Your Interpretations and/or Questions to Song Lyrics
 

A certain situation in my life (to be disclosed soon) has prompted me to think about various songs and my personal interpretations of them. It has also made me reflect on lyrics to songs in which I've never been able to pinpoint the meaning.

I figure there are others who ponder this shit from time to time.

Do any of you have any unique and/or original thoughts in terms of what any various song may mean? Want to share your interpretation? Let's hear it!

Do you have any of your own questions pertaining to what a song could mean? Some of the most deep-thinking, intelligent people I've ever encountered are posters on this board (that's the absolute truth). I am sure they will be willing to answer any questions you may have...

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I've never understood WTF Hotel California was about.

or Stairway to Heaven

The lyrics weave a surreal tale in which a weary traveler checks into a luxury hotel. The hotel at first appears inviting and tempting but it turns out to be a nightmarish place where "you can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave." The song is an allegory about hedonism, self-destruction, and greed in the music industry of the late 1970s.[7] Don Henley called it "our interpretation of the high life in Los Angeles"[8] and later reiterated: "It's basically a song about the dark underbelly of the American dream and about excess in America, which is something we knew a lot about."[9] In 2008, Don Felder described the origins of the lyrics:
“ Don Henley and Glenn wrote most of the words. All of us kind of drove into L.A. at night. Nobody was from California, and if you drive into L.A. at night... you can just see this glow on the horizon of lights, and the images that start running through your head of Hollywood and all the dreams that you have, and so it was kind of about that... what we started writing the song about. Coming into L.A.... and from that 'Life in the Fast Lane' came out of it, and 'Wasted Time' and a bunch of other songs.[10] ”

The term "colitas" in the first stanza means "little tails" in Spanish; in Mexican slang it refers to buds of the cannabis plant.[11]

In a 2009 interview, Plain Dealer music critic John Soeder asked Don Henley this about the lyrics:
“ On "Hotel California," you sing: "So I called up the captain / 'Please bring me my wine' / He said, 'We haven't had that spirit here since 1969.'" I realize I'm probably not the first to bring this to your attention, but wine isn't a spirit. Wine is fermented; spirits are distilled. Do you regret that lyric? ”

Henley responded:
“ Thanks for the tutorial and, no, you're not the first to bring this to my attention—and you're not the first to completely misinterpret the lyric and miss the metaphor. Believe me, I've consumed enough alcoholic beverages in my time to know how they are made and what the proper nomenclature is. But that line in the song has little or nothing to do with alcoholic beverages. It's a sociopolitical statement. My only regret would be having to explain it in detail to you, which would defeat the purpose of using literary devices in songwriting and lower the discussion to some silly and irrelevant argument about chemical processes.[12] ”

According to Glenn Frey's liner notes for The Very Best Of, the use of the word "steely" in the lyric (referring to knives) was a playful nod to band Steely Dan, who had included the lyric "Turn up the Eagles, the neighbors are listening" in their song "Everything You Did".[13]
Conjectures

The metaphorical character of the story related in the lyrics has inspired a number of conjectural interpretations by listeners. In the 1980s some Christian evangelists alleged that "Hotel California" referred to a San Francisco hotel that was purchased by Anton LaVey and converted into a Church of Satan.[14][15] Other rumors suggested that the Hotel California was the Camarillo State Mental Hospital.[16]

Is this a myth, or is there actually some satanic stuff when you back-mask "Hotel California?"

I never understood "Row Your Boat"

Row, row, row your boat,
Why are we in a row boat? Does this implicate we are poor? Could this be us as we "row" through life?

Gently down the stream.
Is the stream a metaphor for time? A stream speeds up and slows down, much as time seems to do for us.

Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily,
Is anyone really this happy?

Life is but a dream.
Or is it? What if we actually live in a Matrix-like construct? What if there is a Matrix inside the Matrix?

I don't know about that one, but Queen's Another One Bites the Dust says "It's fun to smoke marijuana" backwards.

you can smoke marijuana backwards?
:)

Dude...that's some trippy shit.

I had always wondered what the song Yellow ledbetter was about until this video came and explained everything

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Anyone remember the one with the death metal Nordic rock band where everything was loud grunts.

The one misheard lyric I remembered was Boooooaaattt!! With pictures of sailboats and oceanliners accompanying

This is old, and a repost, but who cares? :D

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Baby Got Back
I mean, what does that even mean?

His woman...she came home from the store, man. They needed some hamburger buns, so she went and picked some up. Then she got back. And their pet anaconda didn't want none of them hamburgers, so it was a good time. Easy.

