# Let's make a ''self love'' CD **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 18, 2003, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-make-a-self-love-cd/189443 "2003-07-18T18:43:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![TeaRoses](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c37758/32.png) [@TeaRoses](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TeaRoses)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2003, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-make-a-self-love-cd/189443/41 "2003-07-20T12:38:59Z")
I never thought of Penny Lane that way before, boy do I feel naive. Anyway I’m remembering from the '80s a song on the obvious side that went something like “Mama’s Little Angel Plays Pocket Pool”. I can’t remember the artist (and I will never google “pocket pool” again). ---
**Author:** ![look\_ninjas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b2d939/32.png) [@look\_ninjas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/look_ninjas)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2003, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-make-a-self-love-cd/189443/42 "2003-07-20T15:10:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by The Scrivener \* > \*\*[Since no one has mentioned Whitney Houston’s “The Greatest Love Of All,” am I correct in surmising that that song is merely about narcissism and not masturbation per se?] \*\* I’ll never hear “Learning to love yourself is the greatest love of all” the same way again. And actually, I think it would improve the song. Thanks, **Scrivener**! ---
**Author:** ![bibliophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@bibliophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophile)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2003, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-make-a-self-love-cd/189443/43 "2003-07-20T15:18:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mirror Image egamI rorriM \* > \*\*Tweet says that she meant her lyric about, “I was lookin’ so good I had to touch myself” to mean that she had to make sure she was real…but I’m not buying it. \*\* Me neither ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2003, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-make-a-self-love-cd/189443/44 "2003-07-20T16:21:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by TeaRoses \* > \*\*I never thought of Penny Lane that way before, boy do I feel naive. > > \*\* McCartney also makes reference to “Four of fish and finger pie,” which I guess is Liverpudlian slang for, well, the female’s bits. Happy ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2003, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-make-a-self-love-cd/189443/45 "2003-07-20T16:40:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ace\_Face \* > \*\*_Pink Thing_ by XTC is about masturbation. Or a baby (yeah, riiiiight). \*\* It’s a floor wax _and_ a dessert topping! IIRC, Andy Partridge _had_ recently had a baby when he wrote that song. I see the song as a marvelous extended double-entendre. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2003, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-make-a-self-love-cd/189443/46 "2003-07-20T16:54:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Gangster Octopus \* > \*\*_Turning Japanese_ is about masturbation? I thought it was just about sex in general. \*\* I don’t see it either. Anyone want to enlighten us? Lyrics are here: [http://www.lyricsxp.com/lyrics/t/turning\_japanese\_the\_vapors.html](http://www.lyricsxp.com/lyrics/t/turning_japanese_the_vapors.html) ---
**Author:** ![smaft](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c2a13f/32.png) [@smaft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smaft)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2003, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-make-a-self-love-cd/189443/47 "2003-07-20T21:02:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Thudlow Boink \* > IIRC, Andy Partridge _had_ recently had a baby when he wrote that song. I see the song as a marvelous extended double-entendre. Now, wait a minnit. How is “Why am I so happy when there’s tears down in your eye?” about a baby? ---
**Author:** ![refusal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ac91a4/32.png) [@refusal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/refusal)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2003, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-make-a-self-love-cd/189443/48 "2003-07-21T11:52:29Z")
Turning Japanese is plainly about being alone with a photograph of someone you love, and mentions kissing the photo and wanting to get more photos. It’s obviously in part about being apart from the person you love. The song includes the line “I sit there staring and there’s nothing else to do”. Five lines later, he mentions kissing the picture, but is that really what he’s talking about? Lines like “Everyone around me is a total stranger” reinforces the singer’s loneliness, and “No sex, no drugs, no wine, no women, No fun, no sin, no you” suggests his boredom. So maybe he’s just sitting alone and can’t find anything else to do except kiss the photo, but just maybe he tries a little self-love. There seems some debate about what the title means, but I’ve heard the claim that it refers to a belief that wanking will make you go slitty-eyed (racist as that makes the title), although there are other theories. ---
**Author:** ![refusal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ac91a4/32.png) [@refusal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/refusal)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2003, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-make-a-self-love-cd/189443/49 "2003-07-21T12:01:06Z")
[This page from InThe80s.com](http://www.inthe80s.com/4nic8.shtml) lists Orgasm Addict, She Bop, Turning Japanese and Dancing With Myself. Apparently Billy Idol says Dancing is about a club where everyone dances in front of mirrors. The site considers The Stroke, then rejects it. It says Turning Japanese is more obvious if you’re British. Someone on the [Brunching Shuttlecocks boards](http://www.brunchma.com/archives/Forum7/HTML/001510.html) claims Turning Japanese refers to the facial expression of someone who’s wanking. It could also refer to the phrase Jap’s Eye, which is (probably British) slang for the bit at the top of the penis. [What did you do at work today? Well…] ---
**Author:** ![lost4life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@lost4life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lost4life)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2003, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-make-a-self-love-cd/189443/50 "2003-07-21T13:59:04Z")
I always heard that Turning Japanese was about masturbation. There was an old, rather racist joke regarding this. I can’t remember the whole thing, but it had to do with making a stereotyped asian face by bucking your teeth and squinting (think Mickey Rooney in Breakfast at Tiffany’s), then simulating wanking off. ---
**Author:** ![Gotterfunken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/58956e/32.png) [@Gotterfunken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gotterfunken)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2003, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-make-a-self-love-cd/189443/51 "2003-07-21T14:32:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lisa-go-Blind \* > \*\*I’ve seen this mentioned before, and it was on the link provided by **gex gex** and **IcicleFuzz** , but how is “Close to Me” about masturbation? \*\* I don’t get this, either–even though the lyrics are a bit ambiguous. ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2003, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-make-a-self-love-cd/189443/52 "2003-07-21T15:06:37Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by smaft_ > > > [@](#): > > > > _Originally posted by Thudlow Boink_ > > IIRC, Andy Partridge had recently had a baby when he wrote that song. I see the song as a marvelous extended double-entendre. > > Now, wait a minnit. How is “Why am I so happy when there’s tears down in your eye?” about a baby? Yeah, what s/he said. Or “Don’t you think it’s time you met some female pink thing?” Right. I mean, I see how “When I stroke your head I feel a hundred heartbeats high” could be about a baby. If I squint. And turn my head sideways. And look through a kaleidescope… ---
**Author:** ![divemaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/divemaster/32/78_2.png) [@divemaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/divemaster)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2003, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-make-a-self-love-cd/189443/53 "2003-07-21T15:46:39Z")
Whip it. Whip it good. Devo [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-make-a-self-love-cd/189443.md?page=2)