Old songs with unacceptable lyrics in todays' society

[shaun]

oingo boingo - little girls

"I love little girls they make me feel so good

I love little girls they make me feel so bad

When theyre around they make me feel

Like Im the only guy in town

I love little girls they make me feel so good"

[Hog]

john lennon says in Happy Xmas (War is Over) "the white, yellow and red ones" im sure. to refer to a race as yellow is pretty unacceptable these days i guess.

Mmm, not sure Matthew.

Lennon's wife was Asian. Also what race are the "reds"?

[qzdiablo]

that song in the disney "peter pan" which explains exactly 'what makes the red man red'

[Biz]

erm no thanks

Gary Glitter - Wanna be in my gang?

And the National anthem - shite lyrics

[Pierre Von Mondragon]

'Cocksucker Blues' by the Stones, apart from being even worse than their recent stuff, has gay lines about a "Lonesome schoolboy", and the later line about the policemans truncheon.

Oh and the '..Ya Yas' version of 'Stray Cat Blues' changes to

"Well I can see that you're, 13 years Old. But I don' want no ID", but at least it is musically ace.

[Lemonade]

The original version of Dire Straits "Money For Nothing" has some line about a little faggot wearing make up or something. I'm not right sure as I try to avoid paying attention to Dire Straits at all costs. (Except Romeo and Juliet)

[Bigsby]

The original version of Dire Straits "Money For Nothing" has some line about a little faggot wearing make up or something. I'm not right sure as I try to avoid paying attention to Dire Straits at all costs. (Except Romeo and Juliet)

I'm happy to step in here.

Yes, Money for Nothing says "See the little faggot with the earing and the makeup."

Mark Knopfler wrote the song almost verbatim from real comments overheard from a guy working in a New York department shore, so it was obviously meant to be an ironic take on a working class guy's views on MTV superstars, but unfortunately some radio stations didn't get the joke, so Knopfler re-recorded the line for them.

A similar thing happened with Randy Newman's Short People. I guess Randy Newman's Rednecks probably wouldn't be acceptable these days due to the fact that he's white, and says the "n" word, even though it's clearly ironic and taking the piss out of racists.

PS Romeo and Juliet is clearly the wussiest Dire Straits song, what the hell are you thinking?

[Judge Michael T. Sauer]

There's plenty of candidates to choose from. "Jailbait" by Motorhead is pretty self-explanatory, as is "Playtime" and "Teacher's Pet" by Venom. I'd give the lyrics, but apparently they're "unacceptable" in today's society. Or, to use an even more stupid and woolly word for it, "inappropriate".

Seriously, I'm getting really fucking fed up with thin-skinned hand-wringers taking offence at the drop of a hat to something when it's not even them that's the subject of it. Not slagging the guy who started the thread, but this taking offence by proxy is ridiculously patronising. It's at least half the reason I wanted to start Wifebeater.

That wasn't what I intended - Just interested in seeing some old tunes....

[Guest Jake Wifebeater]

That wasn't what I intended - Just interested in seeing some old tunes....

Fair dos, chimp. Wasn't having a go at you, it's becoming a pet hate of mine to be told you can't say something because it's "unacceptable" nowadays. It's just words...

[TR!ΔNGL€ T€€TH]

It is fairly crap, like.

yer spot on with those two albums, and someday, his 1980s back catalgoue is going to be re-assessd and people will see it as being forward looking and accomplished.

Just you wait and see....

I've been wary of his 80's work, mainly down to the double whammy of the Cliff collaboration on Avalon Sunset and it being the 80's.

[get lost]

Morrissey lyrics always have been "unaccepable", he just hides meanings well within the tunes, the list is endlist, National Front Disco anyone!!

[Guest Steven Dedalus]

I've been wary of his 80's work, mainly down to the double whammy of the Cliff collaboration on Avalon Sunset and it being the 80's.

Those are the twin pinnacles of Van hatred, that's for sure...

But I strongly reccomend "Common One" and "Beautiful Vision". They are two of his best albums, in my opinion.

In fact, I'd go as far to say that they urinate over all his seventies stuff, with "Common One" being his best album.

Not everyone agrees with this, of course.

