Lyrics that make you cringe

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That applies to big chunks of The Wall. It's become even more problematic recently as I've seen several Gen-Z social media posts questioning Roger Waters' intent based on an absence of understanding of either irony or history.

I think there's a simpler issue here: The Wall - love it or loathe it - is one long story, told (mostly) from the POV of our upcoming (quite likely autobiographical) rockstar. The character is flawed - therefore does/says some things that Mother Theresa / Barack Obama might not. The release of this album is not endorsing those words and/or deeds.
Note also that Young Lust wasn't a single, so it's even less valid to analyse the lyrics in isolation. (Compare/contrast with Another Brick in The Wall).
 
Really don't mind if you sit this one out
My word's but a whisper your deafness a shout
I may make you feel but I can't make you think
Your sperm's in the gutter your love's in the sink
So you ride yourselves over the fields
And you make all your animal deals
And your wise men don't know how it feels
To be thick as a brick
And the sandcastle virtues are all swept away
In the tidal destruction the moral melee
The elastic retreat rings the close of play
As the last wave uncovers the newfangled way
But your new shoes are worn at the heels
And your suntan does rapidly peel
And your wise men don't know how it feels
To be thick as a brick
And the love that I feel is so far away:
I'm a bad dream that I just had today
And you shake your head
And said it's a shame
Spin me back down the years and the days of my youth
Draw the lace and black curtains and shut out the whole truth
Spin me down the long ages, let them sing the song
See there, a son is born and we pronounce him fit to fight
There are blackheads on his shoulders, and he pees himself in the night
We'll make a man of him, put him to trade
Teach him to play Monopoly and how to sing in the rain
The poet and the painter casting shadows on the water
As the sun plays on the infantry returning from the sea
The do-er and the thinker, no allowance for the other
As the failing light illuminates the mercenary's creed
The home fire burning, the kettle almost boiling
But the master of the house is far away
The horses stamping, their warm breath clouding
In the sharp and frosty morning of the day
And the poet lifts his pen while the soldier sheaths his sword
And the youngest of the family is moving with authority
Building castles by the sea, he dares the tardy tide to wash them all aside
The cattle quietly grazing at the grass down by the river
Where the swelling mountain water moves onward to the sea:
The builder of the castles renews the age-old purpose
And contemplates the milking girl whose offer is his need
The young men of the household have all gone into service
And are not to be expected for a year
The innocent young master, thoughts moving ever faster
Has formed the plan to change the man he seems
And the poet sheaths his pen while the soldier lifts his sword
And the oldest of the family is moving with authority
Coming from across the sea, he challenges the son
Who puts him to the run
What do you do when the old man's gone, ddo you want to be him?
And your real self sings the song, do you want to free him?
No one to help you get up steam
And the whirlpool turns you way off-beam
I've come down from the upper class to mend your rotten ways
My father was a man of power whom everyone obeyed
So come on all you criminals! I've got to put you straight
Just like I did with my old man twenty years too late
Your bread and water's going cold, your hair is short and neat
I'll judge you all and make damn sure that no-one judges me
You curl your toes in fun as you smile at everyone
You meet the stares, you're unaware that your doings aren't done
And you laugh most ruthlessly as you tell us what not to be
But how are we supposed to see where we should run?
La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la
La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la
La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la
La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la
La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la
La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la
I see you shuffle in the courtroom
With your rings upon your fingers and your downy little sidies
And your silver buckle shoes
Playing at the hard case
You follow the example of the comic-paper idol
Who lets you bend the rules
So, come on ye childhood heroes!
Won't you rise up from the pages of your comic-books, your super crooks
And show us all the way?
Well, make your will and testament
Won't you join your local government?
We'll have Superman for president
Let Robin save the day
You put your bet on number one and it comes up every time
The other kids have all backed down and they put you first in line
And so you finally ask yourself just how big you are
And you take your place in a wiser world of bigger motor cars
And you wonder who to call on
So, where the hell was Biggles when you needed him last saturday?
And where were all the sportsmen who always pulled you though?
They're all resting down in Cornwall
Writing up their memoirs for a paperback edition
Of the Boy Scout manual

Not sure I recognize that - Spice Girls?
 

yello

back and brave
Location
France
yeah but in that song the girl's dad claims 'the boy's no good' ...so that suggests they're both teenagers waiting for adulthood when they can ignore their parents.

