After facing some stiff competition from Taylor Swift, The Black Eyed Peas, and the impulse to jab a pencil into your ear, The Killers have been declared to have the “weirdest” song lyric ever written in “Are we human or are we dancer?” The survey to determine the strangest word arrangement was conducted in England, a nation that calls fried leftover vegetables “bubble and squeak,” and therefore this assignation stings all the more. And it was conducted by online streaming service Blinkbox Music among 2,000 adults—a reported two-fifths of which said they don’t usually understand the words in pop songs anyway. In other words, all of the most strictly controlled, purely scientific criteria was applied toward establishing that “Are we human or are we dancer?” sounds like the pseudo-profound babbling of the guy on mushrooms you have to ask to leave your house, because the party ended an hour ago.
Much like that guy would, Killers frontman Brandon Flowers, has previously defended the lyric from 2008’s “Human” as being inspired by Hunter S. Thompson. “I guess it bothers people that it’s not grammatically correct, but I think I’m allowed to do whatever I want,” added Flowers, who once declared himself the Admiral of Birds.
Here are the Top 10 most confusing lyrics as determined by the poll:
1. The Killers, Human “Are we human, or are we dancer?”
2. The Beatles, I Am The Walrus “I am the eggman, they are the eggmen, I am the walrus, goo goo g’joob.”
3. Michael Jackson, Earth Song “What about elephants? Have we lost their trust?”
4. Lionel Richie, All Night Long “Tom bo li de se de moi ya, yeah jambo jambo.”