Today's Decomp: Songs That Aren't About What You Think!

     So, I've got my iTunes on shuffle and all the sudden, "Shannon" by Henry Gross comes on. If you don't know what this song is about, then I won't spoil it for you until later in this post, but suffice to say that it is NOT about some girl named Shannon. That's when I started thinking about a TON of songs that have back stories you just NEVER would have guessed, or they're about something deeper than what the lyrics betray. I'll post videos with the lyrics, but make sure you actually listen to the words first, decide what you think the song's about and then I'll tell you at the end. 

So, with that, let the spoilers begin!

Shannon by Henry Gross

One of those mopey 70's songs that are a guilty pleasure for those of us born in the late 60's to early 70's (lyrics courtesy of www.oldielyrics.com):

Another day's at end
Mama says she's tired again
No one can even begin to tell her
I hardly know what to say
But maybe it's better that way
If Pop-pa were here I'm sure he'd tell her

Shannon, is gone I heard
She's drifting out to sea
She always loved to swim away
Maybe she'll find an island with a shaded tree
Just like the one in our backyard

Mama tries hard to pretend
That things will get better again
Somehow she's keepin' it all inside her
But finally the tears fill our eyes
And I know that somewhere tonight
She knows how much we really miss her

Shannon, is gone I heard
She's drifting out to sea
She always loved to swim away
Maybe she'll find an island
With a shaded tree
Just like the one in our back yard
Ah, just like the one in our back yard
Ah....
Just like the one in our back yard

Ben by Michael Jackson

Another mopey 70's tune. More people know what this one is about, but still worth adding (bonus points for having seen this movie and its prequel, "Willard"!) The lyrics are already listed, so I won't post them.

I Don't Like Mondays by Boomtown Rats

Okay, once I looked at the lyrics, I realized they really ARE about what they say they are. As a kid, though, I never knew ALL the words or the backstory, so I just sang the bridge and chorus in complete oblivion:

Beds Are Burning by Midnight Oil

This 80's tune has PIECES of what it COULD relate to in it, but if you understood this tune out of the gate without any help from Casey Kasem (or Wikipedia now!), then you get a medal for...smart music lyric-ky-ness...that I just made up:

Black Bird by The Beatles

A mellow little Beatles tune that always makes me smile:

Brown Eyed Girl by Van Morrison

A favorite tune from the 60's:

Hello I Love You by The Doors

A song by The Doors that gives just one line that hints at what the song is truly about:

You Light Up My Life by Debbie Boone

The 70's were incredibly prolific for these sweet love songs!

Let My Love Open the Door by Pete Townshend

This was an early 80's tune that's made a big comeback, now that all the Saturday Night Live alumni-turned-actors are in their 40's:

So, got all those in mind? Understood the meaning behind them (or think you know?). Great! Let's match up what you think with the truth and see how close you were! BTW, if you want to check out more songs and meanings, I usually use Songfacts.com for lyrics, meanings, etc.


Shannon: It's about a dead DOG. Seriously. And more specifically, it's about Beach Boy Carl Wilson's dead Irish Setter. Henry Gross wrote it as a tribute. Not much more to that, really!

Ben: It's about a RAT and is actually the theme song to the movie of the same name. Ben and Socrates were two rats from the 1971 movie "Willard" in which this meek guy (Willard) ends up getting some rat friends who help him face his problems. Eventually this gets out of hand and Willard regrets having these rat buddies a little too late. "Ben" is the 1972 sequel in which Ben goes elsewhere and befriends a kid who's also not having the best life.

Ben and his rat horde help this kid, too, but then the cops come to wipe all the sewer rats out and the kid has to get Ben to leave. I remember thinking the sewer looked like an awesome place to play when I saw this movie on TV...thank goodness I saw the drain scene from Now and Then before I tried it! Also, for those who like Crispin Glover, he apparently made a remake of Willard in 2003! On the DVD, he sings the song Ben with a rat that looks like a giant possum...no idea why all the hot chicks want the rat so bad, though:

I Don't Like Mondays: Unfortunately, this one is in response to a true story. On January 29, 1979, 16 year old Brenda Ann Spencer sat in her house with a rifle and opened fire on Grover Cleveland Elementary School across the street. She ended up wounding eight children who were waiting for the gate to open and killing both Principal Burton Wragg and custodian Mike Suchar (who tried to get Principal Wragg to safety after he'd been hit). The song title was part of her actual response when asked why she'd done it: "I don't like Mondays; this livens up the day." When the Boomtown Rats sing about seeing "no reasons, 'cause their ARE no reasons", they're actually saying the words we all feel (even now) about such senseless acts.

Beds Are Burning: This one is a protest song about giving back lands in Australia to the native Pintupi people. Like the Native Americans, they were forcibly moved from their homelands to settlements created by the government. The title line (which you hear in the lyric "how can we sleep when our beds are burning?") is essentially about the guilt the non-aboriginal people ought to be feeling about the treatment of the natives for the past 200+ years. The guys of Midnight Oil felt (and rightly so) that the Australian government should apologize and give them their land back (which the Prime Minister refused to do). They also performed this song at the closing ceremonies of the 2000 Olympics in Sydney while wearing all black with t-shirts that said "Sorry" on them.

Black Bird, Brown-Eyed Girl & Hello, I Love You: All about black girls! Remember that the 60's were a time of civil unrest. African Americans were fighting for equal rights and in many places in the US, interracial marriages were still against the law (strange to think I couldn't have been married to my soulmate because of a stupid law, but there it is). That didn't stop others from finding grace and beauty in those whose lives were embattled, but in the music business, that support was always coded so as not to upset radio stations (who could make or break the tune with airplay).

For the Beatles, the word "bird" is actually slang for "girl", so black bird refers to a black woman. Paul McCartney has been looking for ways to lyrical support civil rights in the US, so lines like "you were only waiting for this moment to arise" is symbolic of the long suffering that had finally become an outright protest against inequality. For The Doors, their song is about seeing a black girl walking along the beach and the only line that hints at who they mean is near the end "Do you hope to make her see you, fool? Do you hope to pluck this dusky jewel?" (dusky, of course, suggesting a darker color!). And finally, Van Morrison's hit was ORIGINALLY titled Brown SKINNED Girl, but was changed so that radio stations would actually play it (oddly enough, some would still ban it for the "making love in the green grass" line!).

You Light Up My Life & Let My Love Open the Door: Both songs about GOD but in a round about way. Debbie Boone's "You Light Up My Life" was originally a love song for the movie of the same name. Didi Conn (who'd later watch an angelic Frankie Valli descend from heaven while singing "Beauty School Dropout" in "Grease"), lip syncs the song in the movie. Later, Debby Boone decided it was more of an inspirational Christian tune and sang it to God instead.

With "Let My Love Open The Door", the connection is less direct. In the liner notes of the Townsend Gold CD, Townsend refers to this song as "Jesus sings", so quite a few folks have interpreted the "my love" part to be "God's love".

So, there's the songs and all the hidden stuff. If you have more that I don't know about, post them in the comments below. I LOVE hidden stuff!