uncool messages in cool songs

The_Hook_UpThe_Hook_Up 8,182 Posts
edited June 2007 in Strut Central
picked up a cool lil 45 at the flea this past weekend, Guitar Reed "Dont say a Mumblin Word"....I was playing it when I got home and when the lyric "I oughta go upside your head woman, 'bout this mess that I heard" came on..my girlfriend ducked her head inside the room and said "Dont play that song again if Im in earshot". I understand. But it is such a cool fucking tune...I played it on my radioshow the other day, but felt compelled to play a Domestic Violence PSA immediately after it.How do you cope with tunes with uncool messages that are too bad ass not to listen to?
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  • soulmarcosasoulmarcosa 4,296 Posts
    Oops then don't ever play Jerry Butler's "Cause I Love You So" or OV Wright's "Ace of Spade" in the homestead if you want to maintain domestic bliss homie

  • kalakala 3,361 Posts
    i guess this means you don't or never did listen to much hip hop [old or new]

  • The_Hook_UpThe_Hook_Up 8,182 Posts
    Oops then don't ever play Jerry Butler's "Cause I Love You So" or OV Wright's "Ace of Spade" in the homestead if you want to maintain domestic bliss homie

    oh yeah...I have also got the ban on James Rivers "Bad Bad Whiskey"

  • The_Hook_UpThe_Hook_Up 8,182 Posts
    i guess this means you don't or never did listen to much hip hop [old or new]

    no...I only have 6 or 7 Hip Hop Lps...and half of those are ATCQ LPs....


  • DJ_NevilleCDJ_NevilleC 1,922 Posts
    There's a line in Otis Spann's version of "Another Mule is Kicking in Your Stall" where he says he's gonna shoot his baby and chase that mule away which is pretty blunt. Still one on my all time favorite blues tunes.

  • a ban on certain music in the house while she's within hearing distance??? wild... i'm all about respecting the women of the world, but i hope you've got some hand along the same lines. It's only music, not like your promoting wife beating simply cause the song is hot and it's talking about that.

  • edith headedith head 5,106 Posts
    in 'modern world' by the modern lovers when jonathan richman sings "well the modern world is not so bad like the students say"

    makes me cringe

  • Jonny_PaycheckJonny_Paycheck 17,825 Posts
    On that note I can't help thinking "hippy jonny" refers to me

  • LaserWolfLaserWolf Portland Oregon 11,517 Posts
    Willie John's sister has a great song on Stax I know you know, "He Hit Me And It Felt Like A Kiss". Mabel John. I've got oldtimerz disease.

    Obviously and endless number of blues songs. Half the Robert Johnson catalog. Half the Rolling Stones catalog. And that's the good half of the Stones catalog.

  • The_Hook_UpThe_Hook_Up 8,182 Posts
    a ban on certain music in the house while she's within hearing distance??? wild... i'm all about respecting the women of the world, but i hope you've got some hand along the same lines. It's only music, not like your promoting wife beating simply cause the song is hot and it's talking about that.

    I am just being respectful to her wishes...I am sure I could play anything whenever and not suffer any dire consequences...but shes my girl, you know?

  • LaserWolfLaserWolf Portland Oregon 11,517 Posts
    Not domestic violence but one of my favorite songs contains a very confusing mixed message. BE Thankful For What You Got.

    Diamond in the back, sunroof top
    Diggin' the scene
    With a gangsta lean, wooh-ooh-ooh
    Diamond in the back, sunroof top
    Diggin' the scene
    With a gangsta lean, wooh-ooh-ooh
    Diamond in the back, sunroof top
    Diggin' the scene
    With a gangsta lean, wooh-ooh-ooh
    Diamond in the back, sunroof top
    Diggin' the scene
    With a gangsta lean, wooh-ooh-ooh
    Diamond in the back, sunroof top
    Diggin' the scene
    With a gangsta lean, wooh-ooh-ooh
    Diamond in the back, sunroof top
    Diggin' the scene
    With a gangsta lean, wooh-ooh-ooh

    A song about being thankful for what little you have celebrates a customized cadillac. Very stange yet beautiful.

    Now will some tell me:
    Does 'diamond in the back' mean diamond upholstery? A woman?
    What is a 'gangsta lean'? Gangster-limousine? A woman?

  • bonzaisk8bonzaisk8 946 Posts
    in Bob Marley's "Talking Blues", one of his lines say's : "Cause I feel like bombin' a church - Now - now that you know that the preacher is lyin."

    that line has always made me scratch my head. i mean sure the preacher might be lying, but bombin' a church because of it? that's taking it a little too far, wouldn't you say?

  • The_Hook_UpThe_Hook_Up 8,182 Posts

    What is a 'gangsta lean'? Gangster-limousine? A woman?

    that lassize-faire way of drving a car when you lean all the way over to the middle of the front seat and look out the center of the windshield

  • ahhahahhahha!! one of my good friends drives like this... i hate ridin shotgun with him, i'm like get the fawk back unless your tryin to make a move on me sucka.

  • LaserWolfLaserWolf Portland Oregon 11,517 Posts
    Another one of my absolute favorite songs has the line 'gotta leave young girls alone' that always makes me cringe. How young? sounds like something I'd expect Chuck Berry saying, only he'd say 'gotta get young girls alone'.

