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PaperclipPerfector  2mo ago (text post)   2622 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for June 7, 2026

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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This is, sadly, the rule rather than the exception for songs played at weddings. Sting was inspired by 1984 when he wrote "Every Breath You Take" and has repeatedly emphasised that it's an ugly, sinister song about possession and control: when people tell him that it was their first dance at their weddings, his response is "well, good luck". Similarly, "One" by U2 was written during The Edge's messy separation from his first wife: when people tell him it was their first dance at their weddings, he's horrified.

My favorite example of this is that, apparently Bryan Adams's Summer of '69 was meant to be about the sex position, rather than about the year 1969.

Well, you just mentioned Bryan Adams. Day ruined.

My takeaway from this is that musicians really should realize that most people don't give a shit about or often even listen to their songs' lyrics.

If you asked me to recite the lyrics of my 10 favorite songs, I might be able to remember all the words to 2 or 3. It's just never been that important to me. Maybe because my early music exploration years were mostly spent listening to Norwegian black metal and underground punk rock, neither of which have the most intelligible lyrics. If anything, most musicians tend to be much better musicians than writers, so paying close attention to lyrics tends to decrease my enjoyment of music. Most artists simply don't have much interesting to say. That doesn't make their music any less amazing.

Or they only listen to one line and never pay attention to the rest. Such as people playing Born In The USA in attempt to be patriotic, when the entire rest of the song outside the chorus is extremely bitter about the USA.

That's on Springsteen. Maybe arena rock isn't the best vehicle for biting political satire. You can't write a bitching march and then complain that armies like using it for parades.

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