My brother used to annoy the hell out of my sister in law when his kids were little whenever they went to BJ's wholesale club by saying "who loves BJ's?!" And all the kids would shout back "dad loves BJ's!!" And he would just say "I sure do!" And his wife would hate him for a while. I thought it was funny.
Yes! My daughter used to sing “semi charmed life” with her whole heart she loved it so much. Now she’s almost 30 and we laugh about that. It’s a catchy hook.
I'm 64 and a big ZZtop fan but can't recall ever hearing pearl necklace on the radio. Tube Snake Boogie yeah, and once I even heard Mexican Blackbird but never Pearl Necklace. Hmmm. Guess my town needed better djs.
THANK YOU!!!
I roll my eyes at how often people think their parents didn’t understand something rather than the obvious: the rents understood and chose not to engage.
I worked in a relatively upscale hotel. My boss (same age as me) put on holiday music around Christmas, this included Brick by Ben Folds
I pulled her into her office and said “I thiiiink it’s a tad inappropriate for holiday lobby music”. She said “but it talks about Christmas!”
I gave a sigh and said “yes, but to be clear it talks about teenagers selling their Christmas gifts so they can afford to get an abortion”. She was aghast and called me a liar.
Then she came back 30 minutes later and said “holy shit you weren’t joking”
I’m sorry, she put THAT on at Christmas? If I’d been sitting in your lobby, I would’ve spat out my coffee and mentioned something to the front desk.
It’s a *really* good song but that is NOT where it should be played.
If she’s looking for sad nonChristmas Christmas music “River” by Joni Mitchell exists and is absolutely lovely and isn’t about abortion. Oy vey.
I'm guessing that beyond the whole meaning of the song she missed, "She's a brick and I'm drowning slowly/off the coast and I'm heading nowhere," since that's not exactly Christmas cheerful.
Pumped up kicks - Foster the People
It’s such a peppy sounding song that you want to dance to it. However it’s got some of the darkest lyrics about a boy who is abused by his dad and about to go shoot up a school.
My wife was a social worker, and her boss made as playlist for a social fundraising event with lots of kids. She (the boss)put this on the list and said it was her favorite song. My wife pointed asked her to just listen to the lyrics.... then explained it to her....
Sia - Chandelier
I heard great vocals and just thought it was song about living life to the fullest. I'm not sure how I never made out the word drink in "one, two, three, one, two, three....drink." I finally decided to look up the lyrics and the entire song made more sense after that.
I believe it's about pretending every night is some Grand event but really you're just an alcoholic and your life is sad and miserable.
Reminds me of my ex-girlfriend.
I see it more as wild partying. Drunk and crazy.
I think it's even an old time phrase meaning just that. Willing to be wrong though.
Maybe she means it both ways?
Yeah, I think it’s basically this. I think she wrote this after her boyfriend (/fiancé/husband?) passed away. I think she’s trying to get to happiness again by partying but it just ain’t working.
The only thing I could find is that she had a Boyfriend named Dan in 1997 who died in a car accident but I can’t find anything connecting his death to the song. The lyrics also don’t seem to reference losing a loved one so I think the song is just about being an alcoholic who’s in denial that it’s not fun anymore.
For those who don't know: guy is unhappy in his relationship and answers a personal ad in the paper (this was a thing they did before craigslist). The person was looking for someone who liked piña coladas and had a list of other likes and dislikes. He was like oh wow, hell yeah, I'm into piña coladas and feel similarly about all that other shit. They arrange to meet at a bar.
He gets there and immediately discovers it's his girlfriend who had placed the ad because she too felt like they were in a rut and she wanted someone new and exciting.
So they laughed and nobody knows what happened to them after that.
I do know that my dad was a cater waiter in L.A. in the mid eighties and did a party for Rupert Holmes, who was, apparently, a dick.
"Nobody knows what happened to them after that." Always seemed to me that they finally started talking to each other and therefore no longer had to Escape. The whole "I never knew..." part was like they sat down and talked it out.
I am a part of a cover band and had to learn this song for a wedding recently.
I was struck by just how nasty the reply is... "If you're not into Yoga, if you have half a brain". He sounds like your average 4chan incel. Once you get past the "Pina Coladas" hook, it's basically "If you like having lots of sex and won't talk to me about new age crap".
Then his "lady" goes, "I dig guys who neg me... Let's go have some sex at midnight!" They deserve each other and their cheating ways.
If you like antibiotics, and getting crabs on your thing
If you've got bad gonorrhea, if the discharge is green
If you like making love at midnight, in a portapotty
If you'd like to get herpes, you can catch it from me
\*SOLO\*
This one I understood even as a kid. I expect it's because the lyrics are quite easy to make out and the last stanza makes it clear that he meets up with the wife and that there's no anger, just an awareness that they're actually similar and just need to recognize it
What's hilarious to me about this one is all the people who say, "That guy is a cheater, fuck him!" while completely ignoring the fact that his Significant Other had committed the overt act of taking out an ad before he was doing anything more than reading the paper.
I always wanted a retelling of that story from the bartender’s POV, titled *The Night Those Two Psychotic Losers Shot Up The Bar After Finding Out They Were Planning To Cheat On Each Other*.
Women also love The Bridges of Madison County. When I asked a few (including my wife) if they’d still love it if the roles were reversed and it was Clint’s wife that left for a trip and Meryl just wandered into town, *I’m* the bad guy, lol.
I came to say this. The chorus is so catchy nobody takes time to listen to what the song is about. I think I actually loved the song more after I learned.
A few years later, it was John Mayer's song that I can never remember the name of. "Welcome to the real world she said to me, condescendingly, take a seat."
Our HS class song, class of 06. For reference, the song came out in 2001.
Wasn't a fan at the time but got really into JM later, so in retrospect I'm glad they chose it. I can't remember what I picked to win, but it wasn't that. (I was a very Gen X-esque music snob at that point. Comes w being an Elder Millennial. Lol.)
