Songs that didn't mean what I thought they did.

Not like Hold me closer Tony Danza
In many cases I didn't pay attention to the lyrics
Now that I am there actually listening on Sirius there are some songs I really liked that I didn't know what they actually meant.

Sting's Every Breath You Take
The dude is a control freak stalker. Every step you take I am watching you.

Queen( I am still a big fan but how did I miss what this was about?)
Bohemian Rhaspsody
He just killed a man, Put a trigger against his head. Pulled a trigger, Now he is dead.WTF?
The rest of the song is about pity for the poor killer. Life has just begun now I have thrown it all away.
What about the innocent person he killed??

Quinn the Eskimo
Who the H is this guy and why is everyone going to jump for joy just because he shows up?

Don't get me started on Folsom Prison Blues.
I am sure there are others.

 

The Stranger by Camus may draw some comparisons. I don’t know if that was Queen’s intention though.

 

I always thought Pink Floyd's Another Brick in the Wall was saying "How can you have any pudding if you dont kick your feet." And I thought this for many years until the internet was invented and lyric pages started popping up

“How can you have any pudding if you don’t eat your meat?” - actual​

But I still dont think my version made any less sense than the original does

 

My all-time fave was Hendrix entreat

‘Scuse me while I kiss this guy.
​

His mind was full of purple haze, after all.

 

My wife thought “Big old Jet Airliner” by Steve Miller Band was “ Big old chair with the light on”. Pretty funny. We still laugh about that!

 

My Mom thought Paul Simon said “momma don’t take my motor home away”.

 

The thing is even after you know the real lyrics you continue to sing your version.

 

As a teenager, I thought Geddy Lee was saying “nose changes are permanent” instead of “knows change is not permanent” on Tom Sawyer.

 

Chop
That could be a lyric that is true.
maybe you are a suppressed song writer

 

Ok, valid question, but what else did you once think this song was about?

 

That is the thing.Never thought about it until I heard it on Sirius over and over and then paid attention.
Still don't know why people are so happy to see Quinn. Are they all also Eskimos and Quinn is bringing them lots of whale blubber?

 

Dang I thought it was just me that has this problem.

 

Human League - Don't You Want Me: Guy thinks he made the girl famous, threatens to destroy put her back, and the veiled t "we'll both be sorry"

 

Whiskey( or is it scotch?)
Good one.
I never listened to the actual lyrics before. So bitter and entitled.
Liked the song back then tho

 

‘Sweet Home Alabama’ means the diametric opposite of what roughly 90% of people think it means. That’s my reading of the lyrics.

 

Chop
I agree. I saw the current version of Lynyrd Skynyrd In June at KAABOO. and came back to actually read the lyrics.
That I exactly what I meant with the thread title.

 

He doesn't get a share of the royalties.

 

Moody Blues "Tuesday Afternoon" The first time I heard it on the AM radio, I thought they were saying;

Tuesday afternoon
I'm just beginning to pee
Now I'm on my way

Didn't make much sense to me until I bought the album and found out it was:

Tuesday afternoon
I'm just beginning to see
Now I'm on my way

 

Makes sense to me. I always pee before going on my way
_
Just paid attention to the Eurythmics Sweet Dreams. Talking about using , being used, abusing ,being abused sounds a little sado_masochistic. I don't think I eve knew what that was when tnat song was popular.

 

I get a chuckle thinking about a stadium full of Lynard Skynard fans waving Confederate battle flags and cheering their lungs out at a guy singing about taking all of their handguns and throwing them to the bottom of the sea. (‘Mr Saturday Night Special’).

All is not as it first appears with this band.

 

Billy Joel’s ‘Piano Man’ is really more a mockery of bar flies (and his audience) than a celebration of the piano player—what I used to think it was about.

 

Darn Chop Now you are messing with one of my favorite drinking songs. Won't be as much fun to sing it when you know he is making fun of you.

 

The Talking Heads "Pshcho Killer" came out while I was still in Austin
We couldnt understand all the verses but sang along anyway, even arguing over what Byrne was saying.

Later learned it was not even English

[Verse 2]
You start a conversation, you can't even finish it
You're talking a lot, but you're not saying anything
When I have nothing to say, my lips are sealed
Say something once, why say it again?

[Chorus]
Psycho killer, qu'est-ce que c'est?
Fa-fa-fa-fa, fa-fa-fa-fa-fa, fa, better
Run, run, run, run, run, run, run away
Oh, oh
Psycho killer, qu'est-ce que c'est?
Fa-fa-fa-fa, fa-fa-fa-fa-fa, fa, better
Run, run, run, run, run, run, run away
Oh, oh, oh, oh, aye-ya-ya-ya-ya

[Bridge]
Ce que j'ai fait, ce soir là
Ce qu'elle a dit, ce soir là
Realisant mon espoir
Je me lance, vers la gloire, okay
Aye-ya-ya-ya-ya-ya-ya-ya-ya-ya-ya-yeah
We are vain and we are blind
I hate people when they're not polite​

 

I always heard "mama don't take my chromosome away..." which I didn't really want to analyze.

 

As a wee little one I thought I was hearing the Beatles sing "Kentucky Love" instead of "Can't buy me love." Even worse, though I heard to lyrics clearly, I thought "Winchester Cathedral' was a person.

 

For some reason, I thought Merle Haggard didn't smoke marijuana. I've recently learned he was just voicing a character...

 

He wasn't from Muskogee either.

 

Damn
I did not know that.
Growing up and facing lyric realities sucks.

 

Had a friend who sang it that way.

 

There was not much that Merle did not touch.