I was listening to satellite radio the other day and heard a Robert Plant song that I had not heard in a long time called “Heaven Knows”. There is a line in the song that goes something like:
“You were pumping iron, whereas I was pumping irony”
Being an American, I recognize that I truly don’t comprehend irony (sarcasm yes, irony no) so, I leave the whole irony thing up to my Brit friends.
Can somebody explain what this well respected British songwriter is getting at with this statement? Is it a metaphor of some sort (I grasping at straws here) or can you really pump irony? Is the lyric itself ironic? Please help me to understand.