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I Do Not Think That Song Means What You Think It Means

post #1 of 80
2/15/07 at 11:45am
Thread Starter 
The "Fucking Loser" thread got me thinking about misunderstood lyrics. There's a number of people out there who think songs like "Every Breath You Take", "One" or "Fumbling Towards Ecstasy" are really great love songs even though two are stalking songs and the other one is about AIDS.

So, what other songs are continually misunderstood by the listening public?

I'll start with "My Hometown" by Springsteen. I've heard people go on and on about how this is a great tribute to small town America but it's actually about the death of a small town. The last verse kills me every time I hear it because the father is saying goodbye to the town and hoping that his son will remember it because it's likely the last time he'll see it.

Pretty bleak little song.
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post #2 of 80
2/15/07 at 12:00pm
It used to crack me up when I'd hear all these high school girls calling in to request Lita Ford and Ozzy Osbourne's "Close My Eyes Forever" for their boyfriend. Um, girls, you do realize that song is about wanting to die to join your dead boyfriend, right?
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post #3 of 80
2/15/07 at 12:11pm
I don't care that Possession is about a stalker, it's still one of the greatest sex songs ever.

The best case of misunderstanding a song would have to be another Springsteen song - Born in the USA. It was co-oped as a rallying cry by the very people it was speaking against.
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post #4 of 80
2/15/07 at 12:28pm
A lot of people still don't realize "She-Bop" is an ode to female masturbation.
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post #5 of 80
2/15/07 at 12:48pm
'Hollaback Girl', few people know is about a rare strain of female marsupials.
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post #6 of 80
2/15/07 at 1:03pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Guttenberg Fan Club
I don't care that Possession is about a stalker, it's still one of the greatest sex songs ever.
You speak truth.

This thread reminds me of Michael and Maeby karaoke'ing "Afternoon Delight".
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post #7 of 80
2/15/07 at 1:04pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nick Nunziata
'Hollaback Girl', few people know is about a rare strain of female marsupials.
Theme song to HOWLING III!
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post #8 of 80
2/15/07 at 1:16pm
I can't verify it, but I'm sure that "Follow Me" song is actually about heroin addiction.
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post #9 of 80
2/15/07 at 1:42pm
My older sister has never forgiven me for pointing out that Holding My Own by The Darkness is not so much a "beautiful song about a jilted lover" as it is - quite obviously - a mildly amusing song about having a wank and realising its more satisfying than putting up with some bitch's shit for the sake of getting it wet.

I'm sure there should be some commas in there....
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post #10 of 80
2/15/07 at 1:46pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Martianman
A lot of people still don't realize "She-Bop" is an ode to female masturbation.
And "Into the Groove" is about being fed up with masturbating and wanting to get laid.
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post #11 of 80
2/15/07 at 2:55pm
yeah, I heard the tambourine man isn't even about music!
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post #12 of 80
2/15/07 at 3:03pm
This kind of fits in, but I always read too much into The Rolling Stones - Brown Sugar. All growing up I thought it was about heroin, for some reason.

Come to find out, the song is very literal and is just about a plantation owner having sex with his slaves. It really kind of bummed me out.

And I find it funny that everyone thinks Hotel California is about.........
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post #13 of 80
2/15/07 at 3:05pm
I had the exact opposite experience with Brown Sugar when someone told me it was about heroin. Odd.
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post #14 of 80
2/15/07 at 5:21pm
I Touch Myself is about masturbation.

No really!
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post #15 of 80
2/15/07 at 5:22pm
Come Together is really about an orgy.
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post #16 of 80
2/15/07 at 5:23pm
No...
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post #17 of 80
2/15/07 at 5:24pm
Revolution is about tennis shoes!!
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post #18 of 80
2/15/07 at 5:45pm
"Fumbling Towards Ecstacy" is about AIDS? Learn something new every day.
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post #19 of 80
2/15/07 at 6:26pm
The Rolling Stones' "Start Me Up" is about a vibrator?!
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post #20 of 80
2/15/07 at 6:40pm
Rush's "Working Man" is about asian male prostitutes.
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post #21 of 80
2/15/07 at 7:33pm
Just found out that "Hit Me Baby One More Time" isn't about Britney Spears actually wanting to be hit by me one more time... Greatly disappointed to say the least.
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post #22 of 80
2/15/07 at 7:38pm
Chicago does not, in fact, die in "The Night Chicago Died."
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post #23 of 80
2/15/07 at 7:42pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard Dickson
Chicago does not, in fact, die in "The Night Chicago Died."
Surely you jest.
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post #24 of 80
2/15/07 at 7:49pm
"Fuck Tha Police" is really about sodomy.
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post #25 of 80
2/15/07 at 7:50pm
Slide by the Goo Goo Dolls is about abortion.

