As an English learner what are some songs that have difficult lyrics to understand?

*Brown Sugar* by the Rolling Stones has a notoriously poorly understood first verse **but** the subject matter isn't necessarily school-appropriate.

To be honest a lot of them. A few smiths songs I didn’t even know what the lyrics were just the melody, and a lot of the time the syllables and that kind of thing are very distorted

Heres some of various genres, some explicit Hotel California- The Eagles Viva la Vida - Coldplay Rocket Man- Elton John I Gave You Power- Nas. the entire song is from the pov of a gun. Childrens Story- Slick Rick Mind Playing Tricks On me- Geto boyz (my fav song) Cell Therapy- Goodie Mob The Art Of Story Tellin Pt.1- Outkast The Gambler- Kenny rogers Im /o lonesome- Hank Williams Jr A Boy Named Sue - Johnny Cash Jolene- Dolly parton The Dance- Garth Brooks Black - Pearl Jam Man In The Box- Alice In Chains Even Flow- Pearl jam Snow- Red Hot Chilli Peppers Cant Stop- Red Hot Chilli Peppers (anything by them really) Under Pressure- Queen Bohemian Rhapsody- Queen (obviously) Hope thats enough haha

As long as you don't mind explaining some sexual innuendo (like 'going down'), Timber by Pitbull and Kesha has got a lot of nice idiomatic phrases and phrasal verbs that are easy to hear when it's sung, other words with double meanings like 'shot' and 'round', and has a nice contrast between 'won't remember' and 'won't forget' both of which have their meanings reversed by the negatives. And it's a banger.

I can't think of a song that doesn't have idioms, phrasal verbs, and/or slang.

Some of Joe Henry's albums (Trampoline, Fuse, Tiny Voices, Civilians) have songs that could work if you're working for poetic phrases and wordplay. I don't know about phrasal verbs, though, and his music isn't exactly pop, so it might not be as fun for your students.

We Didn't Start the Fire by Billy Joel * It's rapid and relies upon a lot of contextual/historical knowledge  Chandelier by Sia * Implied adult themes [Praying For Time by George Michael](https://youtu.be/goroyZbVdlo?si=Yvsx_-mOmxmQHH8n) * Linguistically beautiful with Idioms, similies, contrasting imagery. Just be wary it may be touchy as it connects with religion which may bring about strong opinions in discussions  I would ask what songs they have that they'd like to analyse. Some mightnt be appropriate but it would help them feel more connected to what they like beyond a melody or beat. 

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

I literally have a running list of songs that confused me when I first heard them and wanted to be reminded to look up the meanings later. Here’s some of the ones I found interesting enough to print out the lyrics and annotate: - In Your Atmosphere (L.A. Song) - John Mayer - Ransom - Lil’ Tecca - Blue Hair - TV Girl - Better In The Dark - TV Girl - Something That I Want - Grace Potter - No Flex Zone - Rae Sremmurd ft. Nicki Minaj - How To Save a Life - The Fray - Drop It Like It’s Hot -Snoop Dogg - The Sounds of Silence - Simon and Garfunkel - Hey Ya - OutKast - All Along The Watchtower - Bob Dylan - Blowing in the Wind - Bob Dylan - Beat Box - Spottem Gottem - Drunk In Love - Beyonce - Sugar, We’re Going Down - Fall Out Boy - Get Me Bodied - Beyonce - Walking The Dog - Fun - Nonstop - Drake - Bohemian Rhapsody- Queen - Beez In the Trap - Nicki Minaj - Act Up - City Girls - Oxford Comma - Vampire Weekend

One of my personal favourites is american pie by Don McLean

The Logical Song by Supertamp has amazing lyrics and vocabulary: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kln\_bIndDJg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kln_bIndDJg)

Have you or your students heard of MF DOOM? He was an underground hip-hop artist famous for his abstract storytelling using an incredibly dense and multilayered blend of slang, idioms and idiom-based wordplay, and pop-culture references. I'd reccomend his work for very, very advanced English learners. Use genius.com to help you, I'm a native speaker and hip-hop fan and sometimes need help understanding his lyricism. The man was a genius. Also, fair warning, his lyrics have a lot of drug/sexual references, and a couple of jokes/words which were acceptable back in the early 2000s, but definitely aren't acceptable for the modern English speaker. I'd reccomend starting with the album Operation: Doomsday and going from there.

Informer by Snow. I'm a native English speaker and can't understand a thing.

Jilted John has some funny stuff about dating and insulting. Some a bit non pc. Older teens may enjoy it

If you're looking for a hard rock band TOOL lyrics have a lot of depth and symbolism If you want a classic album that talks about society and culture, it may be worthwhile to analyze something by Pink Floyd. Maybe you could do Dark Side, or The Wall If you're just looking for slang, I'd be looking at rap songs. It may be difficult to find songs without a lot of swearing

In general, all songs in English tend to have some flaws for foreigners for reasons that I have been writing down: -The use of slangs (I'm going - gonna, ITE...) -Diminutives are sometimes complicated for us (Favorite - Fav. It is not a very good example, but it is so that you understand what I mean) -Rap / Songs with fast singing (You just have to listen to an Eminem song to find out) -Paronymous words For example: The last song in English I heard is "Pretty boy" by Naethan Apollo. And I misunderstood some parts: I understood: "A strongly guy" And he says: "Or studly guy" Right now I can't find any more examples, but when I remember I will definitely tell you about them.

“Louie, Louie” for difficult lyrics… in that nobody knows what exactly they are.

This is a bit of a joke response but I think you can use it in class as an example of weirdness in song lyrics Yellow Ledbetter by Pearl Jam The Lyrics are completely indecipherable and yet it seems like it is saying something. It is one of those jokes like “this is what English sounds like to non-English speakers.

I don't have any suggestions, but misheard lyrics are called "mondegreens". That might help your search. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mondegreen Good luck!

There are probably a few songs from Hamilton that come to mind. Guns and Ships Washington on your side My Shot. Room Where it Happened.

a lot of rock/emo/metal/numetal has either idioms and slang or fast paced lyrics that make you listen, a lot have both! my biggest recommendation is Twenty one pilots! the other bands i can think of just off the top of my head are System of a down & fall out boy, fall out boy have some lyrics even i used to struggle understanding as a native speaker😭.

Anything by Pearl Jam.

One Week by BareNaked Ladies. There's probably some good Beastie Boys or even Taylor Swift (I'm not a big Swiftie, but I remember some non-Americans not knowing what "scout's honor" meant in So High School)

[Pearl Jam Yellow Ledbetter](https://youtu.be/VhJ65v_C-eI) - I don’t think there’s a native English speaker anywhere who can understand all of the words to this one