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Yousra and Leslie are back to discuss the hidden (or not so hidden} meaning behind some of the greatest songs, from some of the greatest song writers ever to do it.
#HiddenMeaning #MysterySongs #SongWriting
Yousra and Leslie are back to discuss the hidden (or not so hidden} meaning behind some of the greatest songs, from some of the greatest song writers ever to do it.
#HiddenMeaning #MysterySongs #SongWriting
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NewsTranscript
00:00Hi, everybody. Welcome to another episode of Rap, Rock and All That Jazz. I'm Yusra.
00:15And I'm Lesley Wilson.
00:17And today we are going to be talking about some, you know, pretty interesting stuff.
00:22Basically, the stories behind certain songs.
00:25Yes.
00:26So I'm going to do more modern things because we recently have seen what's happening with
00:31Selena Gomez and you're going to be giving me like some old school.
00:34Some of the classics.
00:35And I'm going to talk about one particular song that was recorded in 1972, guys.
00:40And it's 2019.
00:43And still nobody knows who that song was written about.
00:46OK, so we know that life, art imitates life.
00:52And all these singers, songwriters, they tend to write stuff about their experiences.
00:56And if you live sort of a rich, juicy life, you have a lot to write about.
01:01So tell me about the song you want to describe.
01:05This song, I'm not sure how many people of you out there have heard it right now.
01:09It was recorded in 1972 by a Canadian-American singer called Carly Simon.
01:15OK.
01:16She was a folk pop folk singer those days.
01:18And she wrote this song which has become iconic.
01:21It's called You're So Vain.
01:22Oh, yes.
01:23I know this one.
01:24OK.
01:25It's a lovely song.
01:26I mean, it's got great.
01:27It's got it's a lovely tune.
01:28Yeah.
01:29It's so singable.
01:30And it's got so many hidden messages in there.
01:32OK.
01:33And everybody wanted to know who did she write this song about.
01:35It hit me.
01:36What moved her to write these words with some crazy lyrics.
01:40You walked into the party like you were walking into your yacht, you know, stuff like that.
01:45A lot of metaphors.
01:46Yeah.
01:47A lot of clouds in my coffee.
01:48You know, things which.
01:49So anyway, Carly Simon, till today, she's refusing to reveal who this song actually
01:55inspired her, which person actually inspired her to write this song.
01:59But she has dropped hints.
02:01One of them is really the biggest hint was she was romantically linked to an actor called
02:06Warren Beatty.
02:07OK.
02:08Who would later marry Annette Bening, the famous actress for Warren Beatty.
02:12I know him.
02:13Yes.
02:14During the 70s, Warren Beatty was a real hunk, good looking guy.
02:18But he was also a womanizer.
02:20OK.
02:21So probably that's what moved Carly Simon to write this song about him.
02:25Yeah.
02:26And a lot of the lyrics, you know, are very close to the Warren Beatty lifestyle, the
02:30way he used women and all that.
02:33But she's also romantically linked to Kris Kristofferson, another great folk singer,
02:37James Taylor, who she would marry.
02:39OK.
02:40And a lot of people.
02:41I mean, there were a lot of good guys there.
02:43You know the business like, you know, you get to meet people and you know.
02:46Oh yeah.
02:47And but there's also another theory that she perhaps stole the idea from a band called
02:53The Carpenters.
02:54OK.
02:55They're a band that sang Close to You.
02:58Do you remember that song?
02:59I know The Carpenters.
03:00Yeah, The Carpenters.
03:01Richard and Karen Carpenter.
03:02Yeah.
03:03Okey dokey.
03:04So this song apparently has been inspired by that because in that song, Karen Carpenter
03:09sings that all the boys were around you and stuff like that, you know.
03:14So that's where Kali Simon gets the lyrics from.
03:18In all the girls dream that you'd be their partner, you'd be their partner.
03:21Yeah.
03:22They'd be your partner, they'd be your partner, you're so vain.
03:27Yeah.
03:28I think this song is about you.
03:30Yeah.
03:31It's such a lovely song.
03:32I mean, look at the references, 1972 and you're still talking about it.
03:36Yeah, it's cool.
03:37You're still singing it.
03:39So hopefully one day we will really get to know who this vain person was.
03:44I don't know.
03:45I think she's...
03:46Kali Simon.
03:47How old is she?
03:48She's now 72.
03:49Will we find out or will she die before we do?
03:52Hope the secret doesn't go with her.
03:54I mean, I'm sure.
03:55Oh, I hope so.
03:56Yeah.
03:57And I hope there really is a person.
03:58I mean, could have been just a figment of her imagination as well.
04:02Maybe that's why she doesn't want to reveal it.
