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Robert De Niro's Waiting Lyrics
Hope's dashed to the floor like shattered teenage dreams
Boys living next door are never what they seem
A walk in the park can become a bad dream
People are staring and following me
This is my only escape from it all
Watching a film or a face on the wall
Robert de Niro's waiting
talking italian
Robert de Niro's waiting
talking italian
Robert de Niro's waiting
talking italian
Robert de Niro's waiting
talking italian.
I don't need a boy
I've got a man of steel
Don't come any closer
I don't wanna feel
Your breathing
your touching
but nothing's for free
I never want this to happen to me.
Don't try to change me
you're wasting your time
Now I've got something much better in mind
Robert de Niro's waiting
talking italian
Robert de Niro's waiting
talking italian
Robert de Niro's waiting
talking italian
Robert de Niro's waiting
talking italian
A walk in the park can become a bad dream
People are staring and following me
This is my only escape from it all
Watching a film or a face on the wall
Robert de Niro's waiting
talking italian
Robert de Niro's waiting
talking italian
Robert de Niro's waiting
talking italian
Robert de Niro's waiting
talking italian
Boys living next door are never what they seem
People are staring and following me
This is my only escape from it all
Watching a film or a face on the wall
talking italian
Robert de Niro's waiting
talking italian
Robert de Niro's waiting
talking italian
Robert de Niro's waiting
talking italian.
I've got a man of steel
I don't wanna feel
Your breathing
your touching
but nothing's for free
I never want this to happen to me.
Don't try to change me
you're wasting your time
Now I've got something much better in mind
talking italian
Robert de Niro's waiting
talking italian
Robert de Niro's waiting
talking italian
Robert de Niro's waiting
talking italian
People are staring and following me
This is my only escape from it all
Watching a film or a face on the wall
talking italian
Robert de Niro's waiting
talking italian
Robert de Niro's waiting
talking italian
Robert de Niro's waiting
talking italian
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Hm, I can think about several possible meanings for this song:
So she escapes from these fears by watching films with De Niro and dreaming about him, her hero. "I don't need a boy I've got a man of steel"
These line confuse me though "Don't try to change me you're wasting your time" Who's trying to change her? Might it be that someone tries to persuade her to stop watching movies and get out with real boys...?
Millennium Evil's second interpretation is spot on.
The whole second verse makes more sense when read as one piece, i think:
I don't need a boy I've got a man of steel Don't come any closer I don't wanna feel Your breathing your touching but nothing's for free I never want this to happen to me. Don't try to change me you're wasting your time Now I've got something much better in mind
An innocent young girl is approached in a park, by a "boy next door" who turned out not to be what he seemed.
She rebuffed his advances- I don't need a boy... don't come any closer
He went ahead anyway, and as she realised what was about to happen, and couldn't stop it, she retreated in her head to thinking about her idol to help her escape from it "now I've got something much better in mind"
Very sad.
"I don't want to feel your breathing, your touching" "I never want this to happen to me"
Those lines sound like maybe, yeah, it's about rape. Which is what everyone says.
But what does "This is my only escape from it all, watching a film or a face on the wall" have to do with rape? That line, out of context, sounds like it's about teenage fantasies. How does it fit into the rest of the lyrics?
Because the girl in the song has been so traumatised by her experience with real-life boys that she takes refuge in celluloid fantasy.
Because the girl in the song has been so traumatised by her experience with real-life boys that she takes refuge in celluloid fantasy.
Really liked this song when it came out (& still do; good music of any genre is ageless)- so I was interested in it, & remember reading a (1980s) Bananarama interview explaining the song was about a sex-assault survivor escaping into a better fantasy world, I was surprised as I'd assumed it was just another shallow pop song; very pretty & catchy but ultimately meaningless. It made me like the song even more to know it, & the band, had a hidden depth - Sara D. may have changed tune 30yrs later, or maybe she never actually knew what the lyrics were about, & doesn't want her memory of them messed with now - but I'll go with Siobhan's truth; imo she was the brightest one, different to the crowd. *Same interview also said the song was originally 'Al Pacino's Waiting' but it didn't scan as well-?!
