Eureka! That’s the word we use when something meaningful is discovered. Sadly, there are some very popular songs that have no meaning for us to find. Here are a few songs that we feel worthy to be in our list of nonsensical song lyrics.

PSY - Gangnam Style with Translated Lyrics

Gangnam Style by PSY

Gangnam Style‘ is what most people would call a music phenomenon. No one knows how it happened, but it did! With over 2 billion views on YouTube, this song has most music artists feel like they simply try too hard to write lyrics that make sense. Maybe nonsense song lyrics is the way to go.

We have taken the liberty to translate some of the lyrics from the ‘Gangnam Style’ song:

On top of the running man is the flying man, baby baby
I’m a man who knows a thing or two

You know what I’m saying
Oppa is Gangnam style

See what I mean?

Firework by Katy Perry

We can guess your answer, but still, we’ll ask: Do you ever feel like a plastic bag, drifting through the wind, wanting to start again? Not many people get this unique chance to feel like a plastic bag, but Katy Perry really wanted to know if there are people out there feeling like that, so she made these lines the opening lines of her song Firework. We’d like to say to Katy: No we haven’t!

Maybe Kim Jong-un knows what it feels like to be a plastic bag

Sk8er Boi by Avril Lavigne

Sometimes nonsensical lyrics are way too obvious to miss, like that line from Sk8er Boi: He was a boy, she was a girl, can I make it any more obvious? When someone is a boy, and the other person is a girl, can Avril Lavigne make it any more obvious? No, she can’t… if we assume she’s in an art gallery pointing at the paintings – one of a boy and the other of a girl. You know when a girl reads an article that a boy wrote… can it really be any more obvious? Of course, it can’t 🙂

obviously

You’re Beautiful by James Blunt

Speaking of obvious, do you know what else is obvious? When someone doesn’t have a plan, but they somehow think they have it. We’re talking about James Blunt’s plan from You’re Beautiful.

Here’re the problematic lyrics:

‘I saw an angel.
Of that I’m sure.
She smiled at me on the subway.
She was with another man.
But I won’t lose no sleep on that,
‘Cause I’ve got a plan.
You’re beautiful.
You’re beautiful. You’re beautiful, it’s true.’

Is that the entire plan? She’s beautiful? Sorry, James, we’ll have to be blunt with you: that’s not a plan. But the nonsense doesn’t stop there, as the singer admits later in the song – he doesn’t know what to do because he’ll never be with that girl. Now, that sounds like he never had a plan to start with.

james blunt no plan

It’s Like That by Mariah Carey

Now, let’s see if nonsensical lyrics can be found in Mariah Carey’s songs. Mariah Carey is a diva with a five-octave vocal range and unusual hand movements that you can see almost every time she sings. We love Mariah, and as you may have already read in one of our tweets she’s the smartest pop singer.

Her songs are emotional, inspiring, and with that angelic voice, Mimi makes everything sound so beautiful. There’s one line though that we’ll never understand from It’s Like That.

These chickens is ash, and I’m lotion…

Sorry, Mimi, we don’t have a clue what that means.

mariah carey hand movements

If I Was Your Mother by Bon Jovi

Now, let’s take a short break from nonsense lyrics, and go straight to a song that is complete nonsense in its entirety. Bon Jovi’s song If I Was Your Mother takes nonsense to a completely new level.

First of all, where did he get that idea? He sings about a girl he likes and doing what’s the only logical thing to do – daydreaming about being her mother. There’s got to be more to life than this… And just as we were ready to let it go (‘Frozen’ style) we realized we couldn’t do that. If John could somehow be that girl’s mother, his feelings would have to change in an instant, or there would be some truly awkward feelings.

One other thing, if John became the girl’s mother, then her real mother would have to start recording CD’s, as well as start going on tours with the rest of the Bon Jovi group members… or see a therapist.

I Gotta Feeling by Black Eyed Peas

The next thing we wanted to talk to you about is something we gotta feeling you’ll find a bit nonsensical, and that is a very popular song – I Gotta Feeling by the Black Eyed Peas. We know for a fact that none of the members of the Black Eyed Peas is Jewish, yet the line ‘mazel tov’ found its way into the song.

However, the song we’re even more eager to discuss here with you might be the hardest ever song to explain. You know… ‘the’ song. T.H.E. or ‘The Hardest Ever’ was supposed to be a great song in which you can hear Mick Jagger rockin’ like a rolling stone. J. Lo also joined the Black Eyed Peas with hopes this song would be a major hit.

The song is catchy, and we’re sure many people like it, but it also has a lot of lyrics that have no sense at all…

Let’s start with these:

‘Now everybody want my recipe
Tell a jealous chicken
I don’t know what the beef is…’

What beef? Did Will.I.Am take a cooking class he’s not telling us about? Confused.I.Am 🙂

We’ll continue with the lyrics:

I get stacks of cash, you get cashews.

What if someone prefers peanuts to cashews? We’re aware of the wordplay here though.

And make our final point with these lyrics:

Imma make a beat to put the people in a coma…

Should we be afraid?

THE SCATMAN – Scatman John

We’ve saved the best for last – some really catchy nonsensical THE SCATMAN lyrics by Scatman John.

We hope you enjoyed reading about nonsensical song lyrics, and if you know some other songs that don’t make much sense, we’d be happy if you shared them in the comment section.

Note: This article was written for fun, and not to insult any of the artists mentioned in the article. So we hope you had a good laugh.