Yes, exactly. “There but for the grace of God go I,” and all that. I’ll never understand the criticism of those lyrics.
My contribution is the Eurythmics feminist anthem, Sisters are doing it for themselves.
“I’ve packed my bags, I’ve cleaned the floor. Had all I can take, now I’m leaving you.”
You’re leaving this miserable bastard, but before you go you cleaned his floor? Way to show him, girl!
Maybe he had some expensive rugs that she packed in her bags?
Jolene, in it’s entirety. I think I’ve said it here before, but the lyrics to Jolene should be “Hey Jolene, I brought you a present. It’s a rotten, faithless bastard. Enjoy! Oh, and you may want to open it soon, I didn’t want to spoil the wrapping with air holes.”
I never took “Well tonight thank God it’s them, instead of you” as advice, rather, it sounds accusatory to me. As though the singer is saying “You know there’s people starving in Africa, and it’s Christmas, and all you do is sit there grateful it’s not you instead of doing something about it.”
Piano Man. It has this surface sheen of being a happy tribute to the regulars at a neighborhood piano bar, but the lyrics betray such insufferable arrogance; all of these regular joes who think they’re gonna be novelists or movie stars, plus this dude’s in the navy of all things --as if there’s something so pitiable about being in the navy. The manager knows that Billy is the only thing keeping his place in the black, and also all the regulars give him money and say ‘Man, what are you doing here? You’re obviously better than all of us sad-sack drunks, Billy Joel!’
At least that’s how it comes across to me.
Also, the Beatles’ We Can Work It Out. Now, this could totally be all in my head but I’ve always thought the song came across as though the message is less, ‘we can work it out’, more, ‘you’re being overly emotional, I’m going to talk down to you like a child and you’ll eventually agree that of course I’m right. Because I’m right.’
What are you talking about? Afternoon Delight is a dessert. It’s made with coconut, and pineapple and marshmallow fluff.
Another vote for ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas’. The first song that ever seriously pissed me off. I was just a kid, but we’d just moved back to Europe after several years in Africa, and all over the radio there’s this *idiotic *song.
‘Where nothing ever grows, no rain or river flows’? Seriously? This person has never been in Africa during the rainy season, when the rain is smashing down so thickly you can barely breathe through it, and all the red dust is exploding into green so fast you can almost watch things growing. All I could think was: You, living in a city in Europe, you’re the one who doesn’t know what rain and growth are like, you patronising ignorant git.
‘Do they know it’s Christmastime at all?’ Well, yes. I mean, they think it’s about Jesus’s birth rather than about shopping, so they don’t know about the *real *meaning of Christmas, but yeah, millions of them being Christians, I’m gonna go with yes. And we’re back to ‘patronising ignorant git’.
I know the song is about Ethiopia, which isn’t where I was and which did have a whole lot less rain and growth, but that actually just added to what pissed me off. The song doesn’t talk about Ethiopia - it’s about ‘Africa’, like that’s one big homogeneous place entirely made up of news footage. And we’re back to ‘patronising ignorant git’.
It doesn’t annoy me nearly as much now - I’m able to allow for good intentions and the boundaries of trying to write a song that works lyrically. But at the time I wanted to kick the songwriter.
I think they used to put something something else in there back then.
Hmm, no. Nothing in the song to suggest the guy’s a cheat - Jolene is just too hot for her to compete with or him to resist.
Well, that is a new interpretation. The song is about people, artists particularly, not making their dreams. Move along, no tribute here.
Yeah, I always thought of Piano Man as more of a lament song than anything else. These folks are all drinking their lives away because they have lost hope on their dreams, their only happiness coming from spending time together and listening to Billy on the piano (who, presumably in the song, did not see himself making a living playing piano in a seedy bar).
I guess it doesn’t seem that strange to me. Seems like he’s so smitten that every mundane thing she does is a turn-on, even having a midnight snack. 
Jason Mraz, I’m Yours:
Okay, there’s not much wrong with the lyrics as written (except for ribald speculation about what “it” is that cannot wait). But the pronunciation is:
“I…won’t…hes…AH…tate no more”
The “i” in “hesitate” is a schwa. It’s a short, neutral sound, which could be pronounced like an “uh” or “eh.” Personally I’d even forgive a short “i” like “it,” especially given the meter of the song. But the main thing a schwa can’t be is a stressed syllable. And it’s certainly not an AH sound.
It’s just obnoxious. Even if you feel the need to emphasize the syllable, the song would work as “hes-EH-tate” or “hes-ih-tate” just as well. It’s like the singer experienced a sudden twinge of pain in the middle of singing “hesitate.”
“Save the Best for Last” by Vanessa Williams:
Sometimes the sun goes 'round the moon
I want to scream in terror every time I imagine that.
You couldn’t do me a quick snack before you go could you ?
Oh and theres a shirt I need ironing.
My take on Meat Loafs, I won’t do that is that it was about oral sex.
My own gripe is about an old song.
Baby I’m a want you
Baby I’m a need you.
It always makes me think of the stereo typical Indian scout from Cowboy films of the thirties.
I’d expect the woman to say…
Baby I’m a expecting you to take a hike.
What do you mean, “technically”? “North Africa” isn’t a separate entity from the rest of Africa, it’s just the bit that’s, well, nearer the top of the map.
Lots of misconceptions about Africa in this thread, not least the assertion that it’s “mostly in the southern hemisphere”.
Back on topic:
*I don’t want to see a ghost
It’s the sight that I fear most
I’d rather have a piece of toast
*
Very minor but it always bothered me.
I have a 30 some year old copy of Wings Complete from Hal Leonard publishing. The line is “But if this ever-changing world in which we’re living”
Yeah, yeah, John Lennon is a genius and a saint, and “Imagine” is the most uplifting song ever written.
BUT…
Lennon makes a nice structure, with one verse for each of the things that divide us: verse 1: religion. verse 2: nationalism verse 3: possessions.
Except he ruins verse 2…"Imagine there’s no countries/It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for/And no religion too
Seriously? You couldn’t think of anything for that line that you hadn’t said already in the first verse?
Really? Just goes to show how something gets stuck in your head. I heard it, and still do hear it the way I quoted, but that’s how Mondegreens are made. (Although I will note that a Google search of my quote shows that a lot of people heard what I heard too.)
Maybe it’s a Blazing Saddles kinda moment:
“You said religion twice.”
“I really hate religion.”