Old song titles that would raise eyebrows today

[Chuck_Clark]

I've always been suspect of that homosexual Christmas carol.

You know, the one that goes "Don we now our gay apparel....."

[jbarter]

And the one that proves the Seven Dwarfs tried to save Roddy McCorley: 'O see the host of three foot men...'

[StevieJ]

What about "Does my ring hurt your finger"?

[MarkB]

Years ago when I was stationed in New Brunswick and the only radio station that we could get besides the CBC was a station from Fredericton and it play country and western music only, some of us from Ontario were punished for our sins in loving rock&roll bigtime.

The announcer, one night had a bit of a slip of the tongue and the title came out: "Does my finger hurt your ring!" The mess went crazy with laughter.

MarkB

[Chiffgirl]

I've always thought that there was something a little wicked about "Sportin' Paddy," and that it would make a good band name. That way you could say "We're Sportin' Paddy!"

[Wombat]

Plenty of old blues songs would raise eyebrows now. Most of them were meant at the time in exactly the way that would raise eyebrows now. So I won't list them.

Here's a few just drawn from old hits.

Tossing and Turning
Back Door Man
Baby Love
Ring of Fire
I Hear You Knocking
You Go to My Head

[Nanohedron]

From Handel's Messiah:

"Oh, We like Sheep"

Ummm... I think it's "All we, like sheep, have gone astray."

Oh, okay, then. It was always one of my favorites because it always sounded like: "Oh, we like sheep; oh, we like sheep...have gone astra-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-ay..."

[j dasinger]

I seem to remember an Irish tune called Jenny Cock Your Beaver...really

I can verify that there is in fact a tune with this name. In Gordon Mooney's collection of Border Pipe tunes, he has it as "Johnie, Cock up your Beaver." Which may have gotten mixed up with "Jenny Dang the Weaver." Mooney's book has got some other good ones such as "Fyket," "Hoop Her and Gird Her," and "When She Cam Ben She Bobbit." I suppose the second one refers to a horse. The third one just sounds funny because I have no idea what it means. This collection also contains the scottish reel "Stumpie" which is not a double entendre. It refers to just what you think it does and apparently was a popular wedding tune in Scotland and the Borders.

Geoghegan's "Compleat Tutor for the Pastoral or New Bagpipe" gives us a variation of the above called "Whip Her and Gird Her" "A Charming Nun to a Friar Came" "Blab Not What You Ought to Smother" "By Men Belov'd" and my all-time personal favorite, "Thump the Bitches! "

James

[MarkB]

Nanohedron wrote:

From Handel's Messiah:

"Oh, We like Sheep"

In the Highlands of Scotland it now sung as "The Swinging Sheperd Blues!"

MarkB

[Martin Milner]

Gladly The Cross-eyed Bear

(thanks to The Big Yin)