TMBW:Tongue-Twisters

Songs that are notoriously hard to sing properly on the first try.

Rhymes or Alliteration

The closest to the textbook definition of a tongue twister, these tough phrases can be difficult to sing because of the copious amounts of alliteration they employ, or the rhyming lyrics that can be hard to enunciate.

• Circular Karate Chop - "Gird myself for a short sharp shock", "Dumping out my black backpack"
• Don't Let's Start - "Saying Deputy Dawg dog a ding dang depadepa"
• The Mesopotamians - "Sargon, Hammurabi, Ashurbanipal"
• Mr. Me - "So take the hand of Mister Me and, mister, make him glad / To swim the Mister Misty Sea and cease the Mister Mystery / That, mister, made him sad"
• Outboard Part Of Man - "outboard bread boy," and "night light, sleep tight"
• Put Your Hand Inside The Puppet Head - The verses, including "As your body floats down Third Street with the burn-smell factory closing up"
• Spine - "And I believe I'll be leaving it behind"
• They'll Need A Crane - "Lad's gal is all he has, gal's gladness hangs upon the love of lad"
• Weep Day - "And it's samba time for Tambo and weep day for Urine Man"
• Which Describes How You're Feeling - The quick tempo and unexpected repetitions ("There's this guy in the sky and he makes you want to want to make you sigh...") can be offputting.

Fast Paced Lyrics

These songs feature usually phrases with a lot of words that go by quickly, making it difficult to spit out all of the words.

• The Bells Are Ringing - "Forgetting their washing, neglecting their children, they're dropping all businesses at hand" and "The bells are ringing, the song they're singing / The sound is bringing the people 'round"
• Dinner Bell - The bridge starting with "I don't know whether I'd rather be having..."
• The Famous Polka - The words are fast, with "But when the phone inside her ribcage rings, it's not for me" being particularly tricky.
• Letterbox - Especially difficult is the line, "And I'll never never know what you never never never want to know when you know what you are, O."
• Rhythm Section Want Ad - "So if you like a band with a chick singer / Say your cup of tea is a wall of trombones / If you dig Menudo, or MDC we salute you the way we know"
• Santa Cruz - All three verses are sung as fast as possible.
• Whistling In The Dark - "And I've often been told that you only can do what you know how to do well"
• Youth Culture Killed My Dog - "Bacharach and David used to write his favorite songs / Never would he worry, he'd just run and fetch the ball"

Somewhat Fast or Difficult

These are lyrics that have rushed moments that can be a bit tricky.

• Absolutely Bill's Mood - "Now listen all you swingers, don't you try to tag along"
• Ana Ng - "Ana Ng and I are getting old and we still haven't walked in the glow of each other's majestic presence"
• Birdhouse In Your Soul - "Blue canary in the outlet by the light switch who watches over you"
• Other Father Song - "She's as cute as a button in the eyes of everyone who ever laid their eyes on Coraline"
• She's An Angel - "Somewhere they're meeting on a pinhead / Calling you an angel, calling you the nicest things"

Long or Difficult To Remember Phrases

While not necessarily tongue-twisters in the traditional sense, these lyrics are long phrases with a bunch of words that can be very difficult to remember. Often times these lyrics will be sung out of order or completely arrhythmically as they are hard to nail down.

• Asbury Park - Especially "Me got kicked in the head backstage at the Stone Pony / Where I swore to the guy / That the guy who took his beer / Was a guy dressed just like me"
• Bee Of The Bird Of The Moth - "All are irresistibly directed by the suction of a hypnotizing tractor beam presenting a production of the sleep of reason corporation in association with the bee of the bird of the moth"
• Hey, Mr. DJ, I Thought You Said We Had A Deal - Mainly the verses, especially "Chess piece face's patience must be wearing thin"
• I Love You For Psychological Reasons - Most of the song, the verses in particular. (Ex. "I'm ashamed to admit I'm afraid of assuming the blame for my lame abnegation of braveness and fame"
• I Palindrome I - "Son, I am able," she said, "though you scare me." "Watch," said I / "Beloved," I said, "watch me scare you, though." Said she, "Able am I, Son."
• It's Not My Birthday - The middle verse ("So I'm rattling the bars around this drink tank...") contains some rhythms which are hard to time correctly.
• Now That I Have Everything - "...but I knew what I had to do to be well-to-do and it had to do with the things I had to do"
• West Virginia - "There's another deep inside you and inside the other one there is another in the other"

Just Can't Understand

These lyrics are not difficult in of themselves, but can be hard to make out or understand in the studio versions of the tracks, making them difficult for beginners.

• Everything Right Is Wrong Again - The portion where the tempo is slowed half down is especially hard to understand.
• It's Kickin' In - Most of the lyrics in the song are shouted in a jumbled mess, and one verse is even in French.
• Rat Patrol - "Wilderness of mirrors shine / Floorboards creak or footsteps heard / Headlights turn into the drive / Then disappear into the night"