These Songs Have the Weirdest Lyrics

The Beatles – I Am the Walrus

Legendary singer-songwriter John Lennon loved writing utterly nonsensical lyrics, and none of his songs demonstrates this more plainly than 1967 Beatles track I Am the Walrus. A psychedelic stream-of-consciousness word stew, basically nothing that comes out of Lennon’s mouth makes any sense. Fans and critics have spent years trying to decipher the song, but Lennon always insisted it was a meaningless bit of fun.

Queen – Bohemian Rhapsody

Queen’s iconic 1975 track Bohemian Rhapsody holds a curious place in rock history: millions of fans know all the words from start to finish, but barely anyone has the faintest idea what any of it actually means. This is especially true of the notorious operatic section, with its cries of “Scaramouche, Scaramouche, will you do the Fandango?” and “Galileo, Galileo, Galileo, Galileo, Galileo Figaro, magnifico!”

Oasis – Champagne Supernova

Oasis guitarist and songwriter Noel Gallagher has never made any secret of how much he idolizes The Beatles, so the British rocker has done his utmost to outdo John Lennon in terms of nonsense lyrics. By Gallagher’s own admission, the lyrics to 1995 Oasis track Champagne Supernova – with such lines as “Slowly walking down the hall/Faster than a cannonball” – have no meaning whatsoever.

Shakira – Whenever, Wherever

Shakira became the biggest pop star to ever come out of Colombia in 2001, with her breakthrough hit Whenever, Wherever. The track’s Latin groove proved so catchy that hardly anyone noticed how odd the lyrics are, not least Shakira’s curious humblebrag, “Lucky that my breasts are small and humble/So you don’t confuse ’em with mountains.”

The Killers – Human

The Killers’ 2008 hit Human boasts a chorus that is as memorable as it is utterly indecipherable: “Are we human/Or are we dancer?” Those of us who were not struggling with singer-songwriter Brandon Flowers’ grammar were left pondering the broader ramifications of this question, given that most of the dancers we can think of are, in fact, also human.

Nirvana – Heart-Shaped Box

Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain also liked lyrics that were – to put it diplomatically – open to interpretation. The band’s 1993 single Heart-Shaped Box has been read many ways (ranging from childhood terminal illness, to the intimate parts of Cobain’s wife Courtney Love), but it’s hard to find much meaning in lines like “Meat-eating orchids forgive no one just yet/Cut myself on angel hair and baby’s breath.”

Carly Rae Jepson – Call Me Maybe

Carly Rae Jepsen’s 2011 single Call Me Maybe became one of the best-loved pop songs of the era, and for the most part it’s an entirely relatable story of a fledgling romance. However, the Canadian singer-songwriter loses almost everyone towards the song’s end with the somewhat abstract lyric, “Before you came into my life, I missed you so bad.”

Phil Collins – In the Air Tonight

Phil Collins’ moody 1981 hit In the Air Tonight proved to be one of his best-loved songs, even if no one is quite sure what it is that Collins can feel coming in the air tonight, oh lord. The singer-songwriter himself admits he’s not entirely sure what the lyrics really mean, but enjoys hearing people’s interpretations.

Rush – The Spirit of Radio

Neil Peart, the late drummer and lyricist of Canadian power trio Rush, was among the most infamously verbose wordsmiths in rock history, producing many unwieldy lines for audiences to struggle to sing along with. Take 1980’s The Spirit of Radio, and the snappy lines, “One likes to believe in the freedom of music, but glittering prizes and endless compromises shatter the illusion of integrity, yeah.”

Fall Out Boy – This Ain’t a Scene, It’s an Arms Race

Fall Out Boy bass player and lyricist Pete Wentz has dealt in plenty of curious wordplay, and 2007’s This Ain’t a Scene, It’s an Arms Race contains some real head-scratchers. From the title line, to the chorus of “I’m a leading man and the lies I weave are oh so intricate,” listeners can be forgiven for not having a clue what any of it means.

The Buggles – Video Killed the Radio Star

This famous MTV ear-worm from The Buggles decries modern technology, warning that children of the future will miss out on the rich media arts of the past. “They took the credit for your second symphony, Rewritten by machine on new technology, And now I understand the problems you can see,” they sing before the iconic chorus kicks in.

