Songs That Don't Mean What You Think They Mean

[Bayard]

“Every Breath You Take” – The Police

What it sounds like: A comforting love song
What it’s really about: An obsessive stalker
According to SongFacts, Sting wrote “Every Breath You Take” after separating from his first wife, Frances Tomelty. He explained the inspiration for the song during an interview with New Musical Express. “I think it’s a nasty little song, really rather evil. It’s about jealousy and surveillance and ownership,” Sting said.

“Born In The U.S.A.” – Bruce Springsteen

What it sounds like: A song about being proud to be an American
What it’s really about: A struggling Vietnam War veteran
The lyrics of the song “Born In The USA” aren’t as patriotic as they seem. “Sent me off to a foreign land/To go and kill the yellow man.” Springsteen sang later in the song, “Down in the shadow of the penitentiary/Out by the gas fires of the refinery/I’m ten years burning down the road/I’ve got nowhere to run and nowhere to go”

“Wonderful Tonight” – Eric Clapton

What it sounds like: A love ballad
What it’s about: A man annoyed with a woman getting dressed
This song may sound romantic, but according to Songfacts, Clapton wrote the tune while waiting for his girlfriend, Pattie, to get ready for a Buddy Holly tribute in 1976. He grew so impatient as she tried out on different outfits that he grabbed pen and paper to write the lyrics to what would become a fixture at weddings. It’s still a sweet song, despite the unexpected inspiration behind the words.

“Barracuda” – Heart

What it sounds like: A song about a bad boyfriend
What it’s about: A creepy comment made by a journalist
Nancy Wilson told American Songwriter that a journalist asked an inappropriate question about a photo of her standing bare shoulder-to-shoulder with her sister and fellow bandmate, Ann Wilson. “So, the insinuation that we were lovers was, of course, not anywhere near true and really sleazy and inappropriate,” Wilson said. “We were just young enough, just idealistic enough to take it pretty badly and have a lot of anger around it, insult around it.”

“One” – U2

What it sounds like: A romantic love song
What it’s really about: Breaking up
Bono explained the meaning of “One” in Neil McCormick’s documentary, U2 By U2, “The song is a bit twisted, which is why I could never figure out why people want it at their weddings,” Bono said.” I have certainly met a hundred people who’ve had it at their weddings. I tell them, ‘Are you mad? It’s about splitting up!’”

“Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds”- The Beatles

What you think it’s about: A song about a woman tripping on mind-altering substances
What it’s actually about: A picture drawn by John Lennon’s son
According to ILoveClassicRock, Lennon said during an interview on the Dick Cavett Show, “My son came home with a drawing of a strange-looking woman flying around. He said, ‘It’s Lucy in the sky with diamonds.’ I thought, ‘That’s beautiful.’ I immediately wrote the song about it.”

“Jolene” – Dolly Parton

What it sounds like: A woman begging another woman not to steal her man
What inspired the song: A young fan with red hair that Parton met during a concert
Dolly Parton told NPR about the song, “One night, I was on stage, and there was this beautiful little girl—she was probably eight years old at the time,” she continued. “And she had this beautiful red hair, this beautiful skin, these beautiful green eyes, and she was looking up at me, holding, you know, for an autograph. I said, ‘Well, you’re the prettiest little thing I ever saw. So what is your name?’ And she said, ‘Jolene.’ And I said, ‘Jolene. Jolene. Jolene. Jolene.’ I said, ‘That is pretty. That sounds like a song. I’m going to write a song about that.'”

“Hotel California” – The Eagles

What it sounds like: A song about a freaky hotel in California
What it’s about: American excess
Don Henley told Rolling Stone what inspired The Eagles to write “Hotel California”. “Lyrically, the song deals with traditional or classical themes of conflict; darkness and light, good and evil, youth and age, the spiritual versus the secular. I guess you could say it’s a song about the loss of innocence,” Henley added. “It’s basically a song about the dark underbelly of the American dream and about excess in America, which is something we knew a lot about.”

Many more:

https://betterbe.co/life/songs-dont-mean-what-you-think/

[Merlot]

1. Pertty hard not to know "every breath you take" is a stalker song.

Song creeped me out first time I heard it.

Thanks for the links, these are all great songs!

[wnylib]

5. Another song that creeps me out is Jesse's Girl.

Sounds like a stalker who is ready to become a kidnapper.

[Rorey]

25. Yeah, that song always bothered me too

Catchy tune with cringy lyrics.

[Ghost of Tom Joad]

6. I guess that's why they use it in the anti Google ad

[Merlot]

9. Hadn't seen the DuckDuckGo ad, nice! I'm a user of the app.

[eppur_se_muova]

7. I've long thought of it as the Stalker's Anthem.

Didn't imagine how such a song became a hit.

