"What You Talking 'bout Willis?" The Meaning Behind Songs of the Eighties
The focus is on what certain songs of the eighties mean, especially songs that aren't immediately obvious. This is an offshoot of the web page about masturbation since a lot of people don't know what songs like "She-Bop" or "Turning Japanese" are really about. I welcome email about any song you would like to discuss here, as well as follow up email to anyone else's comments about a song already discussed here. I'm not really sure if this page is going to generate many comments, as a lot of the songs I remember from the eighties are pretty easily understood.
This page currently edited by: 80s Cheerleader. Past editor: Banasy
1999 is a song about the Reagan administration and the common use and access of bombs and nuclear weapons in the US. And Prince is saying that everyone has a bomb we could die any day, so tonight I'm gonna party. GREAT SONG |  |
This song is simple to understand...it's about a hooker named Charlotte who you can "meet" on 22 Acacia Avenue. It basically describes the life of a hooker on the job. A good music song, lyrics are somewhat funny. | |
He dated a girl named Jenny, who's number was actually 867-5309. When he wrote the song, she had to change her number because she kept getting phone calls related to the song. I'm unsure if he knew her already, or if he really got her number off the wall. I'd heard both. | |
It is correct that Both the English and German versions of the song tell a story of ninety-nine balloons floating into the air, triggering an apocalyptic overreaction by military forces.The lead singer of Nena, Gabriel was against the U.S and she did not want to release the English version of the song! | |
The song is about someone letting 99 red balloons go flying into the sky in Berlin. Because of the tension between East and West Germany, military people were always on alert. They saw the red balloons and mistook it for an attack of some sort, and launched their weapons of mass destruction. After the war, Nena is "standing pretty, in this dust that was a city." | |
The Cold War Era, gave way to much hysteria about what "they" were doing, when "they" would attack, and how "they" would attack. Radar technology was at its height, as it could detect anything in the sky...well anything except a balloon; a balloon that could trigger nuclear war. | |
I was watching MTV unplugged or Pop-up video, and to hear Phil Collins tell it the title for this song had to do with the band members trouble playing the bridge. Finally the only way they could remember it was to sing the actual notes: A-B-A-C-A-B and hence the song got a name. | |
This song is about a married woman who can't conceive with her husband so she goes about having one night stands with strangers to get herself preggers. "So we found this hotel, it was a place I knew well We made magic that night. Oh, he did everything right He brought the woman out of me, so many times, easily And in the morning when he woke all I left him was a note I told him I am the flower you are the seed We walked in the garden we planted a tree" then later in the song we hear the lyrics "Then it happened one day, we came round the same way You can imagine his surprise when he saw his own eyes I said please, please understand I'm in love with another man And what he couldn't give me was the one little thing that you can" this tell us that she is happy now and is pleading with him not to say anything. A classic tune! | |
About the singer's dream girl being on the other side of the world, never to cross paths. The 1964 World's Fair was attended by both members of They Might Be Giants and represents confusion. The phrase painted on the bridge ("I don't want the world, I just want your half") was not actually found on a bridge, although fans did make this into a popular graffiti. It came out of a conversation about money. | |
I have heard that this song is about a girl who commits suicide. If you read the lyrics with that thought, it does make sense. I've always loved this song and have oftentimes wondered what it's talking about. | |
This song is about a young woman who gets high for a short time after taking LSD in high school and then completely loses herself. | |
This song is about the atrocities causes during WWII by a Nazi doctor named Josef Mengele. Reading the lycrics tells you the horrors he created. However, this song DOES NOT praise this doctors actions, it is just telling you about them. | |
This song is about poverty and homelessness | |
This song represents homelessness in America. A woman is wandering the streets, looking for help, because she is hurt. One man ignores her and continues to keep walking away. A second man sees that she's been crying, and she's somehow walking, even though her feet hurt. A third person observes that the wrinkles on her face show that she's seen it all. This song could also represent the late 80s downward spiral of communism in Russia. Listed as a "protest" song. | |
Though I never understood it at the time, this song is about the dangers inherent in sexual and material desire and how they come to affect people so badly. | |
This song is a tribute to former band mate James Honeyman-Scott who tragically died from a heroin overdose. | |
Actually, this song is about Roland's reaction to a conversation he overheard between some of the roadies on the Big Chair tour. Apparently their party was keeping him up, and he was about to call their room to tell them to shut up when he pressed his ear to the wall and overheard them slagging him off. Hence the line, "Here's to the boys back in 628, where an ear to the wall was a twist of fate." | |
This song from "The Seeds Of Love" is about the corruption and hypocrisy of religious leaders and the way they condemn sinners. {A fitting theme for one of the most popular "protest groups" of the 1980s.} | |
This song, if you listen to the lyrics, is all about how wars are fought in the name of God. After a life of being told "thou shall not kill" and "killing is wrong" in time of war you're told it's okay to kill the enemy for your country and for your God, even though it is still wrong. | |
This song talks about suicide and the constant thought of what it would be like to be dead. | |
It definetly makes sense that the lyrics man hands i know your the one it talking about homosexuality. | |
This is yet ANOTHER song about masturbation. "Body and beats, I stain my sheets, I don't even know why. My girlfriend, she's at the end, she is starting to cry. Let me go on, like a blister in the sun. Let me go on, big hands-I know you're the one." | |
I'm not entirely sure if I'm accurate with this, but I think Blister in the Sun is about a lot more than masturbation. The song appears to be based more around his sexuality than anything else. The line "big hands I know you're the one" appears to be a reference towards men. when this is used in conjunction with "body and beats, I stain my sheets, I don't even know why, my girlfriend - she's at the end, she is starting to cry" I think he's singing about how he is more comfortable with solo sexual contact than with his girlfriend; and her reaction to that. There are other femmes songs with similar lyrics which reinforces this - Black girls for example; lyrics like "Shall I dig the white boys? Oh so much more than the black boys" etc. ~Brecon | |
This song is NOT about masturbation. It's about Gordon Gano having small hands, and girls not dating him because of it. | |
If you really want to dig in ot the meaning of the song sometimes the lyrics are better understood once taken literally. "She's at the end" (Hello climax! Lucky girl). "Starting to cry," well for the women and the savvy men I don't have to explain that! | |
It's about Little Steven leaving the E Street Band | |
A Vietnam war veteran struggles to re-adjust to life as a civilian - the physical and emotional after effects make things harder for him, but in the end he is just relieved to have survived. | |
"The reference to her vibrator is because as usual the men really can't do the job properly to satisfy her needs ;) " And if you listen more closely he sings "husband works back late at night". You didn't even give the poor bloke a chance to defend his manhood! lol | |
This song is about a woman and her vibrator. Listen to the words! Although James Reyne at times is tough to understand, with this in mind, it seems so obvious. I can't belive they let it play on radio back then!!! | |
As the song does mention...The woman does use a vibrator but if you look at the words more closely, it is about a woman who is a prostitute...such lines that point to this are "She's got fifteen ways To lead that boy astray,He thinks he's one and only But that lovely She's so lonely" Another reference to her being a prostitute is "Later, at the party, all the MPs rave'Bout the hummers she's been giving And the money that they save" A hummer is a Blowjob...The refernce to her vibrator is because as usual the men really can't do the job properly to satisfy her needs ;) | |
This song not only has NOTHING to do w/ baseball, but has nothing really to do with the literal change of seasons. It's a man telling his lady that he will love her long after the relationship of their youth (metaphorically "summer") has faded away, though he will always remember what it was like when they first fell in love. It took getting married and approaching age 30 before it dawned on me, but there it is. | |
This 1984 song refers to the feeling Henley had as summer gives way to fall along the california coast. "Nobody on the roads, nobody on the beach...a feeling in the air, the summer's out of reach. Empty lakes, empty streets, the sun goes down alone." He was decribing the sense of melancholy beachside towns experience as the days of summer fade with the coming of autumn. | |
This songs is in memory of all the african slaves who were literally stolen from africa and brought to america to fight wars that had nothing to do with them.Stolen from there loved ones many died or never made it back home. | |
While this song is indeed about the Africans stolen from Africa, it isn't about the slaves that died. If you look into the history of the "Buffalo Soldiers" the name is derived from the all-black units in the U.S. Army Cavalry. The units were renowned for their abilities, but still seen as inferior by the heads of state, and as such, were used as cannon fodder ahead of the white cavalrymen during the frontier wars to expand the nation. | |
This song, which appears to be a love song, is actually meant as a religious prayer for strangers in distress in remote places. | |
I read that George Micheal cheated on a girlfriend that he used to go dancing with. The careless whispers were the gossip about his relationship and now "I'm never gonna dance again, GUILTY feet I got no rhythm " | |
George Michael in an interview said that the song was not about anything in his life. It was just a song with no personal attachment to him. He and Andrew started writing it on a bus. The saxophone was the first to come, and then they built the song around that. 3 times before it was the version you here today. He was around 17 at the time, the song did not come out until his early 20’s. (24 I believe) He also said it is about a man who has an affair. And the guilt that a man goes, and is going, through – knowing his partner would find out about it. Also – ‘Dancing’ is not meant in the literal term. They were ‘dancing’, but it wasn’t on the dance floor! Haha Watch the video. You will see when he says “Lead you to the dance floor”, exactly where they were dancing. Lastly, George has decided to change things over the years and prefers a different version that he sings as the finale` in concert. He has done this for years and years. | |
This is a ripost to Bruce Springsteen's Born to Run. "Brucie dreams, life's a highway, too many roads bypass my way" and later "some things hurt more, much more, than cars and girls" I don't believe this was meant to ridicule Bruce's songs, just using it in a manner to illustrate the depression at the time. I heard that Bruce Springsteen like the song and wrote to the band to tell them so. | |
This is about teenage runaways. There is a foundation called Children of the Night and I believe some of the proceeds from this song were donated to them. | |
This song is about the loneliness faced by people in their old age when they are immobile and unable to move around. | |
ALL I can Say Is This Song Has Nothing To Do With Kevin Rowland...He didnt Even Write The Song... | |
Rowland's first-hand account of his changing feelings towards a childhood friend (who just so happens to be a girl) as they grow older together. | |
