Rock lyric trivia amnesty

Right, let's clear up a few things. This is the thread to ask trivial questions about song lyrics you feel you really should know the answer to but were always too afraid to ask. I'll start,

Brown Sugar by The Rolling Stones - is that about heroin or is it about interracial lust?

What or who is a Wonderwall?

Who or what is a Beetlebum?

Is the House of the Rising Sun a brothel?

Is Stairway to Heaven about anything or is it just nonsense?

Two Little Boys by Rolf Harris, I always assumed it was about the Crimean war, am I right?

Wonderwall

is, I believe, a film with a soundtrack by George Harrison, and is one of many desperate attempts by Oasis to connect their dirges with the work of the Beatles.

Jason Carter | 1 April 2008 - 8:55pm

Tall Wall......

....with a chimney. Crow on it. Singing.

Retropath2 | 2 April 2008 - 8:11am

I feel I should make some point or other here

But I don't know what it is and I'm not a massive Wonderwall fan anyway. Unless I'm drunk and at an Oasis gig in which case it's the best thing ever.

However, I believe that Wonderwall refers to a wall in the bedroom Liam and Noel used to share where they would put pictures of their heroes.

(Insert Noddy Holder, John Lennon, Rutles jibes here)

Chimney Singing Crow | 2 April 2008 - 9:18am

Wait a sec

Hmmm

Niks | 2 April 2008 - 2:08pm

Come off it ...

...Oasis were always thrashing about and trying to be the new Slade weren't they? And not quite making it.

Philip Bryer | 1 April 2008 - 9:01pm

Brown Sugar

Interracial lust every time, surely. And slaving. Try getting that on Radio One nowadays.

David Hepworth | 1 April 2008 - 9:02pm

So are you saying then that 'You're Beautiful'...

isn't about interracial lust and slaving? I could have sworn it was...

Patrick Crowther | 1 April 2008 - 9:12pm

Definitely Interracial lust.

'I've got a new one myself. No words yet, but a few words in my head - called Brown Sugar - about a woman who screws one of her black servants. I started to call it Black Pussy but I decided that was too direct, too nitty-gritty'
Mick Jagger, 2 December 1969 on the way to Muscle Schoals studios.
From Stanley Booth's True Adventures Of The Rolling Stones.

Dr.Robert | 2 April 2008 - 9:57am

Filthy subtexts

OK, I guess this is the place to ask about lots of songs - primarily early rock 'n' roll, many of them by Leiber and Stoller - and what I perceive to be crafty sexual references. Or do I just have a dirty mind? Here are some - but not all - of the ones that have made me wonder:

Down In Mexico - is it a series of increasingly complicated metaphors that depict oral sex? Start with the laugh after "south of the border" and let your mind do the rest.

She's Not You - is it about trying to get over a woman by finding one that looks identical; possibly even by dressing her up?

Please Please Me - oral sex again?

Lucas Hare | 1 April 2008 - 9:11pm

Jailhouse Rock

'Little Jimmy's playing on the slide trombone'

Niks | 1 April 2008 - 9:32pm

Oh...

...my. I had no idea.
I'll stick with a wooden chair if it's all the same to Little Jimmy.

Philip Bryer | 3 April 2008 - 11:43am

The Sopranos

Fans will recall the golf course scene where Tony pokes fun at Junior, after gossip about his oral preferences has leaked out, by singing "South of the border".

CarlP | 1 April 2008 - 10:32pm

Exactly

I remember it well. The phrase itself is definitely a double entendre, but am I going too far by looking for similar content in the entire song? I mean, "a purple sash and a black moustache"...

Lucas Hare | 1 April 2008 - 10:34pm

This is getting more than a little disturbing ...

What about the song 'Red Cadillac & A Black Moustache'. Should I be worried?

StevenC | 1 April 2008 - 10:50pm

That Is Rock 'n' Roll

You say that music's for the birds
And you can't understand the words
Well, honey, if you did,
You'd really blow your lid,
'Cause, baby, that is rock and roll

By Leiber and Stoller.

Lucas Hare | 1 April 2008 - 11:03pm
Dr.Robert | 2 April 2008 - 2:12pm

Chuck Berry

Is there a hidden message to "My Ding-A-Ling"???

Answers on a postcard.

kidpresentable | 1 April 2008 - 9:54pm

It's about...

Chuck's fondness for pealing.

Patrick Crowther | 2 April 2008 - 8:14am

Ding a Ling

Whatever the hidden message is, Chuck didn't put it there. I believe it's the only one of his hits that he didn't write. I can't say I've ever listened to the lyrics that closely but I kind of thought it might be about a bicycle.

Niks | 2 April 2008 - 9:43am

You must be playing with your own ding a ling

As the song says.

