# Songs from your youth ... which you didn't understand until you were an adult **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 19, 2015, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-from-your-youth-which-you-didnt-understand-until-you-were-an-adult/735100 "2015-10-19T04:12:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2015, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-from-your-youth-which-you-didnt-understand-until-you-were-an-adult/735100/21 "2015-10-19T18:24:38Z")
> [@Soylent\_Juicy](#): > > I read or heard somewhere that it was saying “wake him up” before she takes care of herself, if you catch my drift. “I don’t want to miss it when you hit that high” = the big self-obtained O. Could be wrong, but I giggle now when I hear it. Hmmm, there’s that. Also, his beats per minute have never been the same, so you might be right. ---
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2015, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-from-your-youth-which-you-didnt-understand-until-you-were-an-adult/735100/22 "2015-10-19T18:31:57Z")
When I heard [Hoyt Axton’s “Della and the Dealer”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pN0OBHz_Xmo) on “WKRP” as a kid, I assumed the song was about actual animals:smack:. On a less clueless front, [this song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHBoWTNGsU4) was one of my favorites because it seemed so romantic. I mean it’s got “will you marry me” as its refrain. Listening to it as an adult and actually listening to the lyrics, oh no it’s not. ---
**Author:** ![Cinnamon\_Imp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@Cinnamon\_Imp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cinnamon_Imp)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2015, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-from-your-youth-which-you-didnt-understand-until-you-were-an-adult/735100/23 "2015-10-19T18:54:57Z")
I was embarrasingly grown up before I got why Frankie said Relax “when you want to come”. I was a very naive child (and teen) in some ways! ---
**Author:** ![stillownedbysetters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/41988e/32.png) [@stillownedbysetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stillownedbysetters)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2015, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-from-your-youth-which-you-didnt-understand-until-you-were-an-adult/735100/24 "2015-10-19T19:30:55Z")
My son would hate me for sharing this, but when he was a kid, he once asked me why the lady in Billy Idol’s “Rebel Yell” was yelling at her boyfriend to mow the lawn at midnight. He heard “more more more” and thought it was “mow mow mow”. Still cracks me up. ---
**Author:** ![SUZ\_MAC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8e8cbc/32.png) [@SUZ\_MAC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SUZ_MAC)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2015, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-from-your-youth-which-you-didnt-understand-until-you-were-an-adult/735100/25 "2015-10-19T20:34:35Z")
1969’s Cherry Hill Park. I was 10 and my brother had the 45. When my father heard me playing/singing it in my room he took it away from me and gave my brother a good talking to. I really didn’t pay much attention to the lyrics until he took it away. That’s when I really gave it a good listen. :eek: ---
**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:** [October 19, 2015, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-from-your-youth-which-you-didnt-understand-until-you-were-an-adult/735100/26 "2015-10-19T20:49:11Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUB](#): > > RE _Magic Man_ - I saw a tv special about Heart, maybe on VH-1, where Ann Wilson tells the history behind it. It’s about her relationship with either the producer or one of her band mates (she dated both). Her mother was also interviewed and she claimed to not recall the situation, or at least not the part about crying on the phone and telling her daughter to “come on home”. What a great song. I’ll have to look that up. I have heard the story behind _[Barracuda](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0OX_8YvFxA)_ … apparently, in the early days of the band’s career, some record company marketing genius thought it would be cool to play up some sort of imagined lesbian incest between Ann and Nancy. Ann wrote _Barracuda_ to tell him what she thought of that idea. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2015, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-from-your-youth-which-you-didnt-understand-until-you-were-an-adult/735100/27 "2015-10-19T22:26:56Z")
Heart has the ultimate misinterpreted song in “All I Want To Do Is Make Love To You.” :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2015, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-from-your-youth-which-you-didnt-understand-until-you-were-an-adult/735100/28 "2015-10-19T23:07:52Z")
On a lighter note, I didn’t care much for Stevie Wonder’s “Sir Duke” when it came out. Now, I can really hear the joy in the song. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2015, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-from-your-youth-which-you-didnt-understand-until-you-were-an-adult/735100/29 "2015-10-19T23:10:21Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > I forget what it was called, but that "song’ that featured a woamn moaning and groaning in orgasm puzzled me…until i found out about sex. Which one, “Love To Love You Baby” or “More More More”? M3 was on the charts when I had my first crush on a boy, who played trumpet in the band, and I would listen to that song and imagine that he was playing that trumpet for me. 😃 I wouldn’t go back to being 12 years old again for all the money in the world. ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2015, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-from-your-youth-which-you-didnt-understand-until-you-were-an-adult/735100/30 "2015-10-19T23:12:57Z")
> [@stillownedbysetters](#): > > my son would hate me for sharing this, but when he was a kid, he once asked me why the lady in billy idol’s “rebel yell” was yelling at her boyfriend to mow the lawn at midnight. He heard “more more more” and thought it was “mow mow mow”. Still cracks me up. I love it! ---
