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{{trope}}
[[File:pearls-bernstein 764.png|link=Pearls Before Swine|frame|[[Comically Missing the Point|Five including "that's", "great", and "it"]].<ref>[[Overly Long Gag|Six if you dissect "that's" into "that" and "is"]].</ref>]]
{{quote|''"We bankrupt all invaders, we sell them souvenirs''
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Er hner we ner ner ner ner ner
Er ner ner hner ner, nher hner ner ner (etc.)
Ner hner ner, ''your gleaming swords...:''
|[[Discworld|Ankh Morpork]] Anthem, [[Terry Pratchett]]}}
You know that song that you know all the words to? [[Well, This Is Not That Trope|This is not that song.]]
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This is that song where the lyrics [[Motor Mouth|move so]] [[Patter Song|quickly]] or are [[Mondegreen|so]] [[The Unintelligible|garbled]] that you know only the one word or phrase that is shouted very clearly.
The name of the trope comes from "It's The End Of The World As We Know It" by [[
Any and all foreign songs with a token English word when listened to by a person only fluent in English will often fall into this as well. For instance, Japanese songs with [[Gratuitous English]].
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{{examples}}
== The Trope Namer ==
* "It's The End Of The World As We Know It" by [[R.E.M.]], as noted above
** As [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OENjixZd_Oo covered] by Canadian folk band [[Great Big Sea]] is, believe it or not, even worse for the confusion; the speed is upped about 30% and a number of additional instrumental tracks (like the fiddle) are added. And it's so much ''fun''!
** Parodied in ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'' episode "Homer the Moe", where R.E.M. makes a guest appearance (already without Bill Berry at the time) and Homer further [[Mondegreen]]s their song:
{{quote|''Leonid
''Birthday party, Cheetos, pogo sticks and lemonade
''You symbiotic stupid jerk, that's right, Flanders, I'm talking about you!'' }}
** [https://web.archive.org/web/20091126222416/http://comics.com/pearls_before_swine/2007-05-27/ The R.E.M. example was] [[Lampshaded]] in ''[[Pearls Before Swine]]'' and again in ''[[Tommy Boy]]'', where they remembered the line "6 O'clock, TV hour," which starts off the second verse.
==Anime and Manga==
* ''[[One-Punch Man]]'': Has a little English, but is mostly in Japanese.
* "Rap is a Man's Soul" from ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]''. It's almost impossible to make sense out of the verses (even if you ''know'' the words). However, most of the people here know the chorus.
{{quote|[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann|Do the impossible, see the invisible]]
'''[[Memetic Mutation|RAW, RAW, FIGHT DA POWAH]]'' }}
** "Libera Me (from Hell)" is worse, unless you're fluent in Latin.
* ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's]]'': "Clear Mind" by [[Masaaki Endoh]] has a ton of English pieces in it; some pronounced well, some not. Mots of them, like "Keep on Burning Soul" or "Crazy Keep on Driving", make no sense; so even if you hear the lyrics correctly, you may second-guess your understanding of them.
* ''[[Hellsing (anime)|Hellsing]]'': "The World Without Logos", also called [[Gratuitous English|"LOGOS Naki WORLD"]], confuses almost everybody who hears it, thinking they just can't make out Yasushi Ishii's accent. As it turns out, it's because [[Translation Train Wreck|the lyrics mean literally nothing]]. [http://www.animelyrics.com/anime/hellsing/theworld.htm Observe...]
* ''[[Umineko no Naku Koro ni]]''{{'}}s ending. "Yami wo kirisaku, OH DESIRE! Something something something something..."
== Comic Strips ==
* Lampshaded in Argentinian comic strip ''[[Mafalda]]'':
{{quote|'''Manolito:''' How can you like The Beatles if you don't understand a word of what they're saying?
'''Mafalda:''' So? Many people like dogs and nobody understands what "woof" means. }}
== Film ==
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9N8aHgCrQs Duh nah nah nah nah HOLLY-WOOOOOD! Da na na na na HOLLY-WOOOD! dun na na ba dah dah dah...] Hooray For Hollywood's most famous song (which '''does''' have full lyrics), is a severe case of this. You either know none of the lyrics or that one part with the Hollywood.
== Literature ==
* [[Robert Burns]]' "|Auld Lang Syne" is a difficult one because the poem is in Scots which made it too hard for the Sassenach to ken its meaning apart from the first line "Should auld acquintance be forgot...". So then people tried to make English versions but more than one were made so nobody knew the same version and since the only time you sing it is when you're drunk at 00:01 on New Year's Day, in a large crowd of people who all have different versions with the only guy who really knows it being that one really keen Scottish guy, you never actually learn any of those version and just stick to "ouagh aaugh AAAUGH Aaughu AAUUGH '''AAUGH'''".
