You thought it was about… but learned it was about.

[PGD-GRAD]

I remember reading an interview with Glen Campbell who said that the beautiful, haunting “Galveston” was absolutely anti-Vietnam. He said it was a lonely, frightened solder remembering his hometown and wondering if he’d ever see it again: “I clean my gun, and dream of Galveston”.
It was so subtle I honestly never connected it to ‘Nam—but HE knew it.

[carnation]

I grew up less than an hour away from Galveston and spent so much time there. It came out when I was in high school and I KNOW we never connected it with the war! We thought it was a beautiful song about the city we loved.

[chi-o_cat]

I just found out that not only is "Morning Dew," a song played a lot by the Grateful Dead and its various incarnations, A- actually a cover (I know they played a lot of covers, I just didn't know this was), and B- not a sweet song about nature in the morning, but actually about being the last people alive on earth after an apocalypse. The songwriter saw a movie called "On the Beach" about a global nuclear holocaust and it inspired the song.

[andthen]

Sweet dreams (are made of this)

Ok I'm of the MTV generation when they still played music videos. I was startled as an adult when I was chatting with a friend of mine from church who told me the song is about S&M!! My mind was blown, since then I've never listened to the song the same way again.