10 Extremely Misunderstood Songs

[@RockedNet]

Click below to hear each song: Creed - “Higher” = kzbin.info/www/bejne/gGKZnXykgb-Fo9U Don Henley - “The Boys Of Summer” = kzbin.info/www/bejne/aKqYqIBseKZgqdE Goo Goo Dolls - “Slide” = kzbin.info/www/bejne/r4GXopebm6llitE Green Day - “Wake Me Up When September Ends” = kzbin.info/www/bejne/hIace6J8gNGUkJI Megadeth - “A Tout Le Monde” = kzbin.info/www/bejne/l4aQlX6le7-HZqM The Police - “Every Breath You Take” = kzbin.info/www/bejne/hX6yeJSrnLCjsNU R.E.M. - “The One I Love” = kzbin.info/www/bejne/oGjSgniGm8pghZo Semisonic - “Closing Time” = kzbin.info/www/bejne/rnjcpXepptCEj5o Bruce Springsteen - “Born In The USA = kzbin.info/www/bejne/e4HLiIVqmZh5gLM Third Eye Blind - “Semi-Charmed Life” = kzbin.info/www/bejne/mJasf5Sji7d6r5Y Click below to watch more videos on our channel: 10 Albums Critics Hated (At First) = kzbin.info/www/bejne/aIaoZ615lM2jZtE 8 Big Comeback Albums = kzbin.info/www/bejne/iorInGqpiNJkbMU When Bands Stopped Shows To Save Fans = kzbin.info/www/bejne/l3fZkIJvbrGHr5Y

[@knightwing5169]

I once gave a mixtape to a girl I was dating. The first song on it was "The One I Love".

[@WhatwouldRoddyPiperdo]

@@knightwing5169 lmao nothing more romantic I still can't listen to that song to this day without singing fire like Beavis 🎶Fiiiiiireeeeeeee

[@andrewreviewsgamesandstuff]

You should do a list of the police several songs of theirs are dark and a bit misunderstood.

[@Gen_X_Rosey]

I know it's obvious now, but back in the early 90s, my best friend at that time thought the KISS song "Heaven's On Fire" was satanic. I was like, "Really? Because I don't think they're a satanic band!" She gave me her cassette and I read the lyrics and I kinda smiled and shook my head a little. She goes, "What? It's a devil worshippin' song, ain't it?" (We're Southern). I said, "Umm... this is a SEX song." She blushed and said, "Really? That's it?" It was so funny, but she was glad she could listen to the song after that.

[@kipp5862]

See, I thought I was wrong but for the other way round

[@Kermomancer]

"Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)" was played as my high school graduation song because people think it's about nostalgia. In reality, it's a "fuck you" to an ex-girlfriend.

[@MapleLeaf2501]

It gets played at like every high school graduation. And thinking back to its actual meaning...its all the more meaningful given the bullshit everyone goes through in high school. Lmao

[@fnjesusfreak]

Hence the title. It's sarcastic!

[@Phoenix2312]

Good Riddence (Time of your Life) can fit so many situations, While most of us now know it was a royal "F-You!" to an Ex... It sang in such a way that you could apply it to any number of other situations if you only scrub the "Good Riddence" from the title... And honestly, Thats also how I first heard it... I wasn't a massive Greenday Fan back then, and my first wife played the song - But it was on a CD Copy... No Titles or Track Listing! So I thought it was called "Time of your Life" for YEARS! I think thats part of its beauty though as a song - It can trancend its original purpose... It can be soemthing to any individual who listens to it! Actually a major compliment to Billie Joe and his writing!

[@samireland54]

It played at my elementary school at the end of every year!!!

[@LRM12o8]

It works out though: a final "fuck you" to the school, just before you bail! 😂

[@BilSande4]

If you don't know that "Every Breath You Take" is about a stalker, and "Born In The USA" is about a Viet Nam vet who got screwed by the system, then you have never actually listened to the lyrics of either song. Both songs are extremely straight forward, and there is nothing subtle about them that would lead one to think they had any other meaning.

[@monstermikeheinrichs]

Something that I have learned in the last several years is that people like the beat and the chorus. You can put whatever you want in the verses, and very few people will catch what you're saying. One of my favorite examples of this is Outkast's Hey Ya. It's a really catchy song that everyone and their grandmother loves that's actually about a failing relationship. My favorite part is Andre calling you out on not catching it. "You don't want to hear me. You just want to dance."

[@BilSande4]

@@monstermikeheinrichs Definitely true. I've been guilty of that myself. One that comes to mind is the song "Hash Pipe" by Weezer. It has a nice hard head nodding beat to it, and you figure by the title it's probably just about getting high or something. But when you close your eyes and really listen to the the lyrics it's like, whoa that is a really dark song.

[@Hansengineering]

@@monstermikeheinrichs Royksopp's 'The Girl and the Robot' is a song about a woman who's love is always working, never home, and she's dying of loneliness. ABSOLUTE CLUB BANGER!

[@melvynobrien6193]

HALLELUJAH is easier to misinterpret as a religious song.

[@erikg8495]

it wasn't about a stalker that's a lie , there was no such thing as a stalker back then..it was love song that today sounds creepy, just like a lot of songs do now from back then..especially the pedophile ones

[@davidopinko]

My middle school played Fall Out Boy's "Thnks fr the Mmrs" for a graduation ceremony, thinking it's literally just about thanking someone for great experiences. The chorus actually says "Thanks for the memories, even though they weren't so great." In the end, I guess it was fitting.

[@MCOmegaX123]

It also follows that with "She tastes like you, only sweeter" (a quote from a movie, can't recall which one but something's telling me American Beauty? But even so, it's a line about cheating on someone and then telling them about it specifically to hurt them).

[@5starview]

@@MCOmegaX123 It's HE taste like you not she btw

[@eccawarrior]

“Get you out of those clothes” should have been a dead giveaway about something else going down

[@MissLovebat]

He literally says "one night stand" in the song so many times 😂

[@rixbyte7438]

Closer by Nine Inch Nails needs to be here. The song is about self destruction, how sex is used to cope and how empty it leaves the protagonist of the album feeling, about needing help from this addiction. It became NIN's biggest song and a frat club anthem.

[@tonyhorn2954]

Number of the Beast - Iron Maiden. No, it's not about satan worship. Founder and bass player Steve Harris suffered chronic nightmares and this song is about one of those nightmares.

[@briandjbrometalturntables8493]

Thank you! It is about a nightmare.

[@brianbenoit6883]

I think it was only ACTUAL devil worshippers like Oral Roberts, Jimmy Swaggart and Jerry Falwell that thought that though. and to be fair it was about a nightmare about the anti-christ.

[@chrisrudolf9839]

Well, if you write a song about a disturbing dream and choose to explicitely use motives from the biblical book of apocaplypse foretelling the coming of the antichrist, you really can't blame the audience for associating it with satanism ... and in case he actually dreamed exactly that, he maybe should drop the habit of bible reading just before bed time ;-)

[@gxtmfa]

I thought it was a modern take on Tam O’Shanter

[@JDP2104]

I wouldn't be surprised if that song played a big role in the sentiment that heavy metal is satanic

[@ConvincingPeople]

People thought for many years that Carly Simon's "You're So Vain" was about a specific guy, the usual assumptions being Warren Beatty, Mick Jagger and Eric Clapton. The funny thing? It wasn't about *one* man at all: Every verse was inspired by a different person, incorporating details from each to paint a portrait of the kind of man she repeatedly made the mistake of letting into her life only to get screwed over. And every single one was vain enough to think he was more important than all of the others. Hence, "I bet you think this song is about you, don't you?"

[@Ertwin123]

The song is about me.

[@nctpti2073]

@@Ertwin123 Can't be. It is clearly about me! Isn't it? Isn't IT???

[@melvynobrien6193]

A chick with a high body count, you suggest.

[@alexroberts9349]

Mick Jagger sang in the background of "your so vain"

[@KentuckyWallChicken]

Carly Simon has confirmed Warren Beatty is one of the three men she’s singing about

[@Toramai-pi8wx]

The piña colada song. It’s about a guy who literally takes an ad from the paper to find someone to cheat on his significant other. And then they find out that they were each planning on cheating on one another. I love the song but it’s not a love song.

[@JohnDoe-zi5vf]

This is the track I was looking for. 🤘

[@berniej.rucker4252]

I'm glad that the two cheaters agreed to expand their relationship rather than what would USUALLY happen when both realize the other is cheating.

[@ScooterBond1970]

Mystery Science Theater 3000 had an absolute field day with this one.

[@lynnhettrick7588]

But for the '70s, that *was* considered a love song.

[@kuhnhan]

@@berniej.rucker4252 The usual outcome would be the opposite. When a relationship devolves to a point to where each person is looking for casual sex with strangers, it is most definitely time to end that mess. It is over.

