My Top 10 Misunderstood Songs Review

Well, I started thinking about a few songs that I liked and sang and then realized they had totally different meanings than I thought. I want to share a few with you. And then I'd love you to share your "misunderstood song meanings" with me in my comments area!

These are in no order, just off the top of my head.

Seven Songs I Listened To, Not Realizing Their Meanings

1.) Timothy by the Buoys

This song came out ages ago - before I was born. I was really young when I heard it and I thought it was a sad song about three guys trapped in a mine who struggle to stay alive. When they are saved, one of them is missing and is never found.

Uh...well, that is true but this line should have clued me into where Timothy went:       

"My stomach was full as it could be
And nobody ever got around
To finding Timothy"

The two friends ATE Timothy! They killed their friend and ate him and no one knew. They assumed he was just missing in the cave. I had NO idea when I was young that this song was about cannibalism. My older brother told me. I was aghast. I still get grossed out when I think about someone sitting down and writing a song about eating their buddy to stay alive. And that I liked the stupid song!

2.) Unskinny Bop by Poison

I always loved this song but never knew what the heck an "unskinny bop" was. Was it a fat bop? Just a catchy tune with no meaning at all? For years I sang this song with no idea what it meant. Bret Michaels revealed years after the song was released in a little known song called "Bret's Song" exactly what Unskinny Bop was:
"Rock stars, movie stars, a Hollywood scene
I eat dinner with Nick Cage and Charlie Sheen
Nick asks me what the hell unskinny bop means
It's slang for CC banging a porno queen."

Well, now I know what I am singing about. I just would rather not picture it!

3.) Mack the Knife by Bobby Darin

I have no idea why I loved this song as a kid but I did. I remember requesting it at places with bands and DJ's when I was in college. Everyone knew I was a big fan of this lighthearted song. I still love the song and still sing it at the top of my lungs when no one is around. But for many, many years I had no idea what Mack the Knife really was.

Mack is a gangster, a head of a gang that does unthinkable things. Mackie is a killer! This isn't a lighthearted song. It's a song about a guy who goes around killing people and stealing their money. I always wondered what this particular verse meant:                                                                                                                                                                                                   
"A-there's a tugboat ... huh, huh, huh ... down by the river don'tcha know
Where a cement bag's just a'droopin' on down
Oh, that cement is just, it's there for the weight, dear
Five'll get ya ten old Macky's back in town."

Mack killed the guy and weighed him down with cement in the river.

But I still like the song. I just wish I had known as a kid that I was singing about a vicious killer stabbing people and hiding their bodies. Haha.

4.) Dancing with Myself by Billy Idol

OK, call me dumb but I really thought Billy Idol was dancing alone. I do. I dance with myself at home all the time. I never thought he meant anything else. Then I was watching VH1 and they were explaining certain songs and to my naïve surprise, I found out that Billy wasn't "dancing" with himself. He was um ... well ... let's just say if the old wives tale about going blind if you do a certain thing applies, Billy Idol would have lost his sight.

I suppose this verse kind of says it:
"Oh, when there's no one else in sight
In the crowded, lonely night
Well, I wait so long for my love vibration
And I'm dancing with myself."

I still dance with myself but never in public like Billy Idol did. Bwahaha. Who knew? Not me!

5.) Turning Japanese by The Vapors

I never knew what the heck they meant when they said they were turning Japanese. I mean, who turns into another nationality? It was a catchy tune and I liked it but I thought it was pretty meaningless.

I knew the lyrics and still didn't get it:
"I've got your picture, I've got your picture
I'd like a million of you all to myself
I want a doctor to take your picture
So I can look at you from inside as well
You've got me turning oh I'm turning yeah I'm turning now I'm
turning that
I'm turning Japanese I think I'm turning Japanese I really think
so"

VH1 told me what it meant and I honestly don't know if I can share it here. Let's just say The Vapors and Billy Idol have a thing or two in common. Apparently, men look Japanese when they dance with themselves. Sheesh. And I thought the song was just a funny little dumb song. Now I just think it's a dumb song.

