Commonly Misunderstood Songs Trivia Quiz

Answer: False

If you think Bruce Springsteen was proud to be "Born in the U.S.A.," you didn't pay attention to the lyrics. The song trashes the U.S.A. because the government sends men away to fight in pointless wars and die, while their loved ones are left to mourn deaths that wouldn't happen if the government truly cared about its citizens.

The song charted at number nine on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, at number one in Ireland and New Zealand, and in the top ten in four other countries. The album has been certified diamond or better in four different countries. In some ways, though, it may be popular for the wrong reasons.

Answer: In the Air Tonight

The controversial lyric in this song is "If you told me you were drowning, I would not lend a hand." Some people think that Phil Collins actually saw a man fall off a boat and let him drown. In an interview with Jimmy Fallon, Phil Collins said that this song is merely about the anger he was experiencing because his wife divorced him. The drowning isn't necessarily literal. He was just telling his wife that if she was struggling with anything, he would not help her because he was really mad at her for divorcing him.

This song charted in the top three in at least ten different countries. The single has been certified three times platinum in the United States and gold or platinum in four other countries.

Answer: Every Breath You Take

"Every Breath You Take" charted at number one in seven different countries. It was number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 for eight consecutive weeks, it was the best-selling single of 1983, and it was the fifth-best selling single of the 1980s. In 1983, it won Grammy Awards for Song of the Year and Best Pop Performance and Sting won the Ivor Novello award for writing it. The song was covered by Puff Daddy in 1997, except with the word "Watching" being replaced with "Missing" and that won on top of the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 for 11 weeks.

However, it may be popular for the wrong reason. Sting told BBC Radio that people think it's a love song and that people have told him that they use it as their wedding song. This shocks Sting, because according to him, it's closer to the opposite. It's about a man jealously stalking a former lover: he can't let go of the fact that she has left him.

Answer: Fight For Your Right

"Fight For Your Right" charted in the top 40 in ten different countries and was included in Village Voice's "Singles of the Year," MTV's "100 Greatest Music Videos Ever Made," and The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's "500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll."

However, it became popular for the wrong reasons. According to the writer, Adam Yauch, the song was meant to make fun of people who party all the time. However, the irony was lost on the listeners, and it became a popular party song, loved by the very people the song was supposed to make fun of. Yauch grew to dislike his own song because there were people at their shows singing along with it who had no idea that the song was making fun of them.

Answer: Closing Time

The phrase "One last call for alcohol, so finish your whiskey or beer" makes it sound like this song is about a bar closing. The song's writer, Dan Wilson, told American Songwriter that it's actually about being born. A possible hint for this is "Open all the doors and let you into the world" with "The doors" being a metaphor for the mom's lady parts.

"Closing Time" charted on charts in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and Scotland, and the single was certified Silver in the UK.

Answer: Women

Kurt Cobain was a hardcore feminist. In the book "Come as You Are, the Story of Nirvana," Cobain said that it's necessary for men to be feminists because a male feminist might have more of an impact on men than a woman. He believed that evil men won't listen to a woman, but they might listen to a man who sides with women. A hint towards Cobain's beliefs is on the song "Territorial Pissings" on the album "Nevermind," in which Cobain sings "Never met a wise man. If so, it's a woman."

"Polly" is based on a the true story of a 14-year-old girl who was kidnapped from a rock concert and tortured. The girl escaped her kidnapper, and he was sentenced to life in prison. It is sung from the kidnapper's point of view to try and show how horrifying this is. Unfortunately, not all people got the message and this may be the saddest example of a song being misunderstood. Later, Cobain was made aware of an incident in which two boys abused a girl at a Nirvana concert while singing the lyrics to "Polly." On the inside cover of Nirvana's next album, a B-sides album called "Incesticide," Cobain left a message on the inside cover telling all woman-haters to stop buying Nirvana albums and going to Nirvana shows. On their next album, "In Utero," Cobain did a song called "Rape Me," which is often mis-interpreted due to the title. The song, written from a woman's point of view, really has a similar message as Sublime's song "Date Rape;" they're both saying that if you rape someone, you will pay for it one way or another. In the Sublime song, the rapist goes to prison and gets raped there. That could also be happening in the Nirvana song.

Answer: The One I Love

"The One I Love" charted at number nine on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and also charted in the UK, Canada, Australia, Holland, and South Africa. However, it may have become popular for the wrong reason. It's not actually a love song. The key lyric in the song is "A simple prop to occupy my time." Stipe told "Musician" magazine "It's very clear that it's about using people over and over again."

Answer: Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds

This song has been popularly rumored to be about drugs. Some people took the first letters of "Lucy," "Sky," and "Diamonds," and thought the song was about LSD, a type of drug. John Lennon admitted that the members of the band were taking drugs at the time, but he said that's not at all what this song is about.

It was actually inspired by his then-3-year-old-son Julian, who showed him a drawing that he made in nursery school that he called "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds" about his classmate Lucy O'Donnel. John thought it was beautiful, so he wrote a song about it.

Some of the lyrics are also about Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland."

Answer: Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)

"Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)" became a staple of weddings, funerals, and high school proms. People mistakenly thought it was a happy song. Actually, Armstrong said that it was about his girlfriend, Amanda, moving to Ecuador, and he wrote the song to show her how angry he was at her.

The phrase "I hope you had the time of your life" is sarcasm. The key to the song's true meaning is in the title. The words "Good Riddance" never show up in the lyrics, the song is called that as a hint to the song's true meaning. That meaning went over the heads of a lot of people.

However, Armstrong didn't mind that the song was misinterpeted, telling CBS Local, "The people that you grew up and braved the trials of high school with will always hold a special place. Through all the BS of high school you hope that your friends had the time of their life, and that's what the song is talking about."

Answer: Hotel California

"Hotel California" charted at number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and the Canada Top Singles charts and charted in the top ten in ten different countries. The single has been certified platinum or double platinum in four different countries.

However, it may be popular for the wrong reasons. It is mistakenly considered to be a song about how wonderful it is to go on vacation in California. However, the final line of the song is key in letting you know that the song isn't all that happy: "You can check out any time you like but you can never leave!" Singer Don Henley told "60 Minutes," "It's basically a song about the dark underbelly of the American dream and about excess in America, which is something we knew a lot about."