Yes, my dear loyal audience, it is nom de pomme, back from his tour of Scandinavia, the low countries, southern Austria, and eastern Australia with a new edition of Guide for your listening (read: reading) pleasure. In this edition, we look at the elusive meanings to some of the world’s most enigmatic and popular songs.
Stairway to Heaven
Led Zeppelin wrote this song when they were all shopping together at a mall in London, England. They observed a woman purchasing large amounts of healthy wheat cereal. Realizing this vital ingredient in a healthy and rewarding daily lifestyle, the guys came up with the line “she’s buying a stairway to heaven.”
House of the Rising Sun
This classic blues piece was written by an unknown American folk singer in the 19th century after he had spent some time as an astronomer’s assistant in Japan. Thus, the title is a double entendre.
Pressure Drop
Before they were musicians, Toots and the Maytals were Jamaica’s finest astronauts. They were inspired to write this, their most famous song, after they conducted an experiment of pushing a llama out into space to observe the effects.
Like a Rolling Stone
Bob Dylan was once an amateur geologist. Once while on a particularly windy day in a blasting region on a mountain with very loose boulders all around, his friend, who later fully recovered, was hit by a truck. The drama of that day inspired the song.
More than a Feeling
The members of Boston met in grade school when they were learning about human senses. (sight, smell, etc.) The rest, as they say, is history.
Happiness is a Warm Gun
It’s about sex, people. Get over it.
Never Be Rude to an Arab
Once, Terry Gilliam was visiting Arabia, and he spat in his left hand, took off his shoe with it, wiped his ass with the sole, and smothered the mess in the face of a camel salesman. The ensuing international incident and court ordered public warning/apology resulted in this song.
Space Oddity
A former KGB mole, David Bowie learned the story of the real first cosmonaut to reach outer space in the summer of 1962. The mission ended in tragedy, and the song was really a coded report of the incident to President Kennedy, NASA, NATO, and the CIA.
