Top-40 hit lyrics of the past that would not be acceptable today

And she knows how to "draw"

 

That's how the US should have marketed the metric system back in the 70's. "WITH METRIC, YOU TOO CAN HONESTLY CLAIM TO BE A TENNER."

 

Mott The Hoople- All The Way From Memphis

Uses an archaic racial term (which can also typically used by a gardener or contained in a deck of cards).

 

I’m amused (read appalled) by current attitudes toward obesity. It reminds me of the General during the Vietnam years who said we should just say we won and get the hell out of there. With approximately 99% of the US population passing the obesity mark, it appears that we’ve solved the problem by deciding that fat is sexy (or at least a civil right.) This in response to a few songs that would now be called body shaming.

 

Got me the strangest woman
Believe me this trick's no cinch
But I really get her going
When I whip out my big ten inch...

 

About babysitting (really).

Doesn't bug me as much as "Life is funny, skies are sunny, bees make honey, who needs money?" As a lyricist, Alvin Lee was a heck of a guitar player.

 

Most of "Good Girls Don't" by The Knack.

I still love it, though.

 

As many 14-year old girls bought his records and came to his concerts, I'm sure this is just honest reporting! And it's not necessarily a sordid tale of lust, it may just be what we now call fan service. No, not THAT kind of service. Get your mind out of the gutter.

 

(I love that gif)

 

The least you could have done was to give credit to the original rather than the copyists!

 

I had no idea!

 

I'm sure you're not alone in this.

Here's the original:

 

I'd rather see you dead, little girl
Than to be with another man
"Baby let's play house"
Elvis

 

I just don't see that many of these being particularly bothersome.... I mean look at some of the radio hits at least of the last decade (I have no idea what made the charts)

My Humps - Black Eyed Peas ... the song is basically - I can get whatever I want because of my butt
Milkshake - Kelis .... More my butt is the best ... and you have to pay for it.
Da Baby - Suge .... I'm better than you, and I'm banging your girlfriend

Sexual innuendo and straight up sexuality hasn't gone anywhere as far as I can tell

 

Somehow it doesn't sound as macho when you put it in terms of centimeters...

 

Jive-ass cover of a great Bull Moose Jackson record. Airways go to the source.

Edit: I see I'm not the first!

 

“Come out Virginia don’t make me wait/
You Catholic girls start much too late/
Sooner or later it comes down to fate/I might as well be the one.”

Religious stereotyping, sexual coercion...Would this Billy Joel lyric fly on the radio today?

 

"Recent songs?" Really? Explain the uproar over the "Baby It's Cold Outside" then.

 

It's a Boston thing. I can't say I've ever heard the song mixed alongside holiday favorites from Brenda Lee and Mariah Carey on radio. Hell the perfect example is every single Christmas controversy arises over those who don't like that the F slur is used then just as many Americans will claim to have never heard this song before in their lives

 

So The Beatles’ Twist And Shout is jive-ass?!?

 

Randy Newman's Short People.

I think the STMWNCF+ (short, tall, medium, wide, narrow, curvy, flat, whatever...) community would condemn the body shaming in that song.

 

The Cure...........`Killing an Arab`.
Lulu..........`To Sir With Love`.

The one song that I find most disturbing is the Eagles......`One Of These Nights`
"I`m coming up behind you.....I swear i`m gonna` find you,
I`ll get you baby, one of these nights".
All sung to a beautiful harmony.....I often wonder if people actually realize what this song is about?

 

Actually, any type of lyric that makes ample use of metaphors etc. and/or a well-written narrative would mostly be out of place today. Do you think Hal David, Joni Mitchell, Paul Simon etc. (not to mention the classic writers from the 30-40s) would have any resonance for most listeners today? The craft of writing artistic lyrics (as well as ear-tickling melodies for that matter) is no longer in vogue -- good enough is good enough. (For example, check out today's country lyrics and then go back to the Hugh Prestwood era of the 90s-early 2000s -- the difference is stunning. I don't think a song like "The Song Remembers When" would do well in today's market.)

 

Would a song like "Lola" make it on the charts today? In all the years since it made the charts I'm not aware of anything with a similar subject.

 

Erm...milk doesn't come from the butt.