Lyrics: Say What?!

As I drove to work in my car this morning I found a random cd and popped it into the stereo. I realized immediately that I had made that cd in my freshman year of college. I was extremely excited because I knew what was in store; a lot of Ben Folds, Keane, the Postal Service, and other freshman year favorites. What I did not imagin ewas when I heard the Oasis classic Champagne Supernova that I would be in for a lyrical treat. I started listening intently and wondered, What exactly is a champagne supernova? and how exactly can one Slowly Walk Down a Hall, Faster than a Cannonball? This got me thinking about other great songs which have lyrics that I don’t really understand. Chalk a lot of strange lyrics to being written in a drug induced state, but that aside, what message am I supposed to take from the following songs and their lyrics?

My first classic example is Beck. I had heard Beck many years ago; Specifically the song Loser (I want to say I saw it on I Love the 90’s on VH1 but I can’t be positive). Anyways, I was excited to hear a song that was a sort of rap by a skinny white guy with a two note guitar strum. I also liked the fact that Beck didn’t just say he was a loser in English, but he did it in Spanish as well! Genius! What wasn’t genius however was his use of lyrics in the entire rest of the song! Take for example the first few verses: In the time of chimpanzees I was a monkey. Butane in my veins and I’m out to cut the junkie. With the plastic eyeballs, spray-paint the vegetables. Dog food stalls with the beefcake pantyhose. Kill the headlights and put it in neutral. Stock car flamin’ with a loser and the cruise control. Baby’s in Reno with the vitamin d.

Ok, are any of you confused? Because I sure am.  The first line of the song…ok, he wasn’t a chimp, but a monkey, maybe makes a little sense. The second line, obviously drug referencing. But the third line? Spray paint vegetables? And Beefcake pantyhouse? I’m so confused! What is happening in your mind beck that would cause you to write such utter gibberish/nonsense!?

Later in the song Beck sings: Forces of evil on a bozo nightmare. Ban all the music with a phony gas chamber. ’Cuz one’s got a weasel and the other’s got a flag. One’s on the pole, shove the other in a bag…Trade the cash for the beef for the body for the hate.
And my time is a piece of wax fallin’ on a termite who's chokin’ on the splinters.

What in the world? Yes bozo nightmare sounds pretty freakish to me since I have an unnatural fear of clowns, yet, what in the world is he talking about with all the animal/bug imagery.

The next example I would like to look into is Seal’s Kiss from a Rose. This song was a mainstay on the Batman Forever soundtrack (scenes of which you can see in the video), yet, this doesn’t really make sense with batman or anything else for that matter. Seal sings: There used to be a graying tower alone on the sea. You became the light on the dark side of me. Love remained a drug that's the high and not the pill. But did you know, That when it snows, My eyes become large and The light that you shine can be seen.
Baby, I compare you to a kiss from a rose on the gray. Number one question-what is the gray? I can’t really say. Is he the graying tower? Is it a lighthouse? Where is the light coming from? I feel like this song belongs in an episode of LOST since it has so many unanswered questions.

What about Fall Out Boy? I’ll admit that the first time I heard Sugar Were Going Down I had no idea what they were actually saying, let alone figure out what the lyrics meant. Yet over time I realized the song had something to do with G-d Complexes and bedposts: Lie in the grass, next to the mausoleum. I'm just a notch in your bedpost. But you're just a line in a song. Drop a heart, break a name. We're always sleeping in, and sleeping for the wrong team. We're going down, down in an earlier round. And Sugar, we're going down swingin. I'll be your number one with a bullet. A loaded God complex, cock it and pull it. These lyrics aren’t terrible. I’m just confused. Why a G-d complex?  Is he a trained assassin since he says he’ll be your number one with a bullet? I get it. He likes a girl, but she’s not so great or treats him badly or something. Is he going to kill her?

So far I have only spoken about songs not current, or songs that came a few- too many years ago. I find the greatest lyric abuser out there today is Owl City. In his hit Fireflies, Owl City basically talks about hanging with fire flies and dreaming. That song can be explained, although limitedly, that everything takes place in a dream. So, theoretically anything goes. Cough Cop Out Cough. Yet, in his song Hello Seattle Owl City sings: Hello Seattle, I am a mountaineer.  In the hills and highlands. I fall asleep in hospital parking lots. And awake in your mouth. Hello Seattle, I am a manta ray. Deep beneath the blue waves. I'll crawl the sandy bottom of Puget Sound. And construct a summer home. Hello Seattle, I am the crescent moon. Shining down on your face. I will disguise myself as a sleeping pill. And descend inside of you.

Ok, first off, the last line creeps me out. That being said, who or what is Seattle? If it is a place then why in the world is the protagonist of the song changing constantly into different animals and/or random things?  Is this a love song to a girl named Seattle? If so, is the protagonist of the song constantly trying to change her? Why can’t this song be a clear cut love song like Plain White T’s Hey There Delilah. Why must I read so much into this song to figure it out?

Maybe one day I will have a PHD in musicology and will be able to analyze each phrase and give you some answers, but for right now I am just bewildered. Post your favorite odd lyrics below!