Dunno, not sure whose perspective the song is from. I can read it a couple of ways. Even so...

Girl, you'll be a woman soon
Please come take my hand
Girl, you'll be a woman soon
Soon you'll need a man


...is kinda creepy to me.
 

MontyVeda

a short-tempered ill-controlled small-minded troll
Dunno, not sure whose perspective the song is from. I can read it a couple of ways. Even so...

Girl, you'll be a woman soon
Please come take my hand
Girl, you'll be a woman soon
Soon you'll need a man


...is kinda creepy to me.

you can if you just cherry pick odd lines

The whole song to me appears to be from the perspective her boyfriend; actual or wannabe. "the boy's no good" is pivotal. It's not "the man's no good"
 

yello

back and brave
Location
France
you can if you just cherry pick odd lines

I'm not doing that though, only quoting ones that convey the sense that I find creepy, if not down right objectionable. A man is going to make a women of a girl. What does that even mean? Creepiness aside, what kind of patriarchal bs is that?

Whoever the song's perspective is from (and, as I said, I'm unsure) those lines in and of themselves are questionable at least. They're written by a bloke regardless of the perpsective intended. But, as I also said and didn't really want to get into, it's the kind of revisionism the means one has to offer benefit of the doubt and acknowledge the different era. For my ears, today, they are lyrics that make me cringe.
 
OP
OP
Dogtrousers

Dogtrousers

Kilometre nibbler
OK, I know that this is going to be controversial, but ... some Black Sabbath lyrics aren't the best. "Heavy boots of lead/Fills his victims full of dread/ Running asfastastheycan / Iron ma-a-an lives again". Those last two lines ... ouch. Way too many syllables, then not enough. They needed a genius to carry them off. Fortunately Ozzy was at hand to do just that (almost).

And why did he have lead boots? I know that "he was turned to steel, in a great magnetic field". So what is it with lead boots? Maybe he was not just Iron Man, but assorted metals man.
 
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Chris S

Legendary Member
Location
Birmingham
I’ve never really understood the problem with this song.
It’s just a story told by Tom Jones.
How many films have violent murders in them. We don’t ban those films. No one thinks Joe Pesci is actually a murderer.

I don't want the song banned, I just think it's creepy.
 

richardfm

Veteran
Location
Cardiff
Chuck Berry
Sweet Little Sixteen

Sweet little sixteen
She's got the grown-up blues
Tight dresses and lipstick
She's sportin' high heel shoes
Oh, but tomorrow morning
She'll have to change her trend
And be sweet sixteen
And back in class again

And

Memphis, Tennessee

Long distance information, give me Memphis, Tennessee
Help me find the party trying to get in touch with me
She could not leave her number, but I know who placed the call
'Cause my uncle took the message and he wrote it on the wall

Help me information, get in touch with my Marie
She's the only one who'd phone me here from Memphis, Tennessee
Her home is on the south side, high up on a ridge
Just a half a mile from the Mississippi bridge

Help me, information, more than that I cannot add
Only that I miss her and all the fun we had
But we were pulled apart because her mom did not agree
And tore apart our happy home in Memphis, Tennessee

Last time I saw Marie, she was waving me goodbye
With hurry-home drops on her cheek that trickled from her eye
Marie is only six years old, information, please
Try to put me through to her in Memphis, Tennessee
 
Maxwells silver hammer is a nice song from the Beattles AIUI not one of their main songs (they were from my parents time not mine, I barely remember the day Lennon got shot).

In light of Marilyn Manson's ex's accusations I suspect most of his songs are a bit iffy.

There are (if I understood the lyrics) suicide in Clash songs and also carnal acts on nuns.

Spice girls - if I wanted to get with one of them I had to get with all of them? Sporty? Nah! I'm out.

Nick Cave was a dark songwriter but I love the duet with Kylie. Inspired use of her "safe" image back then and I think it stands up well now but for the partner violence and murder.

I was born when "my dingaling" was number one!! Fortunately I was too young to be corrupted by that one at the time, I was old enough to not be so corrupted when I heard it first as a 20 something, highly critical adult.

AS for songs I have heard that I did not understand enough to know if they were iffy or not. Such as that song with the lyrics 'pig meat is what I crave' by some long dead blues guy called blind willie something or other.
 
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