When it comes to making a good pop song, it’s not always about the lyrics. I mean, I should hope not, considering some of the lines we’ve let slide over the years. Here are some lyrics that don’t really make sense on the first listen. Some of them actually do have a deeper meaning, but some of them are just plain weird.
Videos by American Songwriter
“Grenade” by Bruno Mars
Should’ve known you was trouble from the first kiss / Had your eyes wide open, why were they open?”
Bruno’s “Grenade” helped establish the singer as a global phenomenon, there’s no denying it. However, there’s something about this lyric that just straight up doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. The main reason is that if the girl Bruno was kissing had her eyes wide open, how would he have known unless his eyes were also open? Even Bruno himself tweeted about the irony of the lyrics in 2018.
The tweet reposted something that read, “Today in 2011, @BrunoMars’ “Grenade” reached #1 on the Hot 100.” Bruno playfully responded, “But how did I know her eyes were open?”
“Year 3000” by Busted
“Triple-breasted women swim around town totally naked.”
Okay, I get that this song is supposed to be a little bit wacky, because it’s about the “future” or whatever. You know, the one where “they lived underwater” and “your great great great granddaughter is pretty fine.” However, you gotta admit that this particular lyric seems a little bit like the guys that wrote it just threw some random thoughts together and called it a day.
Also, if we’re really being technical here, you probably wouldn’t meet your “great-great-great granddaughter” in the Year 3000, unless she was about 500 years old.
“Paper Planes” by M.I.A.
“I fly like paper / get high like planes”
I’ll admit, when I first listened to this song, I wasn’t really paying that much attention to the lyrics. Obviously, the “get high like planes” part isn’t all that confusing, but flying like paper? What does that mean? According to M.I.A., or Mathangi “Maya” Arulpragasam, the song has a much deeper meaning. As it turns out, the “paper” refers to immigration and counterfeit documents, “flying” under the radar in a sense. The song is meant to be satirical, describing immigrants as dangerous. In the chorus, M.I.A. even used gunshots to prove her point.
“‘Cause all I wanna do is (gunshots), and a (gunshots) / And take your money / All I wanna do is (gunshots), and a (gunshots) / And take your money.”
She explained this to The Daily Beast: “If you’re an immigrant you left somewhere and most of the time you fled a war. Gun sounds are a part of our culture as an everyday thing.”
Photo by: Denise Truscello/Getty Images for Keep Memory Alive
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