# songs that were popular, but today the singer would be arrested **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 18, 2007, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-were-popular-but-today-the-singer-would-be-arrested/396464 "2007-03-18T18:19:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Quint](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/76d3ee/32.png) [@Quint](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quint)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2007, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-were-popular-but-today-the-singer-would-be-arrested/396464/21 "2007-03-18T23:08:41Z")
Serge Gainsbourg sang a song called “Lemon Incest” with his _daughter_. Lyrics include: “The love that we will never make together, Is the most sweet, the most violent.” Doesn’t get much more f\*cked-up than that. That’s a geographic rather than temporal distance tho. I guess you can get away with a bit more in France. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2007, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-were-popular-but-today-the-singer-would-be-arrested/396464/22 "2007-03-18T23:18:59Z")
[QUOTE=msmith537] Eminem had a small hit a few years back called “Stan” [/QUOTE] Number 1 in eleven countries is a ‘small hit’? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2007, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-were-popular-but-today-the-singer-would-be-arrested/396464/23 "2007-03-18T23:34:08Z")
[QUOTE=chappachula] Gary Puckett and the Union Gap-- _Young girl_ Sure,he doesn’t explicitly say that he’s fantasizing about kiddie porn. But he doesn’t deny it , either. [/QUOTE] No way! The girl looks older than she is and when he realizes it he tells her to go away. He’s trying to do the right thing. “I’m On Fire” has a creepy stalker rapist vibe to it. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2007, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-were-popular-but-today-the-singer-would-be-arrested/396464/24 "2007-03-18T23:48:37Z")
I doubt that the cover art on Led Zeppelin’s [Houses of the Holy](http://www.amazon.com/Houses-Holy-Led-Zeppelin/dp/B000002J0B) would be allowed today. In fact, it would probably trigger an investigation. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2007, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-were-popular-but-today-the-singer-would-be-arrested/396464/25 "2007-03-19T01:13:33Z")
[QUOTE=saoirse] Not to mention that yucky alternative hit from the 90s with the Joe Walsh guitar lick and the guy who keeps screaming “Do you wanna die?” [/QUOTE] That’s Toadies, “Possum Kingdom.” Alternately explained as a serial killer, a vampire, or a guy who doesn’t want his girl to leave him so he’s gonna kill her, from the interpretations I’ve read. There’s Sugar’s “A Good Idea”, which starts out with a couple going to the water to have fun, but ends up with lyrics like: > [@](#): > > He held her head high in his hands > He held her down deep in the stream > He saw the bubbles and matted hair > Mixed in with seaweed > She started to scream ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2007, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-were-popular-but-today-the-singer-would-be-arrested/396464/26 "2007-03-19T01:20:42Z")
[QUOTE=Diceman] I doubt that the cover art on Led Zeppelin’s [Houses of the Holy](http://www.amazon.com/Houses-Holy-Led-Zeppelin/dp/B000002J0B) would be allowed today. In fact, it would probably trigger an investigation. [/QUOTE] I’m not even gonna _link_ to the cover art of Blind Faith’s album: if you google it, be aware that it’s, uh, NSFW. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2007, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-were-popular-but-today-the-singer-would-be-arrested/396464/27 "2007-03-19T01:35:33Z")
[QUOTE=spoke-] From [_Santeria_](http://www.lyricsfreak.com/s/sublime/santeria_20133073.html) by Sublime (1996). _…If I could find that heina and that sancho that she’s found, Well Id pop a cap in sancho and I’d slap her down…_ _…Tell sanchito that if he knows what is good for him he best go run and hide. Daddy’s got a new .45. And I wont think twice to stick that barrel straight down sanchos throat…_ I don’t see how that’s much different from the OP’s example of _Delilah_. [/QUOTE] And that song got played on prime time TV last year on _Rock Star Supernova_. The only topics that are more taboo now than they were then are overtly racist songs against certain identifiable groups. > [@msmith537](#): > > For example, Eminem had a small hit a few years back called “Stan” about an obsessive fan who eventually kills himself and his girlfriend. Even had Dido and Elton John singing on various versions of it. And that’s not even in the top 10 of his most disturbing songs. Have a listen to “Superman” for some misogyny, “Kim” for a very detailed description of Eminem slitting his own wife’s throat while his daughter watches, “Drips”, which is incredibly graphic sexually, and much more. I like Eminem quite a lot, but he’s the poster boy for refutation of the OP. ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2007, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-were-popular-but-today-the-singer-would-be-arrested/396464/28 "2007-03-19T04:29:34Z")
**Scissorjack** Yes I was going to mention the Blind Faith album cover. (Definitely not safe for work). Well since the thread is getting slightly hijacked into album covers, here is one from 1969 by the [Carolyn Hester Coalition](http://s5.photobucket.com/albums/y151/wolf_meister/?action=view¤t=Hester.jpg) (safe for work _unless_ you work at the Praise The Lord 700 Club) I was eighteen in 1969 and (as far as I know) it didn’t cause any controversy. (Certainly not from me. 🙂 ) Maybe album sales were so poor, no one was even aware that the album existed. ---
**Author:** ![Valgard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7feea3/32.png) [@Valgard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valgard)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2007, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-were-popular-but-today-the-singer-would-be-arrested/396464/29 "2007-03-19T05:06:40Z")
Just to add to the creepy odes to underage girls there is Motley Crue’s “All In The Name Of…” with lines such as: She’s only fifteen, She’s the reason, The reason that I can’t sleep … You say “illegal”, I say “Legal’s never been my scene” … Brings me a dirty dirty magazine, There she was for all the world to see Heard this one on the radio a few years back. Great tune. From the “Girls Girls Girls” album which came out in 1987 when the boys were in their mid 20s. ---