[@TheDarkhalf9]

I've always heard Every Breath You Take being referred to as The Stalker's Anthem

[@punkfan97]

more like the CIA's theme song

[@thekarategirl5787]

Grew up calling it the Stalker Song

[@weedjuul6519]

I think in recent years that’s become common knowledge but people were mislead about it for a long time

[@breandan3280]

@@weedjuul6519 yeah this. Back in the 80's/90's I don't think we put much thought in to it

[@SquishyOfCinder]

@@breandan3280 my mom said people called it a stalker song all the way back in the 80’s

[@bobkatfan2013]

I don’t know how people don’t see how Every Breath is creepy.

[@artistaprimus7080]

"Cant you see, you belong to me. Ill be watching you". Yea, the person is obsessed and a little dangerous.

[@Whatsername4224]

💯 agree!

[@drfreud65]

People mistake the song with grand gestures, or at least I did when it came out. It took reading the lyrics like they were poetry to catch the meaning.

[@ultimateninjaboi]

Because it came out in the 80s where internet lyrics didnt exist yet, and people only listened to the chorus. And again. 80s. So the creepy bits from the chorus was just what people thought relationships were. Fast forward thru almost 30 years of it getting misunderstood, and thus played in association with romance, and then add in the P Diddy song Ill Be Missing You confusing people on the lyrics, and you've got the perfect recipe for people not seeing that a song explicitly about a stalker is creepy, and even getting angry when people say its about a stalker.

[@bobkatfan2013]

@@drfreud65 you don’t need internet lyrics to hear how creepy it is. If we are gifted someone to love, they don’t belong to us no matter how much we love them.

[@johnhickey4289]

Maybe not the interpretation of the song, but Sinead O’Connor did a cover of the Prince track ‘Nothing compares to you’, towards the end of the track, you can see tears running down her face. People thought she was emotionally caught up in the song, but her mother had recently passed, and her last conversation with her wasn’t good, she never had the chance to mend that, and that was what was going through her mind. The director of the video left the tears in because it looked part of the song

[@gabrieloksa1578]

"In the Air Tonight" by Phil Collins is often misinterpreted as a song about Collins himself witnessing a person drowning, when it's actually a song about his divorce from his first wife. After all, we're all living in a land of confusion, right?

[@efraim3364]

Phil has talked about it, he said he was in a state of depression and then his wife divorced him knowing this.

[@mmsiphonevinyls1027]

I thought that might have been on here tbh. I guess its because that theory didnt emerge until a few years after the song came out.

[@snowbear163]

Collins has actually said he doesn't know what the song is about but he just knows he was having a rough divorce when he wrote it.

[@BSample]

Was scrolling to see if anyone else put this one up. Then … there it was and I see what you did at the end, very clever.

[@BSample]

@Ross Orange listen to Stan by Eminem … literally says the theory in it.

[@ELSTERLING]

One from the pop world, Cyndi Lauper's _Sally's Pigeons._ A lot of critics at the time assumed it was about her childhood memories and some birds she liked. It is, in fact, about _losing a friend in a botched back-alley abortion._ That's a pretty profound difference.

[@tommytomthms5]

she bop. People thought it was just silly meaningless pop it was actually about masturbation. so was: dancing with myself and turning japanese.

[@smashgamer5490]

A lot of people dont seem to realise that Master Of Puppets is an anti-drug song

[@lordowl3533]

From the point of view of the drugs.

[@SurrealiS]

I will attest to that being true, as someone who HAS actually chopped his breakfast on a mirror.

[@KLYPH8]

I'm working on a song right now about a Colombian man that goes to war and loses his arms , legs, sight, hearing, and speech.....its gonna be entitled ...."Juan"

[@phaztheaussiebastard]

"chop your breakfast on a mirror" That was the line that gave it away for me

[@privatename5788]

There's a certain joy in witnessing the moment when a person suddenly realizes what Master of Puppets is about. It's one of the few times in life where you can actually watch enlightenment happen.

[@jacquelinemilom4164]

Pearl Jam-Betterman. It is similar to R.E.M’s the one I love, where it’s about abuse but is mistaken for a sweet love song. The song is from an abused women’s POV who considers leaving her domestic abuser with lines like she practices her speech, and explains why she chickens out with the chorus “she lies and says she’s in love with him, can’t find a better man” audiences took the can’t find a better man line literally and disregarded the she lies and tells her self she still loves him part before that. The whole song is about a woman talking herself out of leaving a bad man and convincing herself he’s not so bad. I knew a girl who had it as her wedding song and I cringed when she told me. I said you know that is about an abused women lying to herself and talking herself out of leaving her man. And she was appalled. I might have scarred her. But yeah the can’t find a better man is not literally he’s so good she can’t find someone better.

[@snowbear163]

It's actually about Eddie's step dad. He's said that in concerts a few times.

[@jacquelinemilom4164]

@@snowbear163 I am aware that his stepdad inspired it but Eddie has said his stepdad was abusive and the lyrics were generalized based off his stepdad. Eddie has also said it’s about abuse and the lyrics are still about a woman lying to herself etc. ALL I said still applies. Saying well actually it’s about his stepdad to “prove me” wrong doesn’t prove me wrong. Especially since Eddie never writes songs in a specific manner. He takes what inspired them and writes a generalized song. Yes the woman in the song is technically his mother, but that is not specified specifically in the song for a reason. People still misinterpret the song as a love song. Either way the point is it’s not romantic and Eddie is not complimenting his stepdad. For heaven’s sakes do we really gotta be THAT person that points out that the specific event or person that led the writer to write it? Kinda pointless when the song meaning is not changed by this fact.

[@computersrevil]

Daughter apparently is about a girl with autism or some kind of cognitive disability, and the struggles of raising a child in a world that has no understanding of learning disabilities vs the child who is desperately trying to overcome it and seeking love and approval, but getting only shunned and disregarded... or something like that. I dunno, my memory is just garbage anymore, just something I read many many moons ago. The song seemed to make more sense after that.

[@jacquelinemilom4164]

@@computersrevil yep that is basically it. Not exactly autism but learning abilities in general and her struggling with her parents thinking she’s just not applying herself or something like that. Eddie has talked about that a lot but from what I can tell not many people misinterpret that one as much as better man. Which is odd to me because not just the basic lyrics hinting that the line “can’t find a betterman” is not literal but also years where Eddie has said it was based on his abusive dad and the song is all about domestic violence and how a partner deals with that etc.

[@computersrevil]

@@jacquelinemilom4164 Right? I immediately associated better man as pertaining to a woman in an abusive spousal cycle and her rationalization for staying. I really couldn't read it any other way, honestly. Daughter could be easily misinterpreted for as being about a child in an abusive home, particularly at the hands of the father, with the mother being unaware or in denial and being stuck with her secret by guilt or not wanting to break the home.. I've had a few conversations about this, and this is what I was most commonly believed to be the narrative.. weather precisely or loosely. I just thought that it was interesting in hindsight because this was with several different people who did not know each other, and very random and sporadic conversations over the years.. they all interpreted it this way. Perspectives and perceptions are vast and interesting contrasts from one person to the next.

[@eddiepierce7028]

When I was @ 13 years old, I went to the store and bought Black Sabbath Master of Reality because it sounded cool. When my dad heard it, he asked, “So what does Sweet Leaf mean?” I didn’t know. He never rejected the song but said “Songs have meaning. Listen to the meaning the artist is trying to send.” great video!!!

[@KasumiRINA]

Yeah it's about weed... Snowblind is about cocaine. That one is less positive.

[@sitcomcommando9798]

"When a man loves a woman" isn't about the glory of romantic love. It's about how a man in love will be blind to the betrayal of a cheating woman.

[@scottdaniels8129]

When Home Free covered this recently I gave the lyrics a real listen. Ya the guy is a chump in a very toxic relationship.

[@cassandraspoelhof3752]

Here’s a song that I misunderstood when I first heard it “Daddy” by Korn. I thought it was about Jonathan Davis ACTUALLY being raped by his father when he was younger. Thankfully that’s not the case. However the song is still based on the real life experience of Jonathan Davis. He was molested by his babysitter when he was younger and when he tried telling his parents what happened they didn’t believe him at first thinking there was no way something that horrible could happen to their son. It’s a tragic song especially when the singing stops and Jonathan starts crying and screaming about how the woman ruined his life.

[@mikatu]

yeah nice, but next time try to google Jonathan Davis before writing the wrong name so many times!

[@cassandraspoelhof3752]

@@mikatu Oops. I didn’t realize I spelled it wrong. It was late at night when I typed this and I was upstairs in bed laying down while watching the video.

[@cassandraspoelhof3752]

@@mikatu There I corrected the issue. Thanks for letting me know.

[@NicklasZandeVGCP2001]

Reminds me of the common misinterpretation of "This Land is Your Land" by Woody Guthrie. Many people think that it's a patriotic song, but, in actuality, it's a Left-Wing protest song that rejects stuff like private property, and, in another stanza, that was conveniently cut out of the songbooks in schools and churches, it talked about people protesting in front of the welfare office, in the center of town, begging for food, with Woody responding with "Was this land really made for you and me?"

