# Songs about rape

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-rape/488339>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [March 5, 2009, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-rape/488339 "2009-03-05T00:17:32Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 4

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**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\
**Post date:** [March 5, 2009, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-rape/488339/61 "2009-03-05T22:17:45Z")

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> [@Tamerlane](#):
>
> Either that or brown tar heroin. I’ve seen it described both ways and never have got the straight dope.

I suppose it could be read as being about heroin, but the lyrics are pretty clearly about enslaved black women. There’s nothing particularly ambiguous about the words.

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**Author:** ![Winsling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Winsling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winsling)\
**Post date:** [March 5, 2009, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-rape/488339/62 "2009-03-05T22:25:25Z")

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> [@Saintly\_Loser](#):
>
> I suppose it could be read as being about heroin, but the lyrics are pretty clearly about enslaved black women. There’s nothing particularly ambiguous about the words.

Except for Mick’s enunciation 😉

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**Author:** ![DoctorJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctorj/32/2904_2.png) [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)\
**Post date:** [March 5, 2009, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-rape/488339/63 "2009-03-05T22:53:01Z")

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“Cautionary Song” by The Decemberists. ([Here’s Colin Meloy doing it solo.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2fZNorjFx0)) I guess you could argue that she’s engaging in consensual prostitution, but in this case it seems like a fine hair to split.

I wish the Decemberists would just make a whole album of Songs To Scare The Hell Out Of Small Children. (see also “Shankill Butchers”)

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**Author:** ![phungi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/phungi/32/395_2.png) [@phungi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phungi)\
**Post date:** [March 6, 2009, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-rape/488339/64 "2009-03-06T00:31:46Z")

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> [@Jihi](#):
>
> I’ve been listening to Pearl Jam since the early 90’s and I never knew this. It makes me wonder how many other songs I’m completely ignorant about. :smack:

Clarification… Alive by Pearl Jam is definitely not a song about rape, or even incest. It is actually [part of a trilogy](http://www.fivehorizons.com/songs/dec99/index.shtml) which has been discussed in detail.

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**Author:** ![Student\_Driver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3da27b/32.png) [@Student\_Driver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Student_Driver)\
**Post date:** [March 6, 2009, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-rape/488339/65 "2009-03-06T00:59:23Z")

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Traci Lords’ song “Father’s Field” on her album 1000 Fires; it’s an autobiographical song, in the vein of “Me and a Gun.”

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