Random Songs That Don't Mean What You Think They Do (16 items)

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  (#11) Ben

  • Michael Jackson, The Jackson 5

  This song is particularly interesting because it was not originally intended to be performed by Michael Jackson, but by Donny Osmond. Osmond, however, was on tour so 14-year-old Jackson received the honor and his first number one as a solo artist. Which is pretty cool, but kind of crazy when you learn what the song is really about.

  Ben the two of us need look no more
  We both found what we were looking for
  With a friend to call my own I'll never be alone
  And you my friend will see you've got a friend in me
  (you've got a friend in me)

  Ben you're always running here and there
  (here and there)
  You feel you're not wanted anywhere
  (anywhere)
  If you ever look behind and don't like what you find
  There's something you should know you've got a place to go
  (you've got a place to go)

  Although it is a song about unconditional love and friendship, as can be expected with lyrics like "You've got a friend in me" and "I used to say 'I' and 'me'/Now it's 'us' now it's 'we'." But what you may not know is that the friendship in question is between a boy and (wait for it) a rat named Ben. And not just any rat, but the gang leader of a group of killer rats. That's right, this sweet and tender ballad is the theme to a film about killer rats.

  Coming from the film of the same name, Ben is the sequel to the film Willard (based on Stephen Gilbert's Ratman's Notebook), which also starred Ben and his band of murderous rodents. Although the sequel tries to present Ben ahd his band as protectors of the lonely boy Danny, they still manage to cause several deaths.

  Imagine it to be Let Me In, but with rats rather than vampires and less sex (thank goodness).
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  (#8) Born in the U.S.A.

  • Bruce Springsteen, E Street Band, Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band

  Only The Boss could make an anti-war song sound like a jingoistic rock anthem that most people use as a pro-America anthem. The song narrative follows a working class American who gets into some trouble at home, so he goes to Vietnam to fight in the war. When he returns, he is unable to find work and is shunned by the community at large, kind of like in real life.

  Springsteen's lyrics and message were so cleverly masked, that Ronald Reagan's staff tried to get the song to be the official song for his re-election campaign (which is exactly how well they did their research), but The Boss politely declined, as he did not support Ronald Reagan at all.
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  (#16) The Ice Cream Truck Song

  That utterly American ice cream truck song you thought meant "hey kids, come enjoy a cold treat on this fine sunny day!" actually has some of the most racist lyrics in the history of music. Recorded for Columbia records 1916, the melody is from a song called "N**** Loves a Watermelon Ha Ha Ha" by a terrible man named Harry C Brown. Here's a sampling of the lyrics:

  You N***** quit throwing them bones and come down and get your ice cream
  Ice cream?
  Yes, colored man's ice cream: watermelon!
  N***** loves a watermelon ha ha ha
  N***** loves a watermelon ha ha ha
  For here they're made with a half a pound of cool
  there's nothing like a watermelon for a hungry coon.
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  (#6) There She Goes

  • Sixpence None the Richer

  This is actually a cover of a song by British rock band The La's from their eponymous album. Although the song initially seems to be about a woman, if you look closely at the lyrics, the "she" in question is actually heroin and the song tells of the rush of using the drug and how fleeting the high is.

  There she goes again
  Racing through' my brain
  And I just can't contain
  This feelin' that remains

  There she blows
  There she blows again
  Pulsing through' my vein
  And I just can't contain
  This feelin' that remains

  Additionally, the song has stylistic similarities to The Velvet Underground's "There She Goes Again," a song with overt references to prostitution and potentially references to drug abuse, as well.
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  (#15) White Wedding

  • Billy Idol

  Eddie Van Halen and Valerie Bertinelli played this song at their wedding, and since that has been documented as the world's perfect love match, we can imagine that even great guitarists fail to listen to the lyrics. If he had, it'd be pretty obvious to him how inappropriate that song was for such an occasion. But hey, it's an awesome song, and their marriage is over now anyway.

  Hey little sister what have you done?
  Hey little sister who's the only one?
  Hey little sister who's your superman?
  Hey little sister who's the one you want?
  Hey little sister shot gun!

  From the lyrics and video, we get the notion that the speaker in the song, is watching someone he cares about being forced into marriage after he's been gone away. "Shotgun!" is cried three times in the song, leading to the possibility that it's a shotgun wedding - quite the opposite of a white wedding - and there are additional dark lyrics that make the song not exactly appropriate for weddings or similar affairs of the heart.
  
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  (#12) Material Girl

  • Madonna

  So you think "Material Girl" is about a gold digging wh*re? Well, that's not exactly correct. Although the video directly alludes to Marilyn Monroe's gold digging anthem, "Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend," the song is actually about a working girl who is looking to get into a relationship with a guy who is also successful... and working.

  She doesn't want someone who doesn't have enough on his plate and is so wholly devoted to her because she can't be devoted to him in kind. One of those "unevenly yoked" kind of deals. Basically, she wants to date a man she doesn't need to give constant attention to.

  In a 2009 Rolling Stone interview, Madonna said this about "Like a Virgin" and "Material Girl": "I liked them both because they were ironic and provocative at the same time but also unlike me. I am not a materialistic person, and I certainly wasn't a virgin, and, by the way, how can you be like a virgin? I liked the play on words, I thought they were clever. They're so geeky, they're cool."
  

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