FTA: 8. "This Land Is Your Land," Woody Guthrie
..."As I was walkin', I saw a sign there and that sign said-No trespassin'. But on the other side, it didn't say nothin'! Now that sign was made for you and me!" This song is often grouped with "God Bless America" as patriotic tunes, but Guthrie had the opposite intention.

First off - get the lyrics right:

As I went walking I saw a sign there
And on the sign it said "No Trespassing."
But on the other side it didn't say nothing,
That side was made for you and me.

Secondly, I suppose it depends on what you think patriotic means. Idiot.

That shiat was bananas.

And it's a little known fact that Limp Bizkit's "Nookie" is really a rally against a Eucharistic literalism.

The singers desperate cry to "take the cookie and stick it up your(yea)" is an obvious inference that transubstantiation of the Host is a fallacious notion at best and suggests an appropriate action to take for one espousing such a view.

Oh, and Faith No More's "EPIC" is about masturbation.

I am always amazed how many people are too stupid to understand the intent behind Born in the USA.

Lee Iacocca most notably.

Outtaphase:

First off - get the lyrics right:



There are so many versions of the lyrics to that song. Still, I admit using "sign" was pretty idiotic.

Three farking pages for an introductory paragraph and 8 tiny blurbs?

Really?

Really?

T.M.S.: There are so many versions of the lyrics to that song. Still, I admit using "sign" was pretty idiotic.

Fair enough. I figure his official site (pops) is a pretty good guess as to what he wrote though.

Wrong.

Link (pops)

I wonder if Green Day find it ironic or sad that Time of Your Life has become some sort of staple graduation ceremony song.

Bar none, the best and funniest translation (new window) of Hollaback Girl I've ever seen. It was originally published by the Orange County Weekly, I believe, but their formatting is weird.

Still doesn't explain why someone would want to douche like a runner in the night...

ZombieStomper: And it's a little known fact that Limp Bizkit's "Nookie" is really a rally against a Eucharistic literalism.

The singers desperate cry to "take the cookie and stick it up your(yea)" is an obvious inference that transubstantiation of the Host is a fallacious notion at best and suggests an appropriate action to take for one espousing such a view.

Oh, and Faith No More's "EPIC" is about masturbation.

Limp Bizkit is all about consubstatiation. It is also reflected in the band's name. Most of their music has been adopted by Billy Graham and his ilk in the hymnals of their churches. Pope John Paul George Ringo has taken another stance.

/Your Own Personal Jesus is about masturbation, too.

I'll be in the bathroom on the right.

40yoVirgin: Still doesn't explain why someone would want to douche like a runner in the night...

Or the importance of Smokin' Joe Walters, besides being "the fire engine guy".

I remember seeing VH1 when Stipe explained "Losing my Religion", and thinking well yeah, who the hell doesn't know that?

Yes I'm southern, and I was only about 14 when I saw that.

Also on REM I always thought the line "a simple prop, to occupy my time" referred to the song itself. Guess I was wrong.

Trajan's Call'Em: ZombieStomper: And it's a little known fact that Limp Bizkit's "Nookie" is really a rally against a Eucharistic literalism.

The singers desperate cry to "take the cookie and stick it up your(yea)" is an obvious inference that transubstantiation of the Host is a fallacious notion at best and suggests an appropriate action to take for one espousing such a view.

Oh, and Faith No More's "EPIC" is about masturbation.

Limp Bizkit is all about consubstatiation. It is also reflected in the band's name. Most of their music has been adopted by Billy Graham and his ilk in the hymnals of their churches. Pope John Paul George Ringo has taken another stance.

/Your Own Personal Jesus is about masturbation, too.

Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On" is also about masturbation.

"Whip It" by Devo, on the other hand, is about doing penance and the consequences of sin.

I could've sworn that Lucy In The Sky with Diamonds was admitted by McCartney as being about LSD... It was a recent admittance, if I recall.

Pirate Satellite: Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On" is also about masturbation.

"Whip It" by Devo, on the other hand, is about doing penance and the consequences of sin.

To be fair, Celine Dion's entire career is masturbation.

My goodness, Vicki Santillano writes prose like a middle-schooler. You know, there are wonderful classes that you can take...

Pirate Satellite:
"Whip It" by Devo, on the other hand, is about doing penance and the consequences of sin.

You know what else is a sin?

I remember seeing Sting on one of those countless VH1 top 100 lists explaining Every Breath You Take. Many folks have come up to him and said they danced to that song at their wedding, and he said "um......good luck with that."

/When We Dance ftw

Lemon Song is not about making Lemonade?

Pirate Satellite: "Whip It" by Devo, on the other hand, is about doing penance and the consequences of sin.

