Back in January, Mikolas Josef won the Czech Republic’s new national final Eurovision Song CZ with his saucy song “Lie to Me”. But there was one problem — the song had a little too much attitude, laden with F-bombs and sexually suggestive lyrics. Now the Eurovision version of the song has been released and… nothing much has changed.
The lyrics are slightly cleaner, but it’s only the profanity that’s been cleaned up. The infamous line “Plenty motherf******s wanna eat my spaghetti” is now “Plenty of these greedies wanna eat my spaghetti”. One could argue that the spaghetti is the most important part of this lyric, so Team Czechia has wisely preserved its essence.
The other problematic line was “Now, baby I don’t give a f**k/You should have thought about me/Before you ****ed him at the club”. Again, the essence remains, but with different rhyming. Mikolas now raps, “Now baby I don’t give a damn/You should have thought about me/Back when I was your man”
But still intact is all the suggestive lyrics. The good girl’s skirt still goes up like Marilyn Monroe’s, she’s got him “making a puddle” and there’s still the iconic line “I know you ‘bop-whop-a-lu bop’ on his wood bamboo”.
But should those lyrics even be changed? They sound sexual, but we’re not entirely sure what they really mean. It makes us wonder if Mikolas rapping a grocery list in his seductive tones would sound just as filthy.
Interestingly, the mention of the fashion label Prada has been left in the lyrics. Along with San Marino’s mention of Twitter, this suggests that the EBU is becoming more relaxed around the rule that very specifically forbids brand names to be mentioned in song lyrics.
But whatever the lyrics, the new version of the song hasn’t affected the Czech Republic’s odds. They are still the third favourite country to win Eurovision 2018 — and are set to at least deliver the Czech Republic’s best ever Eurovision result.
“Lie to Me” lyrics – Mikolas Joseph (Czech Republic)
Oh she’s a good girl at home
But her skirt goes up
Like Marilyn Monroe’s
Papa likes the drama
Mama hotter than lava
She rocking high heels, Prada,
Her face like Madonna
By the way she moved,
Got me making a puddle
Baby I already knew
You would be nothing but a trouble
Dammit, everybody knows
She never loved for real
Honey bunny up all night
Wannabe couple goals queen
I know you
I know you ‘bop-whop-a-lu bop’ on his wood bamboo
When you were still seeing me
And well he didn’t even knew, hmm,
But Godammit it, come and count to three
now sit down GGY I’m on fire
So come and lie to me
Lie to me, oh baby
Come a little closer
Lie to me
Lie to me, oh baby
Lean upon my shoulder
Lie to me
Get down on my body
Love me like it was always meant to be
Now you love somebody new I always knew
So come and give it to me
When the beat dropped, she dropped
Dropped it like its hot
And now without a second thought
She got me doing what I’m not
Then it got heavy
Mom, I’m feeling home already but steady
Plenty of these greedies wanna eat my spaghetti
Then she got one of my friends
She got him dripping on wood
I know it hurt so bad but it feels so good
Quit sweet talking me
Now baby I don’t give a damn
You should have thought about me
Back when I was your man
I know you ‘bop-whop-a-lu bop’ on his wood bamboo
When you were still seeing me
And well he didn’t even knew, hmm,
But God damn it come and count to three
Now sit down GGY I’m on fire
So come and lie to me
Lie to me, oh baby
Come a little closer
Lie to me
Lie to me, oh baby
lean upon my shoulder
Lie to me
Get down on my body
Love me like it was always meant to be
Now you love somebody new I always knew
So come and give it to me
You know I like it
(When you lie, lie, lie)
You look so good
(When you lie, lie, lie
Set my camel in the mood
(When you lie, lie, lie)
(When you lie, lie, lie)
So come and lie to me
Lie to me, oh baby
Come a little closer
Lie to me
Lie to me, oh baby
Lean upon my shoulder
Lie to me
Get down on my body
Love me like it was always meant to be
Now you love somebody new I always knew
So come and give it to me
What do you think? Are the lyrics still too suggestive for Eurovision? Should the brand name be changed? Tell us what you think below!
They have singing in the backing track. A womans voice. Against Eurovision rules.
This one and Israel’s songs are not the way to send messages through songs. Trivial, rude and disrespectful. This song is disgusting towards woman. Israel’s one pretends to put men down to make women have some protagonism. This is not the way to approach feminism. Women are better than that and they love their men. Radicalism is for simple minds.
