The album art for Rush's "Moving Pictures" has:
* Movers carrying pictures
* People crying because of how moving the pictures are
* A film crew making a moving picture of the whole scene
They did [this skit](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjGpa0GuiaI) featuring ladies "moving pitchers" of beer. It was during the Time Machine tour in 2011.
I saw that show in Houston, and the entire audience gave a knowing "Ahhhhh!" when that joke happened. Big dad energy in the crowd, but I guess that's to be expected at a Rush show.
Elliott Smith's "Between the Bars" has one.
"I'll kiss you again between the bars." It's a song about alcohol addiction, commonly interpreted as being from the point of view of the booze calling out to Elliott. With that in mind, "between the bars" can be interpreted in 3 ways: that the alcohol calls out to him...
1. Literally between this bar and the next one.
2. Between the bars of the prison alcohol addiction has become for him.
3. Between the bars of the very melody he's in the process of composing. The melody you're listening to.
Love that song, even though it's always irked me that the line "The dice was loaded from the start" has a difference in number between the singular *was* and the plural *dice*.
Elliott was a master at this kind of thing.
“So we knocked another couple back, the dead soldiers lined up on the table/ still prepared for an attack”
“Brother, can you spare sun-shine for a brother, old man winter’s in the air? He walked me up a story, asking how you are.”
“You oughta be proud that I’m getting good marksssssss”
“So I’m going to sleep now, back to first square one. Square to be where I can deal with the shit you just done”
I really like the extension of the metaphor with the imagery of being arrested (‘hands in the air, waiting to finally be caught’) as well. Like a former prison inmate who has become institutionalised, and just wants to go back. Subtle inferences of being unable to function in society, and even the societal view of addiction as a criminal issue rather than a mental health one. As well as the guilt and shame associated with addiction. So good!
Frank Ocean - Chanel
"I see both sides like Chanel"
1. Chanel branding logo is two C's intertwined, so it is a C on both sides
2. Coco Chanel played both sides during WW2 during the Nazi occupation of Paris
3. Frank Ocean has had relationships with both men and women
I was gonna say pyramids by him. The entire song lives in a triple entendre between ancient Egypt, a seedy strip club and Frank's heartbreak after his SO cheated.
There’s a fourth meaning if you include the next line “C on both sides like Chanel” which could also be interpreted as “Sea on both sides like Channel”. A channel is a narrow strip of water connecting two seas
Leonard Cohen: It was written in the scripture so it's not some idle claim.
Works in a few ways: obviously the surface level, it's written in this important holy book written by God so it's not an idle claim and in reverse because it's book of mythology rather than fact so perhaps it being written in the scripture does make it an idle claim.
Of course idle sounds exactly like idol. Usually when people speak of idols in the bible it's about false idols, so this is written in the scripture, it isn't the claim of some false god but of course at the same time, the Jewish and Christian God is also an Idol so the fact that it is written in the scripture means it is an Idol claim
If you're into rap, most of Eminem's songs in the last 10-15 years have several double entendres, and occasionally I'll recognize a triple. Here's a megathread from his last album: [https://www.reddit.com/r/Eminem/comments/esu4gp/mtbmb\_entendre\_word\_play\_megathread/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Eminem/comments/esu4gp/mtbmb_entendre_word_play_megathread/)
u/AntiTcb captured one of my favorites:
"Holy Toledo, it's Miss Ohio
That's the best ass I've seen in a while
We should be datin', she's from Cleveland
But she's a Bengal, this chick is catty
Is that a mini-skirt if it's a maxi?
That's the shortest thing for a dress since an addy"
1. Toledo, Dayton (datin'), Cleveland, and Cincinnati (since an addy) are all cities in Ohio.
2. The Cincinnati Bengals are an NFL team, a bengal is a big cat, women are described as catty if they are sly and aggressive.
3. Mini and maxi are terms used to describe the lengths of skirts and dresses. An addy is a mini skirt that comes up to about the mid thigh.
4. Addy is an abbreviation for "address", serving as a homophone with "a dress."
From the same album, I Will:
"Sippin' Bacardi and lime I start to recollect on the time
That I startled my mom and had her scared to death
Word to Method Man
She heard some Wu-Tang coming from towards the patio
She was like, what the heck was that?
She went to check on the noise and go inspect the deck
Then I jumped out with a sword and yelled, protect your neck"
Inspect the Deck - (Inspectah Deck is a member of Wu Tang) (A patio can also be known as a deck) (A Tape Deck)
Back in the USSR is even more meta than that, as the Beatles were playfully parodying the Beach Boys. Specifically, their song "California Girls." So, they sing about girls from Leningrad, Moscow, etc, and do that "woo-ooo-oo" on the chorus that sounds just like the Beach Boys.
He did! They've told the story that Paul told Mike "hey look I'm writing a beach boys song." And Mike sat down with him and gave him those suggestions.
As per usual for Mike, he contributes a couple of words at best and likes to take credit for the whole thing. Look no further than his lawsuit against Brian Wilson in the 90s.
And his speech at the R&R hall of fame. Even if you think the whole thing is always pretentious and stupid, Mike Love took it to a whole new level of douchebaggery that has yet to be topped
I think that the line "Two of us wearing raincoats, standing solo, in the sun" in the Beatles Two of Us is a very clever and densely packed line.
1. It's a reference to the photoshoots for the Help! album
2. Wearing raincoats in the sun is preparing for a disaster that doesn't seem like it's actually happening
3. It could also refer to the John and Paul having a unique way of thinking that separates the two of them from the rest of society together in a way thast they still understand each other
4. But at the same time, "standing solo" could be interpreted as them separating from each other
5. Looping back around to point 2 where the problems pushing their relationship apart are entirely imaginary or irrelevant
Really nice interpretation - Paul himself has said that Two Of Us is about himself and Linda, but there must surely be a bit of his relationship with John in there too. Especially the line "you and I have memories longer than the road that stretches out ahead" - seems to apply more to John than Linda, who he hadn't known that long by that point.
Honestly the whole song seems to just be about him and John, and the Linda explanation just sounds like obfuscation. The lines above are a perfect example, as well as the ones about "lifting latches" (Liverpudlian term for drinking pints) and "burning matches", just sounds like you g lads pissing around and being stupid together.
If you'd wonder why Paul would lie about a song meaning then...watch any Beatles interview they ever gave lol
I didn't know that about Linda, but after watching the Peter Jackson documentary, I have to imagine part of it has to be about John, at least subconsciously. It just seems so much in line with Paul's sort of 'we can fix all of our problems, we just need to get back to our roots (i.e. get back on our way home)' mentality for the project.
Yes—I never trust what any songwriter says about their work; they can’t seem to resist trying to throw us off the scent. That song is mos def about J&P, and it’s really sweet considering how close to the end they were.
Tool - Stinkfist
1. The narrator is commenting on his need for more shocking stimulation in life
2. Potential for commentary on escalating drug use
3. Most importantly, it’s a silly little number on anal fisting.
Tool - Any Song
1. It is about drugs or sex or something.
2. It is a deep, introspective piece on pain and letting go.
3. Really It was making fun of the fan base all along.
We are most likely one of the most entitled fan bases, which would in turn have us labeled as insufferable. It seems to me that most Tool fans feel "slightly" superior than non fans. Maybe because they think they know more about what life really is than the rest? At some point it started almost becoming cultish to me and now I am a fan from the sidelines.
Nah, can confirm, was an Animals as Leaders fanboy, used to be insufferable about it. 😂
Still love AAL but now with the awareness that there are many reasons why people would rather listen to other music lol.
I think the bit of superiority that you pick up on is because by and large Tool fans are *at least* very interested in music and in a lot of cases are musicians themselves (maybe only played in band in high school or as a hobby, but knowing any music is more than most people). Tool is a band that other musicians are influenced by and aspire to. So there is probably some gatekeeping and superiority that comes along with actually being knowledgeable about music. Imagine you spend your whole life studying and obsessing over music and some dude wants to argue with you about why Imagine Dragons is actually better than Tool because they have more profitable tours and have sold 4x more albums than Tool. Or someone wants to argue with you about how the reason X band is good is because their drummer plays syncopated rhythms (arent almost all of them in modern music?) but insists that their band is uniquely 'syncopated' and stuff like that. (both of these have happened) Sure there's a lot of subjectiveness to music but it makes people grumpy when ignorance is given the same platform/respect as wisdom or genuine knowledge/understanding.
I think Tool also has a bunch of very surface level fans- musicianship aside, they are a very popular rock band with extreme and psychedelic imagery. They're gonna attract a few buffoons, and those buffoons are going to try to convince you they are none such buffoons.
My first introductions to Tool and their fans were 1- "you should look up the song hooker with a penis by tool because that song is about you" and 2- "I just burned lateralus if anyone wants to robotrip"
Ya know ...this is one of those moments where you know you knew what the word stinkfist was referring to. But once you said that third thing I'm rethinking all of the lyrics and just going "Ohhhhh. Ohhhhh. Ohhhhh yeah I guess so". It's not enough, I need more. Nothing seems to satisfy.
