Song Lyrics

Until this year, we had never let our daughter listen to "regular" stations on the radio. Radio Disney was it - they edit out questionable lyrics, and we never worried about what they'd say in their commentary.

My husband had always filled Hannah's iPod for her, choosing fun oldies (are the 80s and 90s considered "oldies" yet?), again making sure the versions of the songs were appropriate for her ears.

But we quickly learned that this was like trying to keep our kids from drinking soda -as soon as they were able to make their own choices and go places on their own (even a friend's house), we could only isolate them so much. Hannah's friends had iPods of their own, and since the school day is extra long at OCHSA, everyone swaps iPods and listens to each other's music. Hannah knows what we think is appropriate, and generally she's very good about staying within our boundaries. But when everyone in the cafeteria is rocking out to Lady Gaga, what is a parent to do?

So we eased up on the music thing. We gave Hannah a Black Eyed Peas CD for Christmas. It has some cussing on it, but we discussed it with her and she knows the words are inappropriate for conversation.

The CD is currently in my car. She turns it on every time we get in. I've heard the songs more times than I can count. Many times, though, I can't even understand what they're saying.

On the drive to school this morning, we were listening to "Imma Be" (cool way of saying "I'm going to be"). I wasn't really listening. Hannah asked, "What's semen?"

"What?" I said. "Why?"

"The song says, 'Imma be ya bank, I be loaning out semen.'"

Dear Lord.

"You don't know what semen is?" I asked her.

She shrugged. "Something to do with sperm, I think?"

I sighed and explained what is was, how it was used in the song. Hannah cut me off before I even finished: "Got it!" she said.

We opened a can of worms, and I guess that's the price we pay. She's not too young to know about this stuff, but I hate how song lyrics make everything so casual, so unimportant. Just another day, loaning out my semen. Christ.

Where's the class, people?