# The "explain what this song means, please" thread. All songs welcome. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 17, 2008, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-explain-what-this-song-means-please-thread-all-songs-welcome/445751 "2008-04-17T17:25:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2008, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-explain-what-this-song-means-please-thread-all-songs-welcome/445751/1 "2008-04-17T17:25:59Z")
I’ll start off. Suzanne Vega has a song called “Blood Sings” that is just beautiful. But I really don’t understand what it’s about. It has some imagery that obviously means something but I’m at a loss to what it is. > **[Suzanne Vega - Blood Sings Lyrics | AZLyrics.com](https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/suzannevega/bloodsings.html)** > > Suzanne Vega "Blood Sings": When blood sees blood of its own It sings to see itself again It sings to hear the voice it's known... All I can glean from the lyrics is some vague sense of the loss of innocence or perhaps the unfairness of the world… or something? Anybody? And what songs mystify you, that the rest of the board might be able to shed light on? ---
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2008, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-explain-what-this-song-means-please-thread-all-songs-welcome/445751/2 "2008-04-17T18:36:34Z")
If you just want members interpretations, please disregard the following, but Suzanne Vega’s own various comments on the song can be found [here](http://www.vega.net/rustedpipe/blood_sings.htm). ---
**Author:** ![jali](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecae2f/32.png) [@jali](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jali)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2008, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-explain-what-this-song-means-please-thread-all-songs-welcome/445751/3 "2008-04-17T18:43:35Z")
MacArthur’s Park - I was a kid when I first heard this and I’ve thought it had to do with a love affair gone wrong. The relationship was fragile and will never be fixed. Tell me what it really means, please. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2008, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-explain-what-this-song-means-please-thread-all-songs-welcome/445751/4 "2008-04-17T18:48:41Z")
[QUOTE=jali] MacArthur’s Park - I was a kid when I first heard this and I’ve thought it had to do with a love affair gone wrong. The relationship was fragile and will never be fixed. Tell me what it really means, please. [/QUOTE] It’s about an ugly cake, as best I can figure. ---
**Author:** ![Risha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/5fc32e/32.png) [@Risha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Risha)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2008, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-explain-what-this-song-means-please-thread-all-songs-welcome/445751/5 "2008-04-17T19:30:12Z")
I’ve considered starting this very thread, but was too embarrassed to admit that I’m still the same idiot who couldn’t pick up on any of the symbolism in _Lord of the Flies_. Of course, now I can’t think of most of the songs that have been puzzling me. Please explain Rage Against The Machine’s “Killing In the Name Of” to me. Or the [Thrill Kill Kult’s “Hour of Zero”](http://post.queensu.ca/~fletchra/TKK/Lyrics/luna.html) (which I believe is midnight(?), but the rest eludes me). Or Pearl Jam’s “Alive”. Or especially [Smog’s “Cold Blooded Old Times”](http://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/highfidelity/coldbloodedoldtimes.htm). All songs that I love but I have no idea what they’re talking about. ---
**Author:** ![Kalibakthegreat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7feea3/32.png) [@Kalibakthegreat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalibakthegreat)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2008, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-explain-what-this-song-means-please-thread-all-songs-welcome/445751/6 "2008-04-17T19:37:38Z")
> **[Song Lyrics, Song Meanings & More at SongMeanings](https://songmeanings.com/)** > > SongMeanings is a community of thousands of music lovers who contribute song lyrics, discuss song meanings and interpretations, and connect over songs and artists they love! ---
**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:** [April 17, 2008, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-explain-what-this-song-means-please-thread-all-songs-welcome/445751/7 "2008-04-17T19:44:44Z")
[[http://www.mtv.com/music/artist/ozark\_mountain\_daredevils/2138465/lyrics.jhtml](http://www.mtv.com/music/artist/ozark_mountain_daredevils/2138465/lyrics.jhtml)]Jackie]( [url) Blue, by Ozark Mountain Daredevils. Well, it’s evidently about this chick Jackie, but I can’t tell from the lyrics whether the singer admires her, pities her, distrusts her, or what. Also, is the singer male or female, and what is the nature of their relationship? Every time I start to form a theory, some other lyric blows it out of the water. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2008, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-explain-what-this-song-means-please-thread-all-songs-welcome/445751/8 "2008-04-17T19:48:23Z")
