Songs that you misinterpreted

I definitely would be interested in hearing someone take that song and try to pull The Cover Changes the Meaning in that way.

edited 25th Feb '14 7:14:24 PM by MikeK

I thought that Seperate Ways was about domestic abuse, somehow.

I would too, but the song overall is so blatantly chest-thumping salute-so-hard-you-dislocate-your-shoulder U-S-A! that it couldn't be done without some major rewrites.

edited 26th Feb '14 9:15:00 AM by Willbyr

Finger Puppet mentioned Blister In The Sun...I've always maintained it's about being in the closet. Not to offend him, but IMO the line about masturbation was just that-a line about masturbation, and it didn't mean the whole song was about it.

Maybe turn it into a power metal song?

bit of a minor one, combination of this and misheard lyrics. never heard Tone-Loc's Funky Cold Medina clearly enough to realize that Medina was an aphrodisiac and not an extremely effective Dude Looks Like a Lady (i acknowledged that said dude was part of the song, just not that they weren't the thing mentioned in the title)

not me, but a friend once listened to "The Black and Tan" and thought it was about a guy who wanted to have sex with a bunch of mixed guys.

I thought "Say Aah" was about oral sex.

Keeping with the odd theme here, I had a friend who suggested that Animal Collective's "For Reverend Green" might be about coming out of the closet. Not sure what it's actually about myself, but I think it might be comparing being in a band to being married or in a long-term relationship—which, given its proximity to "Fireworks" on the LP (which is very directly about selfishness in relationships), would work thematically.

Also from the same album: The actual subject of "Unsolved Mysteries" went right over my head when I first heard it, but then you don't expect a band like that to take on that particular subject...

I originally thought "Runnin' Up That Hill" by Kate Bush was a tragic song about how someone the singer loved died and she wishes it could have been her instead. Apparently it's about wanting to know what it's like to have sex as the opposite gender. Didn't see that one coming.

This has also happened to me quite a lot with Rammstein songs after I see the lyrics translated. They're usually much dirtier than I originally thought.

edited 6th Jun '14 2:06:16 PM by Surenity

Rammstein are merely carrying forward the lyrical traditions of the great German electro-industrial outfits who came before them, particularly D.A.F., who were... OK, I'll not beat about the bush: They were very, very gay and very much into BDSM and transgressive humour. Like making fascist jokes about themselves. But then they also had some great songs that are basically just about desire rather than, you know, whipping dudes you met in the club restroom.

Just listened to Meat Loaf's "Paradise by the Dashboard Light" for the first time in years. It reminded me that when I was a kid, I thought it was about a baseball player. Because clearly Phil Rizzuto announcing what's going on in a baseball game wasn't blatant innuendo.