[@jamesstaggenborg572]

It is kinda Patriotic in a way. Protest is American as Fuck. How many musicians do you see with stickers and writing on their guitars. Woody was the first to do it. This Machine Kills Fascists!!!

[@celsustruth8202]

Fascists are left wing. Just honest.

[@benholland3740]

The biggest problem with “Every Breath You Take” is that Sting’s voice is just too sexy to be creepy

[@marcohidalgo1101]

That makes the song all the more dangerous.

[@cosmonauthal7651]

@@marcohidalgo1101 and the danger just makes him MORE sexy, oh god!

[@nOT_sURE08]

I was in high school when Staind released "It's Been A While." I remember other kids thinking it was a love song about missing someone. It's about addiction.

[@funecheeseofficial3576]

I did not really care about that all i cared about is that for 3 months straight my local classic rock station played that song every day

[@michaelbarbour9827]

It’s funny, I always thought “Closing Time” was just about the bar closing, but it was popular around the time that my first child was born so I personally took it to mean that my partying time was over. So I mistakenly interpreted it correctly!

[@elizabethsullivan7176]

A lot of us did. My partying days did stop when my first daughter was born. She literally saved my life.

[@andrewalexander9508]

@Simulation algorithm It as for him and for her. He had to do a lot of growing up himself in those day with her in the NICU. Which included sobering up.

[@snoozyq9576]

Not really mistakenly. You just interpreted it correctly.

[@keith8913]

@@snoozyq9576 by mistake

[@badbirdkc]

My family used to have season tickets to the Kansas City Chiefs. After 9/11, they changed up some of the usual songs they played at the stadium for more "patriotic" stuff, including Born in the USA for kick offs. I was like "Really guys?"

[@Snagman67]

“Today” by The Smashing Pumpkins was not about the day being the greatest day, it’s about how shitty his life is and it being impossible for any day not to be worse than today.

[@vinyllpreviews9462]

I viewed it as even though he's having a shitty day, he was able to appreciate just being alive is great.

[@claravitoriaortega9016]

There's this romantic teen movie called Before I Go and they literally sang the song around a fire being all happy and peaceful, and even though I knew the real meaning, I loved and appreciated it as a life appreciation anthem

[@Stetho96]

It’s about committing suicide

[@vinniep9562]

Pretty much "so this is it, this is as good as it gets huh?" with a shoulder shrug kind of thing. The video makes it seem more life affirming than it is too.

[@manifestationsofasort]

Another one: Zombie by the Cranberries. I've seen so many people use it as a Halloween song or associate with Halloween and zombies. In reality, it's a song about the Troubles and two kids who died in the Warrington bombings. It's a protest song, not a Halloween one.

[@MetalSmasherGaming]

One misunderstood song that comes to my head is "The Outsider" by A Perfect Circle. A lot of people think it's a pro-suicide song that says "if you really want to end your own life, then quit talking and just do it!" But the reason the song is called "The Outsider" is because it's written from the perspective of somebody out of the loop who has absolutely no idea what suicidal people are going through.

[@brog339]

When I was in middle school, a girl died of meningitis. They did a tribute to her in the yearbook with the lyrics from Time of Your Life. It horrifies me to this day.

[@ZaneKriglowitz]

Tool's "Die Eier Von Satan" off Aenima. People might think it's this creepy German speech from WWII, but if you translate it, it's just a cookie recipe lol.

[@ryandiangelo8854]

Oh "The Eggs of Satan"

[@ZaneKriglowitz]

@@ryandiangelo8854 Yep, exactly lol.

[@509Gman]

Kind of intentionally tho. As it was explained to me, “eggs” was slang for Jews… somewhere (like “a bad egg”, I guess). Irony to the final line translated as ”ADD NO EGGS!!!” is that your cookies would be dogshit if you didn’t add them.

[@scottdavis1549]

Devils food cake recipe..

[@negangains2684]

@Draculah Vernaculah Wrong video.

[@edwardscales5503]

I thought " a simple prop, to occupy my time" would have been a dead giveaway to the songs true meaning.

[@Rocketsong]

But is she the prop, or is the song the prop...

[@MCOmegaX123]

@@Rocketsong Either way, she's "the one I left behind". And the final verse replaces "A simple prop" with "Another prop", so he's moved on from the first woman and is doing/has done the same thing to another.

[@lynnhettrick7588]

The song seems pretty blatant to me.

[@CMarshallD]

Bingo

[@wilkaii]

"Don't you love the life you killed? The priest is on the phone Your father hit the wall Your ma disowned you" Slide is most definitely about abortion and the girl, May, getting sent away (I want to wake up where you are). He's still desperately in love with her and trying to find solutions (get married, run away) It's a heartbreaking song.

[@tinypizza4278]

You’re beautiful has a similar theme to Every breath you take. Basically James Blunt plays the role of a stalker which does make sense with lines like “She smiled at me on the subway, she was with another man but I won’t lose no sleep on that because I’ve got a plan” does makes sense

[@KasumiRINA]

It's obviously about unrequited love (cause I'll never be with you) people just think it's more romantic than creepy because of dumb romance movies.

[@mtallmen184]

Disney even used Semi Charmed Life in the original trailer for The Tigger Movie

[@RockedNet]

Wow...I didn't know that. No wonder Tigger is so energetic.

[@thefeleapz4144]

@@RockedNet ahahaaa

[@LotteYanson]

I remember that. I think they pulled it because either the band or people who knew the meaning of the song complained

[@homeaccount5943]

Hahahahaha!

[@WhatwouldRoddyPiperdo]

Reminds me of when BBC for cbeebies in the early 00s used Ash burn baby burn..

[@Kdog4660]

Wake me when September ends is a song I can't listen to because of what it actually means, it's like a gut punch, and drives me crazy that people don't get the very clear meaning of it

[@copocopocopocopo]

For me at least, the line "Like my father's come to pass/ 7 years has gone so fast" made it pretty obvious it was about his father. But that kinda infuriates me that some people have no clue what it's about.

[@river6032]

Me too. And when I listen to it when I miss my dad and get people who are like "but why? It's not about that" when it very much is. Granted I listened to it before he passed away and he liked the song and Green Day in general too, but when I lost him it gave me a better perspective on how Billie Joe was feeling when he wrote it.

[@lynnhettrick7588]

My spouse can't listen to it too. For the same reason.

[@vickiweber4718]

Same here. My dad died of cancer eight years ago this month.

[@ethanstephan5554]

How about "Lips of an angel" by Hinder. I still remember seeing them in concert and the lead singer laughed at the fact so many people get married to the song even though it's about the guy cheating with his ex

[@kerridocherty5744]

Ha. My ex (before he was my ex) said to me one day ‘this song reminds me so much of you’. Uuhhh what!?

[@mangot589]

Who would use this song for a wedding, of all things lol. It so obvious. Unless she’s the ex🤷‍♀️.

[@brianjankowski4419]

I always hated this song

[@houston1342]

At least he’s self aware.

[@eccawarrior]

@@brianjankowski4419 same here, so overrated

[@812558]

In the same vein as Born In The USA: Fortunate Son. It's literally about being seen as disposable cannon fodder by your own country because you aren't fortunate enough to be privileged enough to dodge the draft. But, like Born In The USA, it offhandedly mentions things that sound patriotic (not to mention being twangy and southern probably doesn't hurt all that much) so it gets played whenever the right wants to get their fans cheering.

[@elizabethsullivan7176]

Plus, the right aren't exactly the most astute when it comes too sarcasm.

[@shanejones6955]

@@elizabethsullivan7176 Hi. Conservative right winger here. I happen to enjoy this music even though the message may run contrary to my own logic. That's why I find it so fascinating. Plus. I view politics as a money making scam no different than religion. There's more money in politics than in religion now because it's become the national religion. Also. A person's political views have no more bearing on their intellect than having a stuttering problem.

[@thecallankids4718]

@@shanejones6955 Elizabeth Sullivan didn't say anything about intelligence, she said you all didn't get sarcasm. Anyways, I'm curious on your position politically. You're on the right, but seem non-religious, which made me initially think Libertarian. However, you describe these songs about the draft being unfair and nationalism being a tool to keep people in line as contrary to your ideals. This seems in contradiction to my theory that you want the government out of things, hence my asking for your actual position.

[@heyyallwatchthis5103]

The beauty of perspective when it applies to sarcasm. Springsteen is trying to write an antiwar song from the perspective of a veteran, Springsteen never served in the military and so his intent comes across as ambiguous. This is one of my biggest problems with music and movies, people happily write about situations they have never been in or cultures they don't know, and places they've never seen. Then after they have insulted a group of people, they try to imply that people don't understand nuance. So you wrote a song, made a whole lot of money from it, continue to license it for merchandising and advertising that you know will be counterproductive to your point, and then want to complain about the intelligence of your fans? No wonder you can't comprehend how someone could misunderstand.