Quote:
Don't you love the life you killed
The priest is on the phone
Your father hit the wall
Your ma disowned you
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post #26 of 80
2/15/07 at 8:06pm
Not quite. From songwriter Johnny Rzenick on VH1 Storytellers:

Quote:
"...the song is actually about these two teenage kids, and the girlfriend gets pregnant and... they're trying to decide whether she should get an abortion, or they should get married or what should go on..."
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post #27 of 80
2/15/07 at 8:56pm
Brick by Ben Folds Five, on the other hand, is about an abortion, which I was totally clueless to the first 50 times I heard it.
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post #28 of 80
2/15/07 at 9:29pm
The Meatloaf song "I would do anything for love, but i won't do that" is about analsex.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Alan "Nordling" Cerny
The Rolling Stones' "Start Me Up" is about a vibrator?!
Or Windows 95.
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post #29 of 80
2/16/07 at 9:58am
I hadn't listened to "The Night the Lights Went out in Georgia" since it was big, and when it was big, I must have listened to it a million, trillion fucking times. But I heard it on the way over here (the office) and this is the first time I realised... wait.

Who shot Andy? The cheating wife?

Ah, fuck it.
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post #30 of 80
2/16/07 at 10:16am
I'll never forget seeing some uber-cool journalist interview Richard Ashcroft, the lead singer of The Verve.

"Your new single is called The Drugs Don't Work. You guys seem to think you can rock without dope. It's a very controversial subject because you guys ROCK. How has leaving drugs affected your music?"

"Actually it's about my grandmother. She had cancer. The drugs didn't work. They only made her worse."

"Oh."

Awkward silence.
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post #31 of 80
2/16/07 at 11:54am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Murdoch
I'll never forget seeing some uber-cool journalist interview Richard Ashcroft, the lead singer of The Verve.

"Your new single is called The Drugs Don't Work. You guys seem to think you can rock without dope. It's a very controversial subject because you guys ROCK. How has leaving drugs affected your music?"

"Actually it's about my grandmother. She had cancer. The drugs didn't work. They only made her worse."

"Oh."

Awkward silence.
Wow. I mean, they must not have even bothered to listen to the song in the most minimal sense. Amazing.
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post #32 of 80
2/16/07 at 12:42pm
Toby. Toby? Toby Wong?
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post #33 of 80
2/16/07 at 1:51pm
"Fly Me to the Moon" is not only about one man's planned lunar mission but also deals with his desire to examine the impact Spring will have on both Jupiter and Mars.
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post #34 of 80
2/16/07 at 2:08pm
I always thought Hey Man, Nice Shot was about Kurt Cobain. Then I found out it was written for the PA State Treasurer who shot himself. That's when I decided Filter was really fucking lame.
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post #35 of 80
2/16/07 at 3:11pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Patrick Ripoll
Come Together is really about an orgy.
Therefore, Come on Eilleen is clearly about bukake

And wait a second, you're telling me that Ziggy Stardust is not from Mars and nor are the Spiders?