**Author:** ![DeepLiquid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deepliquid/32/14893_2.png) [@DeepLiquid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeepLiquid)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2015, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-from-your-youth-which-you-didnt-understand-until-you-were-an-adult/735100/31 "2015-10-19T23:13:01Z")
> [@california\_jobcase](#): > > My sister got to go see The Beatles. I got to wait in the car with my dad. So, I cajoled my parents into letting me go see Gary Puckett and The Union Gap when they came to town a few years later. Did the fourth-grade me really get those songs? Nope. Heard “Young Girl” on an oldies station recently, the lyrics are just awful to hear now. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2015, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-from-your-youth-which-you-didnt-understand-until-you-were-an-adult/735100/32 "2015-10-19T23:30:17Z")
“In My Little Town” by Simon and Garfunkel. Back in the 70s, before kids had any access to the internet, reading the lyrics to songs was kind of difficult to do. I didn’t have liner notes or sheet music, and I thought it was just an American version of “Penny Lane,” fond reminiscences of a town you can’t go back to for whatever reason. So when I finally looked up the lyrics about 10-15 years ago, I saw a much angrier song about environmental degradation, suppressed creativity, fake patriotism and strong-armed conformity to a kid not well-suited to any of these. ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2015, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-from-your-youth-which-you-didnt-understand-until-you-were-an-adult/735100/33 "2015-10-20T01:43:58Z")
I felt incredibly stupid to realize I had been listening to CSNY’s “Wooden Ships” for 30+ years before I realized it was about two people connecting after a nuclear war has destroyed the planet. And it’s not like it’s all that hard, given these lines: > [@](#): > > I can see by your coat, my friend > You’re from the other side > There’s just one thing I got to know > Can you tell me please, who won the war ? > > Say, can I have some of your purple berries? > Yes, I’ve been eating them for six or seven weeks now > Haven’t got sick once > Probably keep us both alive ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2015, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-from-your-youth-which-you-didnt-understand-until-you-were-an-adult/735100/34 "2015-10-20T01:58:35Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > I forget what it was called, but that "song’ that featured a woamn moaning and groaning in orgasm puzzled me…until i found out about sex. _Hungry Like the Wolf_ (not _Rio_) by Duran Duran. ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2015, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-from-your-youth-which-you-didnt-understand-until-you-were-an-adult/735100/35 "2015-10-20T02:36:13Z")
> [@Master\_Wang-Ka](#): > > “Waist Deep In The Big Muddy” made a lot more sense when someone told me it was about an American soldier who drowned because his commanding officer ordered him to try and cross a river, despite the fact the soldier was loaded with a full field pack, and neither of them knew how deep the river was. It was the officer who drowned for his idiocy. [QUOTE=Pete Seeger] “Sergeant, don’t be a Nervous Nellie,” The Captain said to him. “All we need is a little determination; Men, follow me, I’ll lead on.” We were – neck deep in the Big Muddy And the big fool said to push on. All at once, the moon clouded over, We heard a gurgling cry. A few seconds later, the captain’s helmet Was all that floated by. [/QUOTE] Which has to be one of the few times an idiot leader got what was coming to him. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2015, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-from-your-youth-which-you-didnt-understand-until-you-were-an-adult/735100/36 "2015-10-20T02:49:16Z")
> [@Mister\_Rik](#): > > Tonight, as I approach 49-1/2 years old, I decided to pull up some Heart videos on YouTube. Specifically: > > [Magic Man](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qijQC-m2IDs) > > Now, that song came out when I was 10 years old. I was maybe 11-12 when I first heard it. Being a musician now, as I was then, holy crap, there’s something about the music itself. That is dick-hardening music. > > But reading the lyrics, as an adult … > > That song is a first-person story about a young, teenaged girl, told from the girl’s point of view, being seduced by an older guy, possibly an adult. And that adult is possibly using drugs to influence her. And the poor girl thinks it’s true love. > > Now I understand “that guy”. Oh, thank goodness, I’m not the oldest one! I didn’t get it until this past summer, at 40 1/2, at a karaoke event. At least I wasn’t the one singing the song, because I don’t think I was able to pick my jaw up off the floor the entire time! ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2015, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-from-your-youth-which-you-didnt-understand-until-you-were-an-adult/735100/37 "2015-10-20T04:32:15Z")
One day, my wife and I were in the car when the Bow Wow Wow version of “I Want Candy” came on the radio. I hadn’t heard it in years. Halfway through the song, I said, “Candy is a metaphor, isn’t it?” My wife just laughed at me. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2015, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-from-your-youth-which-you-didnt-understand-until-you-were-an-adult/735100/38 "2015-10-20T04:41:23Z")
> [@Soylent\_Juicy](#): > > I read or heard somewhere that it was saying “wake him up” before she takes care of herself, if you catch my drift. “I don’t want to miss it when you hit that high” = the big self-obtained O. Could be wrong, but I giggle now when I hear it. Considering it’s George Michael, it’s probably before _he_ takes care of _him_self. ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2015, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-from-your-youth-which-you-didnt-understand-until-you-were-an-adult/735100/39 "2015-10-20T05:03:55Z")
I’m so ashamed, but just today I realized that “Last Dance with Mary Jane” could have multiple meanings. Smack! ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2015, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-from-your-youth-which-you-didnt-understand-until-you-were-an-adult/735100/40 "2015-10-20T05:54:34Z")
Hall & Oates - “One on One”. For a while I thought it was about playing catch or somehow baseball related. But in my defense, I was 9 when the song came out. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-from-your-youth-which-you-didnt-understand-until-you-were-an-adult/735100.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-from-your-youth-which-you-didnt-understand-until-you-were-an-adult/735100.md?page=3)