I remember this one friend of a friend who, upon hearing “My Heart Will Go On” on the radio, told me, “Oh, this guy I dated about a month about - that was ‘our’ song.”
What a moron! She’s singing about someone who’s dead! How is that romantic? Ditto “I Will Always Love You” - Whitney’s overblown interpretation managed to overshadow the words of the song. If you listen to Dolly Parton’s original, it almost sounds like she’s breaking down at the end, so it’s a little clearer.
My own personal mis-interpretation was with a guy I was dating - this song “Looking At You” by Sunscreem was “our” song when we’d hear it out at this nightclub we went to. Later, I listened more closely to the lyrics, which included:
It was more about trying to get over an asshole. Not exactly romantic, nope.
“Every Breath You Take” is definitely about a stalker, not a lover.
“A Midsummer’s Night’s Sex Comedy” Most people mistakenly think this is a comedy. It’s actually a very sad film about the desperation people feel when they are alone and the hopelessness of any sort of resolution. The ending comments on that hopelessness, saying quite clearly that any happy ending is just fantasy.
“Chestnut Mare” by the Byrds. I’ve yet to see anyone who realized that the song is really about sex. The mare (female, obviously) is “just like a wife.” The narrator (male) jumps on her, rides her (with talk about the rhythm). The mare is frightened by a snake (phallic symbol) upright and ready to strike, and flies (common metaphor for orgasm). They land in a splash of liquid and “that’s when I lost my hold.” Then he says, “I’m going to ride her again some day.”
First off, credit where credit is due. Stoid doesn’t win. Barney111 wins, as he said the Bible 11 posts earlier.
And TomH, if “The Republic” isn’t about politics, what IS it about? As someone who had it assigned in every single college level government class I took (about 15 of them), I would have to disagree in part.
“The Last Temptation of Christ”
Christians everywhere picketed this movie, calling it blasphemous. It is, in fact, a touching affirmation of the basis of Christianity.
IMHO
No kidding. Everyone (particularly those who hadn’t seen it)went on about how Christ gets off the cross to have sex with Mary Magdelen. Actually that was a deceptive fantasy of the devil- who was not trying to lead him into the sin of sex (he WAS married to Mary) but rather convince him he could have normal, married life and he didn’t have to make the sacrifice of the cross. At the last minute he realizes he’s being decieved and goes back to become the Savior of the World.
Of course it did portay Chist as a complicated, conflicted character- as one might be if one were wholey man and wholey God- so they probably wouldn’t have liked it anyway.
‘Fade to Black’ was written after someone stole a bunch of Metallica’s equipment. James was sad, so he wrote about it. Definitely not something to kill yourself over.
I’ll have to say ‘Showgirls’ is pretty misunderstood - I thought it was obvious it was a comedy, but people took it as a serious film and tore it apart. Same thing happened to the film version of ‘Starship Troopers’, but at least most of the critics realized it was a satire.
I’m the only person I know who thinks this, but to me The Rocky Horror Picture Show is a morality play about the dangers of excess – be it excessive prudishness or excessive hedonism.
As for songs, I have heard that Pearl Jam’s “Betterman” is often played as a slow-dance at clubs, parties, and even weddings. As anyone who listens to more than the refrain knows, the song is about a woman who is afraid to leave a bad marriage because she thinks she can’t do any better.
The most misunderstood work of creativity in human history, by far, is Johnathan Swift’s essay “A Modest Proposal.” Give it to 40 people and I assure you at least twenty will think he’s seriously promoting eating babies.
“South Park’s” Mr. Garrison sums up most people’s reaction to this movie when he says, (I’m paraphrasing here)
" I sat through two hours of this goddamned movie waiting for the alien and it turns out to be HER FATHER!"
Look, people, the movie isn’t about aliens, it’s about US.
It’s about the fundamentalist fanatic becoming a suicide bomber and blowing up the Machine because the thought of extraterrestrial civilizations destroys his world view of humans being made “in God’s image”.
It’s about the media circus and UFO cults that spring up in the wake of contact being made.
It’s about a scientist, Jodie Foster, having to ask the world to take her on faith that she actually met extraterrestrials when she has ABSOLULETLY NO PROOF that she has done so.