** Though, on that note, ''O Flower of Scotland'' usually receives the same fate at rugby matches: "OH FLOWER OF SCOTLAND RAWR RAWR RAWR RAWR [[RAWR RAWR RAWR RAWR]]!"
*** There's even a middle verse that never gets sung because few people know it even exists, let alone the words to it.
* Terry Pratchett's [[Discworld]] series has this ''in-universe'' - the official anthem of the City of Ankh-Morpork has a first verse and a chorus, but the second verse...
{{quote|''We bankrupt all invaders, we sell them souvenirs
''We ner ner ner ner ner, hner ner hner by the ears
''Er hner we ner ner ner ner ner
''Er ner ner hner ner, nher hner ner ner (etc.)
''Ner hner ner, your gleaming swords...'' }}
** And those are the ''official'' lyrics, based on the logic that nobody remembers the second verse of a national anthem anyway.
== Live Action TV ==
* [[Panel Show|Music quiz]] ''[[Never Mind the Buzzcocks]]'' had a round where the panel tries to sing along to a song like this, and they [[Mondegreen|mostly get it wrong]]: for "Smells Like Teen Spirit" they guessed "Here we are now, eat potatoes."
* The theme song to ''[[The Big Bang Theory]]'' by [[Barenaked Ladies]] is centred around a sped-up description of... everything, so it's hard to catch all but the beginning and the end, leading to "Our whole universe was in a hot dense state--mumblemumblemumble '''WE BUILT THE PYRAMIDS!'''"
** That line is also sung as a gang vocal, so even though anyone who's watched the show since the beginning should have been able to pick up all the lyrics by now, most viewers will still only sing along with that part, and the "BANG!" at the end.
** That's not nearly as bad as "One Week" by the same band: "It's been one week...sorry...tiny nuts...Harrison Ford...one week..." Most people (well, non fans) remember it as the 'Chickety China, the Chinese Chicken' song.
* The ''[[Red Dwarf]]'' theme song for some people. "Nananannananaanaaa MANGO JUICE!"
* ''[[3rd Rock from the Sun]]'' has one of these in-universe. The first verse of their mission song is:
{{quote|''Across the void we come a warping
''Across the fields of stars we soar
''We pledge to land and something something
''Dum da da da dum da da da SPACESHIP! }}
* Lampshaded in ''[[Sesame Street]]''{{'}}s "What's the Name of that Song?", "La de da de dum, la de da de dum, what's the name of that song...?" through "La de da de dum, la de da de dum, something something nice, la de da de dum, la de da de dum, I think it repeats itself twice..."
== Music ==
* Agnhsgaksvbaoisbvasdfkavgbabfbaeubkjbkhbkjnjena EEEEEEH MACARENA!
** When it was used in Pick Up Song in ''[[I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue]]'', Tim gave up completely on the Spanish parts and started singing "[[To the Tune Of|It ain't what you do, it's the way that you do it, Hey Macarena!]]"¨
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* "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by [[Nirvana]] - Most people can only pick out "here we are now" and something about "stupid and contagious" (and maybe the endless repetitions of "hello") Despite the lyrics being quite clear on the verses, no one seems to know them.
** The [["Weird Al" Yankovic|Weird Al Yankovic]] parody, ''Smells Like Nirvana'', lampshades and notes this by having a section where Weird Al deliberately mumbles garbage while on the video subtitles go from translating it into actual words to translating it to "bargle nawdle zouss" before finally descending into "[[Even the Subtitler Is Stumped|???]]". Then he continues with "with all these marbles in my mouth"... spitting out said marbles.
{{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! }}
* [[They Might Be Giants (band)|They Might Be Giants]] were asked to cover "Smells Like Teen Spirit" on a radio show [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdJuW7UqtOY&feature=related (listen here)]. It's even harder to understand than the original, because John Flansburgh tries to sing it despite [[Funny Moments (Sugar Wiki)|not knowing a single word of the song]].
* "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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*** Unsurprising, as Eddie Vedder was making up the words as he went along on the recording.
** "Go" makes "Even Flow" sound totally understandable in comparison - "Wamsbesamsubaeoh, naybeedesham, movenososwifly, wessubsheson, apubegodosubahem, should've pulled the alarm!". Uhh...what?
* In the "foreign song with lone English word" category is the "Mai Ha Hi" song, officially ''Dragostea Din Tei'' aka Numa Numa. The alternate names come from basically the only foreign words people can make sense of. If you speak English and you haven't memorized one of the many [[Mondegreen]] videos like [http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=dragostea+misheard these], singing along will go something like "Mai Ha hi, Mai Ha ha, Hello, Salut, <small>mbmmblmblmbmlfmblfml</small> Picassooooo". In Japanese, Numa Numa sounds like Noma Noma meaning "Drink! Drink!" so it became popular as a drinking song. Considering how much alcohol that implies, remembering the lyrics is going to pale next to the problem of remembering your own name.