[@812558]

@@heyyallwatchthis5103 I mean, in that case, your problem seems less with "music and movies" and more with...the entire concept of fiction and creative works in general. Because, unless it's documentary, cinema verite or autobiography *most* works of fiction deal with things that the creator(s) has never personally dealt with. I don't really think "People in positions of power who start the wars never have to worry about their own having to take part in them" is really an observation that you have to have been a soldier to make.

[@EclecticDD]

When a song starts off with, Born down in a dead man's town, where do people think it's going from there?

[@garyconyers-davies5781]

followed up with "And the first kick I took was when I hit the ground"

[@warriorwhacko]

“Relax” by Frankie Goes to Hollywood was thoroughly misunderstood when it came out. Most people thought it was about relaxing and hanging out and having fun. It’s actually about gay sex.

[@williammccullough2466]

If the lyrics didn't give it away, the original music video would...holy balls is it crazy! I only just saw it recently, and I get why MTV went for an optional version...

[@ConvincingPeople]

Interestingly, when it was originally written, it was about collecting yourself to overcome obstacles in your life, but their producer pointed out how sexual it sounded, and they thought that was hilarious, so they really leaned into the innuendo in the final version, and here we are.

[@AmandaHugandKiss411]

More accurate it is about safe sex if you are gay , promoting safe sex as a good practice when AIDS started killing many in the community.

[@MBF78]

"All I Wanna Do Is Make Love To You" by Heart It's a song about a woman who can't get pregnant with her partner, so she goes out and finds a random dude in the night.

[@justincredubil]

I was so ready to post a snarky comment disagreeing with you, but by God, you're right!

[@noblehouse5595]

And the guy that got used is so lame because he runs into her and her child and she tells him she just used him for a kid.

[@tabathasheffroth7981]

Yet if the same kind of song were sung by a man, there would have been a huge uproar from women. Not saying it's right or wrong, but that's how the world is these days.

[@noblehouse5595]

But it doesn't make it right. The one night stand guy stuck around that area hoping to find her only to find his child getting raised by a stranger She just used him for the kid The guy raising the kid probably has no idea that it's not his kid. The kid is the innocent party and it gets used too Mama wanted a kid. Devil take the hindmost. And forget about who gets hurt. I am a child from one of those kind of things. I still hurt as an older woman at the way people were used in my origin story I made sure my kids were fathered by my husband. If he could not have had children we would not have had them

[@Anubisdream1]

Ann Wilson actually hates that song. It was written by Don Henley. And it was modified for a woman’s perspective and just came out kind of messed up. It doesn’t even seem like a song I can imagine many women relating to.

[@lundahunda]

Similarly to "Born in the USA," the song "This Land is Your Land" is used as a patriotic song despite having verses that directly criticize America and also being written by a communist.

[@jamesstaggenborg572]

Actually Woody Guthrie wasn't a Communist, however he wrote songs for Communists. Woody loved and appreciated the Working Man.

[@IronWolf123]

Probably similar to "Imagine". Lennon said that it was inspired by communism and other ideologies but Lennon was not aligned to communism.

[@Unlitedsoul]

@@jamesstaggenborg572 You can't be serious. Do you honestly believe this tripe? Guthrie applied on 4 different occasions to join the Communist party in the US, but was turned down. In part due to protecting him from possible blacklisting by McCarthy, but also due to his extreme support of Stalinism, open racist beliefs, and lack of moral and personal discipline. In other words, he was too much of an uncontrollable, rioting Commie to be in the CPUSA. Guthrie only left behind dozens of printed quotes where he hinted at his Communist beliefs, but threaded the line just enough to avoid banishment. "I'm not a communist, as I was never accepted into the party. But I've been in the red all of my life." (Klein Magazine, issue 303) The man wrote songs praising Soviet aggression during WWII, but was very anti-war prior to their action. He also wrote a song blasting Roosevelt for daring to stand up against the Soviets (who at the time were still part of the Axis Powers). The "This Guitar Kills Fascists" sticker didn't appear until after Germany invaded the USSR. Prior to this, Guthrie praised Hitler as being an up and coming Socialist visionary. He named Joseph Stalin as the greatest human being of all time, with Karl Marx as a close second. The FBI began tracking him as a "known Communist" after he applied for dual citizenship to the USSR at their embassy in 1936. Every single person who was remotely close to him, has stated that he was absolutely a Communist. Oh, and.... no one who can support Stalin as doggedly as Guthrie did can EVER claim to "love and appreciate the Working Man." Not when Stalin was directly responsible for the deaths of over 45 million such individuals, all to make a political point. When challenged on this in 1951, Guthrie replied "It had to have been a tough decision, but sometimes you have to break a few eggs to make an omelette."

[@Unlitedsoul]

@@IronWolf123 With Lennon, I think he believed that the dream fantasy of Socialism and Communism is a beautiful theory. I'd have to agree, but also like Lennon, I'm not fool enough to disqualify human nature and buy into it. Lennon toured the entire Eastern Bloc with the Beatles, and he saw the tragedy that is Communism first hand. When members of the CPGB approached him to fund a leftist book store and reading room, Lennon basically told them to "fuck off" due to their plan of stacking it with nothing but Communistic propaganda. This is according to Yoko.

[@timothypaschall7322]

There really aren't any anti-american verses dude. And he did meet with communists, but the song was written because he got tired of hearing God Bless America on the radio. He originally titled it God Blessed America for me.

[@globetrekker86]

“I Will Always Love You” , a breakup song, gets airplay at weddings… Another Whitney Houston hit is “Saving All My Love for You”. Sounds like a song about a woman, who is kept apart from her beloved by unforeseen circumstances. In fact, she’s saving her love in hopes that the guy in question would leave his wife and kids to be with her. Single-target sexuality, basically. “Du Hast” is a fun one: Depending on the number of S’s, it could mean a romantic sentiment (“You have me”, with one S) or a marriage- of- inconvenience fiasco (“You hate me” with a double S) . The chorus beautifully pokes fun at wedding vows, in general

[@ugaladh]

Ummm.... "I will always love you" isn't technically a "break up song" about a couple in a romantic relationship. It's about Dollie Parton leaving her association with Porter Wagoner for her own career.

[@globetrekker86]

@@ugaladh True, but Whitney’s version carries a romantic breakup connotation

[@trickygoose2]

@@ugaladh As I understand it, it was Dolly's way of saying something like "thank you for your support but I've got to go it alone now but you'll always be a special friend to me."

[@kingetzel2755]

I Will Always Love You actually makes a LOT of sense at weddings, provided it's about the wedded couple starting the next chapter of their life (especially in regards to a father-daughter).

[@hamishmchamish]

Ironic by Alanis Morissette has the honour of being misunderstood by Alanis herself. Nothing in it is actually ironic. It's just a series of unfortunate coincidences

[@wizardsuth]

Maybe that's the irony -- that nothing in the song is ironic.

[@VarrialeAndrea]

Do I sense a little bit of George Carlin here?

[@daelkolwitz3509]

The irony of Ironic is it is a series of unfortunateevents, yet many did not get it, and isn't that Ironic?

[@timothypaschall7322]

Yeah....I used to say that song ruined any hope that the generation following mine would even know what irony was.

[@dandyx12]

@@VarrialeAndrea Pesci moves in mysterious ways

[@sennaka]

"Pink Houses" by Mellencamp. I remember presidential candidates getting this for a campaign trail song. I mean...really?

[@Johnny-lr5jt]

People don't know that it's really about blue houses.

[@pateris]

Hey, some white suprematist c*nts put The Clash''s "White riot" in their playlist. Do they even have a bloody clue who the Clash were and what they stood for ?

[@Redrally]

Wasn't "Born in the USA" used in Reagan's Presidential Rally?

[@rusalexander1757]

The way I've heard it in the years since, Reagan used it once or twice and Bruce made him stop, OR, he asked and Bruce told him to get fucked. Either way, Bruce stood his ground about the misinterpretation of the tune.

[@Mulerider4Life]

@@rusalexander1757 yeah, Bruce is a nut.

[@chrisnemec5644]

Yea. After Springsteen heard about this, he introduced another one of his songs, Johnny99, by saying something to the effect of if Reagan was a fan of his, he should also hear the song.

[@weregretohio7728]

And it hasn't stopped being a favorite of right-wingers yet, as they have neither a sense of irony nor self-awareness.

[@paulheap1982]

@@Mulerider4Life or he's got principles? Sadly missing from most people.

[@jeffdeboer1679]

The other thing about Semi-Charmed Life is that radio played an edited version that removed a lot of the crystal meth content.

[@annamitchell9875]

My local radio station plays it as is. Often in the mornings. I think they either have no idea, or hope the prudes out there have no idea.

[@AmandaTikkanen]

Even more edited is the Alvin and the Chipmunks cover (that's a real thing).

[@globetrekker86]

Don Henley’s song makes a lot of sense. The lyrics “made me crazy” and “made you scream” are unmistakably about summer lovin’

[@arribaficationwineho32]

And the more wealthy guys swooping into town and getting the girls.

