# songs about underage girls **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 9, 2013, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-underage-girls/652484 "2013-03-09T15:26:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2013, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-underage-girls/652484/21 "2013-03-09T16:28:52Z")
> [@74westy](#): > > \*Clair \*- Gilbert O’Sullivan Clair IS an underaged girl, but she’s not an object of lust! She’s Raymond\* (“Gilbert”) O’Sullivan’s little niece, and the song is about how simultaneously cute and exasperating a little girl can be to a man who’s trying to babysit for her. \*His real name was Raymond, which is why Clair calls him “Uncle Ray.” ---
**Author:** ![Motorgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Motorgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motorgirl)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2013, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-underage-girls/652484/22 "2013-03-09T16:35:04Z")
Hot Child in the City - Nick Gilder ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2013, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-underage-girls/652484/23 "2013-03-09T16:35:52Z")
> [@phungi](#): > > i saw her standing there - beatles “She was just seventeen” The age of consent in Britain is 16. She’s of age by a year or more. ---
**Author:** ![Nunzio\_Tavulari](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Nunzio\_Tavulari](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nunzio_Tavulari)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2013, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-underage-girls/652484/24 "2013-03-09T16:37:03Z")
> [@74westy](#): > > \*Clair \*- Gilbert O’Sullivan Clair does not “allude to/celebrate or otherwise embody previous generations’ fascination with the sexual allure of underage girls”. It’s about babysitting his manager’s toddler. ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2013, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-underage-girls/652484/25 "2013-03-09T16:38:21Z")
Depeche Mode - [Question of Time](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YqJs29S0c0), about a 15 year old. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2013, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-underage-girls/652484/26 "2013-03-09T16:42:44Z")
ABBA: Dancing Queen Winger: She’s only 17. And BTW, curse you OP for making me think about Winger! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![James\_Otto\_Sweet\_Heart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ac8455/32.png) [@James\_Otto\_Sweet\_Heart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/James_Otto_Sweet_Heart)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2013, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-underage-girls/652484/27 "2013-03-09T16:48:03Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > Benny Mardones “Into the Night” This is the first song that came to me. 🙂 🙂 🙂 God bless you always!!! Holly ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2013, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-underage-girls/652484/28 "2013-03-09T16:54:49Z")
> [@GreasyJack](#): > > One thing to consider is that when many of these songs were written, 18 was not the agreed on dividing line between child and adulthood it is now. Most states had and still have a mishmash of rules about ages of consent. 18 is the rule in California and has sort of spread via the entertainment industry to be the nationwide societal norm, but that might not have been the case back when these songs were written. Perhaps it makes them no less creepy to modern ears, but they might have seemed less so at the time they were written. > > Oh, and my nomination: Little Sister, most famously by Elvis. No ages explicitly mentioned, but obviously about a verrrrry recently pubescent girl. Even this understates by a mile. Back in the 1950s, rock ‘n’ roll was expected to be consumed by teenagers, high schoolers. If they went on to college they were assumed to graduate into “adult” music. Songwriters pitched their lyrics to their prime audience and sixteen was the sweet spot. The audience for lyrics about sixteen year olds was primarily sixteen year old girls. The guys got into it, too, but the consumer were the girls screaming at an Elvis concert. The songs had this delicious undercurrent of sex, but they weren’t about sex, or at least they were no more about sex than they were about crushes, romance, kissing, longing, drawing hearts in notebooks, and unspecified hormonal rages. That’s because the boy on the other end of these lyrics was also supposed to be sixteen. You don’t have underage sex between high school lovers. And even if the girls did daydream about the older men singing the songs, they were doing so in a time when the average age of first marriage was 20, the lowest it’s been in U.S. history. Marriages were legal at 14, 13, even 12 under some circumstances. I can’t pinpoint when the concept of being underage became a big deal, but it was definitely post-Beatles. Playboy had a number of seventeen-year-old Playmates and the January 1958 issue featured a student named Elizabeth Ann Roberts who was still sixteen. Her mother accompanied her and signed permission. The laws about drawing the line at sexual imagery at 18 were passed as late as 1967. It’s hard to argue that the totally demure shots of Roberts that are all over the Internet qualify any more than the topless shots of seventeen-year-old Thora Birch do in American Beauty. It’s weird having this huge cultural change take place entirely in my adult lifetime. ---
