# 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:** 8
**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, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-get-as-a-kid/536775/141 "2010-04-23T20:12:36Z")
> [@HelloKitty](#): > > 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: For me it was the lyrics “Sky rockets in flight”. My childhood brain couldn’t think of any other meaning than fireworks. ---
**Author:** ![Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maggie_the_Ocelot)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2010, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-get-as-a-kid/536775/142 "2010-04-23T21:03:11Z")
> [@Nobody](#): > > For me it was the lyrics “Sky rockets in flight”. My childhood brain couldn’t think of any other meaning than fireworks. See, I didn’t think of fireworks. Who would set off fireworks in the middle of the day? Now, model rockets, on the other hand, made perfect sense! Sitting there with your sweetie, watching the model rockets go up… ---
**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, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-get-as-a-kid/536775/143 "2010-04-23T21:11:32Z")
> [@Oni no Maggie](#): > > See, I didn’t think of fireworks. Who would set off fireworks in the middle of the day? > > Now, model rockets, on the other hand, made perfect sense! Sitting there with your sweetie, watching the model rockets go up… As I kid I thought that model rockets were awesome, but not romantic. ---
**Author:** ![Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maggie_the_Ocelot)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2010, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-get-as-a-kid/536775/144 "2010-04-23T21:34:13Z")
Me, either. But the singer was a guy, and guys are wierd. ---
**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, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-get-as-a-kid/536775/145 "2010-04-23T22:31:43Z")
> [@Oni no Maggie](#): > > Me, either. But the singer was a guy, and guys are wierd. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ce7236/32.png) [@Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mona_Lisa_Simpson)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2010, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-get-as-a-kid/536775/146 "2010-04-23T23:49:12Z")
> [@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…) > > Also, ever since our local paper wrote about someone else’s problem hearing CCR’s “Bad Moon Rising”, I can’t help but hear “There’s a bathroom on the right” everytime it comes on… :dubious: The Larry Welk clip had me in tears. I am guilty of singing Afternoon Delight in full volume while playing on the swings, at age 8, in satin short shorts. If that was on film (and I hadn’t been a chubby gruubby girl with a short haircut, cowlicks, and buck teeth I am sure I would have been some pedophiles wet dream) I one time was lost driving around east vancouver, somehow ended up on highway 1 heading fror well the resst of canada and heard and “Emergency Request…someone URGENTLY needs to hear LOLA by the Kinks”, The mind boggles at what that emergency was. I know I have a bunch of “whaaaaa?” moments with songs, just can’t think of them right now. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2010, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-get-as-a-kid/536775/147 "2010-04-24T00:07:41Z")
All right, it’s dumb, but ‘‘Kokomo’’ by the Beach Boys used to confuse the hell out of me. I’d never heard of Bermuda, The Bahamas, Key Largo, or Montego so it was all just a bunch of gibberish. I thought he was just babbling nonsense. \* To Martinique, that Monserrat mystique\* sounded to me something like, ‘‘I want to take that Monterrey steak.’’ God what a baffling song for my poor young mind. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2010, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-get-as-a-kid/536775/148 "2010-04-24T00:16:08Z")
> [@olivesmarch4th](#): > > All right, it’s dumb, but ‘‘Kokomo’’ by the Beach Boys used to confuse the hell out of me. Yes, yes, but what did you think the reference to “afternoon delight” in that song meant? ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2010, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-get-as-a-kid/536775/149 "2010-04-24T00:18:29Z")
> [@spoke-](#): > > Yes, yes, but what did you think the reference to “afternoon delight” in that song meant? That’s hilarious. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![kidneyfailure](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9f8e36/32.png) [@kidneyfailure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidneyfailure)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2010, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-get-as-a-kid/536775/150 "2010-04-24T00:30:43Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > [Here](http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Evils%20in%20America/devils_music.htm) is a hilarious website on Satanism in rock music. “Prince now a demonic Jehovah’s Witness.” No way! REALLY?! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2010, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-get-as-a-kid/536775/151 "2010-04-24T01:39:21Z")
> [@ministryman](#): > > So, my take on the song is that some guy is out one night and picks up what he thinks is a woman. He has some reservations (_I can’t understand why she looks like a woman and talks like a man_) about Lola’s gender identity. > > But…after some champagne…he ends up in bed with what presumably is a drag queen (or a bisexual cross-dresser - it’s hard to tell), and comes to grips with it. Yup. My take is that the singer was a “top” and Lola a “bottom”, and “she” prefers it that way. And the singer does go on to say that he’s not the world’s most masculine man, so perhaps he’s bi? **Pliny** : we are friends for life. I have been teased mercilessly for my mishearing of that 10CC song… 🙂 And now I can say it wasn’t just me! ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2010, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-get-as-a-kid/536775/152 "2010-04-24T01:45:41Z")
