This Musical Melody; A Little Bit Ruder Than You Thought

Like prose and poetry, many songs use figurative language to reinforce the song’s central ideas or theme. A metaphor is a type of figurative language that compares two seemingly unlike things and creates a new image. Often this type of imagery is used by musicians to create in the listeners’ minds central concepts and visually unexpected links bringing deeper dimensions to a song. Then again even the name of a band may be a marked illusion to something else. But sometimes these contradictory lyrics are just there so that the record or band can get played on the radio.

Image on left 10cc Rubber Bullets album

In the realm of musical expression, metaphors play a vital role in conveying the richness and depth of the auditory experience. They infuse language with vivid imagery and provide a bridge between the abstract and the tangible. When applied to music, metaphors serve as powerful tools to articulate the intangible qualities of sound. Realization oon a cognitive level, however, sometimes means the words are not quite what we think they are. They may seem innocent or simple but can be hidden something more underneath. Sometimes even the name of a band is a metaphor for something a little unruly.

Take the song, “Coffee Blues” by – Mississippi John Hurt. When signing the song at a live gig, he always appealed to the women in the audience. He would start by taking a sip from a coffee cup on a little stool by his chair. Drinking from the cup he would say, ‘I always have my cup of Maxwell House coffee, ’cause it’s good to the very last drop’.

When he sang the song by the third or fourth time when he’d come to the words ‘the lovin’ spoonful,’ everybody would know what he was referring to; according to John Sebastian, this song is about cunnilingus. Who Knew? And just to finish off the story, yes, the band The Lovin Spoonful took their name from his song.

Next up we give you Work It” by Missy Elliott. She has been one of the leading female rappers in the industry  Not a song about working hard with lyrics like, I’d like to get to know ya, so I could show yaou/ Put the pussy on ya, like I told ya/Gimme all your numbers so I can phone ya/ Your girl acting stank then call me over/Not on the bed, lay me on your sofa/Call before you come, I need to shave my chocha/You do or you don’t or you will or you won’t ya/Go downtown and eat it like a vulture

If you were an innocent kid in the 90s you may well have sang along to this and never realised just quite how rude it was. Christina Aguilera’s song Genie in a Bottle from 1999 was not inspired by Disney’s Aladdin as you may have thought. A second look at the lyrics may give you clue…

“You’re lickin’ your lips / And blowing kisses my way / But that don’t mean I’m gonna give it away.”

This olddie and a goodie is not about suntanning Golden Brown 1982 by The Strangers. On a first listen you may well be forgiven it’s about a girl, but, in fact, it is a song about heroin. Not something that could be played easily on the radio. One more interesting fact is the song was seen by their record company as the song that would finish their career. It didn’t and went on to become a worldwide hit

“There She Goes” is a song by English rock band the La’s, written by the band’s frontman, Lee Mavers and was first released in 1988. It gained a reputation for being about the use of heroin, probably because of the lines, “There she goes again… racing through my brain… pulsing through my vein… no one else can heal my pain”.

Following its release newspapers ran articles about the band’s ode to the drug.  When asked about the rumour in 1995, the group’s bassist John Power answered that in truth he had no idea and really didn’t want to know.

However, in an interview with Lee Mavers, who was the frontman of the band and who wrote the tune has also emphatically denied that the song is about heroin. He did admit that he tried heroin in 1990. But seeing as the song predated his experience, as it was originally released in 1988, so many got the meaning wrong.

And now to follow up with just a couple of unexpected band names, Pearl Jam is the semen in a person’s mouth after oral sex. Presumably, the band members thought they’d get away with the cheeky euphemism, but they did try to give a more wholesome explanation. They said the name was based on one of their grandmother‘s jam recipes…

And finally, the band 10cc  Jonathan King the DJ and music producer supposedly chose the name for the band after signing them to his record label UK Records, A widely repeated claim, disputed by King, but confirmed in a 1988 interview by Lol Creme and also on the webpage of Graham Gouldman’s current line-up, is that the band name represented a volume of semen that was more than the average amount ejaculated by men (“cc” being an abbreviation of cubic centimetre), thus emphasising their potency or prowess. So now you know.

So these not-so innocent names hopefully have just made your eyes that little bit wider. Try us when we say this is just a handful…

If you enjoyed reading This Musical Melody; A Little Bit Ruder Than You Thought, then why not read Best Metaphors in Books Here

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