Pink Floyd – Another Brick in the Wall, Part II

“We don’t need no education. We don’t need no thought control. No dark sarcasm in the classroom. Teachers, leave them kids alone!” What makes these rebellious lyrics even more surprising is the fact that Pink Floyd managed to record a real school choir for this song, with the head of music’s blessing. “I wanted to make music relevant to the kids – not just sitting around listening to Tchaikovsky,” the teacher said.

Queen – Fat Bottomed Girls

While ‘fat-bottomed girls’ might not be the most flattering synonym for ‘curvy’ or ‘voluptuous’, this Queen anthem celebrates plus-sized beauty in full force. Released on a double A-sided single with the equally unusual tune Bicycle Race, the two songs reference each other in surprising moments. Towards the end of Fat Bottomed Girls, we hear Freddie Mercury yell: “Get on your bikes and ride!”

Meat Loaf – I Would Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That)

The strange conditions of Meat Loaf’s tune I Would Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That) have had many listeners scratching their heads over the years. To clarify, the things that the rock singer won’t do for love include “Forget the way you feel right now”, “Forgive myself if we don’t go all the way tonight”, “Do it better than I do it with you, so long” and “stop dreaming of you every night of my life”.

Lipps Inc. – Funkytown

In this beloved song with highly repetitive lyrics, the singer explains: “Gotta make a move to a town that’s right for me, Town to keep me movin’, Keep me groovin’ with some energy,” before begging time after time, “Won’t you take me to Funkytown?” Some might see the fictional Funkytown as a metaphor for disco-funk itself, but the songwriters had a very specific place in mind: at the time, Lipps Inc. were planning to move from Minneapolis to New York City.

Outkast – Hey Ya!

While Hey Ya! might be best remembered for its upbeat, catchy sound and dance-infused lyrics such as “Shake it like a polaroid picture!”, listen closer and you’ll discover a troubled mood. The protagonist of this tune despairs at how to navigate a relationship in the modern age. “Thank God for Mom and Dad, For sticking two together, ‘Cause we don’t know how,” he sings.

The Wurzels – The Combine Harvester

Part of a genre of comedic West Country ballads called ‘Scrumpy and Western’, The Combine Harvester was a hit for The Wurzels in 1976. It features a young farmer romancing a lady by telling her, “I got 20 acres, An’ you got 43, Now I got a brand new combine harvester, An’ I’ll give you the key!”

The Beatles – Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey

This bizarrely-titled track, from the Beatles’ self-titled double album from 1968, consists of the mantras and sayings of Transcendental Meditation star Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. “Your inside is out when your outside is in, Your outside is in when your inside is out… Everybody’s got something to hide except me and my monkey,” the song goes. John Lennon later said the song was about how The Beatles reacted to his relationship with Yoko Ono.

The J. Geils Band – Centerfold

Containing the oddest of social and ethical dilemmas, this tune is about a man who recognises his high school crush while flipping through the pages of an adult magazine. “My blood runs cold, My memory has just been sold, My angel is the centerfold,” he despairs. Contrasting innocence and lust, he eventually decides to purchase a copy of the magazine, for old times’ sake.

Michael Jackson – Bad

This catchy tune was Michael Jackson’s attempt to make himself seem like a more edgy, cool figure, and the accompanying music video shows him dancing with a gang in a subway station. “It’s about this kid from a bad neighborhood who gets to go away to a private school,” the singer said. “He comes back to the old neighborhood when he’s on a break from school and the kids from the neighborhood start giving him trouble… He’s saying when you’re strong and good, then you’re bad.”

Eurythmics – Sweet Dreams

Another repetitive song that you can’t get out of your head, this number’s famous but cryptic chorus is: “Sweet dreams are made of this, Who am I to disagree? I travel the world and the seven seas, Everybody’s looking for something.” Annie Lennox later explained that the song was about living in a “dream world,” saying: “I was feeling very vulnerable. The song was an expression of how I felt: hopeless and nihilistic.”

