# Examples Of Popular Culture Irony That People Don't Seem To 'Get' **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 18, 2003, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-popular-culture-irony-that-people-dont-seem-to-get/169596 "2003-04-18T17:35:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![jacquilynne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/67e7ee/32.png) [@jacquilynne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jacquilynne)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2003, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-popular-culture-irony-that-people-dont-seem-to-get/169596/41 "2003-04-19T19:57:11Z")
I always thought the irony of ‘rain on your wedding day’ is that, traditionally, rain on your wedding day is a sign of good luck for the marriage, but at the same time, rain on her wedding day, is something the bride would consider unpleasant bad luck. ---
**Author:** ![leafrog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/cab0a1/32.png) [@leafrog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leafrog)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2003, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-popular-culture-irony-that-people-dont-seem-to-get/169596/42 "2003-04-19T20:14:50Z")
Does anyone else find the use of _Lust for Life_ by **Iggy Pop** being used to advertise a cruise line ironic, and kind of sad? ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2003, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-popular-culture-irony-that-people-dont-seem-to-get/169596/43 "2003-04-19T20:21:41Z")
WWWHHHHOOOOOOSSSHHH!!! That whoosh wasn’t for any of you people. That was for me. I just read what slipster wrote: \> As for an example of irony in popular culture which eludes \> people, the old Peter, Paul and Mary hit “I Dig the Mamas and \> the Papas” comes to mind as an example. Countless rock fans, \> I expect, have enjoyed this song (with lyrics such as "And when \> the Beatles tell you/They have love to sell you/They mean just \> what they say…) without considering for a moment that the \> song is essentially telling them that their taste isn’t worth a \> bucket of warm spit. It’s not just that I didn’t get this song (which, incidentally, is not called “I Dig the Mamas and the Papas” but rather “I Dig Rock and Roll Music”), it’s that all these years I thought that the song was by the Mamas and the Papas. I probably heard it when it came out in 1967. (It was a modest hit, reaching #9 on the charts.) I have always been a fan of the Mamas and the Papas. I like Peter, Paul, and Mary, but to a lesser extent. The song has Peter, Paul, and Mary doing a dead-on imitation of the Mamas and the Papas, both in the singing and the instrumentation. When I read slipster’s post, I got out my boxed CD set of the Mamas and Papas’s greatest hits and discovered that it wasn’t in there. Then I got out my record album of Peter, Paul, and Mary’s greatest hits and found that it was there. Now I feel like a complete idiot. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2003, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-popular-culture-irony-that-people-dont-seem-to-get/169596/44 "2003-04-19T20:59:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by leafrog \* > \*\*Does anyone else find the use of _Lust for Life_ by **Iggy Pop** being used to advertise a cruise line ironic, and kind of sad? \*\* Not particularly ironic, and I wouldn’t consider anything that puts food on Iggy Pop’s table to be sad. Unlike plenty of other musicians whose songs have been used in commercials in recent years (I’m looking at _you_, Rolling Stones!), he probably actually needs the money. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2003, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-popular-culture-irony-that-people-dont-seem-to-get/169596/45 "2003-04-19T21:02:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by slipster \* > \*\*“From a Distance” does not strike me as ironic. The fact that it was used as a kind of anthem (and an emotional sop) for people supporting the first Gulf War does strike me as ironic. \*\* What I meant was, doesn’t “From a Distance” fall in the same category as “Born in the USA” and “Fortunate Son,” whereas in those songs, the chorus seems patriotic, but the rest of the lyrics aren’t? I mean, in "From a Distance you have lots of people thinking that it’s a beautiful song about God watching over us, even though the lyrics contain: > [@](#): > > **From a distance we all have enough, > And no one is in need > And there are no guns, no bombs, and no disease, > No hungry mouths to feed > From a distance we are instruments > Marching in a common band > Playing songs of hope, playing songs of peace > They’re the songs of every man > God is watching us, God is watching us > God is watching us from a distance** Which actually means that the lyrics are saying how God doesn’t really know what’s going on here, because, from a distance, everything looks fine, even though it’s not. ---
