# Well, duh! Suddenly realizing what a song is really about **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 20, 2011, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-duh-suddenly-realizing-what-a-song-is-really-about/606820 "2011-12-20T04:58:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**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:** [December 21, 2011, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-duh-suddenly-realizing-what-a-song-is-really-about/606820/41 "2011-12-21T14:57:18Z")
> [@Martian Bigfoot](#): > > Back when I was a wee shaver, it was a long time before I found out what was going on with the lyrics to the Pixies song **Here Comes Your Man**. Namely that, apart from being all weird and disjointed and stream-of-consciousness-y, it’s also chock full of references to the atomic bombing of Nagasaki: > \* > Outside there’s a boxcar waiting\*: The B-29 that dropped the bomb on Nagasaki was called “Bockscar” (a pun on “boxcar” and “Bock’s car”, after the name of the pilot, Frederick C. Bock). > > _A big, big stone fall and break my crown_: The bomb dropped on the empire of Japan. > > And, course, the chorus itself: > > _Here comes your man._ The Nagasaki bomb was called Fat Man. > > Etc. Blew my tender, young mind, that did. May I ask how you found out about this? The quote in Wikipedia has the artist claiming it’s about hobos and earthquakes(by the way, I wasn’t looking it up to challenge you but to read more about it because your version is way more interesting). ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Righteous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Dr.Righteous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Righteous)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2011, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-duh-suddenly-realizing-what-a-song-is-really-about/606820/42 "2011-12-21T15:34:12Z")
This one falls under the “I was young and didn’t get the lyrics” umbrella: Def Leppard’s “Pour Some Sugar on Me”, especially the bridge part. As young girls we’d sing along at the top of our lungs… You’ve got the peaches, I’ve got the cream Sweet to taste, saccharine 'Cuz I’m hot, hot, so hot, sticky sweet From my head, (my head,) to my feet Do you take sugar… one lump or two!!! ---
**Author:** ![Laggard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de053/32.png) [@Laggard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laggard)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2011, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-duh-suddenly-realizing-what-a-song-is-really-about/606820/43 "2011-12-21T16:54:37Z")
Took me 40 years to realize that Lola by the Kinks is about a tranny. Duh! ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-duh-suddenly-realizing-what-a-song-is-really-about/606820/44 "2011-12-22T12:52:57Z")
> [@Drain\_Bead](#): > > “You Oughta Know” is about Dave Coulier. As an avid Nickelodeon watcher in the '80s, finding that out was…disturbing, to say the least. Really. Ever since I learned that, I’ve wondered how old Alanis was when she was going out with Dave Coulier. Was that relationship even legal? ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-duh-suddenly-realizing-what-a-song-is-really-about/606820/45 "2011-12-22T13:15:38Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > Really. Ever since I learned that, I’ve wondered how old Alanis was when she was going out with Dave Coulier. Was that relationship even legal? Like “You’re So Vain,” she’s never admitted who “You Oughtta Know” is about. But it was probably Coulier as she was 17-18 when they dated (and he was in his early 30s). ---
**Author:** ![KRC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/45deac/32.png) [@KRC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KRC)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-duh-suddenly-realizing-what-a-song-is-really-about/606820/46 "2011-12-22T19:02:42Z")
Mr Crowley (by Ozzy). It took me a while to realize that “White horse” didn’t refer to an animal. ---
**Author:** ![Art\_Rock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/art_rock/32/525_2.png) [@Art\_Rock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Art_Rock)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-duh-suddenly-realizing-what-a-song-is-really-about/606820/47 "2011-12-22T19:20:30Z")
> [@voguevixen](#): > > Not an entire song, but in Simon & Garfunkel’s “Cecilia” I was about 30 before it dawned on me why the guy had to get up and wash his face. I had to turn 54 to get it - thanks to your post just now. :eek::smack: ---
**Author:** ![Turek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/turek/32/18782_2.png) [@Turek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turek)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-duh-suddenly-realizing-what-a-song-is-really-about/606820/48 "2011-12-22T19:31:10Z")
nm ---
**Author:** ![vertizontal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ad7895/32.png) [@vertizontal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vertizontal)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-duh-suddenly-realizing-what-a-song-is-really-about/606820/49 "2011-12-22T19:34:54Z")
My example isn’t near as scandalous as the rest of yours, but since it’s the Christmas season, here it is… The 2nd verse of \*\*Away in a Manger \*\*starts with the line “The cattle are lowing”. I never gave it much thought, but in my head I just pictured cattle kneeling before the baby. After about 40 years I learned that “lowing” meant “mooing”. (Thus explaining why the baby awakes). ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-duh-suddenly-realizing-what-a-song-is-really-about/606820/50 "2011-12-22T19:57:52Z")
> [@Laggard](#): > > Took me 40 years to realize that Lola by the Kinks is about a tranny. Duh! Yeah, I missed that part for a long, long while, too. You would think that the line: “But I know what I am And I’m glad I’m a man And so is Lola” …would have been a giveaway. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Wargamer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/df705f/32.png) [@Wargamer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wargamer)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-duh-suddenly-realizing-what-a-song-is-really-about/606820/51 "2011-12-22T20:02:55Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Yeah, I missed that part for a long, long while, too. You would think that the line: > > “But I know what I am > And I’m glad I’m a man > And so is Lola” > > …would have been a giveaway. 😃 But a female Lola could be glad he’s a man! ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-duh-suddenly-realizing-what-a-song-is-really-about/606820/52 "2011-12-22T20:32:34Z")