A walk in the park can become a bad dream People are staring & following me' 'You're breathing, you're touching, but nothing's for free, I never want this to happen to me' - Sara D's denial was in response to the 2017 Guardian band interview where Siobhan Fahey stated the song was about sexual assualt - & the other 2 band members, Sara included, seemingly agreed ~ “The thing I’m proudest of,” Fahey continues, “is that we made quirky pop. The lyrics were much darker than you’d imagine. Robert De Niro’s Waiting is about date rape.” “You’ll listen to it with new...
A walk in the park can become a bad dream People are staring & following me' 'You're breathing, you're touching, but nothing's for free, I never want this to happen to me' - Sara D's denial was in response to the 2017 Guardian band interview where Siobhan Fahey stated the song was about sexual assualt - & the other 2 band members, Sara included, seemingly agreed ~ “The thing I’m proudest of,” Fahey continues, “is that we made quirky pop. The lyrics were much darker than you’d imagine. Robert De Niro’s Waiting is about date rape.” “You’ll listen to it with new ears now,” Woodward smiles. “I wanted it to be like Pull Up to the Bumper,” adds Dallin, dryly. “It didn’t quite work out like that, did it?”
@mozarts Sister I think that two people in the band giving two different statements about what the song is about is indicative that there may have been an original inspiration, some revision, and a resulting mishmash of the two in the final cut.
@mozarts Sister I think that two people in the band giving two different statements about what the song is about is indicative that there may have been an original inspiration, some revision, and a resulting mishmash of the two in the final cut.
There may be lines – even more than half of the lines – that began with a date rape inspiration, but however the songwriting process worked, the final version ended up with lines that don't support that.
There may be lines – even more than half of the lines – that began with a date rape inspiration, but however the songwriting process worked, the final version ended up with lines that don't support that.
The novella "Heart of Darkness" is set in Africa, while the film "Apocalypse Now," inspired by it, is set in Vietnam. Is...
The novella "Heart of Darkness" is set in Africa, while the film "Apocalypse Now," inspired by it, is set in Vietnam. Is "Apocalypse Now" set in Africa? No. When you edit something, the final edit is what it's about. Perhaps apt to say that it was inspired by something, an original inspiration, but what reached listeners in the final version is something else.
The Songs about rape.
This is fucking awesome- I saw it on Sounds of the Eighties.
I'm not sure why people are talking about rape; I see nothing in the lyrics to suggest this. The wikipedia page also mentions rape, but doesn't link to a source that's still active.
I've always seen this as a girl's perspective on the world around her, and particularly her romantic options, and she finds them boring. She imagines herself with a more appealing lover, more romantic, worldly, a movie star. That fantasy becomes her escape. Because she is different from those around her, she finds them hostile to her.
Maybe it was inspired by a real or possible rape (I can't find a source that seems remotely authoritative), but any indication of that has been removed from the lyrics. For example, when she says "Don't come any closer to me", that's not an indication that the boy DOES come closer to her. It just says that she doesn't want him to. When she says "I don't want to feel your breathing, your touching", that's not an indication that the boy DOES touch her. It just says that she doesn't want him to. And she doesn't say "A boy" is staring and following her... she says "people" are doing that. Unless this is supposed to be about gang rape, that line doesn't scan. You wouldn't have people following her and then one boy raping her. Moreover, the line "I don't need a boy, I have a man of steel" suggests that the romantic options she has are disempowered, not hostile. It also suggests that her rejection is voluntary.
The lyrics aren't logically incompatible with a rape and, again, it may have started with that as an inspiration, but what's left in the lyrics themselves don't say anything that dark or specific. There's a bit of a "school" of song interpretation that the most shocking possibility is the one the songwriter intended. If you apply that, then you can read a rape into this, but it's not in the lyrics. In fact, the lyrics suggests that she rejects options who are weak, not that she suffers in the grasp of an attacker who is strong. The thing she fears isn't assault -- it's boredom.
And, for my experience, this remains a happy song, as the melody indicates. This is the experience of a girl who finds a happy fantasy in boring life and has the upbeat outlook the music works towards.
@rikdad You nailed it.
@rikdad You nailed it.
