# Would you put The Who's 'Who Are You?' on your 6-year-old daughter's iPod?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-put-the-whos-who-are-you-on-your-6-year-old-daughters-ipod/477564>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [December 17, 2008, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-put-the-whos-who-are-you-on-your-6-year-old-daughters-ipod/477564 "2008-12-17T15:16:08Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\
**Post date:** [December 17, 2008, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-put-the-whos-who-are-you-on-your-6-year-old-daughters-ipod/477564/21 "2008-12-17T17:19:57Z")

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> [@KneadToKnow](#):
>
> Ignorance fought.

This wasn’t always true, mind you, but most iPods these days should have them. I just confirmed on mine by going to “Settings” and scrolling to “Volume Lock.” A clever and determined child would be able to figure this out and reset it, but I suspect a 6-year-old wouldn’t quite yet be at the “I want to blast out my eardrums” level of using headphones.

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**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\
**Post date:** [December 17, 2008, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-put-the-whos-who-are-you-on-your-6-year-old-daughters-ipod/477564/22 "2008-12-17T18:18:37Z")

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I see no problem at all with it.

Then again, I have a very clear memory of my dad letting me listen to a “best of Woodstock” album when I was about the same age. An album which included Country Joe McDonald’s [‘Fish cheer’](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5btZWbViPA&feature=related) and following song. I seem to have turned out just fine despite it.

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**Author:** ![bufftabby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/77aa72/32.png) [@bufftabby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bufftabby)\
**Post date:** [December 17, 2008, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-put-the-whos-who-are-you-on-your-6-year-old-daughters-ipod/477564/23 "2008-12-17T21:05:59Z")

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I’ve been listening to that song since I was 6, and my parents were always very liberal about letting me read and listen to whatever I wanted, drawing the line at R-rated movies until I was 12. I’m 25, and my mother has heard me say “fuck” exactly once, and that wasn’t until this year. I think my internal censor works fairly well (I curse like a sailor whenever it’s remotely acceptable, but never otherwise) because my parents explained so early that there’s a time and a place for those words, and that time is “never” when you’re a kid.

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**Author:** ![Winston\_Smith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e95f7d/32.png) [@Winston\_Smith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winston_Smith)\
**Post date:** [December 17, 2008, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-put-the-whos-who-are-you-on-your-6-year-old-daughters-ipod/477564/24 "2008-12-17T21:17:59Z")

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> [@NAF1138](#):
>
> I grew up listening to that song (and many others by The Who) and it took me until I was 13 to even realize that the word Fuck was in there. I didn’t listen to lyrics so much when I was that age, I mostly just listened to the sound of the music. I say put it on.
> 
> Also include Squeezbox. 😃
> 
> Seriously, put more good stuff in the mix too. Maybe some Rubber Soul era Beatles a little Talking Heads (Road to Nowhere?) maybe. You know, some quality poppy rock and roll. It’s never too soon to learn good taste.

Not to worry, I’ve got a decent variety of genres, eras and artists.

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**Author:** ![Winston\_Smith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e95f7d/32.png) [@Winston\_Smith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winston_Smith)\
**Post date:** [December 17, 2008, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-put-the-whos-who-are-you-on-your-6-year-old-daughters-ipod/477564/25 "2008-12-17T21:19:36Z")

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I ended up putting it on there. She’s not going to be damaged, and if she was singing it out loud some place, my pride in her decent taste in music would overshadow my worry about her saying a blue word.

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**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\
**Post date:** [December 17, 2008, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-put-the-whos-who-are-you-on-your-6-year-old-daughters-ipod/477564/26 "2008-12-17T21:25:35Z")

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When I was about 10 or so my dad plopped me down in front of the stereo, stuck on those big, comfy leather headphones they used to have and played That Nigger’s Crazy! for me.

And I turned out fucking fine!

