The misunderstood lyrics of The B-52’s song ‘Love Shack’
The B-52’s emerged in the 1970s, finding success in the underground new wave scene with ‘Rock Lobster’, a fun, irreverent track with a surf rock sensibility and eccentric vocals. Their self-titled debut album was released in 1979, indulging in trashiness and shamelessly enjoyable hooks influenced by genres like pop, funk, punk and dance.
As a result, the band built up something of a cult following, releasing their second album, Wild Planet, in 1980. Building on the momentum, The B-52’s enjoyed success over the following decade, although guitarist Ricky Wilson sadly died in 1985. Reeling in their collective loss, the band took some time off after Wilson’s death before releasing their popular album Cosmic Thing in 1989, which featured one of their best-known singles, ‘Love Shack’.
Since its release, the song has become immensely popular. Whether you believe the track is a massive cheese-fest or a new wave classic, it’s hard to hate the sugary singalong hit because of its inescapably catchy hooks and melodies.
Reflecting on their work during an interview with Songfacts, vocalist Cindy Wilson was asked about the location described in the song, the iconic Love Shack, “a little old place where we can get together”, supposedly inspired by vocalist and keys player Kate Pierson’s home. Wilson explained: “When you’re jamming, everybody is conjuring up their own images. Sometimes we’re all singing at the same time and later you go back and you hear what you’re doing”.
“I personally was thinking about this bar that was out in the country [the Hawaiian Ha-Le]. It was a really cool place – a run-down love shack kind of thing, but it was a disco. It was a really interesting place,” she added. “I can certainly see Kate’s house being as a source of the tune, but I guess everybody has a different way of coming into the song.”
The iconic location might be up for interpretation, but there’s one aspect of the song that Wilson can confirm as fact. The last line of the song is frequently misinterpreted and misquoted, usually as something along the lines of “Hennnnn-ry, busted”. However, the lines are “Tin roof, rusted”, according to Wilson. Occurring after Fred Schneider exclaims, “You what?!”, the line doesn’t seem to make much sense. However, Wilson explained that she was simply envisioning the rusty roof of the decrepit love shack.
The track cut out while Wilson sang her vocals, resulting in this section being backed by silence. However, the band liked how it sounded and decided to keep the happy accident in the song. The result is an iconic ending for an equally iconic song that remains one of the band’s definitive tracks.