Precisely. It's a shame that's not common knowledge.

Incidentally, the violent Femmes' "Blister In The Sun" is NOT, as is frequenly assumed, about masturbation. It's an expression of anger and frustration on the part of the character sung by Gordon Gano (no doubt informed by Gano's experience, which lends it a semi-autobiographical bent) concerning a particularly painful sunburn.

When I'm out walking I strut my stuff
Yeah I'm so strung out
I'm high as a kite I just might
stop to check you out

This passage refers to the protagonist's having headed out on a hot, sun-bright day, and finding himself struck by the symptoms of heatstroke ("high as a kite" obviously refers to the light-headedness typical to the onset of the condition, and the reference to being "strung out" is an allusion to the subsequent fatigue sufferers experience).

It's well-known that the Violent Femmes began their career in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, which is prone to exceptionally harsh, long-lasting winters, and summer-like spring conditions that tend to arrive quite suddenly, sometimes almost overnight. Ergo, every year, countless victims of heatstroke wind up in area hospitals because they're so eager to get out and enjoy the weather that they fail to take adequate precautions like drinking lots of water and using sunscreen to protect themselves from the sudden change.

Body and beats I stain my sheets
I don't even know why
My girlfriend shes at the end
She is starting to cry

"Body and beats" is a reference to the suns rays having "beaten" down on his "body", leaving him feeling "beaten." And the aforementioned eagerness to enjoy spring and failure to prepare for the seasonal condition change is reflected by the line, "I don't even know why." Both the confusion from the onset of heatstroke and the typical Milwaukee resident's omission of protective clothing, fluids and sunscreen when rushing outdoors have left him unsure of what, exactly, has happened to him.

Of course, "staining my sheets" is not an allusion to semen as some have reasoned. It's actually a reference to the Solarcaine and Aloe-based products his girlfriend has apparently applied to his epidermis in a vain attempt to soothe the pain and damage caused by the solar radiation over-exposure. She is crying, because she's "at the end." This is a clever double-entendre referring both to her having applied so much of the ointments (out of overcompensation for trying to match the burn's severity) that she's run out of them, and her emotional overreaction ("she is starting to cry") at seeing someone she cares about in pain, leaving her "at the end" of her wits and patience.

Of course, as anyone who's suffered a severe sunburn knows, the burn damage continues to ravage your skin long after you remove yourself from direct UV exposure, which is why pain worsens, and blisters continue to form well into the next day...No doubt the phenomenon that inspired the title.

On the other hand, the Violent Femmes' critically-panned and poor-selling second record, "Hallowed Ground," while widely considered to be a stylistic departure for the band (due to a strong undercurrent of Christian influence having crept into the work following singer-songwriter Gano's conversion to the faith following the eponymous LP), is in fact a concept album that's totally about beatin' it.

MaxxLarge:

I was thinking, wow this is overdone and unnecessary, until the last sentence. Now if you'll excuse me, I just lost a toothpick.

I don't want to understand Hollaback Girl.

I want to erase it and Gwen Stefani from existence. Is that so much to ask?

dahmers love zombie: Bar none, the best and funniest translation (new window) of Hollaback Girl I've ever seen. It was originally published by the Orange County Weekly, I believe, but their formatting is weird.

that was fantastic.

I always love how guys dedicate Lips of an Angel by Hinder to their girlfriends. They REALLY don't listen to the lyrics do they?

What a horrible article. Both of these:

6. "Crash into Me," Dave Matthews Band
I'm pretty sure I put this song on a mix CD I made for a crush my sophomore year of high school. At the time, I thought it was a beautiful love song about longing for someone else. Well, it is ... but the person singing is actually a perv! These lines give him away: "Oh I watch you there through the window and I stare at you. You wear nothing but you wear it so well." How did I miss the peeping tom aspect? The part about him wanting to be "tied up and twisted" is a bit off-putting as well ...

7. "The One I Love," R.E.M.
It sounds like the perfect song for a radio dedication when Michael Stipe sings, "This one goes out to the one I love." Oh, except until he gets to the line about the one he loves being "a simple prop to occupy my time." Ouch! This song hardly inspires romantic feelings; actually, it makes Stipe seem like kind of a jerk. He's basically saying the one he "loves" is nothing more than a waste of his time that he's abandoned. Not exactly an uplifting declaration of true love, but people seem to focus on that first line before listening to the rest of the song, hence the constant misinterpretation.

are matters of opinion. Nowhere in "The One I Love" does Stipe say what that "simple prop occupying his time" is...it could just as well be the song itself, or the concept of a faraway love, as it could the lover. And the lryics of "Crash Into Me," while taking erotic and fetishistic turns at times, don't imply that the relationship is solely voyeur/voyeuee in nature.

