# Most misused song **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 14, 2012, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-misused-song/621887 "2012-05-14T15:02:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Small\_Hen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ad7895/32.png) [@Small\_Hen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Small_Hen)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2012, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-misused-song/621887/61 "2012-05-18T05:03:35Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > LOL Really? For those who don’t know this song is about doing blow. Well, meth, not blow. “Doing crystal meth will lift you up until you break.” Also, it’s about the narrator’s girlfriend going down on him while they’re high. Seriously, Winnie the Pooh? ---
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2012, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-misused-song/621887/62 "2012-05-18T13:39:55Z")
> [@Critical1](#): > > The one I love by R.E.M., played at wedding receptions all the time and its a song about masturbation. Really? Is there a cite for this? It’s [not indicated by Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_One_I_Love_(R.E.M._song)). ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2012, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-misused-song/621887/63 "2012-05-18T16:37:12Z")
> [@Cosmic Relief](#): > > Okay, along those lines, “Like a Rock” by Bob Seger. It’s basically about he used to be all young and hard but now it’s not. For the US auto industry, unintentionally and sadly true, which makes it a rather tragic expropriation. I happen to be playing this song right now. And yes, the guy used to be in peak condition, but time has taken its toll on him. “Felt like a million, felt like number one” is indeed an accurate description of the US auto industry. This song always reminds me of my father, who was hard and strong in his youth, but when he died, he was incredibly feeble. Still sharp mentally, but he was missing the lower part of his left leg, he had almost no kidney function left, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Righteous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Dr.Righteous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Righteous)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2012, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-misused-song/621887/64 "2012-05-18T17:09:18Z")
“Every Breath You Take” was chosen as the prom song when I was in high school. I think I was only one of a handful of people trying to tell others how a creepy stalker song is a bad idea. My halfhearted nomination is “Wonderful Tonight”. It’s only a halfhearted one since the song itself is fine but now that I know Clapton says it was written to be a sarcastic shout out to how long his wife took to be ready… kinda takes the shine off of it for me. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2012, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-misused-song/621887/65 "2012-05-18T20:06:22Z")
> [@Greg\_Charles](#): > > “Start Me Up” was used to advertise Windows 95 when it first launched. Of course, they only played the “Start me up and I’ll never stop” part, and left out the line “you make a grown man cry”. They also omitted “I’ve been running hot”. mmm ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2012, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-misused-song/621887/66 "2012-05-18T20:18:15Z")
> [@Sigmagirl](#): > > Every year around the Fourth of July I hear commercials, mostly for car dealerships having big Independence Day car sales. They want to put some nice patriotic-sounding music in the background to remind us all of our Yankee Doodle heritage. What do they use? “[The British Grenadiers](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGrxHO-B2TY).” Believe it or not, there IS a period American version of that song, titled “Free Ameri-kay” (I kid you not!) that probably would have been played by Continental Army musicians as they marched into battle. The things that are supposed to hook the TV viewers are the fifes and drums, not the lyrics (to which you average American hasn’t a clue). Fifes and drums sound real Rev-Warry, regardless of which piece you’re playing. This thread reminds me of a funny story: A guy I used to work with when I was in broadcasting (a Russian born and raised in Washington, DC, of all places) had an English-language show on Radio Moscow back in Soviet times. He got to play Monty Python’s “Lumberjack Song” on his program one night by telling the censors that it was a piece by a bunch of British subversives, ridiculing the Establishment for exploiting workers in the wilds of British Columbia. “Good, good!” said the censors. “Play more pieces like that in the future!” True story; I did NOT make it up! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Corcaigh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Corcaigh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corcaigh)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2012, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-misused-song/621887/67 "2012-05-18T20:26:23Z")
