Songs that were ruined once you learned the meaning of it

It did not ruin the song for me, but the meaning of "Mr. Jones" was a funny surprise to me. Hint: Mr. Jones is his penis.

Star wrote:

Sweet Home Alabama totally defends Nixon and Wallace.

And it mentions Neil Young in three different lines.

What did I get wrong?

The absolute best is Warren Zevon's response to Sweet Home Alabama with a song called "Play it all night long" - great song and great response

Cake's "The distance" is often used a pump up song for high school runners, but it has also been interpreted as a a song about sexual assault. I still like the song, but can't think of it the same way.

She's hoping in time that her memories will fade

'Cause he's racing and pacing and plotting the course

He's fighting and biting and riding on his horse

The sun has gone down and the moon has come up

And long ago somebody left with the cup

But he's striving and driving and hugging the turns

And thinking of someone for whom he still burns

electron1661 wrote:

Star wrote:

Sweet Home Alabama totally defends Nixon and Wallace.

And it mentions Neil Young in three different lines.

What did I get wrong?

The absolute best is Warren Zevon's response to Sweet Home Alabama with a song called "Play it all night long" - great song and great response

Speaking of Warren Zevon, excitable boy is another song where my perception of it changed after I learned the lyrics. At first I thought it was a fun song, until I listened to the lyrics more closely.

Most southerners in 1860 were ok with slave ownership sure, just like most northerners were eithey indifferent or mildly opposed to it. The abolitionists were a small minority even in the north and were considered a bit ridiculous. Now the band members of LynyrdSkynyrd in the 1970s and 80s were obviously not ok with it.

Try to think these things through, people.

I still like their music, but I was quite disappointed when I learned that CCR was from the bay area. (sorry, a bit off topic)

I was quite surprised and disgusted when I learned the lyrics of My Neck, My Back (Lick it) by Khia. I used to think it was a wholesome family friendly song about cats and cracking tree nuts. Not anymore.

Sand Dunes wrote:

Mine is rock the casbah.

Mine is Bad Moses, Never Back Down.

Wynona's Big Brown Beaver by Primus, when i found out that it means exactly what I thought it meant.

Happy Birthday To You. That song they sing on your birthday.

seattle prattle wrote:

Wynona's Big Brown Beaver by Primus, when i found out that it means exactly what I thought it meant.

Les Claypool's "apology" to Winona Ryder's then-boyfriend is perhaps the greatest non-apology of all time.

Take Me Out by Franz Ferdinand. Not that it was ruined for me, but I assumed it was about someone imploring another to take him out to the bars, not to shoot him. What can I say? I was a drunk.

Not a great song, but a catchy tune that on the surface sounds like typical 60s' pop, Last Train to Clarksville by The Monkees is about a young man regretting having joined the army and thinking that he'll never come back home alive.

Speaking of him wrote:

electron1661 wrote:

The absolute best is Warren Zevon's response to Sweet Home Alabama with a song called "Play it all night long" - great song and great response

Speaking of Warren Zevon, excitable boy is another song where my perception of it changed after I learned the lyrics. At first I thought it was a fun song, until I listened to the lyrics more closely.

Excitable Boy IS a fun song. It's about a crazy bast@rd, but it isn't a true story or anything.

Sex Farm, by Spinal Tap.

I remember hearing Little Red Corvette for the first time in years, as an adult, and literally laughed out loud. It's not about a car after all.

Fwiw, the phrase after "love the governor" is not "Boo, boo, boo", but "boo hoo hoo". It's not so much intended as a glorification of racism as a F you to Neil Young.

djsldkkejkco wrote:

walk on the wild side

I am always amazed they played this on the AM dial. We would be singing this in the car with my parents as kids. I had no clue at 12 years old what that heck was going on.

"Pulling Muscles from the Shell" by Squeeze isn't about eating seafood.

Johnny Hit and Run Pauline is a disturbing song.

Brown Sugar, also.

Sacred the Thread, by Greta Van Fleet. Sorry I don't care to hear the guy sing about his stage costume. Even if he has a great voice.