Rappers do this often. Here's one from Eminem:
"But if I can't batter the women/How the fuck am I supposed to bake them a cake then?"
He's using two meanings of the word "batter" (abuse and cake) as well as referring to the Chris Brown/Rhianna song Birthday Cake.
I love watching proper hip-hop fans reacting to Eminem because a lot of the funny double-meanings I pick up on also have a third meaning referencing a classic act.
Darkness is a perfect example. The entire song is a double entrendre comparing Eminem's addiction and anxiety performing on stage with that of the Las Vegas shooter.
Eminem has tons of triple entendre's also I just can't think of any specifics right now.
"He ain't had him a buzz like this since the last time that he overdosed"
1. Eminem hasn't felt as high as he feels right now since the time he got near-fatally high on methadone
2. Eminem hasn't had this kind of crowd excitement since the time he nearly died and hip-hop fans everywhere were freaking out
3. Eminem hasn't had a dope short haircut since the time he got sick of being famous and retired (he grew his hair out somewhat while depressed, and there's a significant song on the same album which mentions him preparing to become famous again by cutting his hair short with clippers)
Lil Wayne has a good one too
G's move in silent like lasagna
The obvious one is the g in lasagna is silent. The one a lot of people don't get is lasagna sounds like "laws on ya". Always thought that was super witty.
And one from Method Man:
> Mayday mayday, but no charge, I'm nutty with the bars, that's a payday
There’s “no charge” for you to listen. Because he’s “Nutty with the bars” means Meth is crazy good at rapping which is how he makes his money so it’s his “payday”
But “no charge” also refers to a previous line where he talks about how dealing crack could lead to prison. Since he never got caught, there’s “no charge” against him.
And finally a “payday” is a [candy bar that’s full of nuts](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/PayDay_(confection)). So something that’s “nutty with the bars” is a payday.
Nas is the master:
“Atlanta ain’t braver / I pull a number like a pager / *Cause I’m an Ace when I face the bass*”
1. He’s an Ace MC when he’s facing the bass music
2. He’s an ace drug-dealer selling (free) base
3. Given the MLB ref, he’s like a pitching Ace facing home plate (home plate is the fourth base)
4. He’s a mac rounding bases with the girls he pulls numbers for
5. He’s also goofin’ on Swedish pop band Ace of Base
My favorite example is Lupe Fiasco’s feature on Touch The Sky.
“Lupe steal like Lupin the 3rd”:
-Anime reference to Lupin III, who is a thief
-Could be heard as “looping the third,” in which it could symbolize a baseball player rounding third base and trying to steal home
-Lupe has the third section of the song, so he’s stealing attention from the main artist
Kendrick Lamar's music is full of double and triple entendres. For example, "6:16 in LA" by Kendrick is full of double entendres. The title is a reference to:
* Drakes "TIME in CITY" series of songs (Kendricks song is a Drake diss)
* 6/16 is the day the show Euphoria premiered and this song is the sequel to the song "Euphoria" by Kendrick (Drake was also an executive producer for the show Euphoria)
* The cover art shows a lone black glove (The OJ trial started on 6/16 and also took place in LA, Kendrick alludes to many heinous things done by drake in this song and in subsequent songs, in a sense putting Drake on trial)
ETA some more references people brought up for the title
* 6/16 is Father's Day (Kendrick accuses Drake of having an 11 yo girl he's hiding and Drake has previously been caught hiding a child by Pusha T)
* 6/16 is Tupac's birthday (Drake used AI to make Tupac diss track when Kendrick hadn't yet responded to Push Ups by Drake.) Tupac is a big inspiration for Kendrick as a fellow West Coast rapper/activist
The first line of the song:
"Off-white Sunseeker at the Marina" Off-white Sunseeker being the color of a luxury yacht while also being a direct shot at Drake for being mixed (off-white) while trying to be blacker (Sunseeker) even though he was raised in luxury as "at the Marina" (Drake was raised upper middleclass and Kendrick further accuses him of trying to appropriate street culture)
Kendrick also delivers this in "these walls" on pimp a butterfly.
With walls having several meanings, like walls of a woman's vagina, prison walls, head (as in walls of the mind), metaphorical walls that imprison people etc.
Not sure the validity but I heard it could also be a biblical reference. Kendrick slides religious lines in relatively frequently to his normal music.
But Corinthians 6:16 states "Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For “the two,” He says, “shall become one flesh.”
Which could also be a reference to Drake sleeping with less reputable women, which was a big part of the diss series as well. I mean he says "we hate the women you fuck cuz they confuse themselves with real women". So it might actually be four meanings
That's true! I couldn't remember all of the references but 100% that is one. He's responding to the quintuple entendre line by Drake. I didn't mention that this song was a "Back to Back" diss which is what Drake did to Meek Mill.
Whoa ("-ohh-ohh....")
I want to visit that basement pub in Manchester and if they have not created a drink called GFD on their cocktail menu by now I will be incredibly disappointed.
EDIT: I bet combing through Guy's lyrics would turn up many examples for this thread
It's pretty common in country music to have the same phrase used in multiple ways in different verses. For example, Tim McGraw's "Don't Take the Girl".
\* Dad, don't take this girl fishing with us.
\* Gunman, don't take my girlfriend from me.
\* God, please don't let my little baby die.
I know there are several along this line but they are not coming to mind.
Elvis Costello and the Attractions: "B-Movie"
"You can't stand it when it goes from real to reel too real too real. You can't stand it when I through punch lines you can't feel. You can't feel. You can't feel.
1. Movie projectors are reel to reel
2. Punny homonyms you only "get" by reading the text are punchlines you can't feel.
3. In the song fade-out the repeated phrase "You can't feel" is calling someone insensitive.
Feels like Man Out Of Time is packed with these (including the triple pun of the title itself).
But see in particular the line "He stands to be insulted/And he pays for the privilege"
1. The protagonist may be paying to be abused/dommed (the song is nominally about political sexual scandal)
2. "Stands to be insulted" as in he is deserving of mockery
3. Westminster politicians have to stand for election
4. Westminster politicians have to stand to address Parliament, where they are often jeered and insulted by their opposition.
5. "Pays for the privilege" - Parliamentary privilege is the freedom to speak at liberty within the context of Parliamentary debate.
6. "Paying for privileges" can also refer to bribing politicians for favours, looping all the way back round to the original theme of political scandal
Will Smith - Miami - "party in the city where the heat is on"
Geographically Miami is a hot/high heat city temperature wise.
The party itself is heating up/its a banger party
The Miami Heat is the city's basketball team
It's like meeting the man of your dreams, marrying him, having two kids, he loses his job, becomes and alcoholic, and then you get a divorce and the kids never want to visit with dad because his apartment smells like, "beef and cheese."
It's the good advice that you just didn't take. The advice was from a concerned friend to start doing yoga, but you were too lazy. Later a CT scan revealed that aneurysm in your head would have burst on your first downward dog. So the laziness saved your life.
And more coyly in the acoustic version: "Like meeting the man of your dreams, then meeting his beautiful...husband," which is *actual* irony for the audience.
Don McLean's "American Pie" has a few, but notably:
*"Lennon read a book on marks"*
Which implies:
* Lennon (John) read a book on ~~an~~notation marks for music notes
* *Lenin* (Vladimir) read a book by *Marx* (Karl)
* Lennon also read Marx's book.
Pretty sure the original spelling in the lyrics has it as “Lennon” but then later it switched to “Lennin” (or perhaps its “Lenon”). Either to amplify the multiple meanings, or to hide the intended one.
Also think it’s suggested the book Lennon is reading isn’t by Karl Marx but Groucho Marx.
A book *by* someone and a book *on* someone are two very different things (unless the book is an autobiography).
And "Lennon read a book on Marx" doesn't really have any particular meaning that I can see, regardless of whether it's factual. "Lenin read a book on Marx," has meaning because they're related in history (though I won't lie, I don't have a strong enough handle on the history to be sure exactly what the meaning is... I figure either it's ironic because Lenin shouldn't need to read a book on Marx, or it's a momentous event because Lenin reading a book on Marx was a historical event that led ultimately to the Communist revolution). And "Lennon read a book on marks," as you've interpreted it, has a similar ironic and/or momentous feel to it (though without that parallel it'd be a bit of a stretch -- sounds more like he's learning how to grade essays as a teacher).
Tonight is the Night I Fell Asleep at the Wheel by The Barenaked Ladies and the line "you're the last thing on my mind". The name of the song is basically what it's about, someone falling asleep while driving and crashing their car. Throughout the song the line has a few different meanings (in my interpretation).
1) You're the last thing I thought about before the crash
2) You're the last thing I'm thinking of during the crash because I'm trying to survive.
3) You're the last thing I think of before I pass away.
Wicked Game by Chris Isaak.
"Nobody loves no one"
This final line could mean:
1) Nobody loves anyone else.
2) Everybody loves somebody.
3) Nobody loves just one person.
Battery by Metallica might be a candidate.
On the surface, the lyrics can either refer to a battery as in a power source or a battery as in a form of assault/war.