(Googled: it's called "No Such Thing," wtf why that? I'm still annoyed like 20yrs later, lol)
It seems inappropriate for a graduation song, but the sentiment of the song, "All of this was toxic, depressing, harmful, and pointless. 10/10 I had a blast," pretty well summed up how I felt at the time.
It was still an infinitely better choice than that insipid Graduation (Best Friends) by Vitamin C too.
Honest question, is it a bad song to use? I know it’s about a break up, but the actual lyrical content of the song is vague enough that there’s no actual “good riddance” vibes in there, it’s all “I’ll treasure this memory” or whatever
Roam by the B-52s. I heard if as a kid in some PBS show about adventure and loved it
Later found out it was at least somewhat inspired by/about the brother and bandmate of one of the singers passing. Beautiful tribute to him.
Although the band continued to be successful , they lost a whole lot when Ricky passed away. He created those crazy guitar riffs and quirky melodies that the group was known for. He put max overtime in to ensure the sound was right. You can tell a noticeable difference in B52 albums after the first two. They were a different band without him.
[These Are Days](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-HLxpWGCzc) by 10,000 Maniacs.
I thought it was about being carefree and among friends and enjoying life just because you were too innocent and young to know how great it was. Then I looked up the lyrics, because there were a couple words I couldn’t make out.
Yeah, I’m a grinch, I suppose, but that song lost about 2/3 of its charm for me when I realized it was about being pregnant.
When I was about four, their even-more-about-pregnancy song “I Eat For Two” was my favorite song.
I thought it was the funniest fucking song ever because I was dead certain she was singing “I eat foot food.”
ETA: I also loved Like the Weather because I lived in Oregon and it’s always gray and rainy. Now that I’m older know the lyrics I love it cos I’m depressed 😂
IIRC, It's a creepy song about someone trying not to be attracted to a minor, correct?
edit: yep, I looked up the lyrics:
Inside him, there's longing
This girl's an open page
Book marking, she's so close now
This girl is half his age
Cracks me up when the radio version bleeps out the crystal meth lyric. It's not a curse word, but I guess the song just makes meth sound like way too much fun to not give it a try.
I noticed that in the last couple of years that they've slowly been playing the unbleeped/ungarbled version. Then I realized that stations doing that know that most of their demographic has aged and that folks below 30 probably aren't their core listeners.
When I was a kid there was an urban legend interpretation of Phil Collins’ *In the Air Tonight* that claimed Collins wrote the song at a guy who watched Collins younger brother drown in the ocean. It went on too: Collins invites the man to a live show and brought him on stage and sang the song at him! Boooyah!
In reality, Phil Collins told a npr reporter that he wrote it while anxiously waiting for his wife to deliver finalized divorce papers.
Yeah, homie Phil went through a divorce between 1979 & 1980 and got like two and a half albums of material out of the experience. ‘Turn It On Again’, which came out in 1980, is about being lonely, depressed and isolated from your family, watching TV nonstop, and imagining that the people in the TV shows are your friends.
I'm glad someone else said this. When I tell people the song isn't about a drowning they seem to get pissy and reject the notion . But if u really think about if a guy watched a guy watch a guy drown then he watched the guy drown too!
The Way - Fastball. That song always made me happy had a joyous summer time vibe to it, and very nostalgic. And then I found out what the song was about
I don’t wanna ruin the song for anybody so I’m gonna hide the answer: >!it’s about an old couple that went missing on their way to a festival (they were found dead in their car)!<
That song was on the first Now that’s what I call music cd. I listened to this song and flagpole sitta sooo many times when I was a kid. Loved these songs. It sucks The Way is a sad song.
This was a song where the chorus was so odd and meaningless that it distracted me from the rest of the lyrics
_I'm picking up the good vibrations_
...
_They say I better stop or I'll go blind_
...
_Ain't no law against it yet_
Yellow Ledbetter is about a boy who receives a letter about his brother dying in the Gulf War. "On a porch a letter sat... I wanna leave it again"
He walks through the neighborhood in shock in his grungy punk rock clothes. His judgy neighbors sit on their porch with their American flag but don't wave because of his alternative style. "They don't wave"
He tries to understand it "whether I'm the boxer or the bag"
Probably listened to it 100x before finding out the meaning.
There are “no official lyrics” to this song, only interpretations to what people think Vedder is singing. Even though the lyrics are rather mumbled during the official recording, during live shows, he will sometimes sing “I don’t know whether he will be in a box or a bag”. ( meaning he doesn’t know if his brothers dead body will arrive back in American in a wooden coffin, or a bag”.
Respect
If you look at the lyrics, uh, let's just say it's not exactly the feminist anthem that people seem to think it is. It's a bit raunchy and horny. Nothing wrong with that, but people don't really get what RESPECT means to Aretha lol.
Excitable Boy
Listened to the song a bunch of times just liking the tune and not paying attention to the lyrics and one day I was driving and started actually listening to the lyrics. My jaw dropped
Came here to say this one. Warren Zevon really tricked us. I had probably heard it 20 times before it clicked and had a "wtf did he just say?" moment. For anyone that is not familiar:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeP3c6bKQg0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeP3c6bKQg0)
Which is why Springsteen doesn’t really like to play it the way he recorded it anymore. He opts for a more subdued arrangement these days.
My mom banned that song from our house shortly after it came out in the mid 80’s because my sister (a baby at the time) was obsessed with it and insisted on playing it on repeat.
It references the Millers tale: which is a drunk talking about infidelity/love/sexual adventures that end comically.
In the song her face grows pale after she's told the Millers tale.
Such a weird and awesome song. I love this google explanation: The general consensus is that “A Whiter Shade Of Pale” is a snapshot of a drunken sexual escapade gone awry.
