# Hit Songs in Bad Taste **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 30, 2019, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-songs-in-bad-taste/834784 "2019-05-30T16:39:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f8ce5/32.png) [@The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Peyote_Coyote)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2019, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-songs-in-bad-taste/834784/161 "2019-06-02T19:45:21Z")
> [@LLCoolL](#): > > My interpretation exactly. I agree with both of you. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2019, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-songs-in-bad-taste/834784/162 "2019-06-02T19:54:31Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > There are also songs about being beaten up by your cheating man, like _My Man_ by Billie Holliday. On the flip side of the drama, there’s also _My Wife_ by The Who: > [@](#): > > My life’s in jeopardy > Murdered in cold blood is what I’m gonna be > I ain’t been home since Friday night > And now my wife is coming after me But it loses some of its impact because of the over the top humor in the song. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2019, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-songs-in-bad-taste/834784/163 "2019-06-02T21:28:23Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > The people who wrote the hit version, and the people who sang it, all acknowledge that the song was about prostitution. Whether you believe it or not doesn’t matter to me any more. > **[Rum and Coca-Cola](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rum_and_Coca-Cola)** > > "Rum and Coca-Cola" is a popular calypso song composed by Lionel Belasco with lyrics by Lord Invader. The song was copyrighted in the United States by entertainer Morey Amsterdam and was a hit in 1945 for the Andrews Sisters. > The song was published in the United States with Amsterdam listed as lyricist and Jeri Sullivan and Paul Baron as composers. The melody had been previously published as the work of Venezuelan calypso composer Lionel Belasco on a song titled "L'Année Passée," which was in t... _The Andrews Sisters also seem to have given little thought to the meaning of the lyrics.[4] According to Patty Andrews, “We had a recording date, and the song was brought to us the night before the recording date. We hardly really knew it, and when we went in we had some extra time and we just threw it in, and that was the miracle of it. It was actually a faked arrangement. There was no written background, so we just kind of faked it.”[5] In under ten minutes they made a record that sold seven million units and sat at number one on the Billboard magazine chart for seven weeks.[5][1] Maxine Andrews recalled, “The rhythm was what attracted the Andrews Sisters to ‘Rum and Coca-Cola’. We never thought of the lyric. The lyric was there, it was cute, but we didn’t think of what it meant; but at that time, nobody else would think of it either, because we weren’t as morally open as we are today and so, a lot of stuff—really, no excuses—just went over our heads.”_ So, you mean\*\* AFTER \*\*they had a hit song, they were told of the suggestive nature and were aware \*\*AFTERWARDS. \*\* ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2019, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-songs-in-bad-taste/834784/164 "2019-06-02T22:00:30Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > So, you mean\*\* AFTER \*\*they had a hit song, they were told of the suggestive nature and were aware \*\*AFTERWARDS. \*\* Yes, exactly that. They were unaware in a late recording session with no time spent with the lyrics. Again, believe it or not, not my problem. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2019, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-songs-in-bad-taste/834784/165 "2019-06-02T22:05:08Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > Yes, exactly that. They were unaware in a late recording session with no time spent with the lyrics. Again, believe it or not, not my problem. He doesn’t argue for a reason, he just argues. I linked to the wikipedia article to prove my point, he goes and quotes the same article to disprove it. Whatevs. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2019, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-songs-in-bad-taste/834784/166 "2019-06-02T22:41:27Z")
> [@Horatio\_Hellpop](#): > > Pearl Necklace (Porn term that goes way back, apparently) > > (snipped) > > “We’re a American Band” by Grand Funk Railroad. “Sweet sweet Connie performed her act/Before the whole show and tht’s a natural fact.” The video is a total sausage fest, four dudes hanging around without their shirts, a lot. They sing about banging every groupie on the road, but no girls are in view. One of my college roommates said that when she was a tween, she and her friends on a basketball team liked that song, “Pearl Necklace”, and that’s what they named the team, not having a clue what the song was really about. She later borrowed (ahem) a can of spray paint out of the garage and spray-painted that phrase on a retaining wall. Her dad drove by a couple days later and knew she had done it, because it was her handwriting and the paint was a very distinctive color. :smack: In recent years, I saw a show on IIRC VH-1 about the old-time groupies, and Sweet Connie (whose day job was schoolteacher!) said, “I blew all the guys in Grand Funk except for Mark Farner, and he later became a Christian.” Here’s the “sausage fest” 😛 video. Those ATVs look like disasters waiting to happen. [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwsgznR_T-g) ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2019, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-songs-in-bad-taste/834784/167 "2019-06-02T22:43:10Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > He doesn’t argue for a reason, he just argues. > > I linked to the wikipedia article to prove my point, he goes and quotes the same article to disprove it. Whatevs. You were trying to prove that the singers of the hit were aware and intended the double meaning, and indeed they were not when they were recording it and performing it. So, they did not intend a double meaning. I have no doubt that the song had a (not very) hidden meaning in it’s earlier incarnation. But the new lyrics and new performers had no such meaning. So the \*\*hit song \*\*_Rum & Coca Cola_, \*\*as performed by the Andrews sisters, \*\*the version we are talking about had no such hidden meaning. You dont argue for a reason, you just argue. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2019, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-songs-in-bad-taste/834784/168 "2019-06-03T00:27:48Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > I have no doubt that the song had a (not very) hidden meaning in it’s earlier incarnation. But the new lyrics and new performers had no such meaning. So the \*\*hit song \*\*_Rum & Coca Cola_, \*\*as performed by the Andrews sisters, \*\*the version we are talking about had no such hidden meaning. The song writer (actually plagiarizer, but same difference) had the meaning firmly in mind. The fact that the singers missed that meaning at first is not really relevant. I’m done here. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2019, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-songs-in-bad-taste/834784/169 "2019-06-03T00:50:41Z")
does every song written by the sex pistols count? ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2019, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-songs-in-bad-taste/834784/170 "2019-06-03T01:15:10Z")
The J. Geils’ Band “Centerfold.” You were too shy to talk to her in high school and now that you’ve seen her as a centerfold, you think she’ll want to have sex with you. It doesn’t normally work that way dude. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2019, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-songs-in-bad-taste/834784/171 "2019-06-03T01:54:09Z")
> [@nightshadea](#): > > does every song written by the sex pistols count? Honestly, not that I can think of. Musically they may not be your cup of tea, but lyrically, I don’t find many (if any) of their songs in bad taste. (And how many of them were “hits,” anyway?) ---
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2019, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-songs-in-bad-taste/834784/172 "2019-06-03T02:21:46Z")
> [@Nars\_Glinley](#): > > The J. Geils’ Band “Centerfold.” > > You were too shy to talk to her in high school and now that you’ve seen her as a centerfold, you think she’ll want to have sex with you. It doesn’t normally work that way dude. Uh…he’s the frontman of a beloved rock band with a chart-topping song, I’m thinking the odds are in his favor. ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2019, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-songs-in-bad-taste/834784/173 "2019-06-03T02:32:56Z")
> [@Lamoral](#): > > Uh…he’s the frontman of a beloved rock band with a chart-topping song, I’m thinking the odds are in his favor. Just like songs about murder, I don’t think of them as sung from the perspective of the lead singer of a band. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2019, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-songs-in-bad-taste/834784/174 "2019-06-03T03:07:25Z")
Filter - Hey man, Nice shot > **[Hey Man Nice Shot by Filter - Songfacts](https://www.songfacts.com/facts/filter/hey-man-nice-shot)** > > Hey Man Nice Shot by Filter song meaning, lyric interpretation, video and chart position I like the song… ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2019, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-songs-in-bad-taste/834784/175 "2019-06-03T13:45:05Z")
No one’s brought up [Into the Night](https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=into+the+night+lyrics) by Benny Mardone? The very first clearly sung words are: “She’s just sixteen years old, leave her alone, they said…” Ewww! “I’d take you into the night, and show you a love like you’ve never seen before.” 🆒 “Yeah, Mister Mardone. Because I’m a _child_!” :eek: ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2019, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-songs-in-bad-taste/834784/176 "2019-06-03T14:39:34Z")
> [@The\_Peyote\_Coyote](#): > > What about the Rolling Stones’ “Stray Cat Blues?” > > “I can see that you’re fifteen years old/ > No I don’t want your I.D.” > > Then it has an invitation for a _menage a trois_ at the end. > > Best jailbait song ever. Worse yet, Jagger sang “_thirteen_ years old” in the live version (on _Get Yer Ya-yas Out_), recorded in Nov. 1969). ---
**Author:** ![Thuringwethil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@Thuringwethil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thuringwethil)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2019, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-songs-in-bad-taste/834784/177 "2019-06-03T19:10:20Z")
D.O.A. by a band called “Bloodrock”. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2019, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-songs-in-bad-taste/834784/178 "2019-06-03T19:52:13Z")
> [@Thuringwethil](#): > > D.O.A. by a band called “Bloodrock”. Mentioned in post #113. ---
**Author:** ![TimfromNapa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d26b3c/32.png) [@TimfromNapa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimfromNapa)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2019, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-songs-in-bad-taste/834784/179 "2019-06-03T19:52:21Z")
> [@Helmut\_Doork](#): > > Just FYI, NOT to be pedantic, the song’s actual title is “Last Kiss”🙂 I did not know that. Thanks for the clarification. ---
**Author:** ![TimfromNapa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d26b3c/32.png) [@TimfromNapa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimfromNapa)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2019, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-songs-in-bad-taste/834784/180 "2019-06-03T20:08:24Z")
> [@nightshadea](#): > > does every song written by the sex pistols count? Not if only US hits are considered. While it reached No. 2 in the UK, “God Save the Queen” gained only notoriety, not popularity, in the US. I remember it (along with the rest of the London Punk movement) being introduced to us Yanks by the NBC news magazine show, “Weekend”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-songs-in-bad-taste/834784.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-songs-in-bad-taste/834784.md?page=10)