** Brazil has a weird twist on this song, since the garbled lyrics might be mixed with a raunchy Portuguese version which became popular (sometimes phonetical: "verchyra" became "orgy").
** Ameliorated (somewhat) by the fact that the same group also produced an English version of the song, although [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBSVzoB4H5w it's still no miracle of clarity.] Possibly justified by the singers' fairly heavy accents.
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** [[Jim Carrey]] sang a parody/cover back when he was "[[Retroactive Recognition|the white guy]] on ''[[In Living Color]]''" called "Imposter". Go ahead and [[YouTube]] it.
** The style Snow was using, dancehall complete with a Jamaican-esque accent, also causes problems with other artists using that same style. If someone claims they know the lyrics of a Sean Paul song just from listening? Odds are they're lying. "We be burning... da da da da."
* "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?
** Kids probably know the lyrics in ''[[The Fairly OddParents]]''
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** Somewhat [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] on [[VH-1]]'s [[I Love the Exties|I Love the 90s]] by the aggravated [[Hanson]] brothers: [[Word of God|"MMMbop/ Ba du ba dop/ Ba du bop/ Ba du ba dop/ Ba du bop/ Ba du ba dop/ ba du." "It's really not that hard."]] A lot of songs with sections of non-words seem to suffer from this. [[Sarcasm Mode|I wonder why]].
** You mean it's not "mmmbop, chimichanga, doo wop?!?!
** Congratulations if you understand
*** 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" Yankovic]] steps in. Is it any wonder that his alternate lyrics so often end up eclipsing the original words to songs nobody can decipher/remember? After all, he has to enunciate or the jokes would fall flat.
** "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
** [[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".
** James Reyne didn't actually sing "Errol": Guy McDonough did the vocals for that one. But really, the best example for James Reyne's indecipherable singing has got to be "Beautiful People"—if it weren't for the fact that it's the title of the song, there's no way anyone would understand what the hell that lyric was supposed to be.
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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:
{{quote|''Hey, kids shake it loose-- a lemon
''Gotta make a feather
''You're gonna heara handsome music
''So the walrus sounds
''Say, Penny's no longer in a cement jet
''Ooh, but you're so laced down
''Buh, buh, buh, buh Bennie and the Jets
''Oo, in the wind and the waterfall
''Oh, baby, she's a revocaine
''She's got electric boobs
''And mohair shoes
''You know I read it in a magazi-ine!
''Oh, oh, buh, buh, buh Bennie and the Jets }}
* The beginning of [[Nightwish]]'s "Fantasmic" basically goes "Wish upon a star, nwlasfjdkcldnsfcnsal, take my [[Mondegreen|ham]], nwsdlkjncklcxfndskjl..."
{{quote|"Wish! Upon, a star, believe in will, the realm of the king, of fantasy, the master of, the tale-like lore, the way to kingdom I adore, where the warrior's heart is pure, where the stories will come true", repeat.}}
** Oh, that's nothing. Wait till part 3.
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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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* [[Duran Duran]]'s "Hold Back the Rain", being a mishmash of decent enunciation and indecipherable mushmouthery (and [[Word Salad Lyrics|the lyrics don't make a lot of sense in the first place]], further confounding efforts), is full of this. Like the end of the chorus: "Na da gerroh so help me, please... ''hold back the rain''!"
* While much of Gucci Mane's [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5awfGwc9Fs I'm a Star] is easy to decipher, the second verse absolutely murders any sense of lyrical comprehension. Good luck understanding anything without the assistance of subtitles.
* [[Blur (band)|Blur]]'s "Song 2" goes, "WOO-HOO!" The rest of the refrain consists of semi-distorted English-sounding rambles. The verses are slightly easier to understand, but [[Chorus-Only Song|it's not like anyone knows those anyway.]] Considering the refrain was used nigh-everywhere in adverts and the like, especially in America, it gets this treatment a lot.
** The irony is this song was written with the sole purpose of taking the piss out of grunge, and it ended up becoming an archetype for it.
* "Song 10" by Zebrahead. Even worse that the band never put the lyrics in with the album, claiming the lyrics don't exist. The only words everyone can agree on are "YEAH! WESTSIDE!"
* The band [[Tool]] is an interesting variant, in that whilst the words would be quite comprehensible on their own, they do not boost the volume of the vocalist as much as other bands do, leading to a more instrumental experience. For instance, in the song "Vicarious", "Vicarious" is about the only word anyone picks out of the song, though attempts to sing along end up with "Vicarious! mumble mumu-umble" ("Vicarious I live while the whole word dies"), for three reasons: 1) It's the title, 2) The singer near-shouts the word 3) it comes at an instrumental lull.
