Songs that sound like they're about one thing, but are actually about something else.

‘’

Yeah, right. Tim Rice and two guys from ABBA needed help financing the production?

The chorus is about the Bangkok tourist prostitute industy, while Murray Head’s vocals are about his not being interested in it (I get my kicks above the waistline, sunshine).

“Born in the USA”, is a rather anti-USA song, and hardly patriotic. Viet-nam war protest song, actually.

Springsteen’s “Glory Days” is actually a cry for the past, though some people think it’s upbeat.

And “Memory” from CATS is NOT a dirge, though most people sing it that way. It’s suppose to be a quiet, reflective song.

[Principal Skinner Mode] We’ll have no filth like that in here young man! Off to
detention with you! [/Principal Skinner Mode]

Of course how could “Afternoon Delight” not be in this thread? In my wildly naive
youth I really DID think it was about model rocketry…

So it’s not about masturbation either?
“I can feel it coming in the air tonight, Oh Lord.” :smiley:

Isn’t there a line in the chorus where she goes,

Papa don’t preach
I’m in trouble deep

That’s not too ambiguous, is it?

“Golden Brown”, “There She Goes”, and many other songs which use the love song as a cover for the drug song.

I suppose everyone knows Neil Young’s “Long May You Run” is about his old car, right?

And I don’t think Jerry Lee Lewis was witnessing ball lightning when he wrote:

Okay, I’ll tell you. It’s about sex and dominance. It’s not uncommon for persons in certain sorts of relationships to use such nicknames for one another, whether or not there’s an age difference between the partners that justifies it. A few years ago I had a girlfriend–ten years OLDER than me, by the way–who always called me “Daddy.” (She also, for some reason, programmed her cell phone to identify me as such when I called, which called her no little embarrassment one day when I called and her daughter saw the readout first. “Um, mom–isn’t grandpa DEAD?”)

That said, I don’t think “Father Figure” is about a HETEROSEXUAL relationship, though.

One classic whose actual meaning is shrouded in mystery is “Sally Go Round the Roses”- wish I knew what that one was about…

There’s also a subset of this category – the surprise ending song. You think they’re about one thing, and the true subject of the song is revealed at the end. The best example I can think of is The Naughty Lady of Shady Lane.

I once heard Roger Clark (of the Byrds) on a radio interview show explain that “Eight Miles High” was actually about parachuting. The title is supposed to refer to the height at which skydivers jump out of the plane. It being the mid-60s, and the Byrds being early progenitors of psychedelia, the song is commonly thought to be a snarky reference to smoking hootch.

FTR, Clark stated that he knew that the real height that skydivers jump from the plane is actually much lower, but he thought that “Eight Miles High” just had a good ring to it.

Yeah, and Red-Necked Friend sounds like it’s about his Southern pal :smiley: :smiley:

“He’s the missing link, the kitchen sink, livin’ on a scale of ten”

That explanation is news to me. My understanding is that “Eight Miles High” was about the group’s trip to London (i.e., the “rain gray town known for its sound”) and the disorientation they experienced from jet lag and being in a foreign country. (Of course, it is possible weed played a role in causing some of the disorientation.)

This isn’t quite true, at least according to Wikipedia:

So now you know.

I don’t know how anyone could get confused, but my high school girlfriend once made me a mix tape with Garth Brooks Unanswered Prayers on it. Her note included with the tape said “You’re my unanswered prayer.” I don’t think it was meant as a hint.

When I could tell we would soon be breaking up, I thought about giving her a copy of Dan Hill’s Sometimes When We Touch and see how she interpreted that one.

I’ve never figured out Rhythm of My Heart by Rod Stewart. It sounds happy and romantic, but then it has lines like

“…Running under cover of a helicopter blade…”

“…The flames are getting higher in effigy…”

“…Photographs and kerosene light up my darkness…”

“…I’m just yanking back the handle, no expression on my face…”

What’s happening to this guy? Does anyone know?

:confused:

One by U2. It’s an angry song, about putting up with a manipulative asshole that you nonetheless love:

*You say love is a temple, love a higher law
Love is a temple, love the higher law.
You ask me to enter, but then you make me crawl
And I can’t be holding on to what you got, when all you got is hurt.
*
People use this as a wedding song. :eek:

Sexy sadie is about the maharashi, not sexy sadie. (At least it was originally written that way.)

Or the other way around, Lucy in the sky with diamonds, is not about LSD.

Bolding mine.

Where in the song does it say she is breaking up with her boyfriend?