[@BrianHartman]

Well, yes. Those are definite sexual references, but I think the song isn't just about banging. :) I mean, "I can tell you, my love for you will still be strong" is right in the chorus. And then there's, "I don't understand what happened to our love". I mean, he might be thinking about the sexy times, but it's not exactly "Sweet Cherry Pie". :)

[@soofriends]

@@BrianHartman I say it's still about summer infatuation/lust. It's so common for young people to think their first experiences with sex are true forever love. We all know couples who ran off and married because of that sexual attraction, only to find out they really have nothing in common.

[@optiquemusic6204]

Me: But what about DJ Sammy? You: What ABOUT DJ Sammy? No matter what version you get, the themes of Playing Around are always there.

[@justincox7955]

Electric Avenue....Everyone thinks it's a fun loving jammin tune, when it's actually about the Brixton Street riots

[@marcevancostanzo3199]

How do you call a song 'your love song' when the second-most repeated line is "This one goes out to the one I left behind?"

[@mmsiphonevinyls1027]

The one that should give it away is “a simple prop to occupy my time”. Is that something youd call your soulmate? And in the last verse it changes to “ANOTHER prop”. Meaning he’s moved on to someone else.

[@drfreud65]

Though I never thought it was my love song, for a lot of years I thought they were singing to two different people, and also thought they were saying "a simple problem, to occupy my time", meaning they couldn't figure out which one to love. It's funny now to think what I thought, but I never had the album or CD to read the lyrics.

[@kylerooze9215]

A song that comes to mind where people get it's meaning wrong is Jump by Van Halen. The song sounds like an happy pump up anthem, but song is actually about suicide. David Lee Roth said he was inspired to write the song after watching a news broadcast of a someone about to jump off a bridge. I can never listen to Jump the same again...

[@509Gman]

It’s like the unofficial 82nd Airborne Division song😂😂😂😂

[@miriammiko22]

And here I thought I was ironically twisting the chorus that played on the Tropicana Commercials and Sing ^^; . . . May have just found out why I haven't heard the full song yet ^^;

[@riddypr]

This isn't exactly rock, but people seem to think 'You're Beautiful' by James Blunt is a simple love song. It's actually sung from the perspective of a stalker high on drugs. And he's singing it to the woman while her partner is right there.

[@Hey-Its-Dingo]

The uncensored version makes this much more clear. "fucking high" and "flying high" illicit a very different mental image. Lol

[@johnbush5347]

@@Hey-Its-Dingo same can be said about nelly s song ride wit me the lyrics are very clear on the uncensored version where he says smoking crack but that didn't get put on the radio version

[@K37-h1z]

The line I was fucking high always stuck out in mind. I always thought weed. But the older I got I realized you wouldn't bring that up. It's weed. So I get yr angle friend.

[@foodank_atr817]

@@sstaners1234 the last words of the song are "I'll never be with you." So it is kinda ridiculous. But he should at least be happy his bills are paid.

[@ConvincingPeople]

Fun fact: Blunt was a NATO captain in Kosovo during the war there and defied high command orders to attack a Russian peacekeeping force at the airport in Pristina which likely would have resulted in WWIII. In other words, a lot of people probably owe their lives to the "You're Beautiful" guy-if not on a global scale, then at least a whole lot of Kosovars and Russian and NATO soldiers.

[@jwbigredd]

Another old one: "Future So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades" is actually about nuclear war and the Cold War in the 80s.

[@ScooterBond1970]

Similarly, "99 Luftbaloons"

[@cynzix]

And "Dancing With Tears in my Eyes" or "Vamos a la Playa"

[@pateris]

I saw it as an extremely ironic take on the yuppie era…

[@krizan1]

"Like my fathers come to pass Seven years has gone so fast Wake me up when September ends." It's right there in the lyrics. 👍

[@JDP2104]

I didn't even know people thought the song was anti war lol. I thought the meaning was pretty straightforward

[@smuglytherat]

Fortunate Son by Creedence Clearwater Revival. Seriously, this song seems so explicit in what it's about yet a ton of people don't get it. They had to send Trump a cease and desist because he kept misusing the song during his rallies

[@CSXIV]

And then there's that Wrangler ad that turns the anti-war and anti-draft into a straight up patriotic song by omitting most of the lyrics. To be fair though, when Wrangler found out how much John Fogerty hated it, they changed the song in the ad. (Also stupid: it's use in the "Battleship" movie, but there isn't that much in that movie that isn't stupid).

[@BunnEFartz]

Smugly Otaku In trump's case it was probably rather prophetic.

[@kenabi]

the C&D was because they didn't want any association. and tons of politicians from both sides have used songs without paying attention to context. had nothing to do with the rest of anything else. and plenty of artists have issued C&D's to plenty of politicians. its not noteworthy, its not special. i really wish people would stop acting like it is.

[@steveshephard1158]

@@CSXIV I don't think advertising execs listen to the lyrics when choosing songs for a commercial. The Nissan Qashqui advert featuring Paranoid by Black Sabbath always amuses me, your pitching a car as ideal for depressives who can't maintain a relationship.

[@robertkendall6660]

I don’t think Trump was misusing it at all. His shtick was that he was a self made man who would drain the government swamp and bring our sons and daughters home from war. Every part of that was utter bullshit, but the song fit with the perception he was trying to create.

[@cthulhupthagn5771]

Ironically, Wake Me Up When September Ends has the same significance for me as for Billy Joe, my father, my mother, and my grandmother all died in September. I had family in the towers who died September 11th obviously. September is also when my mother's birthday is, when my parents anniversary was, so yeah September pretty much sucks hardcore and I've always taken the story that way. Funny enough, I never saw the music video until very recently so I had no idea that the music video pitched a completely different narrative

[@SUGAs_Shadow85]

Honestly, if you watch video, it is very misleading.

[@sharonkay3486]

I was born in September. Its not all bad!

[@matthewdavis2987]

That's rough...!!!

[@SilkandScrooge]

I actually got that vibe from every breath you take. Didn't know people thought it was about love. Most the meanings to these songs are obvious if you're older than 12..

[@wWSwiftyWw]

Much like Sting's Every Breath You Take, Sarah McLachlan's Possession was misinterpreted as a love song. In reality it was about a stalking obsessive male fan of hers. According to some sources the guy actually tried to sue McLachlan for song writing credits and royalties claiming that Sarah used actual lines from letters he wrote to her in the songs composition.

[@vjcrazy3335]

"Hotel California" by the Eagles is another good example. In order to get the right meaning we have to look at the lyrics line by line. This song has a lot of metaphors too. Also who remembers back in the days of the PMRC how both Al and Tipper gore reracted to the Twisted Sister song "Under The Blade"? Saying it's about S&M and rape when it was really about Ed Odejas throat operation.

[@BrigitofBergental]

The PMRC misunderstood the lyrics to more than half of the songs they were complaining about; the rest of the songs were just about getting laid and partying. Almost every song that they thought was "dangerous" for violence was actually anti-violence.

[@minato_arisato3751]

actually hotel California is meant to ve taken completely literally and the eagles are still stuck there to this very day

[@jimnasium452]

@@minato_arisato3751 Glenn Frey seems to have escaped.

[@DonnaTriska]

Hotel California is about heroine

[@tylerhackner9731]

Born in the USA in particular I love. People misinterpret as a pro-America song but never care to know how badly veterans are treated after they come home from pointless wars. That’s what that song is about

[@TheTonyahawk]

I always make it a point to thank Veterans for their service, without them our way of life would be drastically different.

[@brianterry7980]

I wonder how much different the perception would be if it had been on Nebraska instead of being the title track for the next album?

[@MdlAgedHeadbanger]

I've never been a big Springsteen fan but after hearing it a few times (it was impossible to avoid) I knew it was about a Vietnam veteran, even though I had absorbed maybe a third of the lyrics. Some people I knew who were also not Springsteen fans decided to hear exactly 2 lines. The chorus and the line about the yellow man. They then concluded this was some jingoistic white supremacy anthem.

[@WhatwouldRoddyPiperdo]

@@MdlAgedHeadbanger Yup most people completely miss the first line of that verse "Got In a little hometown jam, so they put a rifle in my hand shipped me off to a foreign land to go and kill the yellow man" that first line about the hometown jam was the reality for so many 18/19 year olds jail or 'nam.

[@whomstami7365]

For me, In the Air Tonight by Phil Collins is what instantly comes to mind because of the rumor that the song is about a guy letting another guy drown when in actuality it’s about Phil’s divorce with his wife.

[@sherrycanon7582]

He actually said he was testing out his new synthesizer with this daunting hit. Guess we will never know.

[@ugaladh]

Almost all of his solo songs are about that divorce. Many different emotions, but that's what you actually go through.

[@TheJerham68]

@@ugaladh The first two solo ones, yes. Then he got happy and started writing happy little pop tunes. Pain is good for art.

[@omniviewer2115]

"(Don't Fear) The Reaper" by Blue Oyster Cult and "Suicide Solution" by Ozzy Osbourne are both often thought to be songs about suicide. In reality, the former is a tale about Love transcending Death and the latter is a cautionary tale about substance abuse (specifically alcoholism).

