Meanings behind songs that people don't seem to know...

I am very old, and in my early teens I loved the music of Tamla Motown (still do). One day after school I was sitting on our stairs singing 'Hickory Hollow's Tramp' and my mother came out of the kitchen and said, 'do you know what you are singing about'? I said no, I was just singing. She said 'well, don't sing it again'. It was only when I grew up that I realised what the song was about:

"Oh the path was deep and wide from footsteps leading to our cabin,
Above the door there hung a scarlet lamp,
And late at night a hand would knock, and there would stand a stranger,
Yes, I'm the son of Hickory Hollow's tramp'.

It's a fab song and a very compassionate tale of how prostitution was his deserted mother's only choice.

Dock of the Bay is the one that gets me. So often I hear it described as chilled or relaxing but if you listen to the words I hear it as really desperately sad. It contains the line, "I've had nothing to live for, look like nothin's gonna come my way." I seem to be the only one who hears it that way!

Indeed you did - somehow managed to quote you instead of the pp, but without reading your post. 😂It’s been a long day…

In stark contrast to most songs mentioned on here, 'Jeans On 'by David Dundas is simply about him putting his jeans on - and innocently encouraging his lover to do the same.

However, if you listen to the lyrics and count carefully - bearing in mind that he never actually mentions taking his jeans off again - he ends the song wearing a total of 21 pairs of jeans all at once

No, of course nothing untoward at all in that other song.

I’m sure the instruction to never enter through the back door is just that she has an untidy kitchen or something equally inoffensive.

Oh gosh - my grandad used to sing this song when I was a child (1970s).

I may not have been being entirely serious, though the radio edit of Wood is much tamer.
I still retract my initial suspicions of House Tour though, definitely nothing naughty going on in that song, nothing at all!

The guy who wrote it got beaten up and then imagined a place where there wouldn't be any fighting and everyone would be too busy dancing and feeling relaxed to fight.

But why does that necessarily refer to a prostitute? Surely it works just as well - and makes a lot more sense in the context of the rest of the lyrics - if it's a couple breaking up, where she's left him and she now has her freedom from exclusivity with him, so she can go and date other men?!

...In fact, maybe he was the one whom she suspected might have cheated and given her something. Even if the Ticket to Ride is referring to a clean bill of health from the GUM clinic, it might just mean that she's celebrating being free from him and hasn't got any nasties from him.

John Lennon wasn't particularly known for respecting women, so I could well see how he could blame her for him having an affair (maybe the 'Jealous Guy' was constantly accusing her of imaginary affairs on her part) and subsequently for leaving him - no doubt going off with all of her fancy men and putting it out 'like a prostitute' and (in his mind) validating all that he accused her of.

I've probably massively over-reached there in my assumptions; but just postulating a potential explanation.

People will also insist on thinking that Wood by Taylor Swift is rude, despite her explaining in a voice note and on the Showgirl movie that it's just about popular superstitions!

Yes, I simply can’t understand why anyone would ever think these lyrics are rude

Forgive me, it sounds cocky
He ah-matized me and opened my eyes
Redwood tree, it ain't hard to see
His love was the key that opened my thighs

I always thought the WW1 song "Goodbyeeee" was incredibly sad, it always used to make me tearful when I heard it.

But it turns out it's actually a comic song, the verses are all about trying to get away from someone/something unpleasant and the famous chorus "Goodbyee, Goodbye, wipe the tear baby dear from your eyeee" is a joke.

Wasn’t it Sting who allegedly had 7 hour tantric sex sessions? Perhaps Bill Haley was similar.

Er..yes, that’s what I said 🙂

It was - the plane was named after the pilot’s mother.

Now with 'Jailhouse Rock' being clearly seen as a euphemism for sex, my concerned thoughts are moving towards Bill Haley. If he really is 'rocking' non-stop around the clock, it'll surely be the death of him?!

Well, this thread was an eye opener!
But then, I still want to hear 'Nights in white satin, never reaching the end' as 'Knights'. That's what I heard for years and I so much prefer the mental image.

Afternoon Delight... blatantly obvious ditty about the joys of an afternoon shag but no one seemed to notice at the time

I didn't realise for years that There She Goes by the LAs is about heroin use - just like the beautiful song Angel.by Sarah McLaxhlan is about drug use.

I also only recently got around to working out what Purple Rain was about.