Culture Club – Karma Chameleon

This unusual hit from The Culture Club alludes to chameleons, deserts and survival. “The song is about the terrible fear of alienation that people have, the fear of standing up for one thing,” Boy George has noted. “It’s about trying to suck up to everybody. Basically, if you aren’t true, if you don’t act like you feel, then you get Karma-justice, that’s nature’s way of paying you back.”

Boney M. – Rasputin

The toe-tapping Rasputin from Boney M. describes the antics and grisly fate of Russia’s most notorious mystic. This animated tune blends different European language terms with modern American slang, with the band singing: “The kasatschok [a traditional Ukrainian dance] he danced really wunderbar [German for ‘Wonderful’]!”

Falco – Rock Me Amadeus

Rock Me Amadeus is the work of the Austrian singer Falco, from 1985. It became the only German language song to ever top the Billboard Hot 100. Something of a one-hit wonder, the song describes Amadeus Mozart like a modern rock star, stating: “He was a punk and lived in the big city, It was in Vienna, in Vienna, where he did everything. He had debts because he drank, but women all loved him anyway.”

The Smiths – Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now

With a title inspired by the Sandie Shaw single Heaven Knows I’m Missing Him Now, this song by The Smiths describes the conflicted feelings that come with worldly success and witnessing the happiness of others. “In my life, Why do I smile, At people who I’d much rather kick in the eye?”, the gloomy lyrics summarize.

Lesley Gore – It’s My Party

Lesley Gore released the song It’s My Party on her debut studio album, I’ll Cry If I Want To. The protagonist describes seeing her crush, Johnny, appearing at her party with his new girlfriend. The enduring popularity of this melancholy but sprightly song has spawned covers by Carroll Baker, Amy Winehouse and Melanie Martinez.

Ylvis – What Does the Fox Say?

Designed as a provocative “anti-hit”, What Does the Fox Say? became a global phenomenon in 2013. To answer the titular question, the singers present a string of nonsense sounds, including “gering-ding-ding-ding-dingeringeding!” and “fraka-kaka-kaka-kaka-kow!” For those still curious, foxes actually make a series of barks, howls and squeals, as well as a sound known as ‘gekkering’.

Billy Ocean – Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car

This Billy Ocean song describes a man experiencing love at first sight, and fantasizing about how to romance the object of his affections. But in the modern day and age, this tune can come across as downright creepy, as the singer urges a lady repeatedly to enter his car, saying: “Who’s that lady coming down the road?… I’ll be the sun shining on you, Hey, Cinderella, step in your shoe.”

Hanson – MMMBop

MMMBop might sound like any sunny pop hit, but listen closer and you’ll notice the lyrics are actually quite gloomy. “Hold on the ones who really care, In the end they’ll be the only ones there, And when you get old and start losing your hair, Can you tell me who will still care?” the singers caution. “… In an MMMBop, they’re gone.”

Aqua – Barbie Girl

The irrepressibly catchy 1997 song Barbie Girl by Aqua led to a lawsuit with Mattel, who claimed the pop hit had tainted the image of their Barbie Doll. “I’m a blonde bimbo girl in a fantasy world, Dress me up, make it tight, I’m your dolly,” the lyrics declare. Funnily enough, by 2023 Mattel had changed their minds about the track, and even licensed it for the blockbuster movie Barbie.

AronChupa and Little Sis Nora – I’m an Albatraoz

Like Hanson’s MMPBop, here is another peculiar track dreamed up by a real-life sibling act. AronChupa and Little Sis Nora, born Aron and Nora Ekberg, are the Swedish musicians behind I’m an Albatraoz, which dominated the charts in 2014. The lyrics, which are reportedly a sexual metaphor, tell a story about a mouse called Lorry, and the singers’ disdain for him.

Lil Nas X – Old Town Road

It may seem a surprising topic for a chart topper, but Lil Nas X’s tune Old Town Road became a huge hit with its tales of a Wild West for the modern age. “Riding on a tractor, Lean all in my bladder, Cheated on my baby, You can go and ask her” constitute some of the stranger lyrics. Lil Nas X first recorded the song as a penniless college dropout living with his sister.

