# 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:** 18\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2011, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-duh-suddenly-realizing-what-a-song-is-really-about/606820/61 "2011-12-30T05:58:34Z")
I heard “[Nightmare On Elm Street](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpWlw8ZCkC0)” by A Balladeer without paying much attention to it probably half a dozen times before it dawned on me _which_ Jackie the song was about. In my defense, Ringside’s song “Jackie” isn’t about her, so until I finally noticed the line about his head falling in her lap, it didn’t occur to me that thia song was about anyone famous. I only have general idea about the assignation details anyway, so the street in the title didn’t provide me a usable clue, either. ---
**Author:** ![Crown\_Prince\_of\_Irony](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ed655f/32.png) [@Crown\_Prince\_of\_Irony](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crown_Prince_of_Irony)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2011, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-duh-suddenly-realizing-what-a-song-is-really-about/606820/62 "2011-12-30T10:40:12Z")
It took quite a few listens before I realized that Neutral Milk Hotel’s “The King of Carrot Flowers” is most likely about a homosexual relationship. “And this is the room one afternoon I knew I would love you And from above you how I sank into your soul Into that secret place where no one dares to go” One day I was listening to this lyric, and it dawned on me… (sung from a male perspective): “When you were young you were the king of carrot flowers… From above you…Sank into your soul…Secret place where no one dares to go…”. Oooohhh. I get it now. ---
**Author:** ![mr.jp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@mr.jp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr.jp)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2011, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-duh-suddenly-realizing-what-a-song-is-really-about/606820/63 "2011-12-30T12:05:41Z")
Lola has been discussed so many times on these boards. A candidate for the most discussed pop trivia item. The song-writers are obviously (to me) being deliberately double-entenderish. This is also mostly the conclusion of the discussion. Although sometimes the people who claim that the song is certainly about a cross-dresser “win” the discussion. ---
**Author:** ![Soylent\_Juicy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@Soylent\_Juicy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soylent_Juicy)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2011, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-duh-suddenly-realizing-what-a-song-is-really-about/606820/64 "2011-12-30T14:37:15Z")
I was humming Pearl Jam’s “Oh Where Oh Where Could My Baby Be” while walking my dog one night when it suddenly dawned on me that the song is about a horrific car crash. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2011, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-duh-suddenly-realizing-what-a-song-is-really-about/606820/65 "2011-12-30T14:43:52Z")
I think some of these are a bit of a stretch. It’s very likely that Cecelia’s man washed his face because it rhymes with ‘taking my place’. mmm ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2011, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-duh-suddenly-realizing-what-a-song-is-really-about/606820/66 "2011-12-30T15:15:34Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > I myself have pondered the hidden meanings buried in the lyrics of “Inna Gadda Da Vida”. > [@Dallas\_Jones](#): > > The song was supposed to be “In the Garden of Eden”, baby! Back in the days of smoke-filled dorm rooms and black light posters, a stoner friend of mine would tell a story accompanied by IGDV. It was about a heroin addict who overdosed, and they thought he was dead, but he wasn’t, and he wakes up in a casket, buried underground. The drum tempo represented his heart beat as he loses conciousness, then reawakens, and the guitar at the end represents his anguished screams when he wakes up and discovers where he is. Not saying that was what the songwriter had in mind, but it was a good story. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2011, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-duh-suddenly-realizing-what-a-song-is-really-about/606820/67 "2011-12-30T15:36:17Z")
I listened to and loved [Paint it Black](http://youtu.be/n1zBG2TEjn4) (Rolling Stones) for years before realizing it was about the death and funeral of a sweetheart. ---
**Author:** ![Baal\_Houtham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baal_houtham/32/13604_2.png) [@Baal\_Houtham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baal_Houtham)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2011, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-duh-suddenly-realizing-what-a-song-is-really-about/606820/68 "2011-12-30T15:41:35Z")
> [@tadtooornamental](#): > > 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. Well, it may not be a song about unrequited love, but I’m not sure it’s clearly about anything else. Here’s a link to the lyrics: > **[R.E.M. - Orange Crush Lyrics & Meanings | SongMeanings](https://songmeanings.com/songs/view/106852/)** > > Orange Crush Lyrics & Meanings: Follow me, don't follow me / I've got my spine, I've got my orange crush / Collar me, don't color me / I've got my spine, I've got my orange crush / We are agents of the free / I've had my fun and now its time to /... Many of the comments on the song quote members of REM saying they have no idea what the song is about. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2011, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-duh-suddenly-realizing-what-a-song-is-really-about/606820/69 "2011-12-30T15:47:18Z")
> [@smoke](#): > > 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. I was talking with a writer friend who had interviewed Richard Butler back in the day, and had asked him how badly the movie _Pretty in Pink_ had missed the meaning of the song. Butler smiled ruefully and said “About a million miles.” ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2011, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-duh-suddenly-realizing-what-a-song-is-really-about/606820/70 "2011-12-30T17:04:55Z")
