# Lyrics that some people don't pay attention to **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [October 19, 2026, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-some-people-dont-pay-attention-to/1033965 "2026-10-19T12:30:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2026, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-some-people-dont-pay-attention-to/1033965/21 "2026-10-19T16:28:32Z")
Hozier’s _Take Me To Church_ has apparently been played in actual churches. A song about repressive religion and engaging in what the church would consider depraved sexual activity. I mean the music video is about violence against LGBTQ people in Russia. And in many of these examples people get caught up in the chorus and don’t listen to the rest, but in this song the chorus is pretty straight up not about godliness: _I’ll worship like a dog at the shrine of your lies I’ll tell you my sins while you sharpen your knife_ Pretty crazy. ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2026, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-some-people-dont-pay-attention-to/1033965/22 "2026-10-19T17:27:41Z")
Same for “I Will Always Love You” used as a wedding song. It’s a BREAKUP song, people! Then there’s “Saving All My Love For You”. Side piece is whining about how awful it is that “her” so-called “man” hasn’t walked out on his family for her yet. ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2026, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-some-people-dont-pay-attention-to/1033965/23 "2026-10-19T17:28:34Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > With some death metal, it is not so much that I do not pay attention to the lyrics (about demons, corpses, blasphemy, violence, etc.) as much as sometimes they seem hard to make out. Could be a me problem. That has lyrics? To me, it’s just ear-shattering screaming. ---
**Author:** ![Mops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mops/32/16494_2.png) [@Mops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mops)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2026, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-some-people-dont-pay-attention-to/1033965/24 "2026-10-19T17:49:59Z")
Not a case of disregarding the lyrics but of totally repurposing a tune: for a 1977 ad for a German bitter [https://youtu.be/RUqdvviANCo?is=qZtHkRg0PQ0Qrj-j](https://youtu.be/RUqdvviANCo?is=qZtHkRg0PQ0Qrj-j) ---
**Author:** ![LavenderMagnolia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/2bfe46/32.png) [@LavenderMagnolia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderMagnolia)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2026, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-some-people-dont-pay-attention-to/1033965/25 "2026-10-19T17:55:45Z")
On a similar note, I saw an ad that shows a family being happy in their home and a boy is playing outside. It has the first few notes of “Wildflowers” by Tom Petty. To me, the song sounds like someone accepting that he and a partner/spouse need to go their separate ways. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan\_myers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@aruvqan\_myers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan_myers)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2026, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-some-people-dont-pay-attention-to/1033965/26 "2026-10-19T19:53:45Z")
I joke about ‘You Picked A Fine Time To Leave Me Lucille’ [got stuck on hold once to it for 45 minutes] I maintain dude needs to hit up a bar, pick up a chick to take care of the kids, get his ass out and harvest the damned field, not whinge about it all. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan\_myers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@aruvqan\_myers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan_myers)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2026, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-some-people-dont-pay-attention-to/1033965/27 "2026-10-19T19:56:44Z")
[Hallelulja](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hallelujah_(Leonard_Cohen_song)) by Leonard Cohen - David and Bathsheba, real romantic setup - spot a woman, ship her husband off to die in battle so you can fornicate with her. ---
**Author:** ![XOldiesJock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/ec9cab/32.png) [@XOldiesJock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XOldiesJock)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2026, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-some-people-dont-pay-attention-to/1033965/28 "2026-10-19T20:05:58Z")
> [@Seanette](#): > > _Same for “I Will Always Love You” used as a wedding song. It’s a BREAKUP song, people!_ Several years ago I was doing a vacation fill-in on a radio station that had a “love songs and dedications” show in the evening. Not my cup of tea exactly but I did a credible job. People would request all manner of inappropriate songs that they obviously had never listened to closely, like “I Will Always Love You” and “Every Breath You Take.” Male callers were especially clueless. I sometimes would ask them “Are you SURE you want to dedicate that song to your girlfriend?” One evening a woman called and asked me to play “Endless Love” by Lionel Richie and Diana Ross, for her daughter and her fiancé. Without thinking, I said “Well I hope they have better luck than the couple in the movie!” She said “There was a movie??? What happened to the couple in the movie?” (This was not “live.” The calls were pre-recorded and edited for airplay.) Realizing I had stepped in it, I said “Well, that was just a movie. Forget I mentioned it. It’s a beautiful song for a couple starting their lives together and we are happy to play it for them.” (Or something like that.) I’m not sure she believed me. From then on I was a lot more careful about making off the cuff remarks to people, no matter what I thought about their request! ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2026, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-some-people-dont-pay-attention-to/1033965/29 "2026-10-19T20:09:33Z")
