Something Something Leonard Bernstein: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

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.

 

 

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]].

{{examples}}

 

{{quote| Leonid whats-his-name, [[The Munsters|Herman Munster]] Motorcade<br />

Birthday party, Cheetos, pogo sticks and lemonade<br />

You symbiotic stupid jerk, that's right, Flanders, I'm talking about you! }}

* Agnhsgaksvbaoisbvasdfkavgbabfbaeubkjbkhbkjnjena EEEEEEH MACARENA!

{{quote| Sing distinctly? We don't wanna!<br />

Buy our album! We're Nirvana! }}

But I don't know what I'm saying! }}

** [[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."

{{quote| '''Peter:'''I COME FROM THE LAND DOWN UNDER.<br />

SHVINGA SCHWER SHVINGA DINGA HUMBA. ("Where women glow and men plunder/chunder")<br />

** "Louie Louie" is famous for this, and is often picked on for it by [[Music/Dave Barry|Dave Barry]]. There was also a commercial in the late '90s which featured the song and scrolled nonsensical gibberish in place of actual lyrics to parody how difficult it was to understand the song.

*** [[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-sung -- even comprehensible! -- version sung by none other than Mr. Belushi himself!

** Most would contend that "Yellow Ledbetter" is the more quintessential garbled Pearl Jam (not that there is a dearth of selection, mind you) as illustrated by [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLd22ha_-VU this slice of hilarity]

*** Unsurprising, as Eddie Vedder was making up the words as he went along on the recording.

** [[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."

** 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.

* "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..."

{{quote| UHMUNGAYRODAPLEEDONNAOVAHAYDFEHEHPEDDADONKEHWIDHEY I GOT A TELEPHONE CALL FROM ISTANBUL}}

** 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".]]

* 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]].

** 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.

** 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?

{{quote| "La cucaracha, la cucaracha! Enchilada blah blah blah!"}}

{{quote| La cucaracha, la cucaracha, dunnanunnanunnanuh!}}

** Being a traditional song, it has several versions that differ from the 4th line onward:

4d: marihuana pa' fumar. /mari'wana pa fu'mar/ [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v{{=}}pe1q7yj4pBk#t{{=}}2m21s marijuana to smoke]. }}

* Raise your hand if you ever figured out the rest of the chorus ''besides'' "MMMBop". Didn't think so. (It's [[Scatting]].)

** You mean it's not "mmmbop, chimichanga, doo wop?!?!

** Congratulations if you understand ANYTHING besides the title. Hell, the scat is probably the only intelligible thing in the whole song!

** 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.

* 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.

** [[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.

* 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.fartparty.org/2006/06/14/blowjob/ ELECTRIC BOOBS?!]

** "you know a yaddayaddayaddayaddaeIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIaaaa oh....B-B-B-Bennie and the Jetssssssss....."

You know I read it in a magazi-ine!<br />

Oh, oh, buh, buh, buh Bennie and the Jets }}

{{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.

** [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"-- the actual lyrics are, "Happy hunting, you double-faced carnivore."

* 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.

{{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".

{{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.]]

** "Fighting crime/with a partner/Lois Lane/Jimmy Carter"? The only easily intelligible word is the "WHY?!" at the end of each line.

** Probably their most famous example is the opening verse of "Chop Suey" which is pretty much made of this. While most of the song is fairly slow and easy to make out, the most that most people can get from the opening is "WAKE UP! DunnernunnernunnernunnerMAKE-UP! HusserfussermusserfusserSHAKE-UP! HajamajhajafajaTABLE! Heemamummaheemamumma(somethingthatrhymeswith)ABLE!" and then the whole thing again with "YOU WANTED TO" at the start of every line. (The ''actual'' lyrics are surprisingly easy- "Wake up/Grab a brush and put a little make-up/Hide the scars to fade away the shake-up/Why'd you leave the keys upon the table?/Here you go create another fable.")

** The [[Save Ferris]] cover makes it more clear...[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCzWPBR30Nk There are a few lines that can be confusing], but it's an improvement!

** [[wikipedia:Hermes House Band|Hermes House Band]]'s [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61y8SkTW-3A version] is almost entirely comprehensible, as is fitting for a party band which encourages audience participation and singalongs.

** Another good example from Maximum the Hormone: "What's Up People?" See if you can remember any of the words aside from "Hey Hey", something that sounds like "ravenga".

** The word is ''ningen'', which is Japanese for human, but most people probably heard it as the N word.

*** This is a rather interesting case since the only lyrics people think they understand are probably 'Hey, hey ningen sucker *japanense gibberish* ningen fucker'. Turns out it's actually 'Hey, hey! Ningen sanka ai nige ningen fuan ka?' This was most likely [[Getting Crap Past the Radar|intentional]] [[Mondegreen]].

** A''nother'' [[Buffy-Speak|nother]] good example from Maximum the Hormone, Zetsubou Billy - "Kira! Even a Kira! My name is Kira!..."

* 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.

* [[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.}}

** 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.

* "Prisencolinensinainciusol," by Adriano Celentano - mostly because aside from a few [[Title Drop|Title Drops]] and the occasional "all right," "baby," and one carefully enunciated "girls," it's complete [[Word Puree Lyrics]].

