Songs where the singer/protagonist comes off as a serious dick without meaning to

look you have to assume he's talking about the sweater/scarf combo

Ctl-f "Waitress in the Sky"

I thought he was meant to, as discussed on the other thread.

#MoreThanOneThread

I'm sure he knew he was coming off as a dick but I think he underestimated how seriously dickish he sounds

Isn't the story that his sister was an air hostess/stewardess and the song was from the point of view of one of her antagonists?

I wonder what she thought about it

some of my irritation with this song stems from its misogyny and some from its being such an earworm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hP0aRVlWEuo

First, she tells her fiancé that she only got the other guy's letter "yesterday"; implying she didn't have time to respond before his train arrives. But later, in the bridge, she says: Well I never answered his letter / I just couldn't tell him that way.... Sounds like she's not being entirely forthright about when the letter arrived?

Second – I get why she didn't want to tell the guy in writing that she's engaged. But couldn't she at least pick up the phone? Her plan is to be standing there when he steps off the train; show him the ring on her finger; and leave him standing in Penn Station with a duffel bag on his shoulder and his d--k hanging out?

"Yesterday" can mean "the recent past", rather than the day before today.

“Yesterday, I got this letter”? I don’t think she’s speaking poetically!

Unreliable narrator. The singer is telling the story from the psych ward, where she was committed after enduring the traumas described in previous Shangri-Las songs and suffering a nervous breakdown.

think perhaps we need another thread along the lines of "would these lyrics stand up to scrutiny in a court of law?"

It's one of my favourite songs ever, but Todd Rundgren's version of sensitivity in "Hello It's Me" is maybe a little self-serving:

Think of me
You know that I'd be with you if I could
I'll come around to see you once in a while
Or if I ever need a reason to smile
And spend the night if you think I should

"after enduring the traumas described in previous Shangri-Las songs" omg

As I was walking down the street one day, a man came up to me and asked me what the time was that was on my watch, and I said, 'Does anybody really know what time it is? Does anybody really care?'. And then he hit me really, really hard right in my stomach. I don't know why.

Ha yeah that one definitely fits.

you wouldn't have understood him if he'd told you, what the fuck even is "25 or 6 to 4"

He's just a freshman in the quad puffin' on a doob and suddenly being all 'whoa, what even is time, man?' and trying to share his newfound wisdom with unamused passersby

'25 or 6 to 4' is a chronicle of his acid phase

He's a Staples regional vice president now iirc

It wasn't just "a man" who came up to Robert Lamm, it was "The Man".

a shame Cetera did not mention these inane stoner sidewalk chitchats among the "street sounds swirling through my mind."

a man came up to me and asked me what the time was that was on my watch

And I showed him the watch that was on my wrist which was part of my arm that was attached to my body

And I suggested that he could use the eyes that were in his eye-sockets that were in his head, and thereby determine the time that was on my watch which was on my wrist that was part of my arm and therefore attached to my body

was thinking of this thread when I was listening to Beefheart's "My head is my only house unless it rains" the other day
another in the long line of love song turned stalker anthem

I'll let a train be my feet
If it's too far to walk to you
If a train don't go there I'll get a jet or a bus
Because I'm going to find you
You're going to see my shadow soon around you

I walk the meadow plains
Water deserts are my eyes until I find you
I won't sleep until I find you
I won't eat until I find you

I can feel you out there moving
You're mine, I know I'll find you

a man came up to me and asked me what the time was that was on my watch, and it was a Swatch so I told him what the time was in Swatch Internet Time, @624, and he said does anybody really care about Swatches? and I said yeah, they have stores in most airports, somebody's gotta

I know this is neither the time nor place but 'asked me what the time was that was on my watch' is my underrated nominee for most tortured English language construction in pop music.

In the Beefheart song, though, there's no indication that the subject is trying to evade the singer. It always brings to mind someone looking for a lost animal to me.

Or for that matter, an animal looking for a person (although the singer does mention having "arms").

Got a wife and kids in Baltimore, Jack
I went out for a ride and I never went back

How quickly we forget about them, with that happy singalong chorus!

But she comes back in the next verse (at least, I’ve always assumed that was her in the Kingston bar—

though how did they get from Kingston to Baltimore?

and was the Kingston in question the “ unincorporated community and census designated place (CDP) along the border of South Brunswick Township in Middlesex County and Franklin Township in Somerset County, in New Jersey, United States”?

It’s “Kingstown,” as in the capital of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, duh

You’re right—what about Kingstown on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, then? Google maps tells me no bars remain, though the place features a defunct mill (now a garden center)….

Sorry I just don’t see Springsteen hanging out around a defunct mill

lol

Survivor, "The Search Is Over": just what did he put this poor woman through?

You followed me through changes
And patiently you'd wait
'Til I came to my senses
Through some miracle of fate

I was living for a dream
Loving for a moment
Taking on the world
That was just my style
Now I look into your eyes
I can see forever
The search is over
You were with me all the while

needs a response song

"The search is over
I found a better man named Lyle"

The Monkees - "I Wanna Be Free". Davy Jones sounds like an insincere douche on a number of Monkees songs, but this one take the douchecake.