Shania Twain – That Don’t Impress Me Much

In this iconic pop hit, Shania Twain describes all the masculine traits and brags that fail to impress her, including the famous lines: “So you’re a rocket scientist?… So you’re Brad Pitt? That don’t impress me much.” This rather personal comment stemmed from a very 90s public scandal where Brad Pitt’s nudes were released in public, and Twain couldn’t understand what all the fuss was about.

Labelle – Lady Marmalade

Popularized by the band Labelle, Lady Marmalade contains the rather racy French lyrics “Voulez-vous coucher avec moi ce soir?”, accompanied by a wide range of nonsense sounds and phrases. Patti Labelle later said she had no idea about the song’s sexual undertones: “I didn’t know what it was about. I don’t know French and nobody, I swear this is God’s truth, nobody at all told me what I’d just sung a song about.”

Las Ketchup – The Ketchup Song

While there are plenty of amusing misheard lyrics in pop culture, only one spawned an entirely new song. The Ketchup Song tells of a man called Diego who enters a club and hears Rapper’s Delight by the Sugarhill Gang, and begins to sing along in a jumble of imitative Spanish gibberish. This creates the famous nonsense lyrics, “Aserejé, ja, de je, de jebe tu de jebere seibiunouva majavi an de bugui an de güididípi.”

ABBA – Waterloo

The most famous song to ever grace Eurovision, Waterloo shot the Swedish band ABBA to global fame overnight. “Waterloo, I was defeated, you won the war,” go the famous lyrics. “Waterloo, Promise to love you forever more.” It has never been entirely clear why the songwriters decided to compare romantic love to Napoleon’s violent defeat at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.

The Housemartins – Me and the Farmer

This 1987 rock song describes a farmer’s maltreatment of his workers, and was the best-known tune from Hull-based indie band The Housemartins. “Farmer is a happy crook, Jesus hates him everyday, ‘Cause Jesus gave and farmer took,” they sing. The Housemartins were also known for equally unusual album names, such as The People Who Grinned Themselves to Death and Now That’s What I Call Quite Good.

4 Non Blondes – What’s Up?

This 4 Non Blondes track’s title doesn’t feature in the song itself, though the chorus does include the repeated phrase “What’s going on?” An anthem about hope in times of disillusionment, it became a worldwide hit with its famous, dreamlike chorus: “And so I wake in the morning and I step outside, And I take a deep breath and I get real high, And I scream from the top of my lungs, ‘What’s going on?'”

Rednex – Cotton Eye Joe

A traditional folk song popularized by Eurodance group Rednex in 1994, Cotton Eye Joe tells the tale of a man whose love life has been ruined by a mysterious figure called ‘Cotton Eye Joe’. No one knows for sure what ‘cotton-eyed’ means, though it could refer to alcoholism or a particularly unsavory transmitted disease (google it).

Bruno Mars – The Lazy Song

Influenced by roots reggae, this 2011 track from Bruno Mars became a chart topper in many countries as people enjoyed its laid-back message about taking a day off. However, some of the lyrics could possibly be seen as oversharing, with Mars declaring: “I’ll just strut in my birthday suit,/And let everything hang loose.” The music video likewise showed the star dancing around in his underpants.

James Blunt – You’re Beautiful

The 2005 song that made James Blunt famous, You’re Beautiful was written about a brief encounter he’d had with an ex girlfriend on the subway, which he talked about on Oprah the following year. The song opens on seeing an angel on the subway, but she’s with another man. We’re reassured it will be fine though, because James has “a plan”. Phew. Hang fire though, because in the ensuing chorus, his plan is thrown into doubt with the lines “I don’t know what to do/’Cause I’ll never be with you”. Make up your mind, James.

Des’ree – Life

There are plenty of songs out there with the occasional ropey lyrics. Every artist, no matter how widely acclaimed, has had the odd song they’re not proud of. This one, however – Des’ree, sorry but it’s embarrassing. Nobody would challenge you on a fear of ghosts, but to follow it with your preference to “have a piece of toast/And watch the evening news” – that rather demeans your spectral experience, don’t you think?

Beck – Loser

This 1993 breakthrough hit is rammed full of bizarre lyrics, but to his credit, Beck owns them. Apparently the song was inspired by his experiences on the club circuit while trying to become mainstream, and the audience would be rather less than engaged in his performance. People have drawn meaning from the titular line “I’m a loser, baby, so why don’t you kill me” as a reference to the perceived slacker culture of Gen-X, but it’s solely a reference to Beck’s own rapping skills (or lack thereof).