By now they’ve got the unconscious juvenile approval, but pretty sure they won’t win when everybody gets in play. I expect some other to step up with something classy and beautiful.
Sorry, but lyrics are too much unrespectful for womens to me and not at all “classy”
Note it : if the guy wasn’t handsome, everybody would say : what a libidinous and pervert guy !
But when the singer is handsome, nevermind, this is “fun” !
Just my point of view.
The bamboo part tho.
There is no doubt Mikolas will bring the Czech Republic best ever Eurovision result with his catchy song, charisma and dancing skills.
Czech Republic will be Top 10.
Good that they changed the lyrics ?
I love this entry! Though they changed some lyrics, that didn’t hurt the song at all. I am hopeful Czech Republic will shine on the Eurovision stage.
Since I got a message “awaiting for moderation” when I tried to post a comment about the lyrics of this song and now it doesn’t even appear anymore, I suppose it wasn’t approved. I would love to know why.
I have not heard this song and I will give it a chance like all the others when the preview DVD is available. But from what I see above, it’s quite appalling.
I really like this song. Good luck from sweden!
It’s new for Eurovision which is the most important thing in this context. The fact that it’s chart friendly and modern makes it more appealing to the large audience
Also happy for Czechs’ best result ever. It will probably not win, but top 5 easily.
Czech republic has been one of my favs since the moment I heard it months ago.
All my friends love it, even those who don’t like Eurovision. Its an amazing song that will easily chart all over Europe and probably North America as well.
Israel however? That song will flop, it won’t chart and it is a disgrace to Eurovision. Go perform your chicken song on some circus please, its so 2000’s Eurovision. Be ashamed Israel.
im sure you didnt even read the lyrics nor understand the music…israel should and will win. period!!!
Justin Timberlake wanna be. I am not sure it will make the final. Nothing original, nothing exulting! Just a copy-paste type of song. It will have the same faith as Jana Burceska’s song “Dance alone”. She was also a non-original, a Kylie Minogue wanna be.
At the same time I get why people can get offended about the lyrics and see it as going against everything is happening in the world right now, I also can read it as just a silly boy that still doesn’t know how to act around a woman that is just minding her own business and feeling free to date/hook up/whatever with different guys. He can’t take her off his mind, he resents the fact that she’s seeing other men (including one of his friends), but he still wants her. It’s not even clear if she cheated on him, because… Read more »
Lyrics are dirt, and if you see nothing wrong with them, probably you’ll have 341736 relationships before you will decide that love doesn’t exist. Try to respect yourself more. About the singers in rap and pop that have similar lyrics…well…most of them have countless children with countless women. No role models.
That’s funny because it’s true. 😀
Are we living in the same world? No. Do you hear chart songs? Modern hip hop? Etc..
It’s normal to have swear words and naughty things on songs. It’s freaking 2018. Eurovision World lives in 60s, shame..
They don’t have curse words in Eurovision songs because its supposed to be a family show that kids can watch. Especially because of all the languages involved in Eurovision if they allowed anything to be said in a song you could have children in Spain saying really awful things in Estonian and they wouldn’t even know what they were saying. Not to mention what a song from Azerbaijan might say about Armenians if the EBU didn’t have any rules as to song content in the contest for example. Also I think some people’s issues with the innuendo in the song… Read more »
It sounds like well produced American pop. This sort of music charts across the continent. That’s why. And for meaningless pop, it’s a good song.
Very clever version, as long as they kept his wood bamboo i’m happy 🙂
There’s also my clean version that wasn’t approved unfortunately 🙁
Link: https://twitter.com/Ronkesc/status/960217133664886791
After his live performance at Ukrainian National Final he got up from the 8th place to 5th and then 3rd and now is 2nd/3rd… He is great and many people love it! If you don’t, it’s your problem
Eugene that’s also how i feel about the israeli Beth Ditto copycat, i think i’ll take the JT wannabe, at least he’s cute.
He clearly means a live performance where is singing with live vocals and not over a backing track
I watched the Ukrainian “live”. It sounds more like playback.
lol nope – it was live (at least his main vocal, backing were probably playback) since the vocals weren’t perfect at all. He didn’t sing badly, but it didn’t sound like studio version – I’m no expert on this, but I do hear a lot when it comes to voices.