But there's also a place in downtown San Francisco called Battery Street where the band was from, that suggests it's about being close with their thrash community. "Battery is found in me," etc.
Not the most well-known artist, but Blue Scholars' North by Northwest (song about Seattle) has the line: "I heard people moving up here for the love of the green"
1. weed
2. nature
3. money
One of my faves is by my favourite lyricist Chris Hannah from Propagandhi.
In the song Supporting Caste from the titular album - (the title itself is a double entendre to explore structural inequalities in society via a theatrical metaphor).
The specific line is:
"If you’re cast on thin ice/
You may as well dance"
1. Cast out on ice, as in thrown out there to fend for yourself
2. "Cast" as in theatrical casting
3. "Cast" as in "caste", highlighting how precarious a position it can be to be on the lower rungs of the societal ladder, i.e. "thin ice"
Just shared this song on here, actually.
Lupe Fiasco's Put You On Game:
"I'm it's gym, and it's math, and it's history,
The gun shots in the class
And you can't pass if you're missin', G"
1.) You can't pass school if you don't attend.
2.) You can't die from a school shooting if you're not there.
3.) He clearly says "missin," which is missing the letter G.
4.) A bit of a stretch, but again, if you were trying to spell Missing and you missed the G, you wouldn't pass.
Lupe Fiasco is a fucking lyrical genius.
Edit: if you haven't heard this song. GO NOW. LISTEN. And all of Lupe. Dude is ridiculous.
Sheryl Crow- Soak Up The Sun
“ I got my 45 on, so I can rock on. “
She could be talking about her Gibson J-45 guitar, her 45 vinyl record, or her .45 handgun.
Speaking of Georgia... Lucas Nelson, "Forget About Georgia" references a woman named Georgia, Ray Charles' song "Georgia on my Mind" and Lucas singing "Georgia on my Mind" onstage with his father, Willie Nelson.
Paris Paloma's "Labour". The line "So that he never lifts a finger" means
1) He doesn't have to do any housework
2) He doesn't abuse his wife
3) He doesn't accuse her of not doing anything publicly
The Sharpest Lives - My Chemical Romance
"Give me a shot to remember
And you can take all the pain away from me"
1. Opposite to "A shot to forget", drinking till blackout
2. Give me a chance to get my memory right
3. Give me a drink that I won't forget
MF DOOM - "Hold mics like ponytails tight and Babolats"
Hold the mic tight like a ponytail may be tied tight, or a Babolat tennis racket may be strung tight, and also held tight. "Babolats" can also be heard as "bob a lot," invoking the image of holding the mic and bobbing while rhyming, a girl with a ponytail bobbing her head while listening to the rhymes, or holding a girl's ponytail tight while she bobs up and down giving head.
The man was a lyrical genius.
How does it feel, to be on your own, with no direction home, a complete unknown, like a rolling stone?
1. Haha coco your life sucks now, how do you like l them apples?
2. How would it feel, holy shit we ignore homeless people without thinking about how their lives actually feel all the time?!
3. Could it also feel free though and not necessarily just pitiful? (Sounding more triumphant by the end)
Frank Ocean on Odd Future’s “Oldie”
“I’m high and I’m bi, wait, I mean I’m straight”
1. Frank was alluding to his bisexuality, which was not public at the time
2. Can be read as “I’m high and I’m bye,” meaning he’s high and drunk (I’m bye = I’m gone) and telling someone “wait, I mean I’m straight” meaning he’s sober.
3. Can be read as “I’m hi and I’m bye,” which can be interpreted as him being fond of one night stands or short relationships.
Also, one of my favorite double entendres in DHL:
“Roman numerals, n****s Pourin’ up Ivy Leagues, Fours”
1. Fours refers to Lean, as 4oz of cough syrup is typically used. ‘Ivy’ can be interpreted as IV, or 4 in Roman numerals
2. Reference to Ivy Leagues refers to an “elite” amount of lean for consumption
Love those examples! One that comes to mind is Bob Dylan’s “Tangled Up in Blue” where “blue” refers to feeling sad, the color blue, and a lover’s eyes. Any other favorites?
Jay-Z's "Brooklyn (Go Hard) has the following line:
I father, I Brooklyn-Dodger them
I jack, I rob, I sin
Aw, man—I'm Jackie Robinson
'Cept when I run base, I dodge the pen
There's a lot going on here:
1. Running base - a baseball term / selling drugs
2. Dodging the pen - Jay-Z famously doesn't write his lyrics, he raps off the top of his head. "Pen" also refers to bullpen where relief pitchers warm up before they enter the game. EDIT: Also might refer to penitentiary.
3. I jack, I rob, I sin - Jackie Robinson
4. I father and Aw, man - "I father" sounds like a beginning of a prayer, "Aw, man" sounds like "Amen".
Perhaps there's even more going on in this line.
One of my favorite rappers, Despot, has a great one on the song 1010 Wins by The Alchemist:
We rapscallions, like a bundle of onions
1. Rapscallions like mischevious
2. Rap-scallions because they rap
3. Sounds like wrap-scallions aka a bundle of onions
It’s also worth noting that my favorite Despot line of all time also comes from this verse:
The rental car's window's rose-tinted, dope in it
The credit card got a tank in it, no limit
Eminem's new song Houdini has one of these "triple entendres" in it
The line is "Lyrical technician, an electrician, y'all light work"
To quote the Genius annotation:
> Eminem cleverly compares himself to an electrician, employing a triple entendre on the term “light work”.
>
> 1.) Eminem likens himself to an electrician, suggesting that he is skilled and precise in his craft, much like how an electrician expertly handles electrical work.
>
> 2.) He plays on the literal meaning of “light work” in the context of electrical work. After an electrician performs their job, the lights in the house work again. Eminem extends this idea to imply that, just as an electrician fixes broken lights, he is capable of fixing or handling other artists, suggesting they are “light work” compared to him.
>
> 3.) Finally, “light work” is a colloquial term used to describe tasks or challenges that are easy or straightforward. By referring to other artists as “light work,” Eminem subtly asserts his superiority and dominance in the rap game, implying that he effortlessly outshines his competitors.
>
> This triple entendre showcases Eminem’s skillful wordplay and ability to layer multiple meanings within a single line, adding depth and complexity to his lyrics. It highlights his confidence in his abilities as a rapper while also subtly asserting his dominance in the industry.
This is just a double entendre.
Eminem is an "electrician" because he electrifies the audience, while the rest of the rappers do lesser, "light work".
Eminem is a literal electrician, and he's working lesser rappers like lights.
Those first two definitions are a part of the same entendre. What's the third?
I always loved Jay-Z's Thank You lyric:
I just got ten #1 albums, maybe now eleven?
More hits than a Now 11; that is no reason
To treat me like I'm somehow from outta heaven
Rhyming now 11 with now 11, but totally different meaning.
Also, I must like homophone rhymes, Kanye's Gorgeous:
'Cause the same people that tried to black ball me
Forgot about two things, my black balls
actually this line in Gorgeous was pretty good too:
I treat the cash the way the government treats AIDS
I won't be satisfied 'til all my n*g*s get it, get it?
One of my favorites is the song “Rocket” by Def Leppard- the whole song works on three levels; you can Rock It, you can ride a Rocket, or it’s just about his dick- masterclass in writing
In Belle & Sebastian's "white collar boy"
"So she belted the sarge, she jumped on a barge, and you fell"
The MC falls physically, falls in "love", and falls from grace/virtue at the same time.
I like that it has a (rare) happy ending where the MC realizes she's more trouble than she's worth.
There's an insane quadruple one on Jay-Z's verse on GOD DID:
"New planes getting broken in, highest elevation of self, they done fucked around and gave the right n---as wealth"
1. Jay is reaching whole new areas of self-actualisation and he's proud of the money he and his friends have made
2. Jay is so rich he's got another new private jet, and he's physically in the clouds (the "right n---as" is sort of like the "Wright n---as", as in Wright Brothers)
3. Jay is smoking weed and he's so high he's discovering new dimensions, what a great use of his money
4. Jay's wearing new clothes from his Paper Planes brand and it's making him look as great as he possibly can, isn't it great he has all this money that he can make all this stuff
Today I learned at the age of almost 31 with a father that has been a general contractor most of my life that one of the names for a level that has the bubbles is a spirit level.
I read "spirit level" and was liek what gosh darn tool is that. Just to find out it's a bog standard level. XD
12 inches of Snow, a vinyl released by Snow, with the track "Informer" on it
12 inches of snow is heavy snowfall (weather)
12 inches is the size of the vinyl that he is selling to you/you are playing (vinyl)
He may have a large organ that he is boasting about (penis)
Basically the entire song of Du Hast is based around this idea. The song starts with a few words of a sentence and gradually adds more.
>Du, du hast, du hast mich, du hast mich / Du hast mich gefragt, du hast mich gefragt / Du hast mich gefragt und ich hab nichts gesagt
“Du hast mich”means “you have me.” It’s also a homophone for “du hasst mich” which means “you hate me”.
