Songs that are really sarcastic (or have meanings other than popular consensus)

Red Wonder · #1 02-13-2006, 11:40 AM

I couldn't help but think of the song Working Man by Rush. Everybody is under the impression that it is a 'working man's song' and that it speaks to the middle class blue-collar person, when in reality, its message is you're a sucker and you should have practiced music and got real good at it...like them.

Smart message.

Woodchuck · #2 02-13-2006, 02:10 PM

Brandy, by the O' Jays. People think it was a song about a woman, but it was really about a dog that ran away.

"McArthur Park" was about a cake.

"She Bop" by Cyndi Lauper was about female masturbation, but some thought it was about a party girl.

"All She Wants To Do is Dance" by Don Henley, was about America's oblivion towards serious world issues.

Squidfinger · #3 02-13-2006, 02:13 PM

"You're so vain"--Carly Simon

I don't know if that counts.

Matt Till · #4 02-13-2006, 09:58 PM

This happens all the time... people only pay attention to the chorus. People think "Born in the USA" by Springstein is "Hell yeah, I'm an American" but it's not the case at all.

Peter Squire · #5 02-13-2006, 10:29 PM

I always thought it was strange that US Presidents and big business corporates used 'Born In The USA' as a patriotic anthem when it was in fact an antiwar song.

"Brick" by Ben Folds Five is about living with a partner who has a terminal disease. Most people thinks its about a relationship break up.

kovachian · #6 02-13-2006, 10:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peter Squire

I always thought it was strange that US Presidents and big business corporates used 'Born In The USA' as a patriotic anthem when it was in fact an antiwar song.

"Brick" by Ben Folds Five is about living with a partner who has a terminal disease. Most people thinks its about a relationship break up.

Actually I think Brick is about abortion. That's the message I'm getting anyways.

Alotta folks think "Relax" by Frankie Goes To Hollywood is about...uh...basically nothing. It's actually about premature ejaculation.

agreatheight · #7 02-13-2006, 11:52 PM

Yeah, I think Brick is about abortion also.

My favorite is "More Then Words" from Extreme was was played at every prom for like a decade. The song is sung from a guy's perpective where he is pressuring his girl to give up her booty by saying that she needs to show him that she loves him by doing the horizontal mambo with him. More than words - NOT a love song.

Here are two more songs that are not about love:
Possesion - Sarah Mclaughlin
Every Breath You Take - the Police
Both songs are actually very creepy stalking songs...

Peter Squire · #8 02-14-2006, 12:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by agreatheight

Yeah, I think Brick is about abortion also.

...

You know, you're probably right about that

"When You Were Mine" by Prince has some lyrics that allude to bisexuality.

AxtoOx · #9 02-14-2006, 12:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peter Squire

I always thought it was strange that US Presidents and big business corporates used 'Born In The USA' as a patriotic anthem when it was in fact an antiwar song.

It's more than antiwar, it's a critisism of the US as a whole, "First kick I took was when I hit the ground". No job when he came back from serving. etc. It's just antiUS.
There is so much ignorance involved, all you can do is laugh.

I get a kick out of all the people who know little about the Village People standing up at sporting events singing "YMCA" "In the Navy" and "Macho Man". If a lot of these phobes only knew.
Not that there's anything wrong with that.

seanm · #10 02-14-2006, 12:19 AM

Sorta in the "meanings other than popular consensus" vein. I heard an interview quite a few years ago with Mark Mothersbaugh, the lead singer of Devo. At least I think it was Mark, may have been Bob. It was *quite* a few years ago.

Anyway, they got discussing the meaning to the song "Whip It". Mark, or Bob, was commenting on the deep meanings many people had found in the song. He said something along the lines of "we must be really deep, because I thought we where just making up words at the time!".

Ahmrik · #11 02-14-2006, 06:05 AM

The song "Under the Bridge" is about Heroin. Dunno if that's what you mean.

