Ever wondered about the hidden meanings behind some of your favorite songs? Join us as we uncover the surprising truths and debunk long-standing misconceptions about iconic tracks that might completely change how you hear them forever!
Category
🎵
MusicTranscript
00:00Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we'll be counting down our picks for the popular songs
00:11with the most long-standing misconceptions.
00:1610.
00:20It's Not About Self-Gratification, Dancing With Myself, Billy Idol
00:30A lot of music fans and journalists have had a little bit of fun pontificating about the
00:35lyrical significance of Billy Idol's Dancing With Myself.
00:40The tune, which was originally written and recorded with Idol's former band, Generation
00:44X, actually isn't about the topic you might have in your head at this moment.
00:55Idol told Rolling Stone during a 2014 interview that Dancing With Myself is actually about
01:00the struggle of disenfranchised youth during the early 1980s.
01:05The music video seems to back up Idol's claims as well.
01:09The production, helmed by Texas Chainsaw Massacre director Tobey Hooper, was set in
01:14a post-apocalyptic, Mad Max-styled wasteland.
01:219.
01:26No 9-11 Connections, Wake Me Up When September Ends, Green Day
01:36Everyone processes music differently, particularly when it comes to the medium of music video,
01:42which doesn't always represent a song's specific conceptual content.
01:47This is probably why many Green Day fans seem to connect Wake Me Up When September Ends
01:52with the tragic events of 9-11.
01:54The video's storyline of a young man heading off to war makes these connective lines easy
01:59to draw.
02:04Additionally, the American Idiot LP's themes criticizing President George W. Bush belied
02:11the fact that Wake Me Up When September Ends was actually written about the death of Billy
02:16Joe Armstrong's father back in September of 1982.
02:20It's a situation similar to Good Riddance's Time of Your Life, which has nothing to do
02:27with graduation.
02:328.
02:36Misheard Lyrics, Blinded by the Light, Manfred Mann's Earth Band
02:46There's a laundry list of songs out there with misheard lyrics.
02:50Jimi Hendrix sings about kissing the sky, not a guy in purple haze, while Nirvana's
02:55Smells Like Teen Spirit isn't about tomatoes, potatoes, or whatever Kurt Cobain was mumbling.
03:08The lyrical snafu of Manfred Mann, Earth Band's take on Bruce Springsteen's Blinded by the
03:13Light is a bit dirtier.
03:15Vocalist Chris Hamlet Thompson's English accent led many fans to believe that he was
03:20referencing personal hygiene when he said deuce.
03:24Though the line was changed from cut loose like a deuce to revved up, it's still about
03:29a Ford deuce coupe car.
03:357.
03:38LSD, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, The Beatles
03:48John Lennon never pretended that recreational substance use didn't at least partially
03:53factor into the Beatles' creative process.
03:56That said, it's almost too easy to assume that Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds is about
04:02tuning in and dropping out.
04:04After all, the song shares initials with a certain substance that was popular in the
04:0960s.
04:10Thus, Lennon famously went on record stating that the tune was actually in reference to
04:14a drawing by his young son, Julian.
04:36This hasn't stopped fans of the Beatles from thinking what they want about the song,
04:40which does certainly tap into the prevailing psychedelic rock sound of the era.
04:536.
04:54Career Goals, I Will Always Love You, Dolly Parton
04:58Here's the question, does it really matter that Dolly Parton's I Will Always Love You
05:15actually isn't about romantic love?
05:17It's certainly been applied in this context over the years, such as with Whitney Houston's
05:23famous version from the Bodyguard soundtrack.
05:32Art is no longer the property of the artist after it's been put out into the world.
05:37It becomes interpreted by everyone who listens, watches, and takes it to heart.
05:43Dolly wrote I Will Always Love You for Porter Wagner, whose self-titled television program
05:48helped make Parton a star during her early days.
05:51It served as something of a coda for her collaboration with Wagner, a sentiment that
05:57Parton was such sweet sorrow.
06:035.
06:07Watching Behavior, Waterfalls, TLC The lyrical themes of this song actually
06:17run deeper than most fans seemed to think at the time.
06:21Video listeners grabbed onto TLC's message of being careful when it came to their song
06:25Waterfalls, but the tune isn't only about watching where you leap for your dreams.
06:36It was also about some very specific issues addressing society at large, including the
06:41AIDS crisis.
06:42In a 2018 interview with The Guardian, TLC member Chili said that Waterfalls cryptically
06:49advises practicing personal responsibility and safety when it comes to sexual behavior.
06:594.
07:04No Nostalgia Here, Summer of 69, Bryan Adams You know the old adage, be careful what you
07:17wish for?
07:18We're almost sorry that we found out about the actual story behind Bryan Adams' hit
07:22song Summer of 69.
07:24The tune's melancholic melody and wistful lyrics evoke images of days gone by.
07:30The truth behind the song's composition, however, is a far more literal-minded interpretation
07:35of the title.
07:42Adams wasn't thinking too far away from his own sexual desires when he helped compose
07:46the tune with songwriter Jim Valance.
07:49He told Classic Rock's Louder Soundside in 2020 that Summer of 69 was about exactly
07:56that.
07:57Valance, however, first wrote Best Days of My Life about the more wholesome myth.
08:01It was Adams who dwelled on one particular aspect of youthful obsession.
08:093.
08:13It's Not Patriotic, Born in the USA, Bruce Springsteen
08:26The Boss put it perfectly during a 2019 interview with NPR.
08:30Bruce Springsteen explains how songs like Born in the USA were often misinterpreted
08:36thanks to the power of their respective choruses.
08:39A surface-level list of the song could very well lead people, such as former U.S. President
08:44Ronald Reagan, to assume that Born in the USA is patriotic.
08:51However, Springsteen is actually singing about the plight of returning veterans and the hardships
09:01they face adjusting to public sector living.
09:04These veterans' feelings of being left behind lurk within Springsteen's verses.
09:08And many listeners, for better or worse, never got that far in their interpretations.
09:212.
09:22Urban Legend, In The Air Tonight, Phil Collins
09:25It's perhaps one of the most enduring lyrical misinterpretations of all time, while also
09:39remaining one of the most interesting.
09:41The story that former Genesis drummer and vocalist Phil Collins once watched a person
09:46leave another to drown, only to publicly out them at a concert.
09:56Truth is more believable than fiction, however, meaning that this actually never happened
10:02to Collins.
10:03Instead, In The Air Tonight was about Collins' divorce, a tale that he reiterated once again
10:09during a 2016 interview with Rolling Stone magazine.
10:12Who are we kidding, though?
10:14This urban legend will probably never go away.
10:411.
10:42It's Not A Love Song, Every Breath You Take, The Police
10:52It's just gotta be Andy Summers' complex melodic guitar chord choices that make Every
10:57Breath You Take sound less sinister than it was intended to be.
11:01How else can we possibly understand why so many people still believe this all-time banger
11:06from The Police is still a love song?
11:16A 2021 article from Far Out magazine reiterated what many die-hard fans of the band already
11:22knew – that this is one dark song.
11:26Every Breath You Take is actually about stalking and obsession, with songwriter Sting being
11:31quoted as saying that he was inspired by surveillance culture during the creative process.
11:44What are your thoughts about how musicians reframe or re-evaluate their back catalogue
11:49as they get older?
11:50Let us know your thoughts in the comments.