** Somethingaboutalienscomingdownandcalmingaguydownwithadrinkandanorangesliceandtellingme '''[[The Call Knows Where You Live|you are the chosen one.]]''' - "Rosetta Stoned"
* The pre-chorus of "Always" by Erasure, made famous from [[Robot Unicorn Attack]] seems to go "When it's cold outside, da da da da daaay, HOLD ON THE NIGHT, THERE WILL BE NO SHAME!"
** Andy Bell's occasionally cryptic lyrics, high tessitura, and penchant for jamming words into awkward spaces make this sort of thing relatively commonplace in Erasure songs.
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* Pere Ubu, a weird band to begin with, have a song call "Street Waves," in which the only comprehensible words are "I ride a street wave." As they don't ever release their lyrics, no one's even sure about this part.
** "Street Waves" aside, at least 95% of Pere Ubu's oeuvre is indecipherable due to David Thomas' squawking, blubbering vocal delivery and the band's bizarre, often esoteric lyrics.
*** For added fun, track down a Pere Ubu record, try writing down what you hear, then go to [https://web.archive.org/web/20131023105832/http://ubuprojex.net/reference.html#lyrics their website] and look up the lyrics. Compare results.
*** Not so. I recently bought their album New Picnic Time, which has the lyrics in the liner notes.
* Dave. Effing. Matthews. Usually only one or two words in his songs are immediately understandable, and they're almost always the title (example: ''Iiii'm the kinguh the caaaastle,'' ''[[Mondegreen|ammonia and glass]]'' ''oh crash in to me'' and more slurring than that helps keep people from realising what Crash Into Me [[Intercourse with You|is about]]. Another example: ''And all the little ants are marching, reh uh ah and en uh waaaaving...''). Admittedly, the Dave Matthews Band covered Louie Louie as well.
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*** Damon's verses on "[[Do Ya Thing]]" contain such lines as "[[Wild Mass Guessing|You got a folding chair, and you don't know what to do]]".
* [[Lady Gaga]] (well, technically Colby O'Donis, but still): When I come through on the dance floor checkin out that catalogue. Can’t believe my eyes so many women without a flaw. mumblemumblemumble—JUST DANCE, GONNA BE OKAY.
* The 'Singular-English-line' variant appears in the Rammstein song Amerika, with growled German lyrics for the majority of the song, and the chorus "We're all living in America, America, it's wunderbar."
* "Dr. Feelgood" by [[
* [[Radiohead]] at times. Karma police,<ref>arrest this man, he talks in math, he buzzes like a fridge, he's like a de-tuned radio</ref> I-dont-know-the-words, this is what you get, this is what you get...
** "Myxomatosis" makes "Karma Police" sound like a sparkling triumph of enunciation. "Zmugma cafkeebone, owning half a head. To see it to shut up, towallis noofow frehhh. He said I benawaiyawaaaa. Asleplyfoolala.<ref>The mongrel cat came home, holding half a head. Proceeded to show it off, to all its newfound friends. He said I've been where I liked, I slept with who I liked.</ref> She ate me up for breakfast, she screwed me in a vice."
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* Throbbing Gristle's [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPrTUC7BDn4 "Hamburger Lady"]. Utterly lyrically incomprehensible.
** "Tubes in her arm" and "the night nurse" is maybe the most anyone can catch [[Nothing Is Scarier|which is half of why the song is so disturbing.]] Most of their recordings are fairly primitive for studio work, so you get this in spades. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1X9ygjkIPf8 "Zyklon B Zombie"] and [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8riZnope7Ak "Hit By A Rock"] have only the [[Title Drop]] decipherable as a couple of extra examples that are also creepy listening. TG managed to make this into a horror trope.
* Phoenix's "1901". Try understanding any lyrics besides "Hey Hey Hey Hey Hey" or "Folded Folded Folded Folded." Even they could be difficult to decipher.
* [[Marilyn Manson]]'s "The Beautiful People". Most people only know the words "The beautiful people, the beautiful people".
* [[Disturbed]] singer David Draiman's style has a way of doing this for three reasons:
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** For the most part, just about the entire discography could count (though "Voices", "Sons of Plunder", "The Night", "Asylum" and "[http://twitter.com/#!/DAVIDMDRAIMAN/status/77664430401404929 This Moment]" are particular stand-outs).
* The song "Born Slippy .NUXX" by Underworld may be one of the most recognizable dance songs of the 90's, and is especially popular in England. However, it features heavy echo/reverb effects over the vocals, and most people are only able to pick out the word "boy" at the end of a few lines, as well as the famous "Shouting 'Lager, lager, lager lager'" bit.
* ''[[M.I.A.]]'' has had a number of songs that fit this trope. There's "Paper Planes": "I fly like peppah get high like planes, if you catch me on the corner Ima meesim mihmah nay / if you come around hey- I'm naked all day / I get one dom inna simpah neffa way..."
