People See Big Things

For those of you listening to the lyrics, you probably noticed that they sound pretty cool but defy any coherent or obvious meaning. And, by the way, that's not a problem. I'm not saying songs have to have any deep significance to be good. And sure it's fine for ambiguous words to have different meanings to different people. The point is, the superfans don't just offer possible or plausible interpretations, they take to their blogs insisting they have the answer, like this Oasis fan who is positive it's an autobiographical song about the Gallagher brothers' absentee dad, particularly the enigmatic lyric about "slowly walking down the hall / faster than a cannonball."

But the Song Is About So Much Less

Shocking as it may be that a blogger is wrong, the lyrics to "Champagne Supernova" are not intended to tell any coherent story except, perhaps, indirectly, the story of how Noel Gallagher likes getting high and doesn't sweat lyrics too much. In 2006, Noel said he hadn't made up his mind what the song is actually about, adding on the band's website that some of the lyrics were written when he was "really out of it." As far as the "faster than a cannonball" lyric, while Noel defends an ambiguous lyric's right to exist (and I agree with him), he doesn't fucking know what it means. Although, maybe he changed his mind because he also once claimed it was about a slow-walking character from a British TV show, but he "couldn't think of anything that rhymed with 'hall' apart from 'cannonball.'"

And, apparently, it's not just strangers who allegedly come up to me on the street to talk about my Cracked articles but real people who believed that whole dying lover storyline for this simple song by some very white dudes. That death and decay theme runs through this thread of fan interpretations.

But the Song Is About So Much Less

Lead singer Chris Martin rejects this interpretation. Martin claims "Yellow" is a simple love song. And that part about the color yellow? Well, Martin said, "It was simply because that word sounded nice; it just seemed to fit -- no other reason. None of the other colors would have sounded right, really."

People See Big Things

Yes, this song seems to be about death, which is a pretty heavy category, and the somber music adds to that interpretation as surely as singing "Mother, I want to fuck you" definitely sounds like an Oedipus reference. But what exactly did mystic shaman Morrison mean with all this? Well, while you can find many people's rambling interpretations, I greatly encourage you to click on this gentleman's emphatic explanation that it's about moving out West to have more sexually liberated relationships.

But the Song Is About So Much Less

As poetic as some might believe Jim to be, it's also important to remember that he did an awful lot of drugs. And wouldn't you know it, he was tripping on acid during the recording of "The End." So sure, there's a long, ambiguous narrative about death and fucking and killers walking down halls, and you can put it together any way you want to. In fact, go ahead and put it together any way you want to, but just do that for your fun. Don't be so sure about it, because Morrison, the acid-chomping, free-verse singing lyricist was always vague about the song's meaning, claiming, "It could be almost anything you want it to be."

Yes, the first question is: What the hell is Eddie even saying? Personally, I enjoy this video of misheard guesses regarding that topic.

People See Big Things

It's difficult to interpret a song whose words you can't hear, and if you go to various websites you can find different stabs at what Eddie is saying, but don't. And if you go to various message boards you will see guesses at what the title means. Some say it's from an old tongue-twister in which you try to say "yellow better red better" as fast as you can. The theory goes, you get "yellow ledbetter" and that Eddie's referencing how the lyrics are undecipherable. Others say Eddie's talking about Huddie Ledbetter (aka Leadbelly), a founding blues musician. Interpretations as to the rest of the song vary without any consistent interpretation. Except those people piping up with what Eddie said it was based on.

Big Cheese Photo LLC/Big Cheese Photo/Getty Images

But the Song Is About So Much Less

Well, actually, as I mentioned above, the truth is not about so much less. There really is a real-life story buried in there, but for reasons not clear to anyone, Eddie mumbles the lyrics more than on any other Pearl Jam song. Also, Eddie is always changing the lyrics of the song in performance and is fully aware of this, because once, when questioned as to the lyrical meaning, he reportedly responded, "Wait ... you mean there's lyrics?" So even though the song is based on a real thing, it is Eddie himself who makes the song about so much less.

For the record, according to Vedder, the title of the song has nothing to do with the tongue-twister or bluesman Leadbelly; it is about his real friend Tim Ledbetter. Also, the song is about a friend (that may or may not be Tim Ledbetter) who found out his brother had died serving in the Gulf War. While walking with Vedder, the friend saluted a flag on some people's porch, but they didn't wave back because the friend looked like a long-hair.

But this brings us to "Losing My Religion," a song with (for Stipe) somewhat straightforward lyrics, but a highly influential video that looks like this:

People See Big Things

Well, of course they do! Did you see that shit? First of all, the word "religion" is in the title, and as we've seen with this article and the last, nothing sets people off more than religious stuff. (Looking at you, "Stairway to HEAVEN"). But more than that, look at all the religious imagery. Stipe's got angel wings for Christ's sake, and then he falls away from them, like, I don't know, he's losing his religion or falling from Heaven, perhaps. And then there's a whole bunch of vaguely homoerotic stuff -- from Bill Berry's overly firm embrace of Stipe's shoulders ...

... to a form of male penetration ...

... to jizztastic milk explosions:

It's not surprising that people could see this as a song about falling away from the church and embracing homosexuality. Or some people apparently believe it contains references to John Lennon's murder for very little reason. And, of course, in the place of Stipe's words, listeners took all sorts of interpretations from the very, very stilted video.

But the Song Is About So Much Less

Unlike many of his songs, Stipe has been very clear that this song is about unrequited love and obsession. That makes sense with lyrics that convey feeling stuck in a corner and thinking you hear someone laughing at you or crying. As far as the title? "Losing my religion" is a local expression that means you're at your wit's end, which you can certainly be if you feel obsessed with someone who doesn't love you back.

Everything else really comes from director Tarsem Singh's video: references to Gabriel Garcia Marquez's short story "A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings." Then there's a character modeled after Saint Sebastian. The video is also influenced by the religious works of Italian Baroque painter Caravaggio. So, y'know, people can be forgiven for making more out of the song than they should. The director certainly wants them to.

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For more from Gladstone on Cracked, check out The 5 Least Meaningful Songs People Mistake for Being Deep and 5 Players Who Changed The Game (After Being Rejected By It).

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