Okay, Amergin and Nicole, I'll try to flesh out and clarify my previous comments. This may be a little difficult, since I posted them with more of an "off the top of my head" approach than a carefully thought-through approach (in other words, how should I know? I only wrote the stuff-BG).

First I said: "But...if a phrase in the song that would be perfectly innocent to most folks turned out to also be pedophile slang/code for something abominable, that would have to be considered." Here I meant songs that had a non-obvious underlying message or meaning. I don't have an exact example, but as a close parallel, I'll offer "Ruby", as sung by Ray Charles. It sounds like a love song, Ruby being the object of his affection. I've been told, however, that it's actually referring to heroin. Lines like "They say, Ruby you're like a song, you just don't know right from wrong," and "I hear your voice, and I must come to you, I have no choice, so what else can I do," would fit this interpretation. The point being, if you would hate to sing a song about heroin, and if the song really is about heroin, you would like to be aware of this.

Then Spaw said: "The only thing that bothers me about anything you said Gary is when people start ascribing "meanings" into songs as codes for something." In the example above, the question would be is the song really about heroin (is that what the songwriter intended?), or did someone just come up with that idea and start a rumor (in the case of "Ruby", I don't know).

Then I said: "I was thinking of cases where the songwriter clearly had a nefarious meaning in mind." Again, in this example, was the heroin metaphor actually the songwriter's intent as opposed to someone else's second-guessing that intent. Since I was referring to songs that were not obvious in their meaning, it would probably require a statement from the songwriter to be certain.

Now in the point Nicole brought up, there's a difference in that those songs are clear in their statements--no allusions and metaphors to sift through and interpret. I like a song Wayon Jennings did called "Cedartown, Georgia". In it, the narrator catches his wife with another man and plans to shoot (kill) them. In real life, I detest such actions. But the song doesn't say "go out and do this", it just tells a story. In "The Banks of the Ohio", it tells a story about a fellow killing his love and doesn't even give a clue as to why. These songs don't bother me. I think I would be bothered by some of the more misogynistic rap songs, but I don't really know any of them, I just have an impression about them from other people's comments.

So perhaps the question remains, what really does bother me? What do I consider nefarious, and where would I draw the line? I don't have a set answer. I could certainly make those judgments on a case-by-case basis, and do. But I, like many of us I imagine, enjoy and sing songs that don't necessarily reflect my values. Just as there's a difference between real life and the movies, there's a difference between real life and songs, and I don't hold songs and their stories to the same standards that I would apply to actual behavior.