The Story Behind The Song

[CMB1888]

back in 1983, i left school in the august to start my aprenticeship and that particular week 'wrapped around your finger' by the police was released,as the Police were at the top of their game virtually every radio station was playing them,what felt like every second song. anyway the opening line in the song 'you consider me a young apprentice....' caught my attention and thus whenever i hear that song now it brings back memories of long hours,crappy tasks and little pay...but in a good way

A friend of my mum's always had the same feeling about Adam Ant's 'Stand and Deliver' but she was learning to be a midwife

[TraceNspace]

classic missinterpretation of a song that had a whole different meaning once i realised what it was about:

"BORN IN THE USA" The Boss.

i used to hate the song with a passion when it first came out, i thought it was all about 'American patriotism' and 'America is great' bollocks, it wasnt till much later i realised the true meaning of the song..basically problems Nam Vets faced on their return from duty.
even when i was in the Navy, when the song came on in the 'wet mess'(bar) most of the guys would raise their fists in the air and bellow out 'born in the usa' along with the chorus...im like, you've got it all wrong fella's, its not a 'gung-ho' call to arms song.
i believe even Springsteen was p*ssed with the incorrect interpretation of his lyrics.

Bruce was outraged when Ronald Reagan used the song during his campaign.

[ashleywatson]

Really nice to read your post.... i think every every track has some story.

[jingles]

Great points, I just love your ideas, I hope people will like it, Keep us update.

link removed.

[wickedmusictaste]

The songs I identify with are the ones that really keep thrilling me each time I hear them. One of these songs is connected to a holiday, which I made when I was young.

I stayed with my family two weeks in Piedmont, Italy, and we hiked and enjoyed the place and especially of course the italien icecream! One day my mother got a call from our hometown and that was when the nice "holiday world" crashed just in front of me. A friend of mine had died in a car accident. Of course we couldn't fly back immediately, so I had to hang around. It was the first time that I lost somebody I knew and I remember that nothing seemed to be able to make me feel better. And then I heard this song and it didn't make me feel better, but it did something more consoling - it gave my feelings a voice. Do understand this emotion you have to know that my parents listen a lot to classic songs (also back then), so that is why I heard a cantata. You probaly will wonder about it, because if you listen to it on the radio, you won't associate this song with death. I think it was my desperation that I recognised in this song, and the feeling of injustice. It was "O Fortuna" from the Carmina Burana of Carl Orff. Listening to it with the death of my friend in my mind, it was the right song at the right time to describe my misery.

I want to go there again this year, I booked already a holiday home at a xxxxxxxxx I wonder what the place looks like from "adult eyes" now. But I won't listen to that song there, it will just make me sad. And I don't want to be sad at such a beautiful place in the supposedly "best time of the year"! I already checked out the best xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Guess I will listen to some more happy songs when I try the routes out.

[Hawkwind]

I don't know if this fits in with the spirit of this thread, but I know of a song that everyone seems to think is about something - when in fact it is not.

Phil Collins - "In the Air Tonight". The myth - supposedly, Phil wrote the song about his being witness to a person being murdered, and there are several variations on this theme. You would not believe how many people claim that this is 100% true. Phil himself was asked about this in an interview and was flabbergasted to hear that this was how the song was interpreted.

"As Phil Collins has explained numerous times over the years, "In the Air Tonight" (as well as most of the Face Value album) deals with his bitterness and frustration over the end of his marriage to his first wife, and the lyrics do not reference any specific real-life event." - quote from Amazon's "Askville" site.

[Noli Me Tangere]

There is the story about "I Am The Walrus".
After The Bealtes started becoming controversial, John Lennon learned that teachers are asking their students to interpret their songs. Lennon couldn't believe The Beatles are being studied in school so he wrote I Am The Walrus by putting together random sentences. The song actually doesn't mean a thing. Lennon said "Let them figure this one out."

[aalina387]

nice move dude…its good point...

[gryphon]

Whilst Lennon may have said that "I Am The Walrus" didn't mean a thing................it is bristling with Lennon symbolism and there are some people who can defend the arguments for specific meanings for some parts:

John loved Lewis Caroll and there are references to Alice through the looking glass in the song...........Catching John in the sequence of Magical Mystery tour where I am The Walrus is performed...John is clearly stoned..............thus implications can be drawn that this is a version of Johns thinkings through LSD................this elements of his persona can be identified...................Not alos the references to Lucy In the Sky ( See how they fly !!!)

There are Eggmen characters in the Wonderland Stories and they are representative of life's challenges and its journey, I Am The Walrus has paralles...............

So whilst there is no direct story, there are insights ibnto Lennon's state of mind and his thinking at the time it was written!

[Jamiestone]

The story behind the song is always reveals the good and the right thing.