Wednesday, December 10, 2025
Time: 5:12 PM
Song: Barbara Ann
Artist: The Beach Boys
Mode of Consumption: Listening to MP3s on the way home from work.
Link to song: https://open.spotify.com/track/2pw36KAhXcFPmYaPHmuMNd?si=a8cc479e028b46f9
The other day I saw some random clip on Facebook of Bill Maher talking with Billy Joel. Maher, who is a big Beatles fan, is discussing how many of the Beatles’ lyrics are basically nonsense.
Think the verses of “Come Together.”
Joel nods and mentions that it’s often as much about the sound of the lyrics as much as the content. The idea that if the sound of the lyrics were pleasant or intriguing or ear-catching, they work even if they are meaningless.
Maher agreed and then complimented Joel on that his lyrics didn’t do that. They told a story or conveyed a message.
I had never really thought about lyrics in that sense, that sometimes it doesn’t really matter what they say, it’s how they sound. It sounds almost ludicrous especially to someone attempting to be a writer and valuing the meaning of each word and the message of every sentence that you would purposely write and perform something that doesn’t make sense.
But it does explain the misheard lyric phenomenon. Often, we mishear lyrics, and the things we think we hear are even more nonsensical than the actual lyric.
Take “Barbara Ann” by the Beach Boys.
I spent most of my childhood not knowing the actual name of this song.
I didn’t hear the name Barbara Ann.
I heard something like “Bop-er-ran,” and I totally accepted that was the lyric. It’s nonsense. It being a girl’s name is logical, but that thought never entered my mind. What entered my mind was the sound and how my mind interpreted that sound. It fit to me, and it was catchy, and I never really gave it a second thought.
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