Including the man himself, if I recall.

But let's just forget about Cliff....it's one of the worst songs ever recorded.

In fact, keeping it on topic, I think that song has some pretty damn unacceptable lyrics...

Just cos they're guff, not because of the religious content.

[Bigsby]

But let's just forget about Cliff....it's one of the worst songs ever recorded.

I think it's a great track. People need to get over their anti-Cliff snobbery and recognise it as a good pop song. Full marks to Van as well for being brave enough to do something that was deeply uncool on two counts, ie religious and Cliff-related. (Somebody back me up here... Del maybe? )

Oh, and Cleaning Windows is a good track as well, that was the 80s wasn't it?

[french_disko]

How about comedy hair-metallers Motley Crue's "All In The Name Of..."

She's only fifteen

She's the reason - the reason thet I can't sleep

You say illegal

I say legal's never been my scene

I try like hell but I'm out of control

All in the name of rock'n'roll

For sex and sex I'd sell my soul

Pretty, pretty so innocent

She says you ain't seen nothing yet

Brings me a dirty, dirty magazine

There she was for all the world to see

I try like hell but I'm out of control

All in the name of rock'n'roll

For sex and sex I'd sell my soul

Says to me daddy

Can I have some candy

Wanna be your nasty

Anytime you want

You know you can have me

All in the name of rock'n'roll

[french_disko]

Wives & Lovers by Jack Jones

(Writen by Burt Bacharach & Hal David)

Hey! Little Girl

Comb your hair, fix your makeup

Soon he will open the door

Don't think because there's a ring on your finger

You needn't try anymore

For wives should always be lovers too

Run to his arms the moment he comes home to you

I'm warning you...

Day after day

There are girls at the office

And men will always be men

Don't send him off with your hair still in curlers

You may not see him again

For wives should always be lovers too

Run to his arms the moment he comes home to you

He's almost here...

Hey! Little girl

Better wear something pretty

Something you'd wear to go to the city and

Dim all the lights, pour the wine, start the music

Time to get ready for love

Time to get ready

Time to get ready for love

[french_disko]

This is a bit more recent -

Bloodhound Gang "Yellow Fever"

Are those numchucks in your pants or are you just happy to see me?

Let me take you back to the day that I met my China girl

When I landed a 'Pam' like on the San Fran Real World

I was sweating like a vegetable inside of a wok

I'd never been to Asia Minor but I was gonna Bangkok

Like Kristy Yamaguchi I had to break the ice

Should I talk about Mothra M*A*S*H or shrimp-fried rice?

I was sharp as a Chinese star but it's a line I threw

Just thirty seconds over Tokyo and this Johnny would Woo

I took a shot like Jeanette Lee put on my moves like Bruce Lee

I told he every Soon Yi needs a little Woody

She said for all the tea in China my vagina's not free

But my love will linger longer than the Ming Dynasty

I said I needed her to do and her to do my laundry

I knew she needed a way to stay legally within the country

She was made in Taiwan I said I'm O.K. with that

Just promise me you'll never try to eat my cat

Chinky chinky bang bang I love you

Chinky chinky bang bang I know you love me too

In Japan the hand is used as a knife

In Japan a man's wife's hand job than can cost him his life

But now this Captain Kirk has his own Sulu

I'll shampoo her Foo Man Chu with Lo Hung Wang Goo

Cause I ride my slant-eyed slope like a brand new Kawasaki

Oh me chinky she's so kinky got me hot like Nagasaki

Burnin' up like Napalm burstin' like an A-bomb

I think I got that jungle fever but I caught it in 'Nam

She's like an oriental rug cause I lay her where I please

Then I blindfold her with dental floss and get down on my knees

I'm a diving Kamikaze eating out Chinese

First I'll have the poo-poo platter than some tuna sushi

She'll be screaming like Godzilla and kickin' like Jackie Chan

I'll get her redder than China wetter than the Sea of Japan

Like the Chinese New Year she's gonna see fireworks

Now be a good chinky and press Jimmy's shirts

Chinky chinky bang bang I love you

Chinky chinky bang bang I know you love me too

Sing chinky sing

One more time

Chinky chinky bang bang I love you

Chinky chinky bang bang I know you love me too

Chinky chinky bang bang chinky bang

Chinky chinky bang biddily biddily biddily bang

[Lemonade]

PS Romeo and Juliet is clearly the wussiest Dire Straits song, what the hell are you thinking?

