March 07, 2015

Behind the music: pop songs pack hidden meanings

By Michael Tanenbaum
PhillyVoice Staff

Matt Sayles/AP

Lady Gaga arrives at the 2013 American Music Awards, on Sunday, Nov. 24, 2013 in Los Angeles.

"I don't care, I love it." So goes Icona Pop's 2012 club hit that is undoubtedly still pounding through the blurry regions of many a frolicsome brain.

Sometimes songs are so great that it doesn't seem to matter much what they're actually about. Not only is it tempting to interpret them in ways that mesh with our own sensibilities, but who's to say artists don't prefer that sort of creative relationship with their fans? For the sake of trivia, however, it's nice to know when classics (or inescapable earworms) are referencing subjects we may not immediately detect.

BuzzFeed compiled a list of 16 songs that don't mean what you think they mean. Here are some highlights that may (or may not) come as a surprise.

"Summer of 69" - Bryan Adams

That palm-muted guitar and melodic, backyard character are enough to give this (at this point) granddad-rocker a wholesome, bygone appeal. While Adams' hit recollects the exploits of a rag-tag band and the earliest pangs of lovesickness, he later confessed to the Canadian version of Rolling Stone that the song isn't really about the best days of his life. He's had much better. Despite the factual nature of the song's lyrics, Adams said he wrote "Summer of 69" in response to a friend who bet him he couldn't craft a hit with 69 in the title.

"Closing Time" - Semisonic

Emptying bars always resort to this one as a not-so-subtle hint that last call is coming, but Semisonic's late night downer has a much more tender backstory. Lead signer Dan Wilson was preparing to become a father and wanted to honor the milestone with a song. Rather than saddle his bandmates with a heavy-handed ode to his child, he decided to write more enigmatically about how "new beginnings come from some other beginning's end".

"Poker Face" - Lady Gaga

Dismissing controversy by creating it has long been the secret to Lady Gaga's success, from wild wardrobe choices to provocations that test the pillars of orthodoxy. "Poker Face" can be heard simply as a meditation on duplicity and flirtation, but Lady Gaga has admitted the song is about her experience with bisexuality and her support of the gay community.

"Harder to Breathe" - Maroon 5

Despite the rolling funk and energy behind "Harder to Breathe", the song describes the band's frustration with the pressures and demands imposed by its record label. As frontman Adam Levine told MTV in 2002:

“That song comes sheerly from wanting to throw something. It was the 11th hour, and the label wanted more songs. It was the last crack. I was just pissed. I wanted to make a record and the label was applying a lot of pressure, but I’m glad they did.”

"Like a Virgin" - Madonna

Madonna's history of suggestive themes would justify taking her at face value. Assuming that "Like a Virgin" is about the loss of virginity is pretty straightforward logic, one would think, but the song was actually written by Billy Steinberg, who wanted to use a racy word to talk about experiencing love after a bitter breakup. His use of "virginity" is more broadly meant to say that rediscovering love produces that feeling all over again.

Songs often get detached from what originally inspired their artists because music has its own conversations with listeners. It's also highly possible for the artists views of their music to change over time. Needless to say, that's the challenge of writing powerful songs that contain enough mystery to shed new light on recognizable themes.

Check out the rest of the songs on the list here.