We recently asked the BuzzFeed Community to tell us the songs they never realised were about sex. Here are some of the best responses.
1. "Too Close" - Next
2. "The Macarena" - Los del Río
"It’s about a woman cheating on her boyfriend with two of his friends… at the same time if you catch my drift."
3. "Love Myself" - Hailee Steinfeld
"The song talks about 'loving herself' and I genuinely thought she actually loved herself and her body/personality. Little did I know she was actually being very sexual. One day it just kinda clicked in my brain when I was blaring it in my room?"
4. "Sweet Caroline" - Neil Diamond
"This was verified from the lyrics 'touching me, touching you' and 'good times never felt so good'."
5. "Don’t Stop Me Now" - Queen
"I used it in a music video I made for middle school students. They pointed it out to me. Oops!"
6. "Little Red Corvette" - Prince
7. "Live While We’re Young" - One Direction
"When I was little I thought the line 'tonight let’s get some' meant that they were getting hugs."
8. "Your Body Is A Wonderland” - John Mayer
"In my defense, my 10-year-old self thought he was singing 'Nevada is a wonderland' and was pronouncing Nevada 'ne-vah-da' (aka the wrong way)."
"I legit thought it was about a theme park of some sort."
9. "Kiss From A Rose" - Seal
"I was in my thirties before I found out Seal’s 'Kiss from a Rose' was about a girl losing her virginity. I just always thought it was a vague and kind of nonsensical love song. H/t to my kid brother for filling me in when I mentioned thinking about singing it at karaoke."
10. "Butterfly" - Jason Mraz
"'You make my slacks a little tight you may unfasten them if you like.' How did I never see this?!"
11. "Digital Get Down" - *NSYNC
12. "Banana Pancakes" - Jack Johnson
"I just thought it was about a delicious breakfast item."
14. "Fergalicious" - Fergie
"I had no idea 'Fergalicious' by Fergie was about oral at all until this summer (I’m 21). Not a clue. I heard the lines about tasting things and I was like I guess she has some good chapstick or something."
15. "Butterfly" - Crazy Town
"This song came out when I was like 12… Annnnd I didn’t realise it was about sex until three years ago when I was 25."
"I was young when it came out and I was obsessed with it! It wasn’t until I was much much older than I realised the truth."
16. "U + Ur Hand" - Pink
17. "Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy" - Big & Rich
"I listened to 'Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy' on the radio a lot as a kid and always sang along enthusiastically. It wasn’t until I heard it again in high school that I realised what they were very obviously talking about."
18. "La La" - Ashlee Simpson
"I didn’t realise it was about sex until last summer, I listened to it and heard the lyrics: 'You make me want to LA LA in the kitchen' and 'You make me want to SCREAM'."
19. "It Wasn't Me" - Shaggy
"My sister and I never realised that 'It Wasn't Me' by Shaggy was about sex. We always thought he was saying they were banging on the bathroom door (not floor). We just thought they were knocking on bathroom doors and saying it wasn’t them doing so."
20. "Summer Of '69" - Bryan Adams
"I love the song, and thought it was about a careless fun summer. Until I learned it was about... well, um, his position of the summer…"
21. "Shut Up And Drive" - Rihanna
22. "Shake It" - Metro Station
"I hadn’t realised up until my freshman year of high school that the song 'Shake It' by Metro Station was about sex, I also thought it was a catchy song about dancing."
23. "Rude Boy" - Rihanna
"When I was younger my jam used to be 'Rude Boy' by Rihanna… And then I learned what the lines, 'can you get it up' and 'is you big enough' really meant.
24. "Work From Home" - Fifth Harmony
"I really thought it was about a person working from their house. Then some much younger people told me otherwise and made me watch the music video."
25. "Like A Prayer" - Madonna
"After 19 years of listening to Madonna, I just recently learned that 'Like A Prayer' is about blowjobs. Mind fucking blown!"
26. "If You Seek Amy" - Britney Spears
27. "All Over The Road" - Easton Corbin
"The line 'It’s hard to drive with her hands over here on my knees' is literally about road head. It took a few listens before I caught onto that one."
28. "I Kissed A Girl" - Katy Perry
"Me and my friends didn’t even realise there was an alternate meaning to the line 'I kissed a girl and I liked it, taste of her cherry chapstick' until we were playing Just Dance and they bleeped out 'cherry chapstick'. Suffice to say we were unable to finish the dance because we all just had to sit there and contemplate our entire existence. We didn’t realise Katy was talking about 'lips' in a completely different area of the body."
29. "Gasolina" - Daddy Yankee
"I’ve been listening to that song for 13 years and just found out that it is disgustingly inappropriate. I’m pretty sure my childhood is ruined."
30. "2 Become 1” - The Spice Girls
"When this came out, I was nine years old singing at the top of my lungs 'I need some love like I never needed love before' and '... tonight is the night when 2 become 1'. Only realised what the song was about like five years ago. Childhood ruined."
31. "Not Fair" - Lily Allen
32. "Rock The Boat" - Aaliyah
“'Ooh baby I love your stroke, cause you get me where I’m going.' I thought he was really good at rowing!"
33. "Baby Got Back" - Sir Mix A Lot
"When I was little, 'Baby Got Back' was the jam and I never understood why my mom wouldn’t let me listen to it. I would have to go to my friend’s house to hear it and we would make up dance routines to it. The lyrics to that song are not even remotely subtle. To a little kid though, butts are funny and anacondas are snakes!"
34. “Brand New Key" - Melanie
"Who knew 'I got a brand new pair of roller skates and you got a brand new key' was sexual?! Not me until not that long ago sadly."