This song is about the marriage of Alex McCullough, Karen Peris' brother. | |
Marian Gold, Alphaville's lead singer, said that the lyrics of Dance With Me refer to child prostitution: the man says to the girl, "do you want to dance with me/through one of those lonely nights/it's more than a dream, maybe/we're reaching the gardens of delight". He said, too, that there can be a second point of view, which is the fairytale of "Afternoon In Utopia", the concept behind the album (all songs were related and ready to be the soundtrack of a Disco-Opera, which actually never got on stage). | |
Contrary to urban myth, this song is actually about dancing in a club after a particularly energetic bout of homosexual love. Midge Ure's ability to convey the pain that his lover has caused him is second to none and there was talk that Midge and Boy George were 'friends' during the period when this song was written. | |
Definately NOT about repressed homosexuality. (As he has stated himself in many a interview) Midge Ure often pens a song about impending doom and gloom for humanity, and this is one of his more popular examples. Sorry to discredit any deeper meaning but it really is a song about an approaching catastrophic nuclear event, and the song's character's desire to get home, have a couple of drinkypoos, get busy with his 'love' - which is definately a woman in the video - and then "wait for the coming storm". Sounds like a good plan to me. | |
The song is more likely about Nuclear disaster or Armagedon than sex. Why? I used a vocal remover on the song and this uncovered a subliminal message (I kid you not) "Lord is the Savior" (or was it "God...", I can't remember). Anyway, if you want to try it, it's easy to pick out, because it is in an extremely clear human voice, just before the begining of the lyrics. There are plenty of vocal removers on the internet to download. Don't bother trying to hear it without the vocal remover; you'll hear nothing. I tried to, but it is very well hidden. Point is, if this band is putting Christian subliminal messages into their music, I doubt highly that it has ANYTHING to do with sex! | |
This song is about how difficult homosexuality is to a person who does not want to acknowledge where he stands sexually. Multiple partners, and multiple feelings...trying to make it real. Explaining the life (dancing/lovemaking)to themself. It is hard to not live up to parent's normal standards..."The man on the wildness cries 'its over, its over." He dances on...nothing has happened-yet. He finds a lover. They make love, over and over again. He still dances (happy) with tears in his eyes-(unhappy). It is time to tell about his love. But suddenly, he no longer cares-(he thinks). He dances again-(keeping up appearances) Love is not just love for homosexuals...this is the message ! Pete ... ! | |
This is a song bout bein a biker,and its similarities to the nomadic, free lifestyle of the cowboys of the old west. 'Steel horse' refers to his bike (obviously), & the 'loaded six-string on my back' is a pretty obvious compaqrison between guitar/rifle. | |
This song is about life on the road for a singer/band ("steel horse" is the tour bus, "loaded six string" is his acoustic guitar, etc). | |
The song is about the Charles Manson killings. "The Family" lived in Death Valley in 1969. Hence the overall brutal nature of the song. | |
Conway Twitty was always known for flirtatious lyrics in his songs--some even led to controversy. In a 1985 record review from a country music magazine, they stated that this particular song was enough to make any woman blush. They were referring to the line, "And if he ain't good in the saddle, Lord, you won't be satisfied." | |
This song is about the way in which people can change from day to day, "like fashion." It is also about trying to recognise who people are even when it's difficult. | |
I understand this song was written about a real life case in America when a school teacher was charged with having sexual relations with a student. It was an affair that got out of hand, everyone at the school knew....he was more or less making a plea for her to stop the relationship....:"Don't stand so close to me" | |
This song was inspired from Sting's days as an English teacher. From what I read a student of his developed a crush on him which caused many problems. Among them was that he was teaching High School English, and he himself was in his early 20's, not that far removed in age from his students. His background in literature is obvious in the line "That famous book by Nabakov". The famous book of course was "Lolita". | |
In analyzing this song, one must first focus on the two essential protagonists. Firstly there is a young women originating in a sparsely populated region of inhabitance. Secondly we turn our attention to a young man who was conceived and brought up in the southern region of the Michigan city, Detroit. Simultaneously our two protagonists boarded a locomotive as one day turned into another (incidentally neither party had any requirements as to where the locomotive was destined). At a later time (unspecified) the listener is thrust into a scenario already in progress whence a musical artist has been singing in a joint. Coincidentally, said joint was teeming with the byproduct of cigarettes. Additionally contained in the aforementioned room were both an olfaction of fermented grape product and economically depreciated fragrance for the feminine body. At this time, the two previously introduced central characters exchange similar facial expressions signifying happiness; thus leading one to deduce that the pair could have sexual intercourse in the evening. The story proceeds to allude to the awe-inspiring length of this particular night. These two newly acquainted people, anticipating an unknown event, are both traipsing back and forth along a broad avenue (said street having areas at the sides and center for trees, grass, and flowers). Their respective penumbras probe amongst the electric lamps which luminate the boulevard and the surrounding human beings (after the sun had previously receded). Our protagonists exist solely in the search for an affective state of consciousness in which joy, sorrow, fear, hate, or the like, is experienced, as distinguished from cognitive and volitional states of consciousness. The two veil themselves in the witching hour. In conclusion it is evident that one should never cease to have confidence in the truth, the existence, or the reliability of something, even without absolute proof that one is right in doing so. One must cling to one's emotional perceptions or attitudes. | |
It was about a relationship between Boy George and Drummer Jon Moss, they were both gay. Then they broke up their relationship which inspired this song. | |
that is correct, Jon and George had a homo relationship. The only problem with that was that Jon wasn't sure he was completely gay, so he was having second thoughts about the relationship. Boy George was having a spat in his dressing room b4 a show and wouldn't come out, so Jon soaked a rag in gasoline and lit it under the door hoping to smoke George out. Of course Boy George overreacted and assumed Jon was trying to kill him hence the title of the song. | |
OK, I think that this one is pretty obvious, but to those who still wonder, it's about the future belonging to the children, or the "Electric Youth" | |
Despite what another interpretation says, this song is not about heroine. The lyrics are written and sung as "All I ever wanted, all I ever needed is here in my arms." Arms is plural. Martin Gore(who writes the songs) typically doesn't reveal the meanings to his songs so they can be applicable by different people to different things, but he has said, at one point that this song was meant to be a slow love ballad before they added in the fast paced drum loop. The song is very much a love song. | |
This song, which I originally took to be a love song, is about heroin. The chorus is sung in the background as "all i ever wanted/all i ever needed/is here, in my arms" is sung by the lead singer as "all i ever wanted/ all i ever needed/ is here, in my ARM" singular. it is referring to a heroin needle. | |
This song is about symbols in a pyramid and in a synagouge that the group observed. It is also about everlasting love--a VERY powerful and moving song, great for slow or ballet dancing. | |
Sting spoke on a television show listing the top love songs and stated it was about "big brother" and he did not know why people thought it was romantic. | |
The song was written from the point of view of a police officer who falls in love from a distance. His job is to keep surveillance on a woman and he begins to fall in love/become obsessed by her. | |
This song is written with anger in mind of losing the person you love. You love the person...and you know what tore the two of you apart. But you cannot help your personality (this is key), so you lose the love... Your jealousy pushes your loved one away... Seeing, watching every breath you take...you do not trust...and you will lose your love. Personality decides the love you choose for your life. Pete | |
EVERYONE OF YOU GOT IT WRONG! Don't anybody watch VH1 - behind the music with Mr. Sting himself explaining the meaning behind the song. It's about his wife after they got a divorce, she insisted they stay together, he wrote the song because she was stalking him. It was his way of dealing with the drama. She was extremely possesive and obsessed with him. I feel sorry for him after rereading the lyrics...but I assume things are much better for him anyway. Okay back to watching TV! | |
I watched Vh1 some years back and I too thought that the song was a 'love and stalker' song. The Police confirmed on Vh1 that it's about Big Brother government. I know that I'm not loosing my mind when I heard this very clear. Interesting that someone above stated that Vh1 said different. Why would they say two different things? | |
It's not at all about love or a lover stalking his lovee! It's about the British oppressive regime on it's people and the big brother idea. | |
The Song Every Breath you take is about the relationship Sting had with his ex wife. His Ex wife stalked him after their marriage ended. | |
The original poster is right. This song is about the breakup of a relationship, specifically Gordon Sumner a.k.a. Sting's break up with his 1st wife Frances Tomelty. "Wrapped Around Your Finger" is about the same subject, wherein he's drawing several analogies to his wedding ring. He mentioned it in a number of interviews a few years later. He was hurt so badly by what happened that he stopped believing in marriage, and said he never would again. This was corroborated by friends of his (including Madonna) as to why he was with Trudie Styler for 10 years before they wed. He's said it was a shock to him that it became such a hit since he considers it a dark and rather evil song. At the end of "Love is the Seventh Wave" he puts some "good karma" on the song by repeating the lyrics in reference to actual love. | |
I heard that "Every Breath you Take" is not a love song at all, but that it is about the KGB and the control that they had over their people. I heard that Sting was disturbed that Americans saw it as a love song. | |
The song (according to the jacket notes) is about his relationship w/ an "unnamed actress" which becomes pretty clear who he is talking about. | |
This song was written after the band's equipment was stolen but its really about losing the will to live. | |
This song is about a young man in prison awaiting execution. It was on the album 'Ride the Lightning'. The whole album was about the subject. The irony is that 3 Metallica fans, known also as the West Memphis Three, were wrongly convicted and placed on death row for a crime they didn't commit. The prosecution's strongest evidence was that the boys listened to albums like 'Ride the Lightning'. Misunderstandings like these led the country into a 'Satanic Panic' right at the end of the '80s. | |
No song by Poison steps into the Hollywood life-style like this one does. Its mind-blowing to witness everything goes on behind the glitter, glitz and closed doors in tinsel town . About a friend of Bret's; she feels like she can make it big, but falls short of her dreams and hopes. She hurts so many people in her life, and she feels she does not have anyone she can turn to for help. | |
This is song is basically about starvation in a poor country. The intro says: Ivory madonna dying in the dust, Waiting for the manna coming from the west. Barren is her bosom, empty as her eyes, Death a certain harvest scattered from the skies. ivory madonna dying in the dust means giving up all hope of the virgin mary. If people cant have faith in finding food there is nothing. The manna is a miracle food. Barren is her bosom, empty as her eyes. People cant even look after thier young anymore. Death a certain harvest-this shows the great quantities of people being wiped out. | |