DAMMIT!
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post #36 of 80
2/16/07 at 3:14pm
I always thought "I Would Do Anything For Love But I Won't Do That" is about a guy who refuses to get married, because he doesn't want to be tied down by that kind of commitment, he just wants the love and the sex. Kind of the anti-"Paradise by the Dashboard Light."
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post #37 of 80
2/16/07 at 4:36pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Devildoubt
I always thought Hey Man, Nice Shot was about Kurt Cobain. Then I found out it was written for the PA State Treasurer who shot himself. That's when I decided Filter was really fucking lame.
Nothing lame about calling a press conference and shooting yourself in the mouth on live tv.
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post #38 of 80
2/16/07 at 4:38pm
Meatloaf has always made a point of not saying what "I Would Do Anything For Love" is referencing. Butt sex is just the sniggering interpretation of a 13 year old (at least in my case).
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post #39 of 80
2/16/07 at 4:43pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by RathBandu
I always thought "I Would Do Anything For Love But I Won't Do That" is about a guy who refuses to get married, because he doesn't want to be tied down by that kind of commitment, he just wants the love and the sex. Kind of the anti-"Paradise by the Dashboard Light."
What part of "teh buttsecks" did you not understand Rath?
Hey Man Nice Shot is responsible for my morbidly curious mind researching Bud Dwyer on the internet. Didn't have the cajones to watch him pull the trigger, but jeeeeezus that video is creepy as hell.

I used to get fed up with a kid who lived on my street who thought Live's "Selling the Drama" was basically contemporary christian rock. He was a slower guy, so he didn't get that the lyric "Into Christ, a Cross, into me, a chair, I will sit and earn the ransom from up here" was a huge shot at the corruptability of broad based religion. Then, three albums later, Ed has turned Live into a comtemporary christian band, and a particularly bad one at that. Man, I miss the Throwing Copper days.
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post #40 of 80
2/16/07 at 4:47pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Schwartz
Meatloaf has always made a point of not saying what "I Would Do Anything For Love" is referencing. Butt sex is just the sniggering interpretation of a 13 year old (at least in my case).
Actually, he said it refers to the statement right before. In other words,
"But I'll never forget the way you feel right now,
Oh no, no way
And I would do anything for love, but I won't do that
No, I won't do that "

When he says "I won't do that" he's just reaffirming that he'll "Never forget the way you feel right now"

Oh No.


No way.
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post #41 of 80
2/16/07 at 5:23pm
"That" could mean so many things, honestly. Personally, I think it's about the time Courtney Love tried to share a needle with him.
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post #42 of 80
2/16/07 at 5:35pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris Miller
Man, I miss the Throwing Copper days.
It was all down hill after "Mental Jewelry".
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post #43 of 80
2/16/07 at 5:37pm
It all went downhill just before they became popular.
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post #44 of 80
2/16/07 at 5:39pm
It went downhill after fans got all pissy about Secret Samadhi.
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post #45 of 80
2/16/07 at 8:58pm
Maybe it was because they're from York, which was 30 minutes away from where I went to high school, or maybe because throwing copper came out when I was in high school (I think high school years define a lot of what you identify with musically), or because their songs were perfect for learning on guitar, but I LOVED Live. Secret Samadhi was good, at least they were trying new interesting sounds. I dont remember the names of the two albums released after that, but I know my friend let me listen to the latest release as a joke, and man, it's just so, so, so bad. I wanted to scratch the idea out of my head that Live could put out that kind of boring crap.
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post #46 of 80
2/16/07 at 10:17pm
I remember back in the late 90's they had a Real World favorite songs countdown and one of the cast members said her favorite song is Disarm by the Smashing Pumpkins because it is about abortion. According to Corgan himself, it's about the feeling he had of wanting to kill his parents.
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post #47 of 80
2/16/07 at 11:09pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by RathBandu
Not quite. From songwriter Johnny Rzenick on VH1 Storytellers:
Quote:
"they're trying to decide whether she should get an abortion"
How is that not about abortion??
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post #48 of 80
2/16/07 at 11:31pm
You made it sound like the song was about the girl after she'd already gotten the abortion. I was being a trivia whore and clarifying.
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post #49 of 80
2/17/07 at 2:53am
I don't know how many people think Pearl Jam's 'Better Man' is a love song. It's about domestic violence. I've read stories about folks choosing this tune as their wedding song. How depressing and...tasteless.
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post #50 of 80
2/17/07 at 4:55am
Quote:
Originally Posted by RathBandu
You made it sound like the song was about the girl after she'd already gotten the abortion. I was being a trivia whore and clarifying.

I just meant that people know the chorus ("do you want to get married") but they don't hear the abortion part ("don't you love the life you kill"). Clearly its a song with which many people are familiar, and they see it as a love song but not also as an abortion song.
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