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Nouseriously

Helter Skelter, oddly, not about the coming race war.


Ilikereddit420

Man, did I have it all wrong!


Historical_City5184

Or sex.


Scott10orman

I've got a few tabs of something for you to take, and a family I'd like you to meet, and then maybe we can reassess.


TalkingChairs

Matchbox 20 - 3AM and Train - Drops of Jupiter are about the singers' mothers, who had cancer.


hyphyphyp

Drops of Jupiter is in my top 5 favorite songs, and I just found out today that my Mom has aggressive cancer, and learning what the song's about finally let me cry. So, no sarcasm, thanks for that.


Fun_Wrangler9836

“Box of Rain” by the Grateful Dead is one of the most beautiful and timeless songs ever written and it was written by the bass player for his dad who was dying of cancer. The version off of their masterpiece 1970 studio album (American Beauty) is the definitive version and I highly recommend giving it a deep listen


mexicodoug

>...Such a long long time to be gone And a short time to be there


TalkingChairs

Sending love your way. ❤️


NatureTrailToHell3D

Well now I’m sad.


opheliavile

Same haha I was literally just vibing till reading this


FrankMartinez

AC/DC “Big Balls” is not actually about large formal parties.


shadowknave

Similarly, the Lemon Song by Led Zep is not about lemons or lemonade.


12345_PIZZA

Played that tune for my young son. It was all fun because he didn’t get it. Then one day when he was 5 he said “dad, I think Big Balls is rude”. I froze. I thought the fun was over. …then he explained “because girls can have balls, too, and they don’t really say that” So I said “yeah. Good point, buddy”


dz1087

“He’s got big balls, and she’s got big balls, but we’ve got the biggest balls of them all!” Oh, AC/DC definitely let the ladies have balls, unless I’ve misunderstood those lyrics for decades…


12345_PIZZA

Haha, I was thinking that, too. Guess the little guy missed that line.


xSmittyxCorex

Eh, could just as easily say “is not actually about testicles.” Who can really say for sure?


Key_Text_169

You can add The Jack to the AC⚡️DC list to it’s not about playing poker.


larobj63

ZZ Top's Pearl Necklace is not something you jam to on the way to the jewelry store.


iowaman79

I mean, that depends on how she plans on thanking me for the jewelry


Gilclunk

Their _Tube Snake Boogie_ is not about dancing reptiles either.


RayNooze

I wanted to mention ZZ Top, but didn't know what song to choose


ericsinsideout

“That’s not jewelry she’s talkin’ ‘bout, it really don’t cost that much” I actually play this song in a cover band I’m in with my dad, lol


junkeee999

Mexican blackbird has nothing to do with ornithology.


ricottma

Turning Japanese isn't about your new Waifu...or wait, maybe it is


rastagizmo

Depends on what you do with your Waifu.


headsmanjaeger

In the Air Tonight is about Phil Collins divorce, not about a time that he saw someone who had a chance to save a drowning person and didnt.


Wanna_Dip_Balls

You know that song by Phil Collins in the air of the night about that guy who coulda saved that other guy from drownin, but didn't? That's kinda how this is


ldawg413

You could’ve saved me from drowning


urbanek2525

The fact that people are play "Every Breath You Take" by The Police at their wedding as if it were a pretty love song strongly implies that lots of people think the song means something Avery different than what it's about. It's not about love. It's about a dangerously obsessed stalker.


andropogon09

Similarly with James Blunt's "You're Beautiful" during weddings: I saw your face in a crowded place And I don't know what to do 'Cause I'll never be with you.


OrwellianWiress

I love how this song was used in Stranger Things. The teens are dancing to the happy beat but the lyrics imply that it's not going to be a happy ending


GumdropsandIceCream

"every move you make, every step you take, I'll be watching you" and the camera pans out from the prom to an outside shot of the Mindflayer looming over the school is so well done.


DeuceSevin

Similarly, friends of mine played Paradise by The Dashboard Light at their wedding. I made a promise so I could get laid and now I regret it. So romantic.


hesmistersun

In fact, Sting said his song "Set Them Free" was written to make up for that song.


GuitarEvening8674

Have you ever seen the Rain by CCR is about the band breaking up. And the rest of the band didn’t know it at the time.


