Great "Creepy" Hits From Times Gone By.

Music Wed - Keeping it light, and still keeping it out of the 80s (just for one more week). I was reflecting with a friend how many old songs have really creepy lyrics. Try the Eagles classic "Take It Easy", which starts with the famous lines "I'm just running down the road trying to loosen my load, got 7 women on my mind - 4 the ones I owe me; 2 the one I stole me; 1 says she's a friend of mine". Huh? Loosen his load? and he starts with 4 women he bargained or paid for and two he outright kidnapped? Are you kidding me? Well, this is a tribute to these kind of songs which ping the old creepo-meter pretty high. Let's start with two companion songs that are so overboard that I am surprised the singers did not get arrested in the studios. We will call these the "Roman Polanski tribute songs" - "Young Girl" and "Chevy Van". "Young Girl" by Gary Puckett is just a pure confessional where at least he warns the soon-to-be-statutory-rape-victim to at least run from him because he is so out of control. Trust me, though, the rest of the lyrics, where he goes into detail about his illicit feelings, will make your skin crawl and run from him even now - btw, this song reached number 1 on the charts - http://youtu.be/qJFVPxBpezk. Once you wipe off the slime of that gem, quickly turn to the more relaxed serial kidnap-then-rape-then-leave them in another town mellow vibe of "Chevy Van" as sung by Sammy Johns - http://youtu.be/IBNRfZlGatw. Such a mellow vibe can't disguise the complete inappropriateness of this 70's classic that made it to number 3 on the charts. Finally, since I could go on and on but should end before I start to look like a creepo for knowing so many of these songs, I must end with a little ode to suicide that I can't help singing along with because of its bouncy, light tune which makes the song so infectious. I'm speaking, of course, of my long time fave "Alone Again (Naturally)" by Gilbert O"Sullivan. So much sorrow in such a light hit that also made it to number 3 on the Top 40 charts - http://youtu.be/D_P-v1BVQn8. All of these remind me of how in the 80's my mom routinely sang along with Marvin Gaye's hit "Sexual Healing" never knowing what she was actually saying, at least that was until my sister and I pointed out what the song was really saying. To her credit, while she stopped singing the lyrics, she continued to enjoy the groovy R&B mastery of Marvin. Here's to those super creepy songs that somehow made it to huge hits with no one stopping to say, "Hey, what the heck did that guy just say?" Enjoy!