Woodchuck · #12 02-14-2006, 06:11 AM

Little Red Corvette by Prince = VERY loose woman, not a car. Some people actually thought that.

BTW, great call on the Village People. They're singing about their favorite place to score trouser trout, and these sports fans are doing the dances!

Kink Rimson · #13 02-14-2006, 08:17 AM

John Entwistle's 'My Size' appears to be a rather disturbing and violent tirade about a sour relationship:

"Gonna bring you down to my size
One of these days I'm gonna make you fall
Gonna bring you down to my size
Smash your head against the wall"

In actual fact it's a further expression of his hatred of spiders, as the musical quote from 'Boris', at the end, reveals.

Not many people realise Queen's " '39" concerns light speed interstellar time-travel. It's also rumoured that "Killer Queen" is about showbiz agent Eric 'Monster!' Hall, who spurned Freddie's advances.

Not sarcastic though....

Kronos · #14 02-14-2006, 09:22 AM

The Who's "Squeeze Box" is an example of double entendre, so I'm not sure if it fits here, along with AC/DC's "Big Balls" that beats you over the head with the double entendre...

Also, anything by Steely Dan may fall under this category.

dougjwray · #15 02-14-2006, 10:27 AM

The Hank Williams song, "I Saw the Light" is a gospel "evergreen", but the story goes that Williams was with his wife, driving through some heavy fog, running late and looking desperately for an airport, when he finally "saw the light" coming from the airport and wasn't "lost" anymore!
(This may not qualify for this thread, since Williams appropriated the story himself for the song, deliberately hiding the original inspiration or meaning.)
Excellent choices: "Born in the USA", "YMCA" and "Every Breath You Take."
Supposedly, Hendrix insisted that "Purple Haze" was not about drugs, but about a dream he had of living underwater (a recurrent theme in his stuff).
McCartney's "Martha My Dear" and Barry Manilow's "Mandy" are both about pet dogs.

Joe Gress · #16 02-14-2006, 10:45 AM

Wynona's Big Brown Beaver-Primus. Who really thought that it was about a cute little beaver?

astronauts_suck · #17 02-14-2006, 12:10 PM

"Die Eier Von Satan" by Tool, though it may not fit because most people can't understand the words (it's in German).
Definetley sarcastic, since it's meant to sound like a Nazi rally, but it's just a recipe

DougP · #18 02-14-2006, 12:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Matt Till

This happens all the time... people only pay attention to the chorus. People think "Born in the USA" by Springstein is "Hell yeah, I'm an American" but it's not the case at all.

thats the one that came immediately to my mind while reading the title of this thread.

AxtoOx · #19 02-14-2006, 12:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dougjwray

Supposedly, Hendrix insisted that "Purple Haze" was not about drugs, but about a dream he had of living underwater (a recurrent theme in his stuff).

And John Lennon Insisits Lucy in the Sky w/ Dimonds was not about LSD but a childs drawing, and the Beatles insist the whole Pauls dead thing was a coincidence instead of a publicity stunt.

bassbully43 · #20 02-14-2006, 12:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by agreatheight

Yeah, I think Brick is about abortion also.

My favorite is "More Then Words" from Extreme was was played at every prom for like a decade. The song is sung from a guy's perpective where he is pressuring his girl to give up her booty by saying that she needs to show him that she loves him by doing the horizontal mambo with him. More than words - NOT a love song.

Here are two more songs that are not about love:
Possesion - Sarah Mclaughlin
Every Breath You Take - the Police
Both songs are actually very creepy stalking songs...

I disagree about more than words...i guess you could see it your way ...but after being in relationships where words were used to replace physical feeling...it really is about touch me , hold me kiss me make me know you care ...words are cheap but a touch can mean so much....how about a parent who says to a child ...yea i love you but never hugs a child or gives them a good nite kiss...touch can mean so much to someone who only hears words. My thoughts only

How about Neal Youngs .. Rockin in the free world..what an anti american bashing song...yet its used at ralleys and even at a 911 get together i saw on tv..come on people listen to the words.