For example, Cotton Eyed Joe was a big hit and was popular with us in school. It is about a sexually transmitted infection making its way around a town.

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#1

When I was a kid, maybe 6, I had a cassette tape from the "Divinyls" and would constantly sing their hit "I touch myself". It was about 6 years later I realized why my sister's were laughing at me when I was singing "I touch myself"! All over the house haha. 😳

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#2

the muffin man

"do you know the muffin man, the muffin man, the muffin man. Do you know the muffin man who lives on drury lane?"

The muffin man was a serial killer in england, also known as the Drury lane dicer. he was a baker and he used his muffins to lure children to their demise.

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shanila.pheonix_
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fair_weather_rose 2.0
fair_weather_rose 2.0
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I really did not need to know that O_O

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shanila.pheonix_ (Submission author)
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

yeah.. sorry dude lol

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TMRGLITCH
TMRGLITCH
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

i didnt know that and i doubt my 4th through 8th grade music teacher did either as we sung that in music class on multiple occasions. that also kinda reminds me of the musical sweeney todd

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Atahlia
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Dark. Just like the rest of the nursery rhymes "Humpty Dumpty Sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall, All the king’s horses and all the king’s men couldn’t put Humpty together again" It never said Humpty was an egg...

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#3

I have a few songs that I liked when I was younger, completely unaware of their true meaning.

• Pumped Up Kicks - Foster The People
• Cake by The Ocean - DNCE
• Macarena- Los del Río

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shanila.pheonix_
shanila.pheonix_
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

i loved cake by the ocean!!! was traumatized when i found out the meaning lol

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#4

John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidy - meanings not dark but i didnt know it when i was singing

Down by the bay - a child trying to escape their mothers downsliding dementia

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#5

The entire American Beauty/American Psycho album by Fall Out Boy. My mom used to listen to it all the time when I was a kid, and I had completely forgotten about it until about a year or so ago when I heard heard one of the songs from the album and realizes that a) I knew all of the songs even if I didn't know all the words or even what the songs were about and b) a lot of those songs were probably not the most appropriate thing for an 8 year old to be listening to. A similar thing happened with Green Day as well.

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fair_weather_rose (they/she)
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Rainstorm
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I love that album! Wait what are some of the songs about that aren't appropriate? FOB over all is a fairly kid-friendly band I think (I love fob, I started listening to them in 6th grade)

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#6

Space oddity
I originally thought it was a happy song about a dude going to space but as I got older I realized it’s a sad song about a dude getting stranded in space. The line that made me notice was: the circuits dead there’s something wrong.

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Bo'owowo'uh
Bo'owowo'uh
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I think Major Tom actually did that on purpose because he liked space more than Earth, then he came back to Earth in a later song.

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#7

not 8 yo me listening to a song from heathers *laughs in messed up*

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#8

BARBIE GIRL BY AQUA I WAS BORN 2010 AND DIDNT UNDERSTAND THE LYRICS TILL 2018 AND UHHH *>*

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Huddo's sister
Huddo's sister
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

A school I work at has been practicing this song for an upcoming concert, but they have changed some of the words to make it more appropriate!

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#9

Cotton-Eyed Joe is not about an STI!

It was about man, taking a girl from [the singer]!

'His teeth was out an' his nose was flat,
His eyes was crossed, — but she didn't mind dat.
'cause he was tall, and very slim,
And so my gal she followed him....'

So as you can see, Joe is very well described.

The original meaning of 'cotton-eyed', is still up for debate, but the most widely accepted meanings are either a black person, or someone drunk blind on moonshine. Personally, I don't think it's the former as it is traditionally a slave/folk song.

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1 year ago (edited)

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JFC!! Are you crazy?? Never ever dispute anything with Nathaniel!! FFS!! Now listen, when he comes to admonish you, (and he will), don’t get mad, don’t be scared. Just listen, don’t look him in the eye, and ffs-whatever you do….Don’t. Talk. Back!! Because no matter what proof you have, he is Never. Wrong.

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#10

You reposted in the wrong neighborhood (full version)

A line from the song is
"I get more a*s than a toilet seat"
did relize how smart that was 6 years ago

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Rip Van ;)le (in your walls)
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#11

I feel like the whole generation who grew up hearing S&M (Rihanna) thought the phrase was 'sticks and stones may break my bones but chains and whips excite me'.

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#12

"Les Sucettes à l'anis", written by controversial songwriter and singer Serge Gainsbourg and sung by teenage singer France Gall in the 60s. It was about a girl who loved anis-flavored lollypops. Loved it because I also loved anis-flavored lollypops. Trouble was, it was very equivocal and strongly hinted at fell*tio. It's said the 17 years old singer herself was unaware of what she was singing, and got angry when she realized.

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#13

"I kissed a girl" by Katy Perry... It really is a wonder how I didn't realize I was a lesbian sooner 😅

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#14

My Ding-A-Ling by Chuck Berry

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#15

Timothy. 😳🤢

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Linda Simpson Abare (Submission author)
Linda Simpson Abare
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Ohhh and my Grandmother (born in 1908) used to sing a song called "Mairzy Dotes" its sung as "Mairzy dotes and dozey dotes and little lamzy divey, a kiddley ivey do wooden shoe" . I was in my teens before she told me to slow it down and Id figure out it's "secret" meaning Lol. " Mares eat oats and doe's eat oats and little lambs eat ivy. A kid will eat ivy too, wouldnt you?"

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#16

“Love to Love You, Baby” by Donna Summer. I was maybe 7 years old - and had no clue at all.

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#17

My daughter used to sing commercials and dance around. One day she was twirling and singing about being an FDS woman. I laughed and said you're singing about f***y spray. Never heard that tune again.

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#18

Not a modern song but many old nursery rhymes have less than fun origins. Ring around the rosey is one, it references the plague. Ring around the rosey - symptoms of the plague, the bubuos. Pocket full of posey - people thought having these flowers in their pockets would help ward it off. Ashes ashes we all fall down is pretty self explanatory.

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#19

🎶 All the other kids, with the pumped up kicks, better run, better run, outrun my gun 🎶
I don’t like that I now know what I means..but the song is a bop.

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#20

Someone already posted Timothy. I'd like to add "Relax" by Frankie Goes to Hollywood.

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Julie S
Julie S
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I was just going to say Relax I remember it was banned on Radio 1 and I listened to it but couldn't work out why it was banned. Now I'm older I know!

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#21

Well I dont have any but
Pop goes the weasel

New rules by Dua lips (it’s about breaking up)

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#22

dynamite by tao cruz i was under 5 when i first heard it and didnt realiser it was about after going clubbing also timber by pitbull and kesha there are many meanings for that one and all are not really child appropriate.

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#23

Turning Japanese by the Vapors (google its meaning because I can't say it here on this family friendly site).

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#24

Animals by Maroon 5.

Haven’t looked up a specific meaning but I think it’s about a guy stalking a girl and wanting to have sex with her? Idk, sex is definitely one of the meanings tho.

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#25

I’ll take you to the candy shop
Kid me: really
I’ll let you lick the lollipop
Kid me: what flavor
Ooh!
50 cents

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#26

too beautiful-he is we
i listened to this very often before when im not good in english before. I didnt know what it meant till my cousin asked me if i know what the song meant. I just realized it when i turned 11.

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Chex mylicks
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#27

well i wasn’t THAT young but romeo and cinderella
“i hide my naked legs shyly” but then you remember Miku’s a minor who has a lot of sex songs

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#28

Pumped up kicks

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