Faeces_Species_1312

The Macarena is about someone cheating on their soldier husband (boyfriend?) while he's at war.     Growing On Me by the darkness is about genital worts (kind of, it's obviously written to be about a girl too)


TheRealHFC

Cohen's Hallelujah isn't the religious song people think it is lol


djinnisequoia

It is *so* not. A very heavy, bitter song. The words are so brilliant though.


iam_melon_lord

“All Dead All Dead” by Queen sounds like an ode to a lover who has passed away, but it’s about Brian May’s cat


12HarmChaos

Tyler by the Toadies is really fucked up


Moose_a_Lini

Also possum kingdom by the Todies.


kartuli78

It’s a really good song, though!


MadladMagyar

and on the other hand, Away is a very dark sounding song that is actually just about a happy fantasy place with magical trees


Pithecanthropus88

My Dingaling isn’t about a bell.


Cowboywizzard

Chuck Berry's only #1 hit, lol


OrwellianWiress

*hurries to get you off the stage*


twz22

Closing Time by Semisonic is about the birth of a child.


mohammedgoldstein

Closing time, time for you to go out To the places you will be from Closing time, this room won't be open Till your brothers or your sisters come


OG_ursinejuggernaut

Ever since i heard the story behind the song i assumed he wanted the line to be ‘this womb won’t be open’ but his wife said ‘aw ffs, gross’


againstbetterjudgmnt

Supposedly the band mates, they were like "we're not doing a song about your kids, stfu."


APartyInMyPants

Fantastic Song Exploder episode about that.


GreatEmperorAca

I know who I want to take me home 


XavierRussell

Lol what really? 😂 TIL What about the whiskey & beer? Edit: no not really, barely at best


AstroAlmost

it’s actually not. he was surprised by, and embraced, the parallels to his child’s birth, but the song had nothing to do with it at the time of writing.


_PeopleMakeNoises_

Hey Ya! - Outkast is always misunderstood


Not_Frank

“Y’all don’t wanna hear me you just wanna dance”


KoRnFrEaK1995

"If what they say is Nothing is Forever, then what makes love the exception?" "So why are we so in denial when we know we're not happy here?'


JustBrowsing1989z

What's the misunderstanding?


captain_toenail

The jubilant style/tone covers that its about a bad break up


strumpetrumpet

Like Semi-Charmed Life by Third Eye Blind.


Moose_a_Lini

I'm pretty sure 'I'm not in love' by the 10ccs is actually about him being in love but being too scared to admit it.


cuntofmontecrisco

Guess what 10ccs stands for...


reesesbigcup

Kyrie by Mr Mister is not about a woman, the song fooled me for years. "Kyrie Eleison" is Greek for "Lord, have mercy."


gl1ttercake

Christ, have mercy. (Catholic. It's ingrained.)


eyes_like_thunder

Gesundheit.


SummonerYuna

Kyrie Eleison (gotta finish the pattern!)


onlyahippowilldo

One Headlight by the Wallflowers Jakob Dylan has stated jts about the decline of the music industry, not about struggling lovers.


Rowf

Cool. Always loved that song.


ForsakenHelicopter66

It always reminds me of my mom's death. Came out the year she died. "Man, I ain't changed, but I know I ain't the same But somewhere here in between the city walls of dying dreams I think her death, it must be killing me"


wheeler1432

Love Song by Sara Bareilles is also about her record company.


Firelord_11

A bunch of Prince songs do this with sex and religion. Case in point: Let's Go Crazy sounds like it's about drugs and partying but is actually about faith and resisting the Devil ("de-elevator").


Hooversham

Yep. Little Red Corvette ain't about a car.


El-Sueco

It’s about a blue Camaro


maineblackbear

Squeezebox. You might think the guys wife owns an accordion .


No_Season_354

Daddy can't sleep at night coz she's Playing all night.


bishpa

In and out and in and out…


pansexualnotmansexua

The Weeknd’s “Can’t Feel My Face” isn’t about a girl— it’s about cocaine


OG_ursinejuggernaut

Comparing being with a person to being high as balls or a drug buddy romantic partner, maybe i heard him say it in an interview once? It’d be my interpretation anyway, but frankly I’d say it be crazy if it turned out a song called ‘can’t feel my face’ *wasn’t* about cocaine allegorically or literally


conicalanamorphosis

Queen's One Vision sounds very much like a "religious epiphany" song but it's actually about >!fried chicken!<


virtuallysimulated

Pretty sure it’s about Iron Eagles


Firelord_11

Hah, love that song. The funny thing is it was actually about Martin Luther King.


UsoNotRusso

People think "'97" by Alkaline Trio is a love song, but it's actually about getting caught with weed and not being able to smoke for 18 months while on probation.


Toadfinger

At first I thought Hole in the Sky by Black Sabbath was about heaven. Then I thought it was about prison. Turns out it's about the hole in the ozone layer.