This is probably my favorite song of all time (along with "Love Will Tear Us Apart" by Joy Division). I used to tell my ex-girlfriend that the song summed up how I felt about her, with hopes that she wouldn't catch on to the heroin references. When I listened to it, I basically just replaced the heroin references with something that was more relevant to me personally (like her at the time). Beautiful lyrics though, IMO.

"I Got You" by Stone Temple Pilots

I got you
But it's the craving for the good life
That sees me through troubled times
When the mind begins to wander to the spoon

And I got you
'Cause you're there to bend and nurture me through these
Troubled times
'Cause the fix begins to twist my troubled mind

And I got you to paint the sorrow on my day
And I got you to paint the roses on my grave
And I got you

I got you
But it's the feeling that I get when you're away
Twist my mind,
'Cause I'm all alone and cold, I feel like dyin'
And I got you to fill the craving that I get inside my mind
When you're there to fill the space I have inside, I feel like crying

And I got you to paint the sorrow on my day
And I got you to paint the roses on my grave
And I got you

All the slippin' that I slap me
I got you, I got you
All the slippin' that I slap me


* Man, those were some dark times when I was with her. Glad that it didn't work out. Much happier now.

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I wish he'd have answered fully but it's just not his way. he is always about leaving the interpretation up to the listener....but boy he smacked a bitch here! ROFL

I have heard the meaning of the "spirit" lyric twisted into being a reference to the Holy Spirit and the first church of satan starting in 1969. so the Holy Spirit hasn't been there since 1969. I've never given that an ounce of credibility. just stupid.

I believe the spirit he is referring to is the spirit of freedom and the days of worry free living. the kind of hippie-esque notion of a world where it's everybody loving one another and we're all happy. he's saying those days are over.
same sentiment displayed in The End Of The Innocence.
just my opinion.

Rock-a-bye baby, on the treetop,
When the wind blows, the cradle will rock,
When the bough breaks, the cradle will fall,
And down will come baby, cradle and all.

Dude. This is sofa king uncool! What kind of ****ed up shit is this!?

I....am.....SERIOUSLY!

man I love music
it's my favorite.
I hope this thread thrives. (alliteration bitches!)

I'd known the lyrics almost by heard for the longest time.....and I'd never really thought about it until I saw an interview with Sting, but the song Every Breath You Take, which is apparently played at many weddings.....well it shouldn't be. Sting's all.....good grief people, it's a total sinister stalker song and certainly inapropriate for a wedding! LMAO

you read the lyrics and you go....how did I not notice that?

betcha don't know what The Rolling Stones song Brown Sugar is about.....

nursery songs are the worst...rowing your boat...life is just a dream...rocking in a tree top and the cradle falls...ashes ashes all fall down. CRAP it's a wonder were not crazy...oh wait...

That's what I figured. He's got the balls to ask an authority figure to not only serve him (ah, the old days) but to serve him an intoxicating beverage.

I did that once and spent 3 weeks thinking I was Alex P. Keaton...

good song= take the money and run...bad lyrics though, forcing a ryme like:
Texas and Facts is...sad but true.

Hopped in my Taurus today and my wife had the stereo cranked up the last time she drove it. She had been listening to "Goodnight Saigon" by Billy Joel. I freaking love that song.

It's a song about U.S. soldiers in the Vietnam War.

Out of hundreds of guest speakers I have seen in school settings over the years, the one that sticks out the most was our former JH principal speaking to us about his experiences fighting in Vietnam. He said that with an exception of the movie, "Hamburger Hill," nothing comes even remotely close to capturing what the Vietnam experience was truly like, like Billy Joel's "Goodnight Saigon" did. He played the song for our class and he started bawling. I'll never forget it.

I know many vets do not like to speak about their experiences, which is understandable, but if there are any Vietnam vets or vets in general on this board, how close is this song in terms of accurately depicting that experience?

Billy Joel "Goodnight Saigon"

We left as inmates from an asylum
And we were sharp, as sharp as knives
And we were so gung ho to lay down our lives

We came in spastic like tameless horses
We left in plastic as numbered corpses
And we learned fast to travel light
Our arms were heavy but our bellies were tight

We had no home front, we had no soft soap
They sent us Playboy, they gave us Bob Hope
We dug in deep and shot on sight
And prayed to Jesus Christ with all of our might

We had no cameras to shoot the landscape
We passed the hash pipe and played our Doors tapes
And it was dark, so dark at night
And we held on to each other
Like brother to brother
We promised our mothers we'd write

And we would all go down together
We said we'd all go down together
Yes we would all go down together

Remember Charlie, remember Baker
They left their childhood on every acre
And who was wrong? And who was right?
It didn't matter in the thick of the fights

We held the day in the palm of our hands
They ruled the nights, and the nights
Seemed to last as long as six weeks...

