Songs That Don't Mean What You Think They Mean

May 2024 · 9 minute read

Every Breath You Take - Police

Think this is a classic love song? Think again – essentially the song is about a possessive and controlling stalker. Even Sting himself has called the song "very sinister" and "ugly".

Telltale lyrics:

"Every breath you take Every move you make Every bond you break Every step you take I'll be watching you."

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 60May 20, 2019 6:37 PM

The Monkees hit “Cuddly Toy” by Harry Nilsson, rumored to be about a groupie getting gang-banged by the Hells Angels.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 1May 19, 2019 7:16 AM

The Sting song is supposedly about a stalker, but the most boring, morose stalker who ever lived.

by Anonymousreply 2May 19, 2019 7:20 AM

Sugar Walls. It was only recently I learned what those actually were.

Afternoon Delight. I didn't realize it meant getting laid in the afternoon.

by Anonymousreply 4May 19, 2019 7:30 AM

"Yummy, yummy, yummy, I got love in my tummy . . ."

by Anonymousreply 5May 19, 2019 8:11 AM

"Songs That Don't Mean What You Think They Mean, If You're Very Dim Or Don't Speak English Properly"

Fixed it for you, OP.

by Anonymousreply 6May 19, 2019 8:40 AM

"Nothing Compares 2U" and "The One I Love"

by Anonymousreply 7May 19, 2019 8:47 AM

My mother told me that Aretha Franklin's sing pink Cadillac is really about pussy. I have no idea whether or not it's true, but I find it hard to believe. I could be wrong though.

by Anonymousreply 9May 19, 2019 9:28 AM

[quote] Sugar Walls. It was only recently I learned what those actually were.

WHAAAT????

by Anonymousreply 10May 19, 2019 9:35 AM

[quote] My mother told me that Aretha Franklin's sing pink Cadillac is really about pussy. I have no idea whether or not it's true, but I find it hard to believe. I could be wrong though.

It was Natalie Cole who sang it (not Ree), and Bruce Springsteen actually wrote it.

That must have been QUITE the Mother's Day brunch, R9.

by Anonymousreply 11May 19, 2019 9:36 AM

Everybody knows your mom is right @R9

by Anonymousreply 12May 19, 2019 9:37 AM

R11 they both sang it, but Aretha was first.

by Anonymousreply 13May 19, 2019 9:41 AM

[quote] It was Natalie Cole who sang it (not Ree), and Bruce Springsteen actually wrote it.

I don't think Aretha ever recorded "Pink Cadillac," but in her song "Freeway of Love," Aretha sang, "We goin' ridin' on the freeway of love in my pink Cadillac." (And I don't think it was meant to be a song about highway traffic.)

by Anonymousreply 14May 19, 2019 9:44 AM

the B-52s own this thread. my childhood will never be the same.

by Anonymousreply 15May 19, 2019 10:04 AM

"Freeway of Love" (Pink Cadillac) - Aretha

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 16May 19, 2019 10:15 AM

I used to think it meant he had a penchant for anal.

Then I found out it meant he was the "other man."

But then I thought, "Maybe it's both."

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 17May 19, 2019 10:18 AM

I mean...my dog knows what that song is about OP. None of these are revelations. Try songs that aren't as prolific if you want this be informative.

by Anonymousreply 18May 19, 2019 10:31 AM

Actually, I never bought Sting's retroactive explanation of "Every Breath You Take." He wrote it in 20 minutes and set it to a morose little tune. It sounds banal and lovelorn-y, which is all I ever hear it as.

I remember reading some interview from the '90s (or beyond) when he says it was like an anthem for the Reagan/'80s era....Big Govt spying on everyone, blah blah. And the stalker stuff, too.

by Anonymousreply 19May 19, 2019 10:43 AM

howlin' wolf?? ANAL??? please......supreme blues master.

by Anonymousreply 20May 19, 2019 10:48 AM

r20 Willie Dixon wrote "Back Door Man." Howlin' Wolf recorded it.

by Anonymousreply 21May 19, 2019 11:02 AM

r22 ... and?

Many musicians have covered it. Howlin' Wolf was the first.

by Anonymousreply 23May 19, 2019 11:10 AM

#1 in this regard is Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen

I cannot believe it was sung at the Winter Olympics (and by K.D. Lang, no less!)

by Anonymousreply 24May 19, 2019 11:13 AM

Diana Ross' "Chain Reaction" is about oral sex:

"You make me tremble when your hand goes lower

You taste a little then you swallow slower

Nature has a way of yielding treasure

Pleasure made for you..."

by Anonymousreply 26May 19, 2019 11:24 AM

Time of Your Life -- Green Day

Very bitter song used for graduations and funerals and weddings throughout the late 90s.

Also for the Seinfeld finale

by Anonymousreply 27May 19, 2019 6:03 PM

OP must've gotten most of her brains shot out. People have always known that horrible Police song was about stalking. Anyone who is not a fucking retard could figure that out.

by Anonymousreply 28May 19, 2019 6:21 PM

I've never understood the love for Just The Way You Are--I've been to a lot of weddings where that's the song the married couple dances to. To me, it's about complacency and settling.

by Anonymousreply 29May 19, 2019 6:30 PM

[quote]the B-52s own this thread. my childhood will never be the same.

What song do you mean? I must still be trapped in childhood ...

by Anonymousreply 30May 19, 2019 6:53 PM

People used to think that Born In The USA was some kind of patriotic cheerleading song because they weren't paying attention to the lyrics.

by Anonymousreply 31May 19, 2019 6:55 PM

Same with “Little Pink Houses” @R31

by Anonymousreply 32May 19, 2019 7:06 PM

"People have always known that horrible Police song was about stalking. Anyone who is not a fucking retard could figure that out."

