A song that didn't mean what you though

SRW

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SRW
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I just heard on the radio this morning that an old song from the 60's called "Red River Valley" was actually about an unfortunate encounter with a prostitute. It seems the woman mistimed her cycle.

Any other songs that you thought you knew but found out differently?
 
Sure!

I used to think that "Baby Got Back" was about the return of a young child, but have recently learned that it has another meaning altogether.

Similarly, I have only recently been told that The Doors' "Light My Fire" has nothing whatsoever to do with a fireplace.

Who knew?
 
The Vapors' "I Think I'm Turning Japanese" is about the squinty-eyed look on the narrator's face as he masturbates to a picture of his girlfriend while in jail. Who'da thunk it?
 
I thought John Fogerty was saying "The Bathroom's on the Right," take that to mean whatever political statement you want.
 
First recitative of Händel's "Messiah".

I heard it first as "Come for tea, my people".

It's really "Comfort ye, my people".
 
The Green Green Grass of Home at first sounds like a sentimental song about arriving home after being away. But then in the last verse, you find out the narrator was only dreaming and is on death row awaiting execution the next day.

Similarly, I have only recently been told that The Doors' "Light My Fire" has nothing whatsoever to do with a fireplace.

The guitarist, Robby Krieger, wrote the first verse, and Morrison wrote the second. The first sounds like a veiled reference to dope, and the second doesn't mean much of anything. Personally, I think they were just looking for a good rhyme more than anything.
 
"Take good care of my Baby". I still don't know if it is a man who has lost his girlfriend or if it is a Father singing about his daughter who is going to be married.;)

On a similar note i once had a lively debate with my music teacher about the explosion the ends "On the Run" on "Dark Side of the Moon". He was very convinced that it was actually just the sound of a jetplane taking of above your head and NOT an explosion. I told him about the stage show they had which included a fairly large model airplane crashing on stage, which backed my interpretation off course and he got quite mad. Apparently i had tampered with his illusions, he had allways seen the piece as a beginning of a new life and this crash shattered his beliefs somewhat.;)
 
CFLarsen said:
First recitative of Händel's "Messiah".

I heard it first as "Come for tea, my people".

It's really "Comfort ye, my people".
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"All we like sheep" wasn't what I first thought it was, for that matter. :p

(My college choral group printed up a T-shirt with that part of the chorus and a cartoon of a boy and a sheep hugging.)
 
The Vapors' "I Think I'm Turning Japanese" is about the squinty-eyed look on the narrator's face as he masturbates to a picture of his girlfriend while in jail. Who'da thunk it?
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Actually, I had a friend that believed a similar idea. She was watching some show on VH1 where they were busting myths about songs' meanings and lyrics. They interviewed the band that did that song, and they shot down the rumor. She was forced to change her mind. It was mostly written due to the artists fascination with Japanese culture, if I recall the commentary correctly.
Not to nitpick, just wanting to correct a mistake many people make. :D
 
Quester_X said:
Actually, I had a friend that believed a similar idea. She was watching some show on VH1 where they were busting myths about songs' meanings and lyrics. They interviewed the band that did that song, and they shot down the rumor. She was forced to change her mind. It was mostly written due to the artists fascination with Japanese culture, if I recall the commentary correctly.
Not to nitpick, just wanting to correct a mistake many people make. :D
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I'm sorry, but that smacks of Krypto-revisionism on the part of the band. Probably after two decades of being known only for a song about spanking monkey. The lyrics are pretty clear, in that there is nothing at all about Japanese culture and a lot about separation, isolation, and depravation mentioned therein:

I got your picture, of me and you
You wrote "I love you", I wrote "me too"
I sit here staring and there's nothing else to do
Oh it's in color
Your hair is brown
Your eyes are hazel
And soft as clouds
I have to kiss you when there's no one else around

I got your picture, I got your picture
I'd like a million of you all to myself
I want a doctor to take a picture
So I can look at you from inside as well
You've got me turning up and turning down
and turning in and turning 'round

No sex, no drugs, no wine, no women
No fun, no sin, no you, no wonder it's dark
Everyone around me is a total stranger
Everyone avoids me like a Psyclone Ranger
Everyone
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hgc said:
The Vapors' "I Think I'm Turning Japanese" is about the squinty-eyed look on the narrator's face as he masturbates to a picture of his girlfriend while in jail. Who'da thunk it?
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Actually, not really.

From an interview with the songwriter Dave Fenton on http://www.parengstrom.com/vapors.htm (click on "the Story")

Over in the States, "Turning Japanese" was deciphered as a paen to masturbation - more specifically the Oriantal - looking facial distortions one pulls in the moment of climax (so I'm reliably informed). Fenton is characteristically reticent on such matters. "It means whatever you want it to mean," he says, before admitting: "I wrote it as a love song. But when I went to America everyone said to me, "Is it about wanking?" In interviews, I'd say alternatively, "Yes it is", and "No, it's not". It could be about a lot of things. I just woke up with that phrase in my head. It's just an image which captures what that song was all about. But, no it wasn't intended to be about wanking at the time. What surprised me was that the Americans thought it was an English phrase!"
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I also recall seeing a show on VH1 discussing the same thing and they showed an old interview with Fenton where he denied it was about masturbation.
 
TriangleMan said:
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I also recall seeing a show on VH1 discussing the same thing and they showed an old interview with Fenton where he denied it was about masturbation.
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I'm with Piscavore. It's a weak-ass denial. I don't know why they'd want to erase the only reason to remember the band by. Cool album cover though, with the TV weather man.
 
Mojo said:
I'm amazed that nobody's mentioned Desmond Dekker yet.
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Isn't he the guy who did The Israelites? (Supposedly the first reggae song to make the pop charts.)
 
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