Does anyone know what this song is all about? I’ts driving me crazy. I heard it was about some guy’s mom being an asian war hooker or something.
My guess is that it is about the trials and tribulations of growing up, and discovering that your “totally uncool” parents are actually just regular folks and were pretty cool themselves at one time. As you grow old, you “surrender” to the responsibilities of adult life, but you “don’t give yourself away”, i.e. stop partying like you used to.
I’m a good example of this. I have a job, responsibilities, wife and kid but I still find time to act like a 17 year old as often as I can! I have surrendered, but have not given myself away. 
(I just made that up on the spot, but I think its pretty damn good!
)
“Oh I wish I was a Catfish, swimmin’ in the deep blue sea. I’d have all the pretty womens fishin’ after me!”- Catfish Blues
by the way, welcome to the SDMB! I’m Gatopescado, pleased to meet ya’!
but what the hell does "Before we married, Mommy surgical waxed in the Phillipines "mean?
Er, that would be:
Before we married, Mommy served as a WAC in the Phillipines
Now I had heard the WACs recruited old maids for the war,
But Mommy isn’t one of those,
I’ve known her all these years.
my mistake,
But whats a WAC?
Women’s Army Corps. It was established in 1942 as the Women’s Army
Auxiliary Corps for service with the Army of the United States. There was also a Womens Naval Reserve and the Marine Corps Womens
reserve. The Coast Guard’s women’s corps was called the WAVES, I think.
Anyway, info here
I think Gato basically got it- it’s about learning that maybe your square old parents, the ones you thought were hopelessly out of touch, actually know a lot more about life than you thought they did… and that maybe they aren’t as stodgy as you assumed they were.
Which is indicated by the lines "Mommy’s alright, daddy’s allright, they just seem a little weird…surrender, surrender, and don’t give yourself away…away awaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyy…(always wanted to type that :D)
First verse:
Mom tells son (the singer) to stay away from you because you’re a bad girl who probably has VD. She then tells a story of a soldier who got an strain of VD, which perhaps came from Asia (some Indonesian junk), that caused his penis to fall off.
Dad tells son that Mom knows what she’s talking about because she worked in The Philippines in the Women’s Army Corps and has seen this kind of stuff. Son expresses doubts based on his perception that WACs are all frumpy old maids. Mom’s not like them, and he should know, as he’s know her for all his life.
“Whatever happened to all this season’s losers of the year?
Every time I got to thinkin’, where’d they disappear?”
Someone else will have to interpret this.
Son then wakes up to see Mom and Dad having sex, or at least getting into some very heavy petting (rolling numbers = 69?), on the couch while listening to son’s KISS records.
uhh, yeah, just ignore that “First verse:” line. I forgot to continue with that.
Sublight Rolling numbers means they were rolling joints.
You know, marijuana:eek:
Ok, I’ll buy that. They’re still “rolling on the couch,” though, which implies some other physical activity while they’re getting high.
“Surrender, but don’t give yourself away.”
Here, “don’t give yourself away” means: don’t reveal your secret. Keep 'em guessing.
Just a quick bit of trivia:
The line
Now I had heard the WACs recruited old maids for the war
was originally written as
Now I had heard the WACs recruited old maids, dykes, and whores
but the record company thought the line was a bit too raunchy for the late 70’s so the band had to change it.
Doesn’t change the meaning of the song much, but I like the original line better.
And it’s a little more overtly in keeping with the “what were/are my straightlaced folks really like?” theme of the song. The meaning is still there, though, for anyone already conscious of the unfortunate things whispered about women who joined the WACs, or aware of the sometimes loaded meaning of “old maid”.
A friend of mine joined the WACs in 1968.
She says her mother, convinced that the WACs were all lesbians, was really upset and tried to talk her out of it.