> [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > Randy Newman’s “I Love L.A.” isn’t quite the paean to Los Angeles that it might seem. I think it is. Yes, it does mention a " bum over there, man" but lots of homeless in LA. > [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > Escape (The Pina Colada Solng) > > If you don’t listen to [the lyrics](https://genius.com/Rupert-holmes-escape-the-pina-colada-song-lyrics), it is about a guy who answers a lonely hearts ad, and meets a woman with similar interests to his own. > > Actually: > A) the guy is cheating on his lady, and > B) the woman he meets IS his lady. He never actually cheats, and of course she is “cheating” as well. She put the ad in, he answered it. > [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > C) His lady is also cheating on him. (just to make it explicit rather than implicit) Right. They _consider_ cheating, as their love life has got stale, but they then realize they like a lot of the same things. It is actually- to me anyway- romantic. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2026, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-some-people-dont-pay-attention-to/1033965/30 "2026-10-19T20:19:40Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > > [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > > > Randy Newman’s “I Love L.A.” isn’t quite the paean to Los Angeles that it might seem. > > I think it is. Yes, it does mention a " bum over there, man" but lots of homeless in LA. There’s also a mention of the Santa Ana winds, more a nuisance than a point of local pride. And other lines are double-edged in their praise: “Look at these women / Ain’t nothing like them nowhere.” ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2026, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-some-people-dont-pay-attention-to/1033965/31 "2026-10-19T20:52:25Z")
One commercial misuse I’m always amused by is Philadelphia Cream Cheese using “New York, New York”. Or at least, the first four words (“Start spreading the news”). ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2026, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-some-people-dont-pay-attention-to/1033965/32 "2026-10-19T21:00:24Z")
I’ve heard that some people play “The One I Love” by R.E.M. at their wedding. Nice choice of a song about a string of abusive relationships. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2026, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-some-people-dont-pay-attention-to/1033965/33 "2026-10-19T21:01:41Z")
They are called [growled vocals](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_growl), and if you do it without the proper technique, by screaming for instance, your vocal cords are history! ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2026, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-some-people-dont-pay-attention-to/1033965/34 "2026-10-19T21:05:41Z")
My dad was a big fan of Lola by the Kinks for like 30 years before he read the lyrics and doesn’t like it anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2026, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-some-people-dont-pay-attention-to/1033965/35 "2026-10-19T21:12:26Z")
> [@aruvqan\_myers](#): > > pick up a chick to take care of the kids, Well, he does have 400 children. That’s a lot to ask some woman to take care of. ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2026, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-some-people-dont-pay-attention-to/1033965/36 "2026-10-20T01:32:30Z")
A more obscure one: [In Hell I’ll Be In Good Company](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9FzVhw8_bY) It’s a great song, and a well-made and amusing video. Cowboys in Toronto! The lyrics, if you listen to them, are incongruously creepy. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2026, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-some-people-dont-pay-attention-to/1033965/37 "2026-10-20T01:44:45Z")
_“I would do anything for love, but I won’t do that.”_ Meat Loaf. People apparently still ask “won’t do what?” even though the song details exactly what he won’t do. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2026, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-some-people-dont-pay-attention-to/1033965/38 "2026-10-20T02:09:58Z")
In the first line of “The Impression That I Get,” it sounds like the singer is saying nonsensically that he “never had to knock on wood.” It only makes sense if you consider the line in the context of the first verse and interpolate a few implied words (and a silent comma): > Have you ever been close to tragedy > Or been close to folks who have > Have you ever felt a pain so powerful > So heavy you collapse (No? Well…) > > I’ve never had to [experience those things], knock on wood… ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2026, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-some-people-dont-pay-attention-to/1033965/39 "2026-10-20T02:41:32Z")
How the heck did a guy on a farm figure out she in a city of a few hundred thousand people? And whomwas watching the four hungry children? ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2026, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-some-people-dont-pay-attention-to/1033965/40 "2026-10-20T02:50:39Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > For the OP, Iggy Pop’s Lust For Life, being used for cruise ship ads! I remember seeing a comment at the time along the lines of “I don’t know what ‘Of course I’ve had it in the ear before’ means, but it’s probably not allowed on a Royal Caribbean cruise”. > [@GuanoLad](#): > > _“I would do anything for love, but I won’t do that.”_ Meat Loaf. People apparently still ask “won’t do what?” even though the song details exactly what he won’t do. On _VH1 Storytellers_, Mr. Loaf broke out a blackboard and a pointer to diagram the lyrics and explain exactly what “that” is. My own submission to this thread is _You’re Beautiful_ by James Blunt. I’ve heard of it being used as a wedding song, when in reality it’s about a guy crashing out over a married woman he saw on the subway while high, and is now planning to kill himself because he’ll never be with her. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-some-people-dont-pay-attention-to/1033965.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-some-people-dont-pay-attention-to/1033965.md?page=3)