Songfacts

[Musicarl]

Itunes has made our life easier in many ways. When we gather info about songs, we can now legally download them and hear what's up. We recently found out that "Mony Mony" contained the same drum beats spliced together about 44 times (this was before sampling). 99 cents later, we could hear it.

Some other intersting bits:
Tom Petty's "American Girl" has become the subject of an urban legend about a girl who jumped out her dorm room window.

Devo remakes their songs when they are used in commercials. In the Miller Lite ad where people are falling like dominoes, "Freedom Of Choice" is used, but a line was changed - instead of "he dropped dead," it became "he dropped down" so as not to imply the people falling were dead.

Anyone else discover some interesting song stories?

Carl
www.songfacts.com

[SilvorX]

My fave band "The Guess Who" have a song called American Woman, theres not many stories behind it but:
-A scathing commentary on America's imperialistic attitude at the time of the Vietnam War. The Guess Who are Canadian.
-Lyricist Burton Cummings was inspired to write this, in part, as a response to a problem the band encountered at the Canada/US border involving the Vietnam War draft. (thanks, Tony - Westbury, NY)
-The first time the band performed this was before 150,000 people at the Seattle Pop Festival in 1969. The crowd loved it even though they had never heard it. (actually the first time was in ontario, where they basically wrote the song on stage and used all the instruments they had including flute and harmonica)
-This is one of the most misinterpreted songs ever. Despite a very clear lyric: "American Woman, get away from me," Americans often hear it is a patriotic ode and a tribute to American women.
-Kravitz and The Guess Who performed this Sept. 21, 2000 at the MuchMusic Video Awards in Toronto. The Guess Who were given a lifetime achievement award.

[Awimoway]

Originally posted by SilvorX
-This is one of the most misinterpreted songs ever. Despite a very clear lyric: "American Woman, get away from me," Americans often hear it is a patriotic ode and a tribute to American women.

Hah. Good one. I, myself, have trouble understanding most song lyrics. Reminds me of a recent Wrangler's commercial that used only the first few lines of CCR's "Favorite Son." Made the song sound jingoistic when in fact its real meaning is the exact opposite.