# 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:** 5
**Author:** ![Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bad_News_Baboon)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2010, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-were-popular-but-today-the-singer-would-be-arrested/396464/81 "2010-07-25T19:47:44Z")
Sublime’s Wrong Way: Annie’s 12 years old… But I’m starin’ at her tits… But I am only a man So I take her to the can… ---
**Author:** ![Jason24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bb73d2/32.png) [@Jason24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jason24)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2016, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-were-popular-but-today-the-singer-would-be-arrested/396464/82 "2016-09-22T19:51:49Z")
A song that is not as old as some of the others mentioned in this thread but is along the same lines , in terms of being about love between an older man , and a teenager , is this one , “Older Than My Years” , by Cherie [https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrRHw7LFS1w](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrRHw7LFS1w) ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2016, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-were-popular-but-today-the-singer-would-be-arrested/396464/83 "2016-09-22T20:38:32Z")
[How about this song?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ejga4kJUts) ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2016, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-were-popular-but-today-the-singer-would-be-arrested/396464/84 "2016-09-22T20:48:26Z")
“[Chevy Van](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiEIToOWr64)” by Sammy Johns It’s practically a date rape carol. He picks up a girl off the side of the road, she passes out, he fucks her in the van, then he dumps her barefoot in some tiny town, intending to never return. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2016, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-were-popular-but-today-the-singer-would-be-arrested/396464/85 "2016-09-22T21:23:51Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > “[Chevy Van](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiEIToOWr64)” by Sammy Johns > > It’s practically a date rape carol. He picks up a girl off the side of the road, she passes out, he fucks her in the van, then he dumps her barefoot in some tiny town, intending to never return. Huh? > [@](#): > > She woke up and took me by the hand If anything, she was the aggressor. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2016, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-were-popular-but-today-the-singer-would-be-arrested/396464/86 "2016-09-22T21:57:27Z")
One song made famous by Kate Smith and Groucho Marx alludes to in “Duck Soup” (which usually gets bleeped out on television). > **[That's Why Darkies Were Born](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/That%27s_Why_Darkies_Were_Born)** > > "That's Why Darkies Were Born" was a popular song written by Ray Henderson and Lew Brown. It originated in George White's Scandals of 1931, where white baritone Everett Marshall performed the song in blackface. > The song was most famously recorded by popular singer Kate Smith, whose rendition was a hit in 1931,\[better source needed\] and by award-winning singer, film star, scholar, and civil rights activist Paul Robeson. It was also featured in a 1931 all-star recording of a medley of songs from... ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2016, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-were-popular-but-today-the-singer-would-be-arrested/396464/87 "2016-09-22T23:32:53Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > [How about this song?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ejga4kJUts) Huh? It’s about The Irish Troubles. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2016, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-were-popular-but-today-the-singer-would-be-arrested/396464/88 "2016-09-23T00:06:48Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > “[Chevy Van](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiEIToOWr64)” by Sammy Johns > > It’s practically a date rape carol. He picks up a girl off the side of the road, she passes out, he fucks her in the van, then he dumps her barefoot in some tiny town, intending to never return. It’s not date rape because it’s consensual. However, if the girl (or boy) were below 18, that would raise another uncomfortable issue. In any case, this is a song that was dripping with cheese when it first came out and now has an added “ick” factor that makes it even more unlistenable. Also, I’m not the first one whose pointed this out but [this much better Tom Waits song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQqMYUu62zM) is the obverse of “Chevy Van”. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2016, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-were-popular-but-today-the-singer-would-be-arrested/396464/89 "2016-09-23T00:13:10Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > “[Chevy Van](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiEIToOWr64)” by Sammy Johns > > It’s practically a date rape carol. He picks up a girl off the side of the road, she passes out, he fucks her in the van, then he dumps her barefoot in some tiny town, intending to never return. > [@Folacin](#): > > Huh? > If anything, she was the aggressor. Not to mention, the song starts out: _I gave a girl a ride in my wagon. She climbed in and took control._ ---
**Author:** ![Graymalkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@Graymalkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Graymalkin)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2016, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-were-popular-but-today-the-singer-would-be-arrested/396464/90 "2016-09-23T01:56:50Z")
> [@casdave](#): > > How about this from the Beatles, > > Well I’d rather see you dead, little girl > Than to be with another man > You better keep your head, little girl > Or I won’t know where I am > > You better run for your life if you can, little girl > Hide your head in the sand little girl > Catch you with another man > That’s the end’a little girl. > > I think personally that this was something of a play between the darker lyrics and the uptempo jolly tune, any rate I do think its a challenge to the average listener which is what they probably intended. > > ‘The night has a thousand eyes’ if that isn’t a song about a stalker, then I don’t know what is. No Reply by the Beatles is stalker-creepy, too. I love playing and singing it, though. ---
