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

[Phrozen Sands]

You know that song you love….

In this thread we discuss songs you love, pumped up the volume when it was played, danced to and sung along to, but actually, at the time, you had no clue what the song YOU were singing along to and dancing to was REALLY about.

[TLLK]

This story should also go in the "Weird Recruitment Stories" thread.



The song is 1982's "Welcome To the House of Fun" by the 1970's/1980's British pop/ska band Madness.


This popular song was in steady rotation on MTV and on KROQ (Rock of the 80's). It was selected in the fall of 1983 by our Day 2 Rush chair to accompany a slide show of our chapter to showcase that we are "the house of fun." And while our DG chapter did have many fun and exciting events during the year, we certainly were not the "House of Fun" that the song lyrics reference. Our sweet and naive Day 2 chair and our Recruitment VP truly had no idea what the song was about. All they noticed was the chorus repeating "Welcome to the House of Fun!"



The song is actually about a sixteen year old boy going to the chemist (pharmacist), purchasing condoms and looking forward to his first adult intimate encounter. However the lyrics would not necessarily be easy for most Americans to understand the message.



We only realized this during the last minute rehearsal for Day 2 when the slide show was presented to the chapter for the first time. As soon as the first 20 seconds were played, at least half of the chapter was in shock or burst out laughing. Our Day 2 chair and VP Recruitment could not understand the reaction to the song but realized that something must be inappropriate. You can imagine their shock when they were told its meaning. There was only 30 minutes before our first party arrived, so it was decided that it was too late to select a new song that synched with the slide show. Therefore we were told to keep the conversations going during the presentation in an effort to drown out the lyrics.



Now there were a few rushees who caught on to the song but they kept their reactions under control and just smiled during the presentation. After that, all songs to be used in any future presentation were thoroughly scrutinized.



https://www.songfacts.com/facts/madness/house-of-fun

[carnation]

I thought that the song "Hallelujah" from Shrek was just a beautiful song but 2 of my sons swear it's about sex.

[Phrozen Sands]

Most of the music I listen to is newer music and music today doesn’t have messages so hidden that it’s difficult to decipher what the artist is singing about. I am a huge Prince fan though. My favorite song by him is “Let’s go Crazy”. I had no idea that it was about religion. I also didn’t know Prince was a spiritual as he was. This is what he said below. Now when I hear the lyrics, I totally get it.

Prince: As I wrote it, ‘Let’s Go Crazy’ was about God and the de-elevation of sin,” Prince said. “But the problem was that religion as a subject is taboo in pop music. People think that the records they release have got to be hip, but what I need to do is to tell the truth.”

“I had to change those words up, but the elevator was Satan. I had to change the words up because you couldn’t say God on the radio. And ‘Let’s Go Crazy’ was God to me. It was: Stay happy, stay focused, and you can beat the elevator. Are we gonna let the elevator bring us down? Oh no let’s go!”

[PittDZ]

Brown Sugar by the Rolling Stones

We sang and danced to this song for years since the 1970’s before realizing it was about slaves being brought to New Orleans and whipped and raped by their masters. I always thought the song was a bit racist, but never really read all of the lyrics. The Rolling Stones were called out about it and now have pulled it from their concert set list. Such a fun dance song, but I don’t know what Mick Jagger was thinking when he wrote these lyrics…he admits he doesn’t either and wouldn’t write it today. Good to know that things have changed.

[navane]

Because it has such a catchy chorus, I've noticed that some people hadn't realized that "Pumped Up Kicks" by the group Foster the People is about a kid thinking of doing a school shooting.

[cheerfulgreek]

When I was like 5 or 6, then, the song was considered like really old. But I would sing with my mom while she played it. She loved that song and I used to say to her… “Play it again mom!” At that young of an age, I just assumed it was about coming home from work for lunch and eating a sandwich or something to satisfy your hunger. Plus, I remember my dad would come home from work in the afternoon for lunch sometimes and then go back to work, so I thought that’s what it was about. I still think about food when I hear the song, but I clearly know what it’s about now. I mean, it’s more than obvious.

https://youtu.be/wu1UXCdyNo0

[Phrozen Sands]

I hope this cut and paste works. I found this interesting list of song meanings. Some I thought I knew but was way off. I thought “Born in the USA” was a given but I was way off.

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/...stood-meanings

[amIblue?]

Originally Posted by cheerfulgreek

When I was like 5 or 6, then, the song was considered like really old. But I would sing with my mom while she played it. She loved that song and I used to say to her… “Play it again mom!” At that young of an age, I just assumed it was about coming home from work for lunch and eating a sandwich or something to satisfy your hunger. Plus, I remember my dad would come home from work in the afternoon for lunch sometimes and then go back to work, so I thought that’s what it was about. I still think about food when I hear the song, but I clearly know what it’s about now. I mean, it’s more than obvious.

https://youtu.be/wu1UXCdyNo0

If it makes you feel any better, I thought it was about ice cream when I was a child. Like, I was delighted if I got ice cream after school.

[Phrozen Sands]

Lol I still don’t know what they’re singing about. Not my kind of music though, so maybe that’s why.

[cheerfulgreek]

It’s about having sex. Ray Charles had a song called “Night time is the right time” — a more obvious song. “Afternoon Delight” is more like “When it’s right, it’s right” is the right time, so if that happens to be during the day then during the day it is.

The online meaning:
“Afternoon Delight is the name of a 1976 song by the Starland Vocal Band. The song, which contains innuendo about casual daytime sex (or an afternoon delight) was a hit. Because of the song’s popularity, afternoon delight has become well-recognized as a term for a midday sexual encounter, often between or instead of scheduled events.”

[cheerfulgreek]

Originally Posted by amIblue?

If it makes you feel any better, I thought it was about ice cream when I was a child. Like, I was delighted if I got ice cream after school.

lol
Hilarious! Love it.

[PrettyBoy]

I was reading through the song meaning list that was posted — really interesting. I grew up listening to traditional jazz and classical, so I never paid attention what those other songs actually meant. Today, other than traditional jazz and classical, I primarily only listen to jazz flavors which quite a few artists are pretty explicit in how they define their music.

[Phrozen Sands]

Jazz is just music though. Nothing really explicit to hear or hidden messages to decipher.

[PrettyBoy]

Originally Posted by Phrozen Sands

Jazz is just music though. Nothing really explicit to hear or hidden messages to decipher.

You obviously don’t listen to any or a lot of Jazz Flavors because the messages aren’t really hidden at all from my perspective, especially with Walter Beasley. He’s very explicit in his music.
https://youtu.be/_E3ECGxhMck