* ''[[The Doobie Brothers]]'' has, at the very least, "China Grove", which this troper admits to not even understanding the refrain of for years: "Well the people 'n' the peep, noo joo me cross<ref>Well, the preacher and the teeacher, Lord, they're a caution</ref> / they are the talk of the town... People are some kind the strange / damn Mrs. Perkins again<ref>The lyrics are different, though, as the first verse says, "The people of the town are strange, / and they're proud of where they came", and the second verse says, "They say that the father's insane, / and dear Mrs. Perkins' a game."</ref>.... WOAH-HO, CHINA GROVE!"
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** The big problem here is that the line before the title drop is "I am an ordinary guy" and there is no one on Earth who can understand why David Byrne would say that about himself.
** "Something something OH OH, got some Wild Wild Life, something something something OH OH, got some Wild Wild Life." Problematic because the song has multiple choruses, with "Wild, Wild Life" being the common thread lyrically for all of them - mixing up pieces from each chorus is common.
* The average Italian-speaker probably can't remember/recite more of Mina's ''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaIXgplEz70 Brava]'' than the occasional phrase. She sings ''really'' fast, and at some impressive pitches!
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fd2e0Sv2J9k "SASKATCHEWAN"] by Les Trois Accords. The song is probably insanely easy to sing along to in French, but all English singers can do is SasKATchewaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!
* "99 Luftballons" (which translates to 99 Air Balloons, NOT 99 Red Balloons, but that's [[Berserk Button|a whole different issue]]), is sung entirely in German except for two words.
{{quote|da da da da, CAPTAIN KIRK.}}
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* Due to the fast pace and Irish accents, no one knows the verses in ''The Rocky Road to Dublin.'' For the most part you can get the chorus, but it still sounds something like "One, two, three, four, five! Huthehaandturnum, down the rocky road and all the way to Dublin. Whackfaloldida!" (Well, that last bit is just noises.)
** "Hunt the hare and turn 'er down the rocky road: all the way to Dublin. Whack-fo-lal-de-ra." (Those 'noises' are called lilting.)
* To those who don't know Swedish, "dance-a ????? clap-a ?????? ????? [[Caramelldansen]]!"
* "Pudding Time" by [[Primus]] starts off with "Munipapa ganibaba teddebepa baidu paypaypaypay oooooooooo", which apparently means "You can have a lollypop/ a candy bar, a jelly bean/ I'll buy you a rainbow/ to hang above your door". Whoda thunk it?
* "Jesus Built My Hotrod" by [[Ministry]], throughout the entire song. Doesn't help that some of it is [[Scatting|gibberish]].
* [[Wet Wet Wet]]. My god. [[Wet Wet Wet]]. So much of their music revolves around this. For example, ''Sweet Little Mystery'', in which it is impossible to make out the lyrics other than, "Sweet Little Mystery, that makes me try, try, try, try!" Even if you grew up listening to their music, you will still struggle.
* [[Billy Joel]]'s "We Didn't Start the Fire". When singing in concert, Billy has said that if he forgets a line he just looks over to one of his bandmates who is always mouthing the lyrics to himself. For this song the guy just shrugged and told Joel he was on his own. His own band can't remember the words! For the 3 of you who haven't heard it, it's not so much that the lyrics are mumbled, but that they go by so fast that by the time you've deciphered one line, 2 more have gone by. The chorus is the only part that everybody knows.
** In the song's favor though, at least the words are understandable. Plus, it has an overarching theme (although that doesn't help at all either).
*
* The lyrics to MC 900 Ft. Jesus' "I'm Going Straight To Heaven" are delivered so low and distorted that the only clearly audible lines are the [[Title Drop]] and the repeated refrain that precedes it ("everybody shut up and leave me alone"). (Actually [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCsmIHLjM_o the video] provides the first two verses, but beyond that, [[Wild Mass Guessing|you're on your own, kid.]])
* [[The Beatles (band)|The Beatles]] have several examples of this trope,including most of the rooftop concert:
** "All these jugmumble been mumble water been mumble cos nobody told me, all they've been looking for is somebody who looked like you"
** "Jojo was a man who thought mumble mumble,<ref>he was a loner</ref> but he knew it couldn't last, Jojo left his home mumble mumble mumble mumble mumble mumble<ref>in Tuscon, Arizona, for some California</ref> grass."
** And, of course, "I Am The Walrus"- "mumble bumble mumble pornographic priestess...". Though that was [[Word Salad Lyrics|total nonsense]].
** Parodied in a skit on ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' with the fake commercial for ''J-Disc Presents: Ten Beatles Classics You Kind of Know the Words To. Sung by the Kind of Know the Words To Singers.''
* Most people only remember the refrain to "Mr Tambourine Man" by [[Bob Dylan]] ("Hey Mr Tambourine Man, play a song for me" and so on), and not the far more intricate verses that intersperse it (not helped by the far more well-known cover version by [[The Byrds]] which ommits the first verse altogether).