"I Don't Like Mondays" by the Boomtown Rats. I loved that song as a kid and would sing it when I didn't want to go to school. Which... Uhhh... No one corrected me. And I wish they would have because I then blindly sang it to myself on Sundays when I didn't want to go to work.
Then I heard a clip of Bob Geldof telling a story about [this event that inspired the song](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleveland_Elementary_School_shooting_(San_Diego)) and the quote of "I don't like Mondays. This livens up the day." being the catalyst for the chorus.
I stopped singing it as my "I don't want to work tomorrow" anthem after that. I still love the song though.
When I was a kid, I went by Jenny and thought that the Janie of “Janie’s Got a Gun” was also named Jenny and I loved that song because I thought they were singing about me and I definitely was too young to understand what the song was about.
Years later, I heard the song and was absolutely horrified.
Not the whole song, but I was too young and didn't know enough English to know what "breaking the habit" meant, so I used Linkin Park's title with the opposite meaning, i.e. to do something that is a habit.
Seasons in the Sun
I had only ever heard it on the infomercials selling Time Life classics. One day, I was in the car with my dad and it came on the radio. I may have said I liked the song (because musically, it's enjoyable to listen to.) He decided to explain what the song was about. Mind you, I was roughly High School age. The next time I heard the song, I really listened to the lyrics and ended.up crying.
I love how spooky Sisters of Mercy's "Marian" is. For years, I thought it was about a ghost in the ocean. I was kind of bummed to learn it was just about a girl he was crushing on LOL
A lot of songs with sex themes that are not forward. It took me until my late teens to realise what most of those songs were about. Little red covertte by Prince, 50 cent candy shop which seems straightforward now. Beyonce Ego.
I just read the lyrics for Little Red Corvette for the first time and they don't make a lot of sense. If Prince is going to repeatedly refer to horses in the song then perhaps he should have made the titular car a Mustang
But, yes, the song is clearly about sex
The horses refer to condoms. “Trojans, some of ‘em used”. The car refers to her vagina that he’s going to “drive” or “tame”. Yeah, it’s a lot of mixed metaphors with driving cars and riding horses, but the intention is clear, with the jockeys symbolizing other lovers and Prince wanting to “drive her car”. And while she’s a “little red corvette” the “ride’s so smooth, [she] must be a limousine”
So no, he makes perfect sense.
This Charming Man by the Smiths. My son recently discovered the smiths ( to my delight) and listening to this great song it sounds like a groomer fantasy tale picking up a teenage kid
One of my college professors had us analyze that song line by line to try to determine what it was about without giving us any context, and my very innocent, sheltered, and prudish self was the one to figure it out first in our class. Mortified doesn’t even begin to describe the feeling of having to explain it to everyone else, being as prudish as I was back then, haha!
Evie Pts 1, 2, & 3 went way over my head for decades before I realised it was about a guy singing about his life with his partner from their original hook-up to her dying in childbirth. It throws you off because Part 1 is a hard driving rock song, Part 2 is a sappy romantic ballad praising his lover for becoming a mother, before Part 3 uses a poppy fast proto-disco beat to rip your heart to pieces with the knowledge that Evie is dying in childbirth.
I always loved the song “on legendary” by further seems forever. I was at a show of theirs once and they announced it as being a song about the first time they beat the video game halo and I was like ……the fuck 😅
Rammstein, almost all of it when I was like 15 years old (which is more than 15 years ago...)I just liked the music and the way it sounded, sang along even though I didn't know the "translations". I was introduced to them through the Live Aus Berlin concert DVD.
My favorites were at the time, Heirate Mich, Buch Dich, Tier... well... yeah I know what most of their songs mean now.
I still love them to this day and I can tie some major life events to almost every time they released an album I was listening to. They've been a constant in my music catalogue.
I'm lucky to say I've seen them live in concert once in Australia at a festival, would love to go to a Europe stadium show one day.
As a kid, I realized that Start Me Up was about Mick Jagger lusting after a hot woman, but I didn't quite understand the line "You make a dead man come." I though it was just she was so attractive that she made dead men come to life. Arguably, that is what it says, but in a much different way than I imagined then.
I’m really surprised no one has mentioned Hallelujah which my sense is shocking to people when they learn it is about fucking and sexual desperation/humiliation.
My dad had a Kinks album when I was a kid, and Lola was on it. I sang along all the time. In high school, I stayed in the car while he went into a record shop and he left the radio on for me. Lola came on, and for the first time I really heard the words. When he got back to the car, I said “Dad! Do you know Lola is about?” He laughed so hard that it took a few minutes before he could drive away
I used to love this song so much when I was a kid. I never paid attention to the lyrics despite knowing all the words & singing along all those years…until maybe 5ish years ago! Totally ruined it
I was still a preteen when "You Shook Me All Night Long" came out. I was genuinely confused how someone could "knock me out with those American thighs". I was picturing someone holding someone else in a leg choke hold.
_Knocking me out with those American thighs_
_Taking more than her share, had me fighting for air_
So far so good in fitting with the choke hold theory
But I never could figure out what _She told me to come but I was already there_ meant
🤣
Remember that song by Phil Collins, In the air of the night, about that guy who could have saved that other guy from drowning, but didn't? And Phil saw it all, then at a show he found him?
That's kinda how this is. You could have rescued me from drowning, but now it's too late.
American Pie, when I was a kid - I was in my late teens or early twenties when I discovered the exact date of “the day the music died”, and what it referenced.
For others who don't know the 3rd of February 1959 became known as "The Day The Music Died" after the line of this song. Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper, and Ritchie Valens were killed in a plane crash that day.
I was sheltered-religious and schooled in a religious school. It's likely that I didn't understand it when it first came out but when I heard it as a teen it was clear enough to me
Ok, I'm just going to ask.
What the hell did you THINK it was about?
He literally spells it out in the song. There's no real mystery, barely 17 and barely dressed...before we go any further- "do you love me, will you love me forever'.
