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OT: songs you misunderstood in your youth


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Have you ever thought back to what you thought songs were about when you were a kid, only to chuckle as an adult? Now that we have the internet, it's a lot easier to find the meanings of songs. I just googled one that gave me a chuckle.

 

When 99 by Toto came out in '79, I was 8 years only and regularly watched "Get Smart" on TV. So I naturally assumed it was a love song to Agent 99 on Get Smart. Well, I just happened to think back on that and realize how silly that would have been. So I googled the song meaning. CLONK

 

 

Anybody have any other examples they'd care to admit?

Dan

 

Acoustic/Electric stringed instruments ranging from 4 to 230 strings, hammered, picked, fingered, slapped, and plucked. Analog and Digital Electronic instruments, reeds, and throat/mouth.

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Elton John: "Hold me close now Tony Danza"

Dan

 

Acoustic/Electric stringed instruments ranging from 4 to 230 strings, hammered, picked, fingered, slapped, and plucked. Analog and Digital Electronic instruments, reeds, and throat/mouth.

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Okay, I'll take the low-hanging fruit, only because it's true: Puff the Magic Dragon.

 

Another one was "Brand New Key" by Melanie. I was nine years old....

"We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing."

- George Bernard Shaw

 

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"Scuse me while I kiss this guy" - Hendrix

 

The priceless part is how I learned I was wrong. My brother told me about an interview he saw with Neil Finn about how he had the same misunderstanding. I then had to swallow my pride and ask him "Uh, yeah, well what does he really say?" So much for being the music expert in the family.

Live rig: Roland FA-08, Yamaha MOTIF ES 6, laptop for supplemental sounds.
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Dance to the Music.

"You might wanna hear from my organ...right outta site"

Of course it's: ride Sally ride.

 

Favorite one ever:(chorus of kids) Nyah-nahnahnah-Nyah. Couldn't understand a word of it on our old family console.

James Brown: Say it Loud! (Chorus)I'm black and I'm proud!

Us: They're not really saying that are they?

It was the 60's.

 

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Lush Life - jazz standard from Billy Strayhorn. I played it as an instrumental and thought it was about "living the good life". Then, I heard a vocal recording and realized it's about an alcoholics lament. Never knew the word "lush" was about drunkards.
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I always thought they were singing "I believe I'm loco" vs. "I believe in miracles... since I met you" in Hot Chocolate's "You Sexy Thing".

Eugenio Upright, 60th Anniversary P-Bass, USA Geddy Lee J-Bass, Yamaha BBP35, D'angelico SS Bari, EXL1,

Select Strat, 70th Anniversary Esquire, LP 57, Eastman T486, T64, Ibanez PM2, Hammond XK4, Moog Voyager

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For a long time, I thought Eric Clapton's "Forever Man" was "Four-Level Man".

 

When I was very young, my grade school chorus sang a very puzzling song; I thought it quite ghastly, and called it the 'body' song':

'My body lies over the ocean; my body lies over the sea.

My body lies over the ocean, oh bring back my body to me.

Bring back, bring back, etc..'

My sister finally explained to me that it was 'Bonnie', not 'body' :blush: .

 

 

'Someday, we'll look back on these days and laugh; likely a maniacal laugh from our padded cells, but a laugh nonetheless' - Mr. Boffo.

 

We need a barfing cat emoticon!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Okay, I'll take the low-hanging fruit, only because it's true: Puff the Magic Dragon.

 

Another one was "Brand New Key" by Melanie. I was nine years old....

I'm with you on both of these, Moonglow.

I actually had to read Wikipedia on "Brand New Key". According to that source, Melanie dosen't confirm any innuendo about sex in her lyrics.

However she doesn't deny it either. :laugh:

:nopity:
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Just figured this one out...it's pretty embarrassing:

 

Heard about a song from Joni Mitchell that I wasn't aware of, called Centerpiece. Big JM fan...so off to YouTube to check it out.

 

Hey, I know that song well....but I always heard it as "centipede". Pretty lame, given I have The Hissing of Summer Lawns on vinyl AND 8 track (seriously...just nothing to play the tape on)

"May you stay...forever young."

 

 

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OK, now that we're getting into churchy stuff, when I was a kid, I thought it was "with the jellied toast proclaim" :-). Nobody had told me yet about the Heavenly Host.

 

Luckily, my grandmother had a great sense of humor, as did other family members, so they always asked me to sing it each Christmas. I thought their laughing just meant they thought I was cute. It wasn't until years later that I learned the REAL lyrics.

Eugenio Upright, 60th Anniversary P-Bass, USA Geddy Lee J-Bass, Yamaha BBP35, D'angelico SS Bari, EXL1,

Select Strat, 70th Anniversary Esquire, LP 57, Eastman T486, T64, Ibanez PM2, Hammond XK4, Moog Voyager

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I was REALLY young, and had not yet studied furniture making, so thought The Beatles' Glass Onion had a drug reference: "trying to make a dove tale joint, yeah".

Eugenio Upright, 60th Anniversary P-Bass, USA Geddy Lee J-Bass, Yamaha BBP35, D'angelico SS Bari, EXL1,

Select Strat, 70th Anniversary Esquire, LP 57, Eastman T486, T64, Ibanez PM2, Hammond XK4, Moog Voyager

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I didn't get "Lola" in my innocent youth.

 

I have to admit I never actually understood what this song was about until fairly recently, like a couple years ago. I was well familiar with the tune, but for whatever reason I never really paid much attention to the lyrics until it randomly came up in a conversation with my father.

 

Also

Why would somebody write a song about an elusive Asian man who leads a life of danger? I don't know, I was a kid. I wasn't trying to make sense of it. That guitar lick sounded pretty Asian to my young, uninformed ears too, which only seemed to confirm it in my mind.
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