# Songs you insist have a different meaning than the writer claims **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [November 26, 2023, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-insist-have-a-different-meaning-than-the-writer-claims/993725 "2023-11-26T16:49:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Retzbu\_Tox](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/retzbu_tox/32/11829_2.png) [@Retzbu\_Tox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Retzbu_Tox)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2023, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-insist-have-a-different-meaning-than-the-writer-claims/993725/41 "2023-11-28T18:26:40Z")
I don’t think anyone has pointed this out yet. **H.R. Pufnstuf** is a show and theme song by Sid and Marty Kroft. **Puff, the Magic Dragon** is a song by Peter, Paul, and Mary. Two different songs. Different lyrics. Different dragons. Two different meanings? ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2023, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-insist-have-a-different-meaning-than-the-writer-claims/993725/42 "2023-11-28T18:31:04Z")
> [@Retzbu\_Tox](#): > > Two different songs. Different lyrics. Different dragons. Two different meanings? Yes. HR is puffin’ the heroin with his “magic flute” pipe. Puff puffs the Colorado tobaccy. ---
**Author:** ![Chad\_Sudan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chad_sudan/32/4509_2.png) [@Chad\_Sudan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chad_Sudan)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2023, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-insist-have-a-different-meaning-than-the-writer-claims/993725/43 "2023-11-28T18:47:13Z")
Whatever Radiohead’s [“Black Star”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7lbzUUXj0k) is about (I’d say depression), it is not remotely about [“sex in the morning,”](http://www.radiohead.fr/18-mai-1996-toronto-varsity-arena/) as Thom Yorke liked to say when introducing the song onstage. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2023, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-insist-have-a-different-meaning-than-the-writer-claims/993725/44 "2023-11-28T21:44:40Z")
Yeah, he had to have been being flip if he said that. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2023, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-insist-have-a-different-meaning-than-the-writer-claims/993725/45 "2023-11-28T23:14:43Z")
Since it’s that time of year, Same Old Lang Syne, I don’t care for this interpretation: > In 2006, Fogelberg received a letter from a young fan named Grace Ferguson who asked him about the meaning of the song’s final lyric, “And as I turned to make my way back home / The snow turned into rain”. The lyric has often been interpreted metaphorically as the world feeling warmer after he had talked with his ex-girlfriend. In reply, Fogelberg acknowledged this metaphor as “wonderful”, although, as he wrote, “as I drove home, the snow actually DID turn from snow into rain!” They’re wrong, 34 deg is not really any warmer, and now I have cold water wriggling its way down my collar like an old familiar pain, and turning all the lovely white snow into grey slush. ---
**Author:** ![Jaycat.again](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat.again/32/11525_2.png) [@Jaycat.again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaycat.again)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2023, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-insist-have-a-different-meaning-than-the-writer-claims/993725/46 "2023-11-28T23:16:38Z")
> [@Shakester](#): > > 99% of lyrics are about sounding cool. If so, something went wrong, because about 98% of them aren’t particularly. ---
**Author:** ![de\_Worde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/838e76/32.png) [@de\_Worde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/de_Worde)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2023, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-insist-have-a-different-meaning-than-the-writer-claims/993725/47 "2023-11-28T23:36:06Z")
Squeeze Box is about this woman who loves playing the accordion and keeps her family and half the neighborhood up all night with that racket. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2023, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-insist-have-a-different-meaning-than-the-writer-claims/993725/48 "2023-11-29T01:52:20Z")
Just for grins, I once spent several hours reinterpreting _American Pie_ from what Don McLean has explained was a look back at the 60’s musically and culturally, starting with Buddy Holly, Rictchie Valens, and the Big Bopper dying in an airplane crash. By the time I was finished it was ALL political metaphors stretching from “the day the music died” being the day John F. Kennedy was assassinated; the marching band refusing to yield was Kent State, the three men we admired most were the Kennedy brothers and Martin Luther King, driving the Chevy to the levee was Ted Kennedy, and a dozen more I can’t think of right now. Finding different meanings in lyrics is as old as lyrics themselves. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2023, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-insist-have-a-different-meaning-than-the-writer-claims/993725/49 "2023-11-29T01:57:50Z")
“Rolling in the Deep” is about my mother, not Adele’s ex. ETA: So is Madonna’s “Human Nature.” ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2023, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-insist-have-a-different-meaning-than-the-writer-claims/993725/50 "2023-11-29T02:18:11Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > American Pie Obligatory Straight Dope link: > **[What is Don McLean’s song “American Pie” all about?](https://www.straightdope.com/21342063/what-is-don-mclean-s-song-american-pie-all-about)** ---