@rikdad The band say it's about date rape: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/apr/24/people-wet-knickers-bananarama-80s-trio-return
@rikdad The band say it's about date rape: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/apr/24/people-wet-knickers-bananarama-80s-trio-return
@losttango The band certainly does say that, but right before that, they say, "The lyrics were much darker than you’d imagine." Huh? If you hear/read a set of lyrics and understand them, then they aren't darker than you'd imagine – they're exactly what you imagine.
@losttango The band certainly does say that, but right before that, they say, "The lyrics were much darker than you’d imagine." Huh? If you hear/read a set of lyrics and understand them, then they aren't darker than you'd imagine – they're exactly what you imagine.
So what they're saying is that they had an inspiration or an intention but that someone who hears the lyrics can't imagine that inspiration just from hearing them. Which is, I think, the correct understanding of this song as well as many others: There was an original inspiration/intention which was hidden (probably...
So what they're saying is that they had an inspiration or an intention but that someone who hears the lyrics can't imagine that inspiration just from hearing them. Which is, I think, the correct understanding of this song as well as many others: There was an original inspiration/intention which was hidden (probably in this case because it would be a shock), so you can find out the backstory by asking the band or reading an interview but not from the song alone. And when they say that they're darker than you'd imagine, they're admitting that the intention isn't clear to the listener.
@rikdad101@yahoo.com 'If you hear/read a set of lyrics and understand them, then they aren't darker than you'd imagine' - That means you havn't understood them! That's what the band were saying; 'The lyrics were much darker than you’d imagine' = people hear a pretty tune & mistakenly assume it's a 'happy' song! The band stated it's about someone hiding from the trauma of a sex-assault, escaping into a fantasy world. And the melody isn't all happy; listen to 'A walk in the park can become a bad dream, People are staring & following me' & 'You're breathing, you're touching, but...
@rikdad101@yahoo.com 'If you hear/read a set of lyrics and understand them, then they aren't darker than you'd imagine' - That means you havn't understood them! That's what the band were saying; 'The lyrics were much darker than you’d imagine' = people hear a pretty tune & mistakenly assume it's a 'happy' song! The band stated it's about someone hiding from the trauma of a sex-assault, escaping into a fantasy world. And the melody isn't all happy; listen to 'A walk in the park can become a bad dream, People are staring & following me' & 'You're breathing, you're touching, but nothing's for free, I never want this to happen to me' - those parts have (I think) minor chords? - there's an eerie delicious chill to them? That's what made me curious about the song when I 1st heard it, & I read the meaning, in a 1980s interview. Of course you can imagine as you please, it can stay a happy song to you, & I like ambiguity in lyrics - but it doesn't alter the original meaning which the band gave it.
The Bananarama song Robert de niros waiting is about date rate. Siobhan Fahey has just confirmed this in an interview with the british newspaper the guardian in 2017
Late-to-come feedback, but Sara Dallin said in a 2019 interview that the song is not about rape. "It was just about hero worship. It wasn't about rape. I don't know where that came from. It's absolute rubbish."
It's pretty clear that the lyrics are about a girl imagining herself with a man who is more interesting than the boys around her. If the song began with some other inspiration, which seems credible, it has been removed from the lyrics as performed.
Only 34 years after the song was a hit, we have the answer.
A walk in the park can become a bad dream People are staring & following me' 'You're breathing, you're touching, but nothing's for free, ???? ???????????????????? ???????????????? ???????????????? ???????? ???????????????????????? ???????? ????????' - Sara D's denial was in response to the 2017 Guardian interview where Siobhan Fahey stated the song was about date-rape (& the other 2 band members seemingly agreed)- I'd also read the same thing in a mid-'80s interview; I was surprised & impressed that the pop-song, & pop-band, had depth. Maybe Sara D prefers not to think of it that way, but to me the lyrics had an edge,...
