# What's Up with Women of a Certain Age and "What's Up?" by 4 Non Blondes?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-women-of-a-certain-age-and-whats-up-by-4-non-blondes/500225>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [June 18, 2009, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-women-of-a-certain-age-and-whats-up-by-4-non-blondes/500225 "2009-06-18T22:35:29Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\
**Post date:** [June 21, 2009, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-women-of-a-certain-age-and-whats-up-by-4-non-blondes/500225/41 "2009-06-21T17:41:06Z")

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I like this song, but why is it called “What’s Up?” when the phrase in the song is “What’s going on?”?

I’ll never understand pop music.

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**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\
**Post date:** [June 21, 2009, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-women-of-a-certain-age-and-whats-up-by-4-non-blondes/500225/42 "2009-06-21T19:03:01Z")

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> [@eleanorigby](#):
>
> I like this song, but why is it called “What’s Up?” when the phrase in the song is “What’s going on?”?

Wikipedia says the band wanted to avoid confusion with Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On”.

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**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\
**Post date:** [June 21, 2009, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-women-of-a-certain-age-and-whats-up-by-4-non-blondes/500225/43 "2009-06-21T20:44:36Z")

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> [@The\_Punkyova](#):
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> Anyone else have that kind of feeling, or was I alone in my wrongness?

I had that feeling when I heard “Bleeding Love” last year. I was sure that I’d heard it before, just not sure who the original artist was.  
Turns out, I was wrong.

_Now_, I like this song, it’s fun to sing along to. You get to get really loud & really quiet & make high squeaky voice & sing “Hey, yay, yey, yay-eh” But it was everywhere when it was first released and got really old, really quickly.

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**Author:** ![Rachael\_Rage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71c47a/32.png) [@Rachael\_Rage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachael_Rage)\
**Post date:** [June 22, 2009, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-women-of-a-certain-age-and-whats-up-by-4-non-blondes/500225/44 "2009-06-22T15:13:05Z")

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It has nothing to do with [gender or age](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZSHm4x4TGk).

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**Author:** ![Black\_Sunshine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ce73a5/32.png) [@Black\_Sunshine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Black_Sunshine)\
**Post date:** [June 22, 2009, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-women-of-a-certain-age-and-whats-up-by-4-non-blondes/500225/45 "2009-06-22T16:40:47Z")

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> [@The\_Punkyova](#):
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> I’m willing to believe that my memory is wrong. Obviously, it must be. But when I first heard this song, I instantly identified it as a remake of something that had been popular in my childhood, ie, the 70s. Anyone else have that kind of feeling, or was I alone in my wrongness?

No. You’re not the only one. The first time I heard it, I thought, “Oh! That’s a cover of that one song.” 15 years later and I still can’t figure out what that one song was. That’s the only reason I clicked on this thread.

Don’t know if this helps, but I remember hearing it when I was a kid, in the mid to late 80s. For some reason, I have this strange memory of hearing it on Dr. Demento, and always associate it with the Pinkard and Bowden’s “Libyan on a Jet Plane.” Probably just heard it on the same night or something.

Someone please, please figure this out.

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