The first verse is about the Cold War tension. Evidence: "Hoping for the best but expecting the worst/Are you gonna drop the bomb or not?" "Can you imagine when this race is won/Turn our golden faces into the sun". The second verse, however, is about wasted youth and the chances you should have taken. Evidence: "Sooner or later they all will be gone" "So many adventures couldn't happen today/So many songs we forgot to play". Well that's what I think anyway. | |
This song is probably about the celebration of youth through the eyes of parents. To them, it doesn't matter how old we are, we'll always be their litte kid. This song is a reminder that no matter what, they'll always love us, care for us, protect, guide, and remember our youth. Every time I hear this song, I want to cry, because I know it holds a special meaning to me. Played to those cute Pampers baby animals commercials, it's a real tear-jerker. This song allows the listener to appreciate the love of parents, and the guidance we've received. | |
OK, a few corrections on the other interpretation to this song: This song is actually about a drug dealer, and the basketball player in question is but one of the characters. There's no mention of homosexuality in this song (although there is on the title track to the album); the line is "just to shine the silver BOWL", not pole. Also, it's "Jive" Miguel, not "Dive." And though I've done neither, "dabbling with cocaine and sex with other men" doth not a "dirtbag" make. The song warns that "Living hard will take its toll", but not in a harsh, judgemental way. | |
This song, though very cryptic, is about idolatry ("The Golden Calf" is a Biblical symbol for God). | |
Yeah this song is cryptic, but it makes no sense unless you get the metaphor right! "The Golden Calf" is NOT a Biblical symbol for God - it's a symbol for FALSE GODS - and worshipping your material wealth rather than the God who gave you the mind, body and will to earn that wealth... | |
This quintessential 80's jam is about Adam Ant's struggle with fame and stardom, and his discontent with the media. "Goody Two Shoes was a sort of answer back manifesto and just trying to keep things level-headed because I felt that, and still do, to a degree, that going on stage is creating an illusion. It's magical and it's wonderful and I love doing it, but off stage there has to be time out." -Adam Ant | |
This song from "The Sensual World" is essentially a dream in which Bush imagines herself (her mother was Jewish) confronted with Hitler at the beginning of the Second World War. Yet, in this dream, she does not realize it is Hitler for a moment, and thinks it is her beloved man. | |
This song is about a man who's dreaming about his dying day. It starts off with him somewhat confused..." Can't understand what is happening to me This isn't real this is only a dream, But I never have felt, no I never have felt this way before" Then he comes to realize that it may not be a dream, but reality. It ends with his being rebirthed, or awaking from the dream...it really leaves that unsolved. | |
I think after a few years of anlysing, that Brian wrote this song about his lover that time-Cristine Mckman. | |
This song was written to shame parents/guardians guilty of child abuse. However, because of the frankness of the title of the song, and the bolstering way that Benatar sings this rocker, it was often taken to mean the exact opposite. And sadly, became an anthem for some abusive parents. Pat Benatar has always been against child abuse, and this was her way of saying publicly: Knock that s*** off! Love your children, don't hurt them. | |
I was once told that this song is about black soul and R&B music coming to England in the 1970's, and it's impact it had on the youth there. | |
Hitsville UK is actually about the rise of the independent record label that was happening at the time in the UK. The lyrics directly mention Rough Trade and Factory records and the title and chorus of the song alludes to a similarity between the vitality of this scene and the soul scene of 1960 America. | |
This song expresses the dangers of shifting around from one lover to another. It shows the pain inevitable when one leaves one's own spouse. | |
Lightning Strike is a metaphor for sex according to Robert. In the song he talks about "lightning striking" in a basement, on a boat, and in bed refering to his sexual encounters with his now wife Mary. | |
The song is about a boy buying his first pack of 3. "Box of balloons, With the feather-light touch, Pack of party-poppers, That pop in the night, A toothbrush and hairspray, Plastic grin, Miss clay on all corners, Has just walked in" So he buys A toothbrush and hairspray instead. | |
It's got to be about stalkers! Some girl is getting followed by this guy: "Break out of line/Juices like wine/I'm on the hunt, I'm after you/Break from the crowd/No sight out of sound/And I'm hungry like the wolf." | |
About stalkers?! C'mon now people...Duran are rarely that paranoid and dark, let alone at the "Rio" part in their career. The impression I got (the video didn't hurt either) was that it's about sexual prowess...take the moaning during the middle 8... | |
Not aimed at his fans, but at the Music Press in 1980 who ripped him to shreds at every opportunity "Tear Me!, Tear Me! Tear Me!" | |
Monday morning, January 29, 1979, 16-year-old Brenda Spencer opened fire on children arriving at Cleveland Elementary School in the San Carlos neighborhood of San Diego from her house across the street, killing two men and wounding eight students and a police officer. Spencer used a rifle her father had given her as a Christmas gift. When asked by a reporter as to why she was compelled to shoot innocent people she stated ''I don't like Mondays. This livens up the day.'' | |
Sir Bob Geldof's former band, The Boomtown Rats, wrote this song after a tragic 1979 event in which a "Sweet 16-" year old girl decided to open fire on a Cleveland elementary school, killing two adults and wounding 8 kids. When asked why, she told the reporter, "I don't like Mondays. This livens up the day." | |
Billy Joel once referred to this song as a song about manic depressive people, in which he said "all artists are in some way manic depressive". It seems to be written about his life in the form of telling a partner of the ups and downs and the uncontrollability of his own life. | |
This song is about a guy who thinks he is too sexy for several items. This includes, but is not limited to, his shirt, my party, as well as animals, "poor pussy, poor pussycat", his hat, and get this...his own Car! He also thinks that he could be a model and likes to shake his "Tushy" on the Catwalk, yes....on the catwalk. He shakes his little tush on the catwalk. | |
Much like 'Sugar Walls' by Sheena Easton, "House" is a bold metaphor for "vagina". "......I'll keep you happy and so satisfied, in my house..." | |
I have read many interpretation of this song but I believe it is about a persons conscience having watched him do something horrible and it keeps haunting him. | |
Deals with his bitterness and frustration over the end of his marriage to his first wife, the lyrics do not although tales have been told reference any specific real-life event(s). | |
It's surprising to me that this song isn't right with there with "Afternoon Delight" or "Disco Duck". This song is about a relationship with a under age girl. It starts with the words "She's just 16 years old, leave her alone they say." The next words of the song might show that teenage girls don't know everything there is to know about love and relationships which might be true, "Separated by fools who don't know what love is yet". In the song perhaps Benny Mardones or whoever the song is about realizes that he can't go far in a romantic relationship with a underage girl, "It's like having a dream and watching it fall apart." This song taught me a lession. I can relate to this song because of personal experience. This song should teach any older man a lession. This song also talks about what a man would do if he can have a real relationship with a underage girl, "If I can fly, I'll pick you up and take you into the night and show you a love that you never seen, never seen." I'm surprised that this song is a lost 45. This song came out in 1980 and it came out again in 1989. In 1980 it reached to #11 on the charts and reached to #20 in 1989. Because of what this song is about, something I think a lot of men can relate to, I'm also surprised it didn't climb higher on the charts. | |
This song, which I at first took naively to be about hope, is in fact a reference to the troubles in Ireland. The opening two lines in fact describe the song well, if you hear them. | |
This great 1982 song is about a guy who meets the girl he dreamt about all his life. he describes us how he walked down the avenue and met this girl with auburn hair and tormy eyes. the kind of eyes that hypnotize him through. he describes how she's so special, and how he tries to approach her, but he can't. he can't approach her, he's afraid of approaching her, so he runs, he runs really far away. Great 80's song. one of the best, yet underrated. | |
Ok this song is about two people having a one night stand but the guy wants more and can't get her out of his head because during the act of sex he fell in love with her and can't stop thinking about her | |
You'll try and lock me up for this, but It's My Life was meant to be from a pet's point of view toward their owner. Silly as that may sound, it makes sense to me, b/c pets love their owners unconditionally, and all they expect in return is that same unconditional love. Talk Talk donated a large portion of the earnings from this song to several animal charitiss, and let the humane society use this song in a commercial. I'm sure that anybody who reads this will think I'm a lunatic, but I can see where it makes sense. The video for the song matches really well with that meaning... the lovely Mark Hollis is singing in front of footage of animals in a zoo, and during the chorus bars appear over his mouth (which, fortunately, distracts one from the size of his ears). All that being said, I still the think the song also touches upon how humans interact with each other. Specifically how we have a tendency to impose our beliefs and tendencies on others. No Doubt covered this - and did a good job, in my opinion. | |
They wrote the song after witnessing a car crash. After seeing the expression on Slash's face, the guy said "Don't worry, it happens all the time around here". That inspired the lyrics for the second verse: Cars are crashing every night I drink and drive everything's in sight I make the fire But I miss the fire fight I hit the bullseye every night | |
If one listens to the song it might seem that Amy is singing about a love she is loosing or has lost and she is coping with the shock to her system buy singing she will remember him and hopefully some day she will see him again and until that time she asks that he ...."please remember me." The entire song is very moving. BUT.........if you watch the video I believe it is clear Amy is singing about her Dad and the loss, perhaps death, of him. Add the video to the lyrics and her plaintive interpretation of the song and the entire experience is tragic and heartbreaking for a girl or guy who has lost their Dad. | |
I think you are close with God, but what about Jesus? Apparently he died 4 Us, so they tell me, anyway! A lot of Prince's tracks have hidden religious content. In "Lets Go Crazy" the elevator to which he keeps referring is the Devil. The song "7" is about the recurrence and symbolism of 7's in the Bible, 7 Deadly Sins, etc. | |
Jane Says is the story about a real life person by the name of Jane that the band members lived with in a commune in LA. Jane had a heroin addiction and was always hanging around with the wrong people and could never break away from her lifestyle despite promises to. "Jane says..." and "Im gonna kick tomorrow". She really did have a boyfriend named Sergio "Jane says Im done with Sergio" who was a bad influence on her and who harrassed her. This song is a powerful song about the struggle of drugs and depicts the other, rarely depicted side of America--that of the downtrodden | |
Basically a song displaying the pressures of child abuse on young women in families and the dreaded outcomes hence the lyrics "She had to take him down easy and put a bullet in his brain cos nobody believes me the man is such a sleazy he aint never gonna be the same" | |