Yeah, that must be why it's played at weddings! Along with "Born in the USA", it is probably one of the most misunderstood songs every written

by Anonymousreply 33May 19, 2019 7:10 PM

r33 here. I meant "ever written" not "every written"

by Anonymousreply 34May 19, 2019 7:13 PM

Slut shaming as well, he got her number off the men’s room wall, it said ‘for a good time call 867-5309’

by Anonymousreply 37May 19, 2019 7:44 PM

"Freeway of Love," r11, which also features a pink Cadillac. Same meaning as the Springsteen song, though.

by Anonymousreply 38May 19, 2019 8:12 PM

B52s "Dirty Back Roads" is about anal sex.

by Anonymousreply 39May 19, 2019 8:23 PM

"Don't Cha Stop" by The Cars is also about oral sex. "Please Please Me" by The Beatles is often interpreted as being about a lover who offers oral sex but is not reciprocated.

by Anonymousreply 40May 19, 2019 8:26 PM

Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds - most youngsters have no clue unless their parents told them or they read it somewhere online

by Anonymousreply 41May 19, 2019 8:51 PM

R9

So Aretha was bragging that hers was as big as a Cadillac?

Yuck!

by Anonymousreply 42May 19, 2019 8:56 PM

So R9 & 11, can we conclude that king of the heterosexuals, Bruce Springsteen, wrote “pink Cadillac” in homage to his malegina?

by Anonymousreply 43May 19, 2019 8:56 PM

Hotel California She’s leaving home Revolution Obla De, Obla Da

by Anonymousreply 44May 19, 2019 8:57 PM

The Vapors- Turning Japanese

When it came out, I liked the song but had no idea what it meant to "turn Japanese".

The song is about masturbating.

by Anonymousreply 45May 19, 2019 9:00 PM

"She Works Hard For The Money" was about working women in general, not prostitutes specifically as many people thought, since Donna Summer was known for her previous hit "Bad Girls." You couldn't have paid any attention to the lyrics or video to think that, but a lot of people did. Donna did actually have another hit about prostitutes other than "Bad Girls," in 1974, her second European pre-disco hit was "Lady of the Night," also the name of a subsequent album, her first album.

by Anonymousreply 46May 19, 2019 9:01 PM

My baby takes the “Morning TRAIN”

by Anonymousreply 47May 19, 2019 9:03 PM

Whitney’s I found the “Greatest Love of All” in sodomy

by Anonymousreply 48May 19, 2019 9:05 PM

Rr45- Billy Idols “Dancing with Myeslf” was about spanking the monkey, but what was Peter Gabriel’s “Shock the Monkey” about?

by Anonymousreply 49May 19, 2019 9:07 PM

R44

What's the OTHER meaning of "She's Leaving Home"?

by Anonymousreply 50May 19, 2019 9:09 PM

Here’s what Wikipedia says, that it was about a real person.

The newspaper story McCartney mentioned was from the front page of the Daily Mirror, about a girl named Melanie Coe. Although McCartney invented most of the content in the song, Coe, who was 17 at the time, has said that most of it was accurate. In actuality, Coe left with her boyfriend, a croupier. She did not "meet a man from the motor trade", although her boyfriend previously had been in that trade.[4] She left in the afternoon while her parents were at work, while the girl in the song leaves early in the morning as her parents sleep. Coe was found ten days later because she had let slip where her boyfriend worked.[5] When she returned home, she was pregnant and had an abortion.[6]

by Anonymousreply 51May 19, 2019 9:17 PM

R51

Thanks.

McCartney really improved that story!

Coe sounded like a real winner. I'll bet the parent were "thrilled" to get her back.

It's one my favorite McCartney songs.

by Anonymousreply 52May 19, 2019 9:20 PM

Sally go round the roses by the Jaynetts.

by Anonymousreply 53May 19, 2019 9:41 PM

James Taylor’s “Fire and Rain” sounds like it’s about him losing a loved one in a plane crash (because of lyrics like “sweet dreams and flying machines in pieces the ground”) but it’s actually about his other problems - heroin addiction, a friend’s suicide, his band breaking up, etc.

by Anonymousreply 55May 20, 2019 5:12 PM

The thing is that a song is a work of art, therefore a good songwriter can write a song that works on many different levels. Just like with paintings or literature, it is up to the individual to determine what it means. Sting might have meant or been inspired by stalking when he wrote the song, but that doesn't mean that is the only interpretation that a listener can make.

I, also, have a slight problem with his determination that it is only about stalking. If you ever listen to the recording he did of the song, as a duet with Tammy Wynette, it clearly isn't a stalking song in that recording. Unless it is about two people stalking each other.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 56May 20, 2019 5:28 PM

Pretty In Pink is not a song about a sweet young thing. Its a cynical song about a young woman who is being passed around and used by men.

by Anonymousreply 57May 20, 2019 5:45 PM

Funk Cold Medina is about slipping a date rape drug into women's drinks.

by Anonymousreply 58May 20, 2019 6:09 PM

I've often wondered how people could not know what "Afternoon Delight" was about. I was a child when it came out and knew what it was about right away. Don't people listen to the lyrics of songs?

by Anonymousreply 59May 20, 2019 6:31 PM

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7pa3TmqOorZ6csm%2BvzqZmraCimq6le5FscGlwYWh%2Fbr%2FOp56sZaSdrrV5w6ilZqxdorKiuoywn5qsXa68tnnToaCno12ptabFjKacmqY%3D