A walk in the park can become a bad dream People are staring & following me' 'You're breathing, you're touching, but nothing's for free, ???? ???????????????????? ???????????????? ???????????????? ???????? ???????????????????????? ???????? ????????' - Sara D's denial was in response to the 2017 Guardian interview where Siobhan Fahey stated the song was about date-rape (& the other 2 band members seemingly agreed)- I'd also read the same thing in a mid-'80s interview; I was surprised & impressed that the pop-song, & pop-band, had depth. Maybe Sara D prefers not to think of it that way, but to me the lyrics had an edge, which is why I'd wanted to know the meaning, & it did fit with the '80s article, & later 2017 interview, which said it was about a young sex-assault survivor. I'd agree with Siobhan..
*The ???? is meant to read = 'I never want this to happen to me'. Not sure where I 1st read (in the '80s) about the song's meaning, probably not 'Smash Hits', maybe 1 of the more serious Music papers like 'Sounds' ,if they ever featured Bananarama - But the 2017 interview was in The Guardian; “The thing I’m proudest of,” (Fahey) continues, “is that we made quirky pop. The lyrics were much darker than you’d imagine. Robert De Niro’s Waiting is about date rape.” “You’ll listen to it with new ears now,” Woodward smiles. “I wanted it to...
*The ???? is meant to read = 'I never want this to happen to me'. Not sure where I 1st read (in the '80s) about the song's meaning, probably not 'Smash Hits', maybe 1 of the more serious Music papers like 'Sounds' ,if they ever featured Bananarama - But the 2017 interview was in The Guardian; “The thing I’m proudest of,” (Fahey) continues, “is that we made quirky pop. The lyrics were much darker than you’d imagine. Robert De Niro’s Waiting is about date rape.” “You’ll listen to it with new ears now,” Woodward smiles. “I wanted it to be like Pull Up to the Bumper,” adds Dallin, dryly. “It didn’t quite work out like that, did it?”
It seems like most people have misinterpreted the meaning of the song ... The girl sees the average guy as not appealing because she has set her hopes on meeting Mr Right ... Mr Right is a fantasy that she has of a movie star and the romantic stuff about the character ... Now back to the song ... She finds that boys follow her, maybe because she is attractive and she finds them immature ... Hence the 'I want a man of steel' lyric ... She also seems to find guys trying to hit on her ... and she is saying that they are sub-standard ... Mr Right in this song is Robert Di Niro and the fact that he speaks Italian gives it the Romantic feel ... 'A walk in the park can become a bad dream' this is referring to the guys she sees in the park, where they are not up to scratch and also the possibility that she may find Mr Right may also be intended by the word can ... meaning that it is not always but sometimes ... Now her fantasy is the movie star ... and that is her escape from the reality that 'the boys' are not as they seem from the first interpretation ...
The music is too joyous to suggest anything about rape ... it would have had a somber beat to it and I would never have liked the song.
Most girls have a childhood fantasy of meeting a movie star or pop star ... Mind you lots of guys too have fantasies about being with an actress ... And they set their standards accordingly ... And sadly most people don't live up to the standards of the fantasy, hence the feeling that the guys or girls are yucky or not up to scratch ...
@Romanticstud However the band say it IS about rapte: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/apr/24/people-wet-knickers-bananarama-80s-trio-return
@Romanticstud However the band say it IS about rapte: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/apr/24/people-wet-knickers-bananarama-80s-trio-return
most people have misinterpreted the meaning of the song' - inc the singers? I read a Bananarama interview in the 80's that explained the song was about a sex-assault survivor escaping into a better fantasy world; I remember being surprised as I'd assumed it was just another pop song; pretty but shallow, I was impressed the group had hidden depths - Sara D. may have changed tune 30yrs later, or maybe she never actually knew what it was about - but I'd go with Siobhan's version of the truth; she always seemed the brightest one in the band, different. *Same...
most people have misinterpreted the meaning of the song' - inc the singers? I read a Bananarama interview in the 80's that explained the song was about a sex-assault survivor escaping into a better fantasy world; I remember being surprised as I'd assumed it was just another pop song; pretty but shallow, I was impressed the group had hidden depths - Sara D. may have changed tune 30yrs later, or maybe she never actually knew what it was about - but I'd go with Siobhan's version of the truth; she always seemed the brightest one in the band, different. *Same interview also said the song was originally 'Al Pacino's Waiting' but it didn't scan as well-?!