Todd Rundgren had a song I think came out in the sixties or seventies–“We gotta get you a woman” that had this lyric, “They may be stupid, but they sure are fun”. It’s too bad the melody was so catchy, but I hated that song.
i really don’t think many of these songs would cause an uproar today, personally. but i always thought krs-1’s “thirteen and good” was really disturbing. heres a sample:
We jumped in the ride rushed to the crib
I ain’t gotta explain what we did
Built to last I simply waxed that…
Ax the question, no need for guessin’
Hey baby, how old are you?
21, 24 maybe 22?
I’m twenty five
She shucked and kinda neeghed
And said, “hee, hee, hee I’m only 13”
13!! I need a quick escape
That’s statutory rape
But she was GOOD!
she calls her dad, a cop, and he arrives with a pistol:
He closed the door and, “I’m happy we’re all alone
Jump on the bed and look me straight into my eyes
I think you’re kinda cute, don’t make me use my 45”
Daddy’s lookin’ for a lubricant
He pulled out a little piece of gum and started chewin’ it
He said, "For year I’ve been lookin for a big strong man
I’ve got an apartment out in Brooklyn
Only my daughter and I live there
You can see my daughter anytime, anywhere
But it’s you that I want to be mine
The price tag is your behind
bup, I’m not trying to trump anyone, but like I said above, I have heard every one of the songs listed above* on the radio within the past year – and not NPR. Don’t blame me if you don’t have good radio stations in town! 
(hint: college radio stations are the best! And Clear Channel can … well this isn’t the pit, so I can’t say, but you get my drift.)
*(Again, the only exception was Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines and that might have been played, since we have a station in town that plays songs from movie musicals on Sunday afternoons; but I don’t listen to it, so I couldn’t say for sure.)
Siouxsie and the Banshees recorded in in 1987 on their album A Kiss In The Dreamhouse.
It is not taboo as it speaks from the position of being sad that it happened. It was written by Billie Holiday.
Basketball Jones
Copperhead Road by Steve earle speaks of everything from running moonshine to growing pot to killing cops. Song was very popular and got lots o airplay in the eighties.
Convoy was a popular airplay song during the truckers strike back in the late seventies. It is absolutely hilarious to listen to now. No idea who did it.
Rosie by Jackson Browne was the most skillfully crafted song about masturbation ever. Comes off like a sweet love song.
"WHEN I HAVE A BRAND NEW HAIRDO
WITH MY EYELASHES ALL IN CURL,
I FLOAT AS THE CLOUDS ON AIR DO,
I ENJOY BEING A GIRL!
WHEN MEN SAY I’M CUTE AND FUNNY
AND MY TEETH AREN’T TEETH BUT PEARL,
I JUST LAP IT UP LIKE HONEY,
I ENJOY BEING A GIRL!"
Not really a strong feminist statement, but could enjoy a small cult following among transgendered…folk.
About “Strange Fruit”
Er, no, it wasn’t. It was written by a guyn whose nom de plume was Lewis Allen, and it wasn’t a jazz song to begin with, but Billie made it such. Also of interest, here on the SDMB, it was debuted in the Manhattan club called Cafe Society. And it’s not a song about, y’know, “Yay! Jim Crow!” so much as a sad song about, well, y’know, “Boo! Jim Crow!” Er. I probably should have thought of something more profound to say…
That actually sounds like great modern dating advice, wouldn’t say that’s aged at all. Rich girls do expect you to throw some money around, they’re used to it. Poor girls, from my albeit VERY limited experience, will be pretty satisfied with a walk in the park.
I think both this and the “Run for your life little girl” songs are just fine. I’m sure, judging from the Beatles love lives, that they don’t represent any actual behaviours or desires of the members. So they fall into the class of songs that is portraying a character.
C’mon, that STP song “Sex Type Thing” is about a date rape, told from the POV of the rapist justifying the rape to himself. That’s ALOT more twisted than any of this stuff, and was a popular hit. I don’t think anyone took that seriously as a call to commit date rape, so I’m sure nobody took the Beatles lyrics as anything like that either. Songs can take on a narrator who’s a bad guy, it’s interesting, and most people see it for what it is.
