3 One-Hit Wonders That Feature Silly Lyrics With Made-up Words

In the world of grammar there is a term called a “neologism”, which is just a fancy designation for a made-up word. But you don’t need to have a degree in English or to have studied syntax and vocabulary your entire life to realize when a word is just a bit of linguistic gibberish.

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Here below, we wanted to highlight three songs that feature neologisms—a trio of tracks that lean both on lyrics people can understand and those that might be harder to decipher. Indeed, these are three one-hit wonders that feature silly lyrics with made-up words.

“Witch Doctor” by David Seville from ‘Sing Again With The Chipmunks’ (1960)

No matter how old you are or what generation you come from, chances are you’ve heard of The Chipmunks. Well, the story of Alvin, Simon, and Theodore all started with this song by Ross S. Bagdasarian under his stage name David Seville. It was on this tune where Bagdasarian first started to experiment with sped-up tape and different voice sounds and it was those sounds that led to The Chipmunks (and their human pal, David). But on this tune, Bagdasarian leans into plenty of gibberish for the choruses, including, “Ooh eeh, ooh aah aah / Ting tang wallawalla bingbang.”

“MMMBop” by Hanson from ‘Middle Of Nowhere’ (1997)

When this song came out in the mid-1990s, rock fans everywhere wondered if Hanson was going to take over the music world. This song from the Oklahoma-born brother trio was everywhere and so were its made-up lyrics. Even the title is a goofy made-up word. And together the brothers sing in the chorus a number of other gibberish bits, including, “Mmmbop, ba duba dop / Ba du bop, ba duba dop.”

“In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” by Iron Butterfly from ‘In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida’ (1968)

This is another popular one-hit wonder with a number of neologisms, beginning in its title. Over the years, music fans have learned that Iron Butterfly is singing about the Garden of Eden on this 1968 lengthy hard rock single. But that phrase is garbled a bit in the title (including its spelling) and as the song is sung. Still, that fact makes it more of a mystery, as if you’re in some secret club with Iron Butterfly once you figure it all out!

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