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

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Willbyr Hi (Y2K) Relationship Status: With my statistically significant other
Hi
#51: Jun 10th 2013 at 4:43:17 PM

[up] It's been so long since I've heard "Shine" that I'd completely forgotten about that...that's lame.

shoboni Since: Oct, 2010
#52: Jun 21st 2013 at 8:37:21 PM

@Net, same here. I like the way Cash's version gives the line some meaning by drawing that parallel with crown of thorns.

PhysicalStamina ain't nothin' but a party y'all (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Coming soon to theaters
ain't nothin' but a party y'all
#53: Jun 28th 2013 at 3:51:14 PM

From Pandy Fackler by Ween:

Sucking dicks under the promenade

Do not spare the feelings of those who would not spare yours.
Tiamatty X-Men X-Pert from Now on Twitter Since: Jan, 2010 Relationship Status: Brony
#54: Jun 28th 2013 at 10:46:27 PM

Identity Theft by Nellie Mc Kay has some weird lyrics as it is. But even so, the phrase "watching horny manatee" stands out as particularly strange. There's also "funny like a Nazi camp" - as I said, it's an odd song. It gets a little stream-of-consciousness at times.

X-Men X-Pert, my blog where I talk about X-Men comics.
CardsOfWar Handy-Dandy Chord Finder from The Ocean Bed Since: Apr, 2013
Handy-Dandy Chord Finder
#55: Jul 3rd 2013 at 1:31:08 AM

The end of War of the thrones by Blind Guardian is REALLY weird

"Leave a fee for the tillerman. Leave the river behind"

"I thought Djent was just a band" -Physical Stamina
CompletelyNormalGuy Am I a weirdo? from a place where folks put cream cheese on hot dogs (Oldest One in the Book)
Am I a weirdo?
#56: Jul 4th 2013 at 12:32:06 AM

I suspect it refers to Charon and the river Styx from Greek Mythology. Basically, someone died, and is entering the underworld.

Bigotry will NEVER be welcome on TV Tropes.
MidnightRambler Ich bin nicht schuld! 's ist Gottes Plan! from Germania Inferior Since: Mar, 2011
Ich bin nicht schuld! 's ist Gottes Plan!
#57: Jul 9th 2013 at 7:52:21 AM

In the Kenny Rogers song "Coward of the County", I always crack up at this line:

There's someone for everyone, and Tommy's love was Becky
In her arms, he didn't have to prove he was a man

If that isn't a thinly veiled reference to erectile dysfunction, I don't know what is.

Mache dich, mein Herze, rein...
Twentington Since: Apr, 2009 Relationship Status: Desperate
#58: Jul 9th 2013 at 2:14:49 PM

[up]The one that got me in that song was:

One day while he was workin' the Gatlin boys came callin'. / They took turns at Becky.... n' there was three of them!

Number one, the "Gatlin Boys" line is apparently a Take That! to Larry Gatlin and the Gatlin Brothers, with whom the writer had a beef. The reference went over Kenny's head, and he later apologized to Larry for the unintentional dig.

Number two, the second line is about a gang rape. I didn't even notice until a friend said, "if you feel you need to put a gang rape in your song, you better scrap it and start over."

JHM Apparition in the Woods from Niemandswasser Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: Hounds of love are hunting
Apparition in the Woods
#59: Jul 9th 2013 at 3:54:08 PM

@Physical Stamina: It's Ween. Such curveballs are to be expected.

I'll hide your name inside a word and paint your eyes with false perception.
Willbyr Hi (Y2K) Relationship Status: With my statistically significant other
Hi
#60: Jul 9th 2013 at 4:05:18 PM

[up][up] I didn't know that (the Gatlin Brothers jab)...interesting. As far as that line being out of place, in the song's circumstances I think it works well...it's a hideous act but you'd be hard-pressed to find a better catalyst for someone to break a deeply-ingrained attitude of pacificity than to have a loved one brutalized like that, aside from them killing her.

MidnightRambler Ich bin nicht schuld! 's ist Gottes Plan! from Germania Inferior Since: Mar, 2011
Ich bin nicht schuld! 's ist Gottes Plan!
#61: Jul 10th 2013 at 12:06:58 PM

[up][up][up] Yeah, I found the gang rape thing unusually dark for that kind of song, too. But there are more weird things about that song. For example, when Tommy comes back and finds Becky crying on the floor with her dress torn up, he picks up his dad's picture and stares at it while having some internal monologue. And then he storms off to beat up the guys who did it. He doesn't bother to comfort Becky, it seems.

The whole thing comes off as if he's more interested in protecting his girlfriend for the sake of his own honour than for the sake of her well-being.

