I can be dirty, creepy, sick even, but when it comes to writing lyrics, I surprise myself at how I unconsciously avoid double entendres. Not that I have anything against this standard songwriting device. I tried to, once or twice (see? I’m not against it, and I still listen to the naughty Dos Polgadas and laugh out loud when there’s a chance). But when I was in the studio to record the songs, I chickened out and changed the lyrics. I’ll leave the double-meaning lyrics to other bands. — insoymada

My Boy Lollipop/Millie

“…Today a pop classic, ‘My Boy Lollipop’ is … extremely short and as lyrically profound as a traffic sign. Still, it deserves inclusion as one of our 52 creepy love songs for its coital ska beat and the alternative interpretation of the title and lyrics.

“…For all its cutesiness, ‘My Boy Lollipop’ is possibly one of the dirtiest songs to ever hit the charts. Of course, it takes a suspicious mind that sees double entendres everywhere to notice the perverted meaning to this song. Thankfully, I have a suspicious mind.

“Allow me to present my case. First, I don’t know any self-respecting guy who’d accept ‘lollipop’ as a term of endearment from his girlfriend. If that’s his real name, i.e. Lol E. Pop, then fine, we can assume he’s probably someone who had to win a lot of playground fights. But it’s more likely that ‘lollipop’ is a euphemismm one as obvious as all the rhymes in the song. Oh yeah, she looovvves her boy’s lollipop, it makes her giddy-up, it’s sweet like candy, it’s sugar dandy. Need I go on?

“Double entendres in song lyrics are not UFOs. They stand out like funnel clouds and most genres of music, be it R&B, salsa, merengue, blues, rockabily etc., have employed double-meaning lyrics. ‘My Boy Lollipop’ was originally an R&B song, a genre notorious for sexual innuendo, and when you add the humping rhythms of ska combined with the kittenish charm of Millie’s voice, you have a deliciously suggestive creepy love song.”

(Touch Me, I’m Sick, the 52 Love Creepiest Love Songs You’ve Ever Heard, by Tom Reynolds)