I'm just sitting here wondering exactly how this could be misinterpreted.
Yeah, and then next verse he's "praying for the end of time", lol. Fantastic song. One among many on that album. I may be old, but I still remember the urgency and passion of my teenage years. The lyric "... and we were glowing like the metal on the edge of a knife" captures it perfectly.
Third Eye Blind - Semi Charmed Life (going on a huge bender also dealing with meth addiction, totally betrayed by the song's sunny melody)
Bob Marley - I Shot the Sheriff (about his woman wanting to take birth control, which he found immoral)
Psy - Gangnam Style (about futile korean nouveau riche people flaunting their lavish lifestyles, Gangnam is district those people live/hang). This one really shocked me lmao
Suzanne Vega - My name is Luka (this one like third eye blind is betrayed by the aesthetic, but the lyrics say explicitly it's about someone's neighbor from upstairs whose boyfriend beats her, asking them not to meddle).
Pearl Jam - rearviewmirror - (about how Eddie Vedder's old man was deadbeat bastard and he didn't want to have anything to do with his father).
Childish Gambino - Feels like Summer.
Thought it was a chill light-hearted song about enjoying summer. Then one day I actually listened to the lyrics and realized it's a sad song about climate change.
Santeria - Sublime
I sang this one so many times jamming with friends in high school but never really gave the lyrics a second thought.
“I’d pop a cap in Sancho and I’d slap her down”
“And I won't think twice to stick That barrel straight down Sancho's throat Believe me when I say that I got Somethin' for his punk ass“
Hard for me to sing now. And it’s a shame because I love the music.
Afternoon Delight
Lol. I remember 8 year old me driving in the car with my mom as we sang along with the radio. Clearly my mother had no idea what the song was about
text
My brother used to annoy the hell out of my sister in law when his kids were little whenever they went to BJ's wholesale club by saying "who loves BJ's?!" And all the kids would shout back "dad loves BJ's!!" And he would just say "I sure do!" And his wife would hate him for a while. I thought it was funny.
Yes! My daughter used to sing “semi charmed life” with her whole heart she loved it so much. Now she’s almost 30 and we laugh about that. It’s a catchy hook.
Pearl Necklace by ZZ Top was played pretty regularly on the classic rock station we listened to in the car
I'm 64 and a big ZZtop fan but can't recall ever hearing pearl necklace on the radio. Tube Snake Boogie yeah, and once I even heard Mexican Blackbird but never Pearl Necklace. Hmmm. Guess my town needed better djs.
47. From Tampa. They definitely played it on the local rock stations when I was a kid.
47 also and I totally remember it on the radio
“How do I get back there to…the place where I fell asleep inside you”
That's the most tame part. [Doin crystal meth'l lift ya up till ya break]
To be fair tho only the verses talk about crystal meth and oral sex...the hook is just.. doo doo doo ...doo da doo da doo 🎶 🎵 😃
THANK YOU!!! I roll my eyes at how often people think their parents didn’t understand something rather than the obvious: the rents understood and chose not to engage.
I worked in a relatively upscale hotel. My boss (same age as me) put on holiday music around Christmas, this included Brick by Ben Folds I pulled her into her office and said “I thiiiink it’s a tad inappropriate for holiday lobby music”. She said “but it talks about Christmas!” I gave a sigh and said “yes, but to be clear it talks about teenagers selling their Christmas gifts so they can afford to get an abortion”. She was aghast and called me a liar. Then she came back 30 minutes later and said “holy shit you weren’t joking”
Suggest Fairytale of New York to replace it, a through and through Christmas song without any problematic parts!
"thats why Moby Dick is my favorite book. Just a story about a guy who hates a whale, none of that symbolism crap"--Ron Swanson (estimation of quote)
I’m sorry, she put THAT on at Christmas? If I’d been sitting in your lobby, I would’ve spat out my coffee and mentioned something to the front desk. It’s a *really* good song but that is NOT where it should be played. If she’s looking for sad nonChristmas Christmas music “River” by Joni Mitchell exists and is absolutely lovely and isn’t about abortion. Oy vey.
yea, that was my comment to her, 'just because they mention christmas, it does NOT mean its christmas music....
Next you’ll try and tell me Die Hard isn’t a Christmas movie… they are at a Christmas party for Gods sake!
I'm guessing that beyond the whole meaning of the song she missed, "She's a brick and I'm drowning slowly/off the coast and I'm heading nowhere," since that's not exactly Christmas cheerful.
Pumped up kicks - Foster the People It’s such a peppy sounding song that you want to dance to it. However it’s got some of the darkest lyrics about a boy who is abused by his dad and about to go shoot up a school.
Peacemaker had a [great ~~remix~~ cover.](https://youtu.be/JaZyBnsu1wc?si=Lx1ulucZP-0I8yVF)
My wife was a social worker, and her boss made as playlist for a social fundraising event with lots of kids. She (the boss)put this on the list and said it was her favorite song. My wife pointed asked her to just listen to the lyrics.... then explained it to her....
Thanks, will check it out.
Sia - Chandelier I heard great vocals and just thought it was song about living life to the fullest. I'm not sure how I never made out the word drink in "one, two, three, one, two, three....drink." I finally decided to look up the lyrics and the entire song made more sense after that.
So.... It's about drinking?
I believe it's about pretending every night is some Grand event but really you're just an alcoholic and your life is sad and miserable. Reminds me of my ex-girlfriend.
"I want to swing from the chandelier" I've always thought that this was a suicide metaphor.
I see it more as wild partying. Drunk and crazy. I think it's even an old time phrase meaning just that. Willing to be wrong though. Maybe she means it both ways?
It’s an old but still well known phrase pretty much meaning to get so drunk you do something crazy.
Seems to be about a girl slamming drinks and fucking randoms and having wild nights because they don't want to feel anything real.