Pixies – Here Comes Your Man

One of the most popular and definitely the most “wimpy-poppy” (as Frank Black put it in an interview with The Catalogue in 1989), Here Comes Your Man tells of a group of hobos traveling by train and then dying in a big earthquake in California. Regardless of how popular the song was (it got masses of airplay on college radio and became a concert favorite when the band reunited in 2004), the lyrics are somewhat unexplained. We never found out who the titular man actually was, or what exactly went into family stew.

“Weird Al” Yankovic – Bob

Once you know the concept for this song, it’s really very clever – but it doesn’t change how weird the lyrics are! If anything, it adds another dimension of bizarre. What Weird Al has done is write a song comprising mostly palindromes. For clarity, a palindrome is any word or number written the same in either direction – such as Bob, the song’s title, or 2002, the year this was released. Inspired by, or perhaps a parody of, the music video for Bob Dylan’s Subterranean Homesick Blues, this is a suitably front-to-back-to-front, utterly weird song.

Eiffel 65 – Blue (Da Ba Dee)

Music from Western Europe is known for sometimes being a bit kooky, and this is no exception. Italian group Eiffel 65 had a UK Top 40 hit with this song on import sales alone , which is quite an accomplishment when you think that only four other songs have had a hit in the same way (this being the third of five to date). It’s certainly got unusual lyrics, focusing entirely on how a fictional character likes everything to be blue.

Bon Iver – Skinny Love

Not every line in this tribute to a failed relationship is without sense – but when you hear lyrics like “Suckle on the hope in light brassieres”, you can’t help but be perplexed. It was penned by front man Justin Vernon in 2008 while he was recovering simultaneously from mononucleosis and the end of his relationship. However, he claimed it was more complex than that, and that it’s about any love that is too insubstantial to go the distance. Doesn’t explain the odd bra reference.

Black Eyed Peas – Boom Boom Pow

Anything from the Black Eyed Peas is pushing the lyrical envelope, but they do it with such rhythm and style that it doesn’t matter. In 2010, will.i.am told Rolling Stone magazine that this song “has one note. It says ‘Boom’ 168 times. The structure has three beats in one song. It’s not lyrics – it’s audio patterns, structure, architecture.” Oh, and don’t worry about stepping on leprechauns – that’s a metaphor for convicts, apparently.

Duran Duran – The Reflex

Draw your own conclusions on the meaning of this song, but if The Reflex is a lonely child, what does that make Simon Le Bon? Or the rest of the band, for that matter? Even more mindboggling than the lyrics are Le Bon’s refusal to discuss the meaning of Duran Duran’s songs, although bass player John Taylor once told Absolute Radio that you “wouldn’t hear a lyric like that today. The early ’80s was really great for profoundly weird, paranoid pop lyrics.” That’s true, but it doesn’t help dissect the words.

Feeder – Buck Rogers

What’s the first line you think of when someone mentions Buck Rogers by British rock band Feeder? If you’re a fan of the song, or if you’ve heard it more than a couple of times, you’ll likely be familiar with the lines “Get a house in Devon/Drink cider from a lemon”. Why? Well, why not … when Kerrang! asked front man Grant Nicholas about that citrus-inspired lyric, he replied “Aargh! That’s always the line people ask about! I was just being stupid. It was fun!”. There you go – just a bit of fun. If you like cider, lemons and daft lyrics.

Kasabian – Cutt Off

Even though you can find out reasonably easily that this Kasabian song is at least partly about neurophysiologist John C. Lilly, inventor of the flotation tank, some of the lyrics are challenging on first listen … “To the backbone, a solar system, these clever convicts”. Guitarist Serge once said in a short interview with Mail Music that the song is about “a little story of a man who’s gone insane.” The life of John C. Lilly is quite the subject, and even with some odd lyrics, it’s a great song.

