# In Rod Stewart's song Young Turks, why didn’t Patti give birth to a eight-pound baby girl? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 13, 2016, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-rod-stewarts-song-young-turks-why-didn-t-patti-give-birth-to-a-eight-pound-baby-girl/743083 "2016-01-13T23:15:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HarryTheHat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@HarryTheHat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HarryTheHat)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2016, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-rod-stewarts-song-young-turks-why-didn-t-patti-give-birth-to-a-eight-pound-baby-girl/743083/1 "2016-01-13T23:15:29Z")
What makes 10-pound baby boys so bloody special? ---
**Author:** ![Turek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/turek/32/18782_2.png) [@Turek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turek)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2016, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-rod-stewarts-song-young-turks-why-didn-t-patti-give-birth-to-a-eight-pound-baby-girl/743083/2 "2016-01-13T23:20:24Z")
Yeah, and who put the ram in the rama lama ding dong? ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2016, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-rod-stewarts-song-young-turks-why-didn-t-patti-give-birth-to-a-eight-pound-baby-girl/743083/3 "2016-01-13T23:23:36Z")
Because when all you have is a dollar in your pocket and a head full of dreams, a 10 pound baby is going to put you down, push you around and change your point of view. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2016, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-rod-stewarts-song-young-turks-why-didn-t-patti-give-birth-to-a-eight-pound-baby-girl/743083/4 "2016-01-14T00:00:10Z")
Stewart wrote the lyrics with the music by three men. Fact: many men want at least one boy and they want the first child to be a masculine child (paging Luca Brasi). Plus from what I remember what his girlfriend of the 1970s Britt Ekland said, Stewart is not the most admirable man in the world. ``` You can guess about why but Stewart expresses a common wish among men for centuries and different cultures (look at the gender imbalance of China's one-policy child). ``` ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2016, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-rod-stewarts-song-young-turks-why-didn-t-patti-give-birth-to-a-eight-pound-baby-girl/743083/5 "2016-01-14T00:11:17Z")
> [@HarryTheHat](#): > > What makes 10-pound baby boys so bloody special? Nothing. Everyone knows that a 7 lb 3 oz girl with daddy’s nose is the child of a man’s dreams. It’s just a lot harder to scan. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2016, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-rod-stewarts-song-young-turks-why-didn-t-patti-give-birth-to-a-eight-pound-baby-girl/743083/6 "2016-01-14T00:42:46Z")
“Boy” is also easier to end a sung line with than “girl.” ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2016, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-rod-stewarts-song-young-turks-why-didn-t-patti-give-birth-to-a-eight-pound-baby-girl/743083/7 "2016-01-14T02:10:21Z")
Also, “girl” doesn’t rhyme. Oh wait – “boy” doesn’t rhyme, either. WTF??? ---
**Author:** ![Plumpudding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Plumpudding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Plumpudding)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2016, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-rod-stewarts-song-young-turks-why-didn-t-patti-give-birth-to-a-eight-pound-baby-girl/743083/8 "2016-01-14T15:21:45Z")
bernie2016 ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2016, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-rod-stewarts-song-young-turks-why-didn-t-patti-give-birth-to-a-eight-pound-baby-girl/743083/9 "2016-01-14T15:56:40Z")
> [@Plumpudding](#): > > bernie2016 I see what you did there. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2016, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-rod-stewarts-song-young-turks-why-didn-t-patti-give-birth-to-a-eight-pound-baby-girl/743083/10 "2016-01-14T16:58:50Z")
> [@buddha\_david](#): > > Also, “girl” doesn’t rhyme. Oh wait – “boy” doesn’t rhyme, either. WTF??? It doesn’t rhythm but ‘baby boy’ is alliterative. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2016, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-rod-stewarts-song-young-turks-why-didn-t-patti-give-birth-to-a-eight-pound-baby-girl/743083/11 "2016-01-14T18:11:19Z")
> [@j666](#): > > Nothing. Everyone knows that a 7 lb 3 oz girl with daddy’s nose is the child of a man’s dreams. It’s just a lot harder to scan. A counterexample - “American Child” by Phil Vassar: “Seven pounds three ounces, she’s got my nose And she’s into my heart, as deep as it goes With a promise that’s more than just someone’s last name Anyone’s equal, in late August came An American child…” [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/3c1x3wcbvAc/maxresdefault.jpg "Phil Vassar - American Child") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3c1x3wcbvAc) ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2016, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-rod-stewarts-song-young-turks-why-didn-t-patti-give-birth-to-a-eight-pound-baby-girl/743083/12 "2016-01-14T18:30:07Z")
