The 10 most unintentionally funny lyrics in music history
People often say music is what we turn to when words fail us. Essentially, if there is a feeling you are struggling to convey, a song will express it better than you ever could, as it acts as a connecting line between thought and speech. In that sense, lyricists must be some of the most sought-after and vital people on the planet, given they can bridge the gap between the unexplainable and the explained.
Some take on huge tasks when conveying certain emotions, as they have to use their subjective experience and describe it objectively. They take what they have learnt about themselves or another person and then convey it so that people worldwide can apply it to their own lives.
It’s a big ask, and unfortunately, it’s one that many people cannot meet. The mountain that is being a great lyricist is too big to climb, so at base camp, you are left with heavy metaphor, poor rhyming structure and generally, a shocking use of words that are enough to make anybody cringe.
Here, we will look at funny lyrics that were never intended to be funny. This could be because of what they say or events that preceded the song, which put the lyrics in a new light.
Unintentionally funny lyrics in music:
‘Ultralight Beam’ – Kanye West
“I made Sunday Candy, I’m never going to hell, I met Kanye West, I’m never going to fail.”
Kanye West’s The Life of Pablo is widely considered a fantastic album. It’s one filled with questionable lyrics like “I think me and Taylor might still have sex” and the dubious line about models, bleach and where it might go; however, given these lines are designed to shock, they don’t make the list.
The unintentionally funny line comes from Chance The Rapper’s feature on the opening song, ‘Ultralight Beam’. Chance was at the height of his career when dropping his verse on this gospel-inspired tune, believing he was indestructible when writing. He proclaimed he was incapable of failure because he had met Kanye West, which is funny, given the following years would near enough mark the end of Chance’s career.
In 2019, Chance released his debut album, The Big Day, which is widely considered one of the worst hip-hop albums ever recorded. Since then, Chance has never regained his status as a respectable figure in the rap world, and he is now more widely known as a TV personality doing gameshows alongside Jimmy Fallon and Kelly Clarkson. On top of that, Kanye isn’t doing too great either…
‘Pink’ – Aerosmith
“Pink, it’s like red but not quite.”
Every single line in this song is so bad that it becomes funny. Sex is sung about a lot in rock music, and one of the most sexually driven bands in the world is Aerosmith. However, they take things to an unprecedented level of bad in the song ‘Pink’.
It’s a clear double entendre for genitalia; fair enough, bands had done that before, and they will do it again, but it’s never been done so terribly. It’s unclear if Aerosmith thought they were clever with this song or if they intentionally wanted it to be silly. Still, they’re so overstated in the track that they render it impossible to listen to in public without looking deluded.
‘Champagne Supernova’ – Oasis
“Someday you will find me, underneath the landslide, in a champagne supernova in the sky.”
Genius or garbage? On the one hand, the song is about to be getting drunk and high, so in that sense, words that mean absolutely nothing seem appropriate; however, given these lyrics have now become a staple for Chelsea cuts and Harringtons, it’s hard to look at them and not laugh.
Oasis has always been one for burying lyrics in extended metaphors that don’t mean anything, but ‘Champagne Supernova’ takes things to an astronomical level. It sounds like the band is laughing at the listener’s expense with this song, yet people tattoo it on themselves and recite it like a mantra.
‘Fake Tales of San Francisco’ – Arctic Monkeys
“He talks of San Francisco, he’s from Hunter’s Bar, I don’t quite know the distance, but I’m sure that’s far.”
Down a street in Sheffield is a graffitied cartoon coffin, and written next to it, it reads, “Hey Alex, how’s California?” This embodies why the ‘Fake Tales of San Francisco’ lyrics are so funny now better than anything, as over 15 years, Alex Turner has evolved into the very thing he was making fun of.
People are entitled to change; the world would be an awful place if they weren’t, but it’s ironic seeing the new strand of Arctic Monkeys given so much of their original fame is owed to their roots. They wrote about the working class and provided relatability for people who didn’t feel like they could relate to much in the charts, but in expanding, they have become one of the most insufferable bands on the planet.