[@Toramai-pi8wx]

I thought (Don’t Fear) the Reaper was about marijuana.

[@jliller]

I recall reading that Buck Dharma explaiend he wrote "Don't Fear The Reaper" when he was having some medical issues and thought he might be dying.

[@omniviewer2115]

@@jliller Also true, but the narrative of the song itself is as I described it. Of course, part of the fun with BOC is figuring out what the songs mean, which isn't always easy. I would know, I've listened to every album they've got.

[@garyelder4610]

I think “Don’t Fear the Reaper” is a suicide song but once kids started committing suicide BOC changed the meaning.

[@vjcrazy3335]

Ozzy Osbourne wrote "Suicide Solution" because he was a friend of Bon Scott and said alcohol is like a suicide solution. He wrote it shortly after Bon Scott's death from alcohol poisoning.

[@jsmith1746]

"Born down in a dead man's town, the first kick I took was when I hit the ground. You end up like a dog that's been beat too much, 'til you spend half your life just cover'n up." - Yeah really sounds like the beginning of a patriotic song...

[@Pamela.Schultz]

I actually knew all of these. Semi Charmed Life was a no brainer, especially if you owned the album because the radio bleeped out the first half of the "doing crystal meth will lift you up until you break" line.

[@maryl1785]

U2's song "One" is actually about a relationship breakup. As one stanza says: You say love is a temple, love a higher law; Love is a temple, love the higher law; You ask me to enter but then you make me crawl; And I can't be holdin' on to what you got; When all you got is hurt. Love the song, though.

[@caramesc]

"Fortunate Son" by CCR. Like Born in the USA, people think it's a pro-America patriotic song but it's the story of a young man who was drafted to Vietnam and isn't one of the "fortunate" ones who was able to avoid the draft.

[@kurtzFPV]

If you like this song, check out Todd Snyder's cover. The tempo and music make it more difficult to misinterpret.

[@williammccullough2466]

Just goes to show that people pay absolutely no attention to lyrics; I mean, damn, they're pretty blatantly anti-war and anti-government...

[@54356776]

It is a pro U.S. song, it's as pro U.S. as it gets. Saying f u to the government/establishment. I've never heard of anyone not knowing that it's an anti war kind of song.

[@pete975]

@@54356776 i know exact!y what you mean. He sings "it ain't me" to three choruses about being rich, connected or war hungry. Not subtle or written between the lines.

[@martinhroch344]

*Neil Young - Rockin' In The Free World* Trump used this song in his campaign, assuming it is an empowering patriotic anthem, when in reality, it's a bitter lament about the sad state of America during Bush Sr.'s presidency.

[@TH3F4LC0Nx]

Bruh, I was literally gonna put this! Like, they played the heck outta this song on rock radio this past weekend, and I was just like, "Does no one even listen to what he's saying?" XD

[@freeparking301]

I’m shocked that song goes over people’s heads. Do they think Neil is celebrating Bush Senior’s policies when he sings “We have a thousand points of light for the homeless man…”

[@parshooter2in2]

Also Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen which Trump at least wanted to use campaigning.

[@christopherb501]

The only appropriate song he played was that REM song, and even then only in a very literal interpretation of the chorus.

[@freeparking301]

@@parshooter2in2 I don’t know whether Trump is tone deaf when picking campaign songs or trolling considering he would have The Rolling Stones “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” playing when walking off stage after his “rallies.” I hate the man but credit where credit’s due that’s pretty funny.

[@NeverDoneEver]

I’ve been referring to “Every Breath You Take” as “The Stalker Song” for years. I always assumed that Sting was framing himself in the role of the stalker though.

[@docdave15]

Misunderstood songs: Run Through the Jungle by CCR - people think it's about the Vietnam War. It's easy to see how, but it's not. It's about the proliferation of guns and gun violence. American Girl - Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - listeners have thought it was about a college student that killed herself. It's not. Here's what Petty said inspired him to write the song: "I don't remember exactly. I was living in an apartment where I was right by the freeway. And the cars would go by. In Encino, near Leon Russell's house. And I remember thinking that that sounded like the ocean to me. That was my ocean. My Malibu. Where I heard the waves crash, but it was just the cars going by. I think that must have inspired the lyric."

[@daelkolwitz3509]

Lucy In The Sky Of Diamonds by The Beatles. People think it's about an LSD trip, but it was a picture Jude Lenon drew for his father, John.

[@singer2be256]

Jullian

[@daelkolwitz3509]

@@singer2be256 Yes, his name is Julian. He was still called Jude by his father.

[@zazuzazz5419]

With Diamonds, Luv.

[@kuhnhan]

John Lennon only said that to avoid be torn apart by the press (he was still sensitive about how his misconstrued comment about the Beatles and Christianity was used to rip them to pieces). Paul McCartney admitted that it was about LSD. The idea was if you have to have it explained to you, then they you aren't cool and not meant to get it anyway.

[@fatbelly27]

Until the end of his life, Lennon maintained that the song was actually inspired by a painting that his son Julian had made of Lucy O'Donnell, his classmate at Heath House nursery school.

[@Courier-Six]

As a cringey teenager, I listened to Godsmack and I always thought the song Voodoo was about a heroin addiction but someone told me it was an analogy for the lead singers alcoholism. I am not sure about that but i just remember that conversation distinctly

[@elizabethsullivan7176]

The song was inspired by the movie/book "The Serpent and the Rainbow". It's about voodoo and the pufferfish toxins (the song's "snakebite") used to turn people into zombies (these zombies are slaves and do NOT feed on human flesh (thanks George Romero 🙄) The song that made me a lifelong fan of Godsmack. 🤘

[@XLRider2]

One of my favorite misheard lyrics, if you want to call it that, is telling people that Bonnie Tyler's Total Eclipse of the Heart is a love song about vampires. Like it doesn't change the song's meaning, it's still a love song, but... now it's one about vampires which makes it more interesting lol

[@Patrick-jd1ku]

the songwriter, Jim Steinman, originally wrote it intending it to be part of a musical about vampires he was working on. So it is kiiiiiiinda about vampires, i guess

[@TheoMcAllister]

Thankfully it was immortalized as such in Tanz der Vampire.

[@elizabethsullivan7176]

Either way, I've always hated that song 🤷‍♀️

[@tammybastion7419]

Try this version: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nKTKiIinZcuXgc0

[@Fixxer315]

A few politicians (including Donald Trump) have used "Rocking in the Free World" on campaign stops without realizing just how critical Neil Young was about American and particularly the George W.W. Bush administration in 1989.

[@MCOmegaX123]

Some CON-servative/Self-servative politician (I forget who, but it was fairly recent) raged against Rage Against the Machine 'becoming liberal'/'getting political'. I mean... Who did he think the Machine was?

[@dav8388]

Trump played fortunate son at a rally, so it's clear they don't have a clue what most of these songs are about.

[@kvnvk8947]

@@MCOmegaX123 I recall Paul Ryan saying something about being a RAtM fan, but I think that was a few years ago, the band's response was basically he could go fuck himself. It was hilarious when all the supposed Rage "fans" found out about their politics nearly 30 years after the fact, I was 24 when the first album came out and I knew right away they were leftists, guess all the young conservatives of the 90s thought the "machine" was just the office copier, lol! They obviously didn't listen to the lyrics beyond "Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me!" and saw as teen angst and rebellion... Rage Against My Curfew rawrrrrr....

[@michaelo.gerrits829]

Halleluja by Leonard Cohen (maybe already mentioned) Often sung in churches, at least here in the Netherlands. While the song is the perspective of a bitter (ex) lover

[@andrewsisson6536]

It's definitely not a Christmas song. But it's so beautiful, I'll take any excuse to listen to it!

[@TheJerham68]

I thought it was about a man losing faith in God and humanity. always found it funny christians sang it regardless

[@phoenixmastrogiovanni157]

it's a fundamentally Jewish song iirc

[@ericb.4313]

Maybe not a rock song, but anyone who calls themselves a "stan" for anything makes me question if they actually listened to the song that came from. Some other misunderstood songs include "Born in the USA". It's not a patriotic song, and the lyrics pretty much say so. "Oliver's Army" by Elvis Costello has very poppy music but the lyrics... Woo! And the last misunderstood song is "Headstrong". The misunderstanding there: it was ever good to begin with despite being played every other hour for three weeks.

[@WhatwouldRoddyPiperdo]

My favourite is when people g t offended at Oliver's army saying the n word not realising it's referring to us Irish as it was a dehumanisation tactic during the 70s by the British army to call us white N.

[@purplegill10]

The term stan actually came directly from the song into common vernacular. The term was originally intended as an insult, then used ironically, then became just another term for someone who is a superfan of something

[@ericb.4313]

@@WhatwouldRoddyPiperdo I'm more referring to the fact that the entire song is a bitter look at life in the British Army. Although the N-bomb and bridge taking about how "London's full of Arabs" to me, solidifies it's also a satire about the racist attitudes of the British Public.

