# Okay, I Know that's Not Really What the Song's About, But... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 3, 2011, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-i-know-thats-not-really-what-the-songs-about-but/595024 "2011-09-03T03:44:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2011, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-i-know-thats-not-really-what-the-songs-about-but/595024/1 "2011-09-03T03:44:46Z")
…couldn’t it be? I mean, if you listen to the words a certain way? Take some of the lyrics to _Cracklin’ Rosie_: “Cracklin’ Rose, you’re a store bought woman…Cracklin’ Rosie make me a smile, even if it lasts for an hour, that’s all right…” Geez, even the _name_ “Cracklin’” Rosie… Is Rosie a blow-up doll? Any other songs that make you think of things that the songwriter probably didn’t intend? ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2011, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-i-know-thats-not-really-what-the-songs-about-but/595024/2 "2011-09-03T03:47:16Z")
I’d always heard that _Cracklin’ Rosie_ was about wine. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2011, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-i-know-thats-not-really-what-the-songs-about-but/595024/3 "2011-09-03T03:58:32Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > I’d always heard that _Cracklin’ Rosie_ was about wine. Okay, so how bad is the lyricist if he’s trying to convey cheap wine, and I’m picturing blow up doll? ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2011, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-i-know-thats-not-really-what-the-songs-about-but/595024/4 "2011-09-03T04:28:37Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats](#): > > Okay, so how bad is the lyricist if he’s trying to convey cheap wine, and I’m picturing blow up doll? I don’t know you. Maybe lots of things make you picture blow up dolls. ---
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2011, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-i-know-thats-not-really-what-the-songs-about-but/595024/5 "2011-09-03T04:39:48Z")
Diamond once said (in an old Billboard interview) that it was based on a folk legend he once heard in Canada. Supposedly there was a remote area where there were so few women that men would buy bottles of rose wine and treat the bottles like they were a girlfriend. Now that’s waaay more creepy than having a blowup doll. ---
**Author:** ![Teufelblitz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@Teufelblitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teufelblitz)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2011, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-i-know-thats-not-really-what-the-songs-about-but/595024/6 "2011-09-03T07:00:06Z")
> [@installLSC](#): > > Diamond once said (in an old Billboard interview) that it was based on a folk legend he once heard in Canada. Supposedly there was a remote area where there were so few women that men would buy bottles of rose wine and treat the bottles like they were a girlfriend. Now that’s waaay more creepy than having a blowup doll. And insinuates far more about the men than I wish to know. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2011, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-i-know-thats-not-really-what-the-songs-about-but/595024/7 "2011-09-03T07:55:20Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > I don’t know you. Maybe lots of things make you picture blow up dolls. If [this does](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41Rwf4BRofL._SL500_AA300_.jpg), you can’t really blame him. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2011, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-i-know-thats-not-really-what-the-songs-about-but/595024/8 "2011-09-03T11:26:10Z")
What do you think of when you hear Jackson Browne’s _Rosie_? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2011, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-i-know-thats-not-really-what-the-songs-about-but/595024/9 "2011-09-03T11:36:15Z")
As far as other songs go, it took me a long time to notice that “White Line Fever” was not actually about cocaine. ---
**Author:** ![Homo\_litoralis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Homo\_litoralis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homo_litoralis)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2011, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-i-know-thats-not-really-what-the-songs-about-but/595024/10 "2011-09-03T16:02:47Z")
Last night, Elton John’s **Island Girl** came on the radio, and it reminded me of the time when I was a kid at a friend’s house and his big sister had that song blaring from her bedroom. It really is a catchy tune with great instrumentals, but as I listened to it last night, I realized, “Hey wait a minute! This song is about a prostitute!” That’s sort of the inverse of the OP’s topic and probably better suited to a thread called _Songs your parents would never let you listen to if they knew what the songs were about_, but I’m too lazy to start it. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2011, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-i-know-thats-not-really-what-the-songs-about-but/595024/11 "2011-09-03T16:24:55Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats](#): > > Is Rosie a blow-up doll? No, but [Sally](http://www.thepolice.com/discography/index/song/id/97/) is. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2011, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-i-know-thats-not-really-what-the-songs-about-but/595024/12 "2011-09-03T17:30:49Z")