6.) Follow Me by Uncle Kracker

I love this song. I love Uncle Kracker. This song seems like a very obvious love song about a man who is having an affair with a married woman and who is telling her that he understands that she is attached but he is good for her and as long as no one knows, it can't hurt anyone. Yes, I know that is not moral and all that but I still love the song.

Then controversy started. The chorus in particular got people talking:
"You don't know how you met me
"You don't know why, you cant turn around and say good-bye
All you know is when I'm with you I make you free
And swim through your veins like a fish in the sea"

Uncle Kracker eventually did a Rolling Stone interview and implied the song was about heroin. HEROIN! It all makes sense when I listen to the song now. Swim through your veins, can't say good bye...It's about a heroin addict and I'm crushed. Not that adultery is better than drug addiction but still. Oh well, I still like the stupid song no matter what the heck it is about.

7.) Martha, My Dear by The Beatles

This song is a very simple little love song. Or is it? Apparently not. Even though the lyrics are simple, like these:
"Take a good look around you
Take a good look you're bound to see
That you and me were meant to be for each other
Silly girl."

Seems simple enough but it later came out that "Martha" was Paul McCartney's old sheepdog! WHAT? Another theory that is that Martha was Paul's muse - the voice in his head that led him to write all the great songs he did and he later named his dog after his muse. Whatever the real story is, it isn't a simple little love story as the lyrics lead you to believe.

Those are seven songs I now know the meaning of that I didn't before but I have a few that I am dying to understand.

8.) I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That) by Meatloaf

People have many theories but I finally found a copy of the full lyrics and it looks like he'll do anything for love but he won't leave her. Which makes no sense but take a look for yourself:

"[Girl:] I know the territory, I've been around
It'll all turn to dust and we'll all fall down
And sooner or later, you'll be screwing around

[Boy:] I won't do that! No I won't do that!

Anything for love, oh I would do anything for love
I would do anything for love, but I won't do that, no I won't do that"

So, he'd do anything for love but he won't cheat. Isn't that sort of stupid considering cheating really isn't for love, it's against it? Many people have other explanations that make more sense but there it is in black and white so I guess I'll have to concede that this song makes no sense. Unless you have a better explanation. I'd love to hear it!

9.) Squeeze Box by The Who

Look, I know that Mama doesn't have a squeezebox she wears on her chest and plays it all night keeping her husband awake. I mean, who even has those stupid accordions and why would they play it in bed? But what does the song mean?

It seems to have overt sexual connotations as noted by this verse:
"She goes, squeeze me, come on and squeeze me
Come on and tease me like you do
I'm so in love with you
Mama's got a squeeze box
Daddy never sleeps at night"

I thought about it until my brain hurts. I'll just listen to the song and not ask questions.

10.) MacArthur Park by Richard Harris

This is the craziest song I have ever heard. I have read that the lyrics mean absolutely nothing. I almost believe that.
"MacArthur's Park is melting in the dark
All the sweet, green icing flowing down
Someone left the cake out in the rain
I don't think that I can take it
'Cause it took so long to bake it
And I'll never have that recipe again
Oh, no!"

Ehhh...huh? Anyone have a theory about what this song means because I sure don't. It's like random words thrown together and sung. And it went all the way to #2 on the charts at the time even though no one had a clue what it meant and I don't think anyone does now!

(Honorable mention goes to Same as it Ever Was by Talking Heads. No clue what it means. Never did have a clue what it meant. But they never made sense.)

I have shared 10 songs with you and now it is time to share with me. What songs did/do you like but didn't realize their true meaning until well after you heard the songs? And what songs do you just not get at all? We may all learn something!

Thanks for reading my ramblings. It's been fun. I'm sure I will think of 100 more songs after I hit publish but I'll save them for another post.

Now, I am off to listen "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida " and I actually know what THAT means!

Patty