The other day I asked you to contribute nonsense lyrics that could be combined into a hit song, under the theory that many hit songs have nonsense lyrics, so writing them can’t be that hard.
A band in Germany, called RIVO DREI (http://www.rivodrei.de/en/) picked out the best of your nonsense lyrics and strung them together to create an actual song that is a sure hit. The random lyrics sound amazingly like they might mean something deep if only you concentrated a little harder. And it’s catchy. These guys are brilliant, on a variety of levels, including marketing, obviously.
Here’s a link to the song, assuming the server doesn’t have traffic issues. The lyrics are pasted below.
http://www.rivodrei.de/musik/RivoDreiSheAmazedMe.mp3
She Amazed Me
------------------------
She had runaway eyes and marshmallow kittens.
My heart heard a dream like ten thousand mittens.
A tear in her hand
She spread deja-vu all across the land.
br:
She spinned round and round with a frog in her ear
Whispering fountains and rocks she couldn't hear
ch:
Oh, she amazed me!
With her love, she tazed me.
Oh, she amazed me!
And it escapes me
how she outer spaced me.
Too many times I have seen the thunder
Flashes of sound, soul-rending sunder
A letter colored blue...
Now the nine bells are ringin' and singin' it too
br:
She spinned round and round with a frog in her ear
Whispering fountains and rocks she couldn't hear
ch:
Oh, she amazed me!
With her love, she tazed me.
Oh, she amazed me!
And it escapes me
how she outer spaced me.
br:
Little did she know they were coming too soon,
Both those kittens ran off to the moon
ch:
Oh, she amazed me!
With her love, she tazed me.
Oh, she amazed me!
And it escapes me
how she outer spaced me.
Oh, she amazed me!
With her love, she tazed me.
Oh, she amazed me!
With splendid reprisal, she took to the sky.
My tear drops asunder. No shadow. No cry.
Apple core ostriches dancing like fairies.
And it escapes me
how she outer spaced me.
Making dreams come true...
http://awritersblock.com
Posted by: John Reedy | January 25, 2008 at 09:28 AM
Best?
How do you judge the value of nonsense phrases?
How do you judge best in the first place, Penn and Teller have a good reply to that.
People need to stop using the word Best when they mean circumstantially appropriate.
Posted by: scottupnorth | January 25, 2008 at 08:26 AM
A good song that made sense to me. Does that disprove the idea that the lyrics are nonsense?
Posted by: Abe Cubbage | January 25, 2008 at 08:18 AM
Well whaddya know. Sometimes you CAN make chicken salad from chicken sh*t.
Posted by: professor | January 25, 2008 at 07:53 AM
Cool! Is this first Open-Source song? What about creating a wiki with song lyrics to use for free?
Posted by: Dramenbejs | January 25, 2008 at 07:03 AM
I've just learned something new again today.. about song writing.
Posted by: sida zhou | January 25, 2008 at 06:15 AM
Sweet! My Thunder...Sunder thing is in there.....nice...royalties are sweet! :) wow...1cent a year forever...Porsche here I come!
Posted by: Steve | January 25, 2008 at 04:58 AM
You can almost see Britney dancing to this song. ..Alright - it's not that bad..
But "Apple core ostriches dancing like fairies." really amazed me.
I'm sure there is some application out there making computer generated lyrics by assembling random words together.
Regards.
Posted by: Ray | January 25, 2008 at 02:28 AM
Really good song. Could certainly be hit material as far as I'm concerned (certainly if I compare this to the crap that becomes hits nowadays).
OK what do we have to do to get this in the charts and out in public? I'm sure someone from us should have a connection somewhere?
Posted by: martyman | January 25, 2008 at 02:21 AM
Outstanding! But I don't think you're entirely right.
The essential ingredients of a hit song are a musical "hook" which is what catches you, and (ideally) one unforgettable phrase. If you can have both of those in the same bit of the song, then it's a winner.
All the other stuff that you mentioned helps: psychedelic or inscrutable lyrics, etc. but that is really the core.
