I had no idea that “Semi-Charmed Life” by Third Eye Blind was about methamphetamine addiction until I’d listened to it about 500 times.
It is.
Well, I didn’t know until I heard Rick Dees mention it. I never would have got it on my own.
:smack:
I thought I Don’t Like Mondays was about nuclear war.
I thought ‘I Will Always Love You’ was a love song–apparently it’s actually a break-up song!
biggirl: ‘Brand New Key’ is by Melanie (and is my Mom’s favourite song!). Having heard the other song’s on the album, I’m not inclined to believe it has a hidden meaning.
I thought ‘Poison Ivy’ was by the Lambrettas?!
Oh dear. Rogue apostrophe :smack:!
Make that “songs”
Oh, lissener: Is the ‘When I Was A Boy’ you mention a different song to that performed by the superb Dar Williams?
Well, one of the classic misinterpreted songs is fresh on my mind, because just a few hours ago, I heard a guy call a radio station and request that Percy Sledge’s “When a Man Loves a Woman” be played, and dedicated to his girlfriend.
He seemed to think, as many people do, that it’s a tender, romantic song. In reality, it’s saying “A man in love is too blind to see what a no-good, rotten, lying, two-timing witch his girlfriend really is.”
There’s a Meatloaf song that sounds like a love song, but if you think about the words, what he’s really saying is “baby, I know I’m stuck with you, so I hope I die as soon as possible so I get the hell away from you”
Apos, I think you’re thinking of Paradise By the Dashboard Lights. I hope nobody really thinks that’s a love song.
astorian: Thanks for pointing out about the Sledge song. Until I googled the lyrics two minutes ago, I would have described it as a sappy love song too. Prolly bcuz I can’t make out any words beyond “When a Man Loves a Woman…”
My own lyrics to the song involve a series of variations on a theme (again, prolly because I can’t make out the correct lyrics):
"When a man loves a rooster,
It’s five-to-ten
(oh, yeah), in the federal pen…
When a man loves a weasel [etc.]"
Paradise By The Dashboard Lights has always seemd to me like two different songs on different themes stuck together!
Rod Stewart’s “You’re in my Heart.” THIS is a love song? Not only does the first verse say “The attraction was purely physical,” but the comparisons get more and more ridiculous “You’re every love song ever written, you’re the best thing I’ve ever seen.” At the end he confuses “There have been many affairs and many times I want to leave…”
It’s one of the best sarcastic songs ever written.
DesertDog’s post reminded me of another country song I’d heard - can’t remember title or artist either - in which the whole song sounds like he trying to explain to his wife about how he still loves her even though he now loves anotherwoman. In the last verse you find out he’s at his wife’s grave, telling her he’s getting remarried.
The Banana Boat Song by Harry Belafonte.
I always thought it was an insipid little ditty about work and play. Then I learned it was really about slavery.
The granddaddy of them all is the Stones’ “Satisfaction.” Yes, the third verse is about sex - but the first two are about commercials and the consumer world.
As for “Alison” - well, do you think sweet little ol’ Linda Ronstadt would cover a song about a stalker/killer? :dubious:
The media and some of their peers in the Seattle scene - “My favorite inside source”.
My lyrically-challenged sister thought the Offspring’s “Come Out And Play” was about keeping Kosher. Apparently, the only lyric she could hear (“keep 'em seperated”) in her mind was about keeping meat and dairy apart.
When I told her it was about juvenile gangs, she didn’t believe me. As if dietary laws was a common theme of punk lyrics… :rolleyes:
“When I Was a Boy” is the title of Jane’s album; I think Williams’s song title was a tribute.
I think I recall Sting once saying this was actually about a 1984-style police state.