Alternate Interpretations of Lyrics: Deluxe Comedy Edition

[Wiltonauer]

Song lyrics can mean different things to different people, and that’s pretty cool. Do you ever hear a song lyric and think of something that’s obviously not what the songwriter intended, but kind of fits and is good for a chuckle?

Example: From our six-string brother Mr. Ynwgie J. Malmsteen, off his second solo studio album Marching Out, a song called “Disciples of Hell”:

“Victims of the grand illusion
Screams of ecstasy
Fools are lost in mass confusion
Searching for the key”

It’s immediately obvious that this is a song about an experience in an escape room.

 

[ShredmasterD]

there's a Pink Floyd song thats mostly instrumental but in the middle its says " One of these days I'm going to kill you in your sleep." never interpreted it any way other than. ' i want to give you all of my love. '

 

[Wiltonauer]

there's a Pink Floyd song thats mostly instrumental but in the middle its says " One of these days I'm going to kill you in your sleep." never interpreted it any way other than. ' i want to give you all of my love. '

‘Kill’, it’s such a friendly word
Seems the only way
For reaching out again

 

[Zer01]

Obligatory boat rudder strange mountain

 

[Zer01]

This is a great song but when Tommy sings, “It’d feel so good to see the back of your head,” I was unfamiliar with that saying. It means he’s happy to see you going away. For many years I thought he was saying he wanted to be able to see the back of his own head and I wondered why.

 

[KentBrockman]

Obligatory boat rudder strange mountain

I

Obligatory boat rudder strange mountain

Ha, this brings back memories. I remember being a teenager in the late 2000s watching a variant of this video on a cold weekday evening.

 

[ElRay]

there's a Pink Floyd song thats mostly instrumental but in the middle its says " One of these days I'm going to kill you in your sleep." never interpreted it any way other than. ' i want to give you all of my love. '

I still hear "One of these days I'm going to cut you ... little pieces"

But that's good-old mis-heard lyrics. I think OP is shooting for things like the US GQP/MAGA Crew (Marjorie Taylor Greene, et al) singing/using lyrics from Rage Against the Machine, Dr. Dre, Public Enemy, Neil Young, Fleetwood Mac, Jackson Browne, etc. totally clueless that the lyrics are anti- the corporate, authoritarian, theocratic and arrogantly ignorant government that these politicians want.

 

[wheresthefbomb]

Came here for boat Rudder Strange Mountain

A few of my favorites:

"It feels good, to know you're mine"/"It feels good, to mow your lawn" - Deftones, Be Quiet and Drive
"Since I was born I started to decay"/"Since I was born I started tooth decay" Placebo - Teenage Angst
"Got a chainsaw motor..."/"Got a chainsaw boner..." - The Faint, The Geeks Were Right
"I drink til the sunup"/"I drink to the SUNN O)))" - some Drake song

Realizing I misread OP but I went to the trouble of making this list and I'm gonna post it

 

[ShredmasterD]

I still hear "One of these days I'm going to cut you ... little pieces"

But that's good-old mis-heard lyrics. I think OP is shooting for things like the US GQP/MAGA Crew (Marjorie Taylor Greene, et al) singing/using lyrics from Rage Against the Machine, Dr. Dre, Public Enemy, Neil Young, Fleetwood Mac, Jackson Browne, etc. totally clueless that the lyrics are anti- the corporate, authoritarian, theocratic and arrogantly ignorant government that these politicians want.

oh, i thought OP was refering to common core bell curve educated and people who think men menstruate or maybe even ex twitter mods who protected speech by censoring it. guess it is a matter of interpretation after all.

 

[bostjan]

These often times get to me, like when people take part of a song out of context and attribute the total opposite connotation to it.

The Police - "Every breath you take, every move you make, every bond you break, every step you take, I'll be watching you" and people going "oh, how romantic!" As if the fact that the phrase ends on a surprise minor chord isn't a hint at the tone of the song.

