# Songs whose meaning changes WITHIN the song. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 23, 2008, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-whose-meaning-changes-within-the-song/469220 "2008-10-23T16:16:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2008, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-whose-meaning-changes-within-the-song/469220/41 "2008-12-07T06:20:39Z")
> [@cmkeller](#): > > “End of Innocence” by Don Henley. At first, it’s about a kid talking about his parents’ divorce, then the next verse is an anti-Reagan rant, finally, it sounds like a boy sadly expecting to depart from his girlfriend. A friend of mine had that song played at her wedding. Weird. In the program, they had some vague idea of “ending” their age of innocence by growing up & being married people, but then added, “Our home will be a place of innocence.” They’re now divorced. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2008, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-whose-meaning-changes-within-the-song/469220/42 "2008-12-07T07:16:34Z")
> [@T\_SQUARE](#): > > Speaking of Carly Simon, I always thought ‘You’re so Vain’ fits the bill. > > I mean, in the first verse, the guy is actually pretty vain. Who other than the truly vain wears an apricot scarf anyway? But then, he’s going to horse races and flying to Canada to watch eclipses. That’s not really all that vain; it’s just the kind of stuff rich people do. And then, we find out that guy is making time with his pals’ wives and hanging around with underworld spies. That’s not vanity, that’s just being a lowlife. Not to mention that, at first, it seemed (to me at least) that the song was about me, and it turned out it wasn’t. 😉 From the Buffy musical episode: _Once More, With Feeling!_, Tara’s love song to Willow “I’m Under Your Spell” is first played as a happy love song, talking about how in love she is with Willow, and then later, it’s revisited, this time a lament when Tara discovers that Willow has actually been casting amnesia spells on her to make her forget disagreements they had, thus _literally_ putting Tara under her spell. ---
**Author:** ![RachelChristine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7ab992/32.png) [@RachelChristine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RachelChristine)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2008, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-whose-meaning-changes-within-the-song/469220/43 "2008-12-07T14:42:14Z")
What about the George Jones song “Hotter than a Two-Dollar Pistol”. The first verse appears to describe his car, and the second makes it clear it’s the woman in the car who is so hot. ---
**Author:** ![RobuSensei](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/919ad9/32.png) [@RobuSensei](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobuSensei)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2008, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-whose-meaning-changes-within-the-song/469220/44 "2008-12-07T15:54:29Z")
The song “Silhouettes” by many groups, the version I know by The Nylons. It starts out with a guy outside his girlfriends house, seeing two people in silhouette on the windowshade, hugging and kissing. The singer loses control and rings the bell, intending to confront his girlfriend and her new guy, when “two strangers who had been two silhouettes on the shade/said to my shock, you’re on the wrong block!” ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2008, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-whose-meaning-changes-within-the-song/469220/45 "2008-12-07T21:02:13Z")
Chad Brock’s [The Visit](http://www.lyricsfreak.com/c/chad+brock/the+visit_20028774.html). The song starts with the singer explaining to his wife that he’s been seeing another woman who can give him “what you can’t any more”. Then in the last verse you find out that he’s at his wife’s grave. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2008, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-whose-meaning-changes-within-the-song/469220/46 "2008-12-08T00:27:28Z")
Not QUITE a song, but there is a Jodie in the Air Force called “Irene Irene” Irene’s her name She’s one of the best. So every night I give her the test. She looks so pretty. So sleek, so slim. The moon is bright the lights are dim. I’ve seen her stripped. I’ve seen her bare, I’ve felt her over everywhere. I handled her just as gentle as I could. And when I got in her I knew she was good. I rolled her over on her side Then from the back I also tried. She’s just one big thrill the best in the land. She’s an F-16 in the Air Combat Command. A number of the jodies we sing are like that, starting out vulgar sounding, with some twist in them to make them relatively innocent. Of course, some of them have some twist in them to make them even worse, it really depends on who’s calling the jodies. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2008, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-whose-meaning-changes-within-the-song/469220/47 "2008-12-08T01:03:18Z")
[Running out of Ink](http://www.elyrics.net/read/b/barenaked-ladies-lyrics/running-out-of-ink-lyrics.html) by the Barenaked Ladies manages to go from sympathetic, to a feeling of triumphant smugness, to just plain depressing through the course of the song. This is mainly facilitated by the end of each “paragraph” with \ me (i.e. I wish that it was me, and you can’t look at me). It’s actually circular as well as changing, it shows it by using the same “qualifier” in the first and last non-chorus stanzas. I think I’m explaining it right, it’s just the feeling I get from it at least. ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2008, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-whose-meaning-changes-within-the-song/469220/48 "2008-12-08T02:11:40Z")
