# Songs You Don't Understand **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 23, 2010, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-dont-understand/526124 "2010-01-23T15:45:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2010, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-dont-understand/526124/41 "2010-01-25T18:00:15Z")
anyone speak French? sont des mots qui vont très bien ensemble I konw he loves her. 😉 What’s the French bit saying? Michelle, ma belle – my lover? This is my \*\*favorite \*\*Beatles song. Michelle [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ifobQSP-b7E/hqdefault.jpg "The Beatles Live- Michelle My Belle") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifobQSP-b7E) ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2010, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-dont-understand/526124/42 "2010-01-25T18:01:45Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Me, I have trouble even with unedited lyics. For instance, I’ve remarked before here about how I don’t understand the lyrics to The Doors’ “Touch Me”. Another Doper was incredulous, but: > What _was_ the promise that she made? > Why _won’t_ she tell him what _she_ said? And who is _she_? > Why would we think that he was afraid? > > Seriously, the only part of the song I understand is the “stronger than dirt” coda. > > [Doors - Touch Me lyrics | LyricsFreak](http://www.lyricsfreak.com/d/doors/touch+me_20042756.html) Touch me was originally entitled Punch Me, but was thought to be too violent. He was not afraid of being punched by his girlfriend. I have no idea what the promise was or what the other _she_ actually said. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2010, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-dont-understand/526124/43 "2010-01-25T18:03:16Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > anyone speak French? sont des mots qui vont très bien ensemble > > I konw he loves her. 😉 What’s the French bit saying? Michelle, ma belle – my lover? > This is my \*\*favorite \*\*Beatles song. > Michele > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifobQSP-b7E](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifobQSP-b7E) Sont les mots qui vont tres bien ensemble, means, get ready for it… These are words that go together well. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2010, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-dont-understand/526124/44 "2010-01-25T18:05:58Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > … > > 1. What does “In the Court of the Crimson King” mean? I dunno. Robert Fripp has claimed that the Crimson King was Beelzebub, and the court was Hell, but I’m far from convinced that’s true. And even if it is, the song as a whole doesn’t add up to much. > > … Heh. S M Stirling explained what it meant in 2008, when he published [In The Court of the Crimson Kings](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0765314894/ref=cm_rdp_product). It’s the second novel in the Lords of Creation series, set in an alternate solar system quite familiar to those raised on classic SF. _The Sky People_ was set on Venus–a lush jungle populated by dinosaurs, saber tooth cats, oafish ape men & bee-yoo-ti-ful warrior princesses. From the acknowledgements: > [@](#): > > Thanks to Edgar Rice Burroughs, Leigh Brackett, Otis Adelbert Kline, Leinster, Heinlein, and to all the other great pulpsters for gracing my childhood with John Carter, Northwest Smith, “Wrong-Way” Carson of Venus, and all the heroes gifted with a better solar system than the one we turned out to inhabit. From the jungles of Venus and the Grand Canal of Marsopolis, I salute you! _In The Court of the Crimson Kings_ is set, of course, on Mars. I’m sure Stirling used the title as a bit of a joke–there’s a touch of parody in these ripping yarns. Which makes them even better. A third book is apparently planned, if he can ever finish slogging through the turgid alt-history of his current series… Oh, this is a music thread. Interpret [this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdiDW6qyg1k&feature=related)… ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2010, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-dont-understand/526124/45 "2010-01-25T18:25:27Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Sont les mots qui vont tres bien ensemble, means, get ready for it… > > These are words that go together well. Thanks, I thought Paul McCartney sang the phrase in English but wasn’t sure which bit it was. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![koufax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7ea924/32.png) [@koufax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koufax)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2010, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-dont-understand/526124/46 "2010-01-25T19:22:10Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUB](#): > > I wonder if people are conglating the song and the movie. I think the song is pretty straightforward just as you’ve explained it, but obviously a lot of stuff had to be added for the movie. So his suicide was due to his shame regarding his latent homosexuality and the thing the preacher saw them throwing off the bridge was her doll, in a not very subtle allusion to her lost innocence. What I really don’t get is how many people think it was a baby they were throwing off the bridge. WTF? I wonder if his body was ever recovered because he may possibly have faked his death and is living in West Hollywood. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2010, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-dont-understand/526124/47 "2010-01-25T21:29:19Z")
