# Misinterpreted Song Lyrics



## PetrolHead (9 Sep 2010)

So I'm on the verge of a rant, but....

'Perfect Day' by Lou Reed is an irony laden ode to heroin addiction...

'You're Gorgeous' by Babybird is about an exploitative photographer...

'Time of You're Life' by Greenday is just about the angriest f-you song ever written...

'More than Words' by Extreme is a guy trying to talk his girlfriend into 'pleasuring him'...

'Every Breath you Take' by The Police is about a bitter, jilted lover stalking his ex...


...and yet each of these are seen as love songs and regularly requested on the radio or used at weddings in just this context...

Do people just not bother actually listening to lyrics...?


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## Caveat (9 Sep 2010)

The best must be the original dubya and his adoption of _Born in the USA_ as a patriotic anthem.

Oh and recently, _The drugs don't work_ as being an anti-drugs song when it was about the death of his father.


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## DB74 (9 Sep 2010)

"The One I Love" by REM is another song common misinterpreted as a love song


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## PetrolHead (9 Sep 2010)

Caveat said:


> The best must be the original dubya and his adoption of _Born in the USA_ as a patriotic anthem.




I know... classic example of Americans failing to understand irony (and also ignoring those boring non-chantable verse bits in a song).


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## PaddyW (9 Sep 2010)

I think people take their own meanings from the songs, not necessarily the meaning that the songwriter intended in the first place. We all have our own interpretations of everything.


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## ney001 (9 Sep 2010)

Summer of 69 by Bryan adams - nowt to do with the year rather the position! 

If you listen to the 'lyrics' of songs these days it's no wonder people don't pay attention to them!.

Of course people read things into lyrics that just aren't there, Puff the Magic Dragon springs to mind!


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## TarfHead (9 Sep 2010)

Caveat said:


> The best must be the original dubya and his adoption of _Born in the USA_ as a patriotic anthem.


 
The original Dubya was George *W* Bush. His father was George HW Bush, who was VP to Reagan, whose campaign tried to appropriate _Born in the USA _in the campaign for his second term.

And more likely that is was a campaign manager decision, rather than Reagan. Just like it was James Carville who coined the phrase "_It's the economy, stupid_", and not Bill Clinton.


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## Caveat (9 Sep 2010)

Ok, but you know who I meant.

Anyway, George snr had a W in his name too so he was still an honourary dubya.


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## TarfHead (9 Sep 2010)

Caveat said:


> Ok, but you know who I meant.
> 
> Anyway, George snr had a W in his name too so he was still an honourary dubya.


 
True, but if the OP can be pedantic about song lyrics, I can be a pedant too about US politics 

And GWB was Dubya because of his association with Texas, despite the fact he is an East Coast Ivy League WASP. GHWB never forgot his patrician roots and would not have welcomed such a nickname.


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## DB74 (9 Sep 2010)

Quentin Tarantino's interpretation of "Like A Virgin" was allegedly corrected by Madonna herself

From Wikipedia:

_When Madonna met Quentin Tarantino at a party, after the film [Reservoir Dogs] was released, she gave him an autographed copy of her Erotica album, signing "Quentin: it's about love, not d**k_


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## Latrade (9 Sep 2010)

The OP has all the classic ones in there, just this week the Green Day song was used again in a sentimental sense. 

One more is Woodie Guthries "This Land". Pretty much seen now as a gung ho pro-Republican American Dream song, when it's quite distinctly the opposite and anti Government, anti establishment and pretty pro communism.  

It's even sung in schools after the good ol' pledge.


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## Purple (9 Sep 2010)

Latrade said:


> One more is Woodie Guthries "This Land". Pretty much seen now as a gung ho pro-Republican American Dream song, when it's quite distinctly the opposite and anti Government, anti establishment and pretty pro communism.



and as Bruce pointed out in his fantastic live cover of the song, it was written as an angry song, an answer to Irving Berlin who has just written "God Bless America".


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## Latrade (9 Sep 2010)

Purple said:


> and as Bruce pointed out in his fantastic live cover of the song, it was written as an angry song, an answer to Irving Berlin who has just written "God Bless America".


 
There's a fantastic scene in the Billy Bragg/Wilco documentary (where they record lost Woodie tracks) when it's revealed to one of the stereotypical Good Ol boys that Woodie was a Commie and that song was to the left of The Red Flag.


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## Purple (9 Sep 2010)

Latrade said:


> There's a fantastic scene in the Billy Bragg/Wilco documentary (where they record lost Woodie tracks) when it's revealed to one of the stereotypical Good Ol boys that Woodie was a Commie and that song was to the left of The Red Flag.


 I didn't see it. Can you send me details and I'll look for it on Amazon.


