TVTropes Now available in the app store!
Open

Follow TV Tropes

Following

Lyrics that make you do a double-take (Out of place lyrics in songs)

Go To

MikeK Since: Jan, 2001
#26: May 5th 2013 at 11:38:32 PM

[up] Actually I know a guy who, if he didn't actively play his early-teen daughter their music, at the very least seemed proud that she got into The Sex Pistols on her own - I remember when he posted a facebook gallery when he helped decorate her room and among the pictures was a framed Nevermind The Bollocks record.

0dd1 Just awesome like that from Nowhere Land Since: Sep, 2009
Just awesome like that
#27: May 6th 2013 at 4:19:46 AM

I did say most.

Insert witty and clever quip here. My page, as the database hates my handle.
FingerPuppet Since: Sep, 2012
#28: May 6th 2013 at 6:55:12 PM

In light of recent discussion, I remember this time when I was in the car with my dad when I was little and he cranked up the volume when "God Save the Queen" came on.

JHM Apparition in the Woods from Niemandswasser Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: Hounds of love are hunting
Apparition in the Woods
#29: May 13th 2013 at 12:55:21 PM

My dad drove me to school blasting Alice In Chains and Concrete Blonde sometimes.

I also managed to get my mom into Death Grips. That was random.

I'll hide your name inside a word and paint your eyes with false perception.
MikeK Since: Jan, 2001
#30: May 14th 2013 at 10:53:19 PM

To get back to the topic: I was listening to Soul Asylum's version of "Sexual Healing" by Marvin Gaye and thought "please don't hesitate / it's not good to masturbate" was just a goofy ad-lib they threw in at the end... Turns out those are actually the last two lines of the original song.

edited 14th May '13 11:19:22 PM by MikeK

0dd1 Just awesome like that from Nowhere Land Since: Sep, 2009
Just awesome like that
#31: May 15th 2013 at 7:49:11 PM

Well, the song is about Marvin Gaye's addiction to pornography.

Yes, I'm serious.

Insert witty and clever quip here. My page, as the database hates my handle.
MikeK Since: Jan, 2001
#32: May 15th 2013 at 10:44:31 PM

Yeah, I looked the song up on wikipedia for the heck of it and was somewhat o_0 about it.

0dd1 Just awesome like that from Nowhere Land Since: Sep, 2009
Just awesome like that
#33: May 17th 2013 at 12:35:18 PM

Really puts its status as one of the most unquestionably sexy songs there is into...well, question.

Insert witty and clever quip here. My page, as the database hates my handle.
Robotnik Since: Aug, 2011
#34: May 17th 2013 at 4:24:14 PM

[up][up] Except for him being able to get away with actually saying "masturbate", I don't see what's surprising about it. The song's called "Sexual Healing", after all.

[up] If by sexy you mean a turn-on, yes. If by sexy you mean a song about sex, it's probably one of the most ridiculously blunt there is, at least for its time, by a popular artist.

But on the subject of sexy songs by Marvin Gaye, I've always thought that honor went unchallenged to "Let's Get It On". I've heard it so many times (in comedic contexts or otherwise), I'm kind of surprised it isn't listed as a Memetic Mutation on his page.

edited 17th May '13 4:35:06 PM by Robotnik

0dd1 Just awesome like that from Nowhere Land Since: Sep, 2009
Just awesome like that
#35: May 17th 2013 at 7:25:14 PM

Well, one of them. "Let's Get it On" is more common, but I've seen "Sexual Healing" used too.

Maybe it's on Standard Snippet? (Or perhaps I'm thinking of a different trope.)

Insert witty and clever quip here. My page, as the database hates my handle.
shoboni Since: Oct, 2010
#36: May 18th 2013 at 8:37:39 PM

I listen to country radio a lot, and the song "Better Dig Two" by The Band Perry caught me off guard in one spot:

It won't be whiskey, and it won't meth on my last breath.

For to reasons:

1)it's a named reference to hard drugs in a country song

2)They managed to get that on the radio uncut.

Twentington Since: Apr, 2009 Relationship Status: Desperate
#37: May 19th 2013 at 10:47:10 AM

[up]And yet Eric Church had to cut out "your cocaine and kiss and caffeine love" in "Creepin'" only a couple months prior. I don't get it.

shoboni Since: Oct, 2010
#38: May 19th 2013 at 1:00:42 PM

[up]And the fact they replaced it with nicotine kiss isn't much better of a alternative.

edited 19th May '13 1:01:00 PM by shoboni

Twentington Since: Apr, 2009 Relationship Status: Desperate
#39: May 27th 2013 at 6:41:44 PM

Just remembered another: "Like a blind dog without a bone / I was a gypsy lost in the Twilight Zone" is a very mixed metaphor on "Who Says You Can't Go Home". But it makes up for it with "I hijacked a rainbow and crashed into a pot of gold."

0dd1 Just awesome like that from Nowhere Land Since: Sep, 2009
Just awesome like that
#40: May 27th 2013 at 9:17:23 PM

[up]Y'know, I'd never really thought about that before. But, then, when it comes to Bon Jovi, I don't normally pay too close attention to his lyrics, so...yeah.


I think the absolute most jarring case I've ever encountered (which I meant to post here much earlier but had trouble remembering) is in Cage The Elephant's "Drones in the Valley":

Screaming at the ceiling
Doesn't make it better
Slipped into a coma
Lost my favorite sweater.