Speaking of the Police, when “Message in a Bottle” was a hit my 12 year old self was under the impression that Sting is gay (possibly because of the earring he wore in his \*right \*ear? A telltale sign, you know) and I was sure the song was about him coming out. I don’t know how many people I convinced of that one. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2011, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-i-know-thats-not-really-what-the-songs-about-but/595024/13 "2011-09-03T17:49:59Z")
Judy in \*\*Bram Tchaikovsky’\*\*s _Girl of My Dreams_ was a blow up doll. > **[Girl Of My Dreams lyrics by Bram Tchaikovsky - original song full text....](https://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/b/bram_tchaikovsky/girl_of_my_dreams.html)** > > Original lyrics of Girl Of My Dreams song by Bram Tchaikovsky. Explain your version of song meaning, find more of Bram Tchaikovsky lyrics. Watch official video, print or download text in PDF. Comment and share your favourite lyrics. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2011, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-i-know-thats-not-really-what-the-songs-about-but/595024/14 "2011-09-03T20:15:29Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > What do you think of when you hear Jackson Browne’s _Rosie_? 🙂 _Rosie_, and _Cracklin’ Rosie_ are both about masturbation. Browne makes it more overt. I guess I read a different Diamond interview; he said the song was about getting drunk on cheap wine and, um, coming unscrewed. There’s an ancient locker room joke referring to having a date with Rosie Palme. _She Bop_, by what’s-her-name is also about masturbation. She said so. Frank Zappa’s _Pinky_ is very clearly about a blow-up sex doll. ---
**Author:** ![LateComer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b5ac83/32.png) [@LateComer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LateComer)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2011, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-i-know-thats-not-really-what-the-songs-about-but/595024/15 "2011-09-04T04:01:15Z")
I’m pretty sure Alice Cooper’s Cold Ethyl is about alcohol and not necrophilia as he implies in his stage shows. ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2011, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-i-know-thats-not-really-what-the-songs-about-but/595024/16 "2011-09-04T04:13:00Z")
It struck me that Dave Matthews Band’s _Too Much_ could be sung by some big rubbery monster as he destroys Tokyo. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2011, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-i-know-thats-not-really-what-the-songs-about-but/595024/17 "2011-09-04T22:36:43Z")
According schoolyard folklore, “Turning Japanese” by the Vapors is about masturbation. VH1 once interviewed the guy who wrote it, and he denied it. He offered another explanation, which I cannot remember, because it made even less sense than the masturbation theory. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2011, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-i-know-thats-not-really-what-the-songs-about-but/595024/18 "2011-09-04T23:49:22Z")
U2’s _Walk On_ was written about and dedicated to Aung San Suu Kyi, which I didn’t know until I went to the concert last month. Funny, I always assumed it was about keeping going in the face of Depression. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2011, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-i-know-thats-not-really-what-the-songs-about-but/595024/19 "2011-09-05T01:18:46Z")
I always thought Cracklin’ Rosie was about a prostitute. Get on board = he picks her up in his car. Even if it lasts for an hour…well isn’t it common to hire prostitutes by the hour? Having a time with a poor man’s lady = she ain’t a high-class call girl. Find us a dream that don’t ask no questions = being with a prostitute means you avoid emotional entanglements. Well, it makes about as much sense as anything. ---
**Author:** ![Cuckoorex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Cuckoorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cuckoorex)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2011, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-i-know-thats-not-really-what-the-songs-about-but/595024/20 "2011-09-05T04:22:53Z")
**Just Between You and Me** by April Wine; so, I take it this rules out a three-way? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-i-know-thats-not-really-what-the-songs-about-but/595024.md?page=2)