35. "Remix To Ignition" - R Kelly
"I was 22 and used to babysit a 10-year-old girl. We were talking about songs we liked and I said, 'I love that car song.' She gives me this look, and says, 'you know that’s about sex, right?' I don’t know what was worse, that I didn’t know it and sang along to it while driving the kids, or that a 10-year-old knew it and was now laughing in my face."
36. "Candy Shop" - 50 Cent
37. "Leavin’" - Jesse McCartney
"It's totally about sex. 'Tell him you found somebody who does it better than he can' - also, he starts the song with, 'hey baby girl I’ve been watching you all day, man that thing you got behind you is amazing'."
38. "Scotty Doesn't Know" - Lustra
"Sang it when I was a kid with my dad. Mom hated that I sang it. Didn’t realise why until I grew up."
39. "Follow Me" - Uncle Kracker
"When I was 16 my friend told me that 'Follow Me' by Uncle Kracker is about a woman cheating. FUCKED ME UP. I don’t know why 'I’m not worried ‘bout the ring you wear ‘cus as long as no one knows then nobody can care' wasn’t obvious enough for me. I just thought it was some cute mellow song I’ve been singing along to since kindergarten."
40. "LoveGame" - Lady Gaga
"Surprisingly, I never understood 'I wanna take a ride on your disco stick'."
41. "Genie In A Bottle" - Christina Aguilera
42. "Whistle" - Flo Rida
"I never understood why he wanted someone to blow his whistle. Seems really obvious now."
43. "I'm So Excited" - The Pointer Sisters
"I thought they were just really excited about life. Nope. Definitely about sex."
44. "If You Want It To Be Good Girl (Get Yourself A Bad Boy)" - The Backstreet Boys
"I always knew it was a bit naughty growing up, but I didn’t really realise HOW naughty it was until I was an adult and saw them perform it live in concert. Then I really processed the lyrics and was like, that is a really dirty song and I was running around my room as a 10-year-old singing along!"
45. "When The Lights Go Out" - Five
"I’d listen to their song 'When The Lights Go Out' on repeat when I was about 10. One of my brothers tried to tell me it was about sex, but I didn’t believe him. Then I heard the song again as an adult. Yeah, it’s definitely about sex."
46. "Pony" - Ginuwine
47. "White Houses" - Vanessa Carlton
"It wasn’t until I first listened to it again after years that I realised it’s about losing your virginity. I can’t believe I ever missed that one."
49. "Emotions" - Mariah Carey
"My 10-year-old self had NO CLUE it was entirely about orgasms!"
50. "Lying Is The Most Fun A Girl Can Have Without Taking Her Clothes Off" - Panic! At The Disco
"I realised WAY too late that it was about sex."
51. "Work It" - Missy Elliot
52. "Come on Eileen" - Dexys Midnight Runners
"I only realised this was a song about sex when I wanted to sing it for a school talent show and my mom was like 'ummmm no'."
53. "Greased Lightning" - Grease soundtrack
"Never realised that 'Greased Lightning' was so explicit! Questioning why my mother let me listen to it when I was four."
54. "Hallelujah" - Leonard Cohen
"The one that plays in Shrek. 'Remember when I moved in you, the holy dove was moving too, and every breath we drew was hallelujah'."
55. "Don’t Stop Believing" - Journey
"I didn’t know that 'Don’t Stop Believing' was about a one night stand until my senior year of high school lol. Our choir sang it at graduation, so in rehearsal one day I was like 'wait a second'..."
56. "Barbie Girl" - Aqua
58. "Cool For The Summer" - Demi Lovato
"One day I listened properly and it’s about her having hot and steamy loving with another woman! Once I actually thought about it, I liked it that much more!"
59. "Semi-Charmed Life" - Third Eye Blind
“'How do I get back there to the place where I fell asleep inside you?' I was like, 'Inside you? Oh!'"
60. "No Diggity” - Blackstreet
"I had no idea that 'No Diggity' by Blackstreet was about a girl who sleeps with everyone! I didn’t realise it until a year ago… when I turned 30. Oops. 'I like the way you work it… I gotta bag it up' because he’s scared about getting something from her!"
61. "Bad Touch" - Bloodhound Gang
62. "Candyman" - Christina Aguilera
"Younger me sang this song all the time actually thinking it was about the candy man. When I finally got older did I fully understand why my mom didn’t want me singing that song."
63. "Oh What a Night" - Four Seasons
"Ruined my childhood a bit when I put it all together. All the roller skating we did to that song. They played it all the time at the roller rink!"
–Traci Skocik, Facebook
64. "Cookie Jar" - Gym Class Heroes
"I made 'can’t keep my hands out the cookie jar' my MySpace status which was immediately followed by my sister bursting into my room and demanding me to remove it."
65. "Backseat Serenade" - All Time Low
"Took me a while to realise it was about having oral sex in the back of a car."
66. "Milkshake" - Kelis
67. "Boom Boom Boom" - Vengaboys
"I just about died when it finally clicked in my head that the song was about sex, specifically the chorus part. I very LOUDLY and very PROUDLY sang this song EVERYWHERE (school, friend’s house, my house, my grandparents’ house, CHURCH *dies*). I mean, I sang this at my middle school’s Christmas fair! In front of CROWDS. Now I can’t listen to this song without blushing profusely."
68. "Afternoon Delight" - Starland Vocal Band
"I remember hearing just the 'skyrockets in flight, afternoon delight' in Good Will Hunting when I was young, and it didn’t click until I was humming it after and my friend said, 'you know that’s about sex in the afternoon, right?'
Mind. Blown."
69. "Cotton Eye Joe" - Rednex