[@debonaire_nerd]

Another R.E.M song is widely misunderstood - Losing My Religion It's got NOTHING to do with religion or a crisis of faith.

[@callmeej8399]

Yep that one is actually about love...well unrequited love

[@debonaire_nerd]

@@callmeej8399 Nope, not that either. It's derived from a saying from the Southern States of America, "losing my religion". I think it's used to describe a state of mind where one is losing their faculties or going mad.

[@callmeej8399]

@@debonaire_nerd I can’t remember where I heard it from by I’ve heard that it’s about unrequited love which that phrase could be used as a metaphor idk. Let me look into it

[@XofHope]

@@debonaire_nerd The song's Wikipedia says it means "losing one's temper or civility" or "feeling frustrated and desperate." It also states that it is indeed about unrequited, obsessive love, sort of like "Every breath you take".

[@robertpelletier8796]

@@callmeej8399 ]

[@WritteninBlood]

Longtime Springsteen fan here. I knew Born in the U.S.A. wasn't a patriotic song the first time I heard it because I read the lyrics as I listened to the song.

[@conniethesconnie]

Those who look at Born in the USA as patriotic is not about missing the verses but to having a differing viewpoint. There are plenty of people who were born on the wrong side of the tracks, mistreated by the wealthy and connected yet still take pride in where they come from. To them it's a more upbeat and in your face battle-cry version of Fortunate Son.

[@mikewilson7832]

I picked More Than Words by Extreme for my wedding tune. We loved it, had our friend learn and play it for us. Afterwards, people started telling me it was just a player trying to get laid song

[@elizabethsullivan7176]

But then, that's pretty much true of all "love" songs 😄

[@drewburchett2824]

My wife hated me and that song for a while after I pointed that out.

[@soulkiss1001]

The singer Gary Cherono is a devout Christian and I don’t believe that song lyric is about fornication

[@BunnEFartz]

American Woman by the Guess Who. I've heard this song at so many political events and it's pretty obvious that people have no clue what it's about.

[@ScooterBond1970]

You'd think just the line "American Woman, GET AWAY FROM ME" would be a bit of a clue. Not to mention the era in which it was made; patriotic songs were not exactly en vogue.

[@singer2be256]

Why were so many people against the Vietnam war? People weren't like this with WWII or any of the previous wars

[@ScooterBond1970]

@@singer2be256 not really sure, but I think it's that ppl didn't see the "value" in it. WWII had definitive "bad guys" and clear stakes for failure, whereas in Vietnam that may not have been as easily apparent. (I was only barely there at the end, so I can't say for sure.)

[@HeathsHarleyQuinn]

​@@singer2be256 Nam was contested because the USA stuck themselves in where they didn't belong. So many people who died were civilians. All around, we shouldn't have been there. Just bad bad bad.

[@DerekBarns]

Lips of an Angel gets constantly requested as a love song when it's actually about infidelity.

[@golfer435]

Yeah, that's like seeing Anberlin's Feel Good Drag as a love song

[@elizabethsullivan7176]

Exactly! That one always drives me crazy. Shows how many people don't actually LISTEN to what they're hearing.

[@river6032]

@@elizabethsullivan7176 they'll sit there and belt out "my girls in the next room, sometimes I wish she was you" all while having their arm around their lover thinking they're being cute singing a love song. Like no, listen to what you just sang.

[@wstine79]

I heard that the lead singer of Filter was annoyed that people thought "Hey Man, Nice Shot" was about Kurt Cobain.

[@111highgh]

Nirvana is pure horse shit.

[@JennaLeigh]

It's actually about R. Budd Dwyer, a politician who was (as it turns out wrongly) accused of wrongdoing. He had a press conference, handing out letters and info to his inner circle. Once that's done he pulls out a brown paper bag....and from it pulls out a revolver. People in the crowd start begging him not to do it. He puts the gun to his head and pulls the trigger.

[@ConvincingPeople]

@@JennaLeigh I've seen the footage. It went down a little differently from that. But yes, it's a pretty infamous event.

[@backwater_j]

Ben Folds Five's "Brick". It's what most people remember this genius group for, and ironically they often mistake it for a song about love gone cold... which it is in a sense but that's 1/10th of the story. Granted, Ben was intentionally vague about this because he didn't want to get political but the song was actually an autobiographical piece about a young couple who decided to have an abortion and the emotional consequences... it's really quite profound when viewed in that light.

[@Mistertbones]

Chris Isaak's "Wicked Game". People think it's about a relationship gone wrong or unrequited love, but Chris himself has said that it's about casual sex.

[@snoozyq9576]

It's clearly deeper than that if you listen to the lyrics about how it's wicked for her to say she never felt that way and make him dream of her etc

[@ems6706]

I think the lovely thing about music and more generally art is that the intended meaning is but one of many based on peoples experiences with it. I think that's one of my favorite parts of art.

[@kingetzel2755]

To an extent I agree, but often misinterpretations aren't based on a full viewing of the aforementioned art. Look at it this way: if I only see one third of the Mona Lisa, and it's blurry, my opinion of it isn't based on the art itself - it's based on my limited view of it.

[@michaelbiscay9836]

Kings of Leon's "Sex On Fire" is actually about a man urging his girl to go see her gynecologist.

[@computersrevil]

🤣🤣🤣 I always commented 'don't they sell creams for that?' Whenever I heard that song..🤣🤣🤣

[@pepsimax6671]

good one , i thought you was serious at first , doh

[@ospero7681]

U2's "One" apparently has been used as a sincere love song by some people. It really, really isn't, whatever exact interpretation you might apply to its kind of vague lyrics. Who looks at "you gave me nothing, now it's all I've got" and thinks "how romantic!"? (Possibly the same kind of people who regard "a simple prop to occupy my time" as the height of romanticism, come to think of it...) AC/DC's "Highway to Hell" isn't satanic. That might sound ludicrously obvious now, but remember that this song was first released in 1979 and got lumped in with a lot of the Satanic Panic bullcrap of the 1980's (as were a whole lot of other songs, Judas Priest and Twisted Sister can attest to that). I've seen people refer to "Fairytale of New York" by the Pogues and Kirsty MacColl as an "anti-Christmas song". My guess is that these people have only ever listened up to the second verse - the one containing a certain slur - and have completely missed out on the third verse.

[@ckought69]

I think Bono has said that One was about his poor relationship with his father when he was young.

[@davidl570]

@@ckought69 ....................and it's no wonder his dad appears in the video!

[@davidgalinat4257]

U2's "One" is about a gay son having an argument with his Dad.

[@punishedexistence]

Highway to hell is just about living the rock n roll excess life.

[@scottstedeford7575]

The problem of lyrics being misinterpreted is on the artist, not the listener. Here’s why: When a song is released by any medium to an audience of any size, the song is now in the possession of the hearer. Artists have to realize that once released the song is no longer their’s. As it is, songs will take on their own meanings, based on time and emotional response, and it’s on the artist to maintain prosody (that is, the agreement between the music and lyric). Almost every example of misinterpretation in this video is one of a breakdown of prosody. For example, “Every Breath YouTake” is anything but sinister, because the music is soothing and catchy, almost like a lullaby. In other words, it was doomed for misinterpretation because the idea of stalking is completely absent from the music. (Plus the lyrics are generic enough to easily be interpreted in the positive, not the negative). Same thing with meth song; the music is devoid of anything suggesting something so destructive as binging on methamphetamine. If the artist fails to accurately marry their ideas to matching music (prosody), then they have relinquished the interpretation to the audience based on the character of the music. I suspect that’s what Michael Stipe finally realized. At the end of the day, the music will bear out lyrical meaning where the meaning is wanting in the lyric itself. Put differently, the music will spell out the meaning, in spite of the writer’s intent, and the audience rightfully gets to interpret it that way.

[@christienelson1437]

True and often the music videos don’t reflect what the song is about, causing confusion.✌🏽🎆💕

[@scottstedeford7575]

@@christienelson1437 Right, like the video for Every Breath You Take. Not only does the video fail to include a single image that even remotely suggests stalking but the images of the band obscure such an interpretation all the more. Andy Summers is bopping his head along to the ditty of his arpeggios, while Sting sings passionately during the B verse, not as if he’s a victim but as if he is pouring out his own heart. If it truly was about stalking, they did a perfect job of ensuring that no listener or viewer would ever arrive at that conclusion.

[@ConvincingPeople]

Dramatic irony and juxtaposition are valid musical devices, though, and it's more than a little insulting to suggest that someone actually paying attention to the lyrics couldn't possibly pick up on or appreciate that. If anything, I think it's an entirely reasonable expectation on the part of an artist to say, "My audience are attentive and intelligent enough to recognise the disconnect between the lyrics and the music here." It treats the audience with some respect and trust.

[@scottstedeford7575]

@@ConvincingPeople Except that dramatic irony and juxtaposition in the true sense is always accomplished by an exaggerated contrast between the music and lyric - the contrast makes it obvious, not interpretive. How is that consistent with a single example here? I take the opposite view: It is entirely irresponsible for an artist to leave it to their audience to figure it out. A good artist lets you in on the irony, or the joke, while the irresponsible (or even lazy) one puts an audience in the dark. And then to blame the audience for not getting it only shows how careless and disconnected they are from the audience.