[carpetbagger]

23. I've always considered The Turtles' "Happy Together" to be the Stalker's Anthem

No matter how they toss the dice, it had to be
The only one for me is you, and you for me
So happy together
I can't see me lovin' nobody but you
For all my life

[GopherGal]

32. I thought I had heard that "If You Love Somebody Set Them Free" was Sting's Repudiation of That.

Maybe a little self-important to think that the sentiments expressed in one song are so important you have to write another song as an "antidote" to it.

[The_REAL_Ecumenist]

34. As much as I LOVE it, "TILL YOU COME BACK TO ME" 1st recorded by Aretha Franklyn & written by Stevie

Wonder is about a CRAZY ASS STALKER who's actually telling their victim what they're planning to do AND why....as the victim of a stalker for more than 25 YEARS, this is creepy as hell...

[LakeArenal]

2. This song sounds sweet and loving but when you listen to the lyrics...

Buttercup ain’t so sweet.

[Hugh_Lebowski]

3. A few issues

Everyone is well aware what Born in the USA is about and everyone but DJT has known it for decades.

Nobody's ever thought that's what One is about I don't even know where that supposition comes from.

Jolene is still in fact about another women stealing your man, no matter where the song name came from.

And everyone has always known what Hotel California is alluding to cause there's a few other Henley songs on the album that are mostly about the same idea.

The rest are at least somewhat accurate in terms of how the songs were perceived at the time and in some cases even now.

[Merlot]

4. Things that seem obvious to thinking people...

Who could miss the words of "Born in the USA?" thing is, people did, including a presidential candidate.

They hear what they want to hear. Then they become magas.

[Warpy]

10. They started out that way, IMO

They're people who listen for the hook in the chorus and sing along, the rest of the song is just the beat. The lyrics? Don't bother with em, too many words, wanna feel good, not lectured to.

They're the people who think Sarah Palin made good sense as she unloaded a givantic bowl of word salad at them with just enough names and buzzwords for them to cheer at and think they were clever for noticing them.

And of course they were ready made suckers for TFG.

[maxrandb]

19. Hotel California is a Yelp review with a guitar solo...stolen from Tull's "We Used to Know"

CCR forever man!

[Hugh_Lebowski]

20. I HATE THE FUCKING EAGLES MAN!!!

[Ligyron]

30. ME TOO!

[LuckyCharms]

47. .

[keithbvadu2]

8. Roy Clark "Thank God And Greyhound" on The Ed Sullivan Show

[efhmc]

14. Really thought he was going to cry there for a minute.

Had forgotten what a great performer he was.

[Iggo]

11. Nobody thinks Hotel California is about a hotel in California.

Please tell me I’m right.

[ShazzieB]

12. I certainly never thought it was!

[ShazzieB]

13. I certainly never thought it was!

[Hugh_Lebowski]

22. See post #3 ... agree entirely ... (nt)

[Hermit-The-Prog]

37. Well a course tis. Says so right there own the label.

[Iggo]

39. Well...you got me there!

[lastlib]

46. I've always thought it had something to do with the Manson murders....

"We haven't had that spirit here since 1969...."

"They stabbed it with their steely knives, but they just can't kill the beast..."

[TeamProg]

15. Sexy Sadie by the Beatles?

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

[H2O Man]

28. Right.

Bootleg versions are hilarious.

[Hekate]

16. Interesting -- bookmarking to listen to later

[Susan Calvin]

17. 25 or 6 to 4.

https://www.cnn.com/videos/tv/2016/12/21/history-of-chicago-excerpt-birth-of-25-or-6-to-4.cnn

[underpants]

51. Drums be damned. We're starting.

CNN had the clock set at 25 to 3:00.

[SunSeeker]

18. Same thing with the Eagles' "Best of my Love," people play it at weddings, but it's a breakup song.

[Hugh_Lebowski]

21. I can't believe anyone is that dumb ...

Just stop

[SunSeeker]

24. People really are that dumb. I know someone who plays in an Eagles cover band.

He said the #1 request they get at weddings is "Best of My Love."

I guess people only listen to the words of the main refrain, and ignore the rest, like the line, "I guess it wasn't enough..."

[azureblue]

26. a couple more

"Okie From Muskogee" and "Sweet Home Alabama" are both irony songs

[H2O Man]

27. Recommended.

There are songs with interesting, even surprising, inspirations. The above song, Paul has said, was about pot, not a woman. And he said that "Hey Jude" was to/about Julian. Yet John was sure it was a message to him, despite what Paul said.

Thus, we can see that what inspired the artist to write their lyrics, they are like all good art, and mean exactly what everyone thinks they do, no matter what the artist intends. Eric Claptoe (Beatle fans understand) might have intended to deal with his frustration with his future wife's getting dressed, but he wrote a love song. "Lucy in the Sky" was inspired by his son's artwork, but everyone who has listened to on good acid while wearing headphones knows.

[Ligyron]

31. Sometimes musicians become meat puppets for something beyond.

They think they're writing a song inspired by X, but what comes out and becomes the public's perception of it is everything.

[H2O Man]

33. You nailed it!

The best ones do, the most inspired. Lennon noted this several times.