04:04Because there are lyrics in the song like, you'd fly in your Learjet to Nova Scotia to
04:09watch the total eclipse of the sun.
04:12You know Nova Scotia, Canada, beautiful place.
04:15So she's used... those are kind of metaphors also, in a way, probably, to talk about life's
04:21beauty and all that.
04:22So we really don't know.
04:23But having said that, I just got to quickly refer to one song, an iconic song, again,
04:29by the Eagles, Hotel California.
04:31They talk about, you know, cults and you can check out any time you like, but you can
04:36never leave.
04:37Apparently, the Eagles, I did meet them in Dubai when they came in and played and I even
04:41asked on Henley if he would talk about the meaning behind the song.
04:46And he said, no, you don't want to know about that because there's nothing, nothing to talk
04:49about.
04:50It's just, they just lace the song with crazy lyrics, crazy metaphors and all that.
04:55They just want to make something that would make people think.
04:58And it's left everybody thinking.
05:00And it's a great song.
05:02It's iconic.
05:03And by the way, Hotel California helped the Eagles' Greatest Hits become the number one
05:09selling album of all time.
05:11It just beat Michael Jackson's Thriller.
05:13Great.
05:14So that's another story.
05:15But let's come back to the songs with hidden meanings and let's see what Yusra has to offer
05:20us today.
05:21So this one is a bit less mysterious because everyone knows who she's talking about in
05:27this song.
05:28But I have to say, talking about Selena Gomez and her latest song, which just literally
05:33dropped a few days ago at midnight, it was the one called, um, I'm used to you, no, use
05:43lose you to love me.
05:44Wow.
05:45So basically, her and Justin Bieber have been on and off for years and years and years.
05:51I really wasn't sure what she saw in him, but it was something like she loved him.
05:55And in a lot of her songs, you can really see like the pain that she goes through, you
06:01know, like in her in one of her songs, she says, there's a million reasons why I should
06:06give you up.
06:07But the heart wants what it wants.
06:08And like, she knows that he wasn't good for her, but she stayed with him.
06:12And then at one point, they broke up in March and then in 2018.
06:18And then literally two months after they broke up, he was dating Hailey Bieber.
06:23And then him and Hailey got married in September.
06:26And in that song, lose you to love me, she talks, there is one lyric that everyone knows
06:32is about him.
06:34She said, where she says, only took you two months to move on from us.
06:41And it made me feel like it was my fault.
06:43How could it be that easy?
06:44Well, it looks like she was besotted with Justin Bieber, but that's what he called first
06:48love, maybe puppy love to some extent as well.
06:51They were together for a very long time, like since she was 18, until she turned like
06:5726.
06:58They've been on and off for eight years, and perhaps they were too young to really understand
07:02the meaning of real love.
07:04Could have been, you know, just good looks, both famous personalities, but just a match
07:09made in heaven.
07:10The lyrics, they're not a completely hopeless song.
07:15Like in the song, she talks about like how she knew she was wearing rose tinted glasses
07:21and how they distort everything.
07:23She knows that he would like, she said the words, that flickering light.
07:31She said that she knows he like set fire to her forest and watched it burn.
07:37He sang off key in her chorus because it wasn't his song.
07:40Like all he thought about was himself.
07:42And she put that in the song.
07:44And then at the end of the song, she's like, this chapter is closed now, we've moved on.
07:48She never admits that it's about Justin, but everyone knows that it's about him because
07:52he moved on with Hailey so quickly.
07:55They didn't respond to the song.
07:57I think Hailey tweeted something, but the whole thing is that her song is now at number
08:02one.
08:03She's the first artist of all time, female artist, to have a number one on the Billboard
08:08Music Awards and on the Rolling Stone.
08:12Top 100 songs.
08:13Top 100.
08:14Wow.
08:15At the same time.
08:16And it jumped to number one so quickly.
08:18And I always think like Selena, like, OK, she's average and she looks cute and her singing
08:25is OK.
08:26But it's obviously Disney Channel fame that really helped propel her.
08:30But she does let a lot of her personal life into her music.
08:36And that's the one that I was going to talk about today, which I think Taylor Swift does
08:42always does that.
08:43Like, we don't even need to bring that up because every song she writes has to be stemming
08:48from some kind of breakup, shaking it off.
08:52The whole Kanye West and Kim Kardashian one, do you remember when she did that song?
08:59And she was like, she had snakes on her because Kim tweeted snake emojis.
09:06It's crazy.
09:07Taylor has always been about like writing songs and a lot of the times all of her exes
09:12are like, just leave us alone.
09:14Yeah.
09:15I was just going to ask you, what do people think about when somebody has written a song
09:19about you and you've moved on?