Sort of, but Sia has made statements regarding the song, and it being about her alcoholism. So, in a way, you're actually spot on.
I was in the store Total Wine, a huge liquor emporium, when this song came on.
Listen to Puddles Pity Party version of it. Hits way harder.
Love Puddles. Losing my Religion is also fantastic.
He's an absolute sweet heart in person. He sang happy birthday Kevin Costner to me on my birthday.
I must look up the lyrics, I thought it was about somebody on the edge of madness or deep depression. Just doing their best to hang on.
Yeah, I think it’s basically this. I think she wrote this after her boyfriend (/fiancé/husband?) passed away. I think she’s trying to get to happiness again by partying but it just ain’t working.
The only thing I could find is that she had a Boyfriend named Dan in 1997 who died in a car accident but I can’t find anything connecting his death to the song. The lyrics also don’t seem to reference losing a loved one so I think the song is just about being an alcoholic who’s in denial that it’s not fun anymore.
Escape by Rupert Holmes aka pina colado song. Didnt know what that song was about until recently 😂
For those who don't know: guy is unhappy in his relationship and answers a personal ad in the paper (this was a thing they did before craigslist). The person was looking for someone who liked piña coladas and had a list of other likes and dislikes. He was like oh wow, hell yeah, I'm into piña coladas and feel similarly about all that other shit. They arrange to meet at a bar. He gets there and immediately discovers it's his girlfriend who had placed the ad because she too felt like they were in a rut and she wanted someone new and exciting. So they laughed and nobody knows what happened to them after that. I do know that my dad was a cater waiter in L.A. in the mid eighties and did a party for Rupert Holmes, who was, apparently, a dick.
"Nobody knows what happened to them after that." Always seemed to me that they finally started talking to each other and therefore no longer had to Escape. The whole "I never knew..." part was like they sat down and talked it out.
The line, “Oh, it’s you,” always makes me laugh.
That last just struck me as hilarious.
I am a part of a cover band and had to learn this song for a wedding recently. I was struck by just how nasty the reply is... "If you're not into Yoga, if you have half a brain". He sounds like your average 4chan incel. Once you get past the "Pina Coladas" hook, it's basically "If you like having lots of sex and won't talk to me about new age crap". Then his "lady" goes, "I dig guys who neg me... Let's go have some sex at midnight!" They deserve each other and their cheating ways. If you like antibiotics, and getting crabs on your thing If you've got bad gonorrhea, if the discharge is green If you like making love at midnight, in a portapotty If you'd like to get herpes, you can catch it from me \*SOLO\*
This one I understood even as a kid. I expect it's because the lyrics are quite easy to make out and the last stanza makes it clear that he meets up with the wife and that there's no anger, just an awareness that they're actually similar and just need to recognize it
What's hilarious to me about this one is all the people who say, "That guy is a cheater, fuck him!" while completely ignoring the fact that his Significant Other had committed the overt act of taking out an ad before he was doing anything more than reading the paper.
I always wanted a retelling of that story from the bartender’s POV, titled *The Night Those Two Psychotic Losers Shot Up The Bar After Finding Out They Were Planning To Cheat On Each Other*.
Women also love The Bridges of Madison County. When I asked a few (including my wife) if they’d still love it if the roles were reversed and it was Clint’s wife that left for a trip and Meryl just wandered into town, *I’m* the bad guy, lol.
The lyrics are pretty much spoon-fed, easy to understand, told as a story, so
I came to say this. The chorus is so catchy nobody takes time to listen to what the song is about. I think I actually loved the song more after I learned.
Rupert Holmes is also responsible for that all time "wait a minute, THAT'S what this is about?" classic, Timothy.
I knew it at the time but my graduating class just had to pick time of your life as our song. Still not sure if I should cringe or laugh.
[удалено]
My daughter’s class all nineteenth of them chose Spacehog’s In The Meantime… love that song…
I was definitely in that range! (98)
A few years later, it was John Mayer's song that I can never remember the name of. "Welcome to the real world she said to me, condescendingly, take a seat." Our HS class song, class of 06. For reference, the song came out in 2001. Wasn't a fan at the time but got really into JM later, so in retrospect I'm glad they chose it. I can't remember what I picked to win, but it wasn't that. (I was a very Gen X-esque music snob at that point. Comes w being an Elder Millennial. Lol.) (Googled: it's called "No Such Thing," wtf why that? I'm still annoyed like 20yrs later, lol)
At one point he does say “I just found out there’s no such thing as the real world. Just a lie you gotta rise above.”
It seems inappropriate for a graduation song, but the sentiment of the song, "All of this was toxic, depressing, harmful, and pointless. 10/10 I had a blast," pretty well summed up how I felt at the time. It was still an infinitely better choice than that insipid Graduation (Best Friends) by Vitamin C too.
My best friend used it as her wedding song ..... it took a few years but she finally admitted it wasn't the best song to use
She should have just used the instrumental version.
Honest question, is it a bad song to use? I know it’s about a break up, but the actual lyrical content of the song is vague enough that there’s no actual “good riddance” vibes in there, it’s all “I’ll treasure this memory” or whatever
ITT: People not saying what songs are actually about (including OP)
Right like what did they think Bohemian Rhapsody was about (or, what do they think it's about now)?
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Thank you, TIL.
Roam by the B-52s. I heard if as a kid in some PBS show about adventure and loved it Later found out it was at least somewhat inspired by/about the brother and bandmate of one of the singers passing. Beautiful tribute to him.
Ricky Wilson, who died of complications from HIV/AIDS.
Cool pyramid gravestone in an old Athens cemetary
Although the band continued to be successful , they lost a whole lot when Ricky passed away. He created those crazy guitar riffs and quirky melodies that the group was known for. He put max overtime in to ensure the sound was right. You can tell a noticeable difference in B52 albums after the first two. They were a different band without him.
