MUSIC: Slow on the uptake

I want to write about the excellent Mitch Hedberg/Stephen Lynch comedy show I saw in L.A. last night, but I don't feel like making a big post now, so that'll have to wait till tomorrow. For now, just a little something to let you know I'm still alive. Here are two songs which took me an inordinately long time to figure out what they were talking about.

Lemonheads, "C'mon Daddy", from the album Car Button Cloth:

I feel like Steven is my father and I don't know why
But I realized it when I looked in his eyes
I feel like Steven is my daddy and it ain't no lie
I wanna hold you till the end of time...
Didn't know I was your baby till the age of nine
Didn't know I was your babe for such a long long time...

Anyone quicker on the uptake than I am? Did you figure out what this song is about before I did?

It's a song about how Liv Tyler found out Steven Tyler of Aerosmith was her father, sung from her point of view. You've all heard the story, right -- how Liv thought her father was Todd Rundgren until she saw Aerosmith in concert? Yep, that's what this song is about. That's so goddam clever. Lemonheads are awesome.

Ben Folds Five, "Brick", from the album Whatever and Ever Amen:

I can't believe this became a top 40 hit, with almost nobody realizing what it was actually about. I actually got this one pretty quickly, but it floored me when I did.

They call her name at 7:30
I pace around the parking lot
Then I walk down to buy her flowers
And sell some gifts that I got
Can't you see
It's not me you're dying for
Now she's feeling more alone
Than she ever has before

How many of you figured it out from the carefully ambiguous lyrics: it's a song about him taking his girlfriend to an abortion clinic. And then feeling the emotional aftermath: "She's a brick and I'm drowning slowly." Adds a chilling depth to the song.

Wow, way to close on a downer, Tom!