Top 10 Misunderstood Songs

By Chance Welch
Features Editor

Any type of Top 10 list opens up the floor to debate what deserved to be on the list and what was criminally left on the list but here's my take on some songs that have often been misunderstood or whose meanings are kind of confusing. Feel free to throw up your fists in anger after reading.

10. Semi-Charmed Kind of Life by Third Eye Blind-With its upbeat chorus and catchy hook, it’s hard to believe this song is actually about being hooked on crystal meth. If you read the lyrics without the accompanying music, you get a much darker picture of drug abuse and sex.

“The sky it was gold, it was rose,
I was taking tips of it to my nose,
And I wish I could get back there,
Some place back there,
Smiling in the pictures you would take,
Doing crystal meth,
Will lift you up until you break...” -Semi Charmed Kind of Life

The song I was humming for almost all of 1997 was about crystal meth and having sex. Awesome. It’s amazing how popular that song got. Granted, there was a clean version that got played (okay, overplayed) on the radio, but still.

“Then I bumped again,
And then I bumped again,
I said,
How do I get back there to,
The place where I fell asleep inside you?
How do I get myself back to,
The place where you said...”-Semi Charmed Kind of Life

9. (tie) Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds by The Beatles- Here’s one that isn’t about drugs. Yes the initials for the song spell out LSD but in several interviews, Lennon said that the song is based on a drawing his son Julian gave him. Lennon said Julian told him the drawing was based on a classmate named Lucy and described it to him as “Lucy...in the sky with diamonds.”

“Picture yourself in a boat on a river,
With tangerine trees and marmalade skies.
Somebody calls you, you answer quite slowly,
A girl with kaleidoscope eyes...” -Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds

Martha, My Dear by The Beatles-While the song is said to be about Jane Asher, a longtime muse for writer Paul McCartney, the title itself was inspired by another woman in his life - his sheepdog Martha.

Blackbird by The Beatles-In this McCartney-penned song, would you be surprised to know that the “blackbird” in question is really just slang for “woman?” McCartney has explained that he was inspired to write the song because of all of the racial tension in the United States circa the late 60’s.

“Black bird singing in the dead of night,
Take these sunken eyes and learn to see,
All your life,
You were only waiting for this moment to be free...” -Blackbird

8. Born in the USA by Bruce Springsteen- When you think of this next song, you probably think of that iconic image of Springsteen in his classic white T-shirt and denim jeans against an American flag backdrop, or maybe you don’t. Nevertheless, you probably thought Springsteen was gung-ho for America, but then you are probably forgetting that part about the Vietnam War.

“I got in a little hometown jam,
And so they put a rifle in my hands,
Sent me off to Vietnam,
To go and kill the yellow man...” -Born in the U.S.A.

Conservative pundits like Bernard Goldberg and columnist George Will praised Springsteen for his sense of patriotism. Even Republican President Ronald Reagan name-dropped him in a stump speech and later asked him to use the song for his 1984 re-election campaign. He was given the cold shoulder by “The Boss.”

“Down in the shadow of the penitentiary,
Out by the gas fires of the refinery,
I’m ten years down the road,
Nowhere to run, ain’t got nowhere to go...”

Nowhere to go? Bruce say it ain’t so. Uncle Sam is going to be so pissed.

7. Lola by The Kinks-Sometimes looks can be deceiving. Leave it to "Lola" to point this out. It sounds like a sweet and simple enough love song, but did you know it was about a transvestite? It was written by frontman Ray Davies about the band’s manager and his drunken late night dancing with a drag queen.

“Well I’m not the world’s most masculine man,
But I know what I am and I’m glad I’m a man,
And so is Lola,
La-la-la-la Lola la-la-la-la Lola,
Lola la-la-la-la Lola la-la-la-la Lola...” -Lola

According to Davies, the manager was too busy dancing to notice the man’s stubble and obviously too drunk to care, he carried on into the night. The rest, as they say, is history. How many times can you say that about a case of mistaken identity like that?

6. Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) by Green Day- In 1997, you couldn’t go anywhere without hearing this song played. Weddings, funerals, school dances and graduations, bad karaoke, nowhere was safe.

“Tattoos of memories,
And dead skin on trial,
For what it’s worth,
It was worth all the while,
It’s something unpredictable,
But in the end is right,
I hope you had the time of your life...”

Singer Billie Joe Armstrong told Guitar Legends Magazine in 2005 that he had written the song following a breakup and said while he didn’t mean to sound bitter he admits the song still comes off that way. Could’ve fooled me.

