# 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:** 7
**Author:** ![Simmerdown](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simmerdown/32/14859_2.png) [@Simmerdown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simmerdown)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2010, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-get-as-a-kid/536775/121 "2010-04-22T17:54:08Z")
> [@Ellen\_Cherry](#): > > I just thought of another Fleetwood Mac song I didn’t understand: _Rhiannon_. As a 12-year-old in 1976 rural Kentucky where everyone was named Lisa, I had never heard the name Rhiannon and wouldn’t have believed you if you’d told me it was a name. 😛 Anyway, I thought they were singing — > > \*Would you stay if she promised you Heaven? > Will you ever win? Will you ever win? > > Will ya evvvvvvvvvaaaaaaah? > Wi’ ya evvvvvvvvvvvahhhhhhh-uhhhhhhh? > Will ya evvvvvvvvvaaaaaaah? > Wi’ ya evvvvvvvvvvvahhhhhhh-uhhhhhhh?\* Man, it was **decades** before I found out it wasn’t _Will ya evvvvvaaaaah?_ Also, _Brass in Pocke_t by the Pretenders had the lines: _Don Pardo, I’m gonna use it,_ and _Been drivin’, Dieter leanin’._ (You mean, this [Dieter](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sprockets_%28Saturday_Night_Live%29)?) (Actually _got bottle_, and\* Detroit leanin’\* – which still doesn’t really make sense to me) And also from Elton’s _Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting_: _We’d get our bodies oiled as a diesel train…_ ---
**Author:** ![Meyer6](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cc9497/32.png) [@Meyer6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meyer6)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2010, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-get-as-a-kid/536775/122 "2010-04-22T20:31:03Z")
As a kid I was always a bit disturbed by Elanor Rigby when she’s “wearing the face that she keeps in a jar by the door” - I pictured a disembodied face floating in a jar on a shelf by the doorway. Ewww. My dad listened to Eric Clapton a lot when I was a kid, and I thought > [@Eric Clapton](#): > > She don’t lie > she don’t lie > she don’t lie > cocaine was > [@](#): > > It’s alright > it’s alright > it’s alright > it’s okay which I would sing occasionally with great gusto. Needless to say my dad never corrected this one. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2010, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-get-as-a-kid/536775/123 "2010-04-22T21:04:42Z")
**Meyer6** , I thought that, too. In fact I know at one point I would hear people talking about the Clapton song Cocaine and not know which one it is. Then I found out that I’d known it the whole time, but I just didn’t know it was called Cocaine or what he was really singing. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2010, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-get-as-a-kid/536775/124 "2010-04-22T21:33:26Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > You mean it’s not about an ice cream cone on a hot day? That’s what my parents told me. Your parents lied to you? :eek: You go and give them a piece of your mind! :mad: > [@Khadaji](#): > > She \*is \*kinda creepy looking, but the view of her is too small to really determine much. [Close up.](http://www.itwillpass.com/HotelCaliforniaAlbumBackCover2Head.jpg) Upon closer inspection she clearly is a witch. We need to find her and burn her. > [@Quercus\_alba](#): > > [Here’s one](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8tdmaEhMHE) that Lawrence Welk apparently “didn’t get”. 😃 (If you watch it to the end–and I’d hardly blame you if you didn’t!–he refers to it as a “modern spiritual”…well, I suppose…) Damn, that is hilarious. Thanks for the laughs. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2010, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-get-as-a-kid/536775/125 "2010-04-22T21:37:23Z")
> [@Nobody](#): > > ZZ Top song “Tush” > > Even into adulthood, I thought the line > > I said lord take me downtown, I’m just looking for some tush. > > was > > I said lord take me downtown, I’m just looking for some touch. _Tush_ is an archaic English word for a boar; I thought the song was about boar-hunting in Texas. Feel free to mock. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2010, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-get-as-a-kid/536775/126 "2010-04-22T21:40:20Z")
> [@Mr.Kobayashi](#): > > The aforementioned _Papa Was a Rolling Stone_ and Dylan’s _Like a Rolling Stone_ I thought were about the band The Rolling Stones. In my mind it made sense… If it makes you feel any better, Kris Kristofferson’s _Blame It On The Rolling Stones_ is referencing the band. ---
**Author:** ![crypto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b3f665/32.png) [@crypto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crypto)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2010, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-get-as-a-kid/536775/127 "2010-04-22T22:50:26Z")
> [@ShibbOleth](#): > > The simplest explanation is usually the correct one. It’s about how his lady friend has feet that are always cold. That’s it. I love the part of the song where he describes her body as South America. Best use of Tierra del Fuego in a song, ever. ok, apparently, I didn’t get this song as an adult, either. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2010, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-get-as-a-kid/536775/128 "2010-04-22T22:53:10Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > _Tush_ is an archaic English word for a boar; I thought the song was about boar-hunting in Texas. > > Feel free to mock. Nah, I’m misheard lyrics far worse than than that. In “Danger Zone” sung by Kenny Loggins, they way he says Highway to the danger zone The way he pronounced danger zone, I thought he was saying Highway to the 90th hour Now that’s mock-worthy. ---