As a teen, Rick saw a girl in his art class that he had a crush on until another man dated her instead. His name was Gary and Rick tried Gary's Girl but it didn't work, so he changed the name to Jessie's Girl. | |
This song is about the unnecessary use of motor transport and the damage they do to the environment. | |
"Just what i needed" was about Rick O Cassik "Lead Singer of The Cars" going out with this girl for the great person she is and not her looks even though according to the song she is good looking girl, he doesent mind any of her bad habbits or things she does he just loves her for her and is saying how going out with her is what he needed to be happy | |
This song is about lead singer Kevin Cronin's response after he found out his wife was cheating on him. He says he'll keep on loving you no matter what. He stated this on VH1's top 40 most love songs. | |
This song is actually based on the book "The Stranger" by Albert Camus. In the book he kills an arab because the sun was in his eyes and felt extreme tension for no reason. The lyrics almost match the book perfectly. | |
Just want to add to the 2 messages here: Kyrie Eleison is not Latin, it is Greek. And the early Masses were done in both languages, although I cannot say when and where the languages took root. But by the first millenium, Christianity had a clear division between western Europe (the Roman Catholic Church - in Latin), and eastern Europe (Orthodox - in Greek). The Catholic Church was held in Latin around the world until Vatican II,in the early 1960's. Although we say the Mass in English now, we still say (or sing) the Kyrie. It must have been an intricate part of the Latin Mass, despite its being Greek. I was very impressed that the phrase was used in a rock song. | |
Kyrie Eliason, shortened simply to "Kyrie" in the Mr. Mister 80's hit, does in fact mean "Lord Have Mercy". The Kyrie Eliason is sung in a traditional Roman Catholic full mass, but it definitely IS Greek, as all early masses were. | |
"Kyrie" is Latin, not Greek. It is a historical Mass text for the Catholic Church from the early Middle Ages. | |
The Fens, in Boston, is a green area designed by Frederick Law Olmstead (of Central Park fame). People used to stick tree branches into empty bear bottles, which looked like pinecones. | |
This song is about the littering of smashed beer bottles around Fenway Park in Boston. "Land of the glass pinecones" "They smash on the grass when the wind blows" Referrring to how heaps of broken brown glass resembles pinecones. I heard this during a radio interview with the group on WBCN in the 80s. | |
The song was about not allowing the devil break you down and for you to reach to GOD for help. "and if de-elevator (devil) tries to break you down, go crazy, punch a higher floor (GOD)". He said this a couple of years ago in an interview with Chris Rock on VH1. | |
Many people assume this song is about an affair between an older man and a younger girl. It's the exact opposite -- the affair is between an adult woman and a 15-year old boy. The woman is attracted to the boy because he represents her own lost youth, which she is attempting (and failing) to recapture through him. That the boy is "Little 15" is born out by lines like: "You help her forget / The world outside / You're not part of it yet"; "And if you could drive" (i.e., since he's only 15 he has no driver's license); "She knows your mind / Is not yet in league / With the rest of the world / And it's little intrigues" (he's still an innocent). Her desire to recapture her youth can be found in lines like: "To a happier place / To a happier day / That exists in your mind / And in your smile / She could escape there / Just for a while"; "Now all that she wants / Is 3 little wishes / She wants to see with your eyes / She wants to smile with your smile / She wants a nice surprise / Every once in a while." "Little 15" has always struck me as a poignant portrait of angst brought on by the harshness of maturity and the desperate, vain attempts taken to escape it. | |
Amazed that Prince was mentioned on the site but no one mentioned this song? This is so obviously about one night stands and the effects they can have on one's life\body. Just read the lyrics and it will be clear. | |
allegedly a song about coming out. a possibility that thisis just an interpretation pasted on by millions of moxy worshippers, but it does make sense. It sems to be about a guy or girl slowly coming to terms with their sexuality, but not quite ready to tell the world as they don't know how they will react, but knowing that they can't keep it a secret forever. How will they hear When will they learn How will they know? | |
While your discription of what Aussies call Australia is correct, living in Oz is not about living in Australia. Living in Oz is referring to how crazy life can be and following your dreams and desires at any cost. In the song he is talking about what he had to go thru to be with the one he loves and how fame wouldnt mean anything without her in his life. (funny how desire can burn you up inside make you commit emotional suicide, everybody's got the desire to leave their mark some just do it over a trail of broken hearts.) | |
The reference to "Oz" in the SONG "Living in Oz" is actually not to Rick's native Australia. The album title began as a reference to his homeland, and some of the tracks on the album, such as "Me & Johnny" are about his days in Australia. During the writing of the album the title became a double entendre of sorts, with "Oz" also taking on the meaning of the dreamland surrounding his sudden fame and fortune. It is that "Oz" to which the song "Living In Oz" refers, and the costs and compromises of achieving that. | |
This song is about working-class people trying to make it through a tough life. In a world of yuppies that populated the 80s, there was a group of people who tried to make it on their paltry salaries, and love conquered all. "Gina worked the diner all day, working for the man, she brings home her check today." "Tommy used to work on the docks/Union man on strike, he's down on his luck/It's tough (so tough)" "We gotta hold on, to what we've got, doesnt make a difference if we make it or not. We got each other, and that's alot for love/We'll give it a shot! Whoah, we're halfway there/Whoah, and living on a prayer/Take my hand, we'll make it I swear, Whoah, living on a prayer." This song was the true meaning of hope for the otherwise hopeless. | |
This song it about a women and a man in love but they can't be together because the man is in a relationship either married or just having a girlfriend, "We are strong, no one can tell us we're wrong Searchin' our hearts for so long, both of us knowing" means that people cant say it wrong cause they are in love. "Why do you hurt me so bad?" means that he want leave his girlfriend and she dont know why because he says he loves her. "It would help me to know do I stand in your way Or am I the best thing you've had?" means that she needs to know to if she needs to leave him because she is in his way or if he really cares for her | |
Hi Y'all! This song is obviously about two people trying to love each other while they were shoooting in a battlefield at World War 1. this act was a very substantial act during that PERIOD of time with such endurance of an emotional roller coaster ride of love hope compassion and fartleks. overall i think this song is fan---------tastic. and i think pat benetar is the next big thing right after the boomtown rats who obviously like tuesdays more than mondays i love all my fans n hasselhoff!!!!! by the way i want all of yous to remember that LOVE IS A BATTLEFIELD and we can overcome the struggles that this couple endured and live a happy life and eat nuggets and chips if we want and like the boomtown rats once said "jitterbug" if you want fresh flowers call moonies melons 'r' us | |
This song came out in January 1982; the Falklands conflict started in March.I think the previous poster has fallen for a NIck Heyward wind up | |
It obvious what the songs about, but the cool thing about it was that Robert Smith gave a tape of the song to his wife as a wedding gift, so she was the first person aside from the band to hear the song dedicated to her. | |
By far the best sexual double-entendre I have ever heard. Arto Lindsay twists his vocals around the rhythm and grunts almost indiscernibly about how he has heard about his girlfriend's flexibility. He ends up wanting to test it for himself. | |
I wasn't sure if the song actually talked About the Famous Madonna, since the lyrics had a lot of fingers pointing to Madonna's seductive roles, but this song talk about a nun. The song has a hidden religious meaning, it's a about a non talking people into the good. "One look at Madonna's eyes, she can't fill the room, but empty lives" mean that she's not capable of anything but to fill your soulless life, with goodness and wisdom. "Now the thinking what a waste of sin She's a live one better jump on in Twisted stories bodies clinging tight She's a tick-tock of the night" means that when the people who are doing a sin (sex) can't stop thinking about her, because she's like the tick-tock of the night upon there heads. "And it seems the competition is on Now the race has just begun" she means about the end of the world, when God gather us all, she uses a race and competition as a metaphor for the race between people, who is the good, and who is the bad. And refers to "tomorrow is gone, and race is on" is people's chances for regretting there mistakes maybe too late tomorrow. in the lyrics she talks about a very horrible person using words like " Mental anguish was her specialty ,She's a sadist of society" because this is what people think of her, since she cuts out the fun out of life like sex, drinking and gambling, so she's like a monster to them, while the people are fragile and weak, she describes them as "sitting on a string of pearls" waiting to fall, and how people use each other and how she remains still on her goodness. And by "one look at Madonna's eyes" meaning we get guilt-up from looking in her eyes since we know she's right and we're wrong. "She will baptize all the waiting men" means she will she's welcoming all the men who're regretting there mistakes. but she's not talking only about men in the same time, and I also think the song is about Virgin marry, since it's also referred to her as Madonna | |
The song "Magic Man" was written by lead singer Ann Wilson, describing her new boyfriend and manager, Michael Fisher. Michael Fisher was also the brother of lead guitarist's Roger Fisher, who was dating Ann's sister Nancy. The whole feel of Ann's mother was "Come on home girl, it's too soon to lose my baby, my girl should be at home." The girls responded with "Try to understand, mama, he's a Magic Man." | |
It's basically about being drafted into the war | |
This song as Ive heard has two different stories.one,is that its an S&M song,"It's a lot like life when we play between the sheets,with you on top and me underneath,forget all about equality." Second, (which I believe the most)is that it s political,and that the common people are the servants and the people who are more are the masters. | |
Absolutely about drug use and the stranglehold on addicts "needlework the way, never you betray" "chop your breakfast on the mirror" (Coke anyone?) "taste me you will see, more is all you need. Dedicated to, how I'm killing you." or my favorite line "I will occupy, I will help you die! I will run thru you, now i rule you too!" one of my favorite songs. | |
This song is about being addicted to drugs basically. The drugs is the "master", and all the addicts are the "puppets". If you think about the lyrics you'll see that it is exactly what it is about, but it is all metaphors, which is why it is hard to see the meanings at first. "you're falling faster" = drugs decrease your length of life. "Now im killing you.." = pretty self-explanatory eh? | |
Although the song gave an impression to use people for their money the video was a different story. The messeage was to not love people for their money but for their personality. | |
This song is apparently a story about a woman called Mimi whom a gang wants to destroy at a beach resort, yet Siberry wants to find her before they manage it. | |
This song is about cocaine. Dave Wakeling had a serious "coke" problem in the 80's and even referred to it when I saw him in concert on 9/10/05 at the Coachhouse. This is my favorite line in the song "Mirror in the bathroom Recompense For all my crimes of self defense. Cures you whisper make no sense Drift gently into mental illness." He wasn't trying to be too literal about his addiction in the song as he didn't want to advertise his problems. Plus the song has a fast paced driving rhythm that make you feel like your on "coke". That was the 80's though. "Coke" is a thing of the past that many of us tried in college. Now only destitute people and movie stars do coke/crack. | |
