Something Something Leonard Bernstein: Difference between revisions
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{{quote|''Sing distinctly? We don't wanna!
''Buy our album! We're Nirvana! }}
{{quote|''Well I'm yelling, and we're playing,
''But I don't know what I'm saying! }}
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* "Louie, Louie" by the Kingsmen: The fact that no one could understand anything except "Louie louiiie" launched a Congressional investigation into the possibility of dirty lyrics. The general assumption that the slurred lyrics were something dirty inspired a number of covers, including Iggy Pop's downright ''profane'' version.
** Which makes the fact that it almost wound up the state anthem for [[The Other Rainforest|Washington State]] even more hilarious. Ask some state residents and you'll find more than a few who think it really ''is'' the official anthem, rather than the fan preferred version.
** "Louie Louie" is (in)famous for this, and is often picked on for it by [[
*** ''[[Animal House]]'' also lampshades the difficulties when [[John Belushi|Bluto]] teaches the freshmen frat members a more obscene version of the song. To their credit, though, the soundtrack actually has a well-
*** ''[[Bloom County]]'' did a Sunday strip during the 1988 Presidential elections where each of the candidates (George Bush, Michael Dukakis, and Bill the Cat) [https://web.archive.org/web/20080719170850/http://tafkac.org/songs/louie_louie_real_words.html translated the song] based on what they could understand, as if it would tell the public something about them all. Since the ad was sponsored by Bill's people, it takes jabs at Bush ("Iran-Contra thing makes me phlegm") and Dukakis ("Kitty she leads me everywhere") while saying Bill's translation, which isn't even legible English half the time, "revealed a simple honesty".
* "Even Flow" by [[Pearl Jam]] - "Oooooeeeeeeyeeeeeahahhhhhh... da da da da da da something concrete". And most of their other songs, but this one gets made fun of the most once people realize they don't know it.
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* "Technical Difficulties" by [[Julien-K]], from the [[Transformers (film)|first live-action Transformers movie]]. "We are/ something technical/ something" a few times, and then "Nothing is working, please stand by." The rest of the song is lost not in fast delivery, but electronic distortion and very little contrast.
** And to some, Kick the Bass by the same group is worse - "Great song, and I only know the first line." It's apparently about {{spoiler|girls and parties}}, but good luck figuring that out with the mushy audio and the lyrics not fitting in with the overall feel of the song.
** The ''first'' first ''Transformers'' [[Transformers: The Movie|movie]] had an entire soundtrack full of this..
* "She Drives Me Crazy" by [[Fine Young Cannibals]]; if the high falsetto alone didn't make it near impossible to sing along to, there's also the fact that the only bit you'll get is part of the chorus: "She drives me crazy and I can't help myself."
* The [[Covered Up]] of Traffic's "Feelin' Alright" by Joe Cocker. Can't understand anything but "Feelin' Alright, not feelin that good my self..."
* "Telephone Call From Istanbul", along with many other [[Tom Waits]] songs.
{{quote|UHMUNGAYRODAPLEEDONNAOVAHAYDFEHEHPEDDADONKEHWIDHEY I GOT A TELEPHONE CALL FROM ISTANBUL}}
* [http://www.kissthisguy.com/1829song-blinded-by-the-light.htm The infamous cover of] [[Bruce Springsteen]]'s "Blinded by the Light" by [[Manfred Mann]]'s Earth Band. Most people think can only pick the title out of "She was blinded by the light, revved up like a Deuce, another runner in the night" due to the enunciation of many of the lyrics.
** Made even more irritating by the fact that the original lyric is "Cut loose like a deuce." Apparently Mann couldn't figure out the lyrics to the song he was covering, in a cross between this trope, [[Adaptation Decay]], and [[Did Not Do the Research]].
** It doesn't help that the way Mann's singer sings "deuce" makes it [[Mondegreen|sound like "douche".]]
** This troper grew up convinced the lyrics were 'a douchenary roller in the night' and spent many years wondering what a douchenery was.
*** Canadian comedy troupe [[The Vacant Lot]] had a [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9_3nQFNy-w sketch] about just this situation, including that same misheard lyric.
* The song "Valerie" by [[Steve Winwood]]. A combination of a lot of treble in the mix and a high-pitched male vocal in the original song tends to result in soprano gargling in the verses, and a chorus which can approximated thus: imaeer... onauuhhon... val-er-IEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE...callme...val-er-IEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE... callme... cumandCEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE... imsemohboyteusetapeer.
** Notably, the Eric Prydz song "Call on Me", which sampled the chorus of "Valerie", inadvertently lampshaded this trope—in that Prydz sampled the lyric "Call on Me" as pretty much the only lyric that was understandable from the original song. And even ''that'' isn't recognized perfectly: see the [http://jamestown.ytmnd.com/ "Colony" fad] on [[YTMND]].
