Ask Lemmy

The period between hearing and knowing what the song was about was nearly instantaneous but "Smack my bitch up" has an incredibly catchy tune.

It'd be really nice if they released an instrumental version one day.

Tears in heaven from Eric Clapton. I always liked this song, and didn't have a special connotation. But after learning its backstory, now I just feel sadness when I hear it. :-(

Closing time by Semisonic I thought it was about going home with someone after a night out at the bar. It’s about the lead singers child being born.

Constipated by Weird Al. That changed me.

I'm learning so much from these comments...

I don't like Mondays from the Boomtown Rats.

Mind, when I first heard it my English was not that good so I really only got the Chorus about not liking Mondays (and who does, eh?). Dismissed the "shoot the whole day down" as an idiom for something which I did not know.

Then at some point much later I realized it's actually a school shooting.

Someone should make a spotify Playlist of all of these songs

Hard Habit To Break by Chicago is pretty straightforward, but I liked it on the radio as a kid because it's peppy and has an orchestra.

Decades later I get access to music service libraries and give it a listen.

I was a jerk and you left me, and now you're with another guy. I'm not sorry. I'm not going to do better. But I have an orchestra!

I still like it, but have perspective now.

This song is cute and happy but the lyrics are absolutely devastating and make me cry. https://open.spotify.com/track/2E3hdMguyNDQswLXyUotYR

https://genius.com/Bloc-party-signs-lyrics

[Verse 1]
Two ravens in the old oak tree
And one for you and one for me
And bluebells in the late December
I see signs now all the time
The last time we slept together
There was something that was not there
You never wanted to alarm me
But I'm the one that's drowning now

[Verse 2]
I can sleep forever these days
Cause in my dreams I see you again
But this time-fleshed out fuller face
In your confirmation dress
It was so like you to visit me
To let me know you were okay
It was so like you to visit me
You're always worried about someone else

[Bridge]
At your funeral I was so upset
So, so upset
In your life you were larger than this
Statue statuesque

[Chorus] (x2)
I see signs now all the time
That you're not dead, you're sleeping
I believe in anything
That brings you back home to me

I hate this song. Literally sobbing at the fear of the state my mental health would be in if my wife suddenly passed.

Stinkfist - Tool

You think from the title it would be obvious. Never thought why it was named like that until after I realized what the song was about.

I think it's really interesting how people interpret music completely different than other forms of art. People sometimes assume the worst instead of realizing that the singer is speaking from another perspective. So for example if a writer has a first person perspective of a killer/rapist you wouldn't make an association that the author is anything of the sort. But if they wrote a song and sang it then people would question if they really felt that way. Polly is a great example. By many accounts (Kathleen Hanna , Kim Gordon) Cobain championed feminism and woman's rights but the lyrics of Polly are brutal and from the perpetrator view. Randy Newman's - Rednecks is a tough one to listen to. You can understand how it is trying to point out ignorance and racism like Blazing Saddles but it's sung in first person and should never be played in a public setting. Oingo Bongo's - Little Girs was always a bit creepy now seems to age poorly the more time has gone on. Minor Threat - Guilty of being white is a tough listen because you know racist people think this is a rallying cry instead of the emotionly reaction from a a teenage kid who was bullied in highschool for being white.

Well, as I said, I never paid attention to the lyrics before I looked them up. 🤷‍♂️

I remember listening to Frank Zappa’s Bobby Brown when I was a kid, not knowing English at all. Great song but very inappropriate for kids, which my parents probably thought was funny.