Hit Songs in Bad Taste

[BobLibDem]

Really hard to beat Tom Jones’ Delilah:

At break of day when that man drove away I was waiting
I crossed the street to her house and she opened the door
She stood there laughing
I felt the knife in my hand and she laughed no more

[WOOKINPANUB]

@robardin

Wait… What? “Alison” is about murder?! Never thought of that myself, and googling it now shows Elvis Costello himself denying/puzzling over that interpretation.

Quite a few of my biggest facepalm reactions are already mentioned, though I’ll firmly put myself in the camp of supporting the classic song Baby, It’s Cold Outside as depicting a “coy woman playing along with a seduction” rather than an innocent, unknowing victim of date rape.

Ditto on both counts

A few months ago, in a bookstore, my kids and I heard a Beach Boys song gleefully looking forward to going to the beach where there’d “have some fun” because there’d be “two girls for every boy”. They all literally said out loud, “What the f–?” (They are teenagers and we were doing a college visiting tour.)

I Googled what the song title was. It was… “Surf City”, it reached #1 in 1963, and was actually recorded by “Jan and Dean” but written by Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys.

Hee. When I was a freshman we had a school wide dance that was Hawaiian / beach themed and the posters said “Wicked Wahines; two girls for every guy”. I swear nobody gave it a second thought :smack:

[Treppenwitz]

@BobLibDem

Really hard to beat Tom Jones’ Delilah:

Ahem - not The Sensational Alex Harvey Band’s Delilah?

j

[Shodan]

@robardin

Wait… What? “Alison” is about murder?! Never thought of that myself, and googling it now shows Elvis Costello himself denying/puzzling over that interpretation.

Sometimes I wish that I could stop you from talking
When I hear the silly things that you say.
I think somebody better put out the big light,
Cause I can’t stand to see you this way.
Alison, I know this world is killing you.
Oh, Alison, my aim is true.

YMMV.

Regards,
Shodan

[burpo_the_wonder_mutt]

@hogarth

I nominate “The Battle of Kookamonga” by Homer and Jethro. It won a Grammy, but its lyrics seem pretty skeevy nowadays – Boy Scouts leering at girls skinny-dipping and then chasing after them and hoping to catch them in order to “rub” and “make sparks”.

Pretty similar to Starland Vocal Band’s, “Afternoon Delight.”

[Ludovic]

Which is actually just in bad musical taste.

[WOOKINPANUB]

@burpo_the_wonder_mutt

Pretty similar to Starland Vocal Band’s, “Afternoon Delight.”

I thought about mentioning this one. On the one hand it’s very much part of the soundtrack of my childhood and on the other (in fact the rest of my whole cringing body) it’s just a big bucket of “ewwwwwww!” So smarmy.

[burpo_the_wonder_mutt]

^ Did the phrase exist before the song, or can we thank them for that, too?

They’re all so happy/chirpy about tearing off a piece.

[Just_Asking_Questions]

@BobLibDem

Really hard to beat Tom Jones’ Delilah:

Double down with Cher in Dark Lady:

So I snuck back and caught her with my man;
Laughing and kissing til they saw the gun in my hand…
The next thing I knew they were dead on the floor–
Dark Lady would never turn a card up anymore!

She got them both. Go, girl!

[robardin]

@Just_Asking_Questions

Double down with Cher in Dark Lady:

So I snuck back and caught her with my man;
Laughing and kissing til they saw the gun in my hand…
The next thing I knew they were dead on the floor–
Dark Lady would never turn a card up anymore!

She got them both. Go, girl!

There are plenty of songs about killing, or wanting to kill, unfaithful lovers… Criminal, yes, by modern standards, but I wouldn’t say it’s in “bad taste” if it’s a theme as old as mankind. Especially if you include operas!

Hey Joe, where you goin’ with that gun in your hand?

[Nars_Glinley]

Helen Reddy’s “Angie Baby.” A girl with mental health issues kidnaps a neighbor boy Peeping-Tom and keeps him as a sex slave in her radio.

Um. OK.

[Biggirl]

@burpo_the_wonder_mutt

Pretty similar to Starland Vocal Band’s, “Afternoon Delight.”

I absolutely adore Afternoon Delight. I love the harmonies and my childhood self loved to sing this wonderful song about eating candy in the sunshine. What? You mean it’s NOT about eating candy in the daytime? Well, my 9 year old self does not believe you.

[Colibri]

@Biggirl

I absolutely adore Afternoon Delight. I love the harmonies and my childhood self loved to sing this wonderful song about eating candy in the sunshine. What? You mean it’s NOT about eating candy in the daytime? Well, my 9 year old self does not believe you.

One of my favorite scenes in Arrested Development is when Michael and his young niece Maeby do karoake to this song, and only in the middle realize what it’s actually about.

[Mr.Miskatonic]

Hot Child in the CIty by Nick Gilder -glorifying child prostitution. Gilder even admits he was writing it from the POV of a lecher.

[RealityChuck]

“I Don’t Like Mondays” by the Boomtown Rats. The song is about an actual spree killer who shot up a schoolyard and who, when asked why, replied “I don’t like Mondays.”

Back in the 70s, a local radio station was promoting an “I don’t like Mondays” promotion, and used the chorus of the song. When the Monday came along, there was no mention of it; evidently someone explained the meaning of the song to them over the weekend.

[burpo_the_wonder_mutt]

How “bad taste” is Cher’s, “Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves”? Or, “Half-Breed”?

[markn_1]

@Colibri

One of my favorite scenes in Arrested Development is when Michael and his young niece Maeby do karoake to this song, and only in the middle realize what it’s actually about.

Oh you beat me to it. I had the link in my clipboard ready to post.

[JohnT]

Actually, given it’s sung by one of the oppressed people, lamenting how her people were seen by society, I’ll give GT&T a pass.

[markn_1]

The other Afternoon Delight joke in Arrested Development is pretty great too.

Arrested Development- Afternoon Delight scene

[control-z]

@Leaffan

Hey Joe - Written by Roberts Billy (?) But obviously popularized by Jimi Hendrix.

“I’m goin’ down to shoot my old lady.
You know I caught her messin’ 'round with another man.”

Certainly bad taste, but that sort of phrase is basically Blues 101, variations are in a lot of blues songs.

In that same vein, Cocaine Blues, popularized by Johnny Cash:

Early one morning while making the rounds
I took a shot of cocaine and I shot my woman down
I went right home and I went to bed
I stuck that loving 44 beneath my head
…
Shot her down because she made me slow
I thought I was her daddy but she had five more.
…
Ninety-nine years underneath that ground
I can’t forget the day I shot that bad bitch down

Still a great song, just in bad taste.