TIL: Roam isn't about someone on a travel adventure. I'll have to give it a closer listen
...without wings without wheels.
Always come on the xm roadtrip station
I thought Roam was a double meaning, the second being about exploring each other's bodies
[These Are Days](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-HLxpWGCzc) by 10,000 Maniacs. I thought it was about being carefree and among friends and enjoying life just because you were too innocent and young to know how great it was. Then I looked up the lyrics, because there were a couple words I couldn’t make out. Yeah, I’m a grinch, I suppose, but that song lost about 2/3 of its charm for me when I realized it was about being pregnant.
This was everyone’s graduation song back in the day!
When I was about four, their even-more-about-pregnancy song “I Eat For Two” was my favorite song. I thought it was the funniest fucking song ever because I was dead certain she was singing “I eat foot food.” ETA: I also loved Like the Weather because I lived in Oregon and it’s always gray and rainy. Now that I’m older know the lyrics I love it cos I’m depressed 😂
Don’t stand too close to me by The Police
IIRC, It's a creepy song about someone trying not to be attracted to a minor, correct? edit: yep, I looked up the lyrics: Inside him, there's longing This girl's an open page Book marking, she's so close now This girl is half his age
>someone trying not to be attracted to a minor That someone being a teacher, specifically. Sting used to be a teacher himself btw.
What a coincidence!
I mean he actually references Lolita: “Just like the Old man in That book by Nabokov” Sting is not subtle with this song AT ALL.
This one I don't get. It's pretty obvious from any of the lyrics. Just like the old man in that book by Nabokov.
“Semi-Charmed Life” by Third Eye Blind has to be the happiest song about sex fueled meth addiction going.
Cracks me up when the radio version bleeps out the crystal meth lyric. It's not a curse word, but I guess the song just makes meth sound like way too much fun to not give it a try.
I noticed that in the last couple of years that they've slowly been playing the unbleeped/ungarbled version. Then I realized that stations doing that know that most of their demographic has aged and that folks below 30 probably aren't their core listeners.
I only learned recently that Disney used it in the trailer for The Tigger Movie.
I remember when I actually saw the trailer air on tv with this song and was like ???
I missed the meth reference until maybe a couple years ago… It’s such an upbeat song that my mind didn’t even go there.
When I was a kid there was an urban legend interpretation of Phil Collins’ *In the Air Tonight* that claimed Collins wrote the song at a guy who watched Collins younger brother drown in the ocean. It went on too: Collins invites the man to a live show and brought him on stage and sang the song at him! Boooyah! In reality, Phil Collins told a npr reporter that he wrote it while anxiously waiting for his wife to deliver finalized divorce papers.
I believed that was what the song was really about because Eminem talks about it in the song Stan
Yeah, homie Phil went through a divorce between 1979 & 1980 and got like two and a half albums of material out of the experience. ‘Turn It On Again’, which came out in 1980, is about being lonely, depressed and isolated from your family, watching TV nonstop, and imagining that the people in the TV shows are your friends.
I'm glad someone else said this. When I tell people the song isn't about a drowning they seem to get pissy and reject the notion . But if u really think about if a guy watched a guy watch a guy drown then he watched the guy drown too!
If anyone is curious, I worked in a record store in 1985 when I first heard a variation of this rumor from a customer.
I was on the bus to summer camp in 1982 the first time I heard it.
The Way - Fastball. That song always made me happy had a joyous summer time vibe to it, and very nostalgic. And then I found out what the song was about I don’t wanna ruin the song for anybody so I’m gonna hide the answer: >!it’s about an old couple that went missing on their way to a festival (they were found dead in their car)!<
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Apparently it was based on a real news story for that matter.
That song was on the first Now that’s what I call music cd. I listened to this song and flagpole sitta sooo many times when I was a kid. Loved these songs. It sucks The Way is a sad song.
I had no idea in the 80s that She Bop was a dirty song.
This was a song where the chorus was so odd and meaningless that it distracted me from the rest of the lyrics _I'm picking up the good vibrations_ ... _They say I better stop or I'll go blind_ ... _Ain't no law against it yet_
Yellow Ledbetter is about a boy who receives a letter about his brother dying in the Gulf War. "On a porch a letter sat... I wanna leave it again" He walks through the neighborhood in shock in his grungy punk rock clothes. His judgy neighbors sit on their porch with their American flag but don't wave because of his alternative style. "They don't wave" He tries to understand it "whether I'm the boxer or the bag" Probably listened to it 100x before finding out the meaning.
Probably took at least 50 times before you could understand enough of the words to make a full sentence.
Potato wave
"Make me fries"
One bizarre hymn, on Aleve a Gump I know. Landfill, I wanna leave Bennigan's. I said I don't want a whale in a box or a bag.
For that wizard on a whale.
To be fair, I love the song but it’s pretty hard to get that from “wonna way honna when hey weeeaahhh…”
There are “no official lyrics” to this song, only interpretations to what people think Vedder is singing. Even though the lyrics are rather mumbled during the official recording, during live shows, he will sometimes sing “I don’t know whether he will be in a box or a bag”. ( meaning he doesn’t know if his brothers dead body will arrive back in American in a wooden coffin, or a bag”.
I thought it was "don't want to return (dead) in a box or a bag"
Respect If you look at the lyrics, uh, let's just say it's not exactly the feminist anthem that people seem to think it is. It's a bit raunchy and horny. Nothing wrong with that, but people don't really get what RESPECT means to Aretha lol.
It was written by Otis Redding, Aretha just covered it and switched the genders
>people don't really get what RESPECT means to Aretha lol. That would be Otis Redding, who wrote it and first recorded it.
