Top 10 Things Everyone Gets Wrong About Famous Songs

WatchMojo

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!

Transcript

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.

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