| Songs you've misunderstood - lyrics or meaning behind them [message #86615] |
Mon, 20 November 2017 23:43  |
Lost the Remote
Messages: 145
Registered: June 2017
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Master |
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I like the song "One Night In Bangkok" but as a teen I thought it was about gay bathhouses and Middle Eastern political scandals. I thought the chess references were just euphemisms for that other stuff.
I'm a fan of "Born in the U.S.A." and always thought it was about American pride, but no, it's really about how terribly Americans treated Vietnam veterans upon their return from war. Who knew? Clearly not the politicians who play the song during their campaigns as a mark of patriotism.
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| Re: Songs you've misunderstood - lyrics or meaning behind them [message #86700 is a reply to message #86615] |
Sun, 03 December 2017 11:35  |
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Wayne Parham
Messages: 18792
Registered: January 2001
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Illuminati (33rd Degree) |
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The song, "Your Woman" by "White Town" is one I misunderstood for years. It was a one-hit wonder from 1997, and it was catchy but creepy to me. The reason it was creepy was I thought it was a gay man or transgender singing to an unrequited lover.
But it turns out it was about a woman and a man. It wasn't a gay thing at all. Actually, according to the artist that wrote it, he wanted it to express several perspectives.
White Town's sole band member and writer of "Your Woman", Jyoti Prakash Mishra, has stated that the lyrics could stem from or be related to multiple situations. He says "When I wrote it, I was trying to write a pop song that had more than one perspective. Although it's written in the first person the character behind that viewpoint isn't necessarily what the casual listener would expect".
Mishra writes that the themes of the song include: "Being a member of an orthodox Trotskyist / Marxist movement. Being a straight guy in love with a lesbian. Being a gay guy in love with a straight man. Being a straight girl in love with a lying, two-timing, fake-arse Marxist. The hypocrisy that results when love and lust get mixed up with highbrow ideals."
The '>Abort, Retry, Fail?_' message that appeared on some inlay cards is explained by the artist thus: "Well, this cheerful message became a kind of shibboleth for me and sort-of characterizes what's been going on for me the last few years." The song was mixed on a Atari ST computer.
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