The Merry Macs – Mairzy Doats

This original song was first recorded by The Merry Macs way back in 1944, and has been recorded multiple times since then, including by Bing Crosby. It’s a curious song in that it is written almost entirely in homophones – words that share the same pronunciation but have different meanings. Thankfully, the bizarre lyrics “Mairzy doats and dozy doats and liddle lamzy divey/A kiddley divey too, wouldn’t you?” are followed by the more sensible “If the words sound queer and funny to your ear, a little bit jumbled and jivey/Sing ‘Mares eat oats and does eat oats and little lambs eat ivy.’” At least we can all understand that.

Prince – Superfunkycalifragisexy

No doubt about it, Prince is a legend in the world of music, and he made some absolute classics. Having said that, this particular song is up there with some of the oddest lyrics going: “Brother Lois will be around in a minute, with a bucket filled with squirreled meat.” Admittedly the song is from Prince’s Black Album, which was pulled from sale at the last minute, having been deemed too dark. Maybe the squirreled meat had something to do with it.

Red Hot Chili Peppers – Around The World

Certainly a band with their own style, the Chilis have a loyal, long-established fan base and are one of the best-selling bands of all time. All the hits and accolades they’ve had won’t change the variety of weird and wonderful lyrics though, including those from Around the World. What do you make of “Wake up the cake, it’s a lake she’s kissin’ me/As they do when they do in Sicily”…maybe the best approach is to just enjoy the music.

Nogo Svelo! – Haru Mamburu

This song was written by Russian band Nogu Svelo!, and it became widely known in 1993 after winning first prize at the Generation-93 festival. It’s considered hugely influential in Russian pop-rock culture, and you could say it brought the band into the limelight. Purposefully nonsense as the words are entirely made up, according to the band the song “lives outside of time, space, and the framework of any particular style.” Enough said.

Miley Cyrus – 4×4

Miley Cyrus made her name as Hannah Montana back in the noughties, and had many hits – including Wrecking Ball, from the Grammy-nominated album Bangerz. It’s from this same album that the song 4×4 comes, but it begs the question why anyone would want to sing “Driving so fast ’bout to p*** on myself” – and more than once. Perhaps it’s not weird in that it isn’t gobbledygook, but it’s totally weird to actually sing that. Ew, nasty.

Justin Bieber – Boyfriend

Not to sound like non-Beliebers, but some of the lyrics to this song are a bit bizarre. A lot make sense in a pop hip-hop vibe, but make what you will of “Oh you chillin’ by the fire why we eatin’ fondue/I dunno about me but I know about you/So say hello to falsetto in three two swag”. Has Justin been breaking and entering to obtain the aforementioned swag? No – according to Mike Posner, who wrote the song, “where Justin says, ‘Swaggy,’ and that stuff – he came up with all of that.” To make it his own, apparently. Right.

El Chombo – Chacarron

Apparently, Chacarron is intended to be a gentle mocking of the more extreme elements of reggaeton music. It was a viral sensation, having been launched on YouTube in 2006 and then discovered by DJ Scott Mills on the UK’s Radio One. He championed it to get to the UK No. 1 spot but sadly it only reached no. 20. Most of it is incomprehensible gibberish (such as “Liga rye da shy riga reggie flow/Aba ibi ibi iggy show”), but with the odd recognizable word, set to a catchy beat. Class.

King Crimson – The Court of the Crimson King

Despite being possibly the best known song by this British band, it was never released as a single (perhaps because it’s a whopping nine minutes long). The album that the song came from is often cited as the the first prog-rock LP, and the song makes use of a mellotron – an electronic device akin to a keyboard – that emphatically divided opinions. The lyrics are just as baffling – for example, “The keeper of the city keys/Put shutters on the dreams/I wait outside the pilgrim’s door/With insufficient schemes”. Draw your own conclusions.

The Rolling Stones – Jumpin’ Jack Flash

In some ways, the cryptic lyrics to Jumpin’ Jack Flash are the least interesting thing about this hit for The Rolling Stones. Interpret as you see fit, with lines such as “I was raised by a toothless, bearded hag/I was schooled with a strap right across my back”, but it’s seen as the turning point in the Stones’ career that launched them as the rock band we know today.

