What songs contain what seem to be throw-away, nonsense lines?

What if God was one of us
Just a slob like one of us
Just a stranger on the bus
Trying to make His way home?

tryin’ to make His way home
Back up to Heaven all alone
Nobody callin’ on the phone
‘Cept for the Pope, maybe, in Rome

I’ve been through the desert on a horse with no name
It felt good to be out of the rain
In the desert you can remember your name
‘Cause there ain’t no one for to give you no pain

Ha ha! I loved that song! But up until about 2 years ago I thought it said, ”‘Cause there ain’t no one for to give you no fame.” I thought that was profound. “Pain,” not so much.

This whole song is just a jumble:

I know when to go out
And when to stay in
Get things done
I catch a paper boy
But things don’t really change
I’m standing in the wind
But I never wave bye-bye
But I try I try

There’s no sign of life
It’s just the power to charm
I’m lying in the rain
But I never wave bye-bye

But I try, I try
Never gonna fall for

(Modern Love)
Walks beside me
(Modern Love)
Walks on by
(Modern Love)
Gets me to the Church on Time
(Church on Time)
Terrifies me
(Church on Time)
Makes me party
(Church on Time)
Puts my trust in God and Man
(God and Man)
No confessions!
(God and Man)
No religion
(God and Man)
Don’t believe
In Modern Love
​
It’s not really work
It’s just the power to charm
I’m still standing in the wind
But I never wave bye bye

But I try, I try
Never gonna fall for

(Modern Love)
Walks beside me
(Modern Love)
Walks on by
(Modern Love)
Gets me to the Church on Time
(Church on Time)
Terrifies me
(Church on Time)
Makes me party
(Church on Time)
Puts my trust in God and Man
(God and Man)
No confessions!
(God and Man)
No religion
(God and Man)
Don’t believe
In Modern Love

Modern love – Modern love[x12]
Modern love – Modern love, walks beside me
Modern love – Modern love, walks on by

(I edited. It wasn’t “shame”. I thought it said, “Fame.”)

The Beatles had a lot of wonky lyrics, too. “Now they know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall…”

@filmfann I think all of your examples are considerably more coherent than the examples in the question, where single lines seem to possibly have been inserted as filler to fit the song’s pattern. The other songs may be abstract and/or metaphorical or not explain themselves or something, but they seem consistent.

I can think of many with lyrics that seem lame or that I don’t get (e.g. “The Bird is the Word”), but I’m not thinking of any in the category of the question, yet except literal nonsense (e.g. “shooby dooby wob wob yeah yeah”), which too seems not the same as words whose meanings don’t really belong in a song where the other words have meaning.

“We don’t need no education”

Err, double negative, I guess you do

Feel free to share @Zaku. I don’t care if the Q gets off topic.

All the sweet green icing flowing down
Someone left the cake out in the rain
I don’t think that I can take it
‘Cause it took so long to bake it
And I’ll never have that recipe again

I love that song. It makes me cry. The lyrics make sense to me, actually. You can feel the aching despair and futility….even though I have no idea what the song is about!

My “favorite”...

I am, I said;
To no one there.
And no one heard at all,
Not even the chair.
– Neil Diamond

George Harrison “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”

“I look at the floor, and I see it needs sweeping.”

LOL! Yep @Pied_Pfeffer! He should have said:
I am, I said
To no one there.
And no one heard at all,
Not even my hair.

And that was a good one @marinelife. I never even noticed that before.

Wow. I’ve got Neil Diamond and Weeping Guitar playing in my head at the same time and it’s so very odd….

The one that has always driven me nuts is:

She’s so fine, there’s no telling where the money went.
Robert Palmer, “Simply Irresistible”

WT* is that supposed to mean? I can think of two meanings and loathe them both. I think he carried the secret to his grave, but my suspicion is he actually didn’t have a meaning in mind – it just came to him and fit so he used it. It’s interesting to me because it sounds like it makes sense and you ought to know what it means, yet it requires you to either give up trying to make a meaning, or insert some wacked meaning you make up yourself.

It gets at something that’s always bugged me about pop music and advertising, which is the way they get away with loudly publishing nonsense yet not getting called out on it by hardly anyone.

Brilliant but strange and a firm fave is Bohemian Rhapsody.

@zaku-Pop music.. since when it is supposed to make any sense?

Did somebody say Pop Music?

Get up…
Get down…

Radio, video
Boogie with a suitcase
Your livin’ in a disco
Forget about the rat race
Let’s do the milkshake, sellin’ like a hotcake
Try some buy some fee-fi-fo-fum

Talk about, pop musik
Talk about, pop musik

Shoobie doobie do wop
I wanna dedicate this
Pop pop shoo wop
Everybody made it
Shoobie doobie do wop
Infiltrate it
Pop pop shoo wop
Activate it

New York, London, Paris, Munich
Everybody talk about pop musik
Talk about, pop musik
Talk about, pop musik
Pop pop pop pop musik

Singing in the subway
Shuffle with a shoe shine
Fix me a molotov
I’m on the headline

Wanna be a gun slinger
Don’t be a rock singer
Eenie meenie mynie moe
Tell me where you wanna go

Talk about, pop musik
Talk about, pop musik

Shoobie doobie do wop
Lyin’ in the tree (?)
Pop pop shoo wop
Eenee meenie
Shoobie doobie do wop

Pop pop shoo wop
You know what I mean

Hit it…

Now you know what to say…

Talk about, pop musik
Pop pop pop pop musik

All around the world
wherever you are
dance in the street anything you like
do it in your car in the middle of the night
La la la la la la la la la
La la la la la la la

Dance in the supermart
Dig it in the fastlane
Listen to the countdown
They’re playin’ our song again

I can’t get jumping jack
I wanna hold – get back
Moonlight muzak
Knick knack patty whack

Talk about, pop musik
Talk about, pop musik

Shoobie doobie do wop
It’s all around you
Pop pop shoo wop
Gonna suround you
Shoobie doobie do wop
It’s all around
Pop pop shoo wop

Hit it…
New York, London, Paris, Munich
Everybody talk about pop musik
Talk about, pop musik
Talk about, pop musik
Pop pop pop pop musik

Now… listen…
Talk about,
Pop pop pop pop musik…

@imrainmaker I’m someone who both can enjoy some pop music and films and games and so on, and who likes stuff to make sense. The reason “it’s pop music” or “it’s a movie” or “it’s a game” with the conclusion “therefore there is no reason for it to make any sense” is extremely hard for me to comprehend without thinking the person mentioning it is just trolling me or has a brain malfunction or something.

just try Jeffrey Star “Louis Vuitton” :D

Gliddy glup gloopy
Nibby nabby noopy la la la lo lo
Sabba sibby sabba
Nooby abba nabba le le lo lo
Tooby ooby walla nooby abba nabba
Early morning singing song

Good Morning Starshine from the musical “Hair”.