And the connection to Jamaica is that the song has a reggae beat.
The song Sukiyaki by A Taste of Honey is not about sukiyaki.
Most of these aren’t what I had in mind. To be clear, I wasn’t meaning nonsense or ironic uses or just cryptic titles. I meant more like the title evokes one image or description that is contradicted by the lyrics.
But since my OP got corrupted anyway, the thread kinda wandered, so whatever.
That one fits.
Now that’s a good example. Why is it called “the blues”? This song doesn’t answer the question.
But why is it called “the blues”? The song doesn’t say, just explains what is making him sad.
Coulda been “I guess that’s why I’m feeling blue.” Keeps the rhyme, without the conflict.
Keeps the rhyme, but not the meter.
Should be “And I guess that’s why I’m feeling so blue”. That fits.
Folsom Prison Blues
But I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die
Yeah, yeah, there’s ways it’s possible, but per the OP “it clearly does not match the lyrics.”
Additional information: The original version of the song, “Ue o Muite Arukō” by Kyu Sakamoto is in Japanese, and also does not mention “sukiyaki”. For English speaking audiences, the lyrics were completely changed, and the song given a recognizable Japanese name.
I disagree. That line is reminiscing on how he ended up in prison. It’s relevant to the title, because he’s lamenting being stuck there.
Works for me.
Right, he’s lamenting how he got in a California state prison…by shooting a man in Nevada.
Randy Newman’s “The Blues” is about people feeling down and out, but the music is completely non-blues-like (never more so than when the cast of Ally McBeal covered it), so maybe it only qualifies tangentially.
Oopsie.
Dylan’s “Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues” also isn’t much of a blues, and of course Tom Thumb never turns up in the song.
Where does he say he was arrested for shooting a man in Reno?
He shot a man in Reno just to watch him die, now he is stuck in Folsom Prison.
What else could it mean?
He doesn’t mention an arrest. But there’s just something about the feel of that song that leads me to believe he didn’t get away with it. YMMV.
It’s plausible his reflection is incomplete. He recalls his mother telling him not to play with guns, but it didn’t take, and he started his life of crime early. Now, years later and he is sitting in Folsom Prison for some unspecified crime, he laments ever starting on that path, and his first step to where he is.
He also mentions the train is headed “down to San Antone”, i.e. San Antonio, Texas, so he’s all over the map in that song.
“It’s plausible his reflection is incomplete.”
Oh, come on! In your thread title you wrote “according to the lyrics.” He’s sitting in prison with the blues and he’s mentioning his unjustified shooting for us to make an obvious inference.
“and he started his life of crime early.”
Since we’re nit-picking- we don’t know that.
“He also mentions the train is headed “down to San Antone”, i.e. San Antonio, Texas, so he’s all over the map in that song.”
How is it relevant that he can hear a train headed towards San Antonio from the prison he sits in?
Yes, which I agreed to with my previous sheepish reply. By the lyrics, there’s definitely something wrong. It could be a missing, unexplained thing, which is an acceptable way to explain the gap, but doesn’t remove that gap as written.
To me, “down” to San Antonio from California seems wrong, but it could just be the use of a common expression. But I would think any train he was hearing would have some stops before halfway across Texas, so why there? It’s not explained.
Not really related to your point at all, just something I noticed.
as parody songs, a number of weird Al’s songs fit the OP
Check’s in the Mail (no it’s probably not)
Happy Birthday (Anything but)
I Can’t watch this (apparently he can given all his descriptions of the things he can’t watch)
One of those days (a day this bad has never happened)
Whatever you like (so long as its cheap)
I don’t know that intentional irony counts.