Screenshot: YouTube
Musicians are individuals who marry a tune with a message to express themselves. But you, our educated audience, already knew that. How direct they choose to be about this message, however, is totally up to them. Some musicians choose to be more discreet with their messages, using metaphors or playful euphemisms to represent something more adult. More raunchy.
It’s these musicians that we’re calling out in this article; a collection of musicians that include everybody from the legendary Beatles to today’s biggest pop stars like Lady Gaga (and then some has-beens whose songs you’ve undoubtedly heard before). So if you want to know what some of your favorite (and not-so-favorite) songs actually mean beyond the surface, take a look at what we’ve uncovered below.
1. “All My Life” – The Foo Fighters
The 2002 hit appears to be about what most rock songs are about: frustration. However, as it was revealed to an inquisitive fan, the song is actually about something else many rock songs tend to be about: sex. In this instance, Dave Grohl’s (the band’s lead singer) affection for oral sex.
“I’m very fond of giving oral sex to women. It’s a pleasure-giving experience,” he said. “It’s about giving someone something that they’ll remember for the rest of their lives, and if you do it right, they will.” Which seems a little self-serving, doesn’t it? First of all, by attesting he “Does it right,” without anyone to back him up, and secondly, the more poignant fact that telling an audience that you’re a generous lover isn’t something most people — or at least most humble people — do.
2. “Summer of ’69” – Bryan Adams
In this classic anthem that every man over 40 gets down to at weddings, Adams muses about his first guitar and relationship in the heat of summer. According to his lyrics, these events occurred in 1969.
This is where things get blurry. “69” actually bore no significance to Adams and is instead a child-like reference to the oral sex position, not unlike many young women did with their hotmail accounts on MSN messenger. “A lot of people think it’s about the year,” he said, “but actually, it’s more about making love in the summertime, using ’69’ as a sexual reference.” So there you have it, folks.
3. “Peacock” – Katy Perry
As a kid, I remember being fond of the word “pistol” because it allowed me to say “piss” without my mom smacking me in the head. I bring this up because Katy Perry has a similar fascination with the word “peacock,” except she’s singing this thinly veiled smut to children. Millions of children.
In the song of the same name, Perry uses “peacock” to blatantly replace the word “c*ck” and then muses about how badly she wants to see one. She does this in a very obvious way, perhaps to appeal to her very elementary audience.
4. “Ticket To Ride” – The Beatles
Though this is common knowledge among more mature audiences, it’s been heavily cited that The Beatles’ song “Ticket To Ride” is about having sex with disease-free prostitutes. Charming, isn’t it? The “ticket” in the song’s title references doctor-issued cards that were historically given to sex workers in Germany as proof that they were disease-free. Who knew The Beatles had a taste for German prostitutes?
5. “Poker Face” – Lady Gaga
Screenshot: YouTube
Lady Gaga admitted to the media that her song “Poker Face” had nothing to do with the card game, but was instead a less obvious ode to her bisexuality, calling out that sometimes, during sex with a man, she puts on a facade — a poker face — to conceal the fact that she really wants to be penetrated by a woman. Interesting.
6. “Who Let The Dogs Out?” – Baha Men
This song is actually deeper than most give it credit for. I’m not saying it’s profound — not in the slightest — but I will say the song is about more than opening a gate and watching dogs flee. According to Anslem Douglas, the writer of the song, the piece of music was used to bash men who catcall women. Here’s what he said: “The men started the name-calling and then the girls respond to the call. And then a woman shouts out, ‘Who let the dogs out?’ And we start calling men dogs. It was really a man-bashing song.”
7. “Get Down” – B4-4
The one-hit boy band comprised of two twins and another similar looking dude revealed over a decade after the song was released that their suggestive tune “Get Down” was indeed about oral sex. “We said it was about the give and take in a relationship. Looking back at it, the song is about sex,” B4-4 admitted to Vice. “The song is about oral sex, obviously, there was nothing to hide.” Well, except for the fact that your audience was primarily children.
8. “Liquid Dreams” – O-Town
Looking at the title, I’m sure you can guess what the song’s about. But as a child, I sure as hell had no clue. The members of the forgettable boy band O-Town — winner of Diddy’s “Making The Band” television show — each sang lyrics describing the kind of woman each likes to masturbate to. A circle jerk of music, if you will. Evidently, these fellows like their ladies exotic, creating a female composite of Destiny’s Child, Jennifer Lopez, Janet Jackson and others.
9. “Peaches” – Presidents of the USA
Screenshot: YouTube
Indeed, peaches have long been the fruit to represent a woman’s lady-parts, and one-hit wonder Presidents of the USA ran with it. The song begins innocently enough, with the singer insisting he will “eat a lot of peaches” when he moves to the country. To throw us off, he even says “peaches come from a can.” But there’s no denying the comparison he makes to crushing a peach in his fist, likening the sensation to “poking a finger down inside” to “make a little room.” This is where things get, shall I say, “juicy”?
10. “Pearl Necklace” – ZZ Top
Let’s just say this isn’t the kind of pearl necklace one buys in a jewelry store. This should have been evident in the fact that they use “pearl necklace” as a verb, not a noun.
11. “Milkshake” – Kelis
I always knew this song had some sexual meaning behind it, but I could never discern what it was. Something about warming up a milkshake didn’t seem right to me. Thanks to Urban Dictionary, I’ve come to find that a “milkshake” is a euphemism for a handjob — get it: “milk” and “shake”?
Do this: replace “milkshake” with “handjob” and suddenly the song starts making a lot more sense. Here’s another incriminating line: “Damn right, it’s better than yours, I could teach you but I’d have to charge.”