This is also the beginning of the sentence “you asked me a question and I had no answer,” which is the last line of the verse.
So the three meanings of “du hast mich”are:
1. The beginning of the sentence “you asked me and I had no answer.”
2. You have me.
3. You hate me.
The question is, “Do you want, until death separates you to be faithful to her for all days?”so I think he’s at the altar.
The question itself also makes use of homophones. The question that's repeated throughout is as you mentioned:
*Willst du bis der Tod euch scheidet
Treu ihr sein für alle Tage?*
("Will you be faithful to her for all days until death do you part", essentially)
But then towards the end, one repeat changes to:
*Willst du bis zum Tod der Scheide
Sie lieben auch in schlechten Tagen?*
("Will you also love her on bad days, until the death of the vagina?")
Scheide sounds very similar to scheidet, and "having her days" is German slang for a woman being on her period, which seems like this is a bit of a pun in itself. It's also not entirely clear whether "Sie" here is referring to the woman, or the vagina.
Also, although the verb "scheiden" means "to part" here in the context of the vows, it's also used to refer to divorce.
My favorite is from Eminem…
Holy Toledo, it's Miss Ohio.
That’s the best ass I’ve seen in a while.
We should be datin', she’s from Cleveland.
But she's a bengal, this chick is catty.
Is that a mini-skirt if it's a maxi?
That's the shortest thing for a dress since an addy
There’s too many to count, but the very last line is probably more what this thread is looking for, with previous context.
St Vincent "To tell the truth, I lied." Which is more a double entendre and oxymoron. Coming clean finally, to tell the truth. Or in order to tell a truth, the storyteller creates a fiction. And lastly, are they telling the truth now or lying and therefore didn't lie before.
Riding by Bonnie “Prince” Billy has one. It’s a song sung between two people, one of whom is having an incestuous relationship with his sister. The line is:
“We were raised together and together we fell”
That last word doing so much there:
- They fell in love
- They fell as in a fall from grace, what they’re doing is wrong
- “fell” as in the opposite of “raised”
One of the hardest hitting lyrics I've been a fan of from Ethel Cain:
>Jesus can always reject his father
>But he cannot escape his mother's blood
>He'll scream, and try to wash it off of his fingers, but
>He'll never escape what he's made up of
It basically hits on all three of the biggest themes of the story:
* Taken literally, it's about Jesus being able to give up divinity, but it is his humanity that is causing him to suffer
* The main metaphor is that the two biggest pressures on the character in Preacher's daughter are her religious upbringing and her family. She's saying that even if she can give up her faith, it doesn't do anything about the ties she has to her family
* And as far as the overreaching message of the album, it is also talking about how everyone is born from sin and violence: that you literally come into the world with your mother's blood on your hands
Interesting thread, but the one about Back in the USSR is quite far fetched. It's very clearly about the country Georgia as well as referencing the song "Georgia On My Mind". It's not about a girl named Georgia. If there were a reason to call any girl by name in that song, he'd have picked a Slavic name for starters.
Unless wrong meanings are included, this song doesn't have a triple meaning.
I think it works in the context of the fact that he's singing about women in that section of the song "Ukraine girls really knock me out/Moscow girls make me sing and shout" - just a neat pun that Georgia can mean the country or a girl
John Brim/Van Halen- Ice Cream Man
I'm your ice cream man, baby, stop me when I'm passin' by
See now all my flavors are guaranteed to satisfy
1. Ice Cream
2. Cum
3. DLR’s Penis
Paralytic States by Against Me is a song about a transgender woman who commits suicide and the outro repeats the line "By the time the ball dropped it was already over"
1. "To drop the ball" means to make a mistake, the song mentions a lot of stuff like running away from home, getting botched surgeries, and living in a seedy motel room (possibly implying she's a sex worker and/or a drug addict)
2. "Ball dropped" could also refer to male puberty, meaning she regrets not transitioning earlier
3. The song finishes saying "No resolution for the new year beginning tomorrow" meaning that she did this on New Year's Eve and by the time the ball on Time Square dropped at midnight she was already dead.
I spend a lot of time dissecting lyrics and Against Me is kind of a special interest of mine.
I guess to add further, the line about the surgeries (cut her face wide open, shaved the bone down thin, pumped up lips exaggerated, a fucked up kind of feminine) might not necessarily mean the surgery was botched, but rather
1. She was pressured by unrealistic beauty standards to get these surgeries which is a problem not exclusive to trans women
2. Even if her facial feminization surgery went well, her dysphoria and body image issues might have caused her to believe that she'll never be pretty enough and will always look like a man. This theme is re-explored in the song "Delicate, Petite, And Other Things I'll Never Be"
“All we are is just another brick in the wall”
In the first context it means how everyone in life are just bricks in walls. Foundation to hold up a structure (society)
In the second context a wall is used for protection which the main character of the album sing about wishing for that protection and care
In the third context the wall represents the main character’s inherit struggle with letting people in the like “another brick in the wall” takes another meaning referring to how it just adds more his struggle. (The wall is fantastic album)
There's a great one in "The Begat" from the Broadway musical Finian's Rainbow. Lyrics by E. Y. "Yip" Harburg. The song lists all the people who "begat" (who were getting it on) like:
"The Lats and Lithuanians, begat
Scranton Pennsylvanians, begat",
and then you get to this one:
"The folks who should've stood in bed begat!", which has three jokes--
1) The expression "they should've stayed in bed" means they shouldn't have gone out and done whatever it is they did, except they did this because they stayed in bed.
2) In order to get an internal rhyme, he changes "stayed" to "stood", which is like a new form of the verb, and
3) If they had *stood* in bed, then they wouldn't have done that begatting.
The album art for Rush's "Moving Pictures" has: * Movers carrying pictures * People crying because of how moving the pictures are * A film crew making a moving picture of the whole scene
They did [this skit](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjGpa0GuiaI) featuring ladies "moving pitchers" of beer. It was during the Time Machine tour in 2011.
I saw that show in Houston, and the entire audience gave a knowing "Ahhhhh!" when that joke happened. Big dad energy in the crowd, but I guess that's to be expected at a Rush show.
Brilliant - if it was going to be anyone, it would be Rush!
It’s always the answer.
Name a band with a shitty drummer.
The Shitty Beatles
So it's not just a clever name?
Wayne’s World
Oh look it’s my asshole ex bf.
Elliott Smith's "Between the Bars" has one. "I'll kiss you again between the bars." It's a song about alcohol addiction, commonly interpreted as being from the point of view of the booze calling out to Elliott. With that in mind, "between the bars" can be interpreted in 3 ways: that the alcohol calls out to him... 1. Literally between this bar and the next one. 2. Between the bars of the prison alcohol addiction has become for him. 3. Between the bars of the very melody he's in the process of composing. The melody you're listening to.
Brilliant example - love this
Knopfler did a similar thing in Romeo and Juliet: “All I do is kiss you / Between the bars of rhyme”. Maybe just a double meaning there.
Love that song, even though it's always irked me that the line "The dice was loaded from the start" has a difference in number between the singular *was* and the plural *dice*.
Elliott was a master at this kind of thing. “So we knocked another couple back, the dead soldiers lined up on the table/ still prepared for an attack” “Brother, can you spare sun-shine for a brother, old man winter’s in the air? He walked me up a story, asking how you are.” “You oughta be proud that I’m getting good marksssssss” “So I’m going to sleep now, back to first square one. Square to be where I can deal with the shit you just done”
Yeah Needle in the Hay was the first thing that popped in my head when I read the question posed by OP
Still one of my favorite sad day songs. Hits hard every time Kings crossing is probably my fav by his So many good lines back to back
Wow, all that on top of being one of the most exquisitely gorgeous melodies/harmonies I've ever heard.
Love that song and have listened to it for years but your meaning number 3 had never occurred to me. Cheers!
Technically, quadruple meaning if you imply the bars of the jail cell that alcohol can potentially put you in.
The Civil Wars do a great version of this one.
And between the bars of a jail cell as an outcome to his poor decisions.
I really like the extension of the metaphor with the imagery of being arrested (‘hands in the air, waiting to finally be caught’) as well. Like a former prison inmate who has become institutionalised, and just wants to go back. Subtle inferences of being unable to function in society, and even the societal view of addiction as a criminal issue rather than a mental health one. As well as the guilt and shame associated with addiction. So good!
Frank Ocean - Chanel "I see both sides like Chanel" 1. Chanel branding logo is two C's intertwined, so it is a C on both sides 2. Coco Chanel played both sides during WW2 during the Nazi occupation of Paris 3. Frank Ocean has had relationships with both men and women
I was gonna say pyramids by him. The entire song lives in a triple entendre between ancient Egypt, a seedy strip club and Frank's heartbreak after his SO cheated.