* The chorus of "Stayin' Alive", by [[The Bee Gees]]. "muttermuttermuttermuttermuttermuttermuttermutter STAYIN' ALIVE! STAYIN' ALIVE!" The falsetto doesn't help either.
* Non-Spanish speakers sing the opening line of "La Bamba" as just "a-la-la-la la bamba" or "Bala bala ba La Bamba" rather than "Para bailar la bamba." [["Weird Al"
** British comedian [[Bill Bailey]] has a minor sketch based around that song where it is described as a "Karaoke black hole".
* And an oldie along the same lines: Does anyone know more of the lyrics to "La Cucaracha" than simply the title phrase?
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** Congratulations if you understand ''anything'' besides the title. Hell, the scat is probably the only intelligible thing in the whole song!
*** The verse to "MMMbop" isn't any clearer, mainly because it sounds as if the singer is singing through his teeth, like a bad ventriloquist.
* And once again [["Weird Al"
** "The Saga Begins" has the same effect, but because the lyrics make more sense than [[Don McLean]]'s original [[Epileptic Trees|in a different sort of way]].
* If you hear Hoagy Carmichael's "The Monkey Song" and don't understand most of the lyrics, you're hardly alone. This was demonstrated on ''[[The Stan Freberg Show]]''.
* "Nothin' to Lose" by Josh Gracin. It's hard to get anything but "Oh yeah, by the way she moves" in the chorus, or ''anything'' in the verses. The bridge is at least a little slower.
* "I Want You" by [[Savage Garden]] comes close, since the words go fast, you can barely comprehend them, all except for the last few words of every line, one of which is "Chik-a-cherry cola", which is sometimes a nickname for the people who don't know the real name of the song.
** Rosie O'
* Australian singer James Reyne is notorious for his indecipherable strine accent, often rendering the lyrics of his songs completely unintelligible. He was regularly parodied in Australian media for this, to such an extent that his old band Australian Crawl are still widely known as Australian ''Drawl''. Classic examples include the Australian Crawl songs "Errol" and "Things Don't Seem", as well as his first solo single, "Fall of Rome".
** [[It Got Worse]] with "Boys Light Up", with one part that sounds like gibberish... and actually is: the word "dorsetted" was made up solely so he could rhyme "corseted".
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* Most people familiar with Neutral Milk Hotel can tell you that ''The King of Carrot Flowers Parts Two & Three'' starts off with Jeff Mangum bellowing [[Large Ham|"IIIIIIII LOOOOOOOOVE YOOOOOOU JEEEEEEEESUSSSSSS CHRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIST,"]] but... not that much past that point.
* [http://www.eltonography.com/ Here's] a site for deciphering [[Elton John]]'s lyrics if you're stuck. "She's got electric boots, a mohair suit, you know, I read it in a magazine".
** [https://web.archive.org/web/20120315135155/http://www.fartparty.org/2006/06/14/blowjob/ ELECTRIC BOOBS?!]
** "you know a yaddayaddayaddayaddaeIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIaaaa oh....B-B-B-Bennie and the Jetssssssss....."
*** From 27 Dresses:
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Well, yeah, that one's a wordgasm about the [[Disney Animated Canon]] sung in stereotypically unintelligible "I'm-a twenty-years-trained real-life opera-singer", so it also fits under [[Indecipherable Lyrics]] for two distinct reasons, and [[Word Salad Lyrics]], which thus also makes it Troperrific, which [[Heavy Meta|fits]]. They're 'good'. }}
** It's all over in older Nightwish songs. Can anyone understand anything Tarja says the first time they listened? [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gg5_mlQOsUQ I thought not.]
** [http://suicideforhire.comicgenesis.com/d/20080413.html "Did she just say 'happy haunting, you taco-faced carnie fork'?"] For the curious, they're probably listening to "Romanticide"
* [[System of a Down]]'s "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKhEoytKk6U IEAIAIO]" was made for the ''sole reason'' of taking this trope to eleven, so as a result, the original REM song sounds really clear and articulate in comparison.
** "Fighting crime/with a partner/Lois Lane/Jimmy Carter"? The only easily intelligible word is the "WHY?!" at the end of each line.
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== Theatre ==
* [[Christopher Durang]]'s ''Mrs. Bob Cratchit's Wild Christmas Binge'' has a number of people at a bar attempting to sing "Good King Wenceslas": "Da da da da... moon that night, though the frost was cruel! Da da da da... came in sight... something... [[Mondegreen|Christmas gruel]]...?"
* Every [[wikipedia:Patter song|patter song]] ever written! Gilbert and Sullivan? To begin with, the [[Major
** Well, most people who aren't trained actors or singers. The Major General song is a standard speech exercise during training ''because'' it's so difficult to do.
* Inverted with [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5xMqb_Aomg "The Speed Test"] from ''[[Thoroughly Modern Millie]]''. It's the same thing over and over and starts out fairly slow, but start at 5:10 and see how many words you can make out.
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