# Songs you can't play today
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [July 20, 2026, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799 "2026-07-20T03:34:44Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 6
### Author:  [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)
#### Post date: [July 22, 2026, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799/101 "2026-07-22T12:12:52Z")
> [@Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](#):
>
> I found it very squeamish hearing 50+ year-old Jimmy Buffet singing “Hitting on the honeys right out of high school” and “15 will get you 20, but that’s all right” in Livingston Saturday Night.
>
> As for most of the ballads about 15- or 16-year-olds, the target is high school kids, and they’re implying the singer is school age, too.
If you would like a “WTF were they thinking?” moment, read the lyrics for _Daddy Should Have Stayed in High School_ by Cheap Trick. Ugh.
---
### Author:  [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)
#### Post date: [July 22, 2026, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799/102 "2026-07-22T12:17:35Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#):
>
> That’s a good point. Legal age in Germany is still 16, like in the days of “Sweet Little Sixteen”, “I Saw Her Standing There”, “[Siebzehn Jahr, Blondes Haar](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBjxD2_-fuY)” and others, but try getting away with that kind of song about a sixteen or even eighteen old girl today.
I hate to break it to folks but [age of consent in the US](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_consent_in_the_United_States) is less than 18 years in all but 13 states. In the majority of states, the age of consent is 16. And that’s _without parental authority_, change that and it goes down to 13 years in a surprising number of states.
Yet still we don’t do songs about “my sexy teenage high school girlfriend” anymore, because most of us understand that the law hasn’t yet caught up with society.
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### Author:  [@rippingtons\_fan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rippingtons_fan)
#### Post date: [July 22, 2026, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799/103 "2026-07-22T12:36:56Z")
I always thought that Ray Stevens’ “A-Hab the A-Rab” was kind of racist.
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### Author:  [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)
#### Post date: [July 22, 2026, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799/104 "2026-07-22T12:43:48Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#):
>
> That got me thinking about the _Witch Doctor_ lyrics. _Ooh eee, ooh ah-ah, ting tang, Walla-walla, bing-bang_ is a Euro-American version of what ‘African’ languages sound like. Seems a bit insensitive nowadays.
I hate hate hate that song. It’s a popular square dance singing call, and I find the lyrics offensive enough that it detracts from my enjoying the dance.
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### Author:  [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)
#### Post date: [July 22, 2026, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799/105 "2026-07-22T13:53:10Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#):
>
> I find the lyrics offensive enough that it detracts from my enjoying the dance.
I don’t find the lyrics necessarily offensive. They’re in the tradition of [magic words](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_word) used in entertainment, like the [Steve Miller Band’s Abracadabra](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abracadabra_(Steve_Miller_Band_song)). But combined with [art on the album cover](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witch_Doctor_(song)#/media/File:DS_witchdoctor.jpg), it’s clear the publisher, if not the artist, was problematic.
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### Author:  [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)
#### Post date: [July 22, 2026, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799/106 "2026-07-22T14:03:43Z")
> [@rippingtons\_fan](#):
>
> I always thought that Ray Stevens’ “A-Hab the A-Rab” was kind of racist.
Doesn’t get much play these days, but then again, I’m not sure if I ever heard Ray Stevens on the radio at all. Had some decent songs, but was pretty niche for the mainstream.
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### Author:  [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)
#### Post date: [July 22, 2026, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799/107 "2026-07-22T14:58:14Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#):
>
> _Daddy Should Have Stayed in High School_ by Cheap Trick. Ugh.
Ugh indeed. I don’t know how I missed that one all these decades, but glad I did. (I don’t have their first album.)
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### Author:  [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)
#### Post date: [July 22, 2026, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799/108 "2026-07-22T15:05:33Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#):
>
> Ugh indeed. I don’t know how I missed that one all these decades, but glad I did. (I don’t have their first album.)
Just looked up the lyrics to that song and OMG!, how was that ever OK? Horrible song!
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### Author:  [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)
#### Post date: [July 22, 2026, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799/109 "2026-07-22T15:09:15Z")
> [@wguy123](#):
>
> how was that ever OK?
And I like “murder ballads”, at least, some, like Delilah and Cher’s Dark Lady, and even a suicide ballad can be OK, but creepy stalker rapist torture budding-serial-killer ballads cross the line. Especially when they craft the singer as the good guy in his own mind. At least Tom and Cher knew they were murderers.