[@thatboy3]

@@scottstedeford7575 Or, you could just say, "I need everything spoon-fed to me."

[@davidl570]

Dunno if the song has ever been misunderstood, but for those who don't know, Flagpole Sitta by Harvey Danger is apparently about going to a rave and being bored out of your mind.

[@nu-metalfan2654]

Rape Me by Nirvana, which a lot of people misunderstood, but it’s actually an anti rape song. Bodies by Drowning Pool was misunderstood, but it’s actually about moshing in the pit. I wouldn’t call it a Rock song, but Tubthumping by Chumbawamba was and still is misunderstood as a drinking song, when actually it’s an anti drinking song, but it didn’t stop it being a drinking antham over here in the U.K..

[@ConvincingPeople]

That's not quite what "Tubthumping" is about. Going by interviews and the weird juxtaposition of the title and the lyrics, it's about being in a touring band, especially a very political band, and sometimes just needing time to unwind and drink and watch football and not feel down on yourself for not being an activist for five minutes, but also not letting that grind get to you and put you off the project. You get knocked down, but you get up again.

[@1mlb704]

"Rape Me" by Nirvana and "Sex Type Thing" by Stone Temple Pilots were/are thought by people to be pro-rape songs, but they're both anti-rape songs

[@iaincampbell6959]

Actually I thought "Rape Me" was Kurt Cobain saying 'F*ck You' to people asking him to play "Smells like a Teen Spirit"

[@DinsdalePiranha67]

I seem to remember Kurt Cobain saying in an interview that "Rape Me" was about prison rape.

[@justincox7955]

"Rape Me" had nothing to do with rape at all. It's about the media and music industry taking their piece out of Kurt and the band

[@1mlb704]

@@justincox7955 kzbin.info/www/bejne/nJramaqvbLhnp6M go to 4:18

[@superunknown8613]

I love both bands! Two if my favorites ever

[@RazorFoxDV]

I'm a big R.E.M. fan. A (now ex-)girlfriend kept thinking "The One I Love" was a love song and she was always perplexed as to why I always refused to dedicate it to her or sing it to her at karaoke night.

[@LazyCat010]

So you didn't think she was "a simple prop to occupy (your) time?" How awful 😄

[@foxymetroid]

Rush's "The Trees". What people think it means: Class warfare What Peart confirms it's about: Literally, trees arguing

[@carybeweary7209]

Well,damn lol I thought it was class warfare eve as a teen Oops

[@davedecker1725]

Those God-damned oaks!! We'll get them assholes!!😁

[@tabathasheffroth7981]

I had always perceived it as a comment on the alleged superiority of the USA (the Oaks) over Canada (the Maples).

[@foxymetroid]

@@tabathasheffroth7981 According to Peart, he once saw a postcard with a picture of trees arguing. He basically wrote what he imagined trees would argue about.

[@geraldfriend256]

Love that

[@golfer435]

I have never misunderstood Every Breath You Take. Hell, I grew up calling it the Stalker song

[@thelionbenc]

how could anyone not figure out 3EB's song is about meth. It has a line about meth in the second verse. The line is "Doing crystal meth it will lift you up until you break" Right after that is lines about taking hits of meth until you break. I love 3EB and knew it was about meth shortly after it came out. Suggestion for a topic: good bands with bad sophomore albums.

[@Hey-Its-Dingo]

That line was cut from most radio broadcasts.

[@thelionbenc]

@@Hey-Its-Dingo Yeah I know but I had the album so I had the lyrics sheet.

[@Hey-Its-Dingo]

@@thelionbenc I know, I was just more saying how kids who only heard the song on the radio would very likely not be exposed to that line. But you are correct that the reference to meth is literally right there in the song.

[@chrisshaw2754]

I knew about the Crystal Meth line but i never owned the song so i never heard the full lyrics. For such an upbeat song it really nails what its like to be an addict in a relationship with another addict.

[@DavidGowers]

I've never heard it without the "doing crystal meth will live you up until you break" line, but even without that the "taking sips of it through my nose" is a giveaway

[@freeparking301]

So Higher is about lucid dreaming? Hope he wasn’t dreaming about Sssseeeexxxxxxx!!!

[@eveninglyric687]

Another one is Closer by NIN…people thinks it’s a fun sexy stripper song but it’s actually a tragic story of someone struggling with sex addiction, depression, and loneliness

[@superunknown8613]

“Sex Type Thing” by stone Temple Pilots (one of my favorite bands) is often times quite a misunderstood song. Some people think it’s pro-rape, when in actuality, it’s making fun of rapists

[@ConvincingPeople]

I'd say it's less making fun of, per se, than exposing how people like that actually think and how self-aggrandising, ridiculous and horrifying it is. Real dark stuff.

[@JTHMSqueeMrEffDBoy]

Junkhead by Alice in Chains was meant to be a reflection of Staley as a younger man first getting into drugs and thinking it was awesome but later coming to realize it was anything but. The way it's written, though, does make it easy to take as a pro-drug song, if you're not coming at it from a certain mindset. Also, supposedly Man in the Box was about censorship.

[@ELSTERLING]

One that was misunderstood in the process of becoming a song is the case of the oft-chanted-by-British-nationalists hymn _Jerusalem._ It was taken from the prelude of William Blake's poem _Milton_ and was profoundly not patriotic - in fact Blake barely avoided being locked up for sedition. This becomes relevant to rock music because Bruce Dickinson, as annoyed by this reinterpretation of the words as Blake might have been wrote his own version of _Jerusalem_ to correct the balance and made an amazing metal song in its own right.

[@54356776]

What's wrong with being patriotic ? The hymn is used for Royal events, in churches and many other events but I've never heard it sung by "British nationalists". I'm guessing that you are asserting that this would some how be a negative thing. The hymn is about creating an ideal society in England, nothing wrong with that.

[@cristiananao294]

Before that, back in the Seventies, British progressive rock band Emerson Lake & Palmer recorded a riveting cover of Jerusalem

[@Conrad_the_renegade]

I’m surprised Pumped Up Kicks wasn’t on this list, when you hear the song at first you definitely won’t get the meaning behind the song. Without going into too much detail, it’s a lot darker than the beat and vocals make it sound

[@SGMiner21]

Everyone knows the meaning of the song nowadays its on every one of these types of videos

[@sidthejovian5105]

The lyrics made it so obvious that the song is about a school shooter yet people blast this at their school camps and events, I still like the song tho

[@chadfalardeau5396]

I didn't actually get the meaning until I heard a bardcore cover of it, the sing sounded so boring to be I basically ignored it

[@ConvincingPeople]

Incidentally, people assume that Pearl Jam's "Jeremy" is about a school shooter, when it's actually about an infamous incident where a mentally ill student shot himself to death in front of his class.

[@Ididnotwanttojoin]

You would have to be COMPLETELY ignoring the lyrics to not know what it is about.

[@nightmarefanatic1819]

There are people who think Alive by Pearl Jam is some optimistic anthem when it's about a boy being abused by his mother and finding out his real father was dead. Also, rock fans tend to so this with any song that doesn't have a blatant meaning, but almost every Layne era Alice in Chains song is about doing drugs guys. No, Down in a Hole has nothing to do with Layne's addiction, it's a breakup song written by Jerry Cantrell. No, Man in the Box isn't about Layne's drug addiction, it's about censorship. Not everything is about drugs, good god people. Also, my mom didn't like Come out and Play by The Offspring because she thought it was about racial segregation.

[@ProStriker92]

Talking about grunge bands, Nirvana is the prime example of misunderstood lyrics. Many people think that Cobain lyrics are always depressive, but in the reality even Kurt said that many of his songs are anything but depressive. "I hate myself and I want to die" is the biggest example of that.

[@southpark11235]

People think Alive is an optimistic anthem? I never got that from the song. Before I looked up the lyrics/meaning I thought it was a downer song about a man with survivor's guilt or something else bad. I never felt confident that I got the core meaning of the song, but I thought I had the first and second verses down. First verse was hey that guy you thought was your dad is not and your real dad is dead, ok bye. The second verse is what I got way wrong. I thought it was some supper traumatic cherry popping scene between two teens, because I misheard "the look" as "the blood".

[@nightmarefanatic1819]

@@southpark11235 Yep. Vedder has talked about it in interviews how people got super pumped during the chorus st shows like it was this really positive thing when the chorus was meant to be a cynical statement of "I'm alive and must deal with the thing happening to me".

[@williammccullough2466]

Jeebus...people really don't pay attention to lyrics, do they? The song is friggin' bleak...

[@margegarland7635]

The doors light my fire was banned from tv because the executives thought it was about drugs because of the line 'girl we couldn't get much higher'.

[@peterf.229]

Lol I got a great misunderstanding of a door’s song … break in through I though he sang “ everybody loves my baby, she gets fucked “ instead they sang high