# Another old song question. Copperhead road

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-old-song-question-copperhead-road/952535>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Tags:** music\
**Created:** [October 15, 2021, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-old-song-question-copperhead-road/952535 "2021-10-15T04:42:41Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\
**Post date:** [October 18, 2021, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-old-song-question-copperhead-road/952535/21 "2021-10-18T11:37:48Z")

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> [@Princhester](#):
>
> I’d always took this to mean he’d learned how to _hide_ things from helicopters etc not how to win a fight. You don’t win firefights against the DEA. And if you do initially, you just cause them to come down on you harder.

Yeah, but then the last line doesn’t make any sense:

> And now the D.E.A.‘s got a chopper in the air  
> I wake up screaming like I’m back over there  
> I learned a thing or two from ol’ Charlie don’t you know  
> You better stay away from Copperhead Road

“Stay away, or I’ll _hide really well!_” doesn’t really work. And let’s not forget that the 70s era DEA wasn’t quite as bad-ass as they would become later.

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**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\
**Post date:** [October 18, 2021, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-old-song-question-copperhead-road/952535/22 "2021-10-18T12:00:25Z")

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> [@Princhester](#):
>
> I’d always assumed the police had simply _caught_ his daddy, and then burned the moonshine. But I suppose it makes more sense your way.

For some reason, I originally thought that it meant that they had somehow modified their car to run on moonshine!

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**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\
**Post date:** [October 18, 2021, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-old-song-question-copperhead-road/952535/23 "2021-10-18T12:44:43Z")

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Actually it has to mean both doesn’t it? If they could see him growing weed from the chopper they’d definitely mount a raid. So he must be hiding it. Then there is the threat in the last line which means you must be right also.

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**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\
**Post date:** [October 18, 2021, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-old-song-question-copperhead-road/952535/24 "2021-10-18T14:26:07Z")

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I’ve always thought “learned a thing or two from Charlie” meant he had set up booby traps around his growing area, which is why “you better stay away.”

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