Barely Legible

This is also a good exercise in estimating just how much we, as modern readers, are missing in ancient texts

Same with "Alone Together." "My heart is like a stallion, they love it more when it's broke in?" Perfectly understandable for someone a couple thousand years ago.

owl city lyrics have a habit of punning on idioms, which probably is the worst for historical longevity. In "Plant Life" there's the lyric "new leaf turns over, unwilling to fall" which is referring to the speaker's reluctance to let go of the past and move on. this is both playing with the idiom "turn over a new leaf" meaning to start something new, and creating the image of a literal leaf reluctant to fall from the tree (as leaves do in fall, as part of the natural progression of seasons).

Also from the song Plant Life

so, there's "spirit" and "ghost," but neither actually mean in context the same thing that they mean when they do mean they same thing, and "pull off your sheet," which is a reference to sheets being used as a ghost costume. then there is the concept of a "teddy [bear]" and "grin and bear it" which is punning on "teddy" referencing a bear. this is kind of brilliant but incomprehensible

Would the wordplay in "Get me out of this cavern or I'll cave in" in "Cave In" necessarily be intelligible when translated for a future historian or person from the distant past

In the song "Paparazzi" by Lady Gaga, knowing what a garage is and is for does not help you understand what it means to be "garage glamorous" at all.

Sometimes the barrier isn't not knowing what something is, it's knowing what something is like.

Listen, *I* barely know how poker is played. But I still know that the first line references a variant (?) of poker called Texas hold 'em. There are so many double meanings here. "After he's been hooked" probably references gambling, and "I'll play the one that's on his heart" references the fact that "hearts" are one of the four suits in traditional playing cards.

Imagine not knowing any of this. Now imagine knowing all of this—does that actually let you understand what a "poker face" is?

almost everything by Cosmo Sheldrake

the devil went down to georgia (look, this story conceptually has nothing to do with the Christian Devil specifically and everything to do with a type of folklore character who is just Like That)

Hurt by Johnny Cash (i know it's a cover, I don't care)

American Pie by Don McLean (come on, does ANYONE actually understand this song?)

Bohemian Rhapsody

About Damn Time by Lizzo

the level of partying and getting lit that will happen tonight will be greater than it ever has been before

a hot girl was dancing and it blew all of our minds

There was a guy that did so much crazy stuff and boy was he a guy

I met a fucked up guy who was dead or a demon or something

I went to a fucked up place that was haunted or something

my lover's butt is just the best

we're drinking SO much alcohol

I miss my lover, who is not with me right now, so much and I'm sitting here thinking of holding them but I can't and it's making me SO sad

You broke my heart and I hate you now 

I can't wait to get back to the land that is my home

There was a hot girl one time and trust me, she was really something

this job sucks

See this is fascinating because we're already leaving the time in history where people understand things like "meaner than a junkyard dog" but the Archetype still works

This Barbie is the vengeful soul of the Earth made Flesh! Act now and she can be yours for the low, low price of an entire planet!

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And as for Debbie, I will always repost my stance on her end.

I’ve said it a million times - if Debbie had listened to what the Addamses were saying in response to her tales of woe, she’s have realized that they understood completely. She had found her people, and was too wrapped up in herself to realize it.

If they could have, they’d have burst from their bonds, hugged the stuffing out of her, bought her a Bentley (and a vintage Ballerina Barbie) and declare her an Addams.