# Your favorite off the wall lyrics analyses. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 22, 2004, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-off-the-wall-lyrics-analyses/241491 "2004-04-22T19:57:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2004, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-off-the-wall-lyrics-analyses/241491/1 "2004-04-22T19:57:38Z")
The worst lyrics thread got me thinking about how different people interpret songs in their own unique ways. I would never say anyone was _wrong_ in their interpretations, just different from mine. My son tells me that Outkast’s Bombs Over Baghdad is about safe sex. _Don’t pull the trigger unless you plan to bang Don’t even bang unless you plan to hit something._ means don’t have unprotected sex unless you want a baby. And the repeated line _Bob your head, ragtop. Bob your head, ragtop_ is a call for all guys to wear condoms. My son, however, got nothing for _Bible music and electric revival_ though. I had a friend who was convinced Love Her Madly by The Doors was about anal sex. _Don’t you love her as she’s walking out the door_ really means “do her in her backdoor.” I’ve got a song theory too. I don’t _really_ think Chuck Berry is singing about silver bells on a string. ---
**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 22, 2004, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-off-the-wall-lyrics-analyses/241491/2 "2004-04-22T21:53:45Z")
Welcome to the Hotel California: [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=57033](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=57033) ---
**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 22, 2004, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-off-the-wall-lyrics-analyses/241491/3 "2004-04-22T22:17:36Z")
I must’ve fallen off of a turnip truck. I _just_ found out that Melanie’s [_Brand New Key_](http://users.cis.net/sammy/newkey.htm) isn’t entirely about roller skating and John Lennon probably had something rather specific in mind when he wrote _Please Please Me_. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Universe\_Lashes\_Out](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8797f3/32.png) [@The\_Universe\_Lashes\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Universe_Lashes_Out)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2004, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-off-the-wall-lyrics-analyses/241491/4 "2004-04-22T23:18:28Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > My son, however, got nothing for > _Bible music and electric revival_ though. It’s actually “power music, electric revival.” ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2004, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-off-the-wall-lyrics-analyses/241491/5 "2004-04-22T23:42:07Z")
\*Shiny purple fishes Run laughing through your fingers And you want to take her with you To the heartland of the Winter\* was actually a coded message from the Illuminati to LBJ telling him not to run against Nixon. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2004, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-off-the-wall-lyrics-analyses/241491/6 "2004-04-23T00:08:15Z")
My favorite \*Off The Wall \* lyrics? \*I wanna rock with you (all night) Dance you into day (sunlight) I wanna rock with you (all night) We’re gonna rock the night away \* Well, you asked. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2004, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-off-the-wall-lyrics-analyses/241491/7 "2004-04-23T00:27:00Z")
> [@HowieReynolds](#): > > It’s actually “power music, electric revival.” Ah! That makes much more sense. No. No it doesn’t. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2004, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-off-the-wall-lyrics-analyses/241491/8 "2004-04-23T09:46:01Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > My son, however, got nothing for > _Bible music and electric revival_ though. > . The Abstinence movement, of course! _G_ ---
**Author:** ![AveDementia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bc8723/32.png) [@AveDementia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AveDementia)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2004, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-off-the-wall-lyrics-analyses/241491/9 "2004-04-23T10:28:17Z")
I always prefer to interpret Lou Reed’s _Waiting for the Man_ as a gay song about a guy waiting for his (male) date. Because heroin is just depressing to think about, mmkay. I like the song much better when I can think that the “26 dollars, in my hand” is for him to take his sweetheart out to dinner, maybe a movie? And that’s also the reason he denys he’s chasing the women around. It works if I don’t pay too much attention to the lyrics. ---
**Author:** ![Sutremaine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e495f1/32.png) [@Sutremaine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sutremaine)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2004, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-off-the-wall-lyrics-analyses/241491/10 "2004-04-23T11:26:32Z")
Dream Theater’s [Innocence Faded](http://www.dtfaq.com/question/115) (Awake, 1994). > [@](#): > > _Distant like brothers > Wearing apathetic displays > Sharing flesh like envy in cages_ > > This passage is the most difficult for me to decipher. It could be reference to hypocrites within the church regarding each other. Appearing that they don’t have a care or a worry in the world, yet underneath they harbor envy or jealously of some other person(s). The flesh being shared may simply represent sin, and given as an example is the envy which they must cage, or hide, as to not alert others of their charade. Come on, you haven’t got a clue. Just admit it. 😛 Ah, I miss old Petrucchi lyrics. I really don’t know how many hours I’ve spent attempting to visualise his fuzzy-claused mixed similic metaphors and bizarre imagery. …I miss all of DT’s old lyrics. Take this short section of _Metropolis Pt.1: The Miracle and the Sleeper_ (Images and Words, 1992). _The night shed a tear To tell her her fear and her sorrow and pain She’ll never outgrow_ It has inverted syntax (I believe that’s the right term) and, apart from the last word, amphibrachal meter. And the music changes direction halfway through a line as well… Compare with the first verse of _Honor Thy Father_ (Train of Thought, 2003). _We’re taught unconditional love That blood is thicker than water That a parent’s world would revolve Always around their son or their daughter_ That is not a proper lyric! If I can punctuate it into standard, literary English\*, then it is not a lyric. It is… well, I can’t think of the proper term right now and I don’t know what to whack into Google, but it’s just not cricket. _cough cough_ …Sorry about the hijack. \*two semi-colons and a full stop, I reckon. ---
**Author:** ![UrbanChic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9dc877/32.png) [@UrbanChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanChic)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2004, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-off-the-wall-lyrics-analyses/241491/11 "2004-04-23T13:00:26Z")
I posted a thread sometime last year requesting interpretation of Foo Fighters’ _All My Life_ lyrics. No one knew. _Hey don’t let it go to waste I love it but I hate the taste Weight keeeeepin’ me down._ I’ve told myself Dave’s singing about light beer and now I can sleep at night. Actually it doesn’t matter what the song’s about, it rocks and I love it.