PaulB | 2 April 2008 - 5:39pm

House of The Rising Sun

I think the answer is clearly yes, it is about a brothel.
Two Little Boys - who cares?
Stairway to Heaven - it's a retail experience.

CarlP | 1 April 2008 - 10:29pm

But,

My only query about House of the Rising Sun is that there is no reference in the song to prostitution. But the fact that his father is a 'gambling man' and the reference to the house being 'the ruin of many a man' seems to suggest that it is in fact a gambling den of some sort.

Niks | 2 April 2008 - 9:40am

The Animals version...

...changes to lyrics. In the version on Dylan's first album it's the ruin of many a poor girl in the house of the rising sun. The gambler was her sweetheart.

Dr.Robert | 2 April 2008 - 10:15am

I care

2 little boys is set in the american civl war he sings about "ranks of blue and grey" if memory serves, it's aheart felt tale of internecine violence, it's a much better song than hairway to steven.

Chris G | 1 April 2008 - 10:36pm

Indeed...

... a war often characterised as having brother fighting against brother.

Trevor_Raggatt | 2 April 2008 - 12:12am

Rolf's finest moment...

without doubt. Genuinely moving.

Patrick Crowther | 2 April 2008 - 9:19am

Coming right up. . .

Clive Dunn's "Grandad": a critical reappraisal.

I can appreciate the occasional drop of sentimentality in the right place as much as the next man, but first Gilbert O' Sullivan and now this?

Archie Valparaiso | 2 April 2008 - 9:53am

Don't you think.......

.....the Word Irregulars are becoming increasingly identifiable as their counterparts in Dads Army? But who is Pike? Is it Mr Hatchet or Mr Crow?

Retropath2 | 2 April 2008 - 9:55am

What, pray tell, have I done to deserve this scorn?!

I could write at length on this site about all my cool records, about my impeccable taste. However I don't give a toss about being cool, so if I like something, I say it. I am rather prone to think that some people on this site hold back from admitting to liking unfashionable music for fear of damaging their cred. Well bollocks to that...

Patrick Crowther | 2 April 2008 - 10:04am

Fashionable? Moi?

I lap up Andy Williams B-sides, for Gawd's sake, but I'm afraid "Two Little Boys" is a bridge too far.

Archie Valparaiso | 2 April 2008 - 10:08am

What about Bernard Cribbins?

Is admitting to liking his records a bridge too far as well? Messers Ellen and Hepworth don't seem to think so, as evidenced by the latest podcast. I mean I don't own 'Two Little Boys' - and probably never will - but I think it's a good record.

Patrick Crowther | 2 April 2008 - 10:13am

Not a patch on his masterpiece about the 'roo, Pat:

Nick me discs when I'm crisped, mate,
nick me discs when I'm crisped.
Take me albums and run, son,
take me albums and run,
Altogether now!

Tie me kangaroo down, sport
Tie me kangaroo down
Tie me kangaroo down, sport
Tie me kangaroo down

Keep me guitars all strung, son,
keep me guitars all strung.
Tune 'em right and then strum, son,
tune 'em right and then strum,
Altogether now!

Tie me kangaroo down, sport
Tie me kangaroo down
Tie me kangaroo down, sport
Tie me kangaroo down

Vulpes Vulpes | 2 April 2008 - 1:01pm

Filthy subtext

perhaps someone should reveal the filthy subtext behind these words. I would but I must get back to work.

Sven | 2 April 2008 - 1:09pm

it turns out the original version

is about an Aussie stockman's dying wishes which explains the lines 'Let me Abos loose' and 'tan me hide when i'm dead fred'.

Sven | 2 April 2008 - 1:33pm

I wonder if the BBC Commissars...

...have listened to the "let me abo's go loose" version of "Tie Me Kangaroo Down"?

David Hepworth | 2 April 2008 - 4:36pm

Seemingly such a harmless ditty

yet with that dark aspect to it

Sven | 2 April 2008 - 7:17pm

Jake the Peg

There's not even a subtext there, it's just brazen filth.

Niks | 2 April 2008 - 1:56pm

Sun Arise

Obviously about early-morning legovers:

Sun arise, fillin' up the hollow [...]
Sun arise, she come every mornin'

Archie Valparaiso | 2 April 2008 - 6:23pm

Two little joys

Rolf Harris's finest moment is, in fact, the final verse of "The Court of King Caractacus". The song "Wonderful Christmas Pig" is a close second. Rolf's "All Together Now" LP is one of the greatest live albums - an enraptured audience in the palm of his hand.
In previous posts I've directed people towards Bernard Cribbins' finest moment. Contrary to the opinion of Mark Ellen, it is not "The Hole in the Ground" but "Gossip Calypso".

Most of us on this website scorn the concept of guilty pleasures, so why deny yourself treats such as these? I'm not going to feel guilty for liking Rolf and Bernard when there are Snow Patrol fans walking the streets unchallenged.

