Have you ever listened to a song and found out later you had completely mi-interpreted it's meaning?

I have had it twice lately:

3am by Matchbox 20 - only recently heard Rob Thomas interviwed and said it was written about his mother who was battling cancer. Put a whole new spin on the song for me (by the way if you get a chance there is a version of this song floating around which is slower and is just Rob and a piano - awesome)

Not ready to make nice - the Dixie Chicks - i'm from down under so didn't know the background to this song until recently. Again made me love a song that i previously was ambivalent about.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECut4WYurXs...feature=related

Do you mean this one/
Thank you for sharing it with me.

yeah mate thats the one - love that version.

Thanks for putting the link up - i should have thought of doing that lol.

Cheers

Thanks for the link. I'm a real Rob Thomas fan, but I'd not heard that version before.

Nice one!

I've had plenty of them, but I do think it is important to take into account song meanings for the artists do not have to invoke the same feeling that they do in their fans. Like any art, thing's are open to interpretation to the viewer/listener and however it affects an individual should be the most important aspect of a song. anyway my cheap 2 cents

Shad - i agree that everyone can have their own feelings from a song.

Was just interesting that for 3am i always thought he was singing to a girlfriend - so put a whole new spin on it for me when i found it was about his mother.

Was almost like hearing the song again for the first time.

I haven' t to my knowledge..I'm sure I have at some point in my life..

I went to high school with a guy that use to do it alot... my favorites are ...

singing to ministry- thieves.. instead of singing "thieves.. thieves and liars " he'd sing " feed.. feed the lions"

and Megadeth - devils island .. instead of "devils island" he'd sing "devil salad"

we didn't tell about these obvious error for ages.. in fact I think I told him a night club about ten years after.... poor guy was horrified

I've really liked some songs in the past that I thought said one thing when they were actually saying another. One's imagination often steps in, sometimes making significant improvements over the original. On the show, "Never Mind the Buzzcocks" they had a section called "Indecipherable Lyrics" where people attempted to guess (usually make up new, funny) lyrics to music videos where the artists were singing god only knows what, often with amusing results.

There's an entire website dedicated to misheard lyrics, entitled, appropriately enough, kissthisguy.com after the Hendrix song, "Purple Haze":
Misheard Lyrics

There's some real howlers on there.

I sometimes find it better to listen to a song and take my own meaning from it, that way it means a lot more to me.

the writer could be writing about some time he got high in a filed and made love to his long lost Girlfriend who has cancer and only 2 days to live... where i hear the song as badgers dancing round a fire as part of futuristic warrior ritual... either way the song would be awesome from both points of view.