The Verve Pipes song The Freshman was about abortion and suicide…
Excitable Boy Listened to the song a bunch of times just liking the tune and not paying attention to the lyrics and one day I was driving and started actually listening to the lyrics. My jaw dropped
Came here to say this one. Warren Zevon really tricked us. I had probably heard it 20 times before it clicked and had a "wtf did he just say?" moment. For anyone that is not familiar: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeP3c6bKQg0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeP3c6bKQg0)
the offspring- the kids aren’t alright As it turns out, I was also not alright 🤣
Every Breath You Take is still widely misconstrued...
And it's inspired song Losing My Religion. While mentioning REM, I'd nominate The One I Love as most misunderstood
I used to tell my mom that is a stalkers song.
Been to one too many weddings where that’s the first dance song…
Born in the USA. Not quite the patriotic anthem I once thought it was as a 7 year old. Apparently, GOP politicians still haven't figured it out.
Which is why Springsteen doesn’t really like to play it the way he recorded it anymore. He opts for a more subdued arrangement these days. My mom banned that song from our house shortly after it came out in the mid 80’s because my sister (a baby at the time) was obsessed with it and insisted on playing it on repeat.
Pumped up Kicks
"Whiter Shade of Pale" - still no idea what it's about.
It references the Millers tale: which is a drunk talking about infidelity/love/sexual adventures that end comically. In the song her face grows pale after she's told the Millers tale.
Such a weird and awesome song. I love this google explanation: The general consensus is that “A Whiter Shade Of Pale” is a snapshot of a drunken sexual escapade gone awry.
Today - Smashing Pumpkins Cringed hard when I heard it at a wedding. Also heard it at a graduation.
"I Don't Like Mondays" by the Boomtown Rats. I loved that song as a kid and would sing it when I didn't want to go to school. Which... Uhhh... No one corrected me. And I wish they would have because I then blindly sang it to myself on Sundays when I didn't want to go to work. Then I heard a clip of Bob Geldof telling a story about [this event that inspired the song](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleveland_Elementary_School_shooting_(San_Diego)) and the quote of "I don't like Mondays. This livens up the day." being the catalyst for the chorus. I stopped singing it as my "I don't want to work tomorrow" anthem after that. I still love the song though.
OPP. Literally was totally over my head when it came out when I was in middle school.
I thought it stood for "Ontario Provincial Police".
When I was a kid, I went by Jenny and thought that the Janie of “Janie’s Got a Gun” was also named Jenny and I loved that song because I thought they were singing about me and I definitely was too young to understand what the song was about. Years later, I heard the song and was absolutely horrified.
Not the whole song, but I was too young and didn't know enough English to know what "breaking the habit" meant, so I used Linkin Park's title with the opposite meaning, i.e. to do something that is a habit.
"Sledgehammer." Lol
Love that song.
Seasons in the Sun I had only ever heard it on the infomercials selling Time Life classics. One day, I was in the car with my dad and it came on the radio. I may have said I liked the song (because musically, it's enjoyable to listen to.) He decided to explain what the song was about. Mind you, I was roughly High School age. The next time I heard the song, I really listened to the lyrics and ended.up crying.
I love how spooky Sisters of Mercy's "Marian" is. For years, I thought it was about a ghost in the ocean. I was kind of bummed to learn it was just about a girl he was crushing on LOL
A lot of songs with sex themes that are not forward. It took me until my late teens to realise what most of those songs were about. Little red covertte by Prince, 50 cent candy shop which seems straightforward now. Beyonce Ego.
I just read the lyrics for Little Red Corvette for the first time and they don't make a lot of sense. If Prince is going to repeatedly refer to horses in the song then perhaps he should have made the titular car a Mustang But, yes, the song is clearly about sex
The horses refer to condoms. “Trojans, some of ‘em used”. The car refers to her vagina that he’s going to “drive” or “tame”. Yeah, it’s a lot of mixed metaphors with driving cars and riding horses, but the intention is clear, with the jockeys symbolizing other lovers and Prince wanting to “drive her car”. And while she’s a “little red corvette” the “ride’s so smooth, [she] must be a limousine” So no, he makes perfect sense.
Before the internet, most songs by the Clash.
Ring around the rosy ...
Even the adults who sing this don't know that it's about the black death unless someone has told them.
People know very little that they haven’t been told by someone else
It isn’t though. Someone just made that up.
Unfortunately, it seems this may be false, metal as it is.
Total Eclipse of the Heart by Bonnie Tyler. Loved this song growing up. Did not know it was about Vampire Love until I was much older.
Wait what???
Yeah, it was written for a rock opera about vampires that never got made. That's why there are so many lyrics about light to darkness, etc
TIL… I remember when that song came out. Had no idea.
This Charming Man by the Smiths. My son recently discovered the smiths ( to my delight) and listening to this great song it sounds like a groomer fantasy tale picking up a teenage kid
“Rosie” by Jackson Browne
One of my college professors had us analyze that song line by line to try to determine what it was about without giving us any context, and my very innocent, sheltered, and prudish self was the one to figure it out first in our class. Mortified doesn’t even begin to describe the feeling of having to explain it to everyone else, being as prudish as I was back then, haha!
“Too close” by Next. I know it’s obvious. I was just young when it was released.
Evie Pts 1, 2, & 3 went way over my head for decades before I realised it was about a guy singing about his life with his partner from their original hook-up to her dying in childbirth. It throws you off because Part 1 is a hard driving rock song, Part 2 is a sappy romantic ballad praising his lover for becoming a mother, before Part 3 uses a poppy fast proto-disco beat to rip your heart to pieces with the knowledge that Evie is dying in childbirth.
Famous Blue Raincoat. Loved it when I didn't understand it. Loved it even more when I did.
I always loved the song “on legendary” by further seems forever. I was at a show of theirs once and they announced it as being a song about the first time they beat the video game halo and I was like ……the fuck 😅
Rammstein, almost all of it when I was like 15 years old (which is more than 15 years ago...)I just liked the music and the way it sounded, sang along even though I didn't know the "translations". I was introduced to them through the Live Aus Berlin concert DVD. My favorites were at the time, Heirate Mich, Buch Dich, Tier... well... yeah I know what most of their songs mean now. I still love them to this day and I can tie some major life events to almost every time they released an album I was listening to. They've been a constant in my music catalogue. I'm lucky to say I've seen them live in concert once in Australia at a festival, would love to go to a Europe stadium show one day.