Can I be Sgt Wilson? That'd be lovely.

Nick White | 2 April 2008 - 6:41pm

One liner of the week

I'm not going to feel guilty for liking Rolf and Bernard when there are Snow Patrol fans walking the streets unchallenged.

SPOT ON.

Vulpes Vulpes | 2 April 2008 - 7:02pm

Two little boys

The first record I bought with my own pocket money from the record shop on Eldon Arcade, Barnsley, still know all the words.

But there are far too many people on here who will try to persuade you that their pre-school years were spent listening to White Light/White Heat and reading the pop-up version of "On the Road".

Neil Dyson | 3 April 2008 - 5:06pm

Pre-school?

I was roadying for Link Wray before I went to school. That's why my hearing was so shot by the time I started buying records at 12 or so.

Retropath2 | 3 April 2008 - 5:13pm

You are so right

far too many. Aren't there are any Richard Thompson and Beatles fans out there?

Sven | 3 April 2008 - 7:46pm

Wow,

That's interesting, thanks.

Niks | 2 April 2008 - 9:41am

I was wondering how the context of Niks response to the earlier

....remark of PCs would go, by it subsequently following all the other responses. At last, I noted, it fits again.

Retropath2 | 2 April 2008 - 10:32am

and again

and again

Sven | 2 April 2008 - 1:57pm

And strangely again

:-0

Retropath2 | 3 April 2008 - 5:14pm

There's your...

...t-shirt slogan, then.

Philip Bryer | 4 April 2008 - 2:57pm

You know

You might have something there. All Royalty cheques gratefully accepted.

Springer | 4 April 2008 - 3:53pm

Pull up to the Bumper

I'm sure thats not about parking your car.

"Pull up to my bumper baby,
In your long black limosine,
Pull up to my bumper baby,
And drive it in between".

Or is it ????

Springer | 2 April 2008 - 1:48pm

I remember when Max Romeo had a hit...

...with "Wet Dream".
The refrain went "lie down girl let me push it up".
I heard Max on the radio at the time claiming it was all about a hole in his ceiling (hence the wetness of his dreams) that he was trying to engage the services of his girlfriend to fix. This process necessitated her going into the attic and lying down so that she could peer through the hole to help him replaster the hole (hence the "lie down girl etc").

David Hepworth | 2 April 2008 - 1:56pm

Right, so...

Brown Sugar is about interacial lust (of course it is, I just googled the lyrics and it's obvious).

A Wonderwall is either a film or a wall in the Gallagher brothers' bedroom with pictures of the Fab Four on it.

The House of the Rising Sun is a whorehouse.

Two Little Boys is set in the American Civil War.

Stairway to Heaven is about a 'retail experience' whatever that means.

...and along the way we discovered that Leiber and Stoller and Max Romeo were crafty, filthy buggers and its OK to like Rolf Harris.

BUT WHAT IS A BEETLEBUM!!??

Niks | 2 April 2008 - 2:08pm

I had this rather vague notion

that is was something against Oasis but reading the lyrics that doesn't make sense. Wake Up Bomb by REM has also been said to be about the Gallaghers but this has been denied by the band who say it's just about glam rock - they may just be saying that though. Who knows?

Does that help at all?

Probably not.

Sven | 2 April 2008 - 2:52pm

Beetlebum

Pet name for her out of Elastica, isn't it?

David Hepworth | 2 April 2008 - 4:35pm

And it's about

their wacky adventures on skag

Chimney Singing Crow | 3 April 2008 - 9:24am

Stairway

"...and she's buying a stairway to heaven.
When she gets there she knows
If the stores are all closed
With a word she can get what she came for."
That surely is a retail experience. Today she'd be going to IKEA. In 1971 who knows where?
I suppose the next bit is about a relaxing walk in the country after the trials of shopping. As for the rest?

CarlP | 2 April 2008 - 7:14pm

It's misquoted

What Percy actually sings is this:

If the stores are all closed
With The Word she can get
What she came for

Foreseeing the instant satisfaction afforded by the permanent accessibility of the Now Here This! CD, compared with the annoyingly limited opening-hours of record shops, a mere 30 years before it actually happened. Yes, that's just how ahead of their time Led Zep were.

Archie Valparaiso | 3 April 2008 - 1:51pm

Thats just cracked me up.

Classic.

Springer | 2 April 2008 - 2:16pm

Pass the Dutchie

Max Romeo's bluffing reminds me of Musical Youth's appearance on Blue Peter in 1982 in which they breezily declared that their big hit was all about passing a cooking pot to the left.
Possible, but... http://tinyurl.com/hsb7e

Nick White | 2 April 2008 - 6:48pm

RELAX

according to Holly Johnson in 1984 was all about motivation and self *cough* improvement.

Arf!

Nodge1970 | 3 April 2008 - 12:40pm

One of the reasons why Ringo's nose is also so red.