09:21I mean, yeah.
09:22What does it do to you?
09:23I mean, I don't don't give me that crap.
09:26It's all over.
09:27Yeah.
09:28Like, yeah, she makes a lot of her money because of her, like, relationships.
09:31Yeah.
09:32So yeah, Taylor Swift is infamous for this.
09:37So let's do one more of you and then I'll give you one more because I've got some juicy
09:41lined up.
09:42I'm going to go with Nirvana.
09:43OK.
09:44From their Nevermind album, they had a lovely song called, which is probably their best
09:48song, Smells Like Teen Spirit.
09:51OK.
09:52Initially, it sounds like a real protest song.
09:55It sounds like, you know, like from the punk.
09:58Yeah, exactly.
09:59Anarchy in the UK, the Sex Pistols made that album and so it sounded like a protest song.
10:05Yeah.
10:06So the roughness that the song's name has really appealed to Kurt Cobain.
10:13But apparently the song is not about, you know, being making a protest, making a statement
10:20or nothing.
10:21He got it totally wrong.
10:22OK.
10:23A girlfriend of his gave his girlfriend a deodorant, which is called Teen Spirit at
10:30that time.
10:31Yes, I know Teen Spirit.
10:32Yeah, of course we do.
10:33I used it back when I was a teenager.
10:34Yeah.
10:35So he used to, she used to use this and because of being with Kurt Cobain, he would, the smell
10:41would be on him as well.
10:42Yeah.
10:43And she even wrote it on his door, Smells Like Teen Spirit, but he never thought about
10:47the deodorant.
10:48Yeah.
10:49And he recorded this song.
10:50So basically, the song is, it smells like it's a Teen Spirit deodorant you're using.
10:55Yeah.
10:56So that's a funny one.
10:57That's a real funny one.
10:58Interesting.
10:59Remind me of the lyrics of that one again, because I know, I know it's like Teen Spirit.
11:07Wait, oh my God.
11:09I'm singing Come As You Are in my head.
11:11I know.
11:12That's the one I'm singing.
11:14But it's something like, load up, no, that's Come As You Are, bring your friends.
11:20That's right.
11:21Yeah.
11:22That smells like Teen Spirit.
11:23You get stuck in your head.
11:24Yeah.
11:25Yeah.
11:26That's the one.
11:27OK.
11:28Now that, because I was like, I was itching to remember that one.
11:30So deodorant, guys.
11:31Teen Spirit.
11:32Yeah.
11:33Interesting.
11:34Cool.
11:35Yeah.
11:36I love Nirvana.
11:37Ever since we did that episode about the 27, dying at 27, I've been going into the history
11:42and I read his suicide note and everything.
11:45It's like super interesting.
11:47I keep recycling my music according to my moods, you know.
11:50So Nirvana, maybe this week, the whole of the week, and then I pull out something from
11:55the past, you know.
11:56It depends on the mood.
11:57So like you said, it's lovely.
11:58But anyway, I don't use Teen Spirit.
12:00I'm not a teenager.
12:01So I use L'Oreal, letting out some secrets.
12:05That's why I smell so good, guys.
12:07L'Oreal for men.
12:08L'Oreal for men.
12:09I'm a Nivea kind of girl.
12:12OK.
12:13Let me give you one.
12:15Miley Cyrus, always writing about Liam Hemsworth.
12:19Yes.
12:20He was like her first love.
12:21When they broke up, she wrote Wrecking Ball.
12:24Yeah.
12:25I don't know.
12:28She wrote Wrecking Ball and she, before they broke up, she was like, you are going to see
12:33my name everywhere.
12:35And then Wrecking Ball was everywhere.
12:37And she was like twerking on stage and she cut her hair and she went a little like crazy.
12:44But the one I'm going to be talking about is her latest one, Slide.
12:48So they've been like, they got married, as you know.
12:53They were together for quite a while after Wrecking Ball.
12:56And on and off.
12:57And then they finally decided, OK, let's do it, guys.
12:58Yes.
12:59On and off.
13:00Wrecking Ball happened.
13:01They got back together and she wrote that beautiful song called, it's about like being
13:08on the beach and him and them being together.
13:11And in that song, in that beautiful song, I just need to remember what it's called.
13:15Oh, my God.
13:16I'm like, this is the worst researched podcast I've ever done.
13:19That's all right.
13:20It was Miley Cyrus anyway.
13:21So, yeah.
13:22But she's kind of cute.
13:24I mean, there's something to like in Malibu.
13:26Malibu.
13:27Malibu.
13:28That's right.
13:29Malibu.
13:30OK.
13:31Sorry.
13:32In the song, she says, she says like, if you would have told me three years ago, I'd be
13:38writing this song, I wouldn't have believed it.
