Stories Behind Songs

[Dogs 13]

Originally posted by Uncle Steve
Billy Idol - Dancing With Myself - about masturbation

The Vapors - Turning Japanese - about masturbation

Devo - Whip It - allegedly about masturbation

Cyndi Lauper - She Bop - about female masturbation

Tori Amos - Icicle - about a girl masturbating while the rest of her family prays

Gary Numan (the Tubeway Army) - Everyday I Die - about masturbation


(no, I'm not obsessed... )

I think you forgot Greenday - Longview

 

[Weaver]

Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me) by Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel is not a love song. Apparantly it is about a music industry type who had said that Harley would never amount to much and so the song is an "I told you so / look at me now".

The great Elvis Costello sing-along, Oliver's Army, is about English militarism in Ireland. The Oliver is Oliver Cromwell, a hero to the Brits and the devil himself to the Irish. The oddest of songs to be a hit in England IMHO.

 

[oh_my_hat]

Originally posted by P_D
Most people think 'it's gotta be big' is actually 'i've got a big d*ck' if that's what you're referring to

Actually the original song is CRAZY - angst ridden, passionate, and damn feisty. You just don't find many people who use the shovelling of cow sh*t as a sound effect in their music... the remix just doesn't do it justice

Yes you've got it in one.

 

[Falchoon]

Death On Two Legs - Queen, about the groups previous management. Great song with that fact in mind.

 

[Leaping Lindner]

Originally posted by Uncle Steve
Billy Idol - Dancing With Myself - about masturbation

The Vapors - Turning Japanese - about masturbation

Devo - Whip It - allegedly about masturbation

Cyndi Lauper - She Bop - about female masturbation

Tori Amos - Icicle - about a girl masturbating while the rest of her family prays

Gary Numan (the Tubeway Army) - Everyday I Die - about masturbation


(no, I'm not obsessed... )

Also "Good for your soul" by Oingo Boingo (although IIRC it was never released in Oz)

That Vapors one is a ripper. I was telling someone this the other day and they just wouldn't believe me. Once again IIRC "Turning Japanese" is Cockney slang for masturbating.

 

[Docker_Brat]

Originally posted by Leaping Lindner
Also "Good for your soul" by Oingo Boingo (although IIRC it was never released in Oz)

That Vapors one is a ripper. I was telling someone this the other day and they just wouldn't believe me. Once again IIRC "Turning Japanese" is Cockney slang for masturbating.

One of the more famous has been left out - Pictures of Lily by The Who.

Also less ambiguous: Longview... but Green Day are ****ers anyway

 

[Captain Sensible]

Originally posted by Uncle Steve
Billy Idol - Dancing With Myself - about masturbation

The Vapors - Turning Japanese - about masturbation

Devo - Whip It - allegedly about masturbation

Cyndi Lauper - She Bop - about female masturbation

Tori Amos - Icicle - about a girl masturbating while the rest of her family prays

Gary Numan (the Tubeway Army) - Everyday I Die - about masturbation


(no, I'm not obsessed... )

The Divynils-I Touch Myself.

 

[GOALden Hawk]

Originally posted by localyokel
The Divynils-I Touch Myself.

Blister in the sun - Violent Femmes is another.

Interesting thing about the Jeremy film clip is someone told Eddie Vedder it ruined the song for him and with that they didn't release a film clip for almost a decade.

Kickstart my heart by Motley Crue is about when Nikki Sixx OD'd and woke up in the ambulance with not one but two adrenaline needles sticking in his chest ala Pulp Fiction.

I never realised Under the Bridge by the Chillis was about drugs until years later.

Some Nirvana songs:
Scentless Apprentice is about the book Perfume and a guy who makes perfume but has no sense of smell

Something in the way is about when Kurt lived under a bridge in Aberdeen, Washington

Polly is about some guy who kidnapped and r*ped a girl

Stacked Actors and I'll Stick around by the Foo Fighters are both about Courtney Love.

 

[Santos L Helper]

Originally posted by GOALden Hawk
Blister in the sun - Violent Femmes is another.

Interesting thing about the Jeremy film clip is someone told Eddie Vedder it ruined the song for him and with that they didn't release a film clip for almost a decade.

Give this guy a cigar!

 

[Uncle Steve]

Originally posted by GOALden Hawk
Scentless Apprentice is about the book Perfume and a guy who makes perfume but has no sense of smell

Ahh, books as inspiration:

The Cure's "Killing an Arab" was inspired by Albert Camus' "L'Etranger" ("The Outsider").