John Mellancamp - Little Pink Houses. A song about how the fucking USA sucks and politicians don't give a toss about common people but they promise little pink houses and never deliver - was used over and over by politicians who didn't bother reading the lyrics or looking up the definition of irony in the dictionary.

Or Barbie Girl, how the song is actually pretty dark, but the satire is lost on most casual listeners.

Or how Ylvis wrote "What Does the Fox Say" as a comedy song about a failed songwriter who writes some of the dumbest songs so his career is garbage, and then the song takes off and gets way bigger than the comedy show it came from.

 

[bostjan]

Thinking about this some more, it's essentially what almost all of the nursery rhymes are.

Half a pound of two penny rice,
Half a pound of treacle.
That's the way the money goes,
Pop! Goes the weasel.

What does this mean? Sounds like financial hardship to me. Somebody popping their weasel and stoat for a quid to buy cheap ingredients for rice pudding?

I'm sure everyone know the explanations about Ring a Ring of Roses or Humpty Dumpty or whatever. It's fascinating stuff, but after all of this time, who knows if any of it is really true. All I know is that they all sound like they came from pretty dark places one way or the other.

As far as more localized misunderstandings, I know my dad first thought "Jeremy" (Pearl Jam) was about a kid smoking cigarettes during school. Me, personally, I don't have a clue what most songs are about. Maybe it's better if I don't.

 

[cardinal]

Springsteen's Born in the USA probably fits the OP. Song is used for flag waiving nationalists but the lyrics instead seem to be about the country's mistreatment of veterans.

 

[KentBrockman]

Springsteen's Born in the USA probably fits the OP. Song is used for flag waiving nationalists but the lyrics instead seem to be about the country's mistreatment of veterans.

i have bad memories of that song. It’s two fucking chords and an easy keyboard riff and our keyboard player still couldn’t play it FFS

Also, it’s really boring to play

 

[7stringDemon]

"I wanna make loooove, to you in your sleep"
- Jimi Hendrix; Voodoo Child

I don't think im misinterpreting anything. I just wish I were

 

[jaxadam]

I always thought Whitney Houston said “but they can’t take away my identity” in The Greatest Love.

 

[ElRay]

oh, i thought OP was refering to common core bell curve educated and people who think men menstruate or maybe even ex twitter mods who protected speech by censoring it. guess it is a matter of interpretation after all.

Gee, you got me. I guess I've just missed all the times that folks like the ones you allude to sing/use White-Supremacist, authoritarian/fascist, christian-theocratic music thinking it supports their political views.

Hey, got any good "Jewish Space Lasers", "NM Abortion Clinic makes you join a Satanic Church before Getting an Abortion", "Jews Will Not Replace Us", "Woo-Hoo Another Political Partner is going to Jail", "Gotta Scream About my Lies/Threats Being Censored Before I Try to Censor Truth That Contradicts My Delusions", "Gotta go get my Monthly Abortion", "Christians Uber Ales", "Romans 13 1 Only Applies When our People are in Office", "Russian Did Nothing Wrong", "tRump Ackshully Won the Election", "Gotta Go Read My Upside-Down Bible" songs that actually seem to be about protecting peoples rights, 1st Amendment Applies to Government, threats, lies and fraud are never protected speech and correcting medical mis-information to recommend?

 

[ElRay]

"I wanna make loooove, to you in your sleep"
- Jimi Hendrix; Voodoo Child

I don't think im misinterpreting anything. I just wish I were

Doesn't he have a lyric like "Excuse me while I kiss this guy"?

 

[ElRay]

Springsteen's Born in the USA probably fits the OP. Song is used for flag waiving nationalists but the lyrics instead seem to be about the country's mistreatment of veterans.

Watch-out right-wing snowflakes like @ShredmasterD might get offended and throw some comically absurd, blown out of proportion, stereotypes at you.