As much as we love to hear what the artist cites as the inspiration behind some of their biggest hits, at the end of the day, the audience will always lean on their own interpretation.
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We can’t help but connect what we hear to our own lives or our own idea of what that artist has been through. The artist is a notorious drug user? The song is instantly about drugs. The listener just went through a break-up? The music they listen to is instantly connected back to that loss.
While music should be digested by the listener in any way they see fit, sometimes the audience gleans a completely opposite meaning than the artist intended. What happens when an anti-war song becomes a patriotic anthem?
Those kinds of mix-ups happened with the six songs, below. Do you know the real meaning behind these rock classics?
1. “Fortunate Son” (Creedence Clearwater Revival)
Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Fortunate Son” has had an interesting lifespan since its release in 1969. While John Fogerty wrote it as a cleverly coded protest of the Vietnam War, in hindsight, it has had almost the opposite effect.
“Fortunate Son” has become a staple in a director’s toolbox when they want to make a film that is set in the sepia-toned jungles of Vietnam, nearly romanticizing the conflict with classic rock nostalgia. Moreover, many self-proclaimed patriots have adopted the tune as a symbol of their dedication to the country, taking the point of view that to fight for one’s country is an honor—despite Fogerty strongly rejecting the idea of a draft in the lyrics.
“‘Fortunate Son’ is a song I wrote during the Vietnam War over 45 years ago,” Fogerty once told Rolling Stone. “I do believe that its meaning gets misinterpreted and even usurped by various factions wishing to make their own case.”
2. “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds” (The Beatles)
No matter how many times John Lennon told the world that “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds” was not about LSD, the pervasive theory still gets passed around today.
Given the era in which this Beatles classic was released (amid the drugged-out haze of the late ’60s), it’s not hard to figure out why fans have latched onto this theory. But, Lennon routinely dismissed any speculation that the song was drug-influenced, and instead explained that the song was inspired by a drawing his son, Julian, did.
“It never was [about LSD] and nobody believes me,” Lennon said in a 1971 interview. “This is the truth: My son came home with a drawing and showed me this strange-looking woman flying around. I said, ‘What is it?’ and he said, ‘It’s Lucy in the sky with diamonds,’ and I thought, ‘That’s beautiful.’ I immediately wrote a song about it.”
3. “Born in the U.S.A” (Bruce Springsteen)
Similar to “Fortunate Son,” Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the U.S.A” has often been misinterpreted as a patriotic anthem—and it’s not hard to see why.
When you read the title of this track, what else would you think this song is about other than Springsteen flexing his red-blooded American status? Nevertheless, the real meaning of the track is quite the opposite.
At its core, “Born in the U.S.A” is an anti-war song. Also inspired by the controversial draft during the Vietnam War, Springsteen sings in the second verse, Got in a little hometown jam / So they put a rifle in my hand / Sent me off to a foreign land / To go and kill the yellow man.
4. “Every Breath You Take” (The Police)
The Police’s “Every Breath You Take” might seem like the perfect song to play for your crush, but the lyrics are actually far darker than they seem.
“The song is very, very sinister,” Sting once said to the BBC (per Grunge). “And ugly. And people have actually misinterpreted it as being a gentle little love song when it’s quite the opposite.”
The frontman has explained on several occasions that the lyrics Every step you take / I’ll be watching you are less of a gentle romantic devotion and more of a stalker’s manifesto. Though that fact might seem very obvious when seeing the lyrics written down, Sting’s smooth vocals in the recorded version seem to obviate any creepy vibes.
5. “Summer of ’69” (Bryan Adams)
“Summer of ’69” has often been interpreted as a nostalgic look at the late ’60s. And while that view of the track isn’t entirely off base, there is a far more sexual meaning hiding behind the surface.
“It’s a very simple song about looking back on the summertime and making love,” Adams once explained. “For me, the ’69 was a metaphor for making love, not about the year. I had someone in Spain ask me once why I wrote the first line I had my first real sex dream… I had to laugh.”
6. “Hotel California” (Eagles)
“Hotel California” is so confounding, that even the members of the band struggle to come up with one, definitive inspiration.
Don Henley has cited music industry struggles and the allure of fame as the inspiring factor behind the pervasive hit. “In a sentence, I’d sum it up as the end of the innocence, round one,” he once said. Conversely, Glen Frey remembered the song being made simply for the sake of “making something weird.”
Fans have their own interpretations. Some think the song was inspired by an actual hotel out in the desert somewhere while others think the tune is a warning against drug use. Given that the band doesn’t even have a consensus on what the song means, the debate may never be over.
Photo by Danny Clinch / Shore Fire Media
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