**Author:** ![brianmelendez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/65b543/32.png) [@brianmelendez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brianmelendez)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2003, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-popular-culture-irony-that-people-dont-seem-to-get/169596/46 "2003-04-19T21:10:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by toadspittle \* > \*\*So … am I the only one who thinks it’s ironic that Alanis Morisette’s “Ironic” doesn’t list anything that’s actually ironic? All of that stuff is a bummer, but it’s not ironic. > > A fly in your chardonnay? That sucks. Ironic? Maybe if you’re an exterminator or something… > > Rain on your wedding day? That sucks. Ironic? Perhaps if you live in the Sahara (but then maybe it’s a blessing…), or if your dad is a weatherman or something. \*\* I just assumed that the “irony” of “a black fly in your chardonnay” was the contrast between the black fly and the white wine. If you had chosen red wine, then the fly would not stand out in such stark contrast. **jacquilynne** already covered the “rain on your wedding day” line. The other situations in the song (winning “a free ride when you’ve already paid,” a plane crash catching a first-time air traveler with a fear of flying, winning the lottery and dying the next day) also seem genuinely ironic. ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2003, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-popular-culture-irony-that-people-dont-seem-to-get/169596/47 "2003-04-19T21:20:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by slipster \* > \*\*Another example which has nothing much to do with music: in the early 80s Paul Rubenfeld (aka Paul Rebens, aka Pee Wee Herman) did a stage show for adults which parodied 50s children’s shows such as Pinky Lee’s. When it was turned into a weekly TV series it was broadcast as a Saturday morning kid’s show. \*\* If we want multi tiered irony, then we have him being “disgraced” for being caght in an **adult** theater. ---
**Author:** ![vertigo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/3ec8ea/32.png) [@vertigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vertigo)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2003, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-popular-culture-irony-that-people-dont-seem-to-get/169596/48 "2003-04-19T21:42:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by InquisitiveIdiot \* > \*\*Isn’t Bruce Springsteen from Canada? A Canadian singing a song about how glad he is to be “Born in the USA” is ironic. \*\* I think you are confusing it with “American Woman” from the Guess Who, who are Canadian. I think it is ironic that advertisers use the song as an anthem, when the rest of the lyric goes “… get a way from me.” ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2003, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-popular-culture-irony-that-people-dont-seem-to-get/169596/49 "2003-04-19T21:46:28Z")
Is it ironic that Janis Joplin had a somewhat rusty and mural-painted Porsche 356 Speedster? ---
**Author:** ![Banger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8491ac/32.png) [@Banger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banger)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2003, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-popular-culture-irony-that-people-dont-seem-to-get/169596/50 "2003-04-19T21:52:08Z")
How about Devo’s “Beautiful World”? Target superstores used it for their commercials, focusing on the part “It’s a beautiful world for you, for you…” but not adding the last two words of the song: [Not me](http://www.thesonglyrics.com/d_song_lyrics/devo_lyric1.html). ---
**Author:** ![jack\_ss](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c77e96/32.png) [@jack\_ss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jack_ss)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2003, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-popular-culture-irony-that-people-dont-seem-to-get/169596/51 "2003-04-19T22:09:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Banger \* > \*\*How about Devo’s “Beautiful World”? Target superstores used it for their commercials, focusing on the part “It’s a beautiful world for you, for you…” but not adding the last two words of the song: [Not me](http://www.thesonglyrics.com/d_song_lyrics/devo_lyric1.html). \*\* Yeah, I caught that too. (I was the only unashamed Devo fan I knew 1980-81). I always heard the song as commentary on how consumerism & fashion are poor replacements for real happiness, but I was only 17 at the time. What did I know? ---
**Author:** ![jack\_ss](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c77e96/32.png) [@jack\_ss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jack_ss)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2003, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-popular-culture-irony-that-people-dont-seem-to-get/169596/52 "2003-04-19T22:32:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Banger \* > \*\*How about Devo’s “Beautiful World”? Target superstores used it for their commercials, focusing on the part “It’s a beautiful world for you, for you…” but not adding the last two words of the song: [Not me](http://www.thesonglyrics.com/d_song_lyrics/devo_lyric1.html). \*\* Yeah, I caught that too. (I was the only unashamed Devo fan I knew 1980-81). I always heard the song as commentary on how consumerism & fashion are poor replacements for real happiness, but I was only 17 at the time. What did I know? ---
**Author:** ![ianzin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@ianzin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ianzin)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2003, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-popular-culture-irony-that-people-dont-seem-to-get/169596/53 "2003-04-19T22:49:53Z")
Terrific post from **Nametag**. In response to the OP, surely one of the commonst examples is ‘Every Breath You Take’ by The Police. There are still countless people who treat it as if it’s a neat love song about devotion to one’s true love… stick it on compilations for their SO, ask for it at weddings and so on. ---
