"Sixty-Minute Man" - Billy Ward and The Dominoes

Good morning peeps! Remember when you were a youngster and heard songs that you thought you knew the meaning of but didn't? I sure do! So, I've decided to write a little ditty about some of  the most clever "innuendo" songs from then and now; only now, these songs are way more explicit, and younger children have them figured out. It's the parents that often don't know the true meaning of these songs. Back in the fifties, Doo-Wop music was all the rage, although it wasn't called *Doo-Wop; (*see yesterday's blog for a little history); it was called rhythm and blues. My mother had a particular fondness for this music and had many records in her collection. She would play music almost everyday as she cooked and cleaned house. On weekends when we were home from school, I'd sit under her and sing-along with the songs she played, not fully understanding what the songs were about. I just knew that they sounded good. I'd also watch my mother's reactions, and form a child's opinion as to whether the song was a "somebody-done-somebody-wrong-song," or some other grown-up dilemma. Little did I know that some of these songs were actually  talking about sex!

It wasn't until years later when I became a teen-ager did I understand the true meaning of these delightful songs! The first innuendo songs that I figured out the meanings of were, "Work With Me Annie" by Hank Ballard and the Midnighters (he wrote and performed the original version of The Twist, which later became a monster hit for Chubby Checker), and a song called "Sixty-Minute Man" by The Dominoes. A follow up song to "Work With Me Annie" was called "Roll With Me Henry" by  Etta James and Hank Ballard, later to be retitled, Wallflower...perhaps to quell the controversy. Now both songs were purportedly about dancing, but another follow-up song declared, "Annie Had A Baby", also written by Hank Ballard. Now I ask you...can you have a baby by merely "dancing" with Henry? I think Not! These are innuendo songs. The other popular one, "Sixty Minute Man" speaks for itself: "there'll be sixty minutes of kissing, then you'll holler don't stop, they'll be 15 minutes of teasing, 15 minutes of squeezing, and 15 minutes of blowing my top!" Through the years, many more songs joined the ranks of  innuendo or double entendre songs. 

Fast forward to eighties and nineties: The New Jack era introduced a whole 'nother type of innuendo songs; songs that were more explicit and less implied. Songs like "I Wanna Sex You Up" by Color Me Badd" and anything by R. Kelly. Songs about bumpin', grindin' and knocking da boots! The Rap lyrics were very explicit and soon warning labels had to be added to the jackets and labels. Biggie Smalls had a song that clearly stated what he wanted to do to his woman tonight! I used to cringe hearing that blared on a boom box out in public...not that I'm a prude, but I felt it was inappropriate for children to hear, in that context. More recent songs contained lyrics that talked about "milkshakes" and "skeets,"and I swear I didn't know what any of this meant until younger people explained it to me. By the time Flo -rida sang about about "when you go downtown", I knew for sure what he was insinuating! I wondered if the producers of American Idol knew when they had him on? After all, that is supposedly a family show! LaBelle's Lady Marmalade seems tame now, when they ask, "voulez-vous coucher avec moi, ce soir?" As Bob Dylan said, "times, they are a changing."