# Songs you didn't "get" as a kid **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 20, 2010, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-get-as-a-kid/536775 "2010-04-20T18:04:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2010, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-get-as-a-kid/536775/1 "2010-04-20T18:04:23Z")
I guess there were plenty I never really “got.” One that comes to mind is Deuce, by Kiss. > [@](#): > > Baby, if you’re feeling good > And baby if you’re feeling nice > You know your man is workin’ hard > He’s worth a deuce The only reference to “deuce” that I’d ever heard was in cards: as in “all I got is a pair of deuces.” I thought the song was about poker or something. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2010, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-get-as-a-kid/536775/2 "2010-04-20T18:12:36Z")
The line I snicker at the memory is from Papa was a Rolling Stone — _Papa was a rolling stone. Wherever he laid his hat was his home. (And when he died) All he left us was a loan._ A LOAN? Geez, Dad. He gets this loan at the bank, gave us the money, then he ups and dies — and now we have to repay it! I guess I “got” the song all right, but it amuses me that I thought it was some sort of financial comment instead of _all he left us was alone_. ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2010, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-get-as-a-kid/536775/3 "2010-04-20T18:13:26Z")
I was in the first or second grade when I first saw the video for Tom Petty and the Heartbreaker’s “Last Dance With Mary Jane.” Not only did I completely not get the point of the song, I didn’t understand the video. In the video a guy robs a morgue and dresses up the body etc. That music video weirded me right the hell out. I didn’t know why it did, all I knew was there was something about it that wasn’t right. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2010, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-get-as-a-kid/536775/4 "2010-04-20T18:36:26Z")
“Walk on the Wild Side” by Lou Reed. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2010, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-get-as-a-kid/536775/5 "2010-04-20T19:06:27Z")
“Walk This Way”, Aerosmith ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2010, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-get-as-a-kid/536775/6 "2010-04-20T19:06:58Z")
“Bad Bad Leroy Brown” by Jim Croce. Now when I listen to it, it’s all vice and crime and a dangerous world. When I was a kid, it sounded very upbeat. ---
**Author:** ![Jettboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/85e7bf/32.png) [@Jettboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jettboy)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2010, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-get-as-a-kid/536775/7 "2010-04-20T19:16:40Z")
I had some confusion over “Lola”, by the Kinks when I was a wee young boy. When Ray Davies sings _“…I’m glad I’m a man and so’s Lola”_, I wasn’t sure if he meant that A: Ray is glad that he is a man, and Lola is ALSO glad that Ray is a man, or B: Ray is glad that he is a man, and that Lola (despite the girly name) is of the male gender as well. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2010, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-get-as-a-kid/536775/8 "2010-04-20T19:41:41Z")
As a kid I never knew that “Afternoon Delight” was about sex. And there were plenty of other songs that used imagery or metaphors, or in some other way didn’t say directly what they were talking about that went straight over my head. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2010, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-get-as-a-kid/536775/9 "2010-04-20T19:43:40Z")
That’s funny because _Afternoon Delight_ was probably the one song that I GOT. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2010, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-get-as-a-kid/536775/10 "2010-04-20T19:45:10Z")
> [@Ellen\_Cherry](#): > > That’s funny because _Afternoon Delight_ was probably the one song that I GOT. I just thought it was about being in a nice park watching fireworks :o ---
**Author:** ![Surly\_Chick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Surly\_Chick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surly_Chick)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2010, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-get-as-a-kid/536775/11 "2010-04-20T19:45:14Z")
> [@Ellen\_Cherry](#): > > The line I snicker at the memory is from Papa was a Rolling Stone — > > _Papa was a rolling stone. > Wherever he laid his hat was his home. > (And when he died) All he left us was a loan._ > > A LOAN? Geez, Dad. He gets this loan at the bank, gave us the money, then he ups and dies — and now we have to repay it! > > I guess I “got” the song all right, but it amuses me that I thought it was some sort of financial comment instead of _all he left us was alone_. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2010, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-get-as-a-kid/536775/12 "2010-04-20T19:46:31Z")
When I was six, I had absolutely no idea that “The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia” was about betrayal, infidelity, and murder. I was freaked out by an animated video of Cher’s “Dark Lady.” There’s no way I could have handled the Dixie Gothic Horror of Vicki Lawrence. ---