** Also applicable to "It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)" (off of ''Bringing It All Back Home'', just as "Mr Tambourine Man"). "Sometimes even the president of the United States has to stand naked" is the only line of the rather long and complex song audiences in the 60's really bothered to remember. This is probably because most people were still looking for clear anti-establishment messages in Dylan's lyrics, unable or unwilling to see that he'd moved on from straight-up protest songs to much more abstract beat poetry-influenced lyrics.
* From [[Britney Spears]]: "One, two, three, nidamean youandme, oneminadagree, And I'm caught in between."
* 'Round Christmas time, "Fairytale of New York" by [[The Pogues]] becomes this, if only because most people who are singing along are [[Drunken Song|almost always drunk]].
{{quote|mhmhmhmmhmhmhmhmhmmhmhmhmmhmhmhmhmhmmh, AND THE BELLS WERE RINGING OUT, FOR CHRISTMAS DAY!}}
** [[Michael McIntyre]] picked up on that one:
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* [[Interpol]] in "Say Hello To The Angels" - "When I'mfeelinglafhllgtwawgeguyseweuawiocomesblrghargawygrerhhwaioeawerhjhfme INTO MY AIRSPAAACE, MOVE INTO MY AIRSPAAACE"
* Moxy Fruvous' Johnny Saucep'n - My name is Johnny saucep'n aklflhslkkljlkgjijismmfkldsjmunstersdkflskflskfdkldsjfkldkscabbage and the crawfish claws
* "Take On Me" by
* J-Pop/Rock band The Pillows do this, featuring a few songs that have Japanese verses and English lines within the choruses. Sometimes English words are thrown in randomly for kicks.
* The song "If I Should From Grace With God" by the Pogues featured in [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eE10VC82ZZU this car commercial] is damn near indecipherable. About the only lyrics that can be clearly heard is the title of the song itself and "Let me go, boys..." The Pogues could be this trope for several songs.
* Daddy Yankee's "Gasolina", specially for those who don't speak Spanish (or a similar language) is a [[Chorus-Only Song]] where the chorus is "something something gasolina!" eight times.
*
* [[OK Go]]'s "This Too Shall Pass", due to its Wall of Sound-like orchestration and heavy echo effects on the vocals, is largely indecipherable except for the resounding chorus of [[Refrain From Assuming|"WHEN THE MORNING COMES!"]]
* "Hilikus" by early [[Incubus (band)|Incubus]], due Brandon Boyd's fast rapping: "History has a tendency to blohkkadappappaladopeppelisaboutbaddelissadogoodta, fordehqwyegqwamme<ref>block out the popular beliefs about the leaders of the time, so glisten with my</ref> syllables irhqwmehiqwaebdatto, webbeeaeguyeawguheddoteieaeibm<ref>and ponder the thought, maybe they should have had to dedicate more</ref> to it, GO!"
* Unless you are a German-speaker or a singer, the only line you probably remember from [[Franz Schubert]]'s setting of Goethe's "Der Erlkönig" is "Mein VAAAAAATERRR! Mein Vaaaterrr!"
* [[Angelspit]]'s "Bullet Proof". The first line is perfectly understandable, but mostly it just sounds like "Lechers, with nametags, incomprehensible, incomprehensible, incomprehensible. Are you ready? Bullet proof, baby!"
* [[Bob Dylan]]'s "Subterranean Homesick Blues", where the only words everybody's sure of are the ones on the cue cards in the music video. (And [[the Other Wiki]] mentions [[w:Subterranean Homesick Blues#Promotional film clip|some of those are wrong]].)
** Parodied by the [[Royal Canadian Air Farce]], with their occasional "Bob Dylan Mumbles the News" sketches.
== Professional Wrestling ==
* [[ESPN]].com's [[Bill Simmons]] [http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/100330 did a running diary] of [[Professional Wrestling|WrestleMania XXVI]] and demonstrated why rapping and wrestling don't mix.
{{quote|'''0:01:''' For our first match, tag-team championship belts are on the line: R-Truth (a rapper/wrestler) and John Morrison (an entertaining Jim Morrison ripoff) challenging the champs, The Big Show and The Miz (carrying two belts apiece, for some reason). R-Truth came out prancing and singing his hit song, "What's Up?" The lyrics go like this: "Shshshn cnbcnsbdb fhdehsh fhdhs dhdhan dbdjdndjd dbdbdbdbdb shshsnhs ffrhdhhjs xbcxbbffgfhhj WHAT'S UP? WHAT'S UP? WHAT'S UP? WHAT'S UP?" I don't think he wrote that one with Burt Bacharach and Carly Simon.}}
== Recorded and Standup Comedy ==
* "Prisencolinensinainciusol," by Adriano Celentano - mostly because aside from a few [[Title Drop]]s and the occasional "all right," "baby," and one carefully enunciated "girls," it's complete [[Word Puree Lyrics]].