‘Black Skinhead’ – Kanye West
“300 bitches, like the Romans.”
This entry comes from Kanye, not just an artist who features in one of his songs. Yeezus represented a massive diversion for Kanye West as he took inspiration from Death Grips and started making more experimental, noise-heavy music. The album received mixed reviews, but one of the lead singles, ‘Black Skinhead’, was loved by all.
It’s a good song; the beat is heavy and catchy, hard not to nod to, and whilst it’s something different, it’s not so far removed to be inaccessible. That being said, when Kanye mixes up the Spartans and the Romans in a chorus repeated more times than it needs to be, it’s hard not to giggle a little bit.
‘ICON’ – Jaden Smith
“Last verse was before the award show, icon tatted on my torso.”
It’s hardly anything new for rappers to exaggerate in their lyrics, but there was something about seeing Jaden Smith in his Genius interview confess to not having “icon” tattooed on his torso, which was incredibly funny.
He has had a career of ups and downs, but ‘ICON’ was widely accepted as one of his best songs. The chorus was catchy, Jaden’s flow was on point, and the lyrics weren’t terrible. All of this meant that, in retrospect, when it came out bars about something mundane like a tattoo are made up, it was incomprehensibly hilarious.
‘Hot Dog’ – Limp Bizkit
“Jealousy fillin’ up a fucked up mind, it’s real fucked up like a fucked up crime; if I say fuck two more times, that’s 46 fucks in this fucked up rhyme.”
Limp Bizkit have become somewhat self-aware in the past few years, which makes their music a lot more palatable. With their new album Still Sucks, they play into how cringy some of their old music is and sing it now more as a parody act than as something badass. However, that doesn’t stop the fact that when the songs were initially written, they were done so with the cool guy image at their forefront.
‘Hot Dog’ sees the band channel their inner John Cooper Clarke as each line of the song uses the word “fuck”. They did this to the fury of parents everywhere and must have thought they were pretty cool then. Now, with the power of hindsight, hearing Limp Bizkit swear to try and sound badass is anything but.
‘I Would’ – One Direction
“Cause I can’t compete with your boyfriend, he’s got twenty-seven tattoos.”
One Direction was never a band brandished as lyrical geniuses; their songs were whimsical and catchy, set to appeal to a specific demographic. However, some of the lyrics are so bad that it is hard to give the benefit of the doubt.
Most of the words that make up the band’s back catalogue straddle the thin line between cheesy and earnest and downright awful, ‘I Would’ unfortunately falls into the latter. The specific “27 tattoos” and the whiney nature in which the line is delivered make for an amusing listen, which is only added to, given Harry Styles is now covered in tattoos and is someone the other band members cannot compete with.
‘Africa’ – Toto
“Sure as Kilimanjaro rising like Olympus above the Serengeti.”
It’s impossible to find any dancefloor that doesn’t fill up as soon as the intro to ‘Africa’ by Toto starts playing. The song is a certified classic, and for the most part, the lyrics are pretty good, but the line highlighted above, which is an extended metaphor for doing the right thing, is a bit much.
This is a classic example of songwriters doing more than is needed to get their point across. Something as simple as empathy doesn’t need a list of must-visits for modern travellers, not to mention some of the places mentioned aren’t even in Africa.
‘3005’ – Childish Gambino
“Got no patience, cause I’m not a doctor, girl why is lying? Girl why you Mufasa?”
Childish Gambino is a prime example of the importance of perseverance. His 2016 album Awaken, My Love, was considered by many to be the best of the year, and he is a much sought-after voice in the world of music. That said, in the early days, he relied too much on the Rap 101 approach of using as many similes as possible.
There is a lot to choose from during this time in Childish Gambino’s career, but the fact this awful pun about lions slides by in the hit ‘3005’ unnoticed means it needs to be acknowledged. There’s also an added element of humour, given he went on to play Simba in Disney’s live-action version of The Lion King… make of that incestuous image what you will.