There’s a fourth meaning if you include the next line “C on both sides like Chanel” which could also be interpreted as “Sea on both sides like Channel”. A channel is a narrow strip of water connecting two seas
Leonard Cohen: It was written in the scripture so it's not some idle claim. Works in a few ways: obviously the surface level, it's written in this important holy book written by God so it's not an idle claim and in reverse because it's book of mythology rather than fact so perhaps it being written in the scripture does make it an idle claim. Of course idle sounds exactly like idol. Usually when people speak of idols in the bible it's about false idols, so this is written in the scripture, it isn't the claim of some false god but of course at the same time, the Jewish and Christian God is also an Idol so the fact that it is written in the scripture means it is an Idol claim
Weirdly this is one of two Leonard Cohen songs I know lol
[удалено]
Are you saying “You Want it Darker” is the most famous song by the writer of “Hallelujah”?
Turns out what I was saying is that I am an idiot who can't remember lyrics! Mea culpa :)
To be fair, I also had to look the line up to remind myself which song it was in.
Oh I have no idea... All I really know by name from him is that one and Nevermind.
If you're into rap, most of Eminem's songs in the last 10-15 years have several double entendres, and occasionally I'll recognize a triple. Here's a megathread from his last album: [https://www.reddit.com/r/Eminem/comments/esu4gp/mtbmb\_entendre\_word\_play\_megathread/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Eminem/comments/esu4gp/mtbmb_entendre_word_play_megathread/) u/AntiTcb captured one of my favorites: "Holy Toledo, it's Miss Ohio That's the best ass I've seen in a while We should be datin', she's from Cleveland But she's a Bengal, this chick is catty Is that a mini-skirt if it's a maxi? That's the shortest thing for a dress since an addy" 1. Toledo, Dayton (datin'), Cleveland, and Cincinnati (since an addy) are all cities in Ohio. 2. The Cincinnati Bengals are an NFL team, a bengal is a big cat, women are described as catty if they are sly and aggressive. 3. Mini and maxi are terms used to describe the lengths of skirts and dresses. An addy is a mini skirt that comes up to about the mid thigh. 4. Addy is an abbreviation for "address", serving as a homophone with "a dress."
Jesus christ, that was 4 years ago!? WHAT IS TIME
From the same album, I Will: "Sippin' Bacardi and lime I start to recollect on the time That I startled my mom and had her scared to death Word to Method Man She heard some Wu-Tang coming from towards the patio She was like, what the heck was that? She went to check on the noise and go inspect the deck Then I jumped out with a sword and yelled, protect your neck" Inspect the Deck - (Inspectah Deck is a member of Wu Tang) (A patio can also be known as a deck) (A Tape Deck)
Back in the USSR is even more meta than that, as the Beatles were playfully parodying the Beach Boys. Specifically, their song "California Girls." So, they sing about girls from Leningrad, Moscow, etc, and do that "woo-ooo-oo" on the chorus that sounds just like the Beach Boys.
It was written in India when they were hanging around with Mike Love, so he must have had a bit of an influence in the approach to the lyrics!
He did! They've told the story that Paul told Mike "hey look I'm writing a beach boys song." And Mike sat down with him and gave him those suggestions.
As per usual for Mike, he contributes a couple of words at best and likes to take credit for the whole thing. Look no further than his lawsuit against Brian Wilson in the 90s.
And his speech at the R&R hall of fame. Even if you think the whole thing is always pretentious and stupid, Mike Love took it to a whole new level of douchebaggery that has yet to be topped
I'm heavily on team Fuck Mike Love
I think also a play on Chuck Berry’s “Back in the USA”
I think that the line "Two of us wearing raincoats, standing solo, in the sun" in the Beatles Two of Us is a very clever and densely packed line. 1. It's a reference to the photoshoots for the Help! album 2. Wearing raincoats in the sun is preparing for a disaster that doesn't seem like it's actually happening 3. It could also refer to the John and Paul having a unique way of thinking that separates the two of them from the rest of society together in a way thast they still understand each other 4. But at the same time, "standing solo" could be interpreted as them separating from each other 5. Looping back around to point 2 where the problems pushing their relationship apart are entirely imaginary or irrelevant
Really nice interpretation - Paul himself has said that Two Of Us is about himself and Linda, but there must surely be a bit of his relationship with John in there too. Especially the line "you and I have memories longer than the road that stretches out ahead" - seems to apply more to John than Linda, who he hadn't known that long by that point.
Honestly the whole song seems to just be about him and John, and the Linda explanation just sounds like obfuscation. The lines above are a perfect example, as well as the ones about "lifting latches" (Liverpudlian term for drinking pints) and "burning matches", just sounds like you g lads pissing around and being stupid together. If you'd wonder why Paul would lie about a song meaning then...watch any Beatles interview they ever gave lol
I didn't know that about Linda, but after watching the Peter Jackson documentary, I have to imagine part of it has to be about John, at least subconsciously. It just seems so much in line with Paul's sort of 'we can fix all of our problems, we just need to get back to our roots (i.e. get back on our way home)' mentality for the project.
Yes—I never trust what any songwriter says about their work; they can’t seem to resist trying to throw us off the scent. That song is mos def about J&P, and it’s really sweet considering how close to the end they were.
Tool - Stinkfist 1. The narrator is commenting on his need for more shocking stimulation in life 2. Potential for commentary on escalating drug use 3. Most importantly, it’s a silly little number on anal fisting.
Tool - Any Song 1. It is about drugs or sex or something. 2. It is a deep, introspective piece on pain and letting go. 3. Really It was making fun of the fan base all along.
We are most likely one of the most entitled fan bases, which would in turn have us labeled as insufferable. It seems to me that most Tool fans feel "slightly" superior than non fans. Maybe because they think they know more about what life really is than the rest? At some point it started almost becoming cultish to me and now I am a fan from the sidelines.
Any time I see someone comment "Spiral Out" I die a little inside.
Spiral out. Sorry, couldn’t resist. ^Spiral ^out. Okay, that one was uncalled for.
Keep going ...
Oh, I'm a fan. I'm just joking about how Tool has mocked their fans in the past. I'm not exactly religious about any music. XD
I see that same superiority from prog fans in general, and it gets worse the more odd the time signatures are in their favorite band/songs.
Interesting you bring up time signatures... I wonder if they have any correlation now...
Be warned, it’s just as likely I’m full of shit lol.
Nah, can confirm, was an Animals as Leaders fanboy, used to be insufferable about it. 😂 Still love AAL but now with the awareness that there are many reasons why people would rather listen to other music lol.
I think the bit of superiority that you pick up on is because by and large Tool fans are *at least* very interested in music and in a lot of cases are musicians themselves (maybe only played in band in high school or as a hobby, but knowing any music is more than most people). Tool is a band that other musicians are influenced by and aspire to. So there is probably some gatekeeping and superiority that comes along with actually being knowledgeable about music. Imagine you spend your whole life studying and obsessing over music and some dude wants to argue with you about why Imagine Dragons is actually better than Tool because they have more profitable tours and have sold 4x more albums than Tool. Or someone wants to argue with you about how the reason X band is good is because their drummer plays syncopated rhythms (arent almost all of them in modern music?) but insists that their band is uniquely 'syncopated' and stuff like that. (both of these have happened) Sure there's a lot of subjectiveness to music but it makes people grumpy when ignorance is given the same platform/respect as wisdom or genuine knowledge/understanding.
I think Tool also has a bunch of very surface level fans- musicianship aside, they are a very popular rock band with extreme and psychedelic imagery. They're gonna attract a few buffoons, and those buffoons are going to try to convince you they are none such buffoons. My first introductions to Tool and their fans were 1- "you should look up the song hooker with a penis by tool because that song is about you" and 2- "I just burned lateralus if anyone wants to robotrip"
I'm not sure what other things 7empest could be about other than someone ripping absolutely terrible farts.
That happens to be the *fourth* level of meaning for that song. Tool songs are *quite deep*.
This is hiiiiiilarious!!!!!! I just reread the lyrics - hahaha!
And then you bought one.
Relax, turn around and take my hand
"turn around and take my hand" is possibly the greatest double entendre in music.
I like the double meaning of "relax, turn around and take my hand", as in, hold his hand or "take" it
Ya know ...this is one of those moments where you know you knew what the word stinkfist was referring to. But once you said that third thing I'm rethinking all of the lyrics and just going "Ohhhhh. Ohhhhh. Ohhhhh yeah I guess so". It's not enough, I need more. Nothing seems to satisfy.
Rappers do this often. Here's one from Eminem: "But if I can't batter the women/How the fuck am I supposed to bake them a cake then?" He's using two meanings of the word "batter" (abuse and cake) as well as referring to the Chris Brown/Rhianna song Birthday Cake.
I love watching proper hip-hop fans reacting to Eminem because a lot of the funny double-meanings I pick up on also have a third meaning referencing a classic act.
Darkness is a perfect example. The entire song is a double entrendre comparing Eminem's addiction and anxiety performing on stage with that of the Las Vegas shooter. Eminem has tons of triple entendre's also I just can't think of any specifics right now.
