Vizzini songs - it doesn’t mean what you think it means

mcherry

mcherry

🥑
Haha, okay, share/write about songs that sound like one thing but actually mean another.

I have no idea how far this thread will go but let’s play!

My contribution: “Tenderness” by General Public



Sounds like an upbeat love song. Killer hook, catchy singalong chorus. Even the video is misleading, starting off and ending with young kids smiling.

But when you listen to the lyrics, it’s really a guy frustrated with his relationship. And it’s more than a lament about lack of tenderness from his girl. He’s ruining it too.

“My luck’s like a button, I can’t stop pushing it”

“I open my mouth and out pops something spiteful”

And she’s not giving him the tenderness he wants and it’s all a big unhappy spiral.

But it sounds so happy they use it in happy movie endings like Clueless and commercials, etc. lol
 
I Don't Know How But They Found Me - Choke

While the title is a giveaway, if you heard this on the radio you would really need to pay attention to the lyrics and not the catchy, pop 50s/60s induced music. It makes me laugh as I sing along every time :)

Now shut your dirty mouth
If I could burn this town
I wouldn't hesitate
To smile while you suffocate and die
And that would be just fine
And what a lovely time
That it would surely be
So bite your tongue
And choke yourself to sleep
(Yeah, yeah)
 
“So In Love” by OMD

I think the sweeping synths and romantic delivery of this song hide its biting lyrics.



The chorus:
“Heaven is cold, without any soul/It’s hard to believe I was so in love with you”

And these lines:
“Don’t say your prayers, don’t build your hopes, just walk away/Don’t phone me up, don’t call around, don’t waste your time”

Instead of a declaration of lasting love, the song is about a relationship that’s ended. The narrator is bitter, perhaps still feels love, but seems more determined to keep away.

And by the end of the song, the repeated chorus lines sound incredulous but also nostalgic. So then you’re wondering if the bitterness had all been show and that he wants his love to return.

Kind of like 10cc’s “I’m Not In Love”

Anyway, it remains one of my favorite OMD songs ever.
 
how 'bout.... MMMBop? that inane summer teenybopper smash of the 90s has lyrics like,

"You have so many relationships in this life
Only one or two will last
You go through all the pain and strife
Then you turn your back and they're gone so fast"

"In an mmmbop they're gone
In an mmmbop they're not there
Until you lose your hair"

 
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