* ''[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.

* "Rap is a Man's Soul". 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.

'''[[Memetic Mutation|RAW, RAW, FIGHT DA POWAH]]'' }}

** "Libera Me (from Hell)" is worse, unless you're fluent in Latin.

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.

** Somethingaboutalienscomingdownandcalmingaguydownwithadrinkandanorangesliceandtellingme '''[[The Call Knows Where You Live|you are the chosen one.]]''' - "Rosetta Stoned"

{{quote| '''Manolito:''' How can you like The Beatles if you don't understand a word of what they're saying?<br />

'''Mafalda:''' So? Many people like dogs and nobody understands what "woof" means. }}

*** For added fun, track down a Pere Ubu record, try writing down what you hear, then go to [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.

** "Re-hash": "It's the sweet sen-sation, oh bah de dop/ a lot of situations, doh bana stop. It's the crash spots, oh boy/ it's' the money an' stuff....

** (From the B-side of Demon Days) "Spitting Out the Demons": "Spitting out the demons-Demons!/ [[Wild Mass Guessing|Popping outta holes]] (Good Times)/ Spitting out the demons/ (incomprehensible slurring)"

*** "Punk" has only two discernible words, "shut up".

*** 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]]".

* [[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]]...?"

* 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."

** "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."

*** Which makes it easy to miss the [[Precision F-Strike]] in that song. So I guess it's a [[Getting Crap Past the Radar|Stealth F Strike]]?

** No Surprises, and the only part you understand, you understand it because it's the Title. "Mumblemumblemumble No Surprises mumblemumblemumblemumble No Surprises Please"

** Apparentely, Feral has lyrics. I have never been able to make out anything past the [[Title Drop]] and even that is debatable.

** The [[Covered Up|original version]] by Robert Johnson is somewhat slower and easier to understand.

** "By the Way" is pretty fierce, too, except for the chorus.

* 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.

* The Red Dwarf theme song for some people. "Nananannananaanaaa MANGO JUICE!"

{{quote| 1. [[Motor Mouth|He's rather well-known for his rapid-fire delivery]].<br />

2. His voice is weird-sounding to most first-time listeners.<br />

** 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.

{{quote| '''Horton (singing)''': Rise, and shine, and so on and so forth...}}

* 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.}}

* ''[[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!"

** One way you can pick out someone from San Antonio is that they know a bit more than the above lyrics in said song, because "China Grove" is a song about a community called China Grove in south San Antonio. There's a bit about "old San Antone" and another one about "they just keep on lookin' to the East" in the song that refer to S.A. and is thus instantly pick-uppable for S.A. natives. Oh, and it's "dear Mrs. Perkins' a game".

** 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.

{{quote| Across the void we come a warping<br />

Across the fields of stars we soar<br />

{{quote| da da da da, CAPTAIN KIRK.}}

* Stephen Foster's "My Old Kentucky Home" is Kentucky's state song that is sung before the Kentucky Derby. Most Kentucky schoolchildren know few of the lyrics other than "My Old Kentucky Home" and "... [[Have a Gay Old Time|gay]]...", which they of course shout at the top of their lungs.

** Since [[Punk Rock]] doesn't put a very high value on diction, many of its songs fall victim to this. For instance, Black Flag's "Rise Above": "Something something something something bla bla bla...RISE ABOVE, WE'RE GONNA RISE ABOVE!"

* 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.)

{{quote| Every Flo Rida song is basically just gibberish 'til the chorus anyway. Nobody cares! "Bah bah bur rur, Leonard Bernstein...." Whatever!}}

* 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?

* [[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.

** 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).

* Inverted with [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5xMqb_Aomg the Speed Test]. 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.

* [[Into the Woods|Into the woods nuhnuhnuhnununuhnuhnuhnhunh, Into the woods nuhnuhunhunuhunuhunuhunh journey!]]

* 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.]])

** 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.

* [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.

** "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.''

** 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.

* 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..."

* 'Round Christmas time, Fairytale of New York 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:

{{quote| "The first line is 'it was Christmas Eve, babe', but from that point on... I'm not sure that the man who first sang it is entirely au fait with the words himself."}}

* Moxy Fruvous' Johnny Saucep'n - My name is Johnny saucep'n aklflhslkkljlkgjijismmfkldsjmunstersdkflskflskfdkldsjfkldkscabbage and the crawfish claws

* "Take On Me" by A-ha is basically 50/50, between understandable and not (primarily due to the fact that the band is Norwegian).

* 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.

{{quote| He lives and he trains and he fights with the Furious Five<br />

Protects the valley something something something something alive<br />

KUNG FU PANDA! }}

* 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.

* Letter's To Cleo's "Here And Now" has a chorus that's mostly unintelligible due to Kay Hanley going into [[Motor Mouth]] mode: "ah huh huh ba ba, ba ba ba ba ras ababa ska, ah huh huh ba ba, ba ba ba ba sherbanowa sherbanowa HERE AND NOW! HERE AND NOW-OW-OW!"<ref> translation: the comfort of the knowledge of a rise above the sky above could never parallel the challenge of an acquisition in the here and now, here and now</ref>

* 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!"]]

* 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!}}

* 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!"