'Are we human, or are we dancer?' Huh?

The Killers. (Rahav Segev for The New York Times/File)

Once upon a time, rock lyrics weren't supposed to mean anything - "Tutti Frutti" ring any bells? But then the Beatles came along and ruined the party for everyone.

Today's pop stars can still make a handsome living dumbing us down one "baby, baby" at a time, but we expect our rockers to be poets. Sadly, the ability to string together a guitar riff and a sentence is a rare commodity. Consider one of the most justifiably mocked lyrics of the year: "Are we human, or are we dancer?" from the Killers' 2008 single "Human." Of course, back when frontman Brandon Flowers was on his first tube of eyeliner he was singing lines like, "I've got soul but I'm not a soldier," so it could be a lot worse.

The song got us thinking about some of our favorite songs from the past 15 years or so by good bands with really, really bad lyrics.

Good band: Weezer

Bad lyric: "They say I need some Rogaine to put in my hair. Work it out at the gym to fit my underwear. . . . I'll eat my candy with the pork and beans, excuse my manners if I make a scene."

Song: "Pork and Beans" ("Weezer," 2008)

As long as it's set to the band's trademark power chord crunch and soaring melodies, we'll take a quirky Weezer lyric over just about anything else, but this song has reached the nadir of inanity.

Good band: Band of Horses

Bad lyric: "I could sleep/ When I lived alone. Is there a ghost in my house?"

Song: "Is There a Ghost" ("Cease to Begin," 2007)

Give Band of Horses credit for making hipsters cry on a consistent basis with its weepy Coldplay-with-beards anthems. That's not a simple task. But writing the 14 words that repeat over and over on this song couldn't have taken much effort. Don't get us started on all the different tenses within the span of two sentences. That's some sci-fi grammar.

Good band: Fall Out Boy

Bad lyric: "I wrote the gospel on giving up. You look pretty sinking . . . Crashing not like hips or cars. No, more like parties."

Song: "This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race" ("Infinity on High," 2007)

If you say so, buddy. It's a good thing these guys sing so fast, otherwise we'd have to start paying attention to the words.

Good artist: Kate Nash

Bad lyric: "I use mouthwash. Sometimes I floss. I've got a family and I drink cups of tea."

Song: "Mouthwash" ("Made of Bricks," 2007)

Granted, Nash could read us the London phone directory in that accent and it would still sound beautiful, but come on. Was she just wandering around the apartment writing things down as they came to her? Yes, yes she was.

Good artist: Feist

Bad lyric: "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9 or 10, money can't buy you back the love that you had then."

Song: "1234" ("The Reminder," 2007)

Sometimes even the smallest of lyrical missteps - say, forgetting how to count - is enough to take you right out of the flow. Sounds like a nice idea, too bad we're too caught up doing weird math to get there with you, Leslie.

Good band: We Are Scientists

Bad lyric: "My body is your body. I won't tell anybody. If you want to use my body, go for it, yeah."

Song: "Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt" ("With Love and Squalor," 2006)

Rock songs get us to sing along to something we'd never normally say out loud. This colossal new wave rocker puts that concept to the test with this clunker of a chorus, then hammers the point home by repeating it over and over. And over.

Good band: Dropkick Murphys

Bad lyric: "I'm a sailor peg and I lost my leg. I climbed up the topsails. I lost my leg."

Song: "I'm Shipping Up to Boston" ("The Warrior's Code," 2005)

You could sing about literally anything, no matter how nonsensical, and as long as you mention Boston we'll end up playing it at all our sporting events for eternity. And the fact that it's a Woody Guthrie lyric is no excuse.

Good band: Franz Ferdinand

Bad lyric: "I say don't you know. You say you don't go. I say take me out."

Song: "Take Me Out" ("Franz Ferdinand," 2004)

More like take me right out of the moment with that junk. Thankfully these Scottish lads have an infectious guitar line and a chirpy disco bounce to fall back on. They should have verbalized that "der noo do-do deer-noo-noo" riff instead. That's the part everyone sings along to anyway.

Good band: Interpol

Bad lyric: "Her stories are boring and stuff, she's always calling my bluff."

Song: "Obstacle 1" ("Turn on the Bright Lights," 2002)

This strikingly bleak guitar blast boasts what is widely considered the single worst lyric of all time. Is it an example of self-reflexive irony illustrating the narrator's inability to articulate his own personal thoughts, thereby undercutting his accusations? Or is it a phoned-in bit of hackery, and stuff.

Good band: U2

Bad lyric: "A mole, digging in a hole, digging up my soul now, going down, excavation. Higher now, in the sky. You make me feel like I can fly, so high. Elevation."

Song: "Elevation" ("All That You Can't Leave Behind," 2000)

Entertaining the world and saving it at the same time is a full-time job, so we understand if Bono didn't have time to think this embarrassing piece of garbage through before heading into the studio and winging it with a brain-dead improv.

Good band: Dashboard Confessional

Bad lyric: "Your hair it's everywhere. Screaming infidelities and taking its wear."

Song: "Screaming Infidelities" ("The Swiss Army Romance," 2000)

On this weepy classic, Chris Carrabba commits the cardinal sin of ending two lines with homophones. Both lazy and meaningless. And yet somehow, when he sings it, it means everything. Wow, we're gonna need to be alone with that thought for a minute.

Good band: Oasis

Bad lyric: "I know a girl called Elsa, she's into Alka-Seltzer."

Song: "Supersonic" ("Definitely Maybe," 1994)

Was this thinly veiled drug reference really clever enough to push this square peg into a round rhyme hole? It's not like you couldn't have changed the presumably real girl's name or the drug euphemism for a smoother line read. Poetic license, mate, look it up. Actually, don't.