[Iggo]

43. Truth.

Kris Kristofferson can scream all he wants that “Me And Bobby McGee” isn’t about an addict’s relationship with heroin, but that explanation works so well it doesn’t matter what he meant the song to be about. It just happens that way sometimes.

[RobinA]

49. This Is How I Feel

about Born in the USA. I'm a huge Springsteen fan, but this song sounds and is (was) presented as a fist pumping anthem that many people who are pro-USA can identify with as written and played. To me it raises the question as to who actually blew it when an audience completely misinterprets an artist's work. Did they misinterpret it? Or did the artist fail to get his point across? Now, yeah, it works as irony, but irony is something you have to be careful of in public communication. Is a cool rockin' Daddy in the USA ironic? Is this song a failure to communicate? It just works soooo well as an anthem, even if you know the words.

[soldierant]

29. The Beatles "Blackbird"

is, as they have pointed out, about Civil Rights.

And I might add, specifically about how inaadequately the reality lives up to the promise.

[consider_this]

35. John Mellencamp - Pink Houses

“This one has been misconstrued over the years because of the chorus—it sounds very rah-rah. But it’s really an anti-American song,” Mellencamp continued of “Pink Houses.” “The American dream had pretty much proven itself as not working anymore. It was another way for me to sneak something in.”

[Coventina]

36. The misuse of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" drives me Cah-RAY-zee!!!

[progressoid]

38. I haven't seen the documentary about the song, but it's on my must see list.

[malthaussen]

40. LOL, I saw one comment on YT that it was "A great Christian song!"

I'm sure Mr Cohen would have been amused.

-- Mal

[Iggo]

42. Cracks me up.

Same with those “Born In The USA” morons.

And it’s always the same folks: the self-congratulatory religionists and the masturbatorily patriotic.

(EDIT: Well, not always. Often enough it’s drug addicts who think everything is about drugs…lol.)

[RobinA]

50. This Is Misused

but I have to put in in the Born in the USA category. Artist, did you listen to the words and music you wrote without the bias of knowing what you meant to write? Because the misinterpretation seems to work VERY well for a lot of people.

[malthaussen]

41. The Association claim not, but no one can convince me "Along Came Mary"...

... isn't about marijuana.

-- Mal

[Martin68]

45. In those days groups had to pretend they were not talking bout drugs so they wouldn't get banned on

radio. Everybody snuck references into their music. I always thought "Let it Be" was about pot: Mother Mary. Jimi's "Purple Haze," The Doors' "When Your Strange," The Byrds' "Eight Miles High"

[Martin68]

44. I'm very familiar with some of these songs, and have a few reactions to the opinions expressed.

“Every Breath You Take” It was always obvious to me that this was about a neurotically obsessive lover.

“Born In The U.S.A.” if you listened to the words, the song was obviously critical of unthinking patriotism.

"One" Once again, the song was quite obviously about a breakup. Not just the words, but the singer's emotional rendition clearly point to that.

“Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds” I'd take John Lennon's statement with a grain of LSD. I do believe his son's picture was an inspiration, but get real! It was a paean to the psychedelic experience during a time where songs could be banned from the radio for referencing drugs, so John insisted it was just about an innocent child's drawing. What an amazing drawing if included all the imagery in the song!

"Hotel California" always seemed to me to be about the excessed of the L.A. lifestyle -and the difficulty of not letting that control your life.

While we're on the subject, it always amazes me that religulous people love Leonard Cohen's "Hellelujah." It's not a positive song about God or Jesus in any sense of the word. It's about the pain and joys of erotic love, and supreme disappointment in a former lover.
"No, it's a cold and it's a very broken Hallelujah"

[Major Nikon]

48. Sometimes songs ARE what you think they are about

“There She Goes” by the La’s really is about heroin, although I don’t think Lee Mavers ever admitted it. Nevertheless he was a heroin addict.

I never bought Lennon’s excuse for “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”. The song was released in 1967 and Lennon was using LSD from 1965 onward and the Beatles music was heavily influenced by it. The story in question was just what he told the press. Nobody believed it.

[underpants]

52. I loved that La's album

I guess I loved the jangly guitar. Material Issue too.

[Major Nikon]

53. There's a few other recordings of the song out there

Lee Mavers reportedly hated that one and was constantly at odds with producers. He wanted a recording that sounded more as if you were in the room while it was being played. There’s at least a couple of different acoustic versions.

[justaprogressive]

54. That's his STORY...

"“Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds”- The Beatles

What you think it’s about: A song about a woman tripping on mind-altering substances
What it’s actually about: A picture drawn by John Lennon’s son
According to ILoveClassicRock, Lennon said during an interview on the Dick Cavett Show, “My son came home with a drawing of a strange-looking woman flying around. He said, ‘It’s Lucy in the sky with diamonds.’ I thought, ‘That’s beautiful.’ I immediately wrote the song about it.” "

John Lennon: smart man. He knew what happened to The Byrds when Crosby said that "eight miles high" was about drugs.