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?!

It’s embarrassing the amount of people naming random innocuous songs with a ‘wink’ saying ‘oh they’re not about…..’ Grow up

Maybe I imagined it then 🤣 I’m sure that they sometimes used to show videos on TOTP instead of the singers all the time, if the singers weren’t on live ?

Ah don’t be embarrassed

There’s a modern made video of them literally singing it. But when you said ‘and oh but that video’ what do you remember exactly? Or was it for effect

Yeah that doesn’t work @thundercunt

And every Sunday she receives a big bouquet of 14 roses.
And a card that reads
The greatest Mum on earth.

Not the Thin Lizzy one. The one that Top loader did a cover of, by King Harvest.

The concept of a 'music video' - i.e. a planned and artfully filmed and edited visual accompaniment to the song with a storyboard and choreography - may not have been the norm back then; but video cameras did very much exist. It was far from unheard of for somebody to film the artist/band on the stage, singing, playing and/or dancing, and for it to be made available for broadcast.

Agreed. But the poster insinuated the ‘video’ made clear it was a ‘naughty’ song.

I always used to assume that the tramp referred to was the father - i.e. the singer and his siblings' deadbeat dad - and he hadn't stuck around or had any financial means to support them, hence their mum was left to do all of the parenting and caring on her own, because the child was a son of an insolvent, non-present tramp.

When I was young, I only really knew the word tramp to mean a (usually male) wandering vagrant; I wasn't familiar with the American meaning of a (usually female) prostitute.

No it is not! It was written by Leonard Cohen and he was a poet and a deeply spiritual person for many years (not Christian though). There were many verses appearing in different versions of the song by him, many with obscure Bible references.

I hate it when people belt it out and miss the subtlety, darkness and sadness in it.

I always want to shout at the telly when there's that perfume ad that uses Sia's Chandelier - which is very clearly about alcoholism. I mean it actually has the lyrics:
Sun is up, I'm a mess
Gotta get out now, gotta run from this
Here comes the shame, here comes the shame
1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3 drink
1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3 drink
1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3 drink
Throw 'em back till I lose count

She actually did an interview somewhere when it came out so I knew that one. She also said she recorded it wearing a bikini to feel sexy while she sang it.

Whole Lot of Rosie by AC/DC is also about still. I always imagined it being about a big girl called Rosie.

Or a woman. Remember the domestic violence groups here being up in arms thinking it was a woman. Same with Matchbox 20s Push you around. They never heard the part "she said" and thought he was saying it.

I think there were 16 in my year, I left in 1983. One fourth year and the rest in fifth year.

We had no proper sex education but we did have a long list of contraceptives not approved by the RC church.

I was at an RC girls' school. My brother was at the equivalent boys' school, I don't think he got much either as a friend of his A thought he had got his girlfriend B pregnant.

He asked my brother if it could happen with what they had been doing, my brother didn't know so they went to my mum.

A and B were both still virgins.

Ass for video, the first one I can remember went with Bohemian Rhapsody, released in 1975.

OK back to the songs, this is a real oldie, the song 'My Old Dutch', it seemed to be sung a lot on TV in the 70s, the chorus is We've been together now for forty years, An' it don't seem a day too much.

It's portrayed as a love song, which it is, but it is about a couple going in to the workhouse where they will be separated and never see each other again.

The first promo films (aka 'music video') were made (inevitably) by the Beatles - and Bob Dylan's "Subterranian Homesick Blues" (the one with the lyric on cards). I remember the "Hey Jude" one on Top of the Pops - the Beatles were rarely, if ever, on the show - one of the reasons they made promo films.

Quite a few of his songs were about sex. Sorry to break it to you.

It is a wonderful song and yes, he was a brilliant poet.

What?

I've just read the wiki page and Lennon says that was the inspiration for he song title, not that that's what the song is about. Meanwhile Paul McCartney says the song title comes from a ticket to “Ryde" on the Isle of Wight.

I don’t get alcoholism from that but binge drinking on a night out and waking up the next morning after a one night stand. It’s describing knocking back shots and then the walk of shame the next morning.

It’s a Leonard Cohen song, of course it’s about sex 🤣

DS's girlfriend Nicola was having a big party for her birthday, with DS's friends singing and playing guitar. DS is a huge Prince fan, and I said "Perhaps you could sing Darling Nikki!"

" Erm...I don't think so, Mum!!" he grinned. To be fair, I'd only ever heard the title!

Oh dear, sense of humour bypass? Nevermind, sweary words don’t offend me. Let’s hope today is a better day for you. Peace and love and all that