When this topic from Long and Short Reviews came up, one particular song immediately came to mind. It wasn't so much a matter of mishearing the lyrics or being confused by the meaning, although I'm sure there were plenty of songs back then that I completely misunderstood.
No - in this instance, it was the video.
The song was "Twisting By The Pool" by Dire Straits. I didn't know what "twisting" was, so that part went completely over my head. However, when I saw the video on Top of the Pops, I was absolutely terrified. Why? Because the video consisted mainly of synchronised swimmers, upside down, gleefully kicking their legs in the air.
I had never seen synchronised swimming before, so I assumed that if they were upside down in the water and kicking their legs, they had obviously fallen in backwards and were drowning.
I had nightmares about that for a week until I told my dad about it. To be fair to him, he didn't laugh - not in front of me anyway, although he may well have enjoyed telling this to my mum afterwards.
I'm interested to see which songs everyone else will come up with!
I think there's something rather creepy about synchronised swimming in general. I mean, it's beautiful... but creepy.
ReplyDeleteI grew to like it more as I got older, but it was definitely creepy when I was a kid.
DeleteI can definitely see how that would be scary if you didn’t know what synchronized swimming was!
ReplyDeleteI still found it quite eerie even after I'd been told :)
DeleteYeah, that's completely understandable. And music videos back in the day could be weirdly, *wildly* disconnected from the subject matter of the songs they were made for.
ReplyDeleteTrue, I can remember a lot of weird ones.
DeleteThings that scare little kids...that's another topic.
ReplyDeletePris cilla King
It was definitely creepy at the time.
DeleteI wonder how many lyrics went over my head as a kid like the "twisting." And music videos were insane back in the day. The Literal Version of "Total Eclipse of the Heart" is both a scream and shows how over the top videos were.
ReplyDeleteI remember that video - that was weird :)
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