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**Author:** ![gurujulp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ba9def/32.png) [@gurujulp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gurujulp)\
**Post date:** [December 17, 2008, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-put-the-whos-who-are-you-on-your-6-year-old-daughters-ipod/477564/27 "2008-12-17T21:40:49Z")

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My six year old refuses to curse even when encouraged to (like to quote what another kid has said) because she is concerned she will get in trouble for it-  
which is odd, as the only discussion we have ever had about it was when she wanted to say ‘butt-head’ as a three year old.

She has an entire range of punk and rock- her favorite song so far is Prince’s Pcontrol…

She will just hum the bad words…

Her friend, OTOH, same age, will get away with what she can.

I say you know your child best-

ETA- I see you have made your decision! Best of luck!

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**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\
**Post date:** [December 17, 2008, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-put-the-whos-who-are-you-on-your-6-year-old-daughters-ipod/477564/28 "2008-12-17T22:58:29Z")

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> [@Shark\_Sandwich](#):
>
> Put me in the “I wouldn’t do it” bucket.  
> Growing up in Texas, I remember hearing “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” on the radio all the time. It wasn’t until I was in my mid-teens when I realized that the lyric wasn’t “And I told you once, you son of a gun, I’m the best that’s ever been.”

I’m going through this exact issue with **Attacklad** , who is eight. I don’t allow bad words on his playlist. There are a couple of exceptions that got grandfathered in - notably Paranoid by Black Sabbath, which has the band yelling “louder, do it f\*cking louder” to the audience. Otherwise it’s a no-go. Yes, he’ll hear these words at school, but we ( **Ms Attack** and I) still don’t approve of him using them, and the message has to be somewhat consistent, or else I get hours of sea-lawyering from him and **Attacklass**.

That said, there are several versions of the Devil went down to Georgia available on iTunes, and one version, from ‘the essential super hits of the charlie daniels band’ says “I told you once, you son of a gun”. All the others don’t say gun.

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**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\
**Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-put-the-whos-who-are-you-on-your-6-year-old-daughters-ipod/477564/29 "2008-12-18T00:56:49Z")

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Moving thread from IMHO to Cafe Society.

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**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\
**Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-put-the-whos-who-are-you-on-your-6-year-old-daughters-ipod/477564/30 "2008-12-18T02:01:25Z")

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I love the group and the song but no, I wouldn’t do it. I would go for the clean version if I could find it. I’d gamble 99 cents on an Amazon download.

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**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\
**Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-put-the-whos-who-are-you-on-your-6-year-old-daughters-ipod/477564/31 "2008-12-18T03:03:26Z")

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For a 6 year old, I’d put it on there, but I’d try to edit it in Audacity to say “who the heck are you” instead. Partly (OK, mostly) just to see if I could.

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**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\
**Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-put-the-whos-who-are-you-on-your-6-year-old-daughters-ipod/477564/32 "2008-12-18T04:43:16Z")

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Kids can understand although you hear cuss words it’s not acceptable for them to say them.

My folks cussed but the rule was “You can’t cuss till you’re 18.”

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**Author:** ![batsto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b2d939/32.png) [@batsto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/batsto)\
**Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-put-the-whos-who-are-you-on-your-6-year-old-daughters-ipod/477564/33 "2008-12-18T13:48:40Z")

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I wouldn’t. But not because of the F-word. I LOVE the who, but I really hate that particular song.  
Seriously, my daughter is ten and has plenty of songs with words like that on hers. She’s known for a long time now that there are certain words that you shouldn’t say around other people because they may take offense, etc. and she’s always been fine hearing things without the problem of repeating them in public.

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**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\
**Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-put-the-whos-who-are-you-on-your-6-year-old-daughters-ipod/477564/34 "2008-12-18T14:22:10Z")

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No. You need to put on a nice, clean song like “Squeezebox” instead.

