Song lyrics one liners that anyone under 30 won’t understand

[Alex321]

Funky Claude was running in and out.

If you don't know the song or the story you're clearly under 40, probably under 50.

I don't, and am a week short of 65!

 

[Alex321]

They have denied Lucy in the Sky stands for LSD

somewhere there is someone that believes them!

Yes, but there are people around who believe the Earth is flat

 

[winjim]

Buck Roger’s by Feeder from 2001. Only 23 years old but it references CD players in cars. How quaint.

He's got a brand new car
Looks like a jaguar
It's got leather seats
It's got a CD player

Who's Buck Rogers?

 

[Beebo]

Who's Buck Rogers?

My daughter used to love Moves like Jagger by Maroon 5.
She had no idea who Jagger was.

 

[winjim]

This does remind me actually, I was forced to go and watch Feeder at a festival once. We had wanted to see Beardyman but the tent got absolutely stampeded with under 30s so we had to leave. We felt very, very old.

 

[winjim]

My daughter used to love Moves like Jagger by Maroon 5.
She had no idea who Jagger was.

Radio 6 played Marlene on the Wall by Suzanne Vega the other day and I suddenly realised what it meant having known the song since I was a child.

 

[ColinJ]

I don't, and am a week short of 65!

Smoke on the Water, man!

Has anybody yet pointed out that a 'one-liner' from a song is, er, one line from a song, not many lines from one song...?

 

[Alex321]

Smoke on the Water, man!

Has anybody yet pointed out that a 'one-liner' from a song is, er, one line from a song, not many lines from one song...?

I've never really listened to the lyrics of that song.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

My daughter used to love Moves like Jagger by Maroon 5.
She had no idea who Jagger was.

err - is not was
unless I missed an announcement

although he must be about 100 by now - and looks about 200

 

[richardfm]

err - is not was
unless I missed an announcement

although he must be about 100 by now - and looks about 200

Mick Jagger still has his looks. It Keith Richards that looks old. Both are about 80

 

[Rezillo]

I doubt a pint of beer was every ten bob !

It was 26 new pence when we first started visiting pubs

But that's the whole point of the lyric - nostalgia from an imagined dark future for a fictional price in 1979 that was miles higher than the real 1978 price when the song was released.

I'd been working on and off
A pint of beer was still ten bob
My brand new Bonneville got ripped off
I more or less give up trying
They stopped the Social in the spring
And quite a few communists got run in
And National Service come back in
In the winter of '79
When Marco's caff went up in flames
The Vambo boys took the blame
The SAS come and took our names
In the winter of '79

 

[Profpointy]

But that's the whole point of the lyric - nostalgia from an imagined dark future for a fictional price in 1979 that was miles higher than the real 1978 price when the song was released.

I'd been working on and off
A pint of beer was still ten bob
My brand new Bonneville got ripped off
I more or less give up trying
They stopped the Social in the spring
And quite a few communists got run in
And National Service come back in
In the winter of '79
When Marco's caff went up in flames
The Vambo boys took the blame
The SAS come and took our names
In the winter of '79

Thanks - I wasn't aware of the context.

Ten bob a pint would if course have been been ridiculous pre decimalisation, though we did say "ten bob" for fair bit after. I think we probably did react when beer reached 50p saying "my God! Ten bob for a pint. What's the world coming yo" and so on.

 

[ColinJ]

I've never really listened to the lyrics of that song.

It was actually an unusually interesting song, telling the story of what could have been a major tragedy for the audience, rather than just a major inconvenience for the band!

We all came out to Montreux
On the Lake Geneva shoreline
To make records with a mobile
We didn't have much time
But Frank Zappa and the Mothers
Were at the best place around
But some stupid with a flare gun
Burned the place to the ground
Smoke on the water
A fire in the sky
Smoke on the water...

 

[Profpointy]

It was actually an unusually interesting song, telling the story of what could have been a major tragedy for the audience, rather than just a major inconvenience for the band!

We all came out to Montreux
On the Lake Geneva shoreline
To make records with a mobile
We didn't have much time
But Frank Zappa and the Mothers
Were at the best place around
But some stupid with a flare gun
Burned the place to the ground
Smoke on the water
A fire in the sky
Smoke on the water...

Wasn't the story that they were one song short for their album and had to come up with an extra one n a hurry, and got the inspiration from said smoke

 

[ColinJ]

Wasn't the story that they were one song short for their album and had to come up with an extra one n a hurry, and got the inspiration from said smoke

I think the guitar riff was waiting for some lyrics, and they obviously came along after the fire...

I remember a Deep Purple fan in my class walking in carrying a copy of the Machine Head album. It's scary to think that it was over half a century ago!