# Popular songs that give terrible advice **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [February 5, 2023, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popular-songs-that-give-terrible-advice/979343 "2023-02-05T16:00:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2023, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popular-songs-that-give-terrible-advice/979343/161 "2023-02-07T21:42:14Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > What advice is given in I Shot the Sheriff True and there is the little known full edit with the stanza “This is a reggae song, not legal advice. I am not your lawyer” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2023, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popular-songs-that-give-terrible-advice/979343/162 "2023-02-07T22:20:45Z")
I’m not sure if “Ooh ee ooh ah ah ting tang walla walla bing bang” is good advice or bad. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2023, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popular-songs-that-give-terrible-advice/979343/163 "2023-02-07T22:45:33Z")
Some of Lemmy’s dietary advice is questionable from a high-fat, high cholesterol perspective.\* _Come on baby, eat the rich_ _Put the bite on the son of a bitch_ _Don’t mess around, don’t give me no switch_ _C’mon baby eat the rich_ _C’mon baby eat the rich_ \*although other aspects of his lifestyle were even more problematic. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2023, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popular-songs-that-give-terrible-advice/979343/164 "2023-02-08T01:07:22Z")
Do suggestions for government policy count? In which case you can’t get much more awful than this verse in The Pusher by Steppenwolf > Well, now if I were the president of this land > You know, I’d declare total war on the pusher man > I’d cut him if he stands, and I’d shoot him if he’d run > Yes, I’d kill him with my Bible and my razor and my gun The intervening years have shown this whole"war on drugs" thing he suggests, to be… err…less than ideal as government policy goes. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2023, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popular-songs-that-give-terrible-advice/979343/165 "2023-02-08T03:28:43Z")
Encouraging cough syrup (dextromethorphan) [abuse](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5601090/) might be considered poor advice. _Yeah I tried strychnine and sniffing glue_ _I’ve been known to take a trip or two_ _Banana peels and pesticide_ _Nothing can beat this swinging ride_ _This stuff is thumbs up_ _Pass another dixie cup_ “Romilar D” - The Fuzztones ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2023, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popular-songs-that-give-terrible-advice/979343/166 "2023-02-10T21:22:23Z")
Tan me hide when I’m dead, Fred. Tan me hide when I’m dead. So we tanned his hide when he died, Clyde, And that’s it hangin’ on the shed. Everybody, now . . . ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2023, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popular-songs-that-give-terrible-advice/979343/167 "2023-02-10T22:15:36Z")
Well, on that theme… don’t eat the vegemite! _On a hippie trail, head full of zombie I met a strange lady, she made me nervous She took me in and gave me breakfast And she said_ _“Do you come from a land down under Where women glow and men plunder? Can’t you hear, can’t you hear the thunder? You better run, you better take cover”_ _Buying bread from a man in Brussels He was six-foot-four and full of muscle I said, “Do you speak-a my language?” He just smiled and gave me a Vegemite sandwich_ ---
**Author:** ![Wallaby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/dc4da7/32.png) [@Wallaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallaby)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2023, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popular-songs-that-give-terrible-advice/979343/168 "2023-02-12T03:10:29Z")
‘Bury me up on the hill, Bill, Turn me face to the sky’. ‘We’ll plant you up on the hill, ya dill, If you’ll just shut up and die’. ---
**Author:** ![Hakushon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hakushon/32/5503_2.png) [@Hakushon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hakushon)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2023, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popular-songs-that-give-terrible-advice/979343/169 "2023-02-12T06:26:52Z")
“Go on, take the money and run.” ---
**Author:** ![zbuzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zbuzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zbuzz)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2023, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popular-songs-that-give-terrible-advice/979343/170 "2023-02-12T07:10:19Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > The song is saying it’s a dangerous world out there, so don’t take chances. It’s bad advice whether AIDS is running rampant or not. The song is saying your actions have consequences so think them through first, not don’t ever take any chances at all. Don’t do something foolish like chase down a beautiful waterfall and just hope your dreams about it come true because in actuality once you reach it you will plummet off the brink. The waterfall is a metaphor for our desires to do harmful shit to ourselves. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2023, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popular-songs-that-give-terrible-advice/979343/171 "2023-02-12T07:15:14Z")
> [@Hakushon](#): > > “Go on, take the money and run.”- I actually heard this in a Keybank lobby the first time I dropped off a deposit for my new job in 2017. ---
