Thursday, September 08, 2005
Musical Gibberish - Sunglasses at Night
On my way to work today, I was listening to Sirius 80s, the satellite radion station that plays songs from the 1980s. Though I adore 80s music, some of it was really stupid. Of course, this is not limited to the 80s. One of the stupidest songs recorded played this morning, Corey Hart's "I Wear My Sunglasses at Night."Don't know it? Here are the lyrics:
I wear my sunglasses at night so I can so I can
Watch you weave then breathe your story lines
And I wear my sunglasses at night so I can so I can
Keep track of the visions in my eyes
While she's deceiving me it cuts my security has
She got control of me I turn to her and say
Don't switch the blade on the guy in shades oh no
Don't masquerade with the guy in shades oh no
I can't believe it! 'Cus you got it made with the guy in shades oh no
And I wear my sunglasses at night so I can so I can
Forget my name while you collect your claim
And I wear my sunglasses at night so I can so I can
See the light that's right before my eyes
While she's deceiving me she cuts my security
Has she got control of me I turn to her and say
Don't switch the blade on the guy in shades oh no
Don't masquerade with the guy in shades oh no
I can't believe it! 'Cus you got it made with the guy in shades oh no
Oh I say I wear my sunglasses at night...(repeat and fade).
Is it just me, or do these lyrics not make any sense whatsoever? Sure, as a trained literature teacher experienced in digging out inferences and looking for metaphors, etc., I can concoct some half-assed analysis of this song, but who wants to work that hard when listening to pop music? What's even worse - I remember listening to this song a lot and enjoying it. I had the sunglasses, though I don't remember wearing them at night.
What are some really stupid songs that you remember, or even like. I'm not talking about songs that are intentionally goofy or that talk about silly subjects but in ways that make sense. I'm talking about songs that make no sense. That use strange metaphors and words.
Elton John comes to mind: "Someone saved my life tonight sugar bear." The use of sugar bear seems only as a rhyme for the ending of the next line: "didn't you dear." Unless sugar bear has a meaning I'm not aware of, I think this is silly. And he does this in several songs.
So send me some lyrics or song titles.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
About Me
- Kelli McBride
- Oklahoma
- ABD, Associate Professor of Language Arts & Humanities at an Oklahoma 2-year college; web site designer; devoted aunt to Lauren.
3 comments:
Oh man, did you have to remind me I used to sing along with that song? That I actually did wear my sunglasses at night? That I was freaking 13 and didn't know better???
As for Elton, there's a meaning behind Sugar Bear and I can't believe I don't remember what it is. Tired this morning.
Will go ask DH-- we have everything he and his writing partner ever released-- in both album and CD. Even went to concerts... uh, huge Elton fans in this house... Madman Across the Water... Captain Fantastic... now I gotta go find those CDs in this remodeling mess.
This may not post. I'm apparently word verification challenged. LOL.
Rinda, I was, like, 18 when this song was out. You can be excused some behavioral flaws because of your age, but by 18 I should have known better. ;-)
As for Elton, I adore him. I just have never been able to figure out the Sugar Bear, and it almost ruins a great song for me. Please enlighten me on the meaning behind the phrase. ;-)
I know the lyrics were written by Bernie and the story was told from his point of view. Elton was to marry a woman, grew conflicted and opened his oven in a sort of suicide attempt. Bernie found him-- the window was open so it wouldn't have worked, but it told everyone that Elton had a problem.
Found it! "Sugar Bear" in the lyrics is British blues singer Long John Baldry. He's the man who convinced Elton that he was making a mistake by getting married.
I looked this up before because I wondered about this myself. LOL. I had looked up HP demands, too.