― Gimme Gimme Pop Secret (Old Lunch), Friday, March 27, 2015 5:20 PM (six years ago) bookmarkflaglink

Heard it again this morning, and the lyrics really need to be beheld:

I wanna be free
Like the bluebirds flying by me
Like the waves out on the blue sea
If your love has to tie me
Don't try me, say good-bye

I wanna be free
Don't say you love me, say you like me
But when I need you beside me
Stay close enough to guide me
Confide in me, whoa-oh-oh

I wanna hold your hand
Walk along the sand
Laughing in the sun
Always having fun
Doing all those things
Without any strings to tie me down

I wanna be free
Like the warm September wind, babe
Say you'll always be my friend, babe
We can make it to the end, babe
Again, babe, I've gotta say
I wanna be free

I wanna be fwb

Except you have to be there for me when I need you. And willing to go the eff away when I don't. I'll keep you posted, babe. I wanna be free.

The Byrds - Triad

― kornrulez6969, Monday, March 30, 2015 6:55 PM (six years ago)

Came here to see if this one was ever mentioned (it super qualifies). I've actually never heard the Byrds version - I do love the song when Grace sings it, it's so ridiculous.

I guess Come Up the Years (another JA fave) also belongs here - though I don't think Balin & Kantner's "narrator" really cares how he comes off. He needs help!! 'Fore he falls apart!

"Triad" by the Byrds is gorgeous, despite the lyrics.

Thx - just checked it out, and I agree (though it's maybe a little static-feeling). The Crosby demo is actually really nice...! Neither of these have the sleazy, transparently manipulative vibe that I love about the Airplane's take, though. (Crosby's demo is so "sensitive," he almost has me going... like yeah, let's try it, Dave! I'm all in!)

The line I most love in this song is: "...and in time, maybe others." The protagonist can't help but telegraph the full extent of his horndog master plan!

Wind Beneath My Wings

Butterfly in the sky? Pssh.
I can go twice as high! (smirks)

lol I did the exact same thing Le Bateau Ivre did 5 years ago, searching for and marveling at the lack of Weezer

Rod Stewart's 2018 opioid crisis cash-in 'Didn't I' deserves some kind of award for pulling this stunt. it seems like he's trying to set a tone of tough love wrt to a father's inability to steer his child away from self-destructive choices, but he comes across as if he's waiting for her to wake up from her coma so that he can be certain his taunting and guilt tripping are actually getting through to her

There are times to remember
And times that I wish to forget
Our time together was tinged with love and regret
Oh, my girl
My sweet, sweet little girl

Didn't I try to tell ya that life was for living?
Oh, didn't I?
And wasn't I the guy who said 'stay away from that tribe'?
Oh, wasn't I?

Is this anti-semitism?

And didn't I try to tell you 'that's stuffs gonna kill ya'?
Oh, didn't I?
But you thought it was cool and I was just an old fool
Oh, look at ya

You left home for the city with Hollywood stars in your eyes
Now your mother, God bless her, cries herself to sleep every night
Oh my girl, my sweet innocent girl

Didn't I search the streets for the beggars, pimps and cheats?
Oh, didn't I?

"goddamnit, Fiona, I took cocaine up the ass in 1978, so I'm pretty sure I know a thing or two about drug culture"

And didn't I try to guide you to a baptism of fire?

"baptism by fire" = abusive parenting style

And didn't I try to warn ya 'bout that folk in California?
Oh, didn't I?
But you said 'daddy, please don't worry, I got friends out there who love me'
Now look at ya

can't stand the way he repeats her words back to her in a mocking tone as if he's a 7-year-old playground bully

(Bridge: Bridget Cady)
Oh baby, come back home, we can work this out
There is no blame
I wanna hold you close and stroke your hair and share your pain

at this point mommy swoops in to do a little damage control. "there is no blame" despite the fact that daddy has already blamed his daughter, her friends, and an entire state for her predicament

Didn't I do the best for you, try to make you stay in school?
Didn't I?
Once I was your hero but I went from ten to zero
Oh, didn't I?

accurate summation of Rod's career trajectory

Now listen
For a roll on the dice you nearly paid the ultimate price
Oh, didn't ya?
Now I stand by your bedside, watching you fight for you life

Where's the innocence? (Where's the innocence?)
Where's the future? (Where is the future?)
Where the beauty? (Ooo)
Where's the promise? (Where is the promise?)

bleah

Where's the innocence? (Where's the innocence?)
Where's the future? (Where is the future?)
Where the beauty? (Ooo)
Where's the promise? (Where is the promise?) Where's the innocence? (Where's the innocence?)
Where's the future? (Where is the future?)
Where the beauty? (Ooo)
Where's the promise? (Where is the promise?) Where's the innocence? (Where's the innocence?)
Where's the future? (Where is the future?)
Where the beauty? (Ooo)
Where's the promise? (Where is the promise?) Where's the innocence? (Where's the innocence?)
Where's the future? (Where is the future?)
Where the beauty? (Ooo)
Where's the promise? (Where is the promise?)

Wonder if this song is (with a gender switch) directed at his son who appeared on Celebrity Rehab.

Sounds like he’s singing to a member of the Manson family