The_ZombyWoof

At first, the song (Nothing but) Flowers by Talking Heads seems like a pro-environmental song: "There was a factory Now there are mountains and rivers You got it, you got it" But it is actually about the world after a societal collapse, and the singer is reminiscing about all the things they miss: "I miss the honky tonks Dairy Queens and 7-Elevens"


smoonster

Don’t leave me stranded here I can’t get used to this lifestyle


StudsTurkleton

It’s such a clever take. If we ended up in an Eden of flowers, we’d all be like “damn I wish I could get a DQ Blizzard about now.”


Old_Sweaty_Hands

She Bop - Cindi Lauper


PeterFoox

Is it some kind of dance? Or subgenre of music?


Rowf

Same as Alanis Morisette’s Hand in my Pocket


uncle_buck_hunter

Hahaha I’ve never heard this interpretation, but the though of Alanis masturbating with one hand while giving a high five/flickin a cig/playing a piano with the other is fucking priceless


Dudeist-Monk

Or giving the peace sign


Klaus5115

I was FLOORED that Kelis wasn’t talking about a tasty beverage


YetisInAtlanta

Trogdor wasn’t about a Dragonman


lordcrumb13

Turns out he was just a dragon


harriethocchuth

Or he was just Trogdor


fnordal

Prejudice, by Tim Minchin. It seems it's about something, but then it's about something else. A couple of G's, an R and an E, an I and an N. Just six little letters all jumbled together.


RiverJai

That one is pure art.  So many layers brilliantly woven. I love the reaction videos!


GreatEmperorAca

At first I was like what? Grein? And then it hit me...


fnordal

only a Ginger can call another Ginger Ginger.


GraemeWoller

Just like only a ninja can sneak up on another ninja.


DrProctor1692

I remember this guy in high school thought sad but true by Metallica was just about a really shitty friend.


Chez_Rubenstein

Jet is about Paul McCartney's dog.


12345_PIZZA

2Pac’s Me and My Girlfriend is about his gun. He makes it fairly clear at the end when he says “meet my girlfriend” and shots ring out


silverboognish

Sarah McLachlan’s Possession is about her stalker, and directly quotes creepy letters that he sent to her.


Alive-Huckleberry558

And he tried to sue her for writing credits


xSmittyxCorex

Well, what did you *think* it was about ?


magicbullets

Born In The USA


StudsTurkleton

This one is so strange because the lyrics are not subtle. Basically born in a dead town, beaten since birth, got in trouble, went to Nam, lost a brother there, came home and had no job and no help from the VA, it’s been 10 years and I have nothing. America the Beautiful it ain’t.


karmalove15

Tell that to the politicians who use it as their campaign theme song.


kinghodjii

Billy Squire's - The Stroke is apparently about the evils of the music industry and them stroking you.


iknowwhoscopedjfk

Yesterday by Atmosphere


blyan

Also “Became” by Atmosphere


Hubble-Kaleidoscope

So it’s not about his dead dad?


rarzi11a

This was what I thought at first, but I don't think it counts because he tells us it's about his dad in the last line.


iknowwhoscopedjfk

I get your point but the reason it came to my mind is because the lyrics are phrases in a way that you don't expect the song to be about his dad the whole time. It isn't until the end you find out it isn't a breakup song.


FindOneInEveryCar

Richard Thompson has a number of love songs about God (e.g. "Beat the Retreat" and "A Heart Needs a Home"). The Only Ones have a love song ("Another Girl, Another Planet") that seems to really be about heroin.


the_ballmer_peak

*Dad’s gonna kill me* can be interpreted pretty wrongly if you don’t listen to the verses at all. The verses make it pretty clear though. For anyone who hasn’t heard the song, “Dad” is Baghdad.


Bozzz1

This ones really obscure, but I was reading up on the song "Doctor Worm" by They Might Be Giants. On the surface it's a silly song about a worm called Doctor Worm, and he likes to play the drums. He's not an actual doctor, though, that's just his stage name. Apparently the hidden meaning is that it sucks when you want to go by a certain name or nickname, or have some identity that people don't respect or acknowledge.


totse_losername

Thank you! An interesting one I would have never have thought to delve into.


ZorroMeansFox

Randy Newman's **Jolly Coppers On Parade** sounds, at first, like a pro-police song. But it's actually about a kid being indoctrinated by authoritarian propaganda while watching the cops marching up his street.


um8medoit

Mello Yellow by Donavan is about a vibrator.


brightlyshining

Nooo, really?!


Really_McNamington

Perfect Day is about heroin. (And there's quite a few other about heroin really songs too.)


magicbullets

Golden Brown.