Whataloadacrap.

And honestly, if you thought a song with the lyrics "hike up your skirt a little more and show your world to me" was a simple pretty love song I'm not sure that the rest of the world needs to be informed of your startling discovery that it's not.

/DAMN YOU, YOU MADE ME DEFEND DAVE MATTHEWS

Outtaphase: Secondly, I suppose it depends on what you think patriotic means. Idiot.

This. I love that song, particularly that verse.

Lots of the "misinterpretations" come from only listening to the refrain. I'm guilty of it, I can't hear the lyrics half the time.

Playing "Rock Band" at the neighbor's over New Year, there were loads of songs where I was looking at the screen amazed thinking "that? that's what it is? Creepy!"

The one about Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds is the most commonly clarified misconception on the web.

Outtaphase: Secondly, I suppose it depends on what you think patriotic means. Idiot.

I agree with you. I think it is one of the most patriotic songs ever written.

"There must be some way out of here," said the joker to the thief,
"There's too much confusion, I can't get no relief.
Businessmen, they drink my wine, plowmen dig my earth,
None of them along the line know what any of it is worth."

NICE GUY EDDIE
When I was coming down here, I was playin it. And "The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia" came on. Now I ain't heard that song since it was big, but when it was big, I heard it a million, trillion times. I'm listening to it this morning, and this was the first time I ever realized that the lady singing the song, was the one who killed Andy.

MR. BLUE
You didn't know Vicki Lawrence killed the guy?

NICE GUY EDDIE
I thought the cheatin wife shot Andy.

MR. BLONDE
They say it in the song.

NICE GUY EDDIE
I know, I heard it. I musta zoned out whenever that part came on before. I thought when she said that little sister stuff, she was talkin about her sister-in-law, the cheatin wife.

JOE
No, she did it. She killed the cheatin wife, too.

"hike up your skirt a little more, and show your world to me" how did she figure that one out

ANGEL OF DEAF!

/ rock on hard-of-hearing folks
// we made it louder for you

Still no explanation for "love me do"

HighZoolander: ANGEL OF DEAF!

/ rock on hard-of-hearing folks
// we made it louder for you

"I got a sweet little angel,
I love the way she spread her wings..."

Hollaback girl was a dig at Courtney Love who called Gwen a cheerleader.
The more you know.

"Its not a hump song, its not a dance song, its a sea shanty!"
"A sea shanty? You mean like 'Yodee Hodee Shiver Me Timbers?'"

mofomisfit:
/DAMN YOU, YOU MADE ME DEFEND DAVE MATTHEWS

Heh.

Boooring.

Tell me what the fark Bjork's on about - just translate it - and I'll be impressed.

Personally, I'd like to know what this song is all about..

/One hot link

Mr. McPeanut: farm4.static.flickr.com

You are my HERO for today.

Brian Adams never said said it was "The Summer of Nineteen 69" just "The Summer of '69" (new window)

Mr. McPeanut: /One hot link

Someone forward that image to james hetfield please.

If you have ever taken acid and listened to Sgt. Peppers, you know exactly what lucy in the sky with diamonds is about.

Chute the Moon: Personally, I'd like to know what this song is all about..

Everyone drinks vodak, pure and cold, that helps you live to 100 years old. Pops, your glass is empty, but obviously in the cellar we have more. Ah hah hah hah hah!

I knew some people who played Chris Isaak's Wicked Game as their wedding song. Morons.

Trajan's Call'Em: ZombieStomper: And it's a little known fact that Limp Bizkit's "Nookie" is really a rally against a Eucharistic literalism.

The singers desperate cry to "take the cookie and stick it up your(yea)" is an obvious inference that transubstantiation of the Host is a fallacious notion at best and suggests an appropriate action to take for one espousing such a view.

Oh, and Faith No More's "EPIC" is about masturbation.

Limp Bizkit is all about consubstatiation. It is also reflected in the band's name. Most of their music has been adopted by Billy Graham and his ilk in the hymnals of their churches. Pope John Paul George Ringo has taken another stance.

/Your Own Personal Jesus is about masturbation, too.

Lonestar's "I'm Already There" must be a metaphor or parable of Zwinglian memorialism. Christ is already present, according to these country musicians, and is no more so after the consecration. Elton John's "Sacrifice," on the other hand, shows a more Roman Catholic understanding of the Eucharist in keeping with that denounced by Limp Bizkit.

Sir Elton's belief in pneumatic presence as described by John Calvin, on the other hand, is obvious in the title of "Candle in the Wind." "Wind" in Greek is "pneuma," same as spirit, and communion tables often feature candles.