As an example, Rod Stewart’s You Wear It Well. Like a million other songs, it seems like the ‘speaker’ is just nebulously pouring out his feelings. Then somewhere near the end there’s the line:
"Anyway, my coffee’s cold and I’m getting told That I gotta get back to work"
Now all of sudden I see a guy sitting on a loading dock, taking a break from work, writing to his ex. Not a huge turn, but that line has always anchored the song for me.
‘Memphis, Tennessee’ by Chuck Berry is more of an intentional twist. But still the line…
“Marie is only six years old, information please.”
… does frame the conversation differently in my mind.
Led Zeppelin has a couple song twists where you think it’s a romantic love song but it turns out to be something else. Similar to ‘Memphis, Tennessee’, the Zep Song ‘The Ocean’ has the line toward the end:
Now I’m singing all my songs to the girl who won my heart She is only three years old and it’s a real fine way to start
Awww, he’s really singing about his daughter!
Zep’s ‘Bron-Y-Aur Stomp’ also sounds like a romantic love song, until:
Ain’t no companion like a blue-eyed Merle
If that line goes over your head, a bit later there’s:
Yeah, ain’t but one thing to do, spend my natural life with you You’re the finest dog I knew, so fine
Paradise by the Dashboard Light has a nice twist where the two teenage lovers are getting hot and heavy in the car, until she pulls the classic ‘Will you love me forever and make me your wife?’, at which he replies 'I will love you ‘till the end of time’.
The coda begins:
So now I’m prayin’ for the End of Time To hurry up and arrive 'Cause if I’ve got to spend another minute with you I don’t think that I can really survive
Lyle Lovett’s “Nobody’s Knows Me” sounds like a sweet love song, but halfway through you discover it’s really about the singer’s affair that ends the marriage.
Similarly, his “I Married Her Just Because She Looks Like You” completely contradicts the title as the song unfolds.
Nick Cave and Kylie Minogue’s Where the Wild Roses Grow;
On the third day he took me to the river
He showed me the roses and we kissed
And the last thing I heard was a muttered word
As he knelt above me with a rock in his fist
Keep your drawers on, girl, it ain’t worth the fightin By the time you drop them I’ll be gone And you’ll be right where they fall the rest of your life
The Doors’ ‘Moonlight Drive’ is a sweet little romantic song about a couple who park beside the ocean and go for a little night swim…
…until the outro:
Come on baby, gonna take a little ride Down, down by the ocean side Gonna get real close Get real tight Baby gonna drown tonight Goin’ down, down, down
I’ve heard this song forever but interestingly, my wife and I were watching it a couple of weeks ago on YouTube (big screen TV) and for the first time that line hit me.
Interesting… the only version of Parchman Farm I’m familiar with is the John Mayall & Bluesbreakers cover, and he doesn’t sing that verse at the end. Now I need to go dig up the original and have a listen.