Can you spot the line that doesn't fit? [lol]

Then again, this can all be explained by the fact that Matt Shultz is a freaking psycho.

Insert witty and clever quip here. My page, as the database hates my handle.
Twentington Since: Apr, 2009 Relationship Status: Desperate
#41: May 27th 2013 at 11:02:52 PM

Another couple of metaphors that caught me off guard:

Kathy Mattea, "Clown in Your Rodeo": "Hand me my feather duster / I'm cleaning house right out of the gate / Before my heart starts caving in". There's mixed metaphor, then there's not even trying. Shame, since the rest of the song is good.

Kenny Chesney, "Better as a Memory": "Goodbyes are like a roulette wheel / Never sure where it's gonna land / First you're spinning, then you're standing still / Left holding a losing hand." I wasn't aware that roulette used cards.

0dd1 Just awesome like that from Nowhere Land Since: Sep, 2009
Just awesome like that
#42: May 27th 2013 at 11:08:28 PM

[up]I feel like the latter is just a case of the lyricist not thinking about what [s]he was writing.

Insert witty and clever quip here. My page, as the database hates my handle.
djbj Since: Oct, 2010
#43: May 28th 2013 at 6:17:19 AM

The Eagles "Already Gone":

"Well, I heard some people talkin' just the other day
And they said you were gonna put me on a shelf\\ But let me tell you I got some news for you
And you'll soon find out it's true
And then you'll have to eat your lunch all by yourself"

That last lines just puzzles me. Is that some sort of expression I've never heard? It sounds kind of childish, like a schoolyard taunt: "Ha ha, you have to eat lunch by yourself!".

edited 28th May '13 6:19:19 AM by djbj

Willbyr Hi (Y2K) Relationship Status: With my statistically significant other
Hi
#44: May 28th 2013 at 8:01:42 AM

[up] I think it just means that she'll be on her own because he's leaving her...not sure if it has a colloquial meaning.

edited 28th May '13 8:02:02 AM by Willbyr

chihuahua0 Since: Jul, 2010
#45: May 28th 2013 at 9:15:46 AM

[up][up] It makes sense to me, since Eating Lunch Alone is a trope that appears often in Western media for children and teens. But in this context, it's applied in a relationship context, since lovers often eat meals together.

edited 28th May '13 9:16:32 AM by chihuahua0

MikeK Since: Jan, 2001
#46: May 28th 2013 at 9:52:08 AM

The Cage The Elephant line sounds like they may have been going for a deliberate Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking effect.

0dd1 Just awesome like that from Nowhere Land Since: Sep, 2009
Just awesome like that
#47: May 28th 2013 at 10:31:22 PM

[up]Oh, I don't doubt that it was deliberate. Like I said, Matt Shultz is a crazy man. Still kinda jarring though, and it never fails to make me crack up [lol]

Insert witty and clever quip here. My page, as the database hates my handle.
0dd1 Just awesome like that from Nowhere Land Since: Sep, 2009
Just awesome like that
#48: Jun 4th 2013 at 9:26:48 AM

Okay, so, Semisonic's "Never You Mind" is pretty much a typical alt-rock song about a relationship going sour, with maybe a couple of quirky lines ("Shaking my mind like an Etch-a-Sketch erasing")...but then we get to the last verse:
Switch on the box, Mr. Spock is on the table
Dr. McCoy is unable to connect his brain
Sweatin' and strainin'
Well, it seemed so simple at the time

That's right, we have a "Spock's Brain" reference out of nowhere.

edited 4th Jun '13 9:27:39 AM by 0dd1

Insert witty and clever quip here. My page, as the database hates my handle.
Nettacki Since: Jan, 2010
#49: Jun 4th 2013 at 10:11:00 PM

So I'm listening to Hurt by Nine Inch Nails. You know, it's a really sad song and all that, but then the second verse starts with "I wear this crown of shit" and I'm like "wtf?" This is one of the few times where the censored version made by Johnny Cash ("I wear this crown of thorns") was much better in context than "crown of shit" and didn't take me out of the song for a brief moment.

0dd1 Just awesome like that from Nowhere Land Since: Sep, 2009
Just awesome like that
#50: Jun 10th 2013 at 2:19:17 PM

Two that always get me:

  • Prince's "Let's Go Crazy": Prince is no lyrical genius, but usually his lyrics are there and do their job, even if sometimes they can be narmy. This here is neither narmy nor unnoticeable one you know about it. And it's also a bit hard to hear at first, so you might not catch it just casually listening to it:
    Let's go crazy
    Let's get nuts
    Let's look for the purple banana
    'Til they put us in the truck, let's go!
    .
    Better yet, I always thought it sounded like "Look for the purple manatee who put us into drugs."

  • "Shine" by the Newsboys: The Newsboys are no stranger to quirky lyrics, especially in this song, but there is one couplet that always makes me go, "Really"?:
    when you let it shine
    You will inspire
    The kind of entire turnaround
    That would make a bouncer take ballet
    (even bouncers who aren´t...happy)
    .
    If you didn't catch that, that was a random, pointless gay joke in a Christian rock song.

edited 10th Jun '13 2:20:20 PM by 0dd1

Insert witty and clever quip here. My page, as the database hates my handle.

Total posts: 90
Top