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Driving home, the Peter Gabriel song "Sledgehammer" came on the radio. I suppose the lyrics have always seemed nonsensical to me, but it's a nice catchy song to mentally sing along to. But today the thought struck me, "Wait a minute. This doesn't make sense. What is this song really about?"
When I hear the word "sledgehammer", I think of one of those big heavy things they have at fairs, which you heave up in the air and smash down with all your force against a target, to make the whatchamacallit go up, and if hits the bell at the top, you get a prize. It also makes me think of Tom and Jerry cartoons, where Tom runs after Jerry with the sledgehammer, trying to smash Jerry on the head. Or maybe that was some other cartoon.
So, I interpret the lyrics to this song - "I wanna be your sledgehammer" as "I want to smash this big heavy object down on your head and kill you". Or maybe as, "I'll do that to other people for you". But neither of those really make sense in terms of the rest of the song.
Then it occurred to me that a sledgehammer wasn't what I was thinking it was. Wasn't it one of those things construction workers use, to break up the asphalt, those things that go up and down, bang bang bang against the ground? (After looking up the words up now, I realized that is a jackhammer, not a sledgehammer. My original idea of a sledgehammer was correct.)
But anyway, thinking of a jackhammer, I suddenly realized the song must be about sex. Ohhhhhhhhh. Sledgehammer, as in I want to fuck you. With that realization, came disappointment. Another fun old childhood song turning out to be about sex. Now it won't feel the same, singing along to it. Unless I forget tonight's line of thought, which may happen. A sledgehammer as a phallic symbol still really doesn't make sense to me. People don't smash other people on the heads with giant phalluses.
When I hear the word "sledgehammer", I think of one of those big heavy things they have at fairs, which you heave up in the air and smash down with all your force against a target, to make the whatchamacallit go up, and if hits the bell at the top, you get a prize. It also makes me think of Tom and Jerry cartoons, where Tom runs after Jerry with the sledgehammer, trying to smash Jerry on the head. Or maybe that was some other cartoon.
So, I interpret the lyrics to this song - "I wanna be your sledgehammer" as "I want to smash this big heavy object down on your head and kill you". Or maybe as, "I'll do that to other people for you". But neither of those really make sense in terms of the rest of the song.
Then it occurred to me that a sledgehammer wasn't what I was thinking it was. Wasn't it one of those things construction workers use, to break up the asphalt, those things that go up and down, bang bang bang against the ground? (After looking up the words up now, I realized that is a jackhammer, not a sledgehammer. My original idea of a sledgehammer was correct.)
But anyway, thinking of a jackhammer, I suddenly realized the song must be about sex. Ohhhhhhhhh. Sledgehammer, as in I want to fuck you. With that realization, came disappointment. Another fun old childhood song turning out to be about sex. Now it won't feel the same, singing along to it. Unless I forget tonight's line of thought, which may happen. A sledgehammer as a phallic symbol still really doesn't make sense to me. People don't smash other people on the heads with giant phalluses.
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Date: 2018-01-25 04:14 am (UTC)From:I remember disliking it when it came out, along with its contemporary, "Dirty Laundry" by Don Henley. Now, mumblety years later, I appreciate Dirty Laundry a lot more, while I still think Sledgehammer was one of Peter's weakest songs.