Is understanding a song's lyrics important? Not always

Every once in a while, a musician can still become the main topic of conversation. Last week at the Super Bowl, Bad Bunny gave a much-hyped performance at halftime. In this day and age, where just about anything can become a topic of political discussion, Bad Bunny (real name Benito Antonio Ocasio) fit the bill nicely. The performer himself has become notable for his Spanish language rapping and record producing. Personally, I knew little about Bad Bunny before he was announced for the halftime show. I knew he was a rapper and, occasionally, a professional wrestler for WWE. Dismiss a pro wrestler at your own peril. The last time we did that, one of them was elected governor of Minnesota. As for his show at the Super Bowl, I didn't see it when it happened. The halftime break is always a good time for me to catch up on work and other things. Still, it got such a buzz that I tried to watch it this week. Made it about four minutes. It has nothing to do with politics, or anything other than the fact that I just don't like rap. Bad Bunny's performance, or what I saw of it, didn't offend me (though I would have been sufficiently annoyed had one of his guests, Ricky Martin, broken into "Livin' La Vida Loca." That song was played enough in 1999 to cover six lifetimes). There was one criticism of Bad Bunny's show, though, that I took issue with: "I couldn't understand what he was saying." Bad Bunny's performance was in Spanish. For me, not understanding the words in music has never been that important. Ritchie Valens' "La Bamba" still rocks nearly 70 years after its release, and it's all in Spanish. No one had to translate it for it to become an American classic. But even artists singing in English have been hard to understand. The Kingsmen's "Louie, Louie" is a two-minute, 44-second temper tantrum. It was recorded at the cost of about $50 at a studio in Oregon in 1963, and is one of the best rock anthems. This is despite — or perhaps, because — lead singer Jack Ely's take on the lyrics is indecipherable. To this day, despite loving the Kingsmen classic, I still have a better hold of the lyrics to "Bernie, Bernie," a novelty record and parody of the song that was an ode to Browns quarterback Bernie Kosar in the late '80s. But it doesn't matter. The Kingsmen's version is a fun way to spend about 2 ½ minutes. Of course, my generation's version of "Louie, Louie" is probably Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit." To this day, the song is probably the track most associated with the grunge movement. It's catchy, but Kurt Cobain's vocal performance is not exactly easy to understand. "Here we are now, entertainers" is about all I can get out of it, and it's been out for 35 years. The song's lyrics are so famously incomprehensible that Weird Al Yankovic parodied the track with "Smells Like Nirvana." Yankovic said — in an interview with VH1 — that he asked Cobain if he could make fun of his song. Cobain said it was fine, but — knowing Yankovic's reputation for cuisine-inspired comedy — asked if the parody was going to be about food. "No," Weird Al said, "It's going to be about how no one can understand the words to your songs." The lyrics, done to the tune of "Smells like Teen Spirit" say, in part: "Now I'm mumblin' and I'm screamin,' and I don't know, what I'm singing." Later, Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl said the band laughed all through Weird Al's take on them. The fact is, music lyrics always have been, and always will be, sometimes difficult to understand. But that's OK. Only recently did I realize I've been singing the lyrics wrong to Dave Matthews Band's "Tripping Billies" for decades. You don't have to know what a musician is saying to enjoy the song. And if you don't enjoy it, it's OK to turn it off, or change the station. As Bob Dylan once sang ... Oh, I can't really understand it, never mind. Zach Baker is sports editor of The Courier.