[American Pie](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_398b.html) ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2008, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-explain-what-this-song-means-please-thread-all-songs-welcome/445751/9 "2008-04-17T20:04:36Z")
Panic at the Disco have a song called “Nine in the Afternoon”. I’m still trying to figure out when/where that occurs? Maybe at the Arctic Circle? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2008, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-explain-what-this-song-means-please-thread-all-songs-welcome/445751/10 "2008-04-17T20:11:30Z")
Robert Johnson’s _Hellhound On My Trail._ “If today was Christmas Eve and tomorrow was Christmas Day” Are particularly confusing lines to this little White boy. ---
**Author:** ![CaerieD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@CaerieD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaerieD)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2008, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-explain-what-this-song-means-please-thread-all-songs-welcome/445751/11 "2008-04-17T20:14:50Z")
[QUOTE=ShibbOleth] Panic at the Disco have a song called “Nine in the Afternoon”. I’m still trying to figure out when/where that occurs? Maybe at the Arctic Circle? [/QUOTE] My theory was that it was about being really, _really_ high. Either than or it’s frickin’ nonsense. ---
**Author:** ![Tool\_of\_the\_Conspiracy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@Tool\_of\_the\_Conspiracy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tool_of_the_Conspiracy)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2008, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-explain-what-this-song-means-please-thread-all-songs-welcome/445751/12 "2008-04-17T20:57:57Z")
[QUOTE=Risha] Pearl Jam’s “Alive” [/QUOTE] I once read an interview where Eddie Vedder explained it. It’s not pleasant, and parts of it are autobiographical. A woman reveals to her teenage son that his biological father wasn’t “Dad”, it was a recently-deceased friend of the family, who she had an affair with. In the middle verse, the woman attempts to seduce her son, who’s looking more and more like his biological father as he matures… and he’s still alive. “The look” that he remembers isn’t the look on either face, it’s him looking at her crotch. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2008, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-explain-what-this-song-means-please-thread-all-songs-welcome/445751/13 "2008-04-17T21:10:08Z")
_Big Yellow Taxi_. Throughout the song, Joni is complaining about the footprint modern man is leaving on the planet. Until the last verse, when her husband walks out on her. What is the message there? Don’t let your concern for social activism consume your attention to the point where you don’t take care of your relationships? Or what, exactly? ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2008, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-explain-what-this-song-means-please-thread-all-songs-welcome/445751/14 "2008-04-17T22:28:03Z")
[QUOTE=kaylasdad99] _Big Yellow Taxi_. Throughout the song, Joni is complaining about the footprint modern man is leaving on the planet. Until the last verse, when her husband walks out on her. What is the message there? Don’t let your concern for social activism consume your attention to the point where you don’t take care of your relationships? Or what, exactly? [/QUOTE] I think the failed relationship falls under the ‘don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone’ rubric. ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-explain-what-this-song-means-please-thread-all-songs-welcome/445751/15 "2008-04-18T03:48:41Z")
Elvis Costello’s [Kinder Murder](http://www.elviscostello.info/lyrics/by.html#kinder_murder) has always puzzled me. I get the general idea – soldier rapes a girl and she becomes pregnant – but I’m unsure of what the “kinder murder” is. Is it an abortion? Because, if so, then what does this verse refer to? > [@](#): > > The child went missing and the photo fit his face > Dishonoured Jimmy just read about the case > He said that he was just taking up space What child? Is this verse just there to illustrate Jimmy’s rotten character? Does the second “he” in the third line refer to the child or to Jimmy? Is the “kinder murder” the rape? Alluding to a fate worse than death, yet one that leaves the victim alive? And then what’s going on in the last verse: > [@](#): > > Jimmy took his best friend’s keys from the pile on the table in a flash > He was dreaming of the pigskin seats and the walnut dash > The knickers in her handbag and the one false eyelash Is he committing suicide and these are his last thoughts? (It’s the “in a flash” that makes me think this way. Although Costello’s phrasing when he sings makes it unclear whether “in a flash” connects with the first line or the second line.) Throw me a bone here, people. ---
