Posted November 26, 201014 yr I've just been having a Banarama moment(!) and was thinking about how Robert De Niro's Waiting sounds like a lovely pop song but is actually about the rather grim subject of a rape victim. So I thought of what other songs are like this? Obviously The Police's Every Breath You Take is well known and nearly everything by the Beautiful South but what other pop hits hide a dark subject matter within?
November 27, 201014 yr I'm thinking some Smiths ditties. Yeah, like There Is A Light That Never Goes Out!
November 27, 201014 yr "Green Green Grass Of Home" is about someone being hanged! "China In Your Hand" by T'Pau is about abortion. I know we can guess and try decipher things, but Gary Glitter's songs could be interpreted as having hidden messages about young girls.
November 27, 201014 yr Isn't Shiny Happy People about prescription drugs? Wish I was on prescription drugs whenever I had to listen to it.
November 29, 201014 yr Author "China In Your Hand" by T'Pau is about abortion. Didn't know that! Brilliant Actually not sure though. Wiki says it's about Mary Shelley and Frankenstein. The lyrics appear to back this up more Edited November 29, 201014 yr by Severin
November 29, 201014 yr And OMD's Enola Gay sounds like a love song but it is, of course, about Hiroshima
November 29, 201014 yr Author And OMD's Enola Gay sounds like a love song but it is, of course, about Hiroshima An utter classic
November 29, 201014 yr An utter classic Along with many other OMD songs :wub: They did a gig with the Liverpool Philharmonic last year. Sadly I missed it but there are lots of videos on youtube. And Andy McCluskey still can't dance :lol:
November 30, 201014 yr Jona Lewie's Stop The Cavalry is quite a nice sounding song- but its quite a harsh song about war
December 2, 201014 yr Apparently Sonia 'You'll Never Stop Me Loving You' is about stalking. Joking. I know Pet Shop Boys are infamous in disguising dark/serious matters under the guise of melodic pop, 'Being Boring' is about those who lost their lives to AIDS? Or is that a myth?
December 3, 201014 yr Re: "Being Boring", not sure if it's been confirmed by Neil and Chris whether it's about people who have died from AIDS, but the last verse is, in hindsight, suggestive: "All the people I was kissing, some are here and some are missing in the 1990s..." Other upbeat-ish pop songs with lyrics referring to AIDS include "Hit That Perfect Beat" by Bronski Beat (you could argue most of the Bronski's songs are also examples of sugar sweet pop; listening to the lyrics they are anything but) and "Digging Your Scene" by the Blow Monkeys (satirising the ignorant hysteria of the time). A surprising example of a pop song with a dark undertone, and confirmed as such by the songwriter... "The Land of Make Believe" by Bucks Fizz is about Thatcher! "Something nasty in your garden's waiting patiently 'til it can have your heart, try to go but it won't let you, don't you know it's out to get you, running... keep on running, they're running after you..."
December 4, 201014 yr "The Land of Make Belive" could also apply to Cameron as well as Thatcher :D I'm not sure if this is true but Jennifer Rush's "The Power Of Love" is about death. It's about someone who is dying/died and how their love lives on no matter what. Madonna's "Papa Don't Preach" is about abortion, also "Live to Tell" is about abuse. "Bohemian Rhapsody" is about someone being hanged. "Love Kills" is reference to AIDS judging from the lyrics. Enigma's "Sadeness" is about sado masochistic sex!
December 18, 201014 yr The Beatles 'Run for your life' : A jaunty up tempo song with lyrics of psychotic jealousy. Abba 'Does your mother know' : Underage sex. The Tremeloes 'Suddenly you love me' : A tale of female narcissistic personality disorder. Edited December 18, 201014 yr by Olympus
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