10 Classic Rock Songs That Mean Absolutely Nothing
Finding Meaning in Gibberish.
Rock and roll hasn't run short on its fair share of poets. Just like Bob Dylan had started it all for us back in the day, there are many acts that come to the forefront for just how in depth their songs are, with stories that can be relative to today's day and age perfectly. Then again, there's nothing with having a song that means absolutely nothing.
As soon as you hear first few bars of these tunes, you'll already be wondering just what the hell these guys are even going on about. From one line to the next, some of these barely fit together as coherent sentences, let alone words. And that's the kicker of these songs...you're not really supposed to do. For the majority of these examples, you're more inclined to focus on the actual sound of the music rather than the words that are being shouted at you.
And not only are these bands not saying much at all on songs like these...they have full blown admitted to it as well. In almost every case here, the songwriter has actually come forward to say that the entire song was not meant to be taken that seriously. That might take some of the magic away, but the real professionals are the ones who know how to make you sing along to absolute gibberish.
10. Radio Free Europe - R.E.M.
Part of the appeal behind R.E.M. in the early days was not being able to understand a word that was coming out of Michael Stipe's mouth. Although there were some killer hooks across their debut album Murmur, whoever was able to scribble down all the lyrics on Genius nowadays deserves some medal of honor. Especially when Stipe has come forward to say that these songs are absolutely meaningless.
While you could probably throw a dart at almost any song on the record, their biggest hit from this time is almost proud of how little it makes sense. Though you can get faint hints of words like "leading us absurd" and the actual title in the chorus, even Stipe himself wasn't set on the lyrics when they set up shop in the studio at the time.
When things were first getting started, there was no set lyric sheet, with Stipe just making it up as he went along in the studio based on what emotion the music was bringing out of him. You can really tell where he starts grasping at straws though, with every other line sounding like either a joke or him trying to find some way to fill the verse that sounds somewhat coherent. Even the title barely makes sense, sounding more like him saying "radio, radio" and just pronouncing the second one a bit strange. This isn't really about the lyrics though. It's more about what the music brings out of the listener when it hits them.