You've read Lewis Carroll's "Jabberwocky," right? (C'mon, you remember something from college besides how to make a gravity bong, don't you?) Well, sound poetry is poetry that's composed of gibberish -- that is, words used for primarily for their sound rather than meaning. Of course, in songs, using nonsense words -- or snippets of gibberish -- is nothing new. Here's a scattershot list of our favorite lyrical gibberish in music.
"Eid Ma Clack Shaw" - Bill Callahan
When I first heard the chorus to Bill Callahan's "Eid Ma Clack Shaw," I thought it must have been Welsh or Irish -- something distinictly Celtic. But, no. As we gather from the song, in which Callahan recounts dreaming the perfect song, the words he writes down are gibberish:
I woke halfway and scribbled it down/
And in the morning what I wrote I read/
It was hard to read at first but here's what it said/
Eid ma clack shaw/
Zupoven del ba/
Mertepy ven seinur/
Cofally ragdah/
When I searched for the lyrics to write this post, I was surprised how the song stirred up myriad explanations, explications and interpretations. Callahan's nonsense chorus is like a perfect photograph slightly out of focus, giving the viewer and idea of its shape, while obscuring meaning and true form. Like many of John Ashbery's poems, Callahan's song isn't about meaning as much the search for meaning. "Eid Ma Clack Shaw" is about Callahan's inability to communicate the deeper emotions he feels. This urge for meaning is then passed on to the listener -- even though it's nothing substantive other than the lack of meaning. Which is pretty, ah, meaningful.
"Live at The Fever" -- Lovebug Starsk / "Bawitaba" -- Kid Rock
Kid Rock's maniacally aggressive hit begins with what sounds like the war chant of a marching army: Bawitdaba da bang a dang diggy diggy diggy said the boogy said up jump the boogy. It's macho posturing, and it's so absurdly cocksure of its own kick-assness that it's almost winning. Only later did I found out that the gibberish phrase is lifted from early hip-hop pioneer Lovebug Starski on the the track "Live at the Fever" (who lifts some scatting and be-bopping from Sugarhill Gang's "Rapper's Delight"). Starski's "Bawitaba" is given levity by his deep and clear voice, and although senseless scatting, the sound fits well within the early hip-hop track.
According to SongFacts, "Radio Ga Ga" is a simultaneous slam at commercial corporate radio and MTV. Supposedly, the lyric was going to be "Radio Ca Ca," which is much clearer, of course, if puerile and crude.
All we hear is Radio ga ga/
Radio goo goo/
Radio ga ga/
All we hear is Radio ga ga/
Radio blah blah/
Radio what's new?/
Radio, someone still loves you!
The song, in a some ways, asserts the power of radio, which has yet to see its final hour. The "ga ga" and "goo goo" refrains suggest the immaturity of radio -- nothing but babylike babbles -- but at the same time, posits a rebirth. After all, Radio, someone still loves you!
"Puh Wah Wah" -- Tech N9ne
Many rappers incorporate nonsense words into their flow, given the form's base elements of percussion, rhythm and rhyme. Rappers are also known for gutting language, leaving slivers of abstract abbreviations, allusions and puns. What at first sounds like gibberish is revealed to be a sly, safe way of discussing raunchy material that could end up on commercial radio. I can't say how commercially viable Tech N9ne and the 816 Boys' "Pu Wah Wah" are, but I've certainly heard music that's just as dirty from radio bands before. Still, "Pu Wah Wah" is about as raunchy as it gets:
She got that pu wah wah wah/
Drip drip drip/
It's a puddle on the ground/
Girl go on get a towel and wipe it up.
Like all great nonsense words, "puh wah wah" distinctly conveys an idea through sound alone, with or without context. If it weren't about pussy water, the phrase would be great in a kid's song.
It doesn't get any more post-rocky than invented language, but that's famously what Icelanders Sigur Ros did on their album, ( ). Singer Jonsi calls his language "Hopelandia" after a pun on the the title of the band's first album, Von, which means "hope" in Icelandic. Jonsi's lyrics are "a form of gibberish vocals that fits to the music and acts another instrument." While that gives the impression that the lyrics aren't lyrics -- that they're off-the-cuff word vomit -- it's one thing to tell a story through potent word choice and rhyme; it's another to tell a story through pure sound alone.
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