# Wash your mouth out with soap or I didn't know it was about "that"! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 18, 2005, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wash-your-mouth-out-with-soap-or-i-didnt-know-it-was-about-that/317647 "2005-08-18T20:04:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2005, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wash-your-mouth-out-with-soap-or-i-didnt-know-it-was-about-that/317647/101 "2005-08-20T18:08:34Z")
A friend put a song by Spirit of the West called “Bone of Contention” on a mix tape for me. I didn’t realize until it was explained to me that the song was about Paul Reubens ruining his career with the adult theater incident. You’d think I could have worked it out on my own from this part of the song, \*And the bone of contention has all our attention The bone of contention was all our invention \*\*Gonna burn the playhouse down \*\* \*\*Death by his own hand \*\* when the black cat crossed his path and stayed as close as the tattoo that never fades \*\*For the Saturday morning man \*\* the laughs have all been canned The joke’s no longer with him It’s about him, at him, on him \* but no. ---
**Author:** ![ioioio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ioioio/32/316_2.png) [@ioioio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ioioio)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2005, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wash-your-mouth-out-with-soap-or-i-didnt-know-it-was-about-that/317647/102 "2005-08-20T18:52:44Z")
I always assumed that the Counting Crows’ [Mr. Jones](http://www.lyricsondemand.com/c/countingcrowslyrics/mrjoneslyrics.html) was a penis, but I heard an interview with Adam Durtz where he expressed bewilderment that people were interpreting the song that way. I suspect he was being disingenuous. ---
**Author:** ![Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helen_s_Eidolon)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2005, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wash-your-mouth-out-with-soap-or-i-didnt-know-it-was-about-that/317647/103 "2005-08-20T19:30:14Z")
I have some good ones here. Two of my favourite songs as a child, which I sang, put on repeat etc. etc. were: My Ding-a-ling by Chuck Berry (do I even need to post lyrics with this one?) and Poison Ivy by the Coasters: > [@](#): > > She comes on like a rose but everybody knows > She’ll get you in Dutch > Now you can look but you better not touch > > Poison iv-y-y-y-y, poison iv-y-y-y-y > Late at night while you’re sleepin’ poison ivy comes a’creepin’ > Arou-ou-ou-ou-ou-ound > > She’s pretty as a daisy but look out man she’s crazy > She’ll really do you in > Now if you let her under your skin > > Poison iv-y-y-y-y, poison iv-y-y-y-y > Late at night while you’re sleepin’ poison ivy comes a’creepin’ > Arou-ou-ou-ou-ou-ound > > Measles make you bumpy > And mumps’ll make you lumpy > And chicken pox’ll make you jump and twitch > A common cold’ll fool ya > And whooping cough’ll cool ya > But poison ivy, Lord’ll make you itch! > > You’re gonna need an ocean of calamine lotion > You’ll be scratchin’ like a hound > The minute you start to mess around ---
**Author:** ![Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helen_s_Eidolon)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2005, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wash-your-mouth-out-with-soap-or-i-didnt-know-it-was-about-that/317647/104 "2005-08-20T19:32:56Z")
I forgot to add, to my parents’ great credit, they never gave me an inkling of how embarassed I should have been. ---
**Author:** ![Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2005, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wash-your-mouth-out-with-soap-or-i-didnt-know-it-was-about-that/317647/105 "2005-08-20T20:09:34Z")
> [@Dung Beetle](#): > > … My Sweet Lord, by the Beatles.) … Nitpick: “My Sweet Lord” isn’t a Beatles song. It’s a George Harrison solo effort. ---
**Author:** ![Quint](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/76d3ee/32.png) [@Quint](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quint)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2005, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wash-your-mouth-out-with-soap-or-i-didnt-know-it-was-about-that/317647/106 "2005-08-20T20:40:18Z")
> [@Bambi Hassenpfeffer](#): > > And a double :dubious: to **nameless** cause I just don’t see it. The lyrics are [here](http://www.paroles.net/texte/25383/artis/2607), and it seems like a huge stretch to say that it has anything to do with fellatio. I would agree that it’s about a lover, but not about anything physical. It’s like those people who saw a pregnancy in her [Secret](http://www.mad-eyes.net/disco/bs/secret.htm), which is about her rediscovery of God. She really has been spiritual most of her life, and I have no problem thinking of her comparing having found someone who reminds her of angels and heaven and all that. While it may be true she has been spiritual most of her life, she has also openly exploited sexuality throughout her career. Notably, she released a book of naughty pictures of herself, performed fellatio on a pop bottle on camera, and sang numerous songs with open sexual connotations. I certainly think she realized that the lyrics: “When you call my name, It’s like a little prayer, I’m down on my knees, I want to take you there.” could easily be interpreted as “When I’m giving you head and you moan my name it sounds like you are praying”. That it occurs in a song with a spiritual theme could only enhance the potential controversy and increase buzz around Madonna. ---
**Author:** ![nameless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/779978/32.png) [@nameless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nameless)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2005, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wash-your-mouth-out-with-soap-or-i-didnt-know-it-was-about-that/317647/107 "2005-08-20T21:11:49Z")
Vindication is mine! ---