> [@Soylent\_Juicy](#): > > I was humming Pearl Jam’s “Oh Where Oh Where Could My Baby Be” while walking my dog one night when it suddenly dawned on me that the song is about a horrific car crash. The name of that song is “[Last Kiss](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_Kiss)”, and it’s a cover of an early '60s [teen death ballad](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teen_tragedy_song). ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2011, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-duh-suddenly-realizing-what-a-song-is-really-about/606820/71 "2011-12-30T21:45:18Z")
> [@Soylent\_Juicy](#): > > I was humming Pearl Jam’s “Oh Where Oh Where Could My Baby Be” while walking my dog one night when it suddenly dawned on me that the song is about a horrific car crash. What was your first clue? Was it this passage?: > [@](#): > > **The screamin’ tires, the bustin’ glass > The painful scream that I heard last** 😃 mmm ---
**Author:** ![JSexton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@JSexton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JSexton)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2011, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-duh-suddenly-realizing-what-a-song-is-really-about/606820/72 "2011-12-30T23:12:57Z")
> [@Baal\_Houtham](#): > > Well, it may not be a song about unrequited love, but I’m not sure it’s clearly about anything else. Here’s a link to the lyrics: > [R.E.M. - Orange Crush Lyrics & Meanings | SongMeanings](http://www.songmeanings.net/songs/view/106852/) > > Many of the comments on the song quote members of REM saying they have no idea what the song is about. Until just now, I thought the lyric was “I’ve got my Sprite, I’ve got my Orange Crush.” After reading the lyrics, it sure evokes the Vietnam War to me. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2011, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-duh-suddenly-realizing-what-a-song-is-really-about/606820/73 "2011-12-30T23:36:47Z")
> [@Baal\_Houtham](#): > > Well, it may not be a song about unrequited love, but I’m not sure it’s clearly about anything else. Here’s a link to the lyrics: > [R.E.M. - Orange Crush Lyrics & Meanings | SongMeanings](http://www.songmeanings.net/songs/view/106852/) > > Many of the comments on the song quote members of REM saying they have no idea what the song is about. It’s about Vietnam and specifically [Agent Orange](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agent_Orange). ---
**Author:** ![Soylent\_Juicy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@Soylent\_Juicy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soylent_Juicy)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2011, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-duh-suddenly-realizing-what-a-song-is-really-about/606820/74 "2011-12-31T03:51:56Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > What was your first clue? 😃 LOL, I didn’t know the lyrics, I just had one line stuck in my head. When I heard the entire song I was all :eek: ---
**Author:** ![tadtooornamental](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@tadtooornamental](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tadtooornamental)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2012, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-duh-suddenly-realizing-what-a-song-is-really-about/606820/75 "2012-01-02T23:33:51Z")
Yeah, Agent Orange is the revelation I got when I finally actually listened and read the lyrics. ---
**Author:** ![Runestar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/74df32/32.png) [@Runestar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Runestar)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2012, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-duh-suddenly-realizing-what-a-song-is-really-about/606820/76 "2012-01-03T21:17:43Z")
It was only a few years ago that I realized what that long interlude of what sounds like an old-time baseball game on the radio narrative was doing in Meat Loaf’s Paradise by the Dashboard Light. For whatever reason, I’d never made the connection between it and the euphemism of “getting to first base/second base/third base” while making out with a girl. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2012, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-duh-suddenly-realizing-what-a-song-is-really-about/606820/77 "2012-01-09T12:59:03Z")
AKA “Quin The Eskimo”…and when he gets here, “all the chillen gonna run to him”. Never knew what this weird 1960’s pop song was about. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2012, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-duh-suddenly-realizing-what-a-song-is-really-about/606820/78 "2012-01-09T13:24:08Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > AKA “Quin The Eskimo”..and when he gets here, “all the chillen gonna run to him”. > Never knew what this weird 1960’s pop song was about. For va long time I thought it might be related to some film in which Anthony Quinn – the Hollywood all-purpose ethnic – played an Eskimo. He apparently did in _The Savage Innocents_ According to this page, however: > [@](#): > > One theory is that “The Mighty Quinn” is Sheriff Larry Quinlan, who raided the Castillia Foundation land in Millbrook, New York and arrested Dr. Timothy Leary and his group of hippies. Quinlan confiscated all the LSD and other drugs at the scene. In this scenario, the “pigeons” are informers. (the page also mentions the Anthony Quinn theory) > **[Quinn The Eskimo by Manfred Mann - Songfacts](https://www.songfacts.com/facts/manfred-mann/quinn-the-eskimo)** > > Quinn The Eskimo by Manfred Mann song meaning, lyric interpretation, video and chart position From thsat page as well, the truth is apparent;ly that No One Knows: > [@](#): > > Mike D’Abo of Manfred Mann: “We met in a publisher’s house as Bob Dylan was making some new material available to other artists. We heard about 10 songs and I thought ‘This Wheel’s On Fire’ would be the one to do, but Manfred liked The Mighty Quinn, which was called ‘Quinn The Eskimo’ then. It was sung in a rambling monotone but Manfred had recognized its potential. He sold me on the idea of doing this song, but I had to make up some of the words as I couldn’t make out everything he was saying. It was like learning a song phonetically in a foreign language. I have never had the first idea what the song is about except that it seems to be 'Hey, gang, gather round, something exciting is going to happen ‘cause the big man’s coming.’ As to who the big man is and why he is an Eskimo, I don’t know.” - from 1000 UK #1 Hits by Jon Kutner and Spencer Leigh. (thanks, Edward Pearce - Ashford, Kent, England) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-duh-suddenly-realizing-what-a-song-is-really-about/606820.md?page=3)