There was clearly a woman singing on the backing track. Completely against Eurovision rules. All singers have to be live and on stage at the time.
Seems Georgia’s out : https://youtu.be/ZgFzvFZfAx4
Georgia is here:
https://youtu.be/ZgFzvFZfAx4
Sound like a Christmas song
Sounds*
To me it sounds like Georgian version of sami music
its gone..
As if you don’t know what what ‘making a puddle’ or what ‘his wood bamboo’ means.
Meanwhile, on brand names – his ‘Camel’ might be cigarettes … 😉
I was going to have spaghetti on toast for my tea, but possibly a re-think is in order… 😉
This is the winner not Israel!
no way, israel is much better and creative and netta as performer will leave him dust(:
The lyrics are still a bit rude imo
heyyy dont you see that it’s all for fun???not offensive at all, it’s fine as long as it doesnt affect my values and ideals! /s
People trying to objectify mikolas and bamboos and spaghetti….
Objectification is wrong. Didn’t you guys listen to Israel’s song
Except his song is all about objectification. “Her skirt goes up like Marilyn Monroe’s” The entire song is just about him trying to get in some girl’s pants.
I really hope this comes right before Israel in the running order so that he looks like a fool. Netta’s lyrics are essentially the antithesis of this song.
Actually the song is about the said girl cheating on him.
@William Lee Adams, I‘m missing the reaction video to the austrian entry!
I like the greedies!
We still have the bamboo though.
Ok so I too used to hate this song bc the message sounded bad but! After hearing him talk and much later actually reading the lyrics, the message seems pretty different. More like it’s about getting over an ex who cheated, not saying she owes him. Idk it definitely comes across badly initially but once looking into it a bit more it seems much nicer. Also the song itself has grown on me now I don’t hate the message lol
I understood lyrics same as you.. She cheated him and he still wants to be with her. He’s masochist, lol 😛
It would be epic to have a mashup between “lie to me” and “toy”.
Great idea…. Love it
These songs are not on opposite sides, come on 😀 It would be epic to have mashup between ”Toy” and ”Blurred lines”, for example 😀
She would probably eat him out, better not.
‘the spaghetti is intact’ made me cackle for some reason, I’m geeked
but wow, these new lyrics…
“Plenty of these greedies wanna eat my spaghetti” i think i vomited a little?
I can’t belive that people are on now picking up on the backward and disgraceful arrogance conveyed in the lyrics. It ozzes a dated perception. Unfortunately I really like it musically. Love it in fact. Becaurse of the message however I really want to see it flop.
Or preferably hope his singing is so bad he is laughed to the bottom of the pile.
Hahaha his live is far better than the studio version. And he also oozes charisma on stage
https://youtu.be/NrbInsZiHa0
Did he sang live or sang on playback in Ukraine
Mainly live, I’d say.
The backing track was clearly louder even if he did sing live.
When this came out it went to my number one and it is still there after 42 songs, doubt Georgia will dethrone them. I honestly think this can win in Lisbon. It’s fun, modern, catchy and puts me in a good mood every time.
Someone please let Netta loose on this store-brand Bieber.
I think it’s ironic how in the same contest we have both a song about how women are not for men to play with, and a song about this girl who should ride his d*ck, because she rides everyone elses d*cks.
Czech Republic has horrible message, is not even slu-t shaming, is much worse : you owe me something just because you wanted others too.
This.
It’s like a middle-finger to everything that’s happened during the last year.
i had no idea the song had bad lyrics about women?? omg i wont vote for him anymore
Why don’t you read the lyrics and decide for yourself? My understanding the song is about a girl who cheats on her boyfriend – he’s angry, but still wants to be with her.
??? That’s not the lyrics/message at all? It’s pretty on-the-nose about being about a dude whose (ex?)-gf keeps cheating on him over and over again, but he keeps crawling back to her anyway despite knowing she wont be faithful….. and letting her lie to him and act like she DOES love him while he knows it isn’t true, given her track record (and that the chorus implies it happens again immediately bc yet again she already loves somebody new).
It may not be particularly poetic and heartfelt but there’s definitely a distinct “”plot”” to the song
Yeah, I also understood the message that way.
He should break up with the cheater, not use revenge sex.
