According to Wikipedia, this song was originally supposed to be about "a totalitarian society that made everyone wear their sunglasses at night." (Those bastards!) However, Hart altered the lyrics to be "more romantic" when the record company asked for something more marketable. In my opinion, a good way to make the song more romantic would've been to remove all reference to wearing one's sunglasses at night, but nobody asked me, did they? DID THEY?!?!
The reference for that part of the article is actually the very same Wikipedia page, so ... not sure how reliable that information is. However, the video does seem to corroborate the whole totalitarianism thing. Luckily, the lyrics don't make much sense either way, so each of us can feel happy and secure with our own personal reading of "Sunglasses at Night" -- and I know we all have one.
Also, this song is the subject of very serious plagiarism charges.
Take it away, Corey!
I wear my sunglasses at night / so I can, so I can / Watch you weave then breathe your story lines
This is rather poetic. Initial reading: Corey Hart is wearing sunglasses as a disguise so he can stalk someone. Good clean fun.
And I wear my sunglasses at night / so I can, so I can / Keep track of the visions in my eyes
Corey Hart is *also* wearing his sunglasses at night so he can ... keep track of ... the visions ... in his eyes? So, OK, maybe if we go back to the totalitarian-society thing, he wants to maintain his identity in a world full of Ray-Ban-wearing automatons. But in that case, wouldn't he want to *not* wear his sunglasses? As usual, I'm confused.
While she's deceiving me, it cuts my security / Has she got control of me?
OK, most plausible reading so far: Corey Hart is playing a game of poker against a female adversary and is wearing sunglasses so she can't figure out what his "tell" is.
I turn to her and say: Don't switch the blade on the guy in shades, oh no / Don't masquerade with the guy in shades, oh no / I can't believe it
OK, I give up. I must say, though, I love the line "Don't masquerade with the guy in shades." It tickles me right ... there. No, not there. Safety word!
You got it made with the guy in shades, oh no
I'm imagining a young Corey Hart out on the town, sowing his wild oats or whatever, and blithely referring to himself in the third person as "the guy in shades." Also, he talks like Fonzie for some reason. "Hey, you can't give a parking ticket to the guy in shades! Aaaayyyyy!" "Hey, who wants to dance with the guy in shades? Aaaayyyy! Aaaayyyy??"
And, fun facts: Corey Hart has a daughter named River, a son named Rain, lives in the Bahamas and writes songs for Celine Dion, among others. If that doesn't qualify as living the dream, I don't know what does.
And I wear my sunglasses at night, so I can / Forget my name while you collect your claim
Yes, that seems like a good reason to wear your sunglasses at night. Makes a lot of sense. Are you done yet, Corey? Because I, um, have a really important appointment with some really important people this afternoon and ...
And I wear my sunglasses at night, so I can, so I can / See the light that's right before my eyes
Ohhh, hey you guys, I totally just figured out what this song is about. It's really going to blow your minds. So, in reality, Corey Hart --
(A single shot rings out. I slump to the floor, slain before revealing the awful truth. The unknown assassins drive off into the night, their sunglasses reflecting no light and betraying no emotion. Totalitarianism wins again!)
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Wow, that's what he was saying in that song? The lyrics makes even less sense than I thought.
ReplyDeleteLmfaooo no joke.
DeleteThis song is about “Truthers” and is thematically connected to the film “They Live” where the protagonists literally wear their sunglasses at night to spot deception. If you think I’m joking, check out the parody of this song “I Spray My Chemtrails At Night.” God is the true author of all art, music, and literature(artists typically speak about a muse or receiving inspiration from a higher source)and if you read between the lines, God is telling you that “Truthers” will be weeded out of the garden of Eden.
DeleteIndeed
DeleteYeah, I thought the lyrics were "Don't switch the plan on the guy in shades / don't mess around with the guy in shades", which doesn't make a ton of sense, either. But, I rationalized it like he was expecting events to unfold a certain way, and when "she" starts deviating from the plan, he can't see well enough to know what's going on.
ReplyDeleteTo me this song is so stupid, that it's also great. I love this tune :D
ReplyDeleteA real 80's classic but with an catastrophic incomprehensible lyrics though.
ReplyDeleteJust because you don't comprehend the lyrics doesn't mean they are incomprehensible. Some of the best '80s songs have very ambiguous or veiled lyrics. Maybe he claims he wears his sunglasses at night to prove he's not the deviant that the other lyrics imply.
ReplyDeletePigmon said.. "Just because you don't comprehend the lyrics doesn't mean they are incomprehensible"
ReplyDeleteI say "Yes it does, especially if there's an entire webpage dedicated to understanding the lyrics and STILL nobody gets it."
Maybe cocaine made people wear sunglasses in clubs and others mimicking it. In these days. Something... If you wish add a little pokergame or cheating in whatever which way, specially by people with serious money or personality disorders. Often goes hand in hand.
DeleteOr maybe combined it was just the art of Art.
DeleteI just heard this for the millionth time and yet today Im convinced it's a crazy stalker in sunglasses watching a woman amd then blaming her for his need to stalk her
DeleteWatch the video. The entire 80s was so coked up it was all about these awesome Amin drones with a weird F# in there going into Laura Brannigan type coked up "Gloria" keyboards in a major key back into this minor distorted guitar solo and rideout with a video that showed the protagonist as almost monkey like swinging back and forth to the beat out of his coked out mind and a porcelain faced red lipstick Nagel poster playing the sex drive addled cocaine priestess. Then somebody went, "hey we've got the song down and the video storyboards done, what about some lyrics?"
