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?!

I remember Jeremy Vine commenting on his show once that he'd heard about a group of performers from the Noel Gay theatre company doing a tour of Japan... it was extremely awkward when they introduced themselves, as the Japanese people they met assumed that they were referencing something very different indeed.

You’re right, but I find that really surprising given it contains the lyrics “remember when I moved in you”

It's 8:15
And that's the time that it's always been

in Enola Gay references the time the bomb (Little Boy) was dropped on Hiroshima. Enola was the pilots mothers first name.

He married Leslie Crowther's daughter in 1980 so maybe it's about her 😀

I remember a lot of debate among my friends at the time about what the song title meant. Now of course you’d just Google it and instantly find out. One of my friends very earnestly explained her belief that it was about someone hiding the fact they were gay and that leading to feeling alone - enola being alone backwards.

As an aside, I recently learned the plane was named after the pilot’s mother, Enola Gay Tibbets, which adds an extra dimension to the lyric ‘is mother proud of little boy today?’.

I could read printed lyrics of most of these songs and the sex and drugs references would go completely over my head 🙄

I'm sure it's about the opposite kind of oral sex.

See, I love BA but I call bullshit on this. Another case of 69 sounding better (79 has no ring to it even though it was indeed a vintage year). I admit I have seen him live on numerous occasions in the 90s and feel that if the 69 sex myth were true, he would have at least alluded to it when performing the song live.

An innocent quine at no mistake 😇.

Well that explains she tied you to her kitchen chair. Not sure why a hair cut came into it though.... Beautiful song but those lyrics always baffled me.

The one that always pops up on these sort of discussions is The Police song Every Breath You Take. So I won't mention that one 😂 Another one that springs to mind is 'Rent' by the Pet Shop Boys. It's about a kept woman.

A kept man you mean.

I never actually realised until I heard it properly on the radio last Sunday that the PSB song 'Shopping' wasn't about maxing out your credit cards with some retail therapy.

I remember when it came out, but the tune didn't really grab me, so I never really gave it another thought (or listen).

Quite a few Springsteen songs aren't quite what they first seem.

I'm always surprised when people think Dancing in the Dark is all jolly and fun and romantic - I heard it used for a wedding thing recently. It sounds fun, but it's about clinical depression and self loathing.

Which of their songs?

How rude and….making lots of assumptions.

Has something touched a nerve?😏

Fair enough, I'd understood a different interpretation, probably based on the references to 'chocolate (brown) stains on my pants' and 'oh but it's a habit worth forming if it means to justify the end'.
A quick google confirms that your explanation is more common than the one I'd understood.

But lots of people love the song as a nostalgic look back to hanging around and having fun in that year (as they believe it to be); so why would he go out of his way to disabuse those people of that notion and possibly lose fans/money?

The clues are there if you're interested; if you're not, your ears and money are just as good as anybody else's!

Even artistically, it would be very crass to spell it out laboriously. Jim Steinman included an awful lot of double meanings and sex references in his songs, but he didn't get Meat Loaf to sing 'For Crying Out Loud' live in concert and then shout "Hey, that really means I love it when you have an orgasm - it's a dirty pun on an innocent old expression!!!" to the crowd immediately afterwards!

Well, there are several online references to BA saying it is about the position - starting with the wiki https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summer_of_%2769

Maybe he just frequently had embarrassing following through-style incidents?!

I had no idea about some of these! I hate to think how many weddings featured 'The One I Love' by REM - 'Another prop has occupied my time. This one goes out to the one I love.'

I thought it was the name of the plane

It was the name of the plane but the plane was named after the pilot’s mother.

It’s a reference to Delilah cutting Samson’s hair in the Bible.

Haven’t read the whole thread so apologies if it’s come up before, but Ticket To Ride isn’t quite so innocent. It’s about a working girl getting a clear bill of health from the VD clinic.