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

[Arlanymor]

Do you remember the Real Fires advert with the dog kissing the cat and the cat kissing a mouse? My mum brought it up the other day as one of their neighbours has just got a dog that looks identical to the one in the advertisement. Awww!

I couldn't quite remember the song that was the soundtrack so I looked it up later... it's Will You Love Me Tomorrow by The Shirelles and I brought it up on YouTube to listen to it. It's about a one night stand isn't it? I had no idea until now... there I was thinking it was a lovely warm anthem for chaste kisses between pets!

By the way, not remotely making a judgement about the topic, I've a had a few 'Shirelles' nights of my own in the past... I just never knew what it was about before. Have you had any similar revelations?!

Well, I'd like to thank this thread for taking me down a music rabbit hole.

I did know about Golden Brown but, honestly, some of these others 😬

I always think this too. I think some songwriters just come up with a load of phrases that sound alright together and then pretend it has meaning when actually it just happened to rhyme (see every oasis song and over reliance on the word shiiiiiiine). I firmly believe that John Lennon just plucked words out of the air that fitted in with Macca's tunes. Most are pretty nonsensical. In fact you can see it in action on the Peter Jackson documentary from a few years ago. They all sat in a studio and randomly came up with lines to a song that sounded good. There was very little deep thought going on.

Omg someone mentioned purple rain but didn't say what it's about !

@Kimura I thought Golden Brown was to do with autumn leaves. How could I possibly know it was about heroin if I'd never heard of it.

You may scoff but growing up in a small Scottish seaside town in the 70s was my lived experience.

Same with sex language. Again I've no idea what most of it means.

Chain Reaction by Diana Ross is about sex, possibly even a threesome.....
I'm in the middle of a chain reaction
You give me all the after midnight action
I want to get you where I can let you make all that love to me
I'm on a journey for the inspiration
To anywhere and there ain't no salvation
I need you to get me nearer to you
So you can set me free
We talk about love, love, love
We talk about love
We talk about love, love, love
We talk about love
You make me tremble when your hand moves lower
You taste a little then you swallow slower
Nature has a way of yielding treasure
Pleasure made for you, oh

I hate the fact that people call their children Delilah.
I hate that people think Fairy Tale of New York is a cute Christmas song.

I knew that about Perfect Day but not about Golden Brown.

When you're in love with a beautiful woman... It's hard 😉

Anyone else find the determination in A Little Bit More creepy? 'When your body's had enough of me..' take the hint, dude!

Has anyone mentioned 99 Red Balloons? Nuclear war.

Petula Clark "Downtown".
"forget all your worries, forget all your cares..."

When I was going out with my mates, we went "uptown" or "up west" to the West End of London - even though we actually travelled south to get there.

So I thought downtown was the nasty, seedy part of a town, full of drugs & prossies.

Haha. Yes those were the days !!

Relax was banned from radio for a time I recall…

"You're a bum, you're a punk"
"You're an old slut on junk"

It's not cute. I do love it though, it's a heartbreaking song.

This has been educational. I didn't even know the titles of loads of these so googling them for the lyrics has been a series of "Oh! So that's what that song is called..." moments.
For example, I didn't know the I Could Be song was actually called Grace Kelly. I'm hopeless.

When it comes to "what is a song really about" drugs, sex or abuse of women seem to cover about 90%.

These must be newer songs some are discussing. The only 'Relax' song I know was from Frankie goes to Hollywood.

@emilysquest & @SriouslyWhutNow
Calm down, why the anger? It's supposed to be a light hearted thread, did you know?
Most people don't get the meanings of songs cos it's sometimes hard to decipher the lyrics, & they pay more attention to the music & have a bit of a sing-a-long than the underlying meanings 🙄

The Small Faces.Here comes the nice.
He's got what I need
He's always there when I need some speed.
Not hidden but got past the BBC.
Years before Ebenezer good..the Shamen.

Ebeneezer Goode by The Shamen anyone? A quite literal endorsement to take pills camouflaged in a tune about a local eccentric gentleman. Genius!

He had medium brown hair naturally. Priscilla also died her hair black as he liked it that way.

As a child I merrily sang along to the seemingly innocent lyrics of I've got a brand new combine harvester by the Wurzels. I might be wrong but now I think there's a double entendre in the lyrics. Who'd have thought it, good wholesome, family fun Wurzels would have a an underlying sex meaning to their songs 😆

Friends long ago had "With or without you" as their first dance song. I remember my partner and I pulling the "WTF?" face at that one.

Ironically, the bloke of the friend (and he really was a lovely bloke) had the same song as "our song" with his previous girlfriend.

If ou have a dirty mind the Frank Ifield song She Taught Me To Yodel might be construe d as being about something other than singing lessons……

I’m trying to think of something cool but failing, so here’s one about The Black Death

“Ring a ring of roses
A pocket full of posies
Atishoo, Atishoo
we all fall down”

Fucking hell. And you think taking drugs is ‘seedy.’ That’s another level of weird

Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds originated from a painting done by John's son. That was the title the boy gave it. I know this because I used to work for Lucy's father. Lucy and John's son were in the same class.