Actually successful examples of the triple entendre

I've long maintained that "12 Inches of Snow" was actually one of the most clever album titles ever, since it can refer to 1) a weather forecast, 2) a 12" record from the rapper Snow, 3) the size of Snow's penis (big!). triple entendres are rarely attempted, and even more rarely successful, in fact off hand I can barely think of any that work? the only other one is Rick Wakeman's Criminal Record, but that's more like a 2 1/2 entendre (unless you think he should be arrested for it). What do you got?

Quadruple if you consider the unlikely interpretation that it's a 12" record of the sound of snow falling.

I thought snow was another slang term for blow or cocaine. Thought that was one interpretation of the similarly title Nick Cave title.

"Trash, go/won't pick it up"

picking litter off the street
proposition trash (sex workers, etc)
you, who are trash, should go faster

Rush's Moving Pictures is another one: 1) reference to films, 2) people emotionally moved by the pictures, 3) pictures being literally moved

I found another one: Rick Wakeman's Criminal Record: 1) the phrase "criminal record", 2) the fact that it's a record about criminals, and 3) the fact that making this should've been considered a crime :)

Black Flag's The Process Of Weeding Out

1. Weeding out fans
2. Weeding out band members
3. Smoking way too much weed

xp already mentioned in the OP

ahahah I was the one who mentioned it!! I forgot I knew about that album already!!

I've always appreciated the layers of meaning in the name of LA Dodgers-themed cafe Cofax, which refers to

1) Sandy Koufax
2) Coffee
3) Fairfax, the street/neighbour where it's located (bonus points because it's a historically jewish area, and sandy koufax is an jewish icon)

The Fall song, "Marquis Cha-Cha" is about a man who, during the Falklands War, broadcasts propaganda for the Argentinian junta. This refers too

1. Lord Haw-Haw (the nickname applied to William Joyce, who broadcast Nazi propaganda to the United Kingdom from Germany during the Second World War).

2. Mark E. Smith himself.

3. The music genre, which the song approximates (and which MES probably thought was close enough to Argentinian music).

Still a double since the full pun is 1 = 2+3

The title of Man On Man's "Take It From Me," about San Francisco in the 80s:

1) trust me, I was there, it was great
2) it's all gone now, rich people ruin everything
3) at least we're fucking

Is "honk if you're horny" a triple entendre?

1. Like a variation on "smile if you're happy", "if you're horny and you know it, honk your horn"

2. You honk a horn. The horn has the innate property of being "horny", so you honk it whenever you feel like hearing a horn - nothing to do with sex

3. The idea that whenever the driver hears a horn, they assume it's because the other driver is sexually frustrated, not frustrated by their bad driving

I think 3 is a stretch

Blood on the Tracks

1. Someone/thing was literally hit by a train
2. These songs are about harrowing shit
3. Heroin reference?

I remember reading an old book about Dylan that talked about how some of his lyrical interpreters had a huge list of supposed coded referents that "proved" that many, many of his songs were about heroin.

I'm not sure if this is an add-on to #2, or a new #4, but I also read it as "tracks" = "songs", he poured his blood and pain all over these songs.

wait, I guess that's what you were saying. nevermind me, read too fast.

Xpost*2 was that A.J.Weberman the 'garbologist'?

Keith Moon - Two Sides of the Moon

1. Near/far sides of the earth's satellite
2. Record has two sides
3. Features Moon singing rather than showcasing his usual talents

Quadruple even!

The record itself was contained in an elaborate reversible inner sleeve that, when flipped, changed the front cover to show Moon's buttocks hanging from the limousine window,[20] forming a pun on his name.

isn't it also a pun on Dark Side of The Moon which was released two years previous?

I'm shocked no one suggested 12 Inches of Snow could have referred to cocaine, for example a 12 inch long rail

Oops I clearly overlooked the third comment. Bedtime!

'air head' is one of the first short films made using #Sora by @OpenAI.

the response so far has left us floating.🎈 pic.twitter.com/bBR6IMZQ8M

— shy kids (@shykids) March 25, 2024

wait did AI come up with that "I had to go to the catcus store" line because that's actually funny

Oops, thought this was the AI thread tab

When an AI makes a successful quadruple entendre then humanity is done for

Redd Foxx's comedy album You Gotta Wash Your Ass

1. You gotta wash your ass (farm animal)
2. You gotta wash your ass (body part)

The above two meanings indicated by the cover photo. But also...

3. A play on the expression "you gotta watch your ass"

Nice

Just wondering if anyone has considered Rick Wakeman's Criminal Record in this light?

Like, "criminal record" (as in a crime), "criminal record" (as in, it's criminal this record exists) and ... ?

I just thought of one....Criminal Record by Rick Wakeman

No one's mentioned it yet, so I will because it's pretty obvious, but Criminal Record by Rick Wakeman kind of works here?

OK you've all asked for this, on your own heads be it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qs8ZCTawzuo

Criminal record- The paperwork which records one's criminality
Criminal record- An album which records one's artistic criminality
Criminal record- An actual criminal records an LP (example: Charles Manson's album)

third one is surely "this LP is so bad it's a crime"

or I guess that's kind of the second one

I laugh whenever this thread gets bumped and I see "(big!)" in the first post

Joe Orton / Prick Up Your Ears: (i) phrase meaning pay attention (ii) prick slang for penis (ii) ears anagram of arse.

Surely just a double entendre? (i) and (ii) "Prick up your rears".

The Rick Wakeman album is also a concept album about crime.

it's also an album you could steal, which would be a crime

And Wakeman was charged with drunk driving a few times back in the day...

Could also mean a set of records (files) compiled by a clerk who in his spare time was a notorious jaywalker.

