Even though it’s 2015, mankind hasn’t evolved past the following two behaviors: homophobia and wild misinterpretations of song lyrics. Case in point: the song “Girl Crush” by country band Little Big Town, which is being pulled by radio stations because people keep calling in to complain that it’s about a hot lady-on-lady relationship. (Spoiler alert: It is not.)
The tune (which, if you know your musical theater, sounds a little like the Les Miserables song “Stars”; just saying) is a huge hit for the country band and has climbed to No. 17 on the Billboard country music chart. It tells the story of a woman deeply jealous of her ex-boyfriend’s new lover, a theme that’s not exactly virgin territory in country music.
But the lyrics, which include the lines “I wanna taste her lips/Yeah, ’cause they taste like you/I wanna drown myself in a bottle of her perfume” and “I don’t get no sleep/I don’t get no peace/Thinking about her/Under your bedsheets,” are apparently considered subversive enough for country fans to call radio stations and angrily demand that DJs pull the song from the airwaves.
“To my surprise, after explaining the song to more than a handful of people, every one of them responded with basically the same thing (paraphrased): ‘You are just promoting the gay agenda on your station and I am changing the channel and never listening to you ever again!!,’ a music director for a country radio station in Texas wrote on the country blog For the Country Record.
There are a handful of people on Facebook and Twitter echoing that sentiment:
https://twitter.com/FHJoe/status/562413633414889472
But luckily, most people seem to just enjoy the song for what it is.
Just read that some radio stations are pulling 'Girl Crush' by @littlebigtown bc it's a "lesbian" song.This is what's wrong with the world 😢
— ✨ T✨ (@stayqweird) March 26, 2015
To reevaluate your thinking. A) "Girl Crush" isn't referencing anything about a lesbian and B) if it was WHO CARES! It's 2015 @littlebigtown
— Elise Elizabeth (@MinnyGirl30) March 26, 2015
Some are even disappointed that it’s not gay enough.
All in all, this is the dumbest lyrical misunderstanding since everyone thought “Purple Haze” was about Jimi Hendrix kissing guys.
H/T Washington Post | Photo via Little Big Town/Facebook