Mache dich, mein Herze, rein...
DAStudent Since: Dec, 2012
#62: Jul 27th 2013 at 8:13:56 PM

I know that this is probably an oxymoron, but just about all of the words in Drive By sound out of place in the song. grin

I'd say I'm being refined Into the web I descend Killing those I've left behind I have been Endarkened
0dd1 Just awesome like that from Nowhere Land Since: Sep, 2009
Just awesome like that
#63: Jul 28th 2013 at 1:43:40 AM

Hefty bag, mofo.

Insert witty and clever quip here. My page, as the database hates my handle.
Twentington Since: Apr, 2009 Relationship Status: Desperate
#64: Jul 28th 2013 at 11:48:37 AM

[up][up]I consider "Hey, Soul Sister" a guilty pleasure because of how WTF the lyrics are, and it has a pretty good melody. Not so much with "Drive By".

Gamebreaking Ten seconds before from Inside an Australian. Since: Jan, 2011 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
Ten seconds before
#65: Aug 4th 2013 at 11:58:34 AM

"The screams all sound the same" (Of Monsters and Men, "Little Talks")

Spoken like a true madman.

edited 4th Aug '13 12:18:38 PM by Gamebreaking

Deep into that darkness, peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before.
PhysicalStamina ain't nothin' but a party y'all (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Coming soon to theaters
ain't nothin' but a party y'all
#66: Aug 4th 2013 at 12:09:58 PM

@JHM: How much Ween did you think I've listened to up to that point?

Do not spare the feelings of those who would not spare yours.
FingerPuppet Since: Sep, 2012
#67: Aug 5th 2013 at 4:35:44 AM

[up]Probably not much up to that point. I remember Chocolate and Cheese was my first Ween album, so after "Spinal Meningitis (Got Me Down)," I learned to expect just about anything. In fact, I remember "Joppa Road" throwing me for a loop by not having a stream of random obscenities or anything like that.

It kind of reminds me when I was getting into Beck and I heard "Pay No Mind" for the first time. I knew from "Loser" and his music videos that he could be silly, but there's really nothing you can do to expect a line like, "The sales climb high through the garbage pail sky / Like a giant dildo crushing the sun."

edited 5th Aug '13 4:36:09 AM by FingerPuppet

djbj Since: Oct, 2010
#68: Aug 5th 2013 at 5:46:53 AM

For U2's "Tryin' To Throw Your Arms Around The World", I do a double-take when I hear the line "And a woman needs a man/ Like a fish needs a bicycle". Is he saying that a woman doesn't need a man? Why? Then again, the song seems to be about being really drunk in the early morning, so maybe that's why it doesn't make sense.

MikeK Since: Jan, 2001
#69: Aug 6th 2013 at 4:44:33 PM

[up] I dunno how it fits into the context of the song, which I haven't heard, but that's an often-used "feminist" slogan that originated with Irina Dunn.

edited 6th Aug '13 4:45:23 PM by MikeK

0dd1 Just awesome like that from Nowhere Land Since: Sep, 2009
Just awesome like that
#70: Aug 6th 2013 at 10:01:05 PM

I don't know the song, but the line seems to basically be subverting the traditional view that women are nothing without men and similar lines of reasoning that are used to keep women in powerless positions.

Insert witty and clever quip here. My page, as the database hates my handle.
Twentington Since: Apr, 2009 Relationship Status: Desperate
#71: Aug 7th 2013 at 3:12:49 AM

A couple of my friends have a beef with a lyric in "Little Bit of Everything" by Keith Urban:

"I want a cool chick that'll cook for me / But'll dance on the bar in her bare feet / And do what I want when I want, and she'll do it with me"

They think the lyric is incredibly sexist. I say no. Why?

A.) "And she'll do it with me" suggests that what he wants and what she wants are the same thing.

B.) Urban's a nice guy who would never in a billion years go into "make me a sammich, bitch" mode. Especially considering he's married to Nicole Kidman.

C.) I really like Keith Urban's music and will defend any of his songs except "You're My Better Half"note  or "Without You"note .

FingerPuppet Since: Sep, 2012
#72: Aug 7th 2013 at 5:52:01 AM

Another Beck one from Mellow Gold I just remembered, although I think it's more of a case of "Lyrical Fridge Brilliance" than an outright double take.

In "Soul Suckin' Jerk," there's the line, "I didn't have no teeth so I stole his gun." I didn't see what his alleged lack of teeth had to do with anything. Then after a while, I realized he's actually referencing the previous line when the cop tells him to "bite the bullet,"and lacking teeth tends to make biting things difficult.

djbj Since: Oct, 2010
#73: Aug 7th 2013 at 5:57:44 AM

[up] x 4 Ah, I didn't know that was a preexisting phrase. Makes sense now.

edited 7th Aug '13 6:01:04 AM by djbj

somerandomdude from Dark side of the moon Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: How YOU doin'?
#75: Aug 25th 2013 at 11:59:17 AM

"Some nights I wish that my lips could build a castle..."

"Some Nights" is one of my favorite songs, but what the hell does that mean?

ok boomer

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