# Why does Momma Play a Squeeze Box? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 30, 2002, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-momma-play-a-squeeze-box/100855 "2002-03-30T01:50:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2002, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-momma-play-a-squeeze-box/100855/1 "2002-03-30T01:50:32Z")
I have so many questions about this song by The Who that I don’t know where to begin: [http://www.landoflyrics.com/music/thewho/lyrics/song5-2.htm](http://www.landoflyrics.com/music/thewho/lyrics/song5-2.htm) 1. What is a “Squeeze Box”? 2. Why does Momma wear it on her chest? 3. Why does she play it all night? Anyone care to fill me in. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Green\_Fool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df788c/32.png) [@Mr.Green\_Fool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Green_Fool)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2002, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-momma-play-a-squeeze-box/100855/2 "2002-03-30T02:01:10Z")
Two meanings… Squeeze Box- Accordion. Squeeze Box- Boobies. Let’s go with the first one. She wears it on her chest because that’s where you wear an accordion when you play it. She plays it all night because it is cheap family fun to dance around and play the accordion. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2002, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-momma-play-a-squeeze-box/100855/3 "2002-03-30T02:31:28Z")
OR Squeeze box = vagina Mommy likes to play with it Daddy don’t get much sleep. In and Out and In and Out… ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2002, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-momma-play-a-squeeze-box/100855/4 "2002-03-30T02:36:08Z")
> [@](#): > > Why does Mama play a Squeezebox To get it past the censors. ---
**Author:** ![11811](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/9d8465/32.png) [@11811](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/11811)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2002, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-momma-play-a-squeeze-box/100855/5 "2002-03-30T04:13:18Z")
[hijack]Pete Townsend once said that the guitar was sexier than an accordian and more portable than a piano.[/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2002, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-momma-play-a-squeeze-box/100855/6 "2002-03-30T04:24:30Z")
It’s a metaphor, guys. Mama is horny, and Dad doesn’t get any sleep. They play it all night, and the ‘music’ is all right. Mama’s got a squeezebox, Daddy doesn’t sleep at night. It goes in and out, and in and out… This was a favorite shtick for rock stars in the 70’s who had to resort to such techniques to get even mildly tittilating songs past the radio censors. ---
**Author:** ![syncrolecyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f08c70/32.png) [@syncrolecyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/syncrolecyne)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2002, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-momma-play-a-squeeze-box/100855/7 "2002-03-30T05:07:58Z")
It’s a song about hearing the parents ‘do it’, from the kid’d point of voew/. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2002, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-momma-play-a-squeeze-box/100855/8 "2002-03-30T06:28:22Z")
According to the sleeve notes of Scoop (A Pete Townshend solo album consisting of a collection of demos from the Who era) Pete came up with the idea for the song one afternoon, bought an accordion, learned to play it in about 10 minutes and recorded the song as a dirty joke. The Who ended recording it as a space-filler on their 1975 LP, The Who By Numbers, and Pete claims he was completely taken aback that it became a hit. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Green\_Fool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df788c/32.png) [@Mr.Green\_Fool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Green_Fool)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2002, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-momma-play-a-squeeze-box/100855/9 "2002-03-30T07:36:40Z")
…yeah one problem… Does mom have a vagina in HER CHEST! ---
**Author:** ![DAVEW0071](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e19b73/32.png) [@DAVEW0071](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DAVEW0071)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2002, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-momma-play-a-squeeze-box/100855/10 "2002-03-30T12:17:40Z")
> [@](#): > > Does mom have a vagina in HER CHEST! Hey, artistic license. Don’t nitpick The Who. ---
**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:** [March 30, 2002, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-momma-play-a-squeeze-box/100855/11 "2002-03-30T16:55:29Z")
Alternate interpretation: T_ **yf** _s. Or medically speaking, the action of pushing the breasts together to form more cleavage, which is then used to stimulate the partner’s penis. Why they’d want to do this all night, instead of including at least _some_ of the more popular and mutually gratifying penile-vaginal intercourse, escapes me. But one never knows with artists. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2002, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-momma-play-a-squeeze-box/100855/12 "2002-03-30T17:03:23Z")
You guys have to stop being so literal. Next thing you’ll want to know is how someone can be a hoochie-coochie man without having a hoochie or a coochie. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2002, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-momma-play-a-squeeze-box/100855/13 "2002-03-31T03:58:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sam Stone \* > \*\*This was a favorite shtick for rock stars in the 70’s who had to resort to such techniques to get even mildly tittilating songs past the radio censors. \*\* Yeah, like a “big, ten-inch… record”. But this one seemed to me, like, so transparent our radio censor had to be on some serious chemicals to not notice/care. Then again I was 14 at the time _Squeezebox_ came out and I do suppose I was specially tuned in to interpret ANYTHING as a sex reference 😛 OTOH it _was_ in a light-hearted vein, and in hindsight it does serve the redeeming function of counterbalancing some of Peter’s forays into “heavy” content. And if I’m going to have a tune stuck in my head the rest of the evening, as I do now, it might as well be this 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2002, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-momma-play-a-squeeze-box/100855/14 "2002-03-31T05:42:15Z")
And it’s the only Who song I know of that has a **banjo** solos in it. ---
**Author:** ![voguevixen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5ac83/32.png) [@voguevixen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voguevixen)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2002, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-momma-play-a-squeeze-box/100855/15 "2002-03-31T07:30:01Z")
The great thing about this song is that it’s just as good if you assume it’s about an accordian! (You can’t say that about “My Ding-A-Ling!” etc.)