    Or does he say young things?

  • HAZHAZ 3,376 Posts
    Here's my favorite song about domestic abuse, Louis Jordan's take on a Calypso classic, "Stone Cold Dead In The Market".

    http://www.zshare.net/audio/2389149eb6b276/

    peace

    h

  • Phill_MostPhill_Most 4,594 Posts
    a ban on certain music in the house while she's within hearing distance??? wild... i'm all about respecting the women of the world, but i hope you've got some hand along the same lines. It's only music, not like your promoting wife beating simply cause the song is hot and it's talking about that.

    I am just being respectful to her wishes...I am sure I could play anything whenever and not suffer any dire consequences...but shes my girl, you know?

    man, go upside her head an' stop wussin out

  • hammertimehammertime 2,389 Posts
    i don't really let bad messages or whatever affect my listening.


    one major exception is Betty Wright- Girls Can't Do What the Guys Do. Such a killer tune, but god those lyrics are intolerable.

  • thropethrope 750 Posts
    sounds like your girl is practicing her 's

  • SoulOnIceSoulOnIce 13,027 Posts

    one major exception is Betty Wright- Girls Can't Do What the Guys Do. Such a killer tune, but god those lyrics are intolerable.

    You've mentioned this before.

    You must have some kind of bad personal association
    with that song, like you found out your girl cheated
    on you 30 seconds before you heard it for the first time -
    I mean, the lyrics aren't that bad.

  • SoulOnIceSoulOnIce 13,027 Posts

    Does 'diamond in the back' mean diamond upholstery? A woman?


  • p_gunnp_gunn 2,284 Posts
    On that note I can't help thinking "hippy jonny" refers to me

    fun fact: refers to john felice of the Real Kids...

  • luckluck 4,077 Posts
    Not domestic violence but one of my favorite songs contains a very confusing mixed message. BE Thankful For What You Got...A song about being thankful for what little you have celebrates a customized cadillac. Very stange yet beautiful.


    Naw - DeVaughan's describing a high life that's unattainable for 98% of his listening audience (just like baller rap retracted; how many cats had TV antennas on their car in 1974?) but saying that being thankful for what one does have is more important. Seeing as how this is essentially a great Curtis Mayfield rip-off (eat your heart out, Bobby Williams) DeVaughn's taking on the blaxplo themes of big money and cool looks and taking them to his people. He lingers, but the chorus is really a feelling more than it is a recommendation.

    Just be thankful for what you've got
    Though you may not drive a great big Cadillac



    ...and I always thought that O.V. Wright said "I use (the) ace of clubs to keep my baby safe." Does he actually say tame?

  • dstill808dstill808 704 Posts


    "Don't Think That I'm a Violent Guy"

    ...you know, just 'cause I hit you and shit.

    Also, the line in King Floyd's "What Our Love Needs" where he says, "Our love needs more kissin' and not so much hittin'". Wow, ya think?

  • SoulOnIceSoulOnIce 13,027 Posts

    "Don't Think That I'm a Violent Guy"

    ...you know, just 'cause I hit you and shit.


    Yeah, that one gets extra points for
    having the whole dramatic skit with
    dialogue and sound effects ... how about
    on the Edwin Starr album "Free to Be Myself"
    where the last song is called "PARTY" and
    it's like a party jam but at the end he
    has this screaming monologue about slapping
    his woman around, some real raw shit, where
    you're like "what the!?" and then the album ends.


  • Mike_BellMike_Bell 5,736 Posts


    "Don't Think That I'm a Violent Guy"

    ...you know, just 'cause I hit you and shit.

    Also, the line in King Floyd's "What Our Love Needs" where he says, "Our love needs more kissin' and not so much hittin'". Wow, ya think?
    Yes.

  • hammertimehammertime 2,389 Posts

    one major exception is Betty Wright- Girls Can't Do What the Guys Do. Such a killer tune, but god those lyrics are intolerable.

    You've mentioned this before.

    You must have some kind of bad personal association
    with that song, like you found out your girl cheated
    on you 30 seconds before you heard it for the first time -
    I mean, the lyrics aren't that bad.



    well when I first heard it I thought it was "girls can't do what the guys do, and that's bullshit!" but then I listened more closely and realized it was like "girls, don't try to be like the guys because that's not ladylike". I mean what kind of message is "don't try to do the things that the guys do"? It's one thing for male artists to sing about expecting to be able to get away with more than the woman...Ghostface's "Back Like That" comes to mind. I mean, it's BS, but I can understand it. But to give that song to a woman and have her sing it to other women is just horrible IMO.

  • hammertimehammertime 2,389 Posts
    when I first heard Syl Johnson's "Don't Give It Away" I thought the line was "romance without violence won't get you nowhere" and I was like



    but then I realized he's saying "finance".

  • SoulOnIceSoulOnIce 13,027 Posts

    Girls Can't Do What the Guys Do

    I though it was supposed to be, you know,
    "tongue in cheek" or like "that's what they say"
    more than instructions, but maybe I read it wrong.
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