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## Vanilla (9 Sep 2010)

Totally off topic but did anyone hear Cait O'Riordain on the radio this morning- she mentioned a Claudio Villa song but I can't remember the name?


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## Staples (9 Sep 2010)

And then there was "Turning Japanese" by the Vapors .

The man wasn't really turning japanese at all!!!!!


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## pixiebean22 (9 Sep 2010)

I don't like Mondays by the Boomtown Rats.


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## Firefly (9 Sep 2010)

Alanis Morrisette's Ironic

The song is full of events which are meant to be ironic but are not ironic at all (which is kinda ironic )


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## DB74 (9 Sep 2010)

pixiebean22 said:


> I don't like Mondays by the Boomtown Rats.


 
What's wrong with this song

Isn't it supposed to be about a young girl who started shooting people going about their daily business one Monday morning and when eventually caught and questioned she replied "I don't like Mondays"

At least I think that's what Bob Geldof said in his autobiography

I'm off to Wikipedia to check


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## TarfHead (9 Sep 2010)

Zig & Zag managed to get a years worth of material out of such lyrics, years ago on 2FM with Ian Dempsey.

Apparently Frankie Goes to Hollywood's Relax had another meaning - not just about taking it handy .


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## Latrade (9 Sep 2010)

Purple said:


> I didn't see it. Can you send me details and I'll look for it on Amazon.


 
Here you go: Man in the Sand

Kind of half a documentary on Woody and half musicians at war (towards the end anyway). So fascinating from several angles.


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## ney001 (9 Sep 2010)

DB74 said:


> What's wrong with this song
> 
> Isn't it supposed to be about a young girl who started shooting people going about their daily business one Monday morning and when eventually caught and questioned she replied "I don't like Mondays"
> 
> ...



Yep Brenda Spencer on a killing spree!


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## PetrolHead (9 Sep 2010)

TarfHead said:


> Apparently Frankie Goes to Hollywood's Relax had another meaning - not just about taking it handy




I thought 'taking it handy' *was* what it was about...


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## pixiebean22 (9 Sep 2010)

DB74 said:


> What's wrong with this song
> 
> Isn't it supposed to be about a young girl who started shooting people going about their daily business one Monday morning and when eventually caught and questioned she replied "I don't like Mondays"
> 
> ...


 
Nothing wrong with the song, I was referring to the fact that it's rolled out when people go back to school/college or people referring to it when they're reluctant to go to work.... 

And yes it's about that 16 year old in San Diego.


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## Caveat (9 Sep 2010)

Staples said:


> And then there was "Turning Japanese" by the Vapors .
> 
> The man wasn't really turning japanese at all!!!!!


 
Indeed!

Took me a long time to learn what it was about.  Always realised of course that it was highly unlikely to be taken literally, but still, the true reference surprised me a little.


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## Seagull (9 Sep 2010)

You left out Golden Brown by the stranglers - a nice little ode to heroin.


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## Purple (9 Sep 2010)

Seagull said:


> You left out Golden Brown by the stranglers - a nice little ode to heroin.



I think most people know that though.


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## MeathCommute (9 Sep 2010)

I love "The Wind Cries Mary" by Hendrix and "Last Dance With Mary Jane" by Tom Petty, both songs about a drug with M and J in the title


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## Caveat (9 Sep 2010)

Ah yes, maldroxindiapajezamine, great stuff.


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## DrMoriarty (9 Sep 2010)

Speaking of Hendrix...

http://www.kissthisguy.com/

— and speaking of maldroxindiapajezamine...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xJWxPE8G2c


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## MeathCommute (9 Sep 2010)

Caveat said:


> Ah yes, maldroxindiapajezamine, great stuff.


 
Ha ha ha. Put 'maldroxindiapajezamine' into Google. You're the only one who's ever heard of it !


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## dereko1969 (9 Sep 2010)

interesting article about this here
http://www.avclub.com/articles/mumble-mumble-shoulder-something-rem-guided-by-voi,44551/


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## enoxy (9 Sep 2010)

ney001 said:


> Summer of 69 by Bryan adams - nowt to do with the year rather the position!


 
The french version by Serge Gainsboro called "L'éte de soixante-neuf" is even ruder.


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## PaddyW (10 Sep 2010)

Caveat said:


> Ah yes, maldroxindiapajezamine, great stuff.



TetraHydroCannabinol?


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## Caveat (10 Sep 2010)

MeathCommute said:


> Ha ha ha. Put 'maldroxindiapajezamine' into Google. You're the only one who's ever heard of it !


 
No wonder. I made it up.

Sounds real though doesn't it?


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## MeathCommute (11 Sep 2010)

Fair play to you. 10 out of 10 !


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