> [@koufax](#): > > I too used to think that ALL songs actually meant something. Well, actually they do. They mean that the writer wanted another hit record and would put anything in there because it is really about the music first, lyrics second. I know, but I do pay attention to song lyrics. More than the melody, probably… The most recent lyrics that I really gave some thought to were from Rod Stewart’s Maggie May. I pretty much can’t stand this song because I’ve heard it so many times, but I was forced to hear it again the other day and decided to really concentrate on the lyrics. At the end of the song, I really don’t know how Rod feels about Maggie. In his eyes, she’s everything; on the other hand, he wishes he’d never seen her face. I’ve decided it’s actually a pretty good song, and I hope I don’t hear it again for a long time. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![CaveMike](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cavemike/32/16379_2.png) [@CaveMike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaveMike)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2010, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-dont-understand/526124/48 "2010-01-25T21:33:40Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > The most recent lyrics that I really gave some thought to were from Rod Stewart’s Maggie May. I pretty much can’t stand this song because I’ve heard it so many times, but I was forced to hear it again the other day and decided to really concentrate on the lyrics. At the end of the song, I really don’t know how Rod feels about Maggie. In his eyes, she’s everything; on the other hand, he wishes he’d never seen her face. > > I’ve decided it’s actually a pretty good song, and I hope I don’t hear it again for a long time. 🙂 I had the exact same experience with Maggie May and was tempted to open a thread about it. The lyrics are contradictory and confusing. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that the contradictions and confusion were the whole point. At which point I also gave it my begrudging respect. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2010, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-dont-understand/526124/49 "2010-01-25T21:40:36Z")
I heard the Beatles’ “Come Together” today and was reminded how I have no idea what that song is supposed to be about, other than random put-downs of some skeezy dude. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2010, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-dont-understand/526124/50 "2010-01-25T21:55:05Z")
> [@CaveMike](#): > > I had the exact same experience with Maggie May and was tempted to open a thread about it. The lyrics are contradictory and confusing. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that the contradictions and confusion were the whole point. At which point I also gave it my begrudging respect. Ambiguity and contradiction are precisely what the song is about, as I see it. The vocalist in that song is a young guy who fell in love with a much older woman, then dropped out of college and abandoned all his future plans to be with her. And now, some time later? Well, he still loves her, but he’s starting to ask himself, “What the hell am I doing with my life? Do I really have a future with her? Maybe it’s time to call it quits and get back to college. But wait, I love her! On the other hand, look at her, she really IS getting old, isn’t she? Maybe this just isn’t going to work. She’s wonderful, but… jeez,maybe it was just a big mistake getting involved with her." ---
**Author:** ![koufax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7ea924/32.png) [@koufax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koufax)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2010, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-dont-understand/526124/51 "2010-01-25T22:19:15Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > I heard the Beatles’ “Come Together” today and was reminded how I have no idea what that song is supposed to be about, other than random put-downs of some skeezy dude. I think it was about him and the way he perceived the press treated him. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2010, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-dont-understand/526124/52 "2010-01-26T13:55:53Z")
> [@koufax](#): > > I wonder if his body was ever recovered because he may possibly have faked his death and is living in West Hollywood. This makes me giggle 😛 Unless you’re taking a piss, because, stupid and cliched or not ,that \*is \*what happened in the movie (the homosexuality, not cosmetology). ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2010, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-dont-understand/526124/53 "2010-01-26T14:25:58Z")
[_One Night in Bangkok_ by Murray Head](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlL0jB0j3YA) written for the musical _Chess_ is obviously supposed to make more sense if you’ve seen the play…I’ve never met anyone who has. ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2010, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-dont-understand/526124/54 "2010-01-26T15:59:44Z")
> [@ianzin](#): > > Donovan. ‘There Is A Mountain’. I won’t paste all the lyrics but a sample will do: I’ll have to listen to that song again. I’ve always heard the first line as “Look upon my garden gate, a snail, that’s what it is” (i.e., “Oh look, there’s a snail on my garden gate”), but Googling it comes up with the lyrics you quoted. Then again, I always heard the lyric from “Third Stone from the Sun” as “With your majestic and superior Catholic hymn”… My personal entry here would be Steely Dan, who write a lot of hard-to-figure-out lyrics… I believe many are cryptic references to their time at Bard College, but they love to throw in all kinds of other obscure things. Here’s one example – from “Your Gold Teeth”: Tobacco they grow in Peking In the Year of the Locust You’ll see a sad thing Even Cathy Berberian knows There’s one roulade she can’t sing Dumb luck my friend Won’t suck me in this time (Cathy Berberian was an avant-garde singer. No idea about the rest of it.) ---