Teenage Fanclub - Thirteen

1. The third Teen LP (their third "proper" album)
2. 13 songs on the record
3. Homage to the best-known song of their biggest influence, Big Star

1 seems a stretch.

4. Thirteen is an unlucky number, just as TFC are unlucky in the music biz

Possibly Elvis Costello, Man out of Time

1, he's literally running out of time
2, he doesn't fit in with the people and ideas of his era
3, "out of time " in the musical sense

4. the intro and outro are from different takes/songs . . . times

nevertheless: no

is it confirmed that Snow is talking about his dick?

…on “Girl I’ve Been Hurt”?

technocal question:

does a triple entendre not need there to be a sequential over and back between the entendres rather than just "there could be many meanings here"?

a linear in-and-out if you will

yeah the middle entendre is the tap point the third entendre is the safe exit, the landing you must nail to get the marks

entendres are beautiful, they are life itself

triple ententrées are just desserts

Certain TV ads for the Monkees' film Head consisted of a single closeup of a man facing the camera.

1. The ad only shows a man's head
2. The ad is an homage to Andy Warhol's Blow Job, where a man is depicted in close-up receiving head from an off-screen source
3. In 60s slang, head (as in "head shop") was associated with drug use, indicating that this Monkees film will be hipper than their TV show

Not exactly a triple entendre, but some Country songs take a single phrase and give it a different meaning in each chorus.

For example, Tim McGraw's "Don't Take the Girl"

The first time it's a kid asking his parents not to bring the neighbor girl with them.
Second he's asking a robber not to kidnap his girlfriend
Third time he's asking God not to let his wife die

and "99 Problems"

The Stranglers' 10 springs to mind. At least in the narrow sense of being a technically successful triple entendre. It's not funny at all or particularly clever. But it is at least successful.

It's their tenth album ("The Stranglers number ten"), it has ten songs on it ("ten songs by The Stranglers") and it has the band dressed up as ten world leaders on the cover ("there are ten of them"). That last part is a iffy, but they obviously wanted to continue the theme.

Also, Live in New York City by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. Firstly because it was recorded live in New York City. Secondly because Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band all live in New York City. Thirdly because it's a command. Live in New York City. Just do it.

Could the Stranglers also be rating their own album as a ten, in the Bo Derek sense?

Also possibly a tribute to Stranglersten the Norwegian playwright

is it a triple entendre or is it a ZEUGMA?

aerosmith done with mirrors

1. the standard cliche meaning: we are all magic and deception
2. this is how you consume cocaine
3. but we are no longer consuming cocaine; we are done with that

4. the album graphics can only be read in a mirror
5. in 1985 Steve Tyler renounced the sin of vanity, refusing to ever gaze at his reflection again

6. "I just started crying, because it was so obvious Liv was my daughter," he told me of meeting her. "It was like looking in the mirror."

Four Sail by Love

1. Their fourth album
2. Band members embark on voyage
3. "I was at the end of my Elektra contract and this Four Sail means like a sign on a lawn ... it was actually 'Love for Sale', 'cause I'd had it with Elektra."

The Coen brothers' "Hail, Caesar!" has the "No Dames" scene, in which the proprietor of the "Swingin' Dinghy" bar is trying to close up and eject the sailors, who are reluctant to return to their ship at the end of their shore leave:

Sailor: (sighs) No dames. Can you beat it?
Proprietor: You're gonna HAVE to beat it!

nice

What's third after "can you believe our bad luck" and "you will need to masturbate"?

Oh, "leave"

Thanks, Michael Jackson

re Four Sail, potential quadruple entendre with Cole Porter's "Love For Sale"

Moving Pictures by Rush

1. Movies
2. Physically relocating paintings
3. Pictures that are emotionally moving

Sorry already mentioned

It's clever enough to deserve a second mention

(Incidentally, back in the 90s, I once frequented a Toronto used-record shop which had that actual burning-witch painting displayed on the wall)

rush also notable for literal depiction of all three meanings on the cover.

In the spirit of the thread, I'll mention it a third time

Interestingly, the band name Rush may also qualify:

1. Hurrying up
2. A sensation one gets from a substance
3. Mega dittos

I think there's one in the song "Family Snapshot" by Peter Gabriel.

1. The lyrics tell a story from the pov of an assassin with a gun, so "I shoot into the light" is literal

2. There is a photography/film metaphor present throughout, from the title, to "gone in a flash", so I think "I shoot into the light" could be taken in that sense - if you face a camera into the light, what's seen is in silhouette, unclear, it's blinding

3. The song then reveals that the assassin was a neglected child, hiding in the dark, so "I shoot into the light" also means they will finally recieve attention

I have to procure a copy of my "lack of criminal record" record from city hall to show my new employers. I keep guffawing in random places because every time my task comes to mind, so does this thread.

Don't know why you'd think of this thread, afaict that's the first time it's been mentioned

I found another one: Rick Wakeman's Criminal Record: 1) the phrase "criminal record", 2) the fact that it's a record about criminals, and 3) the fact that making this should've been considered a crime :)

― frogbs, Friday, May 26, 2023 3:59 PM (one year ago) bookmarkflaglink

I have to procure a copy of my "lack of criminal record" record

It's difficult but not impossible to publicly proveP one's ignorance of sub-par Wakeman albums

Anyway, the third album by the Mamas and the Papas, Deliver:

- the group is providing their fans with a satisfying new LP
- the pregnant Mamas are preparing to give birth
- foreshadowing of the subsequent removal of John Phillips's liver

Oh man, those three posts add up to a lot of laughter

foreshadowing of the subsequent removal of John Phillips's liver

Oh god, and when posting the above I hadn't even seen this yet