> [@well\_he\_s\_back](#): > > Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen. I’ve seen it sung with a choir backing the sollist. just no. not really a religious song. A children’s choir sang that on TV at Christmas I just about died. Kelly Clarkson sang a song “Because of You” which was often mistaken for a romantic ballad. Don’t know who sings “Band of Gold”, but a song about being jilted is not really suitable for a first dance at a wedding reception. ---
**Author:** ![Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/bc8723/32.png) [@Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unauthorized_Cinnamon)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2012, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-misused-song/621887/68 "2012-05-18T23:41:55Z")
I found it pretty amusing when the Democratic National Convention featured “Let’s Get It Started,” which of course was originally entitled, “Let’s Get Retarded.” I also don’t think “The One I Love” is about masturbation. Its use as a love song IS inappropriate, but only because it’s about the most contemptuous song ever written. If the lyrics didn’t give away the sarcasm of the opening line, the singing style surely does! This was a one-time thing, but it was so funny I want to share. Back when I was Catholic, our church got a shiny new pipe organ, and they loved to show it off. They played that thing incessantly during each mass. One Sunday they chose “The Liberty Bell” by John Philip Sousa, otherwise known as the theme from Monty Python’s Flying Circus. ---
**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:** [May 19, 2012, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-misused-song/621887/69 "2012-05-19T02:27:29Z")
> [@](#): > > Quoth **terentii** : > > This thread reminds me of a funny story: A guy I used to work with when I was in broadcasting (a Russian born and raised in Washington, DC, of all places) had an English-language show on Radio Moscow back in Soviet times. He got to play Monty Python’s “Lumberjack Song” on his program one night by telling the censors that it was a piece by a bunch of British subversives, ridiculing the Establishment for exploiting workers in the wilds of British Columbia. “Good, good!” said the censors. “Play more pieces like that in the future!” Well, if you really think about it, that’s true. And I honestly had a hard time stopping laughing out loud about that. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2012, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-misused-song/621887/70 "2012-05-20T07:36:58Z")
> [@magnusblitz](#): > > _Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)_ by Green Day. Billie Joe Armstrong said it’s about a guy breaking up with his girlfriend, conflicted between feeling bitter and being understanding. > > Instead, it gets played at weddings, proms and commencements. Pet peeve rant: This misuse is Armstrong’s own damn fault. Read the lyrics sometime. They do _not_ impart the above meaning very well, if at all. Given that, how are you supposed to tell how it’s “supposed” to be used? The title? Nope, sorry, the title doesn’t appear in the song at all, so most people who hear it through the radio or peer made playlists will only see “Time of Your Life.” Knowing the history, based on the writer’s personal life? Psh, yeah right, that’s _completely_ reasonable. Sorry, but as far as I’m concerned, the “real” meaning is too opaque for a reasonable, average listener to ever get, and the sneering at those who don’t “get it” is misplaced. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2012, 8:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-misused-song/621887/71 "2012-05-20T08:45:12Z")
> [@Leaper](#): > > Pet peeve rant: This misuse is Armstrong’s own damn fault. Read the lyrics sometime. They do _not_ impart the above meaning very well, if at all. Given that, how are you supposed to tell how it’s “supposed” to be used? I’ll have to disagree, because even the very tone of voice of the singer has always struck me as sneering and belittling the “you” of the song. The lyrics matched with that singing style and the unceasing tempo of the song clearly indicate sardonic/ironic bitterness and dismissal to me. It might as well be subtitled “Fuck you.”. And the [video](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnQ8N1KacJc)is hardly celebratory. It’s one messed up “how the hell did I get here; this is not where I thought life would take me” moment after another. I don’t know about you, but I’m solidly Gen X. Irony is like mother’s milk. And the irony of my schools’ leaders choosing to play this song at graduations et al. was just too delicious for words. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2012, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-misused-song/621887/72 "2012-05-20T19:05:55Z")
> [@Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](#): > > One Sunday they chose “The Liberty Bell” by John Philip Sousa, otherwise known as the theme from Monty Python’s Flying Circus. It was the first tune played after Bill Clinton’s first inauguration speech. I thought it augured well for the entertainment value of the next four years and I wasn’t let down. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2012, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-misused-song/621887/73 "2012-05-20T19:38:57Z")
> [@Kizarvexius](#): > > Wagner’s Bridal Chorus from _Lohengrin_, a.k.a. “Here Comes the Bride”. The story just ain’t purty. And that’s why a number of churches won’t allow the use of it as the processional for an in church wedding. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-misused-song/621887.md?page=3)