**Author:** ![filling\_pages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b9bd4f/32.png) [@filling\_pages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filling_pages)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2010, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-dont-understand/526124/55 "2010-01-26T17:00:43Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > I heard the Beatles’ “Come Together” today and was reminded how I have no idea what that song is supposed to be about, other than random put-downs of some skeezy dude. It started out as a campaign song for Timothy Leary when he ran for Governor of California. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2010, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-dont-understand/526124/56 "2010-01-26T17:28:52Z")
The lyrics to Second Chance by Shinedown. What does Halley’s comet have to do with anything? I like the song, but huh? ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2010, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-dont-understand/526124/57 "2010-01-26T17:40:44Z")
> [@Sitnam](#): > > [_One Night in Bangkok_ by Murray Head](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlL0jB0j3YA) written for the musical _Chess_ is obviously supposed to make more sense if you’ve seen the play…I’ve never met anyone who has. OK I’ll take a crack at this, though I, too, have never seen it. But PBS aired a concert performance of it this summer on Great Performances and I, as a veteran public television professional, have at my fingertips the description of _‘Chess’ in Concert_ — > [@PBS Pressroom](#): > > Before taking Broadway by storm with the jukebox hit Mamma Mia, ABBA’s Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus teamed with lyricist Tim Rice (Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita) in 1986 to create an original musical, the cult favorite Chess. Set during the Cold War intrigue of international chess tournaments, the musical dramatizes the romantic checkmate between an American chess champion, his lover and a Russian opponent secretly planning to defect to the West. Idina Menzel (Wicked, Enchanted), Adam Pascal (Rent) and pop superstar Josh Groban headline a concert production from London’s Royal Albert Hall, performing a captivating score that includes the top-40 single “One Night in Bangkok,” as well as memorable songs such as “Anthem” and “I Know Him So Well.” ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2010, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-dont-understand/526124/58 "2010-01-26T18:45:07Z")
[“High Fashion Queen”](http://www.answers.com/topic/high-fashion-queen) by the Flying Burrito Brothers. I get the general vibe: a comment on the hedonistic L.A. lifestyle of the late 60’s/early 70’s. Lots of beautiful people with too much money, booze and drugs. The song is being sung TO a person, and that person is addressed as YOU throughout. Apparently YOU keep going to the same nightclub every night looking for a woman (“your eyes keep searching for her constantly”). Whover she is, she hurt you bad! And then there’s this last verse: “There’s nothing new that can be said about dirt And there’s nothing left inside your heart but the same old hurt Of an old love’s fancy life that left you stranded in a dream Ain’t you glad you’re a high fashion queen” So your being a high fashion queen allows you to return to the same place every night looking for this lost love, but what’s a high fashion QUEEN??? Is a high fashion queen male or female? Is it a homosexual reference (In 1970, gay men were called Queens - that was one of the milder named they were called)? Or is it simply a female fashion model who is at the pinnacle of the profession, a la Jerry Hall? If it’s the latter, is it about a failed lesbian relationship? This song was written in 1970, for cryin’ out loud. Songs about gay lifestyle weren’t exactly commonplace then. It’s one of my favorite Gram Parsons tunes, but I don’t have a clue what it’s about! ---
**Author:** ![Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helen_s_Eidolon)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2010, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-dont-understand/526124/59 "2010-01-27T00:55:18Z")
I always dismissed this as a mystery for the ages, but you people are doing such a good job. Anyone want to take a crack at my favourite total nonsense song? Manfred Mann’s version of ‘The Mighty Quinn’. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2010, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-dont-understand/526124/60 "2010-01-27T01:03:45Z")
> [@Askance](#): > > As previous stated it’s actually a Bruce Springsteen song, and seems to me a fairly clear description of a road trip with some friends and lovers, and a few drugs involved. > [@faithfool](#): > > Ah, thanks. I had no idea and although, even with the explanation, it still seems muddled to me, having _something_ to go on helps. Actually, I have to un-clarify this for you: I realised last night in bed that I was thinking of “Spirits in the Night”, not “Blinded by the Light” - both being Springsteen songs covered by Manfred Mann. Looking over it, probably still a drug song though. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-dont-understand/526124.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-dont-understand/526124.md?page=4)