5. Brick by Ben Folds Five-The somber and cryptic nature of the song has always made me wonder about its meaning. I could tell the narrator and his girlfriend are growing apart, but I couldn’t put a finger on what it was that was driving a wedge between them. On the album “Ben Folds Live,” singer Ben Folds clears the air about its meaning, explaining that in high school he and his girlfriend had to have an abortion.

“They call her name at 7:30,
I pace around the parking lot,
Then I walk down to buy her,
Flowers,
And sell some gifts that I got,
Can’t you see,
It’s not me you’re dying for,
Now she’s feeling more alone,
Than she ever has before...” -Brick

What would add some levity to the very heavy song would be the chorus, which was written by the band’s drummer. Folds admitted in an interview with that he didn’t really know how to write a poppy chorus, but the song would become one of the group’s biggest hits nonetheless.

4. Polly by Nirvana- Cobain seemed to have a flair for writing songs with ambiguous meanings and sometimes unintelligible lyrics. In the 5th grade I bought my first CD, which was “Nevermind” and one of my favorite songs was “Polly.” I would read the lyrics in the liner notes and they would always boggle my mind but that never stopped me from humming it or flat-out singing it along with the rest of the album in my spare time.

“Polly says her back hurts
she’s just as bored as me
She caught me off my guard
It amazes me, the will of instinct...” -Polly

It was only until my freshman year in high school when I discovered the meaning behind it. According to Michael Azzerad’s excellent biography of the band “Come As You Are,” Cobain was inspired by the story of a rape victim who was kidnapped and tortured after attending a punk rock shot but managed to escape by flirting with her captor. In Azzerad’s biography, he explains that he wanted to use the song as a way to support women’s rights and influence other men to do the same.

Essentially, the song is an anti-rape song but there was some terrible misinterpretations of it.
Cobain would later lament in the liner notes to Nirvana’s album of demos and outtakes “Insecticide” that “Last year, a girl was raped by two wastes of sperm and eggs while they sang the lyrics to our song ‘Polly.’”

3. The One I Love by R.E.M.- Some listeners seem to think this is a love song, but upon closer investigation, the line “a simple prop to occupy my time” seems to mock the whole idea of love songs or just love in general. Singer Michael Stipe has seen other R.E.M. songs’ meanings get pinned down the wrong way. For example, according to a Stipe interview with Q Magazine, “Losing My Religion” is not about religion at all but rather unrequited love.

“This one goes out to the one I love,
This one goes out to the one I’ve left behind,
A simple prop to occupy my time,
This one goes out to the one I love...” -The One I Love

The band’s first hit single in 1987 was misunderstood to a level that had Stipe telling Rolling Stone Magazine in an interview that “It’s probably better that they think it’s just a love song at this point.”

2. Every Breath You Take by The Police- Michael Stipe once compared his misunderstood song “Losing My Religion” to this arena anthem, saying it was “a classic obsession pop song.” That meaning seemed to have been lost on millions of fans who played it for girlfriends, slow danced to it at senior prom or had it on the playlist for their wedding.

“Every move you make,
Every vow you break,
Every smile you fake,
Every claim you stake,
I’ll be watching you...” -Every Breath You Take

The 1983 hit song is much more about “1984” than you might think. Singer Sting said the song is about a controlling figure that sees you at all times a la “Big Brother,” the totalitarian government in Orwell’s classic novel.

1. Hey Man, Nice Shot by Filter-Released just a little over a year after Kurt Cobain’s death, this industrial-rock hit led many fans to believe it was written about the iconic Nirvana frontman. In reality, the inspiration for the song is another highly-publicized suicide.

“I wish I would’ve met you,
Now it’s a little late,
What you could’ve taught me,
I could’ve saved some face...” -Hey Man, Nice Shot

R. Budd Dwyer, a successful former member of the U.S. House of Representatives, was facing down a career-ending scandal as the head of the Pennsylvania Treasury Office. On January 22, 1987, he was suddenly facing down the barrel of a gun in front of newspaper and TV reporters at a press conference. Dwyer had organized the meeting, making a short speech before handing his staffers three envelopes. One was a letter to the new governor of Pennsylvania, one contained an organ donation card and the final one was a letter to his wife.

Dwyer had an envelope of his own, taking out a .357 magnum revolver. His last words before he put the barrel in his mouth were “Please leave the room if this will offend you.” Then he pulled the trigger.

“They think that your early ending,
Was all wrong,
For the most part they were right,
But look how they all got strong,
That’s why I say hey man, nice shot...” -Hey Man, Nice Shot

Filter’s song offended some, prompting the band to make an official statement saying it didn’t glamorize Dwyer’s final act, and asked to respect the family of the late politician. The song is said to be about the determination it takes to make such a bizarre last stand.