**Author:** ![Indyellen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/indyellen/32/4176_2.png) [@Indyellen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indyellen)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2010, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-get-as-a-kid/536775/129 "2010-04-22T23:29:54Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Can’t make a decent margarita without salt. Well, I know that NOW. When I was 10, though, it didn’t make much sense. Dad was a gin & tonic man at that time. ---
**Author:** ![VarlosZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d78d45/32.png) [@VarlosZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VarlosZ)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2010, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-get-as-a-kid/536775/130 "2010-04-22T23:34:27Z")
**Paradise by the Dashboard Light**. Until I was maybe 15 I thought that the whole baseball announcer interlude in the middle of the song was just an exercise in randomness. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2010, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-get-as-a-kid/536775/131 "2010-04-23T00:07:26Z")
Would someone alert **Lord Mondegreen** that his lady wife is needed for cleanup in aisle four? 😃 ---
**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 23, 2010, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-get-as-a-kid/536775/132 "2010-04-23T14:24:39Z")
snicker Speaking of _Margaritaville_, it always perplexed me why he’d sing about stepping on a Pop-Tart. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Electric\_Warrior](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@Electric\_Warrior](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Electric_Warrior)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2010, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-get-as-a-kid/536775/133 "2010-04-23T14:44:27Z")
> [@Meyer6](#): > > As a kid I was always a bit disturbed by Elanor Rigby when she’s “wearing the face that she keeps in a jar by the door” - I pictured a disembodied face floating in a jar on a shelf by the doorway. Ewww. Oh my god. The jar is A MAKEUP JAR. I always just thought it was some kind of bizarre metaphor. No, they meant AN ACTUAL JAR. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2010, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-get-as-a-kid/536775/134 "2010-04-23T15:10:05Z")
> [@Indyellen](#): > > Well, I know that NOW. When I was 10, though, it didn’t make much sense. Dad was a gin & tonic man at that time. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2010, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-get-as-a-kid/536775/135 "2010-04-23T15:24:55Z")
“Nights in white satin… never reaching the end…laaa laaa laaaaaa” From which song by who? As a kid, I always pictured something like fancy knights dressed up like klu klux klans men on galloping horse back heading to some never ending quest in a far away land. Only years later did I realize it was a viagra commercial so to speak. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2010, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-get-as-a-kid/536775/136 "2010-04-23T15:26:04Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > “Nights in white satin… never reaching the end…laaa laaa laaaaaa” > > From which song by who? Moody Blues. ---
**Author:** ![snowmaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e99b99/32.png) [@snowmaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowmaster)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2010, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-get-as-a-kid/536775/137 "2010-04-23T15:27:30Z")
> [@VarlosZ](#): > > **Paradise by the Dashboard Light**. Until I was maybe 15 I thought that the whole baseball announcer interlude in the middle of the song was just an exercise in randomness. The way I hear it, Phil Rizzuto had no idea they wanted his signature voice to be used in such a double entendre way and was pretty pissed about it. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2010, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-get-as-a-kid/536775/138 "2010-04-23T15:56:03Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > “Nights in white satin… never reaching the end…laaa laaa laaaaaa” > > From which song by who? > > As a kid, I always pictured something like fancy knights dressed up like klu klux klans men on galloping horse back heading to some never ending quest in a far away land. > > Only years later did I realize it was a viagra commercial so to speak. My mother used to tease me about that song (I like it, she doesn’t): whenever it came on, she’d chuckle about all those gay knights, running around dressed in white satin. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![HelloKitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecccb3/32.png) [@HelloKitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HelloKitty)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2010, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-get-as-a-kid/536775/139 "2010-04-23T17:14:12Z")
> [@KennerTheGreat](#): > > It took me a while to realize that the woman with whom Rupert Holmes arranged a secret rendez-vous in “Escape (The Pina Colada Song)” was his own wife. It also took me awhile to realize that not only was the singer looking for someone new in the classifieds, so was his wife!! That’s how she knew to show up at the romantic location of O’Malley’s bar. Also, regarding Afternoon Delight…my middle school brain also thought it was literally about fireworks in the afternoon. So why did we think fireworks would be so great to watch in the middle of a sunny day??? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![overlyverbose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9dc877/32.png) [@overlyverbose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/overlyverbose)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2010, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-get-as-a-kid/536775/140 "2010-04-23T18:37:13Z")
I think I must have been the only adult to take so long to register the lyrics to Greased Lightning in the movie Grease. I’m talking about the bolded part: Go grease lightning you’re burning up the quarter mile (Grease lightning go grease lightning) Go grease lightning you’re coasting through the heat lap trial You are supreme, **the chicks’ll cream** for grease lightning Go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go Purple french tail lights and thirty inch fins oh yeah A Palomino dashboard and duel muffler twins oh yeah \*\*With new pistons, plugs, and shocks I can get off my rocks You know that I ain’t bragging she’s a real \*\*\*\* wagon \*\* Grease lightning I watched Grease for the first time in middle school, watched it severa times in high school and it was only when I was 25 and watching it again with a friend who’d never seen it that I said, “Wait, what?! How did I miss that?” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-get-as-a-kid/536775.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-get-as-a-kid/536775.md?page=8)