** Um, that was completely [[Lampshade Hanging|intentional.]] He just wanted to duplicate what English sounded like to native Italian speakers—i.e. nonsense.
* According to [[Eddie Izzard]], the United States National Anthem is this to most Americans.
** "'''''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5iu_JNvPII FIIIIIIIVE GO-OOOOOOOOLD RIIIIIIIIINGS]!'''''"
*** "It's because we're human. We only like to learn a little bit of a song. I mean, above that, the words could be anything -- but then they hear that bit, and people go ''berserk'' at that point. You have people running in from other rooms. '''''FIVE GOLD RINGS!!!'''''"
* This was [[Bernie Mac]]'s response to Shaggy's "It Wasn't Me" when he hosted the 2001 Billboard Music Awards.
{{quote|Y'all don't know any of the words, you just like the "It Wasn't Me" part.}}
== 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-General Song]] and ''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQGrQPZMLK8&feature=related It Really Doesn't Matter]'', in which they actually lampshade it—the line "this particularly rapid unintelligible patter isn't generally heard" is repeated several times! [it should be noted here that, theoretically, while the ''actors'' are singing, for the most part the ''characters'' aren't supposed to be, rendering this line even more amusing] Admittedly, the singers in this sort of situation are generally of a degree of skill such that they ''do'' enunciate every word clearly, but at that speed? And even if you can hear and understand it (not a given in a theater!) that doesn't mean that you know the words; most people likely can't recite much of the Major General song beyond "I am the very model of a modern major general"!
** 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.
{{quote|MOVING ON! Garblegarblegarblegarblegarblegarblegarblegarble[[Overly Long Gag|garblegarblegarblegarble]] Trevor Grayden.}}
* The title song from [[Stephen Sondheim]]'s ''[[Into the Woods]]'': Into the woods nuhnuhnuhnununuhnuhnuhnhunh, Into the woods nuhnuhunhunuhunuhunuhunh journey!
** Parodied by ''[[Forbidden Broadway]]'' with "Into the Words".
== Video Games ==
* Aaron G., who frequently does vocals for Naoki's songs in ''[[Dance Dance Revolution]]'', has a [[Motor Mouth|talent for really fast rapping]]. The lyrics to ''Dynamite Rave'' scroll quite fast on DDR 3rd Mix's karaoke lyrics, and later games removed the lyrics display altogether, so for most people singing along, the rap section's lyrics might as well be "Techno rave, mumblemumblemumble mumblemumblemumble mumblemumblemumble... [[Title Drop|DYNAMITE RAVE]] mumblemumblemumble..." It helps that the [[Title Drop]] is in all caps in the official lyrics.
* ''[[Persona 3]]'s'' main battle theme, "Mass Destruction" has rapping. Fast rapping. Other songs in the game sung in English by Japanese people, like the opening theme song "Burn my Dread" are an example of this too, but not as bad as this:
{{quote|"[[Motor Mouth|Mhsjkxpodlamxcjsndhab]] [[Title Drop|Shadows of Mass, Destruction]]! [[Ear Worm|Oh yeah, dundundun, dundundun. Baby, baby!]]}}
** It happened again in [[Persona 4|the sequel]]- although 'Reach Out To The Truth' is a much better battle theme, it's almost impossible to make out any of the lyrics other than "I face out, I hold out, I reach out to the truth of my life" and "can you let me out, can you let me out, can you set me free from this dernernerIdunnotherest".
*** To add insult to injury, it's also frequently heard as as [[Mondegreen|"All the LESBIANS, oh yeah LESBIANS,]] can you SET ME FREE" and then descends into glarble territory.
** In the same game, the theme of [[The Hub]], "Backside of the TV." Aside from "Duhduhnana, duhduhnana, FEEL NO PAIN" from the intro, and "Somethingwhatever, cantunderstand, WHATCHU GONNA DO" in the rapping segment, the song is fairly incomprehensible without looking up the lyrics.
** Continued again in the remake of [[Persona|the first game]], though with singing instead of rap:
{{quote|Save me from that blooooody destiny! How do feel said jeema ahfewjfhweiulehwf like this!}}
** And yet again in Persona 3 Portable, with the rapping back.
{{quote|Demolition! Wiping all out! I want nose! Davewfwbefjwawaevaeipwhzc!}}
*** Most tracks with lyrics in the Persona series can be applied to this trope due to swapping between English and Japanese sometimes ''mid-sentence''. The opening "Soul Phrase" might seem [[Mondegreen|incomprehensible to some, Japanese to others, but is actually thickly-accented English.]]
* ''[http://youtube.com/watch?v=0B2bhOavNYQ GOLD RUSH]'' from ''[[Beatmania IIDX]] 14: GOLD''. Thanks in part to the fact that the lyrics are entirely in English but sung with a thick Japanese accent, about the only two discernable phrases are "Make it! Make money!" and "'''TWO DEE ECKS GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLD!!!'''" The [http://youtube.com/watch?v=BijUMQWpi_0 remix] used in ''[[Pop'n music|Pop'n Music]]'' also adds "'''SENGOKU RETSUDEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEN!!!'''" to the list.