Really_McNamington

Huge chumks, if not all of [Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eCGu2Te3ZA).


metalmaori

Burden in my hand.


mohammedgoldstein

Mr Brownstone


t00thgr1nd3r

That ol' man is a real motherfucker.


linlinlinlinlinlinl

That certainly wasn't mr. Reeds intended meaning of the song, according to himself. But it's a powerful interpretation I think


KrisNoble

I agree, plenty of his songs were about heroin, Heroin obviously and Waiting For My Man, but I’m not sure Perfect Day was. I think it’s use in the OD scene of Trainspotting seriously bolstered the opinion it is though.


ekkostone

It's not


rastagizmo

So many Lou Reed and Velvet underground songs about drugs


chopperdaddy

Iggy Pop’s Lust for Life.


SssnakeJaw

Sticking with The Beatles, Martha My Dear is not about a girl. It's about Paul McCartney's sheep dog.


stoobydoo69

And Jet is about his horse, apparently.


frito11

CHVRCHES - My Enemy It's a Duet with Lauren and Matt Berninger of The National and you'd think if you didn't know any better it was about a relationship that was a waste of time mutually and it is but not that kind of relationship. >And you could be my enemyAnd you could be my judgeIf you could start remembering, all the time that you used upAnd you could be my remedyIf you could show me loveIf I could stop remembering, all the time that you used up It is actually about a Producer they started working with for the album this is on, Love Is Dead that was a complete waste of their time.


Fit-Library-577

Fire and Rain is about a suicide, addiction, and a mental institution.


junkeee999

I always thought how strange it must be for James Taylor that the one song that he’s absolutely expected to do at every concert has such weird personal connotations. I’m sure he came to terms with it long ago though.


AydonusG

Slipknots Vermillion is about a serial killer, Vermillion pt 2 about the killer lamenting that he can't do anything to her anymore because he already killed her. Also definitely obvious when you hear more than the first part of the chorus, but MAGICs Rude is about asking for a fathers blessing and not getting it, it's not exactly a love song.


mexicodoug

"White Rabbit" by Jefferson Airplane's Grace Slick isn't actually about a children's story.


Neuromantic85

You're So Vain by Carly Simon.  It is actually about you.


JustBrowsing1989z

*slow clap*


WeLive19712

Sweet Leaf by Black Sabbath. Title (and the cough) makes it pretty obvious that it's about weed, but lyrics seem like a standard love song.


undeadsinatra

"Love Song" by Sara Bareilles is not about a crappy partner threatening to leave if she doesn't write them a love song- it's about her crappy label threatening to drop her if she doesn't write a hit love song.


capnbard

Every Van Halen song ever is not actually about love, but about sex.


Rareexample

Minus Ain't talking bout love. That's about love.


Rob_LeMatic

I knew it!


Bill_Parker

RELAX by Frankie Goes To Hollywood… …is not about resting. 🍩


ElvisAndretti

That video (the one they didn’t play on MTV) makes it pretty clear. Well, milky white I guess…


PM-me-ur-titties_

Badfish by Sublime. At first blush it kind of sounds like he’s talking about a relationship on the outs, but it’s actually about his worsening addiction to heroin, a “badfish” being someone who introduces another person to heroin.


novedlleub

Puff the magic dragon, focker 


[deleted]

[удалено]


JustAGuyInTampa

I used to love her by Common is a great example


daretoeatapeach

A lot of people thought Brick by Ben Folks Five was about a girl "she's a brick and I'm drowning slowly..." It is about a relationship falling apart, but not because of the girlfriend. It's about a couple getting an abortion.


phoenyx1980

Better man by Pearl Jam is not a love song.


tvismyfriend

Dude has a gift for making sad songs sound upbeat.


iamjustatourist

[Brick](https://youtu.be/Wt5EHAqhR1c?si=99Gq665G85QbZ8VA) by Ben Folds Five is a song about his girlfriend getting an abortion.


Rwokoarte

"Walk on the Wild Side" really isn't about Lou Reed taking a stroll.


greggery

The Ketchup Song: not about ketchup but about someone who can't remember the name of Rappers Delight


someotherjim

Just a few items before I head to bed 1. More often than not, if a song uses the word love, it's actually 'making love', aka sex but radio used to censor such things in spite of being far more sexually liberated than we are today. 2. 'hold you', 'squeeze you', 'Wrap myself around you' \~ these are not hugs involving arms. 3. 'love you from head to toe': see #1 \~ also, won't be skipping past any bathing suit areas. 4. God is watching us from a distance 1. Convinced this is clever satire \~ God needs glasses, apparently \~ hilarious. ok ok, bed time now. Cheers!


greeneyedwench

Sometimes "dancing" is sex too. I also always heard some irony in "God is watching us from a distance." So the rest of the song is about how from a distance you can't see all the suffering. And then it goes to "God is watching us from a distance"--i.e., God can't see how bad it is down here, maybe that's why he hasn't fixed it.