Talk Talk's "Such A Shame" was allegedly inspired by Luke Rhinehart's "The Dice Man".

 

[Pessimistic]

Toto coelo had a song called "I eat Cannibals" - Oral sex

 

[FIGJAM]

Originally posted by GOALden Hawk
Stacked Actors and I'll Stick around by the Foo Fighters are both about Courtney Love.

How many bloody songs are there about this scrag??

Too Cool Queenie, STP, is another.

 

[sp-mac]

Originally posted by brampta
One that springs to mind is American Pie by Don McLean, talking about the death of Buddy Holly...I think?

I thought it was about a security guard who killed a fan at a Rolling Stones concert, and concequently rock and roll losing its innocence. "...The day the music died..."

What I've been told anyway.

 

[thegezman]

powderfinger - On MY Mind
is actually about a stalker, stalking one of the members of the band.

Matchbox Twenty, 3 AM is about rob thomas's mum ill with cancer IIRC

 

[Leaping Lindner]

"Bonzo goes to Bitburg" by the Ramones.

This is about Ronald Reagan's (Bonzo) infamous visit to a WW2 german war cemetery in the town of Bitburg in Germany. In which he said something along the lines of it's time to move on and forgive. As there was some SS soldiers graves there it upset a quite a few people.

 

[skilts]

Originally posted by sp-mac
I thought it was about a security guard who killed a fan at a Rolling Stones concert, and concequently rock and roll losing its innocence. "...The day the music died..."

What I've been told anyway.

No, Brampta is correct. The name of the aircraft in which Holly, Valens and Big Bopper died was, 'American Pie'.

 

[oh_my_hat]

*bump*

 

[bunsen burner]

Originally posted by brampta
One that springs to mind is American Pie by Don McLean, talking about the death of Buddy Holly...I think?

I think a lot of the Beatle's music can be traced back to drug use... Strawberry Fields Forever....I may be mistaken

A lot of music to come out of this era was controversial....Walk on the Wild Side...House of the Rising Sun....I don't remember the reasons though

This is what I can recall, not sure how accurate it is:

Strawberry Fields were some fields behind where Paul Macartney lived. (or something like that)

Walk on the wild side is about a trans and generally about being wild.

The House of the Rising Sun was about a real life brothel.

 

[bunsen burner]

Originally posted by Leaping Lindner
Once again IIRC "Turning Japanese" is Cockney slang for masturbating.

It's not cockney slang. It's a simple slang word coined because when you are having a ham shank or a Barclay's Bank (that is cockney slang), you're eyes tend to squint like a japanese just before you come.

 

[bunsen burner]

Originally posted by Lady Lawrence


The Stranglers - Golden Brown - Heroin use

Although being pedantic, golden brown is actually heroin. The most commonly used word in England (the Stranglers are English) for heroin is 'brown'. For no other reason that heroin in Britain is brown in colour rather than the white stuff over here.

 

[EssJayW]

My favourite is 'Youre So Vain' by Carly Simon. The general consensus is that it was written about Warren Beatty, but Mick Jagger also gets a mention. I am unaware if she has ever revealed who it is about.

 

[bunsen burner]

ZZ Top's Le Grange - about a brothel, possibly even The Chicken Ranch

The Police's Roxanne - about a prostitute

Joan Armatrading's Rosie - about a trans

The Kink's Lola - about a trans

Joe Jackson's Real Men - A statement that ****ter's are as much real men as straight guys.

The Door's Backdoor Man - Jim Morrison had a liking for anal sex.

Eddy Grant's Electric Avenue - about a street in Brixton where you can buy drugs.

Rod Stewart's Do ya think I'm Sexy? About an arrogant **** with a big nose and ridiculous haircut who think's he's God's gift to blondes.

 

[Mr Eagle]

Originally posted by GOALden Hawk
Interesting thing about the Jeremy film clip is someone told Eddie Vedder it ruined the song for him and with that they didn't release a film clip for almost a decade.

I suspect it was more to do with the band getting sued over the video after some nutjob went and lead-lined his classroom...

 

[Mr Eagle]

Originally posted by bunsen burner
ZZ Top's Le Grange - about a brothel, possibly even The Chicken Ranch

The Police's Roxanne - about a prostitute

Australian Crawl's "The Boys Light Up". Another one about the ladies of the night...

 

[Dogs 13]

Originally posted by EssJayW
My favourite is 'Youre So Vain' by Carly Simon. The general consensus is that it was written about Warren Beatty, but Mick Jagger also gets a mention. I am unaware if she has ever revealed who it is about.

You can hear Jagger singing in the background.