'The next song is by 'Carcus' which I dedicate it to my loving wife'
Posted by Scott Wilkinson on 17 August 2008 - 5:18am.
What are the most misunderstood songs of all time?
Songs regularly played at weddings that in actual fact are about a scorned woman planning to murder her husband with a screwdriver?
Happily cutting some rug to a song describing impending doom and the end of the world?
Or does it really matter whether the song is 'understood' or not?
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It can matter when the sentiment matters
Greeted by Bush Senior and colleagues as an all Amercian hoe down celebration Bruce turned it acoustic expressing the doubts and questions the song truly asks.
Saw Bruce some years ago at Lancashire Cricket Ground and he started with this version....the atmosphere was electric but someone somewhere started peeling onions which got right in eye
This sums up a lot of what I feel about Springsteen's music...
he writes these incredible songs but then drowns them in the post-Spector soup of the E Street Band's playing. Sure, they're great musicians... but for me they strangle the life out of a lot of his music.
I saw him play a solo acoustic show at the Royal Albert Hall in the early 90s and he was staggering, truly incredible. His music suddenly made sense to me in a way I couldn't have envisaged before.
So with Bruce, less is definitely more as far as I'm concerned.
One I got wrong
It was sometime before I understood that Shipbuilding by Costello was about the Falklands. However after years of ignorance and whilst loving the melody I finally become familiar with the lyrics and sentiment.
One of the more
misunderstood songs of our time must surely be this stalker's manifesto, so often taken for a sweet declaration of devotion :
This one's easier to interpret :
(Only 316 views? C'mon, Word readers, we're not really pulling our weight here, are we?)
Apologies Nigel
was posting The Police before I saw your post.
Unnecessary, Scottie,
but accepted. Great minds think alike. (And, as my mum always adds, fools seldom differ...)
A good example
and a great clip.
If 'Born In The USA' had been released as shown rather than the massive eighties production that was released then there would have been less room for any misunderstanding.....would that be fair to say?
So real meanings of darker songs can be hidden under a nice melody or a sincere love song can be hidden under pounding drums or distorted guitar....
Here's I suppose a well known contender..
re-Born in the USA
Possibly another example of Jon Landau asking Bruce to make it a radio single which you regularly hear Bruce talk about for each new album - but hey thats Jon's job.
Also I think it was Ronald Reagan, not Bush Senior, that publicly misunderstood the song
This Is Not A Love Song
Q magazine reported some years back that How Long by Ace is not a love song, rather it was directed at a member of the band who was in the process of being poached by a rival group. Hence, "Your friends, and their fancy persuasions..."
Neil Diamond once said that Cracklin' Rosie is in fact about alcoholism - the song is named after a particularly nasty brand of rotgut wine. Thus, "Have me a time with a poor man's lady..." and "You're a store-bought woman..."
'More Than Words' by Extreme
Commonly sung by kids with acoustic guitars to girls to show that they are, y'know, all sensitive and touchy feely. Whereas the lyrics:
'Saying I love you
Is not the words I want to hear from you
Its not that I want you
Not to say, but if you only knew
How easy it would be to show me how you feel
More than words is all you have to do to make it real
Then you wouldnt have to say that you love me
Cos I'd already know'
Basically say 'If you REALLY loved me, you'd put out'.
"The One I Love" by REM
always amuses me when people play it intending to be loving. It's called "The One I Love", so it has to be romantic, right??
"This one goes out to the one I love, this one goes out to the one I left behind..."
Also, in the late 1990s, "Wake Up Boo!" by the Boo Radleys got a lot of hammering by breakfast DJs. Not really that cheerful a song, if listen to the lyrics.
Carcass
Saw them years ago supporting Bodycount( Ice T's metal band).The singer would introduce every song in a Very soft Northern accent except the Titles of the songs which he would scream in his best Death metal voice. I've never laughed so much at a gig.Sort of "aye up hope you liked that last one now the next song is SATAN'S SLAUGHTER" think Wallace and Gromit meets Slayer
Wouldn't It Be Nice
Wouldn't It Be Nice is about how Brian Wilson wanted to run off with his wife's sister. Not all that nice, really!
Easy... easy like walking out the door and never coming back...
Playing in a wedding/functions band I've lost count of the number of times we've done "Easy" by Lionel Ritchie as the happy couple's first dance.
Clearly none of them have ever ACTUALLY listened to the lyrics...
Laydees an gennurlmem, the bride and groom will now take the floor for the first dance..
"Know it sounds funny
But I just can't stand the pain
Girl, I'm leaving you tomorrow
Seems to me girl
You know I've done all I can
You see I begged, stole
And I borrowed
Ooh, that's why I'm easy
I'm easy like Sunday morning"
Yes, I've tried to make this relationship work but you're a cow so I'm off and I couldn't care less about it...
Then it gets EVEN more wedding appropriate...
"Why in the world
Would anybody put chains on me?
I've paid my dues to make it
Everybody wants me to be
What they want me to be
I'm not happy when I try to fake it!
No!
Ooh,that's why I'm easy
I'm easy like Sunday morning"
Yes dear, you're done nothing but try to tie me down and change me into someone I'm not and, frankly, I can't be bothered fakinging the ability to abide being in your presence any more. I've had enough and now I couldn't give a flying you-know-what about you or this so-called relationship anymore. I'm off.
Oooooh, how romantic!!