”revenge sex” Are you serious? Did you even read the comment? It’s not ”revenge sex”, he still wants to be with her, although he knows that she cheated on him. How is he the bad guy?
lol I am starting to believe that he is on to something with that song, if it manages to produce such sparkling conversations about its meaning. 😀 He is like the Jamala of 2018.
Maybe Jamala was singing about Spaghetti and bamboo in the Chorus, we’ll never know!
Jamala was saying : ”you took the youth away from me” or something like that, but anyway, I don’t like Mikolas, and is important to leave the cheater, otherwise a vicious circle will start.
The Point is that you acted like his lyrics were sexist, but they aren’t. Do you at least get that the lyrics weren’t intended to come across the way they did?
The lyrics are sexist.
Totally.
At which Point? Sure, they aren’t exactly like written by a feminist, but it’s just some lyrics out of a fun song. Nothing to get offended about. Look, I am a Girl. I got offended by many Things that men did to me, but this Little song is not one of These.
He is self centered and this is a snowball that always becomes bigger and bigger.
How do you even know he’s self centered? I’m only a fan of the song, I don’t care who the singer is (as Long as it’s not a homphobic, racist idiot or something like that)… How are you supposed to know that one specific trait that he supposedly has?
The male character in the lyrics is self centered. I don’t know about the real life.
I don’t think the lyrics are that bad…. And I’m a woman myself. You don’t have to scream METOO over everything. Sexism and sexual harrassement is terrible, but These are just harmless lyrics imo.
I think the real question is the sauce. Spaghetti are only good with a tasty Sauce.
I approve of this comment 100%
I agree about the lyrics the song is just fun. Sometimes a person just needs a crazy and fun song to dance to. Not all songs need to have meaningful lyrics and people shouldn’t get offended by stuff like that
People shouldnt feel offended by sexist lyrics? we live in a crazy world…
They aren’t really sexist in my opinion… These lyrics aren’t worse than the average Pop Songs we have today.
Weißbrot, I guess we’re the only girls who don’t care about those lyrics 😀 I really don’t think they are sexist and it’s not like his song is the only one… Turn on your radios and you’ll hear real sexist lyrics And if I were to get offended by just anything I would be walking around all day like a dark cloud and that is why I don’t think people should be offended by lyrics of a song that is meant to be fun and has a camel in the video… Can you really take anything serious when you see… Read more »
I agree. The lyrics are about calling a girl out on her adultery and glancing over it at the same time. They have a consenting adult relationship. The ”she” in this song is being called out, but not ”slut-shamed” as ”he” is her boyfriend. He notices her faults, but lets it slide because they are still good together and it still pays off. I am 100% against any abuse of power and a supporter of a #MeToo movement, but I don’t think this particular song is insulting to women. Just like Netta’s song isn’t insulting to men, as it calls… Read more »
He gave an interview and said that the song is about his partner cheating on him with his best friend, so your comments about him expecting a girl to do something are a bit of a stretch. The lyrics literally say how she was on his ‘wood bamboo’ when she was still seeing me? Calling out cheating isn’t slut shaming. If this song was to have came from a woman about a man cheating you’d be screaming empowerment but because it’s from a man it’s oppressive.
He should also do his best friend, that would show her.
So poetic… #not
It seems to me of the worst ones for the simple fact that to be VERY influenced by Jason Derulo in many parts of the song
Off-topic: Here’s a sneak peek of Georgia’s entry, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRQD-ZPs8Pw
This was the 3rd song that came out… But after 42 released Songs, Mikolas is still in my top 3 (along with Estonia and Hungary). I just love it. Thank you Czech Republic.
Great top 3!!! 🙂 🙂
Also I feel like he’ll lose a lot of votes to Israel. But what I’m hoping is that he just has a Jüri Pootsmann effect on the juries.
Jüri’s Performance was quite tragic. He seemed like that creepy guy waiting in front of your kindergarten, offering to show ”Magic tricks” lol. He was in my top 5, but I can’t lie about it.
Tragic indeed. He had so much potential. Strong voice, pretty face, blonde hair…
He looked rather mortuary to me.
He was just a bit nervous, that’s all. He was visibly sweating and shaking. But vocally, he was on point and still had a killer song. Undeserved elimination.
I mean the whole Show…. He looked creepy (not saying that he was unattractive, but the Looks he gave the camera were a bit awkward), the staging was a complete mess…. I loved the song, but Idk what they tried to do with the staging.
