Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

People Divulge The Songs They Sang In Childhood They Didn't Know Were Inappropriate

girl busker playing guitar and singing in front of wall
Felix Koutchinski on Unsplash

Reddit user Ok_Way_2341 asked: 'As a child, what’s a song you sang loud and proud, only to find as an adult it’s super inappropriate for a child to be singing?'

Make us preferred on Google

Back before we became self-conscious adults many of us sang our hearts out. But we weren't all singing the greatest hits of Barnie or Disney.

Probably more than a few of us belted out what we heard on the car radio, home stereo or streaming music services our parents or older siblings listened to.

Which led more than a few of us to expand our vocabulary beyond our years.


Reddit user Ok_Way_2341 asked:

"As a child, what’s a song you sang loud and proud, only to find as an adult it’s super inappropriate for a child to be singing?"

His Purple Majesty 👑

"'Gett Off' by Prince. My mother heard me sing '21 positions in a one night stand' and took the disc off me."

"It unfortunately belonged to my older sister."

"Got punished twice in one week."

"I still love that song."

- Cherrianje

Prince GIF Giphy

"I was very very very old before I realized what 'Little Red Corvette' was about. Like mid-century old."

- Street_Roof_7915

"She had a pocket full of horses..."

- heatherbyism

"Trojan and some of them used
"

- Ferraenz

"I guess I should've closed my eyes, When you drove me to the place where your horses run free, 'Cause I felt a little ill when I saw all the pictures, Of the jockeys that were there before me."

- heatherbyism

"That line was so confusing to me as a kid."

"Toy plastic horses, maybe?"

- absentbusiness

toy horse GIF Giphy

Maybe not on that car ride.

"In the car, riding shotgun with my dad driving
 'I’ll make love to you, like you want me tooooo' - Boyz II Men."

- ADrunkenBotanist

"That’s in that weird intersection of 90s R&B that was tender and not necessarily nasty, but still definitely about sex.

"And sometimes, the songs were nasty, but if they were smooth, you could get away with it. 'Freek’n You' by Jodeci and 'Too Close' by Next come to mind."

- bearded_dragon_34

Who was it?

"'It Wasn't Me' by Shaggy"

- AnimeTattooChick1836

"My classmate told me when she was younger she thought it went 'we were both butt-naked, banging on the bathroom door'."

"Seems a little strange that she didn't question the fact that they were naked, but yeah."

- No_Location854

"Oh no, I still thought it was floor."

"But for some reason my innocent little brain legit imagined just two naked people on their knees banging their fists on the actual floor."

"Ahhh simpler times."

- mikehawksux

Shaggy It Wasn't Me GIF Giphy

Mmmm... candy.

"The particular song that mentions 'I'll take you to the candy shop and let you lick my lollipop' left me completely unaware of its underlying meaning back then, as I blissfully enjoyed its melody."

- dimarikl

"That song is 'Candy Shop' by 50 Cent."

- Zcoombs4

We blame Austin Powers.

"'I Touch Myself' by Divinyls"

“I don’t want anybody else. When I think about you I touch myself.”

- Sorry_Rhubarb_7068

"I still remember the day my early 20’s self figured it out, that holy crap! moment."

- MyOldGurpsNameKira

"I figured it out when I was 14."

"To be fair, that’s a major hobby of pretty well all 14-year-old kids."

- dagbrown

Austin Powers GIF Giphy

"I forget what year that song came out, but I think I was around 15 when it did. (so about 1990, I guess?) I remember getting what it was about, but thinking I had to be wrong because it'd be 'illegal' for someone to release a song like that, so it must be about something else and I'm just too dumb to understand what it's really about."

"I had this weird idea as a kid that I was only one of the people on the planet who knew what sex was, so I assumed almost everything sexual related was an accident (as in, they didn't mean to make it sound like it's about sex) and it was actually about something else and I was too dumb to understand the true meaning."

"I actually made up a number once of people who knew what sex was and that number was 7. I thought myself + 6 other people on the entire planet knew what sex was."

"I honest to God thought this, by the way. I never stopped and wondered where all these kids came from if only 7 people knew what sex was."

- temalyen

Mini Monster

"My 11 year-old, completely innocent niece: 'let's have some fun, this beat is sick, I wanna take a ride on your disco stick' [from 'Love Game' by Lady Gaga]."

"Me: 'Let's play a different song'."

- 314159265358979326

"Skyrockets in flight" wasn't about NASA?

"Apparently 'Afternoon Delight' [by Starland Vocal Band] wasn’t about getting out of school."

"I did not know that."

- HuellMissMe

South Park GIF Giphy

"My mum told me it meant having cake in the afternoon, which made perfect sense to me because that IS delightful."

- HelpfulName

"My aunt told us 'Afternoon Delight' was about going to get ice cream. 🙃"

- Truecrimeauthor

"I thought it was about a picnic!"

- MoonLoony

"I thought it was about a picnic too!"

"In 3rd grade we were each allowed to bring in our favorite record and play it for the class."

"That’s the one I brought."

- _ThisIsOurLifeNow_

Happy Whos Hungry GIF Giphy

Ignorance is bliss.

"My friend's daughter used to loudly sing Katy Perry 'Peacock'."

"Literally Everyone: 'Ummm...'."

"Friend: 'It's a song about a bird, and you will not say otherwise'."