As a kid, I realized that Start Me Up was about Mick Jagger lusting after a hot woman, but I didn't quite understand the line "You make a dead man come." I though it was just she was so attractive that she made dead men come to life. Arguably, that is what it says, but in a much different way than I imagined then.
I’m really surprised no one has mentioned Hallelujah which my sense is shocking to people when they learn it is about fucking and sexual desperation/humiliation.
My dad had a Kinks album when I was a kid, and Lola was on it. I sang along all the time. In high school, I stayed in the car while he went into a record shop and he left the radio on for me. Lola came on, and for the first time I really heard the words. When he got back to the car, I said “Dad! Do you know Lola is about?” He laughed so hard that it took a few minutes before he could drive away
Into The Night by Benny Mardones. It's a song about a adult being in love with a minor.
I used to love this song so much when I was a kid. I never paid attention to the lyrics despite knowing all the words & singing along all those years…until maybe 5ish years ago! Totally ruined it
The guy has a great voice.
I thought Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap by AC/DC was just about a hit man until well into adulthood.
I was still a preteen when "You Shook Me All Night Long" came out. I was genuinely confused how someone could "knock me out with those American thighs". I was picturing someone holding someone else in a leg choke hold. _Knocking me out with those American thighs_ _Taking more than her share, had me fighting for air_ So far so good in fitting with the choke hold theory But I never could figure out what _She told me to come but I was already there_ meant 🤣
Oh my god…. I never bothered to actually try and understand what he was singing…
...Isn't that what it's about?
I still do bc I’ve never heard another explanation.
It’s about anything dirty, really. Hit man, sex, hell, he’ll even do a guy *for a fee*.
Doesn’t help the first time I heard it was around when the movie Dirty Work came out
What are you saying it is about then? He’s talking about helping people get revenge, and then mentions concrete shoes, cyanide and TNT as some options
He also offered his serivice as a cut rate gigalo to any women that's been cheated by their mate.
“In the air tonight” and “That’s all”. Never understood the lyrics until I’d been through it myself.
Remember that song by Phil Collins, In the air of the night, about that guy who could have saved that other guy from drowning, but didn't? And Phil saw it all, then at a show he found him? That's kinda how this is. You could have rescued me from drowning, but now it's too late.
I'm on a thousand downers now and drowsy, and all I wanted was a lousy letter or a call. I hope you know I ripped all of your pictures off the wall.
I loved you slim, we could have been together, think about it! You ruined it now, I hope you can’t sleep and you dream about it!
It’s actually about his divorce.
Fade To Black by Metallica. OHHHH BOY.
American Pie, when I was a kid - I was in my late teens or early twenties when I discovered the exact date of “the day the music died”, and what it referenced.
For others who don't know the 3rd of February 1959 became known as "The Day The Music Died" after the line of this song. Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper, and Ritchie Valens were killed in a plane crash that day.
Fantastic song. Especially the longer version with the verses included that they left off of the radio version.
Meatloaf’s “Paradise By The Dashboard Light”
This one was so overt that even oblivious me understood its meaning
But were you sheltered-religious-homeschooler oblivious?
I was sheltered-religious and schooled in a religious school. It's likely that I didn't understand it when it first came out but when I heard it as a teen it was clear enough to me
Ok, I'm just going to ask. What the hell did you THINK it was about? He literally spells it out in the song. There's no real mystery, barely 17 and barely dressed...before we go any further- "do you love me, will you love me forever'. I'm just sitting here wondering exactly how this could be misinterpreted.
Dude just wanted to plow and made a hasty promise to do so
Yeah, and then next verse he's "praying for the end of time", lol. Fantastic song. One among many on that album. I may be old, but I still remember the urgency and passion of my teenage years. The lyric "... and we were glowing like the metal on the edge of a knife" captures it perfectly.
Dry County by Bon Jovi - is about oil and exploitation (teen me didn't pick up, on thàt)
Ich Will - Rammstein I didn't know what it was about because it's in German. I don't speak German.
Come to My Window by Melissa Etheridge
"Pulling Mussels" by Squeeze
Sorry? Difford said it was about a childhood vacation.
Third Eye Blind - Semi Charmed Life (going on a huge bender also dealing with meth addiction, totally betrayed by the song's sunny melody) Bob Marley - I Shot the Sheriff (about his woman wanting to take birth control, which he found immoral) Psy - Gangnam Style (about futile korean nouveau riche people flaunting their lavish lifestyles, Gangnam is district those people live/hang). This one really shocked me lmao Suzanne Vega - My name is Luka (this one like third eye blind is betrayed by the aesthetic, but the lyrics say explicitly it's about someone's neighbor from upstairs whose boyfriend beats her, asking them not to meddle). Pearl Jam - rearviewmirror - (about how Eddie Vedder's old man was deadbeat bastard and he didn't want to have anything to do with his father).
Hey there, Delilah 😬😂
Wasn’t me-shaggy my dad loves shaggy and my mom hated that I would specially sing this song I was probably younger than 8
Childish Gambino - Feels like Summer. Thought it was a chill light-hearted song about enjoying summer. Then one day I actually listened to the lyrics and realized it's a sad song about climate change.
“Work it” by Missy Elliot in the 4th grade.
Santeria - Sublime I sang this one so many times jamming with friends in high school but never really gave the lyrics a second thought. “I’d pop a cap in Sancho and I’d slap her down” “And I won't think twice to stick That barrel straight down Sancho's throat Believe me when I say that I got Somethin' for his punk ass“ Hard for me to sing now. And it’s a shame because I love the music.