He was extremely insecure and confused since he is quite young and inexperienced. We blame the team who was behind the choreography, people complain why they even gave him those magic trick gestures… all those learned movements restrained him to perform naturally. I find him cocky and arrogant, it’s like he thinks he’s the best performer of the country since he won so many national music awards in such a short period and thus feeding his smugness. I’m glad (and not surprised) that he failed, the failure is a good slap-in-the-face so he can finally wake up and realize that… Read more »
I’ve seen this comparison before and personally I don’t get it. I think with Jüri the problem was that his energy combined with the song and the staging gave off a creepy vibe. Mikolas’ performance in Ukraine was very fresh and relaxed and he came off as incredibly likable. I’m sure his performance in Lisbon will be awesome. The song might not be a jury favorite but I think he’ll do extremely well in the televote.
What could the wood bamboo mean?
Also, when it comes to the DNA test results on Mikolas Josef, Justin Timberlake, you ARE the father!! :O 😀
Bamboo = wood = boner
A beautiful equation. Frankly, I am surprised nobody at the EBU has alerted the church elders yet.
The euphemisms used in the song were actually pretty clever. I’m pretty sure bamboo, camel, and spaghetti all refer to the same thing, and it’s not a camel having a spaghetti dinner with a panda in a bamboo forest. ??? This is just the latest in long line of songs that have used clever euphemisms for sexually suggestive lyrics. At least it’s more subtle than “Whistle” by Flo Rida! I’ve heard 41 of the 43 songs (haven’t listened to Macedonia’s and Georgia’s yet), and this one is still my favorite. The Netherlands, Denmark, and Israel come close, but this song… Read more »
And let’s hope he doesn’t age as badly as JT lol
Agreed!
Italians are [culturally disgusted] rn.
I am in opposition of cencorship, so obviously I can’t condone castrating a song. Of course, people who do not know the original version won’t notice.
Also, did the EBU actually change its rules or do they just decide willy-nilly which trademarks they are okay with?
P.S.: Still wondering what GGY means.
After they allowed FaceTime, they have no excuse to censor other brands. GGY is probably Iggy Azalea promo lbr.
It drives me mad not to know this. One would think it has to mean something, since he put it in his lyrics.
I’m starting to think that it doesn’t mean anything at all. Google won’t give me any answers and it just seems like nobody really knows. Gotta say that he got away with including lyrics that make no sense.
It means Go Google Yourself.
As in, you’re very into yourself that you’re all over the internet, aren’t you?
It means Got Good Yodelling
other suggestions?
Got Golden Yeild is my favourite tbh.
With FaceTime, it’s easy to just alter that word in the lyrics and make it “Trying to feel your love through face time”, given how commonly used the idiom is.
Although I understand the confusion considering the rise of the app of the same name.
I guess (and that’s just a blind guess) they are okay with dropping a trademark name if it’s random and inconsequential to the song meaning, while straight-up propaganda would not be okay. Then again, JESC Portugal, so I don’t really know. Maybe they crossed the rule completely?
I don’t like this song BUT: someone actually wanted him to change the lyrics because they are sexually suggestive? What is this, Eurovision 1967? I mean I understand that swearing is banned from Eurovision, but that spaghetti line is not offensive. Just cheesy and cheap.
The original version had two swear words, so he had to change those.
saara gave a new performance of monsters at the lithuania final. Waiting for your article!!!
Amaaazing performance! Goosebumps. She’s back in my top 5.
The producer of UMK has said that this was just something the Lithuanians threw together and the performance in Lisbon will be nothing like it. It’s kind of tragic that Lithuania can “throw together” a performance that’s a million times better than the disastrous “extravaganza” that was the UMK performance. Someone should really get their head out of their rear end.
I agree – this was waaay better than UMK performance. Maybe they can hire those Lithuanians to improve their staging.
animal abuse
camels are not pets
GUYS. WHERE IS SAARAS NEW PERFORMANCE,?
So happy to finally see The Czech Republic getting recognized. Even after the whole line-up is done, this deserves a strong top 10 result.
Wish him doing well on stage because I think it’s “all-or-none” (love-or-hate) for general audience, I think.
Anyway, I personally believe this entry will take Czechia finishes high in the scoreboard.