although I’ve never seen this title on any list of worst songs (MacArthur Park, etc), it’s never failed to disturb me or trigger the “fight or flight” response when I’m trapped anywhere it’s playing.
Correct my interpretation, but the singer’s wife/gf is returning, so he’s kicking out his short-term masterbation alternative, telling her to stop feeling bad, and insisting he cares about her and didn’t use her, all to an incredibly glucotically-poisoned tune. I don’t detect any irony in the song, so the singer/songwriter could only have climbed out from under some rock where this is acceptable.
I could easily imagine Eric Foreman crooning this to Donna on That 70s Show. Heck, I bet Topher Grace could even hit those scary high notes at the end.
That song never weirded me out, because I really never listened to the lyrics.
But I don’t want this thread to die too quick a death (would that Sad Eyes had).
So let’s expand on the theme of “innocent-sounding songs that no one notices are actually pretty creepy”:
• “Every Breath You Take” – Sting tells of starry-eyed couples gushing “We played that song at our wedding…” and he snaps “That’s disturbing. It’s about being obsessed – it’s really more of a stalker song than a love song, y’know.”
• “Run For Your Life” – I love vintage Beatles. And I liked this until finally the lyrics registered… so Mr. LoveIsAllYouNeed is threatening to KILL his girlfriend?!? Now gets my award as worst Beatle song (and that’s saying something – beats out Mary Jane and #9 and Mi-ih-ih-stah Mooooooooon-li-yite…).
• “Johnny Get Angry” – Girl cheats on guy in hopes that he’ll smack her around: “I want a brave man / I want a caveman…”
• Every teen death song from the 50’s – Teen Angel, Tell Laura I Love Her, Dead Man’s Curve, Leader of the Pack, that one that Pearl jam covered (aha! “Last Kiss”!)… . etc. etc. These might not count because no one’s going to think they’re harmless toe-tappin’ songs, but Sting and The Beatles snuck a couple of creepy ones past us.
John always said he hated that song, too, because he was in a hurry and needed a song, and he stooped to plagiarism of “Baby Let’s Play House”, where he got the “rather see you dead, little girl…” line.
You want a creepy Beatles song, check out George’s “You Like Me Too Much.” If that song is not narrated by a stalker / control freak…
Want to get into the debate over whether the person telling the story in “Norwegian Wood” set her place on fire? (Although he wrote it ambiguously on purpose.)
Not really setting her place on fire, but taking the “Norwegian Wood” furniture she so proudly displayed when they first came to her room and burning it in the fireplace. (Because he didn’t get any, I’m guessing?) In Beatles Songs by Matthew Dowdling, Lennon makes some remark about how he came to end the song with burning the girl’s furniture, a “practice from his art school days.”
yay! a subject i’ve secretly mulled for some time.
i’m an “Oldies” station person (60s-70s), but i’m old enough to remember the original release of those songs and some earlier ones. once i got old enough (and mature enough) to objectively view male/female relationships, the lyrics of some of those earlier songs really raised my hackles. like Johnny Angel: “Other fellas call me up for a date/ But I’ll just sit and wait/ I’d rather concentrate/ On Johnny Angel/ Cause I love him/ And I pray that someday he’ll love me/ And together we will see/ How lovely heaven will be.” AAAAUUUUGGGGHHHH. let’s passively sit on our little princess cushions until some man deigns to notice us, shall we? (dang it! i know there are several more of the same ilk, but i can’t bring them to mind at the moment. but i know them whenever i snarl while they’re playing.)
How about that Pina Colada song? A guy takes out a personal ad so he can screw around on his girlfriend and ends up answering HER personal ad. Gah. They deserve each other.
Yes, some songs are about bad attitudes, a lack of proactivity, and unethical behavior. If these songs don’t advocate these things (and I think the song mentioned in the OP does not), it’s no reason FOR ME to hate a song.
Even if a song does advocate something I don’t approve of, that doesn’t necessarily mean I don’t like the song. I don’t feel that musicians have any responsibility for advancing moral behavior. And you can’t blame the music for irresponsibility or nastiness in the people who listen to it.