This song is not about cocaine, but about narcissism. Not only has lead singer Dave Wakeling explained this, but the lyrics about himself and others staring at themselves in mirrors and glass make it clear. | |
John wrote this song about his wife, (now ex-wife), and how he felt when she left him. | |
Listening to this song 20 years later, I was curious about the line "rock and roll just used to be for kicks but nowadays it's politics and after 1986 what else could be new?" Was there some political/music event in 1986? | |
The song was written while lead vocalist and guitarist Mark Knopfler was in the electronics department of a store and heard one of the workers making fun of rock stars. As legend goes, Knopfler borrowed a piece of paper and a pen and jotted down the lyrics before he left. | |
This song is very ironic as it is written from the point of view of an electrical goods delivery man. The man is watching MTV in his work and wishes he had "learned to play the guitar" because being in a band is basically earning money for doing nothing. In the unedited version of this song, they sing about George Michael, saying "See the little faggot with the earring and the makeup, Yeah buddy that's his own hair. That little faggot got his own jet airplane, That little faggot he's a millionaire" Here they are saying that theres people like him earning all this money for doing nothing, while they are moving fridges and tvs. | |
This song is about being addicted to heroin. "We've been dancin' with Mr. Brownstone He's been knockin', he won't leave me alone" The've been dancing (doing) with Mr. Brownstone (heroin). He wont leave them alone = they're addicted. Also, apparantley Axl Rose and Izzy Stradilin used to score heroin from Brownstone apartments in West Lafayette. | |
The song is about drugs and how it can torment a person and never leave him alone again. In this song "Mr.Brownstone" is obviously the representation of drugs. | |
This song is about a girl named Michelle that hang around with the band all the time, but she was also a prostitute and a drug addict and nobody new if she's gonna still be alive to the next day, so the band decided to write a song about her because she meant a lot to them. | |
Another great but little heard Kate Bush song dealing with the excitement of love - the "thrill and the hurting" - all the while knowing that the reality won't live up to the dream, and that the love won't work - that her love will never be hers. The imagery of burning fields, as fields are made fallow in the fall, and how places and smells will always remind her of the moment - how true. | |
I heard a radio interview back when Music for the Masses came out back in the late 80's. The song is obviously about drugs. The ride is the trip, never wanting to come down, never want to put my feet back down on the ground is about enjoyiing the drug induced euphoria. Dave and Martin both have had drug issues, among other things. | |
Leading up to something a bit strange. Nothing that friends would talk about. The music is very working like - in the beginning .. Then it takes on the things no one talks about in "real life" - feelings like - Fantasy. Love. Sex. Then he devolops the idea .. Sex that no one else talks about! Not telling it is me!. Gotten used to it!. Does he let me down ? Sure as houses. .As long as he knows who is wearing the trousers ! Like with women ! Who is in charge ?? Flying high .. totally letting go ! .. The world passes ! He will not go back . .never let me down !! . .He knows it is not a love that will keep in society ! The song goes into an epic music language .. .. to underline the difference between sex amongst different sexes !Then the lead singer does his very best passage in the late afterplay of the song .. He even gets supported by another man . .just to make it more sexually underlined and utterly more difficult to understand . .Drugs or sex ? Maybe both .. since it is both men who leave the song in an epic hymn ! Totally beatifully made !!! This song is way beyond recognizion !! | |
I think this song was talking about tampering with Human life (Eugenics) and genetics which is messing with Nature. (Transition to another place So the time will pass more slowly Features fuse and your shadow's red Like a film i've seen now show me) (Complicating, circulating New life, new life Operating, generating New life, new life) | |
This wonderful ballad from "From Langley Park To Memphis" is not about nightingales at all. It is actually a story of how life is mysterious and how remarkable things can happen. | |
This song from The Dreaming, extremely rare as a single, is about the migration of swallows for the winter and the mysteries of how they are able to find their way to the Mediterranean Sea. (Though this song is not well-known, I believe it was one of her most brilliant efforts). | |
This isn't about "swallows", but is instead a man who is smuggling, and his lover who is trying to talk him out of it. He says he will be over the water "like a swallow". | |
This song talks about living drunk on the streets of L.A.. "Nightrain" is the name of a very cheap wine, that the guys used to drink a lot after they become famous. | |
Apparently Nighttrain was a drink that the band members had on the road hence the "Loaded like a freight train" | |
in my own opinion the song greatly resembles the book of revelation in the bible, where bruce dickinson is representing John. he is in a dream like world where he is witnessing the end of the world. this may not be the true meaning but i think it has many connections to this | |
The song is a modern telling of an operetta (whose name escapes me) about a child struggling against possession by the Devil. Throughout the entire opera, he struggles tryign to keep Satan from possessing him while his father looks on helplessly, until the end when the child succumbs and is possessed. Bruce Dickinson tells basically the same story from the beginning where he is an observer ("What did I see? Cannot believe! That what I saw that night is real and not just fantasy."), to the middle where he feels the pull/lure of what he sees ("... the chanting hordes seem to mesmerize. Can't avoid their eyes.") to the ending where he has finally allowed the forces of evil to consume him ("... I now possess your body and I'll make you burn. I have the fire. I have the force. I have the power to make my evil take it's course.") | |
It tells about a love-crazed person who is so into the person of their desire they're willing to do anything to be able to have sex with them, hence the line "Who do you want me to be to make you sleep with me?" As it goes on the person becomes insane from this whole obsession. | |
Used as a "Psych-Out" in BASKETball, this song is about Steve Perry's girlfriend, whose name I think was really Sherrie (he may have changed the name). He plays a frustrated actor in the video, and goes into a stairwell, and begins to sing. His girlfriend (real girlfriend used in video, this inspiration for the song), and at the end he says "I kinda like you, baby." I saw this on Pop-Up Video and loved it. Irony is, Steve Perry and his girlfriend didn't last much longer past this 1984 video, but still the ultimate tribute to a significant other. | |
This country tune demonstrates a good theory of relativity between cars and girls. In the first verse, George stops at a store for some road treats and he wonders why this man keeps staring at George's Corvette. In the second verse, George invites the old man to take it for a ride. But he's taken by surprise when he realizes that it's not the car the old man is interested in; it's the woman George has with him. The description in the song's chorus would apply to both car and girl: "She was hotter than a two-dollar pistol, she was the fastest thing around. Long and lean, every young man's dream, she turned every head in town." | |
This song begins the second act of a musical called "Chess", written by Tim Rice, Benny Andersson, and Bjorn Ulvaeus (the Bs in ABBA). Head was playing Freddy Trumper, an American chess master (basically Bobby Fischer), and he is singing about an upcoming chess match in the Thai city "...the creme de la creme of the chess world, in a show with everything, but Yul Brenner" (Brenner, of course, best known as The King of Siam. Siam=Thailand.) References include chess matches from earlier in the show--"since the Tyrolean bar had the chessboards in it" refers to a match in Act One, in the Italian/German Alpine resort of Merano--and to real-life matches--"Iceland, or the Philippines, or Hastings..." Iceland, in 1972, was where Fischer defeated Russian champ Boris Spassky, which was seen as a major score for the US during the cold war. Chess-as-Cold-War is a theme in this show. | |
This song is also about how a person can be obsessed with chess to the point that they can't enjoy the sensual beauty of the city around them: "One town's very like another // When your head's down over your pieces, brother" "It's really such a pity // To be looking at the board, not looking at the city" "I don't see you guys rating // The kind of mate I'm contemplating" (as in checkmate) "I'd let you watch, I would invite you // But the queens we use would not excite you" (the queen chess pieces). | |
The song is based on the movie "Johnny Got His Gun", which in turn was based on the one-time banned novel of the same name by Dalton Trumbo. As other posters mentioned, the song/movie/novel is about a WWI soldier who was blown up by a landmine, losing his limbs (touch) and his face (sight, smell, hearing, taste, ability to talk). IOW, a "hunk of flesh." He is in his own world - actually his own private Hell; hence the title "One." He finally can communicate with the outside world via Morse Code by sitting up and down. His request: "Kill me. Kill me." This obviously fits in with Metallica's dark themes. I read the book as a direct result of the song and I think Metallica did a fine job of capturing "Johnny's" pain and isolation, as well as creating a metaphor for the pain and isolation many of us felt in the Eighties. | |
this song is about a soldier who stepped on a land-mine and he was left blind, motionless, deaf, mute, he's on life support but he's attempting to commit suicide. hence the lyrics "hold my breath as i wish for death, oh please god wake me" and "Landmine has taken my sight Taken my speech Taken my hearing Taken my arms Taken my legs Taken my soul Left me with life in hell | |
"Johnny get your gun" is the name of the movie and that is what this song is about, period. | |
This song was written by Carl Smyth and Chris Foreman . its about growing up in a mid-class british home in the 50's and 60's | |
This is definately about a young girl in trouble, exactly as the lyrics describe. Anyone doubting this should see Madonna's original and excellent video for this song, which told a complete story, with Danny Aiello playing her father. | |
In this 1986 hit song, Madonna is NOT expressing her opinion on abortion, she is simply putting her love for Sean Penn in metaphors! She is addressing everybody, friends and fans alike, who are telling her to leave Sean, that she will not leave him and that she's "keeping her baby."! So, you see, Papa is a metaphor for people who are telling her to leave Sean and she is cancelling all the preaching! Well, too bad she divorced him 3 years later! | |
This song is about fantasies and dreams, it reflects the ideal place that everybody dreams about, it's just a song about the paradise. | |
The song is about racial and sexual diversity. "I can't understand, what makes a man, hate another man, help me understand." "So we're different colors and we're different creeds, but different people have different needs." I think it's one of the best written songs. | |
This is their tribute to Marilyn Monroe. Joe Elliot stated she was one of his favorite movie stars. "You got some kind of hold on me, you're all wrapped up in a mystery, so wild and free, so far from me, you're all I want, a fantasy." "All I got is a photograph, it's not enough." | |
Morrissey said in an interview once that this was a song about when he was a teenager and always wanted to hear more disco on the radio. His parents always said, you can't always get what you want! This explains the line, '"Good Times", for a change' ("Good Times" is a famous disco song by Chic). | |
Could this song be about agoraphobia? | |
Mellencamp is all about the 'little guy', and in Rain on the Scarecrow he wanted the American farmers plight brought out into the open. | |
