Listening to Lou Christie’s Lightning Strikes yesterday on the radio, and for whatever reason, I’m paying attention to the lyrics. In every verse, he sings sweet things about devotion, settling down, and a chapel in the pines, but then counters that by telling her that he’s not in control of his testosterone filled body, and he’s going to jump anything that looks at him the right way. :eek:
Any other examples of songs whose lyrics make you say What?
All of them, my friend. All of them.
With Lou Christie’s voice, you have to figure some of that is overcompensation…
I did see him live once. He can still get up there!
“Well I’m not the world’s most masculine man,
but I know what I am and that I’m a man,
so is Lola.
Lo lo lo Lola. Lo lo lo Lola.” 
:eek: 
First heard this song when I was around nine years old. Took me twenty more years to get the humor of the name “Steely Dan”. :smack:
I still don’t get “Steely Dan.” Can you let me in on the joke?
“Steely Dan” was the name of a dildo in a William S. Burroughs novel.
Dang, I knew I should have paid more attention to ‘Naked Lunch.’
I’m on the case next time.
“Rock Lobster”, as recently featured on Family Guy. Is it even supposed to mean anything?
That’s not a duet, it’s a song by the B-52s. Unless Family Guy had a different version.
Bah! Ignore this. I thought this was the “Male Duets” thread…
It’s obviously 1:30 AM…
errm, this is the B-52s we’re talking about…
it’s just a bit of fun. Have you heard “Planet Claire”?
No, it’s just campy fun. Which also happens to rock.
Potentially crucial nitpick: It’s “I know what I am and I’m glad I’m a man
and so’s Lola.”
Ambiguous, eh? 
:rolleyes:
I take it you didn’t hear Lou Christie’s other song, “Rhapsody in the Rain.”
So many '50s and '60s seemingly tame love songs are really creepy, obsessive and often about the uncontrollable urges of males.
I nominate Eternal Flame by The Bangles “I watch you when you are sleeping, you belong with me.” Cripes, guy. Run!
“Every Breath You Take” by The Police is another song that could go either way; is the singer a devoted lover or a obsessed stalker?
I thought it was “I want you when you are sleeping.”
Which I suppose isn’t any better. But still
Actually, allowing for information outside of the song itself, there’s no ambiguity whatsoever. Sting has publicly expressed how appalled he is that people make this their wedding song because it’s definitely about a stalker.
Hell, that was the entire point of the musical Carousel – sometimes being hit feels like love.
One master of this sort of thing is Lyle Lovett – quite a few of his songs sound like one thing, but actually say something quite different. “Nobody Knows Me,” for instance, seems to be a sweet love song, but after a couple of listens you realize it’s about a man who cheated and was left alone. Similarly, “L.A. County” sounds like a song about friendship, but it’s actually about a man murdering his ex-girlfriend on the altar as she marries someone else. And his “I Married Her Just Because She Looked Like You” makes it clear the reason he married her was completely different.