**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2003, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-popular-culture-irony-that-people-dont-seem-to-get/169596/54 "2003-04-19T23:14:40Z")
The blue jeans commercial with _Fortunate Son_ grates on me terribly but I don’t mind the Led Zeppelin Cadillac commercial so much. I suppose for aging baby boomers trying to recapture their youth it has been a long time since they, collectively or individually, rock and/or rolled. Back in the '70s Donnie and Marie did a tribute to nostalgia using Steely Dan’s _Reelin In The Years_, a somewhat bitter commentary about the singer’s girlfriend trying to recapture her glory days. I sometimes wonder if the Mormon siblings were hip to the meaning of the song or oblivious to it. I was fortunate enough to see the reunited Steely Dan perform twice and they made a point of making a new arrangement of that song in particular so as not to fall into nostalgia. ---
**Author:** ![bluecanary](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bluecanary/32/3614_2.png) [@bluecanary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bluecanary)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2003, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-popular-culture-irony-that-people-dont-seem-to-get/169596/55 "2003-04-19T23:23:00Z")
‘Shiny Happy People’ by R.E.M? ---
**Author:** ![shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ab992/32.png) [@shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shrew)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2003, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-popular-culture-irony-that-people-dont-seem-to-get/169596/56 "2003-04-19T23:43:08Z")
I always thought the irony of Alanis Morrisette’s song was the absence of ironic examples in it. A song about irony in which none of the examples are ironic? Ironic if you ask me. How about the irony that America has the reputation (and statistics) of being the most overweight nation in the world and yet we produce and perpetuate most of the stick-thin heroine addict-looking supermodels and stars. (Britney Spears, Cameron Diaz, Kate Moss, Calista Flockhart, Lara Flynn Boyle, Christina Aguilera…)? Or the irony that as a nation we perpetuate and suffer from fears of drug and alcohol use, and yet I’d say we’ve had far more celebrities die or suffer from alcohol and drug-related illnesses than any other I know of. Anyone correct me if I’m wrong. ---
**Author:** ![psychomonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/dec6dc/32.png) [@psychomonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychomonkey)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2003, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-popular-culture-irony-that-people-dont-seem-to-get/169596/57 "2003-04-19T23:57:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by gex gex \* > \*\*Or to be played at a funeral (which Ive heard of)Hardly appropriate for memorialising good times! \*\* ---
**Author:** ![psychomonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/dec6dc/32.png) [@psychomonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychomonkey)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2003, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-popular-culture-irony-that-people-dont-seem-to-get/169596/58 "2003-04-19T23:58:15Z")
Oops, sorry about that one: > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by gex gex \* > \*\*Hardly appropriate for memorialising good times! \*\* Or to be played at a funeral (which Ive heard of) ---
**Author:** ![Fifteen\_Iguana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8c91f0/32.png) [@Fifteen\_Iguana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fifteen_Iguana)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2003, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-popular-culture-irony-that-people-dont-seem-to-get/169596/59 "2003-04-20T00:28:05Z")
Once you get into the unirony of advertising you may never stop. I heard another scary example with a Randy Newman song recently. I THINK it was an advertisement for a car or truck. A country voice singing with a heavy, schmaltzy accompaniment: “This is MY country! These are MY people! And I know 'em like the back of my own hand…” A Randy Newman song. They left out the verses, which are about how people in his family (and presumably the rest of America) would rather watch television than look at/talk to each other. Fifteen Iguana ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2003, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-popular-culture-irony-that-people-dont-seem-to-get/169596/60 "2003-04-20T01:54:10Z")
While we’re on the subject of Randy Newman, the meaning of [this song](http://www.songmeanings.net/lyric.php?lid=37160) was missed by a lot of people. Unfortunately, I think many of those people are now responsible for this current administration’s foreign policy. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-popular-culture-irony-that-people-dont-seem-to-get/169596.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-popular-culture-irony-that-people-dont-seem-to-get/169596.md?page=4)