So, whoever wrote the chorus: amazed, tazed, outerspaced, deserves a royalty check, but I'm not convinced it quite has the "hook" to make it a hit (unless you are listening to it knowing that it is a Dilbert/Scott Adams production).
Posted by: DrLuke | January 25, 2008 at 01:47 AM
So now we can sit back and wait for the royalties?
Also, well done to those who submitted the soundalike lyrics like the snippet Chief pointed out: '"A letter colored blue" sounds like "I let her color blue" when sung'. Soundalikes always make songs sell much more while people try to figure out what's being said. And the implication is that the *real* words, the ones you can't quite discern, are incredibly deep and profound and will enrich your life.
Posted by: Vix | January 25, 2008 at 01:47 AM
Unambigiously ambigious sort of enough ....
Much too definite not mists and vapours ...
to the deep...
The song has too much definite things like frogs and stars to be considered a deep song it must have much more ambigous songs and to be a deep song it really should be a audio presentation og mists and vapours i.e above
Also vote bill gates for president !
George Bush for the anitchrist1\
\
Posted by: ZAKI | January 25, 2008 at 12:52 AM
The really clever bit is to use the way in which the lyrics were put together as a selling point.
It would become "cool" to be one of the people who knew the secret... then iw would be "cool and ironic".
The song would be massive BECAUSE it is just random lines and better because everyone knew it.
Posted by: Maurice Condie | January 25, 2008 at 12:21 AM
That was a fantastic song, it could easily be a hit. Sadly this song seemed to make more sense to me than many current hits.
Posted by: Tyler Jorgenson | January 24, 2008 at 11:59 PM
Those saying music in Germany is all Brit/US need to change radio stations.
Posted by: Mark | January 24, 2008 at 11:45 PM
Any chance they'll make the instrumental of that song available? I really like the back beat.
Posted by: Dan Keene | January 24, 2008 at 10:15 PM
This song is awesome. The performance really is what makes it. Actually, I noticed that the band, Rivo Drei, did try to form some coherent theme with their selections. The theme of being sent into space appears in several lines, and the kittens get tied back in at the end. Still, in general it shows that with quality musical accompaniment and a talented singer, you can turn anything into a hit.
Speaking of, I don't know how popular Rivo Drei is in Deutschland, but they should put together a few songs in English and see if they get picked up in America. Their sound is definitely Top 40 material.
Posted by: Cassi | January 24, 2008 at 09:31 PM
With her love, she tazed me
Destined to become a classic.
Posted by: Jnny | January 24, 2008 at 09:26 PM
Hmmm...ok..
Posted by: Danial | January 24, 2008 at 09:03 PM
Fucking.
Awesome.
Posted by: Cloud | January 24, 2008 at 07:50 PM
Not bad. bdd has it pretty much on...
The drum mix is a bit rough, but perhaps they meant it to sound like that.
On some reflection, I tied this whole concept into Daniel Powter's "Bad Day" in my latest blog entry... It doesn't make a lot of sense, either...
Posted by: Baylink | January 24, 2008 at 07:45 PM
Gotta say, the melody was catchy and the lyrics sublime...lol. Wonderful results Scott! Best from Dave :^)
Posted by: Dave Oblad | January 24, 2008 at 06:25 PM
I love how several of the commenters have shown their ingnorance by admitting that they didn't know that lyrics to pop culture songs were a bunch of nonsense strung together.
Scott, do you ever believe that you are enlightening an educated crowd with your "philosotainment?"
Posted by: omniscient | January 24, 2008 at 05:12 PM
I'm just really, really glad my babblings didn't get in there.
D. Mented
Posted by: D. Mented | January 24, 2008 at 05:02 PM
Good grief, Mr. Adams.
You're quite an icon!
I wonder how many people in the world could whip up a song by having other people contribute voluntarily.
Anyhow, please don't get too famous that the media will have to kill you.
Posted by: Sung | January 24, 2008 at 04:18 PM