(See under Bumfreezer jacket, accoutrements, fashionable, of swinging London)

Retropath2 | 2 April 2008 - 2:19pm

Beetlebum

Beetlebum is mentioned in the Mickey Rooney film Quicksand. Mickey Rooney's character is walking along the beach with his girlfriend and points to a group of stars and says "we call that the beetlebum".

Carl | 2 April 2008 - 4:55pm

And wikipedia

has a load of unsubstantiated theories as well

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beetlebum

PaulHThompson | 2 April 2008 - 8:31pm

This filth in popular culture

knows no bounds - what about Muffin the mule and Dobbin the donkey?

Steve Turner | 2 April 2008 - 8:22pm

And Captain Pugwash and

Master Bates.

Springer | 3 April 2008 - 1:27pm

But sadly...

...not true. And I believe the creator of Pugwash has received apologies in the past...

Philip Bryer | 4 April 2008 - 2:59pm

The secret history of glam

Chinn and Chapman addressed health issues in their songs. Mud's "the cat crept in" slyly referenced constipation and Suzi Quatro's "48 crash" was about the menopause.

reginabsmooth | 2 April 2008 - 8:51pm

SHAKE ;RATTLE AND ROLL

"One eyed cat peepin' in a seafood store".

paul beard | 2 April 2008 - 9:09pm

And there's more

You wear those dresses, the sun comes shinin' through
Can't believe my eyes, all that mess belongs to you

Lucas Hare | 2 April 2008 - 9:17pm

Walk This Way.......

"Schoolgirl sleazy with a classic kind of sassy, lil skirt hanging way up her knees...."

Hello.....Is that Childline?

Nodge1970 | 3 April 2008 - 12:35pm

The Locomotion

Someone once told me that this song was about - how can I put this delicately? - receiving deliveries via the tradesmen's entrance.

Con_Coleman | 3 April 2008 - 5:14pm

Rachel Stevens

The lovely Rachel's I Said Never Again (But Here We are) is also about going up the Oxo tower, viz

I said no, no never
We don't go together
Oh, I really couldn't take anymore
Now it's two weeks later
I feel such a traitor
Oh, I let you in my back door

While further down the piece she's 'biting her lip'

The minx!

johnsey | 3 April 2008 - 6:14pm

I believe

You are correct. And I don't think she knew what it was she was singing if what I heard is correct.

The minx!

Springer | 3 April 2008 - 6:24pm

Bring Your Daughter To The Slaughter

I remember a Q interview where Bruce Dickinson admitted that Iron Maiden's classic number one was about hitchhiking on the Hershey highway. Giveaways include this couplet:

true love and lipstick on your linen
bite the pillow, make no sound

and a request to unchain your back door.

To think that was the first single I ever bought. Shocked, I was.

CrawtonLeek | 5 April 2008 - 9:58am

Rolf Harris has a paradigmatically tidy beard

So why are we discussing him at such unbelievable length?

Archie Valparaiso | 3 April 2008 - 5:14pm

Just thinking about this beard stuff.....

...has got me muddled. Tidy beard bad, rough beard good, right? So how come Devendra Banhart looks as if he has a monkey on his face? He is utter cobblers.
And Joanna Newsom.

Retropath2 | 3 April 2008 - 6:18pm

Americans. . .

are a law unto themselves. It's a very British thing, you see.

But, yes, the basic hypothesis is that painstakingly neat facial topiary indicates inherent untrustworthiness, while cheeky messiness indicates a thoroughly good egg. (Hey, that's a point - where is that Oeufster?)

Archie Valparaiso | 3 April 2008 - 7:02pm

Eh?

Joanna Newsom has a beard?

spiderboy | 24 April 2008 - 1:24pm

For some reason

Until recently I thought Devendra Banhart was a lady. Thankfully not a bearded lady then.

Springer | 3 April 2008 - 6:21pm

I thought Devendra Banhart was. . .

a walk-on character in Coronation Street until I discovered the Word blog.

Archie Valparaiso | 3 April 2008 - 7:03pm

T-shirt slogan

That has to be a contender for a t-shirt slogan, surely?

Steve Riddle | 4 April 2008 - 2:30pm

Back to twinning

I always confuse him with Vashti Bunyan.

Philip Bryer | 3 April 2008 - 7:44pm

Neil Young

Carolina queen,
She's a walking love machine.
I'd like to make her scream,
When I bite the bullet.

The old goat...

skirky | 3 April 2008 - 7:03pm

Brown Sugar

.....yes interracial lust, unlike Perfect Day, Golden Brown and There She Goes

Steve_Swift | 4 April 2008 - 7:13pm

I thought all rock songs...

...were really about wanking.

Wanking, and drugs. That's it really.

LondonLee | 28 April 2008 - 10:40pm