**Author:** ![SaharaTea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@SaharaTea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SaharaTea)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2010, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-get-as-a-kid/536775/13 "2010-04-20T19:47:31Z")
I was really into Madonna in the 80s, but I had no clue what “Papa Don’t Preach” was really about. When she sang about how she was “gonna keep my baby,” I thought she was talking about her boyfriend. I must have looked pretty funny as an 8-yr-old, dancing around and singing along to this song about a teen who gets knocked up. ---
**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:** [April 20, 2010, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-get-as-a-kid/536775/14 "2010-04-20T19:55:24Z")
> [@Jettboy](#): > > I had some confusion over “Lola”, by the Kinks when I was a wee young boy. > > When Ray Davies sings _“…I’m glad I’m a man and so’s Lola”_, I wasn’t sure if he meant that A: Ray is glad that he is a man, and Lola is ALSO glad that Ray is a man, or B: Ray is glad that he is a man, and that Lola (despite the girly name) is of the male gender as well. You’re supposed to realize that either explanation would be possible. That’s what makes the song so clever. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2010, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-get-as-a-kid/536775/15 "2010-04-20T20:02:20Z")
> [@Nobody](#): > > As a kid I never knew that “Afternoon Delight” was about sex. And there were plenty of other songs that used imagery or metaphors, or in some other way didn’t say directly what they were talking about that went straight over my head. I had a vague idea it was about airplanes because of the sound effect after “skyrockets in flight”. Truthfully, I wasn’t paying much attention to song lyrics at that point. However, I went to a private Christian school, and one day they had an assembly to tell us all about how Satan was getting to us through the radio. Was I ever surprised! ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2010, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-get-as-a-kid/536775/16 "2010-04-20T20:35:28Z")
So, am I the only one who still doesn’t know what the “deuce” in the OP is? ---
**Author:** ![RhapsodyInBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RhapsodyInBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RhapsodyInBlue)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2010, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-get-as-a-kid/536775/17 "2010-04-20T20:36:38Z")
You don’t have to be a kid either. Sometimes older people have funny takes on a song, too. In my 20’s I was working in an outside sales job. The new manager was a much older guy who had retired from his first corporate career. He was also very much a born again Christian who loathed expletives or anything risque. One day we were going on a sales call together. He was driving with the radio going very low in the background. We were making small talk about this major home remodeling project he had been working on for years. (And he talked about that a lot! He was doing all the carpentry, plumbing, HVAC, etc.) Suddenly he got all excited, turned up the radio and yelled, “I love this! I heard it for the first time on the way to work this morning!” He was humming and kind of singing along with Marvin Gaye, and I was more or less cringing and _very_ confused by his love for this particular song. Then he got to the part about… “When I get this feeling, I need sectional heating.” And to this day, I believe he sincerely thought that’s what the song was about. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2010, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-get-as-a-kid/536775/18 "2010-04-20T20:38:40Z")
> [@Nobody](#): > > I just thought it was about being in a nice park watching fireworks :o I thought lunch was involved, too, what with the references to “working up an appetite” and “nibbling a little afternoon delight”. A hearty lunch and fireworks; sounds like a delightful afternoon! ---
**Author:** ![corkboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2010, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-get-as-a-kid/536775/19 "2010-04-20T20:39:41Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > So, am I the only one who still doesn’t know what the “deuce” in the OP is? No, you’re not (raises hand). As for Papa Was a Rolling Stone, I always assumed both meanings (“a loan”, “alone”) were intended. Not only are we now fatherless, but now we have to pay back the vig, with interest! ---
**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:** [April 20, 2010, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-get-as-a-kid/536775/20 "2010-04-20T20:41:09Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > So, am I the only one who still doesn’t know what the “deuce” in the OP is? [Deuce (song) - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deuce_(song))) > [@](#): > > “Deuce” was a popular street term in the late 1960s and early 1970s (around the time in which this song was written), meaning a blowjob for $20.00. Gene Simmons is not exactly Ray Davies, is he? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-get-as-a-kid/536775.md?page=2)