Some would say that songs from the eighties, more than any other decade, make no sense. I would agree although as to be seen shortly, there are quite a few nineties alt-rock bands that could give them a run for their money. In this song we meet a man who meets everyone else who proceeds to ask him if he's from Down Under and if he is, he better run and take cover. More than that, the focus of this song is random rhyming. Nervous/breakfast, under/chunder/plunder/thunder, Brussels/muscles, language/sandwich, Bombay/say, me/plenty. If a third grade gave this to me I'd probably tell them it made no sense and write REDO. But God help me, I blast the song everytime it comes on.
7. "Plush" Stone Temple Pilots - The first time I heard this song I was a sophomore or junior in high school. The alternative thing was just starting to get big and I had switched bedrooms. Don't worry, it all connects in the end. So anyway, like I was saying, I had just switched bedrooms and with it, I got new, plush carpeting. So I liked to blast "Plush" while walking around on my new, plush carpeting. After the first five times of listening to it I realized it had nothing to do with plush carpeting, or, for that matter, plush anything. It was about dogs who were going to smell 'her'. Ewww. But will she smell alone? The jury's still out on that one.
8. "Steal My Sunshine" LEN- Considered by most to be a one hit wonder (though they did have the equally catchy ditty, "Feelin' Alright"), "Steal My Sunshine" is a great, fun time anthem of nonsense. Although this song makes no sense, the writers get credit for using "word a day" like tactics to fool with listeners minds. A big vocabulary they have. Comprehension? Not so much.
9. Anything by Nirvana, REM, Pearl Jam or Greenday - Here are famous bands whose body of work is, in large part, cryptic or nonsensical. At their concerts you reach for your lighter, but you should get our your decoder while you're at it, too.
10. "(Undone) The Sweater Song" Weezer- The first time I heard this song I was hanging out with a few friends, "down the shore" as we say in Jersey. We were cruising around with no particular place to go and on came a song that...also had no particular place to go. The chorus is is about a sweater that comes undone if you pull the thread and walk away. It also has one hit wonder written all over it. Some ten plus years and a gillion hits later Weezer is still rocking today. Ha. Ha. Suckers.
So there you have it. A sampling of songs where everybody's talking at me, but I can't hear a word. they. are. saying.
<< Home