# Songs that make you go "???" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 27, 2006, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-go/378146 "2006-10-27T16:59:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2006, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-go/378146/1 "2006-10-27T16:59:08Z")
The radio at work is tuned to the oldies station, and some of these songs are just beyond comprehension to my turn-of-the-millenium mind. Hopefully, some of the older Dopers around here can clue me in to what the artists are talking about. First is “Brick House” by the Commodores. > [@](#): > > She’s a brick > > house > > She’s mighty mighty > > Just lettin’ it all hang out. Is this supposed to be a compliment? It sounds like he’s praising this woman, but every woman I know would be insulted by such a description. (And yes, I have asked several female friends about this song. None of them would feel flattered by being compared to a large masonery ediface.) The other song I’m wondering about is the Rolling Stones’ “Jumpin’ Jack Flash.” What the heck is this song about? “Jumpin’ Jack Flash is a gas gas gas.” Uh, OK, whatever you say Mick. If it gets cold enough, does Jack become a liquid liquid liquid? ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2006, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-go/378146/2 "2006-10-27T17:24:10Z")
Actually, it’s “ **I’m** Jumpin’ Jack Flash, **it’s** a gas, gas gas.” “It’s a gas” is an [apparently obsolete, damn you young whippersnappers] expression meaning, roughly, “The situation is excellent.” Another colloquialism you need to know is “She’s built like a brick shithouse.” (Note the pause between the words “brick” and “house” in the song.) Not the nicest way to compliment a woman to her face, but they are singing in the third person, after all. ---
**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 27, 2006, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-go/378146/3 "2006-10-27T17:31:14Z")
**Biffy** , I was aware of the phrase “brick shithouse” but never associated it with this song. I mean, I completely understand the what the singer is trying to convey, but didn’t connect it to the old term. You mention a pause between “brick” and “house” (or howwwwwwwwwse, as it were); does the original version have the word “shit” in it and it’s just blanked out for radio play? And **Dicemen** , don’t forget the lyric “that lady’s stacked and that’s a fact, aint holdin’ nothing back” ---
**Author:** ![jali](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecae2f/32.png) [@jali](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jali)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2006, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-go/378146/4 "2006-10-27T17:33:36Z")
I’ve always disliked the song, "She’s a Bad Mamma Jamma (mammer-jammer?) I don’t want to be a mamma-jamma! ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2006, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-go/378146/5 "2006-10-27T17:42:32Z")
[QUOTE=WOOKINPANUB] You mention a pause between “brick” and “house” (or howwwwwwwwwse, as it were); does the original version have the word “shit” in it and it’s just blanked out for radio play? [/QUOTE] No, I didn’t mean to imply that. But by leaving that long pause between the two words of the title, the singer, I think, clearly means to imply the naughty expression. ---
**Author:** ![Ultros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9f8e36/32.png) [@Ultros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ultros)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2006, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-go/378146/6 "2006-10-27T17:55:08Z")
While I was aware of the connection of the “Brick House” to the aforementioned colloquialism, I have never understood why that expression is considered a positive description of a woman’s looks. As Diceman kind of implied, when I think of a woman with a nice figure, a comparison to a masonry structure intended for defecation is not exactly the first thing that comes to mind. Can someone explain this? ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2006, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-go/378146/7 "2006-10-27T18:23:05Z")
[QUOTE=Ultros] Can someone explain this? [/QUOTE] Perhaps Cecil can. [How did the phrase “built like a brick shithouse” get to be a compliment?](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/030704.html) ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2006, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-go/378146/8 "2006-10-27T18:44:52Z")
[QUOTE=Biffy the Elephant Shrew] Another colloquialism you need to know is “She’s built like a brick shithouse.” (Note the pause between the words “brick” and “house” in the song.) Not the nicest way to compliment a woman to her face, but they are singing in the third person, after all. [/QUOTE] When I was a kid (New Jersey, 1970s-1980s), my dad used the term to mean an extremely muscular man - “He’s built like a brick shithouse!” Really strong, see? Joe ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2006, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-go/378146/9 "2006-10-27T18:46:47Z")
Moving into the current, can someone please explain John Mayer’s “Waiting on the World to Change”? [(lyrics here)](http://www.moron.nl/lyrics.php?id=83928&artist=John%20Mayer) At first listen, it sounds like a good ol’ fashioned change the world rabble rouser, a la Woody Guthrie or Bob Dylan. Then I listen to the actual words, and it’s like the themesong to political and social apathy: > [@](#): > > it’s not that we don’t care, > we just know that the fight ain’t fair > so we keep on waiting > waiting on the world to change > > and we’re still waiting > waiting on the world to change > we keep on waiting waiting on the world to change > one day our generation > is gonna rule the population > so we keep on waiting > waiting on the world to change Is it supporting or decrying apathy? Or is it just noting its existence? It makes me cringe, to think that even the songwriters of today just don’t give a rat’s ass. If the fucking pinko commie librul artists don’t speak out against The Man, who will? Power to the peo— ooh, shiny! ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2006, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-go/378146/10 "2006-10-27T18:50:53Z")