“Lola” by The Kinks seems to be about how the narrator meets a woman, but in the last line he finds out that it’s really a man. ---
**Author:** ![DfrntBreign](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f6c823/32.png) [@DfrntBreign](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DfrntBreign)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2008, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-whose-meaning-changes-within-the-song/469220/49 "2008-12-08T09:40:02Z")
I’ve got one. It’s called “Driving Her Home”. As the video starts, we’re looking at a late-thirtyish man in a car reflecting on his past. The scene outside the window is stark and wintery, as is the music. As we go along we see flashbacks to his first meeting with his wife. It’s all furitive glances and secret smiles and teenage awkwardness. Jump to several scenes of a happy life together; first kisses, getting married, buying a house, having a child, etc. The music brightens at first but eventually returns to slow, sad and somber. As the song fades, the POV sweeps up and out and we see the hearse pull up to a rural family cemetery. The man steps out and the family start gathering for a graveside service about to begin. If I ever finish it I’ll post it somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2008, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-whose-meaning-changes-within-the-song/469220/50 "2008-12-08T10:01:16Z")
Joni Mitchell’s [Real Good and Free](http://www.lyricsfreak.com/j/joni+mitchell/real+good+for+free_20075395.html) [Cold Blue Steel and Sweet Fire](http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/COLD-BLUE-STEEL-AND-SWEET-FIRE-lyrics-Joni-Mitchell/3EDB997C0254027248256A42004FF759) [The Circle Game](http://jonimitchell.com/musician/song.cfm?id=TheCircleGame) ---
**Author:** ![ToeJam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dfb087/32.png) [@ToeJam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ToeJam)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2008, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-whose-meaning-changes-within-the-song/469220/51 "2008-12-08T10:03:37Z")
One of the most disturbing songs to me that’s in the same vein probably with the shocking ending is the rapper- Immortal Technique’s **Dance with the Devil**. If you want to youtube it, you’re welcome to do so, but it’s EXTREMELY graphic and filthy, and it is to this day one of the few songs that I can’t really listen to, yet consider extremely powerful. I still remember the first time i heard that song… ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2008, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-whose-meaning-changes-within-the-song/469220/52 "2008-12-08T12:46:17Z")
Moderator reminder: You’re doing fine, but just a reminder please not to quote entire song lyrics. Instead, quote a verse or two and provide a link to a site that has copyright rights and shows the full lyrics. If you’re confused, please see: [Rules for Posting on the Straight Dope Message Boards](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=7696968#post7696968), Post #3 is about Copyrights. **robardin** , I’m leaving what you posted since you’re adding analysis of selected verses, so “fair usage” is probably OK. **Raguleader** , since it’s a jodie, I’m assuming there’s no one with copyright? So, this is just a reminder to future posters to please be careful… and considerate of the artists who created the songs. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2008, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-whose-meaning-changes-within-the-song/469220/53 "2008-12-08T13:39:49Z")
> [@Ponch8](#): > > “Lola” by The Kinks seems to be about how the narrator meets a woman, but in the last line he finds out that it’s really a man. Does he? Or is Lola merely glad he’s a man? ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2008, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-whose-meaning-changes-within-the-song/469220/54 "2008-12-08T13:44:55Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Does he? Or is Lola merely glad he’s a man? People keep bringing this up, as if those were the only lyrics in the song that made the suggestion that Lola was a man. _Well I’m not the world’s most physical guy But when she squeezed me tight she nearly broke my spine_ and _Well I’m not dumb but I can’t understand Why she walked like a woman and talked like a man_ and _She picked me up and sat me on her knee_ and _Girls will be boys and boys will be girls_ The implication is ubiquitous thoughout the song. It’s not just in that one line. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2008, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-whose-meaning-changes-within-the-song/469220/55 "2008-12-08T20:49:53Z")
In Richard Thompson’s **Don’t Tempt Me** the narrator is mad that his girl is dancing with another guy, and dirty dancing too (“ban that couple, Certificate X”) - but we find out at the end that it’s her uncle. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-whose-meaning-changes-within-the-song/469220.md?page=2)