This song, a major hit in Australia, is about the lifestyle of Maria McKee (formerly of Lone Justice). The whole lyric is a reference to her wild behaviour on stage. | |
I, being a HUGE Duran Duran fan, can shed some light on this song. Back in the 80's when I had the word book for the album and meanings, this song simply was about a person being on stage, forgetting words and making them up as he went along. Take for instance "I'm on a ride and I want to get off/but they won't slow down around the bout, I sold the Renoir and the tv set/don't want to be around when this gets out". Hope this can shed some light that not all Duran Duran songs are about sex. | |
This song is about sex... sort of. It was more to do with AIDS. Two members of the band (if not more, though to my recollection it was just two) are homosexual. Back in the 80s when AIDS was becoming more widely known, FGtH made this song telling people not to give in to pressure and to be careful, because sex was becoming more dangerous. | |
This song is in fact in reference to sex but specifcally anal sex. " Relax, don't do it, when you wanna come" One guy asking another not to come just yet, to prolong the experience. | |
A classic, but I didn't see it listed, so I'll put it down. Nik had apparently gotten the music down, but had written dummy lyrics to go with it. Come recording time, he hadn't come up with anything, so he used the dummy lyrics, and suggested calling it "The Riddle". To this day, he's swamped with people who (a) want to know what it all means, or (b) have figured out what it all means. "Near a tree by a river there's a hole in the ground/Where an old man of Aran goes around and around..." | |
Whoever wrote the meaning of this was having a laugh! It's about riding on a motorbike without a helmet, the wind in your (very long) hair...slightly more rock & roll than writing about farting, dontcha think??? | |
This song is pretty obvious I know, but I thought I'd write anyway. It starts out with "hearts of fire, streets of stone" talking about a bad case of indigestion and basically goes on "like something they never saw before, their jaws dropping to the floor" ---"ride the wind"----referring to the massive amount of Gas he is having from the heartburn and indigestion. The gas in turn blows him off the ground until he reaches outer space and touches the moon---"never coming back until I touch the midnight sun". Hope that clears it up for some of you. Thanks. | |
This is a love song to America. The band wrote it after returning home from their first tour in the States. They described in an interview how overwhelmed they had been with the welcome they had received while here, and how they had fallen in love with this country and its people. "Rio" is the USA. | |
The song is about a girl that Izzy knew. She was gonna name her band "Rocket Queen". The last part of the song is his message to the person, like in the end there's always hope and friendship. | |
When this song was first written, it had no title or real chorus. The band was just singing "dun duh duh duh" for the chorus. One night, the band let a prayer group use the recording studio for their meeting. The next day, the band came in to work on their album, "Pyromania", and a hymn book or a bible that someone left in there was open to the song, "Rock of Ages." Singer Joe Elliott picked up the book and started singing "Rock of Ages... Rock of Ages" and the producer, Mutt Lange, loved it, and "Rock of Ages" became the song's title! | |
This 1982 hit's lyrics were about Rosanna Arquette, actress and girlfriend of one of the band's (Toto) musicians, Steve Lukather. | |
The Toto song 'Roseanna' was written by David Paich (keyboard player and founding member of Toto) during the time that a fellow Toto member was dating actress Roseanna Arquette. The song is not specifically about Roseanna Arquette....She just happened to have a very melodic sounding name and since she was a regular fixture at the shows and on the road with the band...The natural assumption was that the song was written for and/or about her. (She even admits no association to the song except for the name). The most common misconception is that Roseanna Arquette was the girlfriend of Toto guitarist STEVE LUKATHER. In point of fact Ms. Arquette was the girlfriend of the 'other Steve'...TOTO keyboard player, STEVE PORCARO | |
This is a song about kids running away from home.Take the pint of view of the kid.Beautifull. | |
"Born in the valley and raised in the trees, in western Kentucky on wobbly knees, with mama beside you to help you along, you'll soon be a-growing up strong..." This beautiful country/pop/folk tune was about the genesis of the 1980 Kentucky Derby Racehorses. | |
Actually, this song is about the 1985 Kentucky Derby winner, Spend A Buck. Most of the thoroughbred farms are located in central Kentucky around the Lexington area. Spend A Buck was born in Owensboro, KY, in the western part of the state. | |
This is an exceedingly tough song to interpret, and certainly many theories exist within the music business. Bush herself interpreted it as being about two people who are in love and how the power of love is almost too big for them-it leaves them very insecure and in fear of losing each other. She says it's also talking about the fundamental differences between man and woman. However, it is quite easy to see this as a mystical anthem, and it was once described as "a techno-pop hymn". Robert Christgau described the song as in fact being about "a woman's orgasm in 4 minutes 58 seconds", giving yet another twist. | |
This song is about a woman's experience of God. Despite the way in which a naive person could misinterpret the chorus, in fact the whole chorus is a reference to the medieval concept of "Theosis", which means becoming in the likeness of God. | |
Kate herself has gone on record often to explain what this song is about. She said that it's about the fundamental differences between men and women, and that if they were able to exchange their places once in a while, then they'd understand each other better. That's what the whole "Deal with God" is about. By the way, "A Deal With God" was the original title for the song, but Kate's record company was afraid that it would get her in hot water with the Catholic Church, so they switched it to "Running up that hill". | |
I was a big fan of this band in the 80's. I read a lot on them and saw an interview with the band. If memory serves, this was a time of the birth of thrashing where people began to dance into each other which cause quite a bit of injury. Men Without Hats designed this song with a particular beat that was exactly opposed to the beat needed for the dangerous dance, hence...Safety Dance. | |
The song is about disliking skinheads, who often weren't allowed into clubs (unless they wore hats, hence, Men Without Hats) because of their rowdy and vicious behaviour, including slam dancing (which to new wave/club kids wasn't dancing at all--which was the intention, but that's another story). The line "'cos your friends don't dance, and if they don't dance, then they're no friends of mine" is referring to the skinhead friends of some girl the new-wave-type protagonist of the song is trying to pick up. He wants her to go to a different club with him to dance and get to know her better, put down the pretensions and just have fun, and he's taking a strong stand on how skinheads ruin a club's good time. "Safety Dance" is actually supposed to mean "safe to dance"--a soundalike, like Blondie's "Isle of You", geddit? No threat of getting pummelled on the dance floor if you just take off to another club where the skinheads aren't. I guess you have to have actually been pummelled on a dance floor by some skinheads many, many moons ago to "get" this song. | |
Theorize all you want, the Montreal-based band has said time and again the song is about nuclear war. VH1 Pop-Up videos confirmed this as well. Specifically, the song mocks the theory that nuclear weapons make us safer because of "mutually assured destruction." | |
This song was written during the early 80s. It was the gay communities still rising worries of aids coming to words in this song. This song had the point, that if You feared aids, You feared life. And . .that if You loved life, You would still act the way as all gays did ! .. The text is very strong in these lines . "We can dance if we want to, Wewe got all Your life and mine,As long as we abuse it never going to lose it, Everything will work out right" No doubt about the strong meaning of this song. And plese do not judge the writers of the song, they lived and breathed in the environment of gay people, they were just trying to make a statement, and a powerfull movement in the gay publicity .. Unfortunately .. Nobody took Men Without Hats seriously .. One may wonder why ? | |
This is only a guess, but I think this song is a metaphor for safe sex. Even the band's name appears to refer to sex without condoms. | |
about the book of revelations listen to the song and read.. or read and listen to the song | |
Quite contrary to what is stated in the previous explanation, this song is literally about 'shaking the disease'. Dave Gahan, as we all know, used to be heavy on drugs. He wrote this song as he was going through rehab. So, the song is not about letting go of love, but becoming 'clean'. For he who does not believe me: check VH1 a little more often! | |
This song is about feeling treachery of being obsolved with another person and hating yourself for it. Trying to escape love or as the song is entitled "Shake the Disease". This song was meant to relate with people with serious obsessions with other people, girls in particular who they knew they could never have or if they did could never accept themselves for it. | |
It describes that anyone can find true love, even a professor. | |
Masturbation. I'm serious. Read it. And then go and find your 'danger zone.' | |
The song is about female masturbation. This is such a taboo subject and the song is quite a risque release. "They say I'd better stop, or I'll go blind," dervies from an old saying to stop women from pleasuring themselves! | |
Nothing mysterious here...just a very unusual subject for a song: menstruation...yes, a woman having her "period". Actually, the concept worked rather well. It is told as a first-person narrative by the woman's man in a very sensitive way. Part of the first verse: "She was washing the dishes/When she burst into tears/It was her time of the month/She was up to her ears". The man goes on to comfort his woman as well as he can, saying at the end of the chorus: "She's lucky she doesn't have to shave/I'm so lucky, I'm not doubled up in pain". Pure genius from Squeeze's master (and only) lyricist, Chris Difford. | |
Shout is about letting go of and shouting out against things that really disturb you. Curt Smith described the song as a "protest" song. | |
This song is about war and the people living in it. Peter was born in 1956, so from that fact, I am guessing that this song was about war and poverty in the 1930's and 1940's. The lyrics "the weak are kept aware of their weakness" shows people in poverty and "mothers are protected by drunken fathers" is perhaps saying about dysfunctional families and broken homes. This song fits perfectly with Peter because he wrote songs about war. | |
this song is an extended metaphor for composer Tim Finn's mental breakdown due to life on the road in a band. The metaphor is with a 19th century sailor. It begins: "When i was a young boy, I wanted to sail round the world." He's recalling the dreams he had as a budding musician to be in a band, get famous, and tour the world. However, now having done that, it is not the stuff of dreams and it cost him his sanity for a while ("lucky just to keep afloat.") Basically the song is about the chaos involved in being a famous rock star. | |
"Six Months..." was is a glimpse into a day in the life of a European seafarers (like Capt. Cook). This particular sailor drempt as a child of being an explorer and eventually travelled half way around the world to Aotearoa/New Zealand. The beginning ("Pioneer") and end piece punctuate the lonely and isolation of these adventurers. This song was eventually banned by the BBC during the Falkland Island incident as it was thought to be an anti-British song. | |
In the eighties the radio network was owned by the NZ Government & it was illegal to broadcast privately, so in protest one station called Hauraki (after the gulf of water surrounding the city of Auckland) started the station by broadcasting from a boat in the Hauraki Gulf - hence "i just spent six months in a leaky boat, working just to keep afloat". One radio station worker drowned during the time they were at sea. | |