Jimmy Webb – MacArthur Park

Jimmy Webb once explained the meaning of the quirky lyrics to MacArthur Park in Q magazine: “It’s clearly about a love affair ending … using the cake and the rain as a metaphor for that.” Metaphors don’t negate the oddity of the words, though – “MacArthur’s Park is melting in the dark/All the sweet, green icing flowing down/Someone left the cake out in the rain”. There was talk that Jimmy had heard of his ex-girlfriend’s wedding and was watching from a shed, when it started to rain, which made it look like the cake was dissolving. How poetic.

System of a Down – Chop Suey

Granted, most of the lyrics of System of a Down’s best-known song are reasonably self-explanatory. However, some are still open to interpretation – “Why’d you leave the keys upon the table?/(Here you go create) another fable./You wanted to!” Guitarist Daron Malakian said the song is “about how when people die, they will be regarded differently depending on the way they pass.” OK, but where do the keys on the table come into it?

Adriano Celentano – Prisencolinensinainciusol

Unlike lyrics that are just weird because they don’t seem immediately comprehendible, this song from Italian singer Adriano Celentano was deliberately written with non-words. In 2012, Celentano did an interview where he said “I thought that I would write a song which would only have as its theme the inability to communicate. And to do this, I had to write a song where the lyrics didn’t mean anything.” Despite its utter nonsense lyrics, it has been popular since it was performed live on Italian TV, and even featured in Netflix’s production of Fargo.

Dexys Midnight Runners – Come On Eileen

A number one hit and the biggest selling single in the UK in 1982, and reaching no. 1 in the US (knocking Billie Jean off the top spot), Come On Eileen was a huge hit, regardless of its daft lyrics “Too-ra-loo-ra/Too-ra-loo-rye-ay/And we can sing just like our fathers”. Did your dads really sing just like that, guys? Of course when a song is as popular and as long-lastingly beloved as this one, the silly word choices are rendered irrelevant.

Led Zeppelin – Stairway to Heaven

Blues Traveler – Hook

A clever satire in its own right, the song Hook is making the point that the lyrics are effectively moot if you have a good hook – the song just needs to be an earworm. You can see that’s the point being made when you hear the lyrics, with lines like “It doesn’t matter what I say/So long as I sing with inflection”, and then some verses later, lead singer John Popper sings “Suck it in, suck it in, suck it in/If you’re Rin Tin Tin or Anne Boleyn/Make a desperate move or else you’ll win”. If it’s a catchy tune, you can sing whatever rubbish you like.

Spice Girls – Wannabe

Sometimes a weird lyric has a beneficial outcome – such as in the Spice Girls’ debut single, Wannabe. This catchy little pop number from 1996 is the biggest selling single (worldwide) of an all-girl group. No mean feat. So when you hear yourself singing “I really, really, really wanna zig a zig ah”, maybe stop to consider that this inexplicable line might have something to do with its appeal. Not only can you not explain it, you can’t get it out of your head.

LFO – Summer Girls

LFO stands for Lyte Funkie Ones, and perhaps the “lyte” is in reference to how much sense there is in the lyrics to their popular song Summer Girls. Described by The Ringer as “the most baffling pop hit of 1999”, it’s fair to say that many of the lyrics don’t bear any relation to one another. “You’re the best girl that I ever did see/The great Larry Bird Jersey 33/When you take a sip you buzz like a hornet/Billy Shakespeare wrote a whole bunch of sonnets”. Rhymes for the sake of rhymes – Shakespeare would not have approved.

Lionel Richie – All Night Long (All Night)

It probably won’t come as a great surprise to many that some of the words to legend Lionel Richie’s song All Night Long (All Night) are complete nonsense. You don’t say … God’s honest truth, “Tom bo li de say de moi ya/Yeah, jumbo jumbo” is pretty much a load of mumbo jumbo. Doesn’t stop it being a great tune though.

BTS – A Typical Trainee’s Christmas

KPop is about as weird as lyrics get, but has anyone ever before compared snow to white poop? The inimitable BTS have done it with their questionably festive A Typical Trainee’s Christmas. According to fans, member Namjoon had been having a rough time when the song was written, which is why there are so many references to poop – and why one line translates to “God really has no manners at all”. The alternative notion is that the song’s about the loneliness of trainees in the entertainment industry. Either way, pretty weird lyrics, BTS!