> [@Laggard](#): > > Took me 40 years to realize that Lola by the Kinks is about a tranny. Duh! > [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Yeah, I missed that part for a long, long while, too. You would think that the line: > > “But I know what I am > And I’m glad I’m a man > And so is Lola” > > …would have been a giveaway. 😃 Post #16. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-duh-suddenly-realizing-what-a-song-is-really-about/606820/53 "2011-12-22T21:05:56Z")
> [@Morbo](#): > > Post #16. Yes, I saw that…but your post there didn’t make it particularly clear that you had misinterpreted “Lola”, or if you were just making a funny comment to T-Cups’ post: > [@](#): > > Any chance in these posts you can say what the song actually means for the non musically inclined (read: me) And, besides, overlooking someone’s answer in this sort of thread doesn’t invalidate one’s own answer, anyway, as it’s about which songs you, personally, had misinterpreted. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-duh-suddenly-realizing-what-a-song-is-really-about/606820/54 "2011-12-22T21:32:17Z")
> [@Wargamer](#): > > But a female Lola could be glad he’s a man! Right; while the song was [inspired by a cross-dresser](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lola_%28song%29#Inspiration_for_the_song) and this interpretation makes the most sense as the song also mentions Lola’s unusually deep voice and is strong enough to “nearly break my spine”, the closing lines could be interpreted at least three different ways: 1. The narrator is glad he’s a man. Lola, who could be either a man or a woman, is also glad that the narrator is a man. 2. The narrator is glad he’s a man. Lola is also a man. It’s unclear how the narrator feels about this. 3. The narrator is glad he’s a man. He is also glad that Lola is a man. While I got right away that Lola was probably a cross-dresser, it was years before it occurred to me that the song could be taken as the story of a gay man who’s confused about feeling attracted to a woman he meets in a club until he realizes she’s actually a man. I don’t know to what extent this was intentional, but the line about how the narrator had “never ever kissed a woman before” and several references to him not being very macho could simply mean that he’s young and inexperienced or they could be taken to mean that he’s gay. ---
**Author:** ![Laggard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de053/32.png) [@Laggard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laggard)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-duh-suddenly-realizing-what-a-song-is-really-about/606820/55 "2011-12-22T22:01:06Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Yeah, I missed that part for a long, long while, too. You would think that the line: > > “But I know what I am > And I’m glad I’m a man > And so is Lola” > > …would have been a giveaway. 😃 Exactly! I guess I was thinking of this line in a more metaphorical, less literal way. ---
**Author:** ![smoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@smoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smoke)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2011, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-duh-suddenly-realizing-what-a-song-is-really-about/606820/56 "2011-12-23T16:10:58Z")
I just found out yesterday while reading the PFurs’ wiki that Pretty In Pink was about a naked girl. The movie really mislead me on that. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2011, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-duh-suddenly-realizing-what-a-song-is-really-about/606820/57 "2011-12-23T19:20:34Z")
I was in junior high school when the song came out, but I was over 40 when The Eagles’ _Life in the Fast Lane_ came on the radio and I suddenly realized the song is about a couple people on a cocaine bender. I was also in junior high school when I first heard Rush’s _[The Fountain of Lamneth](http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/rush/thefountainoflamneth.html)_ (a 20-minute epic from their third album, _Caress of Steel_). At the time, I thought it was some kind of neat fantasy/adventure story. In my late 30s, it dawned on me that it’s an allegory describing a man’s entire life, from birth to death. ---
**Author:** ![Laggard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de053/32.png) [@Laggard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laggard)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2011, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-duh-suddenly-realizing-what-a-song-is-really-about/606820/58 "2011-12-23T20:57:34Z")
Roxanne. Took me twenty years to figure out that “you don’t have to turn on the red light” is about prostitution. ---
**Author:** ![KRC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/45deac/32.png) [@KRC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KRC)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2011, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-duh-suddenly-realizing-what-a-song-is-really-about/606820/59 "2011-12-24T00:06:06Z")
It took years for me to realize that “Life During Wartime” by the Talking Heads was not some post apocalyptic fantasy but was in fact about urban guerillas such as Baader Meinhof (who were active when I was a kid so I should have picked up the references in the song.) ---
**Author:** ![tadtooornamental](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@tadtooornamental](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tadtooornamental)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2011, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-duh-suddenly-realizing-what-a-song-is-really-about/606820/60 "2011-12-30T04:06:31Z")
I always thought REM’s Orange Crush was just another angsty, unrequited love song (albeit one I quite enjoyed). Until I looked up the lyrics. Just a few months ago. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-duh-suddenly-realizing-what-a-song-is-really-about/606820.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-duh-suddenly-realizing-what-a-song-is-really-about/606820.md?page=4)