# 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:** 5
**Author:** ![svd678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@svd678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/svd678)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2015, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-from-your-youth-which-you-didnt-understand-until-you-were-an-adult/735100/81 "2015-12-23T05:36:56Z")
Talk about naivete: I never could figure how innocent Victorian ladies could hear: “and some day for my sake she may let me take the bloom from My Wild Irish Rose”! And its from 1899 ---
**Author:** ![Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ce7236/32.png) [@Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mona_Lisa_Simpson)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2015, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-from-your-youth-which-you-didnt-understand-until-you-were-an-adult/735100/82 "2015-12-23T18:44:19Z")
Yesterday I was listening to the 70s tv music station. (Galaxie or whatever). When they say the 70s they mean all over it. Havin’my Baby, by Paul Anka. I knew it was bad, but I thought hokey…not… ugh! I pro choice but listening to Paul Anka sing that abortion was an option!!! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2015, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-from-your-youth-which-you-didnt-understand-until-you-were-an-adult/735100/83 "2015-12-23T22:22:55Z")
> [@Soylent\_Juicy](#): > > So many songs are about sex or fapping that I thought were about dancing. > > “She Bop”. Didn’t get that one until my roommate told me when I was in my 20’s. Me: “What? No, it’s about dancing.” Him: “Lol. No it’s not.” Cyndi Lauper even mentioned it at the concert I saw - she said her mom was like “Really, Cyndi? \*Down there??” \*. The video is chock full of humorous smutty jokes, like “Uncle Siggy’s Master Bingo”. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2015, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-from-your-youth-which-you-didnt-understand-until-you-were-an-adult/735100/84 "2015-12-23T22:43:43Z")
> [@Lucky\_13](#): > > When “Afternoon Delight” by the Starland Vocal Band came out, I was a little kid and thought it was about going out for ice cream after school or something like that. I thought the song was about eating candy in the middle of the day. Also, if anyone remembers [The Jackson 5’s Got To Be There](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=270Fr-B4ad0) but I remember thinking how much Michael must love his girlfriend to wake up so early in the morning and rush over to her house just so he could be there when she woke up. Seeing as how Michael was about 11 or 12 when he sang the song, I don’t know what else he could have been saying. ---
**Author:** ![Laggard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de053/32.png) [@Laggard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laggard)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2015, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-from-your-youth-which-you-didnt-understand-until-you-were-an-adult/735100/85 "2015-12-24T02:20:07Z")
> [@jabiru](#): > > I think I was the last person in the known universe to figure out The Kinks’ _Lola_. No, I was. And that the Village People were gay and what YMCA and In The Navy were about. ---
**Author:** ![Laggard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de053/32.png) [@Laggard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laggard)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2015, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-from-your-youth-which-you-didnt-understand-until-you-were-an-adult/735100/86 "2015-12-24T02:28:55Z")
> [@Bayard](#): > > 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. I thought Candy was a guy. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2015, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-from-your-youth-which-you-didnt-understand-until-you-were-an-adult/735100/87 "2015-12-24T05:08:34Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > A lot of the songs my father liked praised things that he would have considered unacceptable in other contexts: those where the lovers are either married or intending to marry are a definite minority. Then again, his favorite movie was Seven Brides and I’m sure he was not truly in favor of kidnapping women, merely in favor of any movie featuring dancing, music and a certain tall brunette whose name I can’t find… ([dancing](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TygmMPbwfjA) with Mr Orange Shirt) Julie Newmar! Anyway, in Seven Brides, you’re not supposed to be okay with kidnapping women. The best non-musical bit in that film is Millie going off on Adam, after the kidnapping. “You think a wife is just to cook and clean. You got no understandin’, you got no feelin’s! When I think of these poor girls sick with fright…and their families crazed with worry…oh, I can’t abide to LOOK atcha!” ---
**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:** [December 24, 2015, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-from-your-youth-which-you-didnt-understand-until-you-were-an-adult/735100/88 "2015-12-24T05:57:22Z")
> [@DeepLiquid](#): > > Heard “Young Girl” on an oldies station recently, the lyrics are just awful to hear now. They were awful to hear then too. I was 17 when that song came out in '68, we knew what he was really saying, and thought he was a creep. Of course, just four years earlier I was (already) into the Stones, and as much as I loved “Little Red Rooster” I did kind of wonder why they would sing a song about a chicken. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2015, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-from-your-youth-which-you-didnt-understand-until-you-were-an-adult/735100/89 "2015-12-24T11:29:57Z")
> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > Because Mick is allergic to roses, of course. Ahhh…_thank_ you. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Abner\_Ravenwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c4cdca/32.png) [@Abner\_Ravenwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abner_Ravenwood)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2015, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-from-your-youth-which-you-didnt-understand-until-you-were-an-adult/735100/90 "2015-12-24T13:16:11Z")
I didn’t find out until a few years ago that Semi-Charmed Life was about doing crystal meth. ---
**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:** [December 24, 2015, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-from-your-youth-which-you-didnt-understand-until-you-were-an-adult/735100/91 "2015-12-24T14:53:03Z")
> [@Abner\_Ravenwood](#): > > I didn’t find out until a few years ago that Semi-Charmed Life was about doing crystal meth. That’s because no one can understand what Stephan Jenkins is saying. Which is not necessarily a bad thing in light of T E B’s spectacularly inane lyrics. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2015, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-from-your-youth-which-you-didnt-understand-until-you-were-an-adult/735100/92 "2015-12-24T15:06:15Z")
One of our other favorite Irish songs was “Seven Drunken Nights,” which was popularized by th e Dubliners. The kids in my family sang it without realizing what was really going on in the song. Every night, the narrator comes home too drunk to pick up on blatant clues that his wife is screwing another man while he’s at the pub. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2015, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-from-your-youth-which-you-didnt-understand-until-you-were-an-adult/735100/93 "2015-12-24T15:31:56Z")
> [@bup](#): > > _Hungry Like the Wolf_ (not _Rio_) by Duran Duran. I was going to say [All She Wants Is.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_She_Wants_Is) ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2015, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-from-your-youth-which-you-didnt-understand-until-you-were-an-adult/735100/94 "2015-12-24T22:13:45Z")
Relevant to the time of year: Greg Lake’s “I Believe in Father Christmas” is NOT a pro-Christmas song. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![black\_rainbow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d26b3c/32.png) [@black\_rainbow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/black_rainbow)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2015, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-from-your-youth-which-you-didnt-understand-until-you-were-an-adult/735100/95 "2015-12-25T20:32:13Z")
This land is your land confused me as a child. My aunt would play it on guitar. When I read the Grapes of Wrath as an adult I was like Now I get it. ---
**Author:** ![botsgotme](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@botsgotme](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/botsgotme)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2015, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-from-your-youth-which-you-didnt-understand-until-you-were-an-adult/735100/96 "2015-12-25T21:56:27Z")
Never understood Duran Duran’s “Union of the Snake”. Sill don’t. ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2015, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-from-your-youth-which-you-didnt-understand-until-you-were-an-adult/735100/97 "2015-12-26T00:42:18Z")
> [@botsgotme](#): > > Never understood Duran Duran’s “Union of the Snake”. Sill don’t. Um, “union”? With a “snake” involved? That’s “on the climb”? …It’s about the 20th Century growth and corruption of the Teamsters, right? ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2015, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-from-your-youth-which-you-didnt-understand-until-you-were-an-adult/735100/98 "2015-12-26T04:01:22Z")
> [@Unpronounceable](#): > > Nah - the prize goes to “Safety Dance” - everyone assumed it was about condom use, but it was actually a rather pathetic attempt to recreate a dance craze (like the twist was.) [Welcome to the House of Fun](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufBJo8-AvUk) has a chearfull boppy sound, and it’s been used for kids add’s (Fanta) and advertising to young women. (can’t find any examples) I myself would have had no idea what it was about if I hadn’t had it explained to me. ---
**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:** [December 26, 2015, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-from-your-youth-which-you-didnt-understand-until-you-were-an-adult/735100/99 "2015-12-26T04:25:09Z")
_Midnight At The Oasis_ is actually about sex! Who knew? ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2015, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-from-your-youth-which-you-didnt-understand-until-you-were-an-adult/735100/100 "2015-12-26T04:26:11Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > One of our other favorite Irish songs was “Seven Drunken Nights,” which was popularized by th e Dubliners. > > The kids in my family sang it without realizing what was really going on in the song. Every night, the narrator comes home too drunk to pick up on blatant clues that his wife is screwing another man while he’s at the pub. I just looked up the lyrics. I’m assuming they didn’t sing the final 2 or 3 verses? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-from-your-youth-which-you-didnt-understand-until-you-were-an-adult/735100.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-from-your-youth-which-you-didnt-understand-until-you-were-an-adult/735100.md?page=6)