Wikipedia cite, but here ya go:
“Fortunate Son” in those clothing commercials really bugs me, but here’s another one. You know that Kelly Clarkson song “Because of You”? When it came out I heard a radio D.J. say it was the perfect song for a father-daughter dance at a wedding. She must have ignored all the verses and half the chorus.
:rolleyes:
To help you understand “What a Fool Believes,” think of Charlie Brown and the Little Red Haired Girl. Charlie has been pining away for her, obsessing over her, fantasizing about her his whole life, while she doesn’t know him or think about him at all.
Fast forward 20 or 30 years. Adult Charlie Brown meets the adult Red Haired Girl, and strolls up to her! He starts to reminisce about the good old days they shared together. She responds, “And you are…? Oh Charlie, Charlie Brown! Yeah, right…” He tries to make awkward conversation, while she says, “Oh, wow, look at the time! Sorry, I really have to go,” and flees.
It OUGHT to be obvious to Charlie that she thinks he’s a nerdy loser and that she has no interest in him. But he’s so smitten, he convinces himself there’s still hope! He’s going to keep obsessing over her, and telling himself “She will be mine… oh yes, she will be mine.”
A fool in love can delude himself into believing almost anything.
What’s even better is that uber-patriot Sean Hannity uses it as one of his bumper songs!
The few lyrics to that song that have filtered into my brain cause me to consciously not pay attention to the rest. I’m afraid they’re actually bad enough to make me hate the song with the fire of a thousand birthday candles, and I just haven’t got the energy. (I hate a lot of songs).
I don’t know the name of the song (maybe "By My Side?)or the artist, but when I was in high school (in the 90’s) there was a song out with part of the chorus being (from memory):
I will promise you
I will treat you well
my sweet angel
so help me Jesus
That’s the only part that really registered until I heard it again recently and was shocked that it seems to be about a guy raping and or murdering a girl.
I can promise you
I’ll not be a gentleman
Behind the boathouse
I’ll show you my dark secret
That’s “Possum Kingdom,” by the Toadies. At the time, the song was widely rumored to be about vampires.
I’m not a fan, either. Incidentally, my wife is a social work master’s student, and she had a professor actually play that song in class. (The prof is apparently an excellent therapist, just very touchy-feely.) I guess the touchy-feely contingent of the class got all teared up, while the rest probably rolled their eyes all the way around in their heads.
For some reason, this sort of thing never happens in my physics classes. 
I always thought AC/DC’s You Shook Me All Night Long was about dancing in a club. I thought the first line was “She was a dance machine”–when it was really “She was a fast machine”. When I finally (recently) realized this song was about sex, it brought a whole new meaning to “She told me to come, but I was already there.”
Silly, I know, there are few AC/DC songs that aren’t about sex and aren’t filled with double entendre.
And…I finally understand ZZ Top’s Pearl Necklace…
And I agree with you. I shouldn’t have used “laughable.” Linda was capable of pulling those lines off, making it work, making it believable. Bette Midler, for example, wouldn’t be able. Bette could sing it to another woman, as in Wind Beneath My Wings, but not a man. Linda was saying it to a man – no doubt.
I always admire Linda’s choice of songs. She sings those she has a feel for, and likes herself. *Different Drum * was early – maybe her earliest – but her later promise was there, in embryo. *Different Drum * was a vehicle to launch her career, thanks to Michael Nesmith, one of The Monkees, of all things.
One of my favorite examples of this it the song One by U2. Just listening to the chorus it sorta sounds like a sweet song about togetherness. Until you read lyrics like:
You act like you never had love
And you want me to go without
and:
You gave me nothing
Now it’s all I got
and my personal favorite:
You ask me to enter
But then you make me crawl
And I can’t be holding on
To what you got
When all you got is hurt
I’m no authority either, but I always hear and sing it as “… I’m a hell of a man; so is Lola.”
Sir Rhosis
A while back, JCPenney had a commercial where people were happy, smiling, and holding red balloons. The musical accompianiment was 99 Red Balloons. Although, of course, the whole song wasn’t used, it gave the commercial a bizarre feel to it, seeing as the song is about World War III being started after a balloon flying over the Berlin Wall is picked up on radar on both sides and confused for an enemy missile.
Now I can read that as both the singer and Lola are glad that the singer is a man except that, without the comma after “man” that it seems to show that Lola is a man as well.
Another
This definitely appears to show that Lola is a dude.
I thought it was “Well I’m not the world’s most masculine man, but I know what I am, and I’m glad I’m a man, and so is Lola”- and that’s what I heard a few minutes ago when I listened to the song.
Lola makes me think of the Weird Al parody, Yoda, which in turn reminds me of The Saga Begins. I know a girl who loved that song but had no idea it was about Star Wars. In her defense, she was only about 8 or 9 at the time- but how to miss it if you’re singing along?
Especially in the version with the glockenspiel. Nothing says America to me like a glockenspiel.
The song is by The Toadies, and I think it’s called ‘‘So Help Me Jesus.’’
Seriously, murder and rape? I am a little shocked by your interpretation, because to me it just sounds like a smoking hot guy singing about how he’s in love with a girl and wants to bang her behind the boathouse because he can’t even wait to get her home.
This is bolstered by lines like,
‘‘I’m not gonna lie
I want you for my
My blushing bride
My lover, be my lover yeah…’’
I adore that song for its animalistic lust.
Sorry for the DP, but I did some investigating on the song. It’s called ‘‘Possum Kingdom’’ and okay, apparently it’s not as straightforward as just a song about a horny guy (though I shall choose to interpret it that way for all future listenings.)
From the Wiki:
That’s still a far shot from rape and murder, though.
The other lyrics like:
“I can promise you
You’ll stay as beautiful
With dark hair
And soft skin…forever
Forever”
and “Do you want to die?” in the last chorus give some credence to the “murderer addressing his victim” theory.
Now that is just creeping me out. Chalk that up as ‘‘ignorance I would have rather not fought.’’ :eek:
/perfect example of what the OP was referencing