...On Parris Island
We held the coastline, they held the highlands
And they were sharp, as sharp as knives
They heard the hum of our motors
They counted the rotors
And waited for us to arrive

And we would all go down together
We said we'd all go down together
Yes we would all go down together

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Hotel California is simply a song about going from innocence to experience.

I thought beyounce was saying i'm a cigarette i'm a stingray

My band covers that song, and when I first learned the actual lyrics...this shocked me as well.

it certainly brings this commercial into a serious question of taste. the big wigs who sat around a table and decided to use this song to promote their product must have absolutely known what the lyrics are talking about. yet....they said....yeah let's do it!

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my buddy (God rest his soul, lost his life in the line of duty in flood waters two years ago)....he lost a 5 dollar bet with me back when this song first came out...he was absolutely certain that the lines to the song Faithfully were....

I'm forever yours....Maybelline. LMAO

hahahaha! that would be a great commercial for the makeup giant.

wow.
my Uncle Dan was there. he's only talked about a few things a few times in all these years. he's a ****ing mess still...to this day. he went a kid and came home a ****ed up man.

thank you, thank you....THANK YOU to all you folks who served and who serve. I'm an Air Force brat myself and I have many relatives who served. THANK YOU ALL.

now...back to the thread....

Born In The USA
no surprise to me....I know this song by heart. I get it. but many, who maybe DON'T know all the words....they miss it. this isn't a song all pro USA. I'm not saying it's anti USA....but it's very critical of the Vietnam involvement and the subsequent treatment of our boys when they came home.
Jesus...can you imagine sneaking around a jungle hunting human beings....and being hunted? many were just boys.
Thank you.



Born down in a dead man town
The first kick I took was when I hit the ground
You end up like a dog that's been beat too much
Till you spend half your life just covering up

Born in the u.s.a., I was born in the u.s.a.
I was born in the u.s.a., born in the u.s.a.

Got in a little hometown jam
So they put a rifle in my hand
Sent me off to a foreign land
To go and kill the yellow man

Born in the U.S.A...

Come back home to the refinery
Hiring man said son if it was up to me
Went down to see my v.a. man
He said son, don't you understand

I had a brother at Khe Sahn
Fighting off the Viet Cong
They're still there, he's all gone

He had a woman he loved in Saigon
I got a picture of him in her arms now

Down in the shadow of the penitentiary
Out by the gas fires of the refinery
I'm ten years burning down the road
Nowhere to run aint got nowhere to go

Born in the u.s.a., I was born in the u.s.a.
Born in the u.s.a., I'm a long gone daddy in the u.s.a.
Born in the u.s.a., born in the u.s.a.
Born in the u.s.a., I'm a cool rocking daddy in the u.s.a.

LMAO
I just now saw this.

I wasn't in Vietnam, or even in the military, but "Goodnight Saigon" is a ****ing masterpiece IMO. The very first time I heard the bridge ("We held the day...") and the verse following it, my hair stood up. It put me right there, as much as was possible. It's pretty self-explanatory, too. Not a lot of interpretation needed for that one.

We took a walk that night, but it wasn't the same
We had a fight on the promenade out in the rain
She said she loved me, but she had somewhere to go
She couldn't scream while I held I close
I swore I'd never let her go

Tell me what you want to know
Oh come on, oh come on, oh come on
There ain't no motive for this crime
Jenny was a friend of mine
So come on, oh come on, oh come on

I know my rights, I've been here all day and it's time
For me to go, so let me know if it's alright
I just can't take this, I swear I told you the truth
She couldn't scream while I held her close
I swore I'd never let her go

Tell me what you want to know
Oh come on, oh come on, oh come on
And then you whisper in my ear
I know what you're doing here
So come on, oh come on, oh come on
There ain't no motive for this crime
Jenny was a friend of mine
Oh come on, oh come on, oh come on

It's one of those songs I can listen to over and over again. I wasn't in the military either, but for some reason have always been super-interested in the Vietnam War...

I couldn't believe my wife was listening to it. Usually she's a "pop station" kind of girl. I was impressed.

What song is that, Sorter?

