The story of the lyrics say what?!

[Globules]

I was today years old when I realised Upside Down by Diana Ross is her singing about a man who's cheating on her.

And the bottom line is that because she likes the way he makes her feel, there'll always be a place in her heart for him.

I'd never actually heard that in the song before! Shocked in the shower!

I informed my friend yesterday that Watermelon Sugar is about cunnilingus.

Pina Colada - was always a favourite with the boyfriend and I, until i looked up the lyrics during a long car journey 😳 The song's story is that I'm bored with my partner, so I look for a new one in the personal ads. I meet them, and it turns out it was my partner who placed the ad. Essentially, they're both looking to cheat on each other. Very unexpected story for such a breezy song!

We all know Every Breath you take is actually a stalker song.

Any other stories in songs that are really not what you expected?

Ebenezer Goode by the Shamen is about drugs (EEs are good)
Turning Japanese is about a sex trick
Cake by the Ocean is about sex
Last Train to Clarksville by the Monkees is about going off to the Vietnam war

.

Alison has stayed in an interview it is not a rude song. I don’t believe her!

I can't believe you would do such a silly, childish thing and actually find it funny (same here!!!)

You can't do that anymore with digital music - you can slow it down, but it's still exactly the same sound just slower. You can't make Johnny Cash sound like Minnie Ripperton or vice versa now!

Turning Japanese I thought was about nothing more than having a wank (described in an unpleasantly racist way).

I know, poor young people these days, they'll never experience the simple fun we had back then. 😂

🤣

It certainly seems to imply that it's about death/suicide but not necessarily teenagers.
You could potentially interpret it as people eloping/running away together too.

Lots of terrible lyrics from the 70s. It's my era of study. Three Degrees and Susan Cadogan sang some dreadful songs.

I always saw it as a criticism. In my young days I was a big fan of The Police. I was also at a school where pupil/teacher (or at least staff) relationships took place.
The song suggests he was accused of something, but nothing happened- she was too young.

It seems to pass a lot of people by that House Of Fun by Madness was about a 16yo who was about to lose his virginity.

The lyrics aren't even that ambiguous- party balloons with a feather-light touch and him being in a chemists.
If I remember rightly, even the video was pretty clear that he'd gone to buy condoms.

Thanks for the memories, we had an 8 track player then and Neil Sedaka was one of the cassettes we had, it just played on and on until you removed it, also Elton John, The Carpenters, The New Seekers, I loved them all and sometimes ask Alexa to play them, so nostalgic 🤗

Fans favourite Alexander Armstrong sang this on one of his albums….Pointless fans will be apoplectic!

Yes we used to do it as well. My dad would shout through the door: stop with that bloody racket youll ruin the recorder player!!
Life was so much more fun back then 😆

True, with adult/teenage eyes and ears - but a lot of songs (including some of them mentioned on this thread) have lyrics that sound unequivocal, but still people miss or misinterpret them.

Maybe it's two ways of looking at what a song is: is it a single work with instrumentation, lyrics and often also a video, combined to form one blended masterpiece; or is it a cool guitar riff or catchy drum section that's potentially there for the purpose of distracting you from listening to what the singer is actually singing?!!

She'd be told to LTB if she posted about him here.

In a sort of reverse of most of these, Closer by Nine Inch Nails is apparently NOT about having sex- despite what the lyrics explicitly say.

I thought so too 😂

A friend of mine and his girlfriend had a little side hustle as wedding singers during the 90s. One of the most popular requests was for Paul Weller - You Do Something To Me. They always obliged but presumably none of the couples had actually read or thought about the what the lyrics meant.

Be prepared to have your mind blown OP… Islands in the Stream is about an affair!!!!! And NO it doesn’t mean that Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers we’re having an affair 🙄 it was written collectively by the Bee Gee’s! The Bee Gees were brothers. The Bee Gees also wrote Chain Reaction…

Oh forgot to say, Chain Reaction is about an orgasm!!! Dirty buggers those Bee Gees 🤣

Ooh naughty boys. Who remembers Kenny Everetts "Instant BeeGees kit" 🤣🤣

And Neil Diamond wrote Red Red Wine by UB40. His original version is practically forgotten

I always miss-hear that as Gordon Brown

Say what!