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### Author:  [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)
#### Post date: [July 22, 2026, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799/110 "2026-07-22T15:11:33Z")
You forgot incestuous in that list.
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### Author:  [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)
#### Post date: [July 22, 2026, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799/111 "2026-07-22T15:12:22Z")
> [@wguy123](#):
>
> You forgot incestuous in that list.
head slap! And it’s right there in the title!
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### Author:  [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)
#### Post date: [July 22, 2026, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799/112 "2026-07-22T15:14:16Z")
It’s hard to keep track of all the disgusting things in that song. Blows my mind that someone intentionally wrote that!
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### Author:  [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)
#### Post date: [July 22, 2026, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799/113 "2026-07-22T15:27:44Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#):
>
> Ugh indeed. I don’t know how I missed that one all these decades, but glad I did. (I don’t have their first album.)
Cheap Trick’s first album is my favorite of theirs. Unlike the pop-ballad crap on their later albums, it is high-energy, balls-to-the-wall, _rock_. I’ve probably listened to it a thousand times. I like everything about that song (_Daddy Should Have Stayed in High School_), _except_ for the super creepy lyrics. The song even starts with a bunch a young school kids making noises on a playground. 😳 WTF were they thinking? I’ve got to assume they stopped playing that song in concert a long time ago.
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### Author:  [@Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Winston_OBoogie)
#### Post date: [July 22, 2026, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799/114 "2026-07-22T16:28:05Z")
> [@wguy123](#):
>
> how was that ever OK?
It’s OK in the same way that movies about rape, abduction, etc. are made, or that I Don’t Like Mondays was recorded. It’s not saying that the actions are OK, just that they are.
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### Author:  [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)
#### Post date: [July 22, 2026, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799/115 "2026-07-22T19:05:49Z")
> [@Chefguy](#):
>
> I would think **Ahab The Arab** by Ray Stevens would likely not be appreciated these days.
Sorry to interrupt, but I wanted to mention that a lot of Ray Stevens early material was stolen from [Brother Dave Gardner](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brother_Dave_Gardner), including a lot of the things referenced in that song.
> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#):
>
> I’m not sure if I ever heard Ray Stevens on the radio at all. Had some decent songs, but was pretty niche for the mainstream.
Pretty heavily right wing now. [Example.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFaCytKXOSQ)
Carry on.
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### Author:  [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)
#### Post date: [July 22, 2026, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799/116 "2026-07-22T19:11:09Z")
deleted
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### Author:  [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)
#### Post date: [July 22, 2026, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799/117 "2026-07-22T20:01:55Z")
> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#):
>
> Had some decent songs, but was pretty niche for the mainstream.
“Everything Is Beautiful”, one of his more serious songs, won a Grammy.
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### Author:  [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)
#### Post date: [July 22, 2026, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799/118 "2026-07-22T20:07:05Z")
> [@Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](#):
>
> It’s OK in the same way that movies about rape, abduction, etc. are made, or that I Don’t Like Mondays was recorded. It’s not saying that the actions are OK, just that they are.
Now that you put it that way, I can see it. I like The Misfits and they have classic lyrics like:
> [@](#):
>
> I got something to say
> I killed a baby today
> And it doesn’t matter much to me
> As long as it’s dead
>
> Well, I got something to say
> I raped your mother today
> And it doesn’t matter much to me
> As long as she spread
Slayer and many others have outlandish lyrics. I guess it’s because you expect it from these types of bands that you don’t blink an eye at it. But when it comes from Cheap Trick, it becomes truly shocking. Plus, these particular lyrics really were a whole different level.
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### Author:  [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)
#### Post date: [July 22, 2026, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799/119 "2026-07-22T20:40:32Z")
> [@wguy123](#):
>
> But when it comes from Cheap Trick, it becomes truly shocking.
I don’t find it that shocking. This is the same band that wrote “Auf Wiedersehen” and “He’s a Whore”, after all.
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### Author:  [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)
#### Post date: [July 22, 2026, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799/120 "2026-07-22T20:46:50Z")
I still put them in an entirely different class than the horror punk represented by the Misfits.
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