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Songs you loved, but had no idea what they're about.


felix

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Always thought "Nightshift" by The Commodores was decent. Until recently never realised it was a tribute to Marvin Gaye & Jackie Wilson.

Turning Japanese and Summer of 69 weren't what I thought either :freak:

Songs that took you by surprise - must be loads.

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been here before
12 hours ago, felix said:

Always thought "Nightshift" by The Commodores was decent. Until recently never realised it was a tribute to Marvin Gaye & Jackie Wilson.

 

Really?

 

Werent the lines...

 

"Marvin, he was a friend of mine
And he could sing a song
His heart in every line
Marvin sang of the joy and pain
He opened up our minds
And I still can hear him say
Aw talk to me so you can see
What's going on"

 

Or...

 

"Jackie (Jackie), hey what'you doing now
It seems like yesterday
When we were working out
Jackie (Jackie, oh) you set
The world on fire
You came and gifted us
Your love it lifted us
Higher and higher".

 

...a wee bit of a clue?

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2 hours ago, been here before said:

Really?

...Werent the lines...

Aye; if you read the lyrics it's fairly obvious, however I just thought they were singing about some random mates called Marvin & Jackie 😏

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Stairway to Heaven....after all these years I still have no idea what they are on about.

 

Blinded by the Light...MMEB.....Springsteen at his non sensical best.

 

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2 hours ago, micole said:

Stairway to Heaven....after all these years I still have no idea what they are on about.

 

Blinded by the Light...MMEB.....Springsteen at his non sensical best.

 

 

Surely it's about how money can't buy everything.

 

Bit of a roundabout way of making the point ("If there's a bustle in your hedgerow" indeed), but fairly straightforward message, I'd have thought?

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4 minutes ago, Craig_ said:

 

Surely it's about how money can't buy everything.

 

Bit of a roundabout way of making the point ("If there's a bustle in your hedgerow" indeed), but fairly straightforward message, I'd have thought?

Read a few Zep books and they said they made it up as they went along, I don't think it is as straightforward as you make out ( maybe you get it) I don't ....🤪

 

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4 minutes ago, micole said:

Read a few Zep books and they said they made it up as they went along, I don't think it is as straightforward as you make out ( maybe you get it) I don't ....🤪

 

 

Does sound a bit like it's been made up on the spot, right enough! I'm going with the interpretation of it being an allegory for a greedy society, but it could be something way darker as this article suggests:

 

https://auralcrave.com/en/2018/07/15/stairway-to-heaven-why-led-zeppelins-masterpiece-is-actually-a-personal-growth-lesson/

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Steely Dan. (This by the Dukes of September)

 

Kid Charlemagne 

 

love the song, only recently realised its about LSD. 

Thankfully never ever taken drugs unless you include alcohol 🤪

 

Steely Dan by the way are a fantastic band. 

RIP Walter Becker. 

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27 minutes ago, Pans Jambo said:

Most stuff from Simple Minds.

 

What the feck they oan aboot???

I agree but, regardless of that, I loved their music!

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19 hours ago, crunchy frog said:

This one. No idea what it's about.

 

 

If only there was someone on this forum who could tell you... 

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17 minutes ago, Darren said:

 

If only there was someone on this forum who could tell you... 

Double posting, sorry.

Edited by Morgan
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32 minutes ago, Morgan said:

I agree but, regardless of that, I loved their music!

I did too but I cant listen to them now without thinking WTF is he singing about 😂

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1 hour ago, Pans Jambo said:

Most stuff from Simple Minds.

 

What the feck they oan aboot???

 

Like Waterfront and Belfast Child? 😛

 

Seriously though, the earlier stuff was pretty out there. I love them to bits, but can't help thinking it was just Jim Kerr being a pretentious w*nk! 

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Kalamazoo Jambo
1 hour ago, Pans Jambo said:

Most stuff from Simple Minds.

 

What the feck they oan aboot???

 

I forgot about them.

 

Never paid any attention to their lyrics, apparently.

 

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It was assumed New Rose was about a bursds but Brian James says he wrote it as he was excited about the burgeoning new rock scene that was happening in the mid-seventies,  influenced by a similar scene in the States.    He had been waiting on something and wanted to be a part of it.     The song he wrote ended up being anthemic of the 'genre' and was first to vinyl in the UK from the 'genre'.     I use the term genre loosely as it didn't exist long enough to be considered a genre.

 

Is she really going out with him?
Ah!
I got a feeling inside of me
It's kind of strange like a stormy sea
I don't know why, I don't know why
I guess these things have got to be
I gotta new rose, I got it good
Guess I knew that I always would
I can't stop to mess around
I got a brand new rose in town
See the sun, see the sun, it shines
Don't get too close or it'll burn your eyes
Don't you run away that way
You can come back another day
I got a new rose, I got it good
Guess I knew that I always would
I can't stop to mess around
I got a brand new rose in town
I never thought this could happen to me
I feel strange, why should it be?
I don't deserve somebody this great, oh, oh
I'd better go or it'll be too late
Ah!
I got a feeling inside of me
It's kind of strange like a stormy sea
I don't know why, I don't know why
I guess these things have got to be
I got a new rose, I got her good
Guess I knew that I always would
I can't stop to mess around
I got a brand new rose in town, uh
Oh!
Na-na-no!
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All roads lead to Gorgie

Anything by Sigur Ros. Just like the soundscapes but haven't a clue about what they are on about. 

