Real Meanings Behind Pop Songs

Re: Happiness is a Warm Gun

“Mother Superior” was one of John’s names for Yoko, and I always associated the first section of the song with masturbation (but that’s just me). Just thought I’d mention it.

Q: What are “the bits” in: “I need a fix 'cause I’m going down / Down to the bits that I left uptown”

Mea Culpa. I got a little confused. There is a song out there that people use in weddings that’s about that. “Wonderful Tonight” is the one about the guy who gets tanked at a party and his wife has to help him to bed. Still not something I’d use in my wedding.

In one of his stories (“God is an Iron”, I think, now part of the novel Mindkiller), Spider Robinson suggests that “Norwegian Wood” is a pun for/obscuring of “Knowing She Would”, about the woman’s casual acceptance of a sexual element in their new relationship.

Or something like that. It’s been a long time since I read it.

– Bob

She-bop, by Cyndi Lauper
I Touch Myself, by the Divinyls

Or are they too obvious? <grin>

– Bob

I think your DJ was a Spider Robinson reader, bwanasimbapldennison is, as far as I know, right that there isn’t any evidence that the song was ever actually called that.

– Bob

Of course, the best reference is the title of the story – Rubber Soul. As Spider said in the afterword, there was something attractive about the idea of John Lennon’s soul bouncing back to earth like a cosmic bad check.

– Bob

Icicle by Tori Amos.

The one masturbation song I haven’t seen mentioned yet would be “Rosie” by Jackson Browne -

“Rosie, you’re all right, you wear my ring” sure makes sense if you’re thinking about “Rosie Palms” - but then, this is something I heard once from a drunk, and have been too lazy to research. Anyone else ever hear of this one?

Well, I’ll look it up for you…
According to Nashville Song Writers Hall of Fame: David Loggins

Insurance sales might include traveling, and being a singer/songwriter definitely would take him all over the country.

Nocturne the mention of Hotel California having to do with drugs… it might but I don’t know. I’ve always thought of it as a sort of hell on earth type thing.

According to Cecil Adams Himself

Thanks to BigStar303 and Pepperland Girl for the insights on Please Come to Boston.

If the composer is from Tennessee, and the song is in any way autobiographical, then the girl singing is talking about him. Sweet, and thanks for tying that one up.

Also, thanks to the other Spider fans for coming up with the background on the “Knowing She Would.” Too wiped out last night to do a proper search.

I found a scan of this story. Two things:

  1. If Spider made the comment you attribute to him, Bob, he didn’t make it in the version of the story I have. Perhaps it was published elsewhere as well.

  2. There is no reference in my version of “Rubber Soul” to “Norwegian Wood” or “Knowing She Would.” Maybe this was in another Spider Robinson story.

OK, anyone else know of a song with a “safe sex” reference other than “The Fez” by Fagin & Becker?

“Pool Shark” by Sublime is supposedley about heroin. Brad Nowell (the lead singer) OD’ed, so take it for what it’s worth.

Hotel California is, I have always heard, a song about dying, or the songwriters interpretation of the afterlife.

Amen, brother… refer to previous post regarding Sarah McLachlan’s “Possession”

But I was also a tad alarmed at couples who’d pick “Hold On My Heart” by Genesis.

It’s a song about a guy who’s entered a new relationship after having his heart broken from a previous one and telling himself, “Don’t tell her you love her. Don’t let her see you cry” and basically withholding his feeling for the girl.

Good song and appropriate for many situations, but not a wedding’s first dance…

Actually, I’m not the one who said it was in “Rubber Soul”. I said it was in “God is an Iron”, originally published as a short story but now part of the novel Mindkiller.

– Bob

Hey, speaking of wedding songs, is “Fields of Gold” inappropriate? I don’t think there are any hidden, sad meanings behind that song, but I’m not a very objective person when it comes to Sting…

Springsteen’s “Blinded by the Light”