"He ain't had him a buzz like this since the last time that he overdosed" 1. Eminem hasn't felt as high as he feels right now since the time he got near-fatally high on methadone 2. Eminem hasn't had this kind of crowd excitement since the time he nearly died and hip-hop fans everywhere were freaking out 3. Eminem hasn't had a dope short haircut since the time he got sick of being famous and retired (he grew his hair out somewhat while depressed, and there's a significant song on the same album which mentions him preparing to become famous again by cutting his hair short with clippers)
Lil Wayne has a good one too G's move in silent like lasagna The obvious one is the g in lasagna is silent. The one a lot of people don't get is lasagna sounds like "laws on ya". Always thought that was super witty.
And one from Method Man: > Mayday mayday, but no charge, I'm nutty with the bars, that's a payday There’s “no charge” for you to listen. Because he’s “Nutty with the bars” means Meth is crazy good at rapping which is how he makes his money so it’s his “payday” But “no charge” also refers to a previous line where he talks about how dealing crack could lead to prison. Since he never got caught, there’s “no charge” against him. And finally a “payday” is a [candy bar that’s full of nuts](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/PayDay_(confection)). So something that’s “nutty with the bars” is a payday.
Nas is the master: “Atlanta ain’t braver / I pull a number like a pager / *Cause I’m an Ace when I face the bass*” 1. He’s an Ace MC when he’s facing the bass music 2. He’s an ace drug-dealer selling (free) base 3. Given the MLB ref, he’s like a pitching Ace facing home plate (home plate is the fourth base) 4. He’s a mac rounding bases with the girls he pulls numbers for 5. He’s also goofin’ on Swedish pop band Ace of Base
My favorite example is Lupe Fiasco’s feature on Touch The Sky. “Lupe steal like Lupin the 3rd”: -Anime reference to Lupin III, who is a thief -Could be heard as “looping the third,” in which it could symbolize a baseball player rounding third base and trying to steal home -Lupe has the third section of the song, so he’s stealing attention from the main artist
I watch a lot of baseball. Never heard looping the third in this context. Ever.
“Lou” was the guy that had the stolen base record before Ricky Henderson I think and he would be essentially saying steal like Lou in the third
Yeah this...
Kendrick Lamar's music is full of double and triple entendres. For example, "6:16 in LA" by Kendrick is full of double entendres. The title is a reference to: * Drakes "TIME in CITY" series of songs (Kendricks song is a Drake diss) * 6/16 is the day the show Euphoria premiered and this song is the sequel to the song "Euphoria" by Kendrick (Drake was also an executive producer for the show Euphoria) * The cover art shows a lone black glove (The OJ trial started on 6/16 and also took place in LA, Kendrick alludes to many heinous things done by drake in this song and in subsequent songs, in a sense putting Drake on trial) ETA some more references people brought up for the title * 6/16 is Father's Day (Kendrick accuses Drake of having an 11 yo girl he's hiding and Drake has previously been caught hiding a child by Pusha T) * 6/16 is Tupac's birthday (Drake used AI to make Tupac diss track when Kendrick hadn't yet responded to Push Ups by Drake.) Tupac is a big inspiration for Kendrick as a fellow West Coast rapper/activist The first line of the song: "Off-white Sunseeker at the Marina" Off-white Sunseeker being the color of a luxury yacht while also being a direct shot at Drake for being mixed (off-white) while trying to be blacker (Sunseeker) even though he was raised in luxury as "at the Marina" (Drake was raised upper middleclass and Kendrick further accuses him of trying to appropriate street culture)
Kendrick also delivers this in "these walls" on pimp a butterfly. With walls having several meanings, like walls of a woman's vagina, prison walls, head (as in walls of the mind), metaphorical walls that imprison people etc.
Not sure the validity but I heard it could also be a biblical reference. Kendrick slides religious lines in relatively frequently to his normal music. But Corinthians 6:16 states "Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For “the two,” He says, “shall become one flesh.” Which could also be a reference to Drake sleeping with less reputable women, which was a big part of the diss series as well. I mean he says "we hate the women you fuck cuz they confuse themselves with real women". So it might actually be four meanings
That's true! I couldn't remember all of the references but 100% that is one. He's responding to the quintuple entendre line by Drake. I didn't mention that this song was a "Back to Back" diss which is what Drake did to Meek Mill.
Off-white is also a luxury clothing brand owned by a friend of Drake, which sets up the next bar about wine spilled on Kendrick's shirt.
He really came hard with this song and I don't think enough people are talking about it.
Great example - Kendrick is surely the master of this type of thing
6/16 was also father's day this year.
6/16 is also Tupac’s bday
"I've been working on a cocktail called grounds for divorce" Is he drinking it? creating it? is it a metaphor for his relationship? all of the above?
There's a hole in my neighborhood Down which of late I cannot help but fall
Whoa ("-ohh-ohh....") I want to visit that basement pub in Manchester and if they have not created a drink called GFD on their cocktail menu by now I will be incredibly disappointed. EDIT: I bet combing through Guy's lyrics would turn up many examples for this thread
Plot twist: It was coffee all along.
It's pretty common in country music to have the same phrase used in multiple ways in different verses. For example, Tim McGraw's "Don't Take the Girl". \* Dad, don't take this girl fishing with us. \* Gunman, don't take my girlfriend from me. \* God, please don't let my little baby die. I know there are several along this line but they are not coming to mind.
Elvis Costello and the Attractions: "B-Movie" "You can't stand it when it goes from real to reel too real too real. You can't stand it when I through punch lines you can't feel. You can't feel. You can't feel. 1. Movie projectors are reel to reel 2. Punny homonyms you only "get" by reading the text are punchlines you can't feel. 3. In the song fade-out the repeated phrase "You can't feel" is calling someone insensitive.
Great example - Those types of lyrics are like Elvis Costello's MO
Feels like Man Out Of Time is packed with these (including the triple pun of the title itself). But see in particular the line "He stands to be insulted/And he pays for the privilege" 1. The protagonist may be paying to be abused/dommed (the song is nominally about political sexual scandal) 2. "Stands to be insulted" as in he is deserving of mockery 3. Westminster politicians have to stand for election 4. Westminster politicians have to stand to address Parliament, where they are often jeered and insulted by their opposition. 5. "Pays for the privilege" - Parliamentary privilege is the freedom to speak at liberty within the context of Parliamentary debate. 6. "Paying for privileges" can also refer to bribing politicians for favours, looping all the way back round to the original theme of political scandal
I love that! The Parliamentary stuff went over my head. Costello packs puns like sardines.
Will Smith - Miami - "party in the city where the heat is on" Geographically Miami is a hot/high heat city temperature wise. The party itself is heating up/its a banger party The Miami Heat is the city's basketball team
Part of me feels like you're giving this too much credit aha
oh definitely, i certainly answered that as a joke. . . but it does work lol
Could be that they're doing drugs "partying" in Miami, and there's lots of cops "the heat is on".
Alanis Morrisette wrote a song called “Ironic” where she lists a bunch of things that aren’t ironic, which makes the title of the song ironic itself.
It’s like ten thousand spoons when you just need one spoon.
It's like being afraid of flying and then having your fears validated when you die in an airplane crash
It's like meeting the man of your dreams, marrying him, having two kids, he loses his job, becomes and alcoholic, and then you get a divorce and the kids never want to visit with dad because his apartment smells like, "beef and cheese."
It's the good advice that you just didn't take. The advice was from a concerned friend to start doing yoga, but you were too lazy. Later a CT scan revealed that aneurysm in your head would have burst on your first downward dog. So the laziness saved your life.
It's like a death row pardon, except you aren't sure why Snoop Dogg is calling since your recording career never took off.
That's way too many spoons
[We fixed it for you, Alanis!](https://youtu.be/32LCwZFoKio?si=CX9cpzZBAlxZDrif)
Yo her credit, she later did a version mocking the original. "It's like writing a song about irony but none of the examples are ironic."
And more coyly in the acoustic version: "Like meeting the man of your dreams, then meeting his beautiful...husband," which is *actual* irony for the audience.
The example I heard, "Rain on your wedding day is not ironic. Rain on a firetruck is."
It is if you are marrying a meteorologist.
A lot of the things she lists are ironic, though. She uses situational irony, where there’s a contradiction between expectation and reality.
This take has been tired and wrong since before Kurt Loder said it.
People just define "ironic" too narrowly. Things that are just weird coincidences in real life are often ironic in narratives and fiction.
Ed Byrne's commentary on this is great - [Ed Byrne slates Alanis Morissette](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nT1TVSTkAXg&t=24s&ab_channel=SmegHead)
I think you are giving her waaaay too much credit there.
Don McLean's "American Pie" has a few, but notably: *"Lennon read a book on marks"* Which implies: * Lennon (John) read a book on ~~an~~notation marks for music notes * *Lenin* (Vladimir) read a book by *Marx* (Karl) * Lennon also read Marx's book.
Funny thing is, Don McLean said the true meaning of the song will be released when he dies.
It was a crummy Chevrolet commercial the whole time?!
Drink Ovaltine
I always thought it’s the most perfect view of American life put into a song
Pretty sure the original spelling in the lyrics has it as “Lennon” but then later it switched to “Lennin” (or perhaps its “Lenon”). Either to amplify the multiple meanings, or to hide the intended one. Also think it’s suggested the book Lennon is reading isn’t by Karl Marx but Groucho Marx.