- domestic_omnom

Got milk?

"'My Humps' - Black Eyed Peas"

"Apparently they were not just talking about milk and Cocoa Puffs."

- happygolucky226

"No, that's that 'Milkshake' song [by Kelis]."

"She makes really good milkshakes, right?"

- CatOfGrey

milkshake GIF Giphy

"My cousin (4 at the time) loved singing the 'Milkshake' song."

"Then she and her sister were gently told not to sing it so they moved onto 'My Humps'!"

"I couldn’t bear hearing about lovely lady lumps, so I tried to find another song more appropriate."

"They settled on another Peas one 'Shut Up!'."

"Slightly more tolerable I guess, but there was no telling the girls to shut up because they’d just start repeating it back in song at you."

- 3rdslip

Blades Of Glory GIF Giphy

But Uncle Luke was so subtle...

"'Me So Horny' by 2 Live Crew."

"My Dad once said 'It’s your mom’s favorite song'."

"Thanks Dad."

- Geriatric_Sloth

"When I was a kid, my little brother came into the room singing [from 'We Want Some P***y' by 2 Live Crew] 'Just nibble on my d*ck like a rat does cheese'."

"My mom in outrage said, 'what did you say!'"

"He calmly looked at her and spoke confidently, 'All I said was just nibble on my d*ck like a rat does cheese'."

"He was like 4 or 5 years old, that tape [Is What We Are by 2 Live Crew] was confiscated immediately."

- Tweedbreak

Uncle Luke GIF

Uncle Luke of 2 Live Crew

Giphy

And now for something completely different...

"In about 3rd or 4th grade I came home from playing at a friends house
said friend had been singing some weird song that got stuck in my head."

"So I stroll in and take my seat at the dinner table and start singing as loud as I can: 'Sit on my face and tell me that you love me! I’ll sit on your face and tell you that I love you too!!'
my parents damn near choked."

"They couldn’t stop laughing and then told me never ever to sing that again. Luckily they were huge Monty Python fans
nothing I knew about at the time."

- roygbiv_87

*WARNING: NSFW*

Ah, to be young and innocent again.

Did you learn anything new about what a song really means?

Or did you sing something as a child that didn't make the list?

Share your story in the comments.

More from Trending/best-of-reddit

George Conway; Laura Loomer
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for CNN; Brandon Bell/Getty Images

George Conway Epically Trolls Laura Loomer After She Claims New York DMV's Credit Card Machine Displayed 'Palestinian Flag'

Conspiracy theorist and acolyte of MAGA Republican President Donald Trump Laura Loomer drew widespread ridicule over her latest outrageous claim. Lawyer and ex-husband of Trump staffer Kellyanne Conway turned anti-Trump activist George Conway lead the charge on calling Loomer out on her latest nonsense.

On October 7, Loomer shared a photo on X that was allegedly taken at a Department of Motor Vehicles office in New York City. The MAGA influencer also tagged NYC's progressive Democratic Socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani's personal X account.

Keep Reading Show less
Susan Collins
Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

Susan Collins Dragged After GOP PAC Boosts Her Campaign In The Wrong Portland

On July 4, 1786, the city of Portland, Maine, was officially founded with its newly-minted name. Almost 60 years later in 1845, Maineiac Francis Pettygrove won a coin toss against Asa Lovejoy and named their soon-to-be incorporated city in Oregon Portland after the largest city in his home state of Maine.

Since then, Portland, Oregon, has swelled to a city of approximately 675,000 people while its namesake boasts a population of just 70,000. In 2026, when people hear Portland, they think of Oregon instead of the original city in Maine.

Keep Reading Show less
Screenshot of Whitey Taylor
CNN

CNN Just Visited A Struggling MAGA Store—And It Spells Bad News For Trump

CNN correspondent Elle Reeve returned to Whitey Taylor's Trump Town USA in Boones Mill, Virginia, for the first time since visiting in 2023, and her segment shows that business for the Donald Trump-themed shop has collapsed as more MAGA followers break away from the president.

Reeve, in a segment for Anderson Cooper 360, reported that "things aren't what they used to be" for the store. She spoke with Taylor, who revealed that the store, which used to make $12,000 to $15,000 in sales per day now only makes between $1,500 - $2,000 per day. On occasion, Taylor will hit $3,000 in sales if he's lucky.

Keep Reading Show less
Pete Hegseth
Alex Wroblewski / AFP via Getty Images

Pete Hegseth Roasted After Video Of Him Trying And Failing To Keep Up With Marines Goes Viral

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was widely mocked after he was shown struggling to keep up with Marines while running around a track during a recent training.

In a C-SPAN video shared by FactPost on X, Hegseth is shown lagging beyond the pack as Marines jog around a track in San Diego.

Keep Reading Show less
Vice President JD Vance speaks during a Washington, D.C., press conference on American jobs and visa fraud.
C-SPAN

JD Vance Blasted After Sharing His Absolutely Mind-Numbing Definition Of 'Socialism'

According to Merriam-Webster, socialism broadly refers to economic and political systems centered on collective or government ownership and control of the means of production.

Not exactly a concept requiring a Ph.D. to explain. One would think Vice President JD Vance, a Yale Law School graduate whose party practically uses the word as punctuation, could manage a working definition.

Keep Reading Show less