Je suis un rock star - Bill Wyman
Can’t find the lyrics anywhere but definately disturbing on the paedophilia front.
Mockingbird, Billie Holiday didn’t write it. There are two sources given to the words, Lewis Allan and Abel Meeropol, depending on where you go.
Same guy.
Ogre takes it all hands down…
But here are a couple minor league additions:
“Hey Joe” by Jimi Hendrix
“Hey Joe? What are you doing with that gun in your hand?..I caught my lady with another man…so I shot her, I shot her down…” (paraphrased)
“Into the Night” by Bennie Mardones
“She’s just 16 years old, leave her alone they say…if I could fly, I’d pick you up and take you into the night and show you a love like you’ve never seen…”
“Hot-Blooded” by Foreigner
“I’m hot-blooded, check IT and see. Got a fever of a hundred and three. Come on baby do you do more than dance?..are you old enough? will you be ready when I call your bluff?”
I first heard this sung by Miss Piggy, on The Muppet Show. She was “Hiiiiii-yah!” punching all kinds of people at the same time. It gives the song a little bit of an edge that makes it palatable.
“You’ll have bad times,
and he’ll have good times,
doing things you don’t understand,
…
Stand by your man.”
Ogre’s never heard of the Macc Lads, and it looks like nobody else present has either. They held the dubious distinction of being the only act banned from more venues than the Sex Pistols, including a five year ban from every student union in the UK. Songs about sex with sheep, Chinese takeaway hygiene and vicars slipping on jism number among the highlights of their often hilarious and always insanely obscene ouevre. Here’s an small excerpt from their “classic” Beer, Sex, Chips and Gravy:
Clean my teeth, put on my best clobber
Tonight’s the night, I’m going for t’knob her
Vauxhall Viva’s covered in rust
But you can’t fuck your bird on the 29 bus.
Airplay? Forget it…
I love the blues, but some of the lyrics just have to be ignored or taken as a joke, or else it’s a bit unbearable. My favorite blues musician is Albert King, but in Answer to the Laundromat Blues he’s talking about his woman cheating on him and what will happen if/when she does:
And we’re gonna kick the door down that goes to the basement
Where we can hear the washer when it stop
And baby baby baby, when that washer stop
You better be through or you better have a darn good explanation
Cause you gonna get whupped all on the toe (?) lids
We’re gonna raise your eyelashes and whup you some
And if you run fast enough
We gonna whup you on the bottom of the feet
and later…
You better take my advice
You might need it on your vacation this summer
I’d hate to see you come up
With a leg screwed off or an eye punched out
Alrighty then!
I think you can still get away with quite a bit on the radio, even today. Quite a few current and popular acts talk about some pretty violent stuff, just look at groups like Limp Bizkit or Eminem.
One song that sticks in my mind that still gets air time (at least around where I live) is Tyler by the Toadies*. It’s gotta be one of the top stalker songs ever.
“I found a window in the kitchen,
and I let myself in.
Rummaged through the refrigerator
poured myself a beer.
I can’t beleive I’m really in,
and she’s lying in that bed,
I can almost feel her touch,
and her angel breath.
I stumble in the hallway,
outside her bedroom door,
I hear her call out to me,
I hear the fear in her voice.
She pulls the covers tighter,
I press against the door,
I will be with her tonight, yeah,
I will be with her…”
*I don’t know if this band ever got much play nationwide, they were pretty popular in Texas for a while though.
I think the original issue was authorship, not comprehension, but it seems that omitting the italicized sentence leaves a perhaps incorrect impression…allow me to add it on behalf of Ms. Holiday…
*dorkus did not post the italicized sentence, but on preview, coded any other way, it seemed to emphasize, rather than de-emphasize (which is what I am so elegantly trying to accomplish), the previous sentence.