**Author:** ![CaerieD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@CaerieD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaerieD)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-explain-what-this-song-means-please-thread-all-songs-welcome/445751/16 "2008-04-18T05:51:05Z")
**gallows fodder** - This is the first exposure I’ve ever had to the song so I’m just flailing around in the dark here, but is it “Kinder Murder” as in a kind act or as the German noun _Kinder_, meaning children? Could there be a play on words going on that might explain some of it? ---
**Author:** ![Crocodiles\_And\_Boulevards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ee7513/32.png) [@Crocodiles\_And\_Boulevards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crocodiles_And_Boulevards)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-explain-what-this-song-means-please-thread-all-songs-welcome/445751/17 "2008-04-18T06:04:55Z")
[QUOTE=gallows fodder] Elvis Costello’s [Kinder Murder](http://www.elviscostello.info/lyrics/by.html#kinder_murder) has always puzzled me. I get the general idea – soldier rapes a girl and she becomes pregnant – but I’m unsure of what the “kinder murder” is. Is it an abortion? Because, if so, then what does this verse refer to? What child? Is this verse just there to illustrate Jimmy’s rotten character? Does the second “he” in the third line refer to the child or to Jimmy? Is the “kinder murder” the rape? Alluding to a fate worse than death, yet one that leaves the victim alive? And then what’s going on in the last verse: Is he committing suicide and these are his last thoughts? (It’s the “in a flash” that makes me think this way. Although Costello’s phrasing when he sings makes it unclear whether “in a flash” connects with the first line or the second line.) Throw me a bone here, people. [/QUOTE] Do you think the “child” could have been the teenage girl? I agree that Jimmy gets her to have an abortion, which is the “kinder murder” in the first part of the song, but it could also be referring to the abrupt missing status of the girl. In that case, the “photo” could be a suspect photo put out by the police. Jimmy, who was staying with his best friend, takes his pal’s car and scrams. ---
**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:** [April 18, 2008, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-explain-what-this-song-means-please-thread-all-songs-welcome/445751/18 "2008-04-18T06:18:11Z")
I’ve puzzled over this one too. I think “kinder murder” is a play on “a kind’a murder”, ie “a kind of murder”. Here’s my take on it: the child is the girl who got raped, and she’s gone missing because she’s been murdered by the others in the guilty soldier’s regiment to protect their regimental honour. The photo that fit his face was an identikit-type image that someone recognised. Dishonoured Jimmy is the rapist; the first he knew about the murder is when he read it in the papers, and realises what’s been done in his name and by whom. He takes his friend’s car and kills himself (as he’s just taking up space, ie has no future), perhaps by driving off the road. The knickers in the handbag and the one false eyelash I think were clues to the rape found by the police, that might have led them to him. So while he didn’t kill her, it’s his fault - so he murdered her, kinda. I think the German Kinder idea is interesting, but a stretch given how differently the two are pronounced. What I’ve always wanted to know is, was it based on real events? ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-explain-what-this-song-means-please-thread-all-songs-welcome/445751/19 "2008-04-18T07:35:29Z")
[QUOTE=jali] MacArthur’s Park - I was a kid when I first heard this and I’ve thought it had to do with a love affair gone wrong. The relationship was fragile and will never be fixed. Tell me what it really means, please. [/QUOTE] According to Richard Harris, the cake was a wedding cake. They were close enough to the wedding day when they broke up that they actually had a cake delivered. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-explain-what-this-song-means-please-thread-all-songs-welcome/445751/20 "2008-04-18T07:56:06Z")
[QUOTE=Dung Beetle] [[http://www.mtv.com/music/artist/ozark\_mountain\_daredevils/2138465/lyrics.jhtml](http://www.mtv.com/music/artist/ozark_mountain_daredevils/2138465/lyrics.jhtml)]Jackie]( [url) Blue, by Ozark Mountain Daredevils. Well, it’s evidently about this chick Jackie, but I can’t tell from the lyrics whether the singer admires her, pities her, distrusts her, or what. Also, is the singer male or female, and what is the nature of their relationship? Every time I start to form a theory, some other lyric blows it out of the water. [/QUOTE] Context. In the early 70s, after the success of “Delta Dawn,” there were a whole bunch of songs about insane, spooky misfit women who dabbled in drugs or the occult or both, like “Leave Me Alone,” “Angie Baby” and “Witchy Woman.” They were monstrously popular and for a while a lot of artists jumped on the bandwagon. “Jackie Blue” is just another. Move along, nothing to see here… [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-explain-what-this-song-means-please-thread-all-songs-welcome/445751.md?page=2)