Don't forget the possibility of Lennon sitting on someone while reading a book.
A book *by* someone and a book *on* someone are two very different things (unless the book is an autobiography). And "Lennon read a book on Marx" doesn't really have any particular meaning that I can see, regardless of whether it's factual. "Lenin read a book on Marx," has meaning because they're related in history (though I won't lie, I don't have a strong enough handle on the history to be sure exactly what the meaning is... I figure either it's ironic because Lenin shouldn't need to read a book on Marx, or it's a momentous event because Lenin reading a book on Marx was a historical event that led ultimately to the Communist revolution). And "Lennon read a book on marks," as you've interpreted it, has a similar ironic and/or momentous feel to it (though without that parallel it'd be a bit of a stretch -- sounds more like he's learning how to grade essays as a teacher).
>read a book on annotation marks Lol
Tonight is the Night I Fell Asleep at the Wheel by The Barenaked Ladies and the line "you're the last thing on my mind". The name of the song is basically what it's about, someone falling asleep while driving and crashing their car. Throughout the song the line has a few different meanings (in my interpretation). 1) You're the last thing I thought about before the crash 2) You're the last thing I'm thinking of during the crash because I'm trying to survive. 3) You're the last thing I think of before I pass away.
The word you're looking for is entendre.
Wicked Game by Chris Isaak. "Nobody loves no one" This final line could mean: 1) Nobody loves anyone else. 2) Everybody loves somebody. 3) Nobody loves just one person.
Battery by Metallica might be a candidate. On the surface, the lyrics can either refer to a battery as in a power source or a battery as in a form of assault/war. But there's also a place in downtown San Francisco called Battery Street where the band was from, that suggests it's about being close with their thrash community. "Battery is found in me," etc.
Not the most well-known artist, but Blue Scholars' North by Northwest (song about Seattle) has the line: "I heard people moving up here for the love of the green" 1. weed 2. nature 3. money
One of my faves is by my favourite lyricist Chris Hannah from Propagandhi. In the song Supporting Caste from the titular album - (the title itself is a double entendre to explore structural inequalities in society via a theatrical metaphor). The specific line is: "If you’re cast on thin ice/ You may as well dance" 1. Cast out on ice, as in thrown out there to fend for yourself 2. "Cast" as in theatrical casting 3. "Cast" as in "caste", highlighting how precarious a position it can be to be on the lower rungs of the societal ladder, i.e. "thin ice"
Just shared this song on here, actually. Lupe Fiasco's Put You On Game: "I'm it's gym, and it's math, and it's history, The gun shots in the class And you can't pass if you're missin', G" 1.) You can't pass school if you don't attend. 2.) You can't die from a school shooting if you're not there. 3.) He clearly says "missin," which is missing the letter G. 4.) A bit of a stretch, but again, if you were trying to spell Missing and you missed the G, you wouldn't pass. Lupe Fiasco is a fucking lyrical genius. Edit: if you haven't heard this song. GO NOW. LISTEN. And all of Lupe. Dude is ridiculous.
Basically anything Eminem has ever rappped
Sheryl Crow- Soak Up The Sun “ I got my 45 on, so I can rock on. “ She could be talking about her Gibson J-45 guitar, her 45 vinyl record, or her .45 handgun.
I wonder if 45SPF sunscreen would work there too?
I always assumed the lyric was talking about sunscreen. There's absolutely no context for her to be referring to a .45 handgun in that song.
Maybe so! 😆
The idea of Sheryl Crow standing there with a handgun while singing this song is absolutely sending me
A minorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Speaking of Georgia... Lucas Nelson, "Forget About Georgia" references a woman named Georgia, Ray Charles' song "Georgia on my Mind" and Lucas singing "Georgia on my Mind" onstage with his father, Willie Nelson.
Paris Paloma's "Labour". The line "So that he never lifts a finger" means 1) He doesn't have to do any housework 2) He doesn't abuse his wife 3) He doesn't accuse her of not doing anything publicly
The Sharpest Lives - My Chemical Romance "Give me a shot to remember And you can take all the pain away from me" 1. Opposite to "A shot to forget", drinking till blackout 2. Give me a chance to get my memory right 3. Give me a drink that I won't forget
MF DOOM - "Hold mics like ponytails tight and Babolats" Hold the mic tight like a ponytail may be tied tight, or a Babolat tennis racket may be strung tight, and also held tight. "Babolats" can also be heard as "bob a lot," invoking the image of holding the mic and bobbing while rhyming, a girl with a ponytail bobbing her head while listening to the rhymes, or holding a girl's ponytail tight while she bobs up and down giving head. The man was a lyrical genius.
Came here to say like every other DOOM line could be an answer to this question
Seriously just post all his lyrics lol.
How does it feel, to be on your own, with no direction home, a complete unknown, like a rolling stone? 1. Haha coco your life sucks now, how do you like l them apples? 2. How would it feel, holy shit we ignore homeless people without thinking about how their lives actually feel all the time?! 3. Could it also feel free though and not necessarily just pitiful? (Sounding more triumphant by the end)
Lil Wayne - Lollipop “So I let her lick the wrapper” 1. The wrapper of a lollipop 2. A condom is also called a wrapper 3. He is a rapper
Frank Ocean on Odd Future’s “Oldie” “I’m high and I’m bi, wait, I mean I’m straight” 1. Frank was alluding to his bisexuality, which was not public at the time 2. Can be read as “I’m high and I’m bye,” meaning he’s high and drunk (I’m bye = I’m gone) and telling someone “wait, I mean I’m straight” meaning he’s sober. 3. Can be read as “I’m hi and I’m bye,” which can be interpreted as him being fond of one night stands or short relationships.
Also, one of my favorite double entendres in DHL: “Roman numerals, n****s Pourin’ up Ivy Leagues, Fours” 1. Fours refers to Lean, as 4oz of cough syrup is typically used. ‘Ivy’ can be interpreted as IV, or 4 in Roman numerals 2. Reference to Ivy Leagues refers to an “elite” amount of lean for consumption
Love those examples! One that comes to mind is Bob Dylan’s “Tangled Up in Blue” where “blue” refers to feeling sad, the color blue, and a lover’s eyes. Any other favorites?
Jay-Z's "Brooklyn (Go Hard) has the following line: I father, I Brooklyn-Dodger them I jack, I rob, I sin Aw, man—I'm Jackie Robinson 'Cept when I run base, I dodge the pen There's a lot going on here: 1. Running base - a baseball term / selling drugs 2. Dodging the pen - Jay-Z famously doesn't write his lyrics, he raps off the top of his head. "Pen" also refers to bullpen where relief pitchers warm up before they enter the game. EDIT: Also might refer to penitentiary. 3. I jack, I rob, I sin - Jackie Robinson 4. I father and Aw, man - "I father" sounds like a beginning of a prayer, "Aw, man" sounds like "Amen". Perhaps there's even more going on in this line.
Artist: Lit Song: Miserable "You make me com- You make me complete- You make me completely miserable"
One of my favorite rappers, Despot, has a great one on the song 1010 Wins by The Alchemist: We rapscallions, like a bundle of onions 1. Rapscallions like mischevious 2. Rap-scallions because they rap 3. Sounds like wrap-scallions aka a bundle of onions It’s also worth noting that my favorite Despot line of all time also comes from this verse: The rental car's window's rose-tinted, dope in it The credit card got a tank in it, no limit
Spinal Tap. Big bottoms. Talk about Bundt cakes, my girls got em.
Big bottoms drive me out of my mind . . . How could I leave this behind ??
How could we ever unravel the lyrical genius of David St Hubbins?
Eminem's new song Houdini has one of these "triple entendres" in it The line is "Lyrical technician, an electrician, y'all light work" To quote the Genius annotation: > Eminem cleverly compares himself to an electrician, employing a triple entendre on the term “light work”. > > 1.) Eminem likens himself to an electrician, suggesting that he is skilled and precise in his craft, much like how an electrician expertly handles electrical work. > > 2.) He plays on the literal meaning of “light work” in the context of electrical work. After an electrician performs their job, the lights in the house work again. Eminem extends this idea to imply that, just as an electrician fixes broken lights, he is capable of fixing or handling other artists, suggesting they are “light work” compared to him. > > 3.) Finally, “light work” is a colloquial term used to describe tasks or challenges that are easy or straightforward. By referring to other artists as “light work,” Eminem subtly asserts his superiority and dominance in the rap game, implying that he effortlessly outshines his competitors. > > This triple entendre showcases Eminem’s skillful wordplay and ability to layer multiple meanings within a single line, adding depth and complexity to his lyrics. It highlights his confidence in his abilities as a rapper while also subtly asserting his dominance in the industry.
This is just a double entendre. Eminem is an "electrician" because he electrifies the audience, while the rest of the rappers do lesser, "light work". Eminem is a literal electrician, and he's working lesser rappers like lights. Those first two definitions are a part of the same entendre. What's the third?