* Sephiroth's [[Leitmotif]] from ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]''. ''[[Ominous Latin Chanting|Something indecipherable, probably Latin, something something something]]'' '''SEPHIROTH!'''
* In theory, the theme to ''[[The Neverhood]]'' has lyrics. In reality, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXQ2lvgpHiE it sounds like this]:
{{quote|Numauhauamunu - haunauamuanum, at the NEVEEEERHOOD! NEVEEEEERHOOD!}}
* One of the ghosts in Osohe Castle in ''[[Mother 3]]'' sings his own version of the song that the ghost at the piano is playing, admitting that, while he likes the song, he doesn't quite have the lyrics down.
== Web Comics ==
* From the unofficial ''[[Homestuck]]'' [[Christmas Episode|Christmas Album]], the lyrics to [http://homestuckgaiden.bandcamp.com/track/the-squiddles-save-christmas "The Squiddles Save Christmas"] seem to [[Parodied Trope|literally]] be "Squiddles, Squiddles, Squiddles, something Squiddles."
== Web Original ==
* [[Todd in the Shadows]] declares this on Flo Rida.
{{quote|Every Flo Rida song is basically just gibberish 'til the chorus anyway. Nobody cares! "Bah bah bur rur, Leonard Bernstein...." Whatever!}}
** And [[The Rap Critic]] calls this on Mystikal (even comparing him to [[Looney Tunes|Yosemite Sam]]), saying the only line he understood was "I came in here with my dick in my hand!".
* Thanks to [[Memetic Mutation|the "Leekspin" video]], all most international listeners can recite of the Finnish-language standard "Ieva's Polka" is the scatting section just before the final verse. However, [[Playing with a Trope|things get twisted]] around two points: first, that section ''isn't even part of the actual song'', [[Covered Up|having been added by the group Loituma for their version]]; and second, due to the improvisational nature of [[Scatting]], the "words" to that part are never the same from one performance to the next.
== Western Animation ==
* ''[[Family Guy]]'' parodies Men at Work's most famous song, "Down Under".
{{quote|'''Peter:'''I COME FROM THE LAND DOWN UNDER.
''SHVINGA SCHWER SHVINGA DINGA HUMBA.'' ("Where women glow and men plunder/chunder")
''KIPPA LOOP DIPPA DOPP DA DOOPA.'' ("Can't you hear, can't you hear the thunder?")
''LOOK AT ME WITH A BRAND NEW HYUNDAI.'' ("You'd better run, you'd better take cover") }}
** There's also Peter's Christmas album. Among others, he mangles one line from "Little Drummer Boy" into "I brought these gifts for you, they're [[Ass Shove|up in my bum.]]"
** Peter does the exact [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlmD_CrAEAQ&feature=related same thing as the] [[Trope Namers]]. [[It Makes Sense in Context]] since he had a stroke on the left side of his body and might be able to sing it normally if he wasn't in such a condition.
** ''[[Family Guy]]'' also ranted that you can understand only the last three words of Sting's songs - [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRUpPDMqqsw It's funny because it's true? You decide.]
* [[In-Universe]] example for the animated adaptation of ''[[Dr. Seuss|Horton Hatches The Egg]]'':
{{quote|'''Horton (singing)''': Rise, and shine, and so on and so forth...}}
* The chorus of the theme song to [[DuckTales (1987)]]: "'''DuckTales! Woohoo!''' Beh beh beh beh, beh beh beh beh, '''DuckTales! Woohoo!'''" In fact, even the Finnish-to-English [[Mondegreen|soramimi]] [http://uncutohh.ytmnd.com/ lyrics on YTMND] might be better known than the real English lyrics.
** It's not the fact that the lyrics are hard to understand, but the fact that the stupid "DUCKTALES! A-WOO HOO!" is such an [[Ear Worm]] its hard to remember anything else around it.
* Done deliberately in the [[Expository Theme Tune]] of ''[[Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness]]'':
{{quote|''He lives and he trains and he fights with the Furious Five
''Protects the valley something something something something alive
''KUNG FU PANDA! }}
==Unsorted==
* Made even ''worse'' in the ''[[Raving Rabbids]]'' version{{context}}, which is delivered about an octave above its usual pitch. Meaning that half the words can only be heard by your dog.
* Richard Thompson's website Q&A has [https://web.archive.org/web/20130131113842/http://www.richardthompson-music.com/catch_of_the_day.asp?id=182 arguably the funniest invocation of this.] The poor man can be forgiven; the song's{{context}} in Renaissance Italian.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Music Tropes]]
[[Category:Something Something Leonard Bernstein]]
[[Category:Audience Reactions]]
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