I only like it cos it's on the Empire Records soundtrack, and that movie is one of my guilty pleasures

[Jammer]

Mmm, not sure Matthew.

Lennon's wife was Asian. Also what race are the "reds"?

That'd be the Native Americans

As much as I love a bit of 70's ZZ Top, this song has always been a bit "strange"...Francine who'd just turned 13

Francine

Got a girl, her names francine,

Finest thing you ever seen.

And I love her, shes all that I want.

And I need her, shes all that I need.

Well, francine, oh francis, why

Do you love me and make me cry?

How I love her, shes all that I want.

How I need her, shes all that I need.

If I ever caught her with stevie p

Id throw her back in the penitentiary, now.

And if I caught her with my mothers son

Ill call her daddy and get my gun.

My fancine just turned thirteen,

Shes my angelic teenage queen.

And I love her, shes all that I want.

And I need her, shes all that I need.

And I love her, shes all that I want.

And I need her, shes all that I need.

And I love her, shes all that I want.

And I need her, shes all that I need.

[-matthEw-]

Mmm, not sure Matthew.

Lennon's wife was Asian. Also what race are the "reds"?

not trying to say lennon was a racist at all of course. just that in todays society it wouldn't be acceptable to say those words.

i can only really think of words which use words which have became 'offensive' over time. although looking at other people's suggestions i never knew there were quite so many songs advocating underage-sex o_O...

[WoodyRATM]

I agree about the underage stuff, its pretty nuts..

and song wise theres nickelbacks song "animals".

Its all about sex.

I, I'm driving black on black

Just got my license back

I got this feeling in my veins this train is coming off the track

I'll ask polite if the devil needs a ride

Because the angel on my right ain't hanging out with me

tonight

I'm driving past your house while you were sneaking out

I got the car door opened up so you can jump in on the run

Your mom don't know that you were missing

She'd be pissed if she could see the parts of you that I've been kissing

Screamin'

No, we're never gonna quit

Ain't nothing wrong with it

Just acting like we're animals

No, no matter where we go

'Cause everybody knows

We're just a couple animals

So come on baby, get in

Get in, just get in

Check out the trouble we're in

You're beside me on the seat

Got your hand between my knees

And you control how fast we go by just how hard you wanna squeeze

It's hard to steer when you're breathing in my ear

But I got both hands on the wheel while you got both hands on my gears

By now, no doubt that we were heading south

I guess nobody ever taught her not to speak with a full mouth

'Cause this was it, like flicking on a switch

It felt so good I almost drove into the ditch

I'm screamin'

We were parked out by the tracks

We're sitting in the back

And we just started getting busy

When she whispered "what was that?"

The wind, I think 'cause no one else knows where we are

And that was when she started screamin'

"That's my dad outside the car!"

Oh please, the keys, they're not in the ignition

Must have wound up on the floor while

we were switching our positions

I guess they knew that she was missing

As I tried to tell her dad it was her mouth that I was

kissing

Screamin'

repeat chorus etc etc

Copy and pasted from some random site..

[TR!ΔNGL€ T€€TH]

I think it's a great track. People need to get over their anti-Cliff snobbery and recognise it as a good pop song. Full marks to Van as well for being brave enough to do something that was deeply uncool on two counts, ie religious and Cliff-related. (Somebody back me up here... Del maybe?

Someone of Van Morrison's stature should never of even considered collaborating with Cliff. You just have to look at their recording output: Van - Astral Weeks, Moondance, His Band and Street Choir, Saint Dominic's Preview, Veedon Fleece. Cliff - Devil Woman, Wired for Sound... erm...

Cliff Richard is shit and can fuck off.

[Stripey]

i never knew there were quite so many songs advocating underage-sex o_O...

A lot of them were written by americans living in states where the age of consent was probably 12.

[Pierre Von Mondragon]

Areah yew saaying theyz ah sumthin wraawng with thaat, partnah?! why Sheeeeeeeeeeeee-it.

