Black Velvet song Meaning

Black Velvet song is a tribute to Elvis Presley. 

The Song Black Velvet sung by Alannah Miles is often portrayed as a sensual seductive song but it's not, it is a tribute to Elvis Presley. 

Black velvet is actually the name of the hair dye Elvis often used because he had blond hair and wanted to appear more dark. 

The song is describing the huge effect Elvis had on American culture, people would buy black velvet hair dye and imitate him as if he was the prophet of a new religion. 

The song also describes what life was like in Elvis Presley's home town. 

Rotterdam or Anywhere Song meaning

According to Paul Heaton from the Band the Beautiful South, He wrote the song 'Rotterdam or Anywhere' when he went to a very unfriendly bar in Rotterdam in the Netherlands. They didn't like him and were trying to make excuses to make him leave because he was dressed a bit scruffy and looked a bit drunk. 

He was pointing out that people are like pickles, dull and all the same. They have a khaki personality. People in most modern cities value superficial things like being well dressed and all behaving the same and don't like people that match up to their status. 

~image generated by artificial intelligence (ChatGPT)

When I was a young boy, I thought the song was about bricks and concrete. I'm not sure why, perhaps because bricks are used in every city and made all the buildings look the same. They played that song often in the '90s.