**Author:** ![Jaycat.again](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat.again/32/11525_2.png) [@Jaycat.again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaycat.again)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2023, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-insist-have-a-different-meaning-than-the-writer-claims/993725/51 "2023-11-29T02:29:52Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > [What is Don McLean’s song “American Pie” all about? - The Straight Dope](https://www.straightdope.com/21342063/what-is-don-mclean-s-song-american-pie-all-about) I believe Mr. McLean’s answer was: “it’s about me never having to work another day in my life.” ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2023, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-insist-have-a-different-meaning-than-the-writer-claims/993725/52 "2023-11-29T02:58:03Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > driving the Chevy to the levee was Ted Kennedy, Except that levee wasn’t dry. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2023, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-insist-have-a-different-meaning-than-the-writer-claims/993725/53 "2023-11-29T03:02:43Z")
But there’s no type of liquor that rhymes with “wet” except for anisette, which no one had heard of back then, and doesn’t scan anyway. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2023, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-insist-have-a-different-meaning-than-the-writer-claims/993725/54 "2023-11-29T04:04:06Z")
I’ve always thought We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful by Morrissey is actually a retelling of Where Do You Go To (My Lovely) by Peter Sarstedt from Marie-Claire’s point of view, despite Mozza never having said anything of the sort (and the unfortunate geographic fact that Naples in the in South of Italy, not the North, so “when they’re Nothern it makes it so much worse” makes less sense) ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2023, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-insist-have-a-different-meaning-than-the-writer-claims/993725/55 "2023-11-29T14:32:27Z")
In the end, it doesn’t matter what anybody else thinks. _ **Franz Liebkind:** You are the audience! I am the author! I OUTRANK you!_ ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2023, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-insist-have-a-different-meaning-than-the-writer-claims/993725/56 "2023-11-29T14:54:10Z")
> [@de\_Worde](#): > > Squeeze Box is about this woman who loves playing the accordion and keeps her family and half the neighborhood up all night with that racket. Of course. Any other interpretation is crass and juvenile. And The Who is so much more mature. Also, squeezing boobies doesn’t make all that much noise. And if her “box” is on her chest, well, that’s … disturbing. A couple minor lyrics that are “Wrong” … Head East, Never Been Any Reason: “… Woman with the sweet lovin’/Better than a white line” Obviously it’s supposed to be about coke, but would one really compare great lovin’ to a toot of the nose candy? “The sex was great, but I prefer coke.” Has anyone ever said that? I’m not sure what I think the line is supposed to be, but coke isn’t it. 🙂 Cream, Sunshine of Your Love “give you my dawn (dull) surprise”. Another crass sex reference. (and is it really a surprise?) The singing actually sounds more dull than dawn, and it makes more sense. In the sense that the mystery of the “dull surprise” is better than “I fucked her in the morning, Yehaw!” ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2023, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-insist-have-a-different-meaning-than-the-writer-claims/993725/57 "2023-11-29T15:00:29Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Cream, White Room “give you my dawn (dull) surprise”. Another crass sex reference. (and is it really a surprise?) The singing actually sounds more dull than dawn, and it makes more sense. In the sense that the mystery of the “dull surprise” is better than “I fucked her in the morning, Yehaw!” You’re assuming dull was meant in the sense of boring. Maybe dull was meant in the sense of not sharp. So the singer was saying “I’m going to give you a surprise in the morning. But here’s a hint; it has a rounded tip.” ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2023, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-insist-have-a-different-meaning-than-the-writer-claims/993725/58 "2023-11-29T15:01:12Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Maybe dull was meant in the sense of not sharp. See! It’s a mystery! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2023, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-insist-have-a-different-meaning-than-the-writer-claims/993725/59 "2023-11-29T18:50:39Z")
> [@74westy](#): > > I once wrote a song about knuckleball pitching that was also about existential angst and depression. Nobody needs you to connect those dots, for Pete’s sake. What else could it be about? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2023, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-insist-have-a-different-meaning-than-the-writer-claims/993725/60 "2023-11-29T20:13:40Z")
Knuckleballing? Clearly it’s about masturbation. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-insist-have-a-different-meaning-than-the-writer-claims/993725.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-insist-have-a-different-meaning-than-the-writer-claims/993725.md?page=4)