**Author:** ![Hakushon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hakushon/32/5503_2.png) [@Hakushon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hakushon)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2023, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popular-songs-that-give-terrible-advice/979343/172 "2023-02-12T17:15:10Z")
That song was playing in a _bank?_ Yikes, that’s even worse! ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2023, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popular-songs-that-give-terrible-advice/979343/173 "2023-02-12T20:25:30Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > Seriously, do listen to the adults in your life, they have good reasons to put down the dodgy grown ass man who’s creeping on a teenage girl Yeah, but the song doesn’t say that at all. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2023, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popular-songs-that-give-terrible-advice/979343/174 "2023-02-12T22:04:45Z")
> [@outlierrn](#): > > Yeah, but the song doesn’t say that at all. It does though… > They never get tired of putting me down > And I’ll never know when I come around > What I’m gonna find > Don’t let them make up your mind > Girl, you’ll be a woman soon > Please, come take my hand Its safe to assume “they” here is the adults in the girls life. They are “putting him down” as this grown ass man is coming to their house and creeping on their teenage daughter. They want to “make up her mind” by convincing her not to have anything to do with this creep. She absolutely should not take his advice, and listen to those adults in her life about this and she should absolutely under no circumstances go and take his hand. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2023, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popular-songs-that-give-terrible-advice/979343/175 "2023-02-12T23:04:35Z")
It’s safe to assume you’ve cut and pasted the lyrics to fit your point, it as easily says ‘don’t let you racist, classist parents choose your life for you.’ the only age identifiers in the song are boy, girl and, someday soon, man and woman. ---
**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:** [February 12, 2023, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popular-songs-that-give-terrible-advice/979343/176 "2023-02-12T23:11:08Z")
> [@zbuzz](#): > > The song is saying your actions have consequences so think them through first, not don’t ever take any chances at all. This 100%. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2023, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popular-songs-that-give-terrible-advice/979343/177 "2023-02-13T00:26:26Z")
> [@outlierrn](#): > > the only age identifiers in the song are boy, girl and, someday soon, man and woman. Yeah specifically “Girl, you’ll be a woman soon” and “you’ll need a man” (boy is only used as a quote from the, presumably at least middle-aged, adults and the way its used clearly isn’t meant to indicate he’s an actual minor). That and the context of the song clearly imply that singer is an grown adult and the subject being advised is a teenage girl with a significant age difference between them (Neil Diamond was in his late twenties when he wrote it). Even if you give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he means “about to turn 18” by “be a woman soon” (rather some even skeevier meaning), its still absolutely terrible terrible advice. Do not assume that this grown adult who clearly wants to bang you, a teenage girl, has your best interests at heart and the adults in your life do not. ---
**Author:** ![Pavelb1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/439d5e/32.png) [@Pavelb1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pavelb1)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2023, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popular-songs-that-give-terrible-advice/979343/178 "2023-02-13T01:00:12Z")
Aint nothing wrong with a good murder ballad. Maybe not appropriate for a rugby game but… ---
**Author:** ![Pavelb1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/439d5e/32.png) [@Pavelb1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pavelb1)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2023, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popular-songs-that-give-terrible-advice/979343/179 "2023-02-13T01:03:18Z")
When you stumble across a murder…don’t fire off a couple of rounds to flag down the police. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2023, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popular-songs-that-give-terrible-advice/979343/180 "2023-02-13T01:53:59Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > Well, chasing stationary geological features is never a good idea. Waterfalls aren’t entirely stationary. [https://www.ijc.org/en/niagara-falls-moving](https://www.ijc.org/en/niagara-falls-moving) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popular-songs-that-give-terrible-advice/979343.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popular-songs-that-give-terrible-advice/979343.md?page=10)