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2 hours ago, Morgan said:

I agree but, regardless of that, I loved their music!

 

Yeah they're alright. I recall going to see them at the SECC with my brother. Not only did he puke over the back of the bus, but the driver got lost and we almost ended up at Hampden :laugh:

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1 hour ago, JWL said:

The ultimate

 

 

I’m a wee bitty biased with this one, it’s one of my all-time favourites for a very special reason.

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On 18/08/2019 at 22:38, crunchy frog said:

This one. No idea what it's about.

 

 

Surely it's Wattie venting his spleen at being given a warning on JKB.

 

Am I right?  I'm not wrong  :rifle: :rifle:

 

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A Boy Named Crow
21 hours ago, Peebo said:

Born Slippy.

 

I reckon it’s about a mad night out in London, the people you jump into etc. Dunno, could be completely wrong.

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On ‎19‎/‎08‎/‎2019 at 19:40, All roads lead to Gorgie said:

Anything by Sigur Ros. Just like the soundscapes but haven't a clue about what they are on about. 

Them singing in Icelandic and some made up language cross between English and Icelandic won't help you out much.  Hoppi Polla, the much overused background of choice for too many 'reality' shows apparently translates as 'Jumping in Puddles'.  Soundscapes is a good description - they're an amazing band.

 

Anything by Yes. 

 

And Supper's Ready by Genesis - an amazing piece of music but batshit mental lyrics.

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Somehow I didn't realise this referred to a Mueder of Crows until I saw TWB live in Glasgow.  It genuinely was a penny drops moment. Felt so stupid.

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On 19/08/2019 at 13:39, benny said:

Cocteau Twins the best group for this sort of thing.

Liz Fraser chose lyrics for the way the words sounded rather than any meaning they have.

This renders almost all of their song lyrics as totally incomprehensible gibberish.

 

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been here before
13 minutes ago, RobboM said:

Really?
Enola Gay was the plane that dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima

 

Named after the mother of Paul Tibbets, the pilot.

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11 minutes ago, been here before said:

 

Named after the mother of Paul Tibbets, the pilot.

I never knew that!
Mind you, If they had called it Enola Tibbets though, would have ruined the song 😉

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All roads lead to Gorgie
5 hours ago, Haken said:

Them singing in Icelandic and some made up language cross between English and Icelandic won't help you out much.  Hoppi Polla, the much overused background of choice for too many 'reality' shows apparently translates as 'Jumping in Puddles'.  Soundscapes is a good description - they're an amazing band.

 

Anything by Yes. 

 

And Supper's Ready by Genesis - an amazing piece of music but batshit mental lyrics.

Prog rock often goes off in strange lyrical directions. Pink Floyd in The Dark Side of The Moon for example!

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2 hours ago, RobboM said:

Really?
Enola Gay was the plane that dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima

 

1 hour ago, been here before said:

 

Named after the mother of Paul Tibbets, the pilot.

 

1 hour ago, RobboM said:

I never knew that!
Mind you, If they had called it Enola Tibbets though, would have ruined the song 😉

 

I know now. I looked it up. Heard it at Tynecastle in fact, enjoyed it without noticing the meaning, then looked up the lyrics.

 

The bomb (and its design) were called Little Boy, hence the double meaning of "Enola Gay...proud of Little Boy today".

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17 hours ago, All roads lead to Gorgie said:

Prog rock often goes off in strange lyrical directions. Pink Floyd in The Dark Side of The Moon for example!

Tru dat, though I always found Floyd not too bad.  

 

The Manics can be a bit of an odd band for lyrics.  Sometimes it just hinges on you knowing what the song relates to in order to get something from the lyrics.  I have no idea what Australia is about.  But I know who Kevin Carter was, so I totally get the lyrics of that.

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4 hours ago, Sirudi said:

Yellow, by cold play.

No idea. Why yellow ?

According to Chris Martin as quoted in  SongFacts:

 

"It was simply because that word sounded nice, it just seemed to fit, no other reason. None of the other colors would have sounded right really!"

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"It was simply because that word sounded nice, it just seemed to fit, no other reason. None of the other colors would have sounded right really!"

 

Thanks for that. Thought there would be a lot more to it.

I would have tried “mellow”.

 

Agree totally with respect to the manics..

”Motorcycle emptiness” : No idea what it’s about as I don’t understand any of the lyrics.  Not one you hear a lot of people sing along to.

Most of their songs fall into that category and are known only for the chorus !

 

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