Mambo #5

Ok, so last weekend I had my wedding reception and my brother who is closest to my age/best man chose an entrance song that made me a bit...butt-hurt. He and I were inseparable growing up and all the way into my mid-20's...but the last 5 years, we have distanced a bit. We live 50 miles away from each other and don't speak as much and when we do speak, we argue. We are also just way different than each other now. I have kind of settled down, but am still pretty much the same person. He has become a music-obsessed (he's an excellent musician...is a member of 3 bands including his solo stuff..plays multiple instruments) hipster type. His turn to the hipster life is part of why I hate this hipster fad so much...he used to be a fun, laid back, open-minded, sports-fan jock (like I think I am) and now everything HAS to be metaphorical, symbolic, serious and ironic. Shit, the dude goes from one of Iowa's best all time wrestlers (3 time state finalist, state champ, top 15 in state of Iowa career wins) to a freaking hipster....UGH!!!!!!!

Anyways, check out the lyrics to this "entrance song" he chose and PLEASE try to convince me this wasn't a personal jab at me because I can't convince myself of that and I am pretty pissed that he selected such an inappropriate setting to settle this score.



"Skip the Charades," by Cold War Kids

You wait on letters
Fishing for any sign of life
Drinks after dinner
Your friends will get you to unwind

Let's skip the charades
Can we just speak plain?

I'm two left feet when
I'm home we tapdanced on broken glass
Somehow you manage
To keep your sense of humor in tact

Let's skip the charades
You're seeing right through me anyway
Can we just speak plain?
We're playing for the same team
But I'm the one that's acting like
Acting like
Acting like
I'm so strong
You're the one that's acting like
Acting like
Acting like
Nothing's wrong

You dodged the bullet
You do your best when you're busiest
You're disconnected
You can't find your name in the script

It was you who were wildest
It was you who floated above us all
I held on with wires
Will you come back down if I let you go?

Let's skip the charades
You're seeing right through me anyway
Can we just speak plain?
We're playing for the same team
But I'm the one that's acting like I'm so strong
You're the one that's acting like nothing's wrong
I'm the one that's acting like I'm so strong
You're the one that's acting like nothing's wrong

Can we skip the charades?
Just speak plain

And it doesn't exactly sound like the typical wedding reception entrance song either:

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* To me this song depicts a relationship (familial, friendship or love) that has become strained/distanced. One side (my brother) is fully aware of the strain/distance and disgusted by it and wants the other side (me) to acknowledge it. The other side (me) is aware of the distance/strain, but is unwilling to acknowledge it and proceeds to act as if there is nothing wrong...in which they are now being called out by the writer of the lyrics about it.

Am I wrong? If I'm not wrong, my wedding reception is kind of a shitty setting to settle this score, isn't it?

Is it a younger brother, even by a little bit?

I see tension, but not so much strain as someone who's always looked up to you and took 3 steps for your every 2 to keep up with the situation. There's a sense of admiration in there, but a bit of tiredness at always pretending it wasn't so hard to keep up.

And maybe he just wanted to express the admiration, and hoped the tension would be ignored in the nature of the situation.

He is a year and 10 months younger than me. My family situation is crazy...there is me (30), this bro (28) and then our two younger bros (both from same parents) are 16 and 14. It's like my parents suddenly decided to start all over again 12 years after having what was presumed to being their last child...either that or my dad took an over-decade long break from working the charm.

I appreciate your feedback and think you raise a good point. That could very well be what he had in mind... One thing that made me think that he is trying to get a message through to me is that it was like pulling teeth trying to get him to give me his entrance song. He kept saying he wanted something "perfect and fitting." If he were trying to make a statement, I hope it's more along the lines of what you wrote.

I also wondered if he thought I was unfamiliar with the song and was hoping I wouldn't notice the lyrics...I actually love the song...saw those guys at Lolla a few years ago.

Why does Elton John want Tony Danza to hold him closer?

An entrance song is basically ones image of himself.
You just said hes turned into an ironic metaphorical hipster.
So thats the kind of song you're gonna get.
Im sure he misses you.
Anger is usually the first emotion that surfaces in strained relationships.
That song may have made him think of you but do not read too much into it.
There is no way a song he didnt write can truly express his feelings when your interpretation of the lyrics cannot possibly be the same as his.
Hopefully, he's smart enough to realize that.

And he might just really like the song for other reasons.
He is a hipster, afterall.

Your joke could've graduated HS last May

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Excellent point(s), bud. Thank you!

Might as well face it you're a dick with a glove

Like a virgin touched for the thirty first time

We built this city on logs and coal

Give me Two gimme five gimme dollah fifty five

I want love you but your hips are a little bit pointed

I got my first real sex dream
I was 5 at the time I played with it till my fingers bled.