I love this movie and the statements it makes, but most people I talk to just don’t get it.
Are you kidding? I’ve heard a dance remix of it, but I never imagined it could be misunderstood so badly even then - it’s so clear he says “She lies and says she’s in love with him - can’t find a better man.” That’s romantic.
Ditto “More Than Words” - they’d always play it when I was in high school and I thought it was just perverse, but I guess not everyone listens to the lyrics outside of the chorus.
I’ve always been a big fan of songs that sound happy but are angry, sound romantic but are sick, and so on. I guess it’s just my perverse side laughing that someone would pick a song about leaving someone as their wedding song.
Dido has a song on her album where the chorus is:
“All that you want is right here in this room, all you want.”
But if you listen to the rest of the words it’s about a guy who’s cheated on her, and she goes on to say that she hopes that “All that you want is right there in that room.” If that comes out as a single, you can bet people are going to think it’s romantic.
Is it too late to throw in another opinion about “Every Breath You Take”?
I always thought the guy knew his lover was cheating on him, and he was putting her on notice that he knew.
But hey, I once conclusively proved that American Pie was about the assaniations of the Kennedy brothers, of Martin Luther King, and the 60s in general.
And news flash! Paul McCartney died more than 30 years ago. I have a load of Beatle songs that revealed it.
From a distance the world looks blue and green
and the snow capped mountains white,
From a distance the ocean meets the stream
and the eagle takes to flight,
From a distance there is harmony
and it echoes through the land
It’s the voice of hope, it’s the voice of peace,
it’s the voice of every man.
From a distance we all have enough
and no one is in need,
There are no guns, no bombs, no disease
and no hungry mouths to feed,
From a distance we are all instruments
marching in a common band,
Playing songs of hope, playing songs of peace,
they’re the songs of every man.
God is watching us,
God is watching us,
**God is watching us from a distance **
Yeah, if you stand off far enough everything on this big blue marble looks pretty hunky-dory. I’ve even heard this song sung in church. Is irony lost on EVERYBODY?!?!?
…isn’t stalking/obsession one of the closest things to admiration/flattery? Hell, I’d be a bit flattered if someone wrote a song like that about me…But then I’m not most people.
And about this “misunderstanding” thing…hey, you never know what the artist meant when they were writing the song/book/movie/whatever…so who’s to say what interpretation is wrong and what isn’t? that’s just my take on it…i can’t think of anything that i believe to be misunderstood but i probably will later…
American Psycho. What a cool movie (and book). All my friends went in looking for a slasher flick and got a masterpiece. And they hated it. I thoguht it was hillarious. They still think he actually did it too.
The mentions of the Bible, “A Modest Proposal” and “Lolita” are all dead-on. People also seem to think that “Gulliver’s Travels” is just a cute little adventure tale for kiddies. And that’s…the Thing That is Not. And anyone who thinks “Huckleberry Finn” is racist can go shove my copy of “To Kill a Mockingbird” where the sun don’t shine.
The Wedding March from LOHENGRIN might be grand but the marriage it heralds sure doesn’t turn out very well–the groom murders another nobleman on his wedding night and ends up riding off with a dove as his bride dies of grief. Knowing the Dopers, there’s probably one of you who know marriages that’ve ended just like that, but…
As a theatre fan, it irritates me when people think musicals are all happy fluffy things. :mad: “Oklahoma” has a murder, “Carousel” has an onstage death and wife-beating, “Follies” is about decay and making all the wrong choices, “On the Town” is about seizing life while you can because it’s 1944 and these sailors are heading to a place where there’s a strong possibility that they might die (in the original; the movie was moved to 1949 AND they took out the best songs, but that’s another thread). And the Best Musical of 1997, “Titanic”, opened in April of '97 and has no Leo in any way, shape, or form.
One of my favorite composers is Randy Newman, and he occasionally muses on how lots of people miss the satire in his songs, especially “Short People”, “It’s Money That I Love”, “Rednecks”, and “Marie”.
Hell, I’d be a bit flattered if someone wrote a song like that about me…But then I’m not most people.