**Author:** ![bobo\_blesinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecae2f/32.png) [@bobo\_blesinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobo_blesinger)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2016, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-were-popular-but-today-the-singer-would-be-arrested/396464/91 "2016-09-23T02:16:17Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Huh? It’s about The Irish Troubles. Whoosh ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2016, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-were-popular-but-today-the-singer-would-be-arrested/396464/92 "2016-09-26T14:56:24Z")
> [@casdave](#): > > I do think its a challenge to the average listener which is what they probably intended. No, John was kind of a creep when he was a young man; I doubt there was a huge intent to “challenge” the listener. Anyway, the premise of this thread is on a par with calling any book that’s been the subject of an angry letter “banned”: Singers didn’t get arrested for their songs back then or now, and claiming that playing old pop songs would lead to a huge backlash is faintly ridiculous given that “playing old pop songs” is one of the dominant formats in commercial radio. Yes, some songs get elided from any nostalgia format, but then you have tracks like “Brown Sugar”, which is explicitly and unambiguously about rape and abuse and which has been a staple of commercial radio for as long as I can remember. Bah. I guess the one thing which will make me a fogey the fastest is watching others act like fogies. Get back to your lawns! ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2016, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-were-popular-but-today-the-singer-would-be-arrested/396464/93 "2016-09-26T15:18:02Z")
I know it’s comedy but the Bloodhound Gang’s “A Lap Dance is So Much Better If The Stripper Is Crying” is an absolutely horrorshow. Not only does the narrator get off on having unprotected sex with an underaged stripper who is prostituting herself to pay for baby formula, but later when he spots her picture on a milk carton his reaction is to masturbate to it. Nice guy. On a more pleasant note, whoever referenced Flanders and Swann’s “Have Some Madeira, M’Dear” above all those years ago was wrong to describe the events as “date rape” - at the end of the song the girl is already out the door and down the street in full knowledge of what will befall her if she stays and drinks with the old letch…and she voluntarily comes back (and apparently enjoys herself). ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2016, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-were-popular-but-today-the-singer-would-be-arrested/396464/94 "2016-09-26T18:19:43Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Gilbert O’Sullivan’s [Claire](http://homepage.ntlworld.com/gary.hart/lyricso/osullivan.html) raised eyebrows when it was released. But it shouldn’t have been controversial! It’s not about a child molestor- it’s about a man babysitting for a precocious little girl. She’s not having sex with him, she’s driving him nuts with requests for water and whatnot. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2016, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-were-popular-but-today-the-singer-would-be-arrested/396464/95 "2016-09-26T18:42:20Z")
I’ve always felt that [I Gotcha](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDEZQxg2TSM) by Joe Tex was pretty sickening - a guy insisting on sex from a woman who wants to avoid him. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2016, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-were-popular-but-today-the-singer-would-be-arrested/396464/96 "2016-09-26T18:52:50Z")
> [@bobo\_blesinger](#): > > Whoosh Well, if I’m whooshed, you’re going to have to explain the whoosh, because I don’t get what’s whooshing. ---
**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:** [September 26, 2016, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-were-popular-but-today-the-singer-would-be-arrested/396464/97 "2016-09-26T18:58:49Z")
Bob Marley’s [Waiting in Vain](http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/bobmarley/waitinginvain.html) is about a stalker. Ditto The Police’s Every Breath You Take. Sting, who wrote the song, says he’s amazed that the song gets played at weddings. ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2016, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-were-popular-but-today-the-singer-would-be-arrested/396464/98 "2016-09-26T20:09:31Z")
Not so much lyrics, but the visuals. . . I think any performance by the original lineup of the Runaways would raise serious eyebrows today. Or maybe not, sadly. But they were underage for sure. ---
**Author:** ![Accidental\_Martyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ce7236/32.png) [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2016, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-were-popular-but-today-the-singer-would-be-arrested/396464/99 "2016-09-26T20:32:48Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Well, if I’m whooshed, you’re going to have to explain the whoosh, because I don’t get what’s whooshing. The zombie “joke” that people like to make on here when old threads are revived. I didn’t get it either until I scrolled back up and looked at the dates of the posts. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2016, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-were-popular-but-today-the-singer-would-be-arrested/396464/100 "2016-09-26T20:39:53Z")
> [@Accidental\_Martyr](#): > > The zombie “joke” that people like to make on here when old threads are revived. I didn’t get it either until I scrolled back up and looked at the dates of the posts. I still don’t get it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-were-popular-but-today-the-singer-would-be-arrested/396464.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-were-popular-but-today-the-singer-would-be-arrested/396464.md?page=6)