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That’s not what it’s about...misunderstood songs

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  • diggedy derek
    replied
    Jah has done Babybird, so let me kick in Cockney Rebel's "Come Up And See Me", which is directed to an old bandmate who Steve Harley wishes to gloat at.

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  • Satchmo Distel
    replied
    "Roberto De Niro's Waiting" by Bananarama, as recently discussed, is written from the perspective of a rape survivor.

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  • elguapo4
    replied
    "Each an every one " by Everything but the Girl sounds like your typical love song, apparently it's about how the music industry treats female performers.

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  • Duncan Gardner
    replied
    Sail Away by Creedence, from Mardi Gras (where Fogerty forced the others to write songs). SA might as well have been called 'John is an asshole'. TBF it's the best of the rhythm section's efforts, although Stu Cook can't sing

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  • Hot Pepsi
    replied
    Originally posted by EIM View Post
    There She Goes by the La's was originally thought to be about unrequited love, but then it was thought to be about heroin, but according to the band it isn't. So it's probably about wanking. Ultimately all songs are about love, heroin or wanking.
    I think most songs are really about other songs. Most songwriting seems to be about taking established forms and conventions and just adding maybe one or two new ideas.

    Reminds me...

    We recently had that discussion about Yacht Rock, where GMan explained how many of the songs that superficially have nautical themes aren’t about that at all. In one of those Spotify info things, I saw that a Christopher Cross said that “Sailing” isn’t really about sailing. It was about an old friend of his that used to take him sailing. He said “If we’d gone bowling, the song would be called “Bowling.””

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  • Hot Pepsi
    replied
    Wow. What a stupid dick. (Needless to say).

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  • Stumpy Pepys
    replied
    Most people don't pay much attention to lyrics

    Trump recently played Fortunate Son by CCR at one of his rallies. That it was a song about a draft dodger didn't seem to matter.

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  • Gert from the Well
    replied
    Originally posted by EIM View Post
    There She Goes by the La's was originally thought to be about unrequited love, but then it was thought to be about heroin, but according to the band it isn't. So it's probably about wanking. Ultimately all songs are about love, heroin or wanking.
    Sir Cliff Richard? Well Devil Women was about Satan and Wired for Sound is obviously cocaine

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  • Gert from the Well
    replied
    Eight Miles High by the Byrds was banned from radio airplay on its release due to its drug references, the some is actually about the disorientation they experienced after a flight to London.

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  • EIM
    replied
    There She Goes by the La's was originally thought to be about unrequited love, but then it was thought to be about heroin, but according to the band it isn't. So it's probably about wanking. Ultimately all songs are about love, heroin or wanking.

    Leave a comment:


  • Jah Womble
    replied
    Babybird’s You’re Gorgeous is often cited in this kind of discussion. It’s another that used to crop up at weddings (probably less-so now), but, according to Stephen Jones, the misanthropic lyrics allude to a photographer who exploits his models.

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  • Sits
    replied
    Last time we saw it live (2002) he was doing the angry acoustic version. More impactful.

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  • Amor de Cosmos
    replied
    It was a originally an acoustic number, kind of like the songs on Nebraska, but the band liked the heaviness, so that's how it went.

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  • Hot Pepsi
    replied
    He objected to the GOP using it.
    It’s not very gung ho. It’s very sad.

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  • Duncan Gardner
    replied
    Both Springsteen and Reagan benefitted from rednecks misunderstanding Born in the USA a gung ho anthem. Not so dumb?

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  • That’s not what it’s about...misunderstood songs

    On Spotify, some songs come with a little explanation of the lyrics and a history of the song. Not sure how they pick which songs to do that for, but it’s instructive.

    It made me think about some songs that are often used at weddings or are otherwise thought to be “romantic” when they’re the opposite.

    The quintessential example is The Police’s “Every Breath You Take.” That’s one of my all time favorite songs and it is beautiful, but the lyrics are clearly about a very toxic relationship. And yet, it’s played at weddings.

    Another one like that is, apparently, Dave Matthews Band’s Crash. It’s a lovely song and it was used a lot in Lady Bird because Greta Gerwin thought it was romantic, but Dave Matthews said it’s about a teenager spying on a woman through her window.

    REM’s “The One I Love” is an all time banger because of the guitar, but it’s actually a nasty song about somebody who is using their lovers, according to Michael Stipe.

    And, as was widely reported at the time, Reagan’s use of “Born in the USA” was not only copyright infringement, but just dumb. It’s not a jingoistic anthem. It’s about how much it sucks to come home from Vietnam and then lose your job.


    Are there a lot of others like that?
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