13:41Like, she didn't know that she would ever go back to him.
13:45She was so happy during One Face.
13:46She released like a really happy album.
13:49And then they broke up for good.
13:52She started dating a woman, and then she dumped the woman.
13:56And now she's with Cody Simpson.
13:57And she wrote the song called Slide.
14:00And a lot of the lyrics in it are very like suggestive, like, like she was trapped, like
14:05she was like, stuck somewhere she didn't want to be.
14:09She wrote about like, how she lived in paradise.
14:12And then she was like living somewhere like, drowning in that.
14:18You should never fight evolution.
14:22She said something about evolution.
14:23I don't know why.
14:24She's like, don't fight evolution, because you'll always lose.
14:26And I think it means like, the whole man woman role.
14:30And she didn't want to be the wife role.
14:34It's crazy.
14:35But she's always letting lyrics come into her, like songs.
14:40And now, breaking news, they unfollowed each other on Instagram, which is like a final
14:46millennial way of being like, it's over.
14:50Yeah.
14:51Miley's always been an interesting person.
14:52She's very enigmatic, you know, you don't know what she's doing, what's good for her,
14:56what's bad for her.
14:57But she doesn't care a damn.
14:59She just does what she wants.
15:00She does what she wants.
15:01The outfits, the, you know, the way she pouts, the way she does it, because that's what she
15:06likes doing.
15:07Yeah.
15:08And I don't think she should be tamed by any man.
15:11Yeah.
15:12He tried, I think.
15:13Yeah.
15:14Because he's such a, he's so handsome.
15:16And he seems really like down to earth and like, you see, like he hangs out with his
15:21like brother and their kids.
15:22Yeah.
15:23Like he's very cool.
15:24Yeah.
15:25But I think she did not want that life.
15:27She wanted something wild and fun.
15:29That's right.
15:30She's a free bird.
15:31Yeah.
15:32Yeah.
15:33And I think the only way to tame her is to lock her up.
15:34But then if you lock her up, you're not going to get any good music from her.
15:36No.
15:37Look at her dad as well.
15:38He's, he's hit the charts as well.
15:40Yeah.
15:41The Cyrus family are making the moolah, as they say.
15:44Yeah.
15:45They're really making the moolah.
15:46They are.
15:47Yeah.
15:48It's good.
15:49So, yeah, that's lovely.
15:50I mean, there's so many songs we can talk about, guys.
15:51Yes.
15:52Right.
15:53I mean, I could.
15:54Go for a very long time.
15:55Boomtown Rats, a band, a band from the past who, a punk band, basically, whose lead singer
16:00was a guy called Bob Geldof.
16:02OK.
16:03Who created Live Aid.
16:04The first, remember the Live Aid?
16:05Yes.
16:06Yes.
16:07He was the brain behind it.
16:08And he wrote a song called I Don't Like Mondays.
16:09I mean, we all don't like Mondays.
16:11It's the worst day in the week when you have to start your week.
16:13Oh, no.
16:14Over here, it's Sunday.
16:15The holiday is Sundays, by the way.
16:16Sorry, guys.
16:17Yeah.
16:18Yeah.
16:19We got to.
16:20So we'd have to say I don't like Sundays.
16:21Yeah.
16:22It's like, thank God it's Fridays and Saturdays.
16:23TGIT in this country.
16:24But anyway, he wrote this song and many people thought he was writing about the fact that
16:28Mondays are lousy.
16:29Yeah.
16:30Day of the week.
16:31But it wasn't.
16:32It was about a killing, a massacre that happened in a school on a Monday.
16:35A girl walked into a school and shot gun down 16 students.
16:40So on a Monday.
16:41That's why he hates Monday.
16:42So that's why he wrote the song.
16:43Makes sense.
16:44So but that's enough.
16:45We've got too many songs to talk about here.
16:47We are running out of time.
16:48Yeah.
16:49But it's lovely, Yusra.
16:50Thanks for the insights into Miley Cyrus and Selena Gomez.
16:55Interesting juicy ones.
16:56We've got to keep, you know, swinging from the past to the present and oscillating like
17:01a pendulum.
17:02Yeah.
17:03I agree.
17:05I hope you guys liked the subject.
17:08We're still waiting for some suggestions from you.
17:10Yeah.
17:11Tweet to us.
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17:14Gulf underscore news.
17:15And we'll just keep having fun.
17:16I mean, we have fun out here, so we hope you have just as much fun as we do.
17:19Cool.
17:20Don't we?
17:21Yeah.
17:22Yeah.
17:23All right, everybody.
17:24See you next time.
17:25Ciao.
17:34Ciao.