[QUOTE=Ultros] While I was aware of the connection of the “Brick House” to the aforementioned colloquialism, I have never understood why that expression is considered a positive description of a woman’s looks. As Diceman kind of implied, when I think of a woman with a nice figure, a comparison to a masonry structure intended for defecation is not exactly the first thing that comes to mind. Can someone explain this? [/QUOTE] The bigger the cushion, the sweeter the pushin’ That’s what I said ---
**Author:** ![Foldup\_Rabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/df788c/32.png) [@Foldup\_Rabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foldup_Rabbit)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2006, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-go/378146/11 "2006-10-27T18:58:34Z")
In Louisiana, I heard the same corny zydeco song at every single shop: _Don’t Mess With My Toot-Toot_. I have no idea who sang it, and, to this day, have no idea what a toot-toot is or why someone is messing with his. ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2006, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-go/378146/12 "2006-10-27T19:07:25Z")
[QUOTE=Foldup Rabbit] In Louisiana, I heard the same corny zydeco song at every single shop: _Don’t Mess With My Toot-Toot_. I have no idea who sang it, and, to this day, have no idea what a toot-toot is or why someone is messing with his. [/QUOTE] That would be Rockin’ Sydney. I’ve seen it spelled toot toot and tout tout; the latter spelling suggests it might mean something like “my everything”. I think John Fogerty covered it. ---
**Author:** ![Scribble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scribble/32/3317_2.png) [@Scribble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scribble)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2006, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-go/378146/13 "2006-10-27T19:11:07Z")
I heard the “toot toot” song sung by a woman. I think it migh have been [this rendition](http://lyrics.webfitz.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=33&Itemid=82). My guess is that “toot toot” means “butt.” ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2006, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-go/378146/14 "2006-10-27T19:12:01Z")
At the risk of killing this thread: > [@](#): > > Spring was never waiting for us, girl > It ran one step ahead > As we followed in the dance > Between the parted pages and were pressed > In love’s hot, fevered iron > Like a striped pair of pants > > MacArthur Park is melting in the dark > All the sweet, green icing flowing down > Someone left the cake out in the rain > I don’t think that I can take it > 'Cause it took so long to bake it > And I’ll never have that recipe again > Oh, no! ---
**Author:** ![Nonsuch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonsuch/32/2922_2.png) [@Nonsuch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nonsuch)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2006, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-go/378146/15 "2006-10-27T19:27:04Z")
[QUOTE=Crotalus] That would be Rockin’ Sydney. I’ve seen it spelled toot toot and tout tout; the latter spelling suggests it might mean something like “my everything”. I think John Fogerty covered it. [/QUOTE] One theory is that it comes from the French _tout_, meaning “all,” so “my toot-toot” would indeed mean “my everything.” ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2006, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-go/378146/16 "2006-10-27T20:53:55Z")
[QUOTE=jali] I’ve always disliked the song, "She’s a Bad Mamma Jamma (mammer-jammer?) I don’t want to be a mamma-jamma! [/QUOTE] T always thought that mamma-jamma was a euphemism for Ma’r Fu’r! ---
**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:** [October 27, 2006, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-go/378146/17 "2006-10-27T22:07:49Z")
“Brick House” is the same code as “Baby Got Back.” > [@](#): > > I’m tired of magazines > Sayin’ flat butts are the thing > Take the average black man and ask him that > She gotta pack much back > So, fellas! (Yeah!) Fellas! (Yeah!) > Has your girlfriend got the butt? (Hell yeah!) > Tell 'em to shake it! (Shake it!) Shake it! (Shake it!) > Shake that healthy butt! > Baby got back! Women with big butts being preferred has been a part of black culture, whether stereotyped or real, for the last century. Have you never listened to Jay Leno teasing Kevin Eubanks? ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2006, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-go/378146/18 "2006-10-27T22:18:04Z")
I have never understood System of a Down’s song “Chop Suey.” ---
**Author:** ![Emily\_Litella](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emily_litella/32/3370_2.png) [@Emily\_Litella](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emily_Litella)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2006, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-go/378146/19 "2006-10-27T23:00:30Z")
[QUOTE=Robot Arm] At the risk of killing this thread: [/QUOTE] Surrealism was big back in the late 60’s, ala the Beatles Sgt. Pepper Lonely Hearts Club band. It was cool to sound esoteric, even if it didn’t make much sense and you could try to give meaning to the words when you were stoned. “Pressed between the pages” refers to pressing flowers between the pages of a book. Striped pants were in fashion at the time. When you iron your pants, they’re pressed. Take a bunch of randomly related sentences, put them all togher and you get… I got nuthin. ---
**Author:** ![Ludy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Ludy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludy)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2006, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-go/378146/20 "2006-10-27T23:09:54Z")
[Hooka tooka](http://www.lyricsdownload.com/checker-chubby-hooka-tooka-lyrics.html) by Chubby Checker has always confused me. [quote=] Hooka Tooka my soda cracker Does your momma chaw tobacca If ya momma chaw tobacca,say Hooka Tooka my soda cracker [/quote] What in the world do tobacco and soda crackers have in common? And why does it make a song? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-go/378146.md?page=2)