[Metarie]

Blind Willie McTell - Your southern can is mine (White Stripes covered it on Destijl) Anyways, all about anal sex and beating your wife. Huzzah!

lookie here momma let me explain ya this

If ya wanna get crooked i'll even give ya my fist

Ya might read from revelation back to genesis

Ya keep forgetten your southern can belongs to me

So there ain't no use in bringin no jive to me

Your southern can is mine in the mornin

Your southern can belongs to me

Ya might go uptown have me arrested, put in jail

Some hotshots got money gonna pull my bail

Soon as i get out, hit the ground

Your southern can is worth a dollar a half a pound

So there ain't no use in bringin no jive to me

Your southern can is mine, talkin about it

Your southern can belongs to me

Ya might take it from the south, baby, hide it up north

Understand ya can't rule me and be my boss

Take it from the east and hide in the west

But when i get ya momma your can'll see no rest

So there ain't no use in bringin no jive to me

Your southern can is mine, i'm screamin

Your southern can belongs to me

Now baby, ashes to ashes, sand to sand

When i hit ya momma then ya feel my hand

Give ya punch through that barbed wire fence

When i hit ya baby, ya know i make no sence

So there ain't no use in bringin no jive to me

Your southern can is mine, i know it

Your southern can belongs to me

Now look here woman, don't get hot

I'm gettin me a brick outta my backyard

So there ain't no use in bringin no jive to me

Your southern can is mine, i'm takin about it

Your southern can belongs to me

Well if i catch you momma down in the heart of town

I'm gonna grab me a brick and tear your can on down

So there ain't no use in bringin no jive to me

Your southern can is mine, i know it

Your southern can belongs to me

You maybe get bed sick, 'cause you're graveyard bound

I'm gonna make you moan like a graveyard hound

So there ain't no use in bringin no jive to me

Your southern can is mine, i'm screamin

Your southern can belongs to me

Lots of Led Zepplin songs are a bit suspect or just plan rude. Whole Lotta Love 'Shake for me girl, I wanna be your backdoor man'

[Jammer]

Lots of Led Zepplin songs are a bit suspect or just plan rude. Whole Lotta Love 'Shake for me girl, I wanna be your backdoor man'

That's coz they are ripped off old blues songs and claimed them as their own e.g. Whole Lotta Love = You Need Lovin. Anyone heard the Small Faces version which actually has the same vocal phrasing as Plant's version 4 years later?

Here's another angle and it's American again. I also love Lynyrd Skynyrd but their brilliant but overplayed Sweet Home Alabama from 2nd Helping, is a tad concerning for me and my anti racist morals. As everyone knows it was a response to Neil Youngs Southern Man and Alabama which ripped into the racist South...and I always thought it was a song saying "..there are also good people in the South who aren't your stereotypes Neil old boy..."

Skynyrd also featured the song "The Ballad of Curtis Lowe" on the same album which was all about the influence of an old black dobro player. BUT I'm never really sure where they were as unlike The Allman Brothers they didn't have any black band members .

In Birmingham they love the governor

Now we all did what we could do

Now Watergate does not bother me

Does your conscience bother you?

Tell the truth.

Sweet home Alabama

Oh sweet home baby

Where the skies are so blue

And the governor's true

Sweet Home Alabama

Lordy

Lord, I'm coming home to you

Yea, yea Montgomery's got the answer.

"...That Governor? He was George Wallace, who championed segregation of the races. For any clear thinking person, white or black, George Wallace was a bad guy. Not just a product of his generation and upbringing. He stood in front of the doors of a school, trying to keep black students out. He ordered up fire hoses to put down demonstrations. Go to any road house in Alabama, and on many a night you can still hear this song being belted out by folks clutching their long-neck bottles and throwing a salute to a Confederate flag...."

Lynyrd Skynyrd and Neil Young

Talking of the difference in how attitudes change, during the segregation and racism Queen and Rod Stewart played Sun City during South Aftica's apartheid years. Sun City was the SA playground for the rich. And Eric Claptout had a racist rant on stage in the late 70s basically backing old Enoch Powell.