> [@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. Ew, indeed. I do not keep my face in a jar by the door, but I do keep my makeup there–which could be seen as the same thing… Can anyone tell me what the BeeGee’s sing in the song “You Should Be Dancing?” I cannot make the lyrics out at all (no surprise). To me the refrain sounds like “what you doing in your mama’s jammies?” (or mama’s bedroom). I could look up the lyrics, but this is more fun. Also, I never realized how many people struggled with 10CC. Probably explains why they were pretty much a one hit wonder… ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2010, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-get-as-a-kid/536775/153 "2010-04-24T01:48:09Z")
> [@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. I did too! I can still see the knight, with a long white satin “scarf” coming out of his helmet, on horseback, riding away with a lovely maiden. Ok, I need to read the whole thread, THEN post. Sorry… ---
**Author:** ![Baal\_Houtham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baal_houtham/32/13604_2.png) [@Baal\_Houtham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baal_Houtham)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2010, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-get-as-a-kid/536775/154 "2010-04-24T02:19:50Z")
> [@Electric\_Warrior](#): > > 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: My vote is for metaphor (maintaining an acceptable demeanor in public.) I don’t think the argument for a make-up jar is strong or half as interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Frostillicus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Frostillicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frostillicus)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2010, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-get-as-a-kid/536775/155 "2010-04-24T03:09:39Z")
> [@winterhawk11](#): > > When I was a kid, I thought Elton John was singing about Star Wars in “Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting”: > > \*“Don’t give us none of your aggravation, > We’ve had it with your Death Star plans…” > \* > I knew that couldn’t be right, but I had no idea what he was really saying. Since this song came out in 1973 and Star Wars came out in 1977, that would’ve been a pretty neat trick on the part of Sir Elton. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2010, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-get-as-a-kid/536775/156 "2010-04-24T04:47:17Z")
> [@eleanorigby](#): > > Yup. My take is that the singer was a “top” and Lola a “bottom”, and “she” prefers it that way. Although people can be quite different in the bedroom than they are outside, everything in the song indicates that the narrator is a rather passive guy while Lola is far more assertive and instigates everything in their encounter. He describes himself as not being very physical, passionate, or masculine, while Lola is the one who approaches him, asks him to dance, and invites him to come home with her. > [@](#): > > \*And the singer does go on to say that he’s not the world’s most masculine man, so perhaps he’s bi? \*Ray Davies did a pretty clever job of leaving the narrator’s motives and feelings open to interpretation. As already discussed, at the end of the song it’s unclear exactly what the narrator is glad about – just that he’s a man, or is he also glad that Lola’s a man? But while the most obvious reading of the earlier part of the song is that the narrator is an inexperienced guy who went to that club in Soho intending to meet women, he never actually says this. We know he’s “never, ever kissed a woman before”, but why not? Why isn’t he asking women to dance with him at this club? Why does he initially push Lola away when she invites him to come home with her? I think the most common interpretations of this song are that the narrator either discovers his bisexuality thanks to Lola or else he’s totally straight and rejects her once he realizes she’s actually a man. However, I think an equally possible reading is that the narrator is an inexperienced gay guy who went to that club hoping to meet _men_, has mixed feelings about being pursued by a woman…and is glad when he realizes she’s just what he was looking for after all. I’m not claiming this is the “correct” interpretation of the song, just pointing out that a lot of what the narrator says can be taken more than one way. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2010, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-get-as-a-kid/536775/157 "2010-04-24T21:02:08Z")
Ooh–that’s an interesting twist on that song. You may be on to something. I’m not sure about the singer being an experienced gay guy, since he’d just left home the week before (which implies a certain sheltering and naivety). At least the song’s lyrics have intelligence and depth, unlike most song today, but that’s another thread. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2010, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-get-as-a-kid/536775/158 "2010-04-24T21:17:31Z")
In the “Afternoon delight” spirit of things, I wonder how many little boys were running around singing “Macho Macho man…I wanna be a Macho man” or “YMCA” for that matter. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2010, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-get-as-a-kid/536775/159 "2010-04-24T22:51:00Z")
> [@eleanorigby](#): > > Ooh–that’s an interesting twist on that song. You may be on to something. I’m not sure about the singer being an experienced gay guy, since he’d just left home the week before (which implies a certain sheltering and naivety). No no, I said he was possible an INexperienced gay guy. If I think about the song in that way I imagine him as coming to London from a smaller town and thinking “Alright, I’m finally going to meet some guys! There are whole clubs here that cater to people like me!” But he’s shy and just sort of hanging out at the club not approaching anyone, and being rather provincial he doesn’t know that some of the well made-up ladies you meet at gay-friendly clubs aren’t actually women. ---
**Author:** ![Enginerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bcef8e/32.png) [@Enginerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enginerd)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2010, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-get-as-a-kid/536775/160 "2010-04-24T23:19:23Z")
> [@Frostillicus](#): > > Since this song came out in 1973 and Star Wars came out in 1977, that would’ve been a pretty neat trick on the part of Sir Elton. Many Bothans died to bring him that information. 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-get-as-a-kid/536775.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-get-as-a-kid/536775.md?page=9)