**Author:** ![Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellis_Aponte_Jr)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2013, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-underage-girls/652484/29 "2013-03-09T17:01:00Z")
“Louis Quatorze” by Bow Wow Wow ---
**Author:** ![DonLogan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/51bf81/32.png) [@DonLogan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DonLogan)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2013, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-underage-girls/652484/30 "2013-03-09T17:03:04Z")
[Sank heaven, Sank heaven, Sank heaven, for leee-tul girls…](http://youtu.be/fTM40o3WgZo) ---
**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 9, 2013, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-underage-girls/652484/31 "2013-03-09T17:10:43Z")
the SDMB rules! thanks to everyone, keep 'em coming… I think we have a new convert, so hopefully we will hear from the Prof himself… ---
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2013, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-underage-girls/652484/32 "2013-03-09T17:11:31Z")
[“Wrong Way” by Sublime](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLifSFBs_Lk) is about a 14-year-old hooker. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2013, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-underage-girls/652484/33 "2013-03-09T17:18:00Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > “She was just seventeen” > > The age of consent in Britain is 16. She’s of age by a year or more. Not to mention that McCartney was only 18-19 himself when he wrote it. ---
**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:** [March 9, 2013, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-underage-girls/652484/34 "2013-03-09T17:24:27Z")
Kiss – Christine Sixteen Fleetwood Mac – Edge of Seventeen ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Jeffrey\_Lebowski](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_jeffrey_lebowski/32/215_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Jeffrey\_Lebowski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Jeffrey_Lebowski)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2013, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-underage-girls/652484/35 "2013-03-09T17:27:34Z")
_Friend of the Devil_ by The Grateful Dead, which has the line “…second one was prison bait, the sherriff’s on my tail, and if he catches up with me I’ll spend my life in jail” ---
**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:** [March 9, 2013, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-underage-girls/652484/36 "2013-03-09T17:31:55Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > I can’t pinpoint when the concept of being underage became a big deal, but it was definitely post-Beatles. According to a Google Ngram, “jailbait” appeared around 1940, but didn’t really take off until the late '60s. On the other hand, Jerry Lee Lewis wrecked his career in the late '50s by marrying a 13-year-old. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2013, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-underage-girls/652484/37 "2013-03-09T17:47:22Z")
_Sixteen Candles_, by The Crests ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Greenjeans](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.greenjeans/32/551_2.png) [@Mr.Greenjeans](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Greenjeans)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2013, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-underage-girls/652484/38 "2013-03-09T17:48:57Z")
> [@sweetie pea](#): > > Also, pretty much ANY Gary Puckett song. Oh, did he have a problem? My first thought on hearing the question in the OP was: “Let’s check the Gary Glitter catalog.” ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2013, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-underage-girls/652484/39 "2013-03-09T18:10:53Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > According to a Google Ngram, “jailbait” appeared around 1940, but didn’t really take off until the late '60s. You see jailbait used on some of the sleaze paperbacks of the 1950s, but it definitely wasn’t a mainstream term. But it gives me an excuse to quote Andre Williams’ 1957 song, [“Jail Bait”](http://www.songmeanings.net/songs/view/3530822107858721350/). > [@](#): > > I’m running > Yes before it’s too late > Trying to get away > From that jail bait > It’s a rough temptation > But a common invitation > And a good association > But a quick elimination > That will take you out of circulation > Yes I’m talking about that > Younger generation > So take my advice fellas > For goodness sake > 15 – 16-- 17– > That’s jailbait > [@](#): > > On the other hand, Jerry Lee Lewis wrecked his career in the late '50s by marrying a 13-year-old. A 13-year-old _first cousin_. It was the first cousin part that was ruinous, something that is blinked at today and legal in most states. And if you’re married, it ain’t jailbait. Gotta love hypocrisy. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2013, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-underage-girls/652484/40 "2013-03-09T18:27:33Z")
Frank Zappa’s “Magdalena” must be included on this list. Interesting song in that it features Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan delivering virtuoso vocal performances of some of Zappa’s most reprehensible lyrics. (Lecherous man soliciting sex [unsuccessfully] from his teenage daughter.) The girl is “teenage” so whether or not she’s legally underage is unclear. But still. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-underage-girls/652484.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-underage-girls/652484.md?page=3)