**Author:** ![marque\_elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71c47a/32.png) [@marque\_elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marque_elf)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2005, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wash-your-mouth-out-with-soap-or-i-didnt-know-it-was-about-that/317647/108 "2005-08-20T21:15:00Z")
I used to have arguments with friends in school about the real meaning of The Who’s _Squeeze Box_. Yes, accordions do go “in and and in and out” but there are other things that do that too… “Mama’s got a squeeze box and Daddy doesn’t sleep at night” was pretty damn obvious to me. Daltry wasn’t singing about polka music. Poke her music maybe… ---
**Author:** ![davmilasav](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9bcb4/32.png) [@davmilasav](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davmilasav)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2005, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wash-your-mouth-out-with-soap-or-i-didnt-know-it-was-about-that/317647/109 "2005-08-20T23:32:22Z")
Nitpick: Daltrey has an “e” ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2005, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wash-your-mouth-out-with-soap-or-i-didnt-know-it-was-about-that/317647/110 "2005-08-21T01:19:07Z")
_Bryan Adams_ claims that **Summer of '69** isn’t about the year 1969, but about the 69 sex position, and that most people don’t get it. To be honest, I can’t really find anything in the lyrics to support that. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2005, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wash-your-mouth-out-with-soap-or-i-didnt-know-it-was-about-that/317647/111 "2005-08-21T02:05:44Z")
**Master Control** , that might be an attempt to deflect the criticism that he received that he was being pretentious by writing a nostalgiac song about teenaged love and setting it in the summer that he was nine years old. Personally, I think it’s a silly criticism. “The Summer of '69” is just plain more euphonious than “The Summer of '77,” and besides, putting it right before the change of the decade emphasises that it’s a song about being on the threshold of change, particularly with the popular romantic notion that the '60s were an idyllic, idealized time. Gives the song more universal appeal. The summer of 1969 has mythical appeal for plenty of people who weren’t even born then. The summer of 1977 was just a watershed year for geeks. That being said, Bryan Adams is a bit of a dick and I could totally see him trying to bluff his way out of the accusation, silly or not. ---
**Author:** ![YWalker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/6f9a4e/32.png) [@YWalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YWalker)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2005, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wash-your-mouth-out-with-soap-or-i-didnt-know-it-was-about-that/317647/112 "2005-08-21T02:17:03Z")
> [@Hugh Jass](#): > > Not from a song, but I didn’t know what it meant when someone “shot their wad”. I heard a lot of people use it in reference to running out of energy, usually during sports. So, one Sunday whenI was 12, as the family was watching football, a player breaks free and runs for the endzone. About 20 yards from the goal, he slows considerably, and a defensive player catches him and brings him down. “Ah,” I said waving my hand dismissively, “He shot his wad.” > > My sister, about 17, gets flabbergasted. My step-father looks at me with a “I know I’m supposed to not think this is funny” look. My mom, not for the first time, chooses not to increase my slowly dawning embarrassment by not even acknowledging that I have spoken. Oh, wait. I can do you one better on that phrase. I discovered what it meant when I uttered the phrase. In a staff meeting. In front of the Methodist Bishop’s wife, who started tittering madly, while the men on the staff could hardly stop themselves from busting out laughing. As an engineering major, most of the people I hung around with in college were guys, and I think I picked up the phrase from them, but never really considered the etymology of the phrase. In grad school, I worked for an engineering extension program, and our staff was having a meeting about what topics we would be including in an upcoming seminar session we were offering. The Bishop’s wife was our marketing person, and said something like “Well, since we already have prepared slide shows on topics A, B, C, and D, why don’t we offer sessions on each of those topics?” As the chief person in charge of writing and producing these seminars, I didn’t want to use up all my already prepared seminars at once. I earnestly argued “Well, but if we offer all those topics this fall, we’ll have shot our wad, and won’t have anything new ready to offer them in our program next spring.” At which point the Bishop’s wife begins tittering madly. The program director looks really wide-eyed at the sweet young thing on his staff that he thought he knew. My thesis adviser looks like he’s trying not to bust a gut. My other co-workers alternately look startled or amused. And I instantly come to a recognition of where the phrase “shot his wad” came from… [sub]And just to prove that some things never change, I’ve been looking wide-eyed at a LOT of these songs you guys have been talking about. Brand New Key was dirty? And I’d heard that “She-Bop” was dirty, but never figured it out before. And Larry Mudd is a bad, bad man for pulling my leg so thoroughly[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![tripthicket](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripthicket/32/297_2.png) [@tripthicket](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tripthicket)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2005, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wash-your-mouth-out-with-soap-or-i-didnt-know-it-was-about-that/317647/113 "2005-08-21T02:56:07Z")
I’ll throw in one. The Kendalls, a country duo, perhaps best known for the song _Heaven’s Just A Sin Away_. The lyrics are not a big mystery, a woman singing to a guy that’s she’s tempted to sleep with, despite her being married to someone else. What skeeves me out is that The Kendalls are a father-daughter duo, and their singing to each other about a lust that is so wrong but feels so right… :eek: _Oh way down deep inside_ _I know that it’s all wrong_ _Your eyes keep tempting me_ _And I never was that strong_ The fact that it _is_ a father-daughter duo gives the lyrics a rather different spin, IMNSHO. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wash-your-mouth-out-with-soap-or-i-didnt-know-it-was-about-that/317647.md?page=5)