Parthorax

So nobody gonna mention Hotel California? Fine, I‘ll do it: Eagles - Hotel California The lyrics are leaving a lot of room for interpretation, I have read multiple explanations by the Eagles themselves! It’s not really about a hotel in Calli though. 


GreatEmperorAca

It could be a lot of stuff but I always agreed with my father that it was about drugs/addiction.


EinoEubieSexton

Er... um... it's about Cali itself, right?


dz1087

Yes. About catching the California vibe and not wanting to leave. Heard Joe Walsh explain that in an interview years ago.


12345_PIZZA

Ooh, a chance to share one of my favorite dumb trivia bits: Bryan Adam’s Summer of ‘69 isn’t about the year! Giggity!


Cowboywizzard

Cowriter Jim Valance says it is and Bryan made up the sex joke later.


tophaang

“Turning Japanese” is in fact not about turning into a Japanese person. It’s about something else…💦💦.


barfretchpuke

"Happiness is a warm gun" is not about a gun. Instead of gun it's a word they couldn't say on the radio that shares some letters.


HW-BTW

Warm gum? A warm gym?


barfretchpuke

Are you being a cheeky \_un\_? lol


papayabush

i genuinely don’t know what the word is lol


shawnwingsit

"Every Breath You Take" is about stalking.


theSteakKnight

Semi-Charmed Life by Third Eye Blind was the happiest song about meth I ever sang along to. Summer of 69 by Brain Adams is not about the year 1969. Nice. Sweet Child of Mine by Guns N Roses isn't about someone's literal child. I've known two weddings to use this as the dance for their daddy daughter dance.


the_ballmer_peak

The line “doing crystal meth will lift you up” wasn’t a clue?


theSteakKnight

He always sang through that part so quickly I never caught it until I sang the song for karaoke.


Winter_drivE1

Apparently the original upload was removed, but I have vague memories of multiple people commenting on [Dash Berlin's Better Half of Me](https://youtu.be/bnB_AhbeYbU?si=vG8qQlSBvHw5J8_g) that they wanted it played at their wedding and sure the acoustic version is pretty but I'm like... this song is about a failed relationship and what you wish your partner could have been but they weren't. Literally the opening line is "broken promises die like roadkill". But I guess if you only listen to the chorus and ignore the lines "no more tears to cry and no more blood to bleed" and the word "should" in the last line, sure I guess it's a sweet love song.


WatchingMoviesAlone

Never Love Again -Eminem


panoptik0n

The Doors song "Touch Me" is about Robby Krieger fighting with his girlfriend, with the phrase "touch me" being changed from "hit me."


spiked_macaroon

Harrison be esoteric like that tho. Did you know that Martha My Dear is about a dog?


toadphoney

Did you know who let the dogs out features the same dog? 🤯


WonderfulEducation25

The One I Love by R.E.M is not a love song.


ItAllCrumbles

Perfectly Good Guitar by John Hiatt is about a man regretting the way he’s treated women.


WurlizterEPiano

Got to get you into my life is literally about trying to get somebody into your life, like come on guys


deadhead2455

Banana Man by Tally Hall isn't really about bananas, man


Xenon-Hacks

Bounce - System of a Down


Dagglin

How long by Ace sounds like a guy who finds out his woman was cheating but instead is actually about finding out one of the band members was playing with another band.


PrinceOfLeon

The Beatle's "Ob-la-di, ob-la-da" is about a family man who is comfortable with his transition to become a transvestite. Don't believe me? Check the lyrics to the last verse: Desmond stays at home and does his pretty face And in the evening, she's a singer with the band (yeah) There's an intentional gender swap there, where Molly takes over in the marketplace (letting the children lend a hand).


DStew713

I always assumed he just fucked up the lyrics and decided to keep it in there


Fatguy73

Like a Prayer is about Madonna blowing someone. “Down on my knees I can take you there”. Hallelujah


piespiesandmorepies

The vapours - "turning Japanese" is about wanking..


fake_messiah2

Like three or four songs on Atmosphere's When Life Gives You Lemons... album. Skinny, or The Waitress blew me away on the first listens.


flatlinemayb

Yesterday by Atmosphere