I once watched a television interview starring Bryan Ferry, and he said the song Slave To Love from his 1985 Boys And Girls album is about the sacrifices a father makes for his children. It has nothing to do with bondage, as some have said, nor any kind of romantic relationship. The video for this song shows Ferry holding and dancing with a small girl, presumably his fictional daughter. Actually, Ferry has four sons with his ex-wife, Vogue model Lucy Helmore. Also, Ferry was once engaged to be married to Jerry Hall, better known as Mick Jagger's former love interest. Hall appears as a mermaid (siren) on 1975's Siren album by Roxy Music, Ferry's former band. | |
The song is about a gay boy who faces homophobia, loneliness, and family misunderstanding. He makes friends, but is attacked by a gang of homophobes and a policeman brings him back to his home. He catches a train, where he is reunited with his friends. This plot is depicted in the video. Apparently, Jimmy Somerville is gay in real life. | |
I wrote an analysis for this song for a writing portfolio during my senior year in writing class. I described this song as a hopeless romantic looking for the perfect girl, and the fact that everywhere he goes, seeing guys with their girls isn't helping the situation. He hopes that the perfect girl is out there, but until then, he'll keep looking. It's funny about this song--I heard this song for the millionth time when my boyfriend and I broke up during my senior year of high school, and it gave me a little bit of hope--it could be worse! | |
After a fight with his wife Dan Hill went to his "music room" and started composing some rather angry lyrics based on the fight they just had. When he started working out the tune on his piano, his wife came in to see what he was working on. When she looked at what he wrote she pointed out that he was being very one-sided and offered suggestions on changes to the lyrics that incorporated her point of view. They collaborated on the new lyrics and this resulted in the beautiful love song for which Dan Hill is most famous. | |
This song was written both as a call to arms for the working class to take a more active role in the political process ("It's high time we made a stand, and shook-up the views of the common man...") and to protest the re-election of Margaret Thatcher as Prime Minister by the Conservative MPs in parliament, and their repressive policies ("and the headline, says you're free to choose, there's egg on your face and mud on your shoes... The politician Granny with your high ideals, have you no idea how the majority feels?" In addition to being very popular, Tears for Fears was also one of THE biggest Political Protest / Activist groups of the 80s. | |
This song is about USA during the Reagan years, "Religion, sex are power plays, manipulate the people for the money they pay, selling skin, selling god, the numbers The look the same on their credit cards Politicians say no to drugs While we pay for wars in south america" this is one of the more central parts of the song, as it shows how corrupt the system and society. All in all it is a song about a sick society, according to them, where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. | |
It depicts the UK-Argentian war. | |
The song is about the aftermath of the Vietnam War and how American soldiers fathered a lot of children over there. Lyrics like, "See me got photo photo photograph of you and Mamma Mamma Mamma-san." and "Wanna join in a chorus of the Amerasian blues." Basically, American soldiers didn't want to take responsibility for their actions, and refused to acknowledge their own children. | |
Strange nobody yet commented on this one. I listened to it carefully only a few times and I realized it was quite likely about S/M. Depeche Mode lyrics in general are very often openly erotic. And I think it's not so hard when you have such refrain: "Strange love / Will you give it to me / will you take the pain / I will give to you / again and again / and will you return it?" I also completely agree with their statement from the same song: "I give in / to sin / cos you have to make this life livable." | |
This song is very much about many things. First of all. it is about the lead singer fallen in love with drugs. He feels they give him something creative, but he fears the negative things they will bring .. because he knows them. He still cannot perform without them, they make him feel alive, so he goes on "taking a riverfull", but "yes and Ill make it all worthwhile".. through his creativiness .. gained by drugs ! This is the beginning of his fall into drugs. Very epicly described in this song ! He knew what he led himself into, but he felt he had to ! Compose !! To create he had to be creative through the drugs !!! It also has something to do with his belief in God. Strangelove is the very strange character from Stanley Cubrik, the one who cannot control his Nazi arm though he is now in the nuclear program of the USA. This is why Strangelove .. and/or "strange" is mentionned 4 times in the first verse, and the third and the 5 th ! He sins constantly, but he still feels that he is giving something back to mankind ! He is in the dilemma, that he thinks that his sins is creating himself, and keeping him from God ! Still, this song is about drugs.. leading to the lead singer ending up in an institution clearing him from the drugs ! Creativeness has it price .. so he states !! He felt the drugs gave him creativiness, but they claimed a price ! And he knew that in advance !! Pete | |
Actually, "Strut" is about pornography, but it's not about Sheena being offered money. It's about how pornography affects some men's perception of women - they see them as sex objects and nothing more. The guy is treating her like a sex object ("all this fascination with leather and lace is just smoke from another fire"), and her answer is "Watch me baby while I walk out the door". The verses are actually what the guy tells Sheena ("Come on over here, lay your clothes on the chair, now let the lace fall across your shoulder, lie down here beside me, oh have some fun too"), and the chorus is her answer ("come on baby, whatcha taking me for ?"). | |
This song is about the dangers for women of pornography and prostitution. It describes how men want to offer women money for sex, but Easton rejects their offer repreatedly, even when she tells the man to "lay your clothes on the chair." | |
This song refers to the "crush" that Morrissey has on James Dean, and how he identifies with this tragic figure and how he died tragically. Morrissey always go for the sad side of the story. | |
I believe this song means sex between a man and women Where I came from there's a place called heaven That's the place where all the good children go The houses are of silver, the streets are gold But there's more where you come from, my sugar walls Blood races to your private spots, that lets me know there's a fire You can't fight passion when passion is hot Temperatures rise inside my sugar walls Chorus: Lemme take you somewhere you've never been I could show you things you've never seen I could make you never wanna fall in love again Come spend the night inside my sugar walls Take advantage, it's alright I feel so alive when I'm with you Come and feel my presence, it's reigning tonight Heaven on earth inside my sugar walls chorus I can tell you want me, it's impossible to hide Your body's on fire, admit it! Come inside Come inside my sugar walls Come spend the night inside my sugar walls | |
This song was dedicated to Kylie Minogue, Michael hutchence had a big influence in her new image. Later according to Wikipedia's Bio. of Michael Hutchence Kym Wilson, became the new suicide girl after it was known that she was one of the last persons who saw him alive. | |
The Edge wrote the music to this song and Bono wrote the lyrics. The lyrics refer to the 2nd Irish Bloody Sunday which occured on 30 January 1972, that particular time in Northern Ireland and how Bono and Edge were outcasts in that they would not take sides and condemned violence from both the IRA and the British Forces. The first verse is about 30 Sept 1972. The second verse is about the aftermath. He sings, "I won't heed the battlecall, it puts my back up against the wall." which is him explaining by not taking sides he was looked down on by both sides. The third verse is referring to the warring between Prodestant and Catholic and how it was destroying the relationship Christians should have with each other. The forth verse is about the media on both sides covering up their own garbage to blame the other. It then continues on the idea of the third verse while subtly asking the question from God's eyes, "I died for you so you could kill each other in my name?" Absolutely a brilliant piece of music that was a great call for peace needed during that time of history. | |
The song title is NOTHING! PURE NONESENSE! In an MTV interview Phil stated so. He penned the music first, then the lyrics. Sussudio was a nonsense word he used as a sound while writing. He just left it there after nothing else fit. Ever meet someone named Sussudio? And, how rude but to rail on the guy at the recording studio. Good way to get your session recordings messed up... | |
This song is (I think) about a man talking to a woman who is shy and a little reserved, and he's trying to get her to take a chance with him. A really great song. Gotta love those high notes, eh? | |
The song was written in memory of his friend, Laura, who got killed in a car accident. | |
It's really about the birth of a child, but from the father's point of view. All the thoughts that go through his head as his life is about to change forever. The video was a great illustration of that. When my wife got pregnant, I started hearing that song in a whole different way - and let me tell you, it doesn't get more real than this. | |
This song is about the labors in the birth of a child. It expresses the fears and difficulties involved in having a baby ("Now starts the craft of the father). | |
Though everyone was caught up by the stirring score, Paul Buchanan said in an interview that the song was about finding true love in the middle of city life. He goes into some pretty grating descriptions of the rat race, but comes out that love can be found if you overcome the cynicism so rampant in the asphalt jungle. | |
Actually I heard it was about the faces that people make when they are having an orgasm. I heard this late one night on the radio during an 80's count down. If I remember correctly it was a recorded quote from the band. It's also common knowledge among many of my friends, who have heard this, also. | |
Although on the web site it says the meaning of this song isn't masturbation it actually is and this was confirmed on VH1's One Hit Wonders Of The 80's TV Special. They showed of the Vapors who confirmed the song meaning in a recent interview. | |
People, I think you are overanalyzing and trying to read more into this song than is there. This guy loves his girlfriend so much and wants to take so many pictures of her that he thinks he's "turning Japanese," i.e., a very un-politically correct reference to the stereotype of Japanese tourists and their ever-present cameras. Come on, masturbation? That's a major interpretative stretch with these lyrics. | |
This song is REALLY about love, not masterbation. It was on VH1 a while back. The lead singer had alot of troubled relationships, in which he would become obsessed with the girl, and she wouldnt like him. "its got my turning up and turning in and turing round, I think im trunning japanese" are words used to describe his feelings of confusion, because hes become so obsessed he doesnt even know who he is anymore, he could be japanese for all he knows. | |
I was reading a 1984 interview with Duran Duran and Simon LeBon was asked this: Q: "What about the song 'Union of the Snake'? A: "I'll tell ya. The union of the snake is the union of the snake and the man. The snake symbolizes a kind of subconscious power force or strength, and the song is really about the fears of the subconscious mind breaking through to the conscious mind." | |
Unskinny Bop (even though released in the 90's) is a song about a fat girl with massive gas. as seen in lyrics such as, "Whats got you so jumpy? Why cant you sit still, yeah? Like gasoline you wanna pump me And leave me when you get your fill, yeah". Obviously she liked to gas him torturously and then run. He even tried to get some fresh air, "Come up for air you push me to the floor Whats been going on in that head of yours" and last but not least is the infamous reference to how she like to gas him all day. All he wanted was sex, but he only received gas. "Unskinny bop Just blows me away Unskinny bop, bop All night and day Unskinny bop, bop, bop, bop She just loves to play Unskinny bop nothin more to say" Hope this has been helpful | |