ReplyDeleteWho gives a flying f$#k about the lyrics. The instrumental back up is great, the guitar solos shred and Cory's voice is phenomenal.
ReplyDeleteIf we took the time to pick apart every song out there, I am not sure 50% of them would survive this ridicule. THe age we were when it came out, it was just "cool". Just go with the sound and that Corey was HOT at the time :-)
ReplyDeleteHe wears his sunglasses at night because during the making of his album he had a new pair of ray bans (as 80s as it gets) but weather never cooperated so he never got a chance to wear them.
ReplyDeleteThe album was done but he had another track he was working on with the lyrics about how his cigarette got wet.
One night he sang the line "I wear my sunglasses at night" over the track and liked it so recorded it and called his label to see if he could convince them to add the track to his finished album.
good decision if say.
So for all you wondering about the incomprehensible lyrics, I'm sure if the guy had originally written the song with that title and chorus in mind they would be a little tighter or if it wasn't done on a spur of the moment, rush to get it on the album pace.
Oh and the first line is not about stalking. It's about seeing through b.s.
ReplyDeleteWhich is comprehensible with the chorus as he's saying "don't switch the blade on the guy in the shades"
That means don't turn your lies on me.
"Don't mascarade either the guy in the shades"
Don't lie to me.
Etc etc
It's about seeing through bs and how whoever he is singing about doesn't have to do that with him.
Your idea about what this song is about is how I interpreted it. Lots of other thoughts out there but I agree with you. And also someone that looks different or looking different or suspicious to you isn't always what you think. Look at all that has happened especially racial things. Many innocent people killed
DeleteShe I assume wouldn't want to do that.. Why?
ReplyDeleteCause she's got it made with the guy in the shades.
Comprehensible now?
Don't bull shit me or you will screw up a good thing. Simple.
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ReplyDeleteIt’s nice collection! I buy sunglasses online at store www.25880.com
ReplyDeleteHe’s saying don’t trust Corey. I know what he means. Shades are great xx
ReplyDeleteCome On, just a fun song with a good hook...not everything has to make sense, I mean 2 decades earlier a bard named Dylan had a hit with "Quinn the Eskimo" which to me made no sense but just a good sing along song from a rather prolific and sometimes cryptic songwriter (but hey, isn't that why what he writes is also referred to as poetry...and it's often up to the audience to decipher the meaning which can be literal, metaphoric, symbolic, or combination thereof). Long Live Rock!
ReplyDeleteAnd, you have to wonder if they were "Cheap Sunglasses"; like maybe he'd been listening to some classic ZZ Top?
ReplyDeleteNot only are the lyrics garbage, so is the music. The whole song is absolute crap
ReplyDeleteI do like the music for the song. Listening to the lyrics, the I wear my sunglasses at night line is easy to understand. The rest of the lyrics are hard to pick up unless you are reading them directly. What makes this song cool is that it is easy to throw in your own lyrics. For instance: "Don't mess around with a guy that shaves a boar."
ReplyDeleteYou braindead retards don't understand what he's actually saying with the lyrics. The sunglasses represent him wearing blinders to her behavior "at night" when she's out being unfaithful.
ReplyDeleteThe Tiga & Zyntherius version from 2001 is better
ReplyDeleteHe is acknowledging the evil in this world and that's why he wears his glasses he is shielding his soul/mind/consciousness.. all of you are sleep and really need to wake up. Its 2020 already.
ReplyDelete#Facts
ReplyDeleteI literally thought he sang “so you got in bed with a guy in shades - Oh no!” 🙄
ReplyDeleteIt’s Illuminati code. Only makes sense to those who know
ReplyDeleteWhen he says “and i wear my sunglasses at night so i can, so i can keep track of the visions in my eyes” it makes more sense if you dont split that line from the next one and interpret them separately. The next line is
ReplyDelete“while shes deceiving me
it cuts my security”.
It sounds to me like hes saying that while this woman is lying to him, he is playing in his head what he thinks the truth is and he envisions it to the point at which he can basically see it.
Song is about cheating and what he saw his mother go through with his father.
ReplyDeleteThis song is genius. It's still about totalitarianism. It's just more poetically written and sung. It's about the government infringement upon its people's rights.
ReplyDeleteNobody was much concerned about totalitarianism in the 1980’s rock n roll scene. We wore our sunglasses at night partly to hide our spaced out eyes on coke and mescaline, but also as an affectation of hipness or coolness.
DeleteAm I the only one that thought his lip syncing was a bit strange. His lips curled up a bit in the video like he was talking to his nose.
ReplyDeleteOnly the writer knows the true meaning behind everything written and everything else is speculation.(especially when it's not something clearly stated and with hidden meanings that need to be deciphered trying to sound deeper than whatever it actually means.
I do wonder however if he just wants to let people know that "he wears sunglasses at night and not to be alarmed if you see a guy walking around with sunglasses on at night. It helps keep my visions regular. Sometimes they get backed up and my eyes get bloated".
Also I believe he's upset about someone taking a knife from the room service trey and he lost his security deposit and he's really unhappy about it and wants to spread the word to all other people out there to be careful about leaving the room service tables in the hallway cause people can take stuff that's not supposed to be taken. It's not like their towels, sheets, the curtains, phone, lamp, chair, pellows, or the mattress and TV. It belongs to the hotel. Be reasonable people, gosh. G.d. people g.d.
If I was him I'd write a hit song about wearing my sunglasses at night and looking for the jerk that lost me my security deposit.
I do like the song. Doesn't make much sense to me but there's something about it that's really catchy.
Did you know he's canadian?