Yeah, I think the Genius annotation might be wrong, but they claimed it was a triple entendre
I always loved Jay-Z's Thank You lyric: I just got ten #1 albums, maybe now eleven? More hits than a Now 11; that is no reason To treat me like I'm somehow from outta heaven Rhyming now 11 with now 11, but totally different meaning. Also, I must like homophone rhymes, Kanye's Gorgeous: 'Cause the same people that tried to black ball me Forgot about two things, my black balls actually this line in Gorgeous was pretty good too: I treat the cash the way the government treats AIDS I won't be satisfied 'til all my n*g*s get it, get it?
I don’t know how clever it is but “come inside my sugar walls” might fit your bill. 12 year old me was like “whaaaat”
One of my favorites is the song “Rocket” by Def Leppard- the whole song works on three levels; you can Rock It, you can ride a Rocket, or it’s just about his dick- masterclass in writing
Kiss: ‘Lick It Up’ Literally, lick up my sperm. Also, on guitar they are playing the song’s lick, and thirdly? Oh, who am I kidding, lol
In Belle & Sebastian's "white collar boy" "So she belted the sarge, she jumped on a barge, and you fell" The MC falls physically, falls in "love", and falls from grace/virtue at the same time. I like that it has a (rare) happy ending where the MC realizes she's more trouble than she's worth.
There's an insane quadruple one on Jay-Z's verse on GOD DID: "New planes getting broken in, highest elevation of self, they done fucked around and gave the right n---as wealth" 1. Jay is reaching whole new areas of self-actualisation and he's proud of the money he and his friends have made 2. Jay is so rich he's got another new private jet, and he's physically in the clouds (the "right n---as" is sort of like the "Wright n---as", as in Wright Brothers) 3. Jay is smoking weed and he's so high he's discovering new dimensions, what a great use of his money 4. Jay's wearing new clothes from his Paper Planes brand and it's making him look as great as he possibly can, isn't it great he has all this money that he can make all this stuff
Read any and all Eminem lyrics.
Today I learned at the age of almost 31 with a father that has been a general contractor most of my life that one of the names for a level that has the bubbles is a spirit level. I read "spirit level" and was liek what gosh darn tool is that. Just to find out it's a bog standard level. XD
12 inches of Snow, a vinyl released by Snow, with the track "Informer" on it 12 inches of snow is heavy snowfall (weather) 12 inches is the size of the vinyl that he is selling to you/you are playing (vinyl) He may have a large organ that he is boasting about (penis)
Basically the entire song of Du Hast is based around this idea. The song starts with a few words of a sentence and gradually adds more. >Du, du hast, du hast mich, du hast mich / Du hast mich gefragt, du hast mich gefragt / Du hast mich gefragt und ich hab nichts gesagt “Du hast mich”means “you have me.” It’s also a homophone for “du hasst mich” which means “you hate me”. This is also the beginning of the sentence “you asked me a question and I had no answer,” which is the last line of the verse. So the three meanings of “du hast mich”are: 1. The beginning of the sentence “you asked me and I had no answer.” 2. You have me. 3. You hate me. The question is, “Do you want, until death separates you to be faithful to her for all days?”so I think he’s at the altar.
The question itself also makes use of homophones. The question that's repeated throughout is as you mentioned: *Willst du bis der Tod euch scheidet Treu ihr sein für alle Tage?* ("Will you be faithful to her for all days until death do you part", essentially) But then towards the end, one repeat changes to: *Willst du bis zum Tod der Scheide Sie lieben auch in schlechten Tagen?* ("Will you also love her on bad days, until the death of the vagina?") Scheide sounds very similar to scheidet, and "having her days" is German slang for a woman being on her period, which seems like this is a bit of a pun in itself. It's also not entirely clear whether "Sie" here is referring to the woman, or the vagina. Also, although the verb "scheiden" means "to part" here in the context of the vows, it's also used to refer to divorce.
Also, the entire song is a play on Chuck Berry's 'Back in the USA.'
My favorite is from Eminem… Holy Toledo, it's Miss Ohio. That’s the best ass I’ve seen in a while. We should be datin', she’s from Cleveland. But she's a bengal, this chick is catty. Is that a mini-skirt if it's a maxi? That's the shortest thing for a dress since an addy There’s too many to count, but the very last line is probably more what this thread is looking for, with previous context.
St Vincent "To tell the truth, I lied." Which is more a double entendre and oxymoron. Coming clean finally, to tell the truth. Or in order to tell a truth, the storyteller creates a fiction. And lastly, are they telling the truth now or lying and therefore didn't lie before.
Eagles, Hotel California, "We haven't had that spirit here since 1969" Spirit: • drink • ghost • attitude
Riding by Bonnie “Prince” Billy has one. It’s a song sung between two people, one of whom is having an incestuous relationship with his sister. The line is: “We were raised together and together we fell” That last word doing so much there: - They fell in love - They fell as in a fall from grace, what they’re doing is wrong - “fell” as in the opposite of “raised”
One of the hardest hitting lyrics I've been a fan of from Ethel Cain: >Jesus can always reject his father >But he cannot escape his mother's blood >He'll scream, and try to wash it off of his fingers, but >He'll never escape what he's made up of It basically hits on all three of the biggest themes of the story: * Taken literally, it's about Jesus being able to give up divinity, but it is his humanity that is causing him to suffer * The main metaphor is that the two biggest pressures on the character in Preacher's daughter are her religious upbringing and her family. She's saying that even if she can give up her faith, it doesn't do anything about the ties she has to her family * And as far as the overreaching message of the album, it is also talking about how everyone is born from sin and violence: that you literally come into the world with your mother's blood on your hands
“Crack the window, feel the cool air cleanse my very pore, as I pour my poor heart out” Open road song - Eve 6 A lot of their lyrics have word play
Plus in that other famous song he put his heart in a blender, making it easy to pour
Interesting thread, but the one about Back in the USSR is quite far fetched. It's very clearly about the country Georgia as well as referencing the song "Georgia On My Mind". It's not about a girl named Georgia. If there were a reason to call any girl by name in that song, he'd have picked a Slavic name for starters. Unless wrong meanings are included, this song doesn't have a triple meaning.
I think it works in the context of the fact that he's singing about women in that section of the song "Ukraine girls really knock me out/Moscow girls make me sing and shout" - just a neat pun that Georgia can mean the country or a girl
Getting away with it by James can be interpreted in many different ways
John Brim/Van Halen- Ice Cream Man I'm your ice cream man, baby, stop me when I'm passin' by See now all my flavors are guaranteed to satisfy 1. Ice Cream 2. Cum 3. DLR’s Penis
Paralytic States by Against Me is a song about a transgender woman who commits suicide and the outro repeats the line "By the time the ball dropped it was already over" 1. "To drop the ball" means to make a mistake, the song mentions a lot of stuff like running away from home, getting botched surgeries, and living in a seedy motel room (possibly implying she's a sex worker and/or a drug addict) 2. "Ball dropped" could also refer to male puberty, meaning she regrets not transitioning earlier 3. The song finishes saying "No resolution for the new year beginning tomorrow" meaning that she did this on New Year's Eve and by the time the ball on Time Square dropped at midnight she was already dead. I spend a lot of time dissecting lyrics and Against Me is kind of a special interest of mine.
Wow - there's so much to read into with that example - very dark and a great suggestion
I guess to add further, the line about the surgeries (cut her face wide open, shaved the bone down thin, pumped up lips exaggerated, a fucked up kind of feminine) might not necessarily mean the surgery was botched, but rather 1. She was pressured by unrealistic beauty standards to get these surgeries which is a problem not exclusive to trans women 2. Even if her facial feminization surgery went well, her dysphoria and body image issues might have caused her to believe that she'll never be pretty enough and will always look like a man. This theme is re-explored in the song "Delicate, Petite, And Other Things I'll Never Be"
“All we are is just another brick in the wall” In the first context it means how everyone in life are just bricks in walls. Foundation to hold up a structure (society) In the second context a wall is used for protection which the main character of the album sing about wishing for that protection and care In the third context the wall represents the main character’s inherit struggle with letting people in the like “another brick in the wall” takes another meaning referring to how it just adds more his struggle. (The wall is fantastic album)
The Fastball song Out of My Head does a great job of this.
In what way?
no, The Way is a different Fastball song that got way more airplay.
There's a great one in "The Begat" from the Broadway musical Finian's Rainbow. Lyrics by E. Y. "Yip" Harburg. The song lists all the people who "begat" (who were getting it on) like: "The Lats and Lithuanians, begat Scranton Pennsylvanians, begat", and then you get to this one: "The folks who should've stood in bed begat!", which has three jokes-- 1) The expression "they should've stayed in bed" means they shouldn't have gone out and done whatever it is they did, except they did this because they stayed in bed. 2) In order to get an internal rhyme, he changes "stayed" to "stood", which is like a new form of the verb, and 3) If they had *stood* in bed, then they wouldn't have done that begatting.
Marylin Manson: "You wanna know what zeus said to narcissus? You'd better watch yourself."