My dad told me that this song was a love song from Billy Joel to Christie Brinkley. He also said that he never sings it anymore. I'm not sure abut that, but it's a classic song. | |
This song from "From Langley Park To Memphis" is about a witch who leaves a group of old men completely crippled and in constant fear. In the ending, the old men are left sleeping on the floor of the witch's house. | |
Elvis (Declan Patrick MacManus) has stated in many interviews that this song was written about his grandmother who suffered from Alzheimer's and the pain he went thru watching her spiral away. | |
I once heard an interview with Costello explaining the song was about his grandmother. | |
This song haunts me because it is about a young woman who argues with her man and he joins the service (it's set in WWII era), and goes off to war and they part angry. Then she finds out that his ship has sunk (a picture of her goes down with him) and she says his name one more time than never speaks again. 65 years later she's still in a catatonic state. It's tragic - and wonderful. Written and performed by Elvis Costello. | |
This song is about his grandmother who had Alzheimer's and her experiences in a nursing home. He is reflecting on what may be going through her mind and who she once was. The line about the man going off to war happened 65 years ago, and "she spoke his name out loud again" because people with dementia eventually forget the present and believe they are living in the past. Listen to the lyrics from this perspective and you'll understand. | |
Before you say that ABBA was a 70's group, The Visitors was realeased in 1981. This song is speaking of a person about to be killed in their home. They are describing their house and talk about memories there. In one line it says "None of my friends would be so stupidly impatient." This clues that this person might be a spy or is in a secret organization. | |
This song's talking about a guy living a lonely life and looking for love, with no sucess. One day finally, he meets the right girl and to him, she's like magic. She changes his entire life and represents everything he's been looking for. | |
This song is about a guy having an affair.If you don't get the intro than at the end Dave says 'I know she would kill me if she kill me if she found out about my other lover Diana' | |
This song was written, according to the band's singer Andrew Eldritch, as the band's guitarist Gary Marx was becoming distanced from the band. The relationship with Marx was falling apart, and Eldritch could see it. | |
This song is about prejudice and the state of our world today. Instead of solving the problems, Hornsby says, "That's just the way it is/Some things will never change/That's just the way it is/Something will stay the same..." Powerful song. | |
This song is basically about Hollywood streets. Axl Rose wrote the words in Seattle. Axl:"I just wrote how it looked to me." | |
This song is about life son the streets of Los Angeles and the dangers people face. | |
It is not about wars being fought. It is about the PMRC, and the hearing with the RIAA on censorship of music. | |
A song about the intolerance of wars being fought. | |
This song is about war, not between countries, but the war between artists in the 80's who came under scrutiny because of their lyrics/content by Tipper Gore (Al Gore's wife). Henceforth, we now have the "Parental Advisory-Explicit Content" stickers on recoreds. | |
This song, though oscure at first, is a tribute to the (then) recently deceased soul singer Marvin Gaye, decribed as "that angel voice". | |
This was written and recorded shortly after Bono and his wife returned from volunteer work in Africa. The camps they were working in literally had no names for the streets. | |
One theory that I've heard about this song, is that it's about Ronald Reagan and his ability to dodge criticism and skeptics by giving, "the past the slip" and dealing with issues before they blow up into something serious; "when a problem comes along you must whip it, before the cream sits out too long you must whip it, when something's going wrong you must whip it." Amyways, that's the story I heard behind the meaning of this song. I could be wrong. | |
The Song is about heroin. "It's a nice day to start again. It's a nice day for a white wedding! It's a nice day to start again." He used to use "Lets have a White Wedding" as code for doing heroin. "Hey little sister what have you done, Hey little sister who's the only one (only one)I've been away for so long (so long)I've been away for so long (so long)I let you go for so long" Sister is the actually the heroin, and how he stopped doing it and then started again. "There is nothin' fair in this world There is nothin' safe in this world And there's nothin' sure in this world And there's nothin' pure in this world Look for something left in this world. Start Again!" When the world is crap he pretty much starts up heroin again. | |
This is actually a song about being off of cocaine for awhile and the "white wedding" of getting high again. It's about drugs, people....not a real wedding! | |
This song is about Billy's sentimments against marriage (he said that him self in a VH1 interview a few years ago). Interestingly many people play this song at their weddings even though it's against marriage. | |
This song is about billys sister who is forceing herself into a marraige, due to the fact that she is pregnant, not for love but for that she feels obliged to it. | |
At first I thought this track from the 80's though it sounds like it but it was actuallt released in 1990 and thought it was about the Berlin Wall's fall but it's actually about Russia getting independent from the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics one year later. Somehow Klaus Meine felt the wind of change. What I'm still thinking of is the chorus: "Take me to the magic of the moment on a glory night where the children of tomorrow share their dreams with you and me": I believe he was hoping for freedom in a peaceful way. If you know more about USSR's dissolution, you're good to help me figure this song out which is already a Rock all-time classic by this German all-time classic band. | |
For me the meaning is quite obvious. He was younger (the young apprentice) and attracted (caught) by a married woman (the ring around your finger). At the beginning he just wanted to have sex (only..seeking knowledge..not teach me of in college), and thought she was stupid to get married ("The destiny you sold, turned into a" ring). Then he changed his mind. "I'll marry you" he says ("I'll be wrapped around your finger"). But things went wrong. (Mephistopheles is not your name..but ..you're up to just the same) So he left her (Devil and the deep blue sea behind me), but she still wanted him, so now the situation is reversed (you'll find your servant is your master / and you'll be wrapped around my finger). | |
I did my research and the submitted meanings and interpretation of The Police song "Wrapped Around Your Finger" are all incorrect. Here's the real story. This song is "told" by Nimue, Merlin's, the magician and wizard, female apprentice. Line by line, if you study the lyrics of "Wrapped around Your Finger", you will find it tells the story of Merlin and Nimue's relationship. Scylla was a beautiful maiden transformed into a monster sometimes described as having six dogs' heads on long necks. Scylla's cave was in a seaside cliff overlooking a strait that also harbored a phenomenal whirlpool called Charybdis. The twin perils are memorialized in the expression "between Scylla and Charybdis". This choice of equally dreadful alternatives was presented to Odysseus on his journey home from the Trojan war. He chose to avoid Charybdis at the expense of losing six sailors to Scylla's multiple jaws. This song at first appears to be about manipulation of someone. The lyrics, under closer examination, are actually about death, and it's inevitability. References can be found subliminally in many places in the song. The story varies from incarnation to incarnation, but many details are consistent: Merlin takes a female apprentice, Nimue, whom he educates in the ways of magic. She eventually learns enough to capture, imprison, or kill Merlin. Examples?Trapping him in an object such as a ring ("turned into a shining band of gold") or turning him to stone ("I will turn your face to alabaster") are not unusual in various recountings. Also, the mentioning of Mephistopheles in the song is likely meant to parallel the fact that Merlin is purported to be the son of the devil. | |
I think he's talking about his relationship with an older women whose married (Staring at the ring around your finger.) This is his first time or experience. And she's teaching him, which is something he can not learn in college. He's the young apprentice or student. And he's wrapped around her finger, learning everthing he knows from her. She is not the devil (Mephistopheles) but she's behaves like a devil. Yet he'll continue the relationship with her until it's over. Then he'll move on (Devil and the deep blue sea behind me). She'll never see him again. But in the end she'll turn white (alabaster) from surprise, because he gains experience and he becomes the master and she becomes the student, wrapped around his finger. But he'll still be wrapped around her finger too, because everything he learned he learned from her. | |
I was once told that this song was about a young man making his introduction to the world of the occult. (I have only come here seeking knowledge, Things they would not teach me of in college)(Servant is your Master) etc... I think the real clincher is the line (Mephistophles is not your name, but I know what you're up to just the same.) With Sting's background as a literature teacher I have no doubt this is referring to Mephistophles in Dante's "Inferno". Mephistophles is the devil who leads the main character down to Hell. | |
This song is about selling one's dreams for wealth and power. Mephistopheles is from Goethe's famous work "Faust", the demon against whom Faust wagers his soul for a life of pleasure. (Sorry, but Dante is led through the Inferno by the Latin poet Virgil). In the first verse of the song, the apprentice notices that his master sold out his future for wealth (I can see the destiny you sold, Turned into a shining band of gold). The apprentice desires to be even greater than his master, so he does the same thing his master did, sacrifice a good life for one of greatness. The change at the end (I will turn you face to alabaster, when you find your servant is your master, YOU'LL be wrapped around MY finger) symbolizes the student's ambitions to overtake his teacher. Perhaps it also involves the occult, but the real message is, how far are we willing to go to achieve success? | |
What do shining bands of gold and the phrase Wrapped Around Your Finger remind you of? This song is clearly about Stings first marriage and subsequent divorce. Remember he got divorced before the synchronicity album was released. Apparently they did not divorce on good terms. | |
This song from The Seeds Of Love {almost a concept album about social and political injustice} is about the death of the king and the crisis it causes in a changing British society. | |
This song is about two people who are just normal people in love and the don't want to prove anything | |
This is a song about courtship; learning someone's name, getting their number, becoming their friend, then wanting to become more than friends. You do not really know if they are accepting your advances -- they're spinning you around. |
Do You Have a Song Meaning to Share?
Please check out the Song Meaning submission page.
Concert Reviews
80s Cover Bands
Planning an 80s Night
Radio Shows & Clubs
Clubs from the 80s
Compilation Reviews
Album Reviews
Music Trivia
Real Places
Featured in Songs
Lyrics Quizzes
Cold War Songs
Protest Songs
Nuclear War Songs
"Do They Know
It's Christmas?"
"We Are The World"
90s Bands
with an 80s Sound
Benefits
Christmas Music
Favorite Songs
From Movies
Music in Commercials
Meaning Behind Lyrics
Favorite Lyrics
80s Dances
Covered Songs
Covers in the 80s
Christmas Compilations
Favorite Music Videos
Top 5 Songs
About Masturbation
Perfect 80s Videos
Top Ten Songs
Top Ten Albums
Top Ten Music Videos
99 Red Balloons
(Eng/Ger) Comparison
Posters of 80s Bands
Music Poster Books
,Check out ChuckyG's reviews of books about concert posters and other music picture books.
Music