😛

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**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\
**Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-put-the-whos-who-are-you-on-your-6-year-old-daughters-ipod/477564/35 "2008-12-18T14:32:45Z")

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> [@NAF1138](#):
>
> I grew up listening to that song (and many others by The Who) and it took me until I was 13 to even realize that the word Fuck was in there.

I just learned it at 34, and from this thread, not listening to the song! Maybe I’ve been hearing the censored version all these years. 😕

**Winston** , I think it’s fine. Really, I’d rather my kid hear a great song with artistry and poetry and a single, apparently subtle, swear word than some of the raunchily sexually explicit but non swearing songs I hear when I shop at “urban” clothing stores. And I ain’t no prude, ya know?

ETA: I guess I don’t listen to lyrics much…I only realized what “Squeezebox” was about last month, when a genderqueer band did a very slow and hilariously sensual version of it at a local cafe. Still, I prefer the metaphor of that to the explicit stuff now, even if it’s still all about sex.

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**Author:** ![Write\_Handed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecb155/32.png) [@Write\_Handed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Write_Handed)\
**Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-put-the-whos-who-are-you-on-your-6-year-old-daughters-ipod/477564/36 "2008-12-18T16:05:40Z")

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When you consider some of the stuff currently on the radio, I wouldn’t hesitate to let her listen to The Who.

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**Author:** ![FlightlessBird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/cdc98d/32.png) [@FlightlessBird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlightlessBird)\
**Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-put-the-whos-who-are-you-on-your-6-year-old-daughters-ipod/477564/37 "2008-12-18T17:10:27Z")

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Reminds me of my niece who was taught in school that “stupid” is a bad word, so when we were in the car listening to The Offspring’s Bad Habit I was unprepared for the line:  
“You stupid dumb shit goddamn motherfucker”  
Of course it was garbled for radio play so it sounded like:  
“You stupid dumb sh\* oddamn motherf\*”

Still she wondered aloud why he would say that bad word. 😃

I say leave it on or find a edited version.

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**Author:** ![ToeJam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dfb087/32.png) [@ToeJam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ToeJam)\
**Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-put-the-whos-who-are-you-on-your-6-year-old-daughters-ipod/477564/38 "2008-12-18T18:19:43Z")

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> [@Winston\_Smith](#):
>
> I ended up putting it on there. She’s not going to be damaged, and if she was singing it out loud some place, my pride in her decent taste in music would overshadow my worry about her saying a blue word.

_sniff_  
Yay!  
Long live the Rock! (Even if i advocated putting a censored version on there) I think this is the cooler choice to go with. Just teach 'em everything has a time and a place and that nothing can beat the power of Rock and Roll!

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**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\
**Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-put-the-whos-who-are-you-on-your-6-year-old-daughters-ipod/477564/39 "2008-12-18T19:41:06Z")

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> [@KneadToKnow](#):
>
> I wouldn’t put anything that loud on a child’s iPod. Hearing loss isn’t a fun gift at any age.

It’s The Who. If you’re not experiencing hearing loss, you’re not doing it right. 😉

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**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\
**Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-put-the-whos-who-are-you-on-your-6-year-old-daughters-ipod/477564/40 "2008-12-18T19:52:58Z")

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> [@NAF1138](#):
>
> I grew up listening to that song (and many others by The Who) and it took me until I was 13 to even realize that the word Fuck was in there.

> [@WhyNot](#):
>
> I just learned it at 34, and from this thread, not listening to the song! Maybe I’ve been hearing the censored version all these years. 😕

One of my favorite instances of censorship was when the King Biscuit Flower Hour broadcast part of a Who concert from the _Quadrophenia_ period. They duly censored “Her fella’s gonna kill me? Oh, fucking will he!” from “Doctor Jimmy.” But in “My Generation,” Daltrey emphatically sang “Not tryin’ to cause no _fucking_ big sensation!” and it stayed in. I figure that since the first was part of the official lyrics and the second was an ad-lib, they only notice the word if it appears on a lyric sheet.

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