> [@Jim\_s\_Son](#): > > Stewart wrote the lyrics with the music by three men. Fact: many men want at least one boy and they want the first child to be a masculine child (paging Luca Brasi). Plus from what I remember what his girlfriend of the 1970s Britt Ekland said, Stewart is not the most admirable man in the world. > > ``` > You can guess about why but Stewart expresses a common wish among men for centuries and different cultures (look at the gender imbalance of China's one-policy child). > > ``` I suspect that the men writing the song also lacked a visceral appreciation for just how big a ten-pound baby is. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2016, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-rod-stewarts-song-young-turks-why-didn-t-patti-give-birth-to-a-eight-pound-baby-girl/743083/13 "2016-01-14T19:20:40Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > I suspect that the men writing the song also lacked a visceral appreciation for just how big a ten-pound baby is. Sure. But it’s 10 pounds! It’s a tenpin bowling ball! (“Bowling ball” alliterates like “Baby boy”. The song would almost work as well.) ---
**Author:** ![Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ce7236/32.png) [@Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mona_Lisa_Simpson)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2016, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-rod-stewarts-song-young-turks-why-didn-t-patti-give-birth-to-a-eight-pound-baby-girl/743083/14 "2016-01-14T19:37:55Z")
Having had a 4545 gram baby boy, well if I wrote songs and could sing about it I would. Especially when my incision tore up after and I walked around for 4 months with a slowly closing hole in my lower abdomen. What I wouldn’t do is have the father put it almost as a post script in a letter home to my parents. As clueless as he may have been about many things, even he knew it was all about phone calls. (Texts were around, but only just and I don’t think any of the grandparents had mobile phones at the time) ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2016, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-rod-stewarts-song-young-turks-why-didn-t-patti-give-birth-to-a-eight-pound-baby-girl/743083/15 "2016-01-14T19:56:44Z")
> [@Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](#): > > Having had a 4545 gram baby boy, well if I wrote songs and could sing about it I would. Especially when my incision tore up after and I walked around for 4 months with a slowly closing hole in my lower abdomen. A womb with a view! I did say “visceral” advisedly… 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2016, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-rod-stewarts-song-young-turks-why-didn-t-patti-give-birth-to-a-eight-pound-baby-girl/743083/16 "2016-01-14T20:16:35Z")
It could be worse. One of my aunts had a kid who was nearly 12 pounds, and another aunt had triplets, the lightest of whom was 6 pounds 1. My family, as you might guess, tends towards big babies. When a family friend had a baby at 6 pounds even, I asked “Oh no, what’s wrong with her?”. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2016, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-rod-stewarts-song-young-turks-why-didn-t-patti-give-birth-to-a-eight-pound-baby-girl/743083/17 "2016-01-14T22:06:01Z")
I just love the songwriter’s idea of young people with free hearts. Let’s see how free your heart is after changing your 7th poopy diaper of the day in your shitty two room apartment. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2016, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-rod-stewarts-song-young-turks-why-didn-t-patti-give-birth-to-a-eight-pound-baby-girl/743083/18 "2016-01-14T22:26:13Z")
Shotgun wedding. She delayed giving birth as long as she could to stretch it out to 9 months after the wedding night, and the kid got up to 10 pounds. ---
**Author:** ![Arizona\_Mike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7cd45c/32.png) [@Arizona\_Mike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arizona_Mike)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2016, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-rod-stewarts-song-young-turks-why-didn-t-patti-give-birth-to-a-eight-pound-baby-girl/743083/19 "2016-01-14T22:50:41Z")
Still a more cheerful song than Bruce Springsteen’s adolescent downer “The River”, and an interesting counterpoint. ---
**Author:** ![Gretchion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8edcca/32.png) [@Gretchion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gretchion)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2016, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-rod-stewarts-song-young-turks-why-didn-t-patti-give-birth-to-a-eight-pound-baby-girl/743083/20 "2016-01-15T00:47:59Z")
That is nobody’s business but the Young Turks. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-rod-stewarts-song-young-turks-why-didn-t-patti-give-birth-to-a-eight-pound-baby-girl/743083.md?page=2)