“I’m a dick” – The Muffs
Nick Lowe’s* I Trained Her to Love Me*
I think she felt intensely guilty about her brother’s death. The whole point of the song is that she was devastated by her brother being hung for her crime before she had a chance to confess. “The lights went out in Georgia” means a miscarriage of justice occurred - she deals with her grief by blaming the judge. The only reason she murdered in the first place was to (in her mind) protect her brother. It’s a very bitter song.
Though I of course agree that, as a murderer, she qualifies as a dick.
Also the brother was planning to kill his own friend before he found the body, so he’s a piece of work himself.
Which brings me to how they had even a make believe trial and scheduled an execution before she could confess (it only takes a second to yell “I did it”). Or why the lights were going out if he was hanged - I’ve always heard that phrase associated with electric chairs. Still like the song, though.
Folsom Prison Blues, of course - the singer shot a man just to watch him die. Great song though
Jumpin’ Destiny’s Child - the singer is imploring her friends to infidelity because there are wealthy men and attractive women available at the club.
http://www.metrolyrics.com/jumpin-lyrics-destinys-child.html
Like you say, that’s what the writer says it’s about (though I’m just now finding this out, thanks to your post). Gotta say though, the song’s really lacking in clues to suggest that it’s about anything besides a romantic relationship.
The Waitresses’ “I Know What Boys Like”.
I always interpreted that song differently. Not imploring anyone to infidelity but more, ‘‘there’s nothing wrong with going out and dancing with a hot guy/girl.’’
Whether that’s true or not is another matter entirely, but I don’t think the implication there is having an affair. This would be consistent with future songs like “Telephone” in which it’s clear Beyonce just wants to dance and have a good time and not have to worry about her boo nagging her.
You could counterargue with my own example of ‘‘Confessions’’, I suppose.
I’ll nominate Pulp, for, well, most of their songs, but Babies comes to mind, which is about a guy jumping in the wardrobe of his girlfriend’s sister and watching her have sex with her boyfriend. And eventually he ends up getting caught in the wardrobe and having sex with the sister. When he is caught by his girlfriend, he delivers the explanatory line:
(I think the best interpretation of this is that he dated his girlfriend only to be closer to her sister, but it’s ambiguous.)
Or Pencil Skirt
Pulp has a lot of pervy lounge-style songs of morally questionable integrity, and I kinda dig it, but there’s no question the protagonist is a cad. It’s like sleaze as performance art.
Bloodhound Gang’s A Lapdance Is So Much Better when the Stripper is Crying is possibly too obvious for this thread…
One of my favorites: “Hats Off To Larry” by Del Shannon. The gist: his girl broke his heart and left him for Larry. Now, Larry has done the same to her, and the song is basically gloating that she got the same treatment.
The entire song is less than 2 minutes long, which makes it tough to pull out just a few lyrics and really get the picture. I know that we shouldn’t post complete lyrics, but this song is so short, hopefully it can be an exception. Here they are in full:
So really, they’re all dicks.
Figuratively: Liar - Rollins Band
Literally: If Stuart Could Talk - The Dickies especially the final verse - always performed live with a phallic puppet
Didn’t the song implied that it was a really short trial/execution, i.e. the whole thing was over and done within a few days? Hence the make believe trial. The little sister might have been hiding out and just not heard until afterwards.
I’ve always heard “That’s the night that the lights went out in Georgia” as a metaphor.
Of course, there’s Denis Leary in “Asshole”:
I use public toilets and I piss on the seats
I walk around in the summertime saying “How about this heat?”
Sometimes I park in handicapped spaces
While handicapped people make handicapped faces
Kentucky Rain, sung by Elvis. Musically great song. But dick protagonist. Interestingly, the song was co-written by Eddie Rabbit, mentioned above.
Protagonist wakes up to “reach out for” his wife, but she is gone. So obviously she has fled in secret in the dead of night.
But protagonist sets on whiny, self-pitying stalking expedition. Because he feels entitled to an explanation. In other words, just like every other stalker who doesn’t accept that a woman has the right to leave him, he just “wants to talk”.
Part of the bizarre history of cultural confusion between dysfunctional and misogynistic on the one hand vs romantic on the other.
Literally any song by Wheeler Walker Jr. Good tunes though.
Bwuh? A guy’s wife disappears and you think it’s stalkerish of him to want to find out why?
Sure.
Song doesn’t say specifically it’s his wife.
It’s apparent she’s left him (“Don’t know why you’d run, what you’re running to or from”).
All he wants is to “bring her home”. Her wishes on the subject don’t seem to enter into consideration.
So he goes on an apparently directionless expedition to find her, in which maudlin self-pity and self-martyrdom are the key themes.
He doesn’t seem capable of reflecting on any backstory of their relationship that might prompt her to bolt.
Seems stalkerish to me. YM obviously Vs.
Don McLean’s Empty Chairs:
And I wonder if you know
That I never understood
That although you said you’d go
Until you did, I never thought you would
Never thought the words you said were true
Never thought you said just what you meant
Never knew how much I needed you
Never thought you’d leave, until you went
If that ain’t a dick, what is?
The guy singing the song in America’s Sister Golden Hair is definitely a dick. He doesn’t want to commit but he wants the woman’s companionship.
I ain’t ready for the altar
But I do agree there’s times
When a woman sure can be a friend of mine.
Creeps Like Me, by Lyle Lovett
*And I knew this pretty girl once
She was eighteen…
Maybe
What’s a year or two
And one day when she asked me
If I loved her
I said baby
What’s it worth to you
But look around
And you will see
This world is full of creeps like me
You look surpised
You shouldn’t be
This world is full of creeps like me*