I wonder what he meant by that?

So, my last post on pop music having been such a raging success (cough), let's try another variation on that theme:

Your favourite lyrics that sound really impressive, but which you've never been quite sure of the actual meaning of.

And, to kill any possible suspense, I'll start with three of my own.

Number 3: The Invisible Man (Elvis Costello and the Attractions, Punch The Clock)

Crowds surround loudspeakers hanging from the lampposts
Listening to the murder mystery
Meanwhile someone's hiding in the classroom
Forging the books of history

I always thought that last line was "Polishing the books of history", which both scans better and is less obvious. And I've just listened to the song three times, and I'm still not sure. Costello can be like that, creating some really interesting double entendres by fudging on pronunciation in places (the best one I can think of is in Red Shoes, where in "chasing after vengeance" the "v"-word could be any one of: vengeance, visions, virgins. The latter works particularly well in conjunction with "punctured" in the next line.)

Number 2: The Call of the Wild (David Byrne, Rei Momo)

Albert Einstein wrote equations
God told Noah "Build an Ark"
Johnny Mathis sings Cole Porter
To bring light into the dark.

Slightly fish in a barrel as you could pick just about any verse of any given David Byrne song and use it.

And at number 1, from my favourite obscure Canadian band

Number 1: Wrong Kind of Right (Doug and the Slugs, Wrap It)

Tie it all up (tie it up, tie it up!)
With a piece of hemp from a hang man's memory
We'll attempt to redefine geometry

This time the official site no less claims that it's "Add it all up" and "the hang man's". But, my ears do not lie (at least not yet -- despite advancing years, they at least still seem to be working adequately.)

Probably no accident that two of my choices deal with mathematics in some way. What are yours?