**Author:** ![Lucky\_13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucky_13/32/13209_2.png) [@Lucky\_13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucky_13)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2007, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-were-popular-but-today-the-singer-would-be-arrested/396464/30 "2007-03-19T05:11:48Z")
[QUOTE=wolf\_meister] “Please Mr. Custer” - Larry Verne References to redskins, injuns, etc. [/QUOTE] My middle school’s 1983 talent show included 3 boys in cowboy hats lip-syncing this song. One of them even turned around and displayed a suction-cup arrow on his (clothed) rear end. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Fern\_Forest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2007, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-were-popular-but-today-the-singer-would-be-arrested/396464/31 "2007-03-19T05:39:50Z")
[QUOTE=WishIHadACoolName] Gold Coast slaveship bound for cotton fields Sold in the market down in New Orleans Scarred old slaver knows he’s doin’ alright Hear him whip the women just around midnight [/QUOTE] Funny how you can hear songs all your life without being able to figure out what he’s saying and yet never look it up. ---
**Author:** ![buns3000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c89c15/32.png) [@buns3000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buns3000)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2007, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-were-popular-but-today-the-singer-would-be-arrested/396464/32 "2007-03-19T07:39:33Z")
“Rollerskating Child” by The Beach Boys: “And we’ll make sweet love when the sun goes down We’ll even do more when your momma’s not around” Making sweet love to a “child”? And what the hell is “more” after they’ve made love? ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2007, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-were-popular-but-today-the-singer-would-be-arrested/396464/33 "2007-03-19T12:22:42Z")
Gilbert O’Sullivan’s [Claire](http://homepage.ntlworld.com/gary.hart/lyricso/osullivan.html) raised eyebrows when it was released. ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2007, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-were-popular-but-today-the-singer-would-be-arrested/396464/34 "2007-03-19T13:48:20Z")
[QUOTE=Valgard] Just to add to the creepy odes to underage girls there is Motley Crue’s “All In The Name Of…” with lines such as: She’s only fifteen, She’s the reason, The reason that I can’t sleep … You say “illegal”, I say “Legal’s never been my scene” … Brings me a dirty dirty magazine, There she was for all the world to see Heard this one on the radio a few years back. Great tune. From the “Girls Girls Girls” album which came out in 1987 when the boys were in their mid 20s. [/QUOTE] I had heard that was about Tracy Lords. I can’t really give you much more detail than that. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2007, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-were-popular-but-today-the-singer-would-be-arrested/396464/35 "2007-03-19T14:37:01Z")
I have a winner from 1906. Ragtime Jazz Duo **Collins & Harlan** had a hit song with: _Nigger loves his possum_. I don’t think you’d be able to get that one played on the radio these days. Especially since the singers were a couple of white guys. ---
**Author:** ![jali](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecae2f/32.png) [@jali](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jali)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2007, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-were-popular-but-today-the-singer-would-be-arrested/396464/36 "2007-03-19T14:45:55Z")
“Pardon me “BOY”, is that the Chattanooga Choo-choo?” ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2007, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-were-popular-but-today-the-singer-would-be-arrested/396464/37 "2007-03-19T14:51:57Z")
They wouldn’t get arrested, but it would certainly be beyond the current bounds of taste. In his Book of Bad Songs, Dave Barry wrote about a sing with the line or title “He Hit Me , and it Felt Like a Kiss”. I suspect the group would feel like it was being kissed a lot, these days. I also can’t believe the song “Timothy”, which I still have never heard (but which I’ve read about since). Nothing like a serious song about cannibalism, I always say. ---
**Author:** ![dwc1970](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a183cd/32.png) [@dwc1970](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwc1970)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2007, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-were-popular-but-today-the-singer-would-be-arrested/396464/38 "2007-03-19T16:26:48Z")
[Benny Mardones’ “Into The Night”](http://www.oldielyrics.com/lyrics/benny_mardones/into_the_night.html) begins with the following lines: - She’s just sixteen years old Leave her alone, they say Separated by fools Who don’t know what love is yet But I want you to know \* Such a song probably wouldn’t go over so well today. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2007, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-were-popular-but-today-the-singer-would-be-arrested/396464/39 "2007-03-19T16:45:19Z")
While it doesn’t say how old the girl/woman in question is, \*\*Conway Twitty \*\*'s \*You’ve Never Been This Far Before \* is pretty creepy. I saw a clip of the pompadoured 40 year old Twitty in extreme close up singing: _I can almost hear the stillness As it yields to the sound of your heart beating And I can almost hear the echo Of the thoughts that I know you must be thinking And I can feel your body tremble As you wonder what this moment holds in store And as I put my arms around you I can tell you’ve never been this far before_ ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2007, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-were-popular-but-today-the-singer-would-be-arrested/396464/40 "2007-03-19T17:20:50Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] I also can’t believe the song “Timothy”, which I still have never heard (but which I’ve read about since). Nothing like a serious song about cannibalism, I always say. [/QUOTE] FWIW, it’s not what I’d call “in your face,” just very, very strong implications that Timothy became a bit of a snack. Compared to some of the songs described here, it’s nowhere near as disturbing to me. (shrug) “Lifeboat ethics” often do lead to such situations, after all. (It’s amazing what having read all the Edward Rowe Snow one could find can do to warp a young man’s mind.) The songs about what modern Americans would consider date rape, or other abuse of women bother me far more. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-were-popular-but-today-the-singer-would-be-arrested/396464.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-were-popular-but-today-the-singer-would-be-arrested/396464.md?page=3)