Strange famous songs - what do they mean?

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horusd

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Keeping up the muscial theme on AAM, what are the oddest song lyrics, do you know what the songs are actually about, and does it even matter ?

I'll kick off with two:

1. American Pie. I heard this was & wasn't about JFK.

2. REM Sidewinder sleeps tonight. I haven't the foggiest what this great song is about.
 
horusd said:
1. American Pie. I heard this was & wasn't about JFK.
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When Don McLean was asked what the song meant he said "It means I never have to work again."
It's about the 1959 plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper
 
Lol, and I bet that was true! Didn't ever hear the other story about the plane crash tho....ye live n learn eh!
 
horusd said:
Lol, and I bet that was true! Didn't ever hear the other story about the plane crash tho....ye live n learn eh!
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Yep, that was the "day the music died"

Eleanor Mcevoy referred to "Only a woman's heart" as house music. She said it bought her a house.
 
Madness "House of Fun" - think its about buying condoms.

Eagles "Hotel California" - about some drug induced dream/nightmare?
 
House of Fun is definitely about coming of age, of which buying condoms is used as an example.

I love the meanings that people get completely wrong like 'You're Gorgeous' (Babybird) and 'Time of Your Life' (Greenday) but I've started a whole thread on that before.

'More Than Words' by Extreme is about a guy trying to persuade his girlfriend to perform fellatio...

On a side note (and no Wikipedia people.......). Anyone know which 'Town' is the eponymous 'Dirty Old' one?
 
BillK said:
"Shirt factory" suggests that it's Derry.
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Not sure where you got shirt factory from.... maybe another Dubliners song, 'The Town I Loved so well'...

Anyway, Newbie! was right (even if it was from cheating.....), it's not Derry.
 
Purple said:
When Don McLean was asked what the song meant he said "It means I never have to work again."
It's about the 1959 plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper
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Killing me soflty is about Don Mclean

A famous one is "sweet home alabama" by Lynard Skynnard is a retort to Neil Young's "Alabama" then Neil young wrote "southern Man" after thats(not sure about the sequence)

Angie by the rolling stones is about Angie Bowie.

There are many interesting ones some probably urban legends
 
Sir Mix-a-lot's "Baby Got Back" is about girls with big backsides !!
 
PetrolHead said:
Not sure where you got shirt factory from.... maybe another Dubliners song, 'The Town I Loved so well'...

Anyway, Newbie! was right (even if it was from cheating.....), it's not Derry.
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Spot on! That is the song I was thinking of.
Put the error down to my advanced years and tone deafness!
 
Read recently that Dirty Old Town was written about Liverpool, think it was Ewan McColl or someone non-Irish that wrote it. The lyrics would work well with Dublin as well.

The Town I loved so Well is jam packed with Derry references e.g. "drew the women from the Creggan, the Moor and the Bog (bogside)", so no mystery there.

Golden Brown by the Stranglers about heroin ?????
Nighttrain by G'n'R about a brand of fortified wine (Buckfast style).
 
Betsy Og said:
think it was Ewan McColl or someone non-Irish that wrote it.
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Correct!

Golden Brown by the Stranglers about heroin ?????
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Often disputed though - might be an urban legend.

Same with Lou Reed's Perfect Day.

Not quite the same thing but the craziest one I heard was that if you play Floyd's DSOTM at the same time as The Wizard of Oz, there are loads of lyrical references that fit with the movie. Apparently, it works (at a stretch) but certainly not Floyd's intention - some chronic acid imbiber with way too much time on his hands must have started that one!
 
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