And who can forget the immortal “…You’re Fourteen, You’re Vulnerable, and I’m Swine”?
This song’s a bit different as it was written when the Beatles were in their early 20s. I’m not an expert, but I don’t think it was atypical for a 23 year old to see a 17 year old at the time. (If I’m wrong please let me know.) Furthermore it’s unfortunate that, ‘i saw her standing there’ might be the least creepy songs about a teenage girl from the 60s.
Ringo’s cover of ‘16’ came about a decade later which would put him in his early 30s. This simply is a bit icky. I recall seeing him play it in the late 90s which put him even farther from the age.
By no means am I trying to let the Beatles off, in truth I don’t know enough about them to say.
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OK - well first off - gotta point out Carrie Fisher as in Ringo’s Video. How cool is that?
2nd, that was a pop remake of an old rockabilly song. Which, you know, was marketed towards teenagers of the era. Thus the context of the song (in my view) is high schooler singing a love song to another high schooler. I think in a lot of cases where songs feature young people, it is in the context it is about two young people.
Now, I don’t know what lurks in the heart of Ringo Starr, but let’s not confuse poetry and art with real life. This could be as simple as his love for a classic rock song and redoing it. At any rate, it isn’t literally condoning 30 year olds preying on teens.
And there are many songs about this sort of thing… some of them sort of lovely and innocent, and some of them sorta creepy when you think about it.
(Odd aside, my ex-wife dated a much older man when she was like 17-18, and her parents were cool with it. But he was less of a predator, and more pathetic from the sound of it. I dunno, who am I to judge.)
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It’s astounding this is where we are in political discourse in the 21st century.
We’re never going have that moon colony at this rate. 
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The Stray Cats drew the line.
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Pollak shot back at Cuomo, saying, “You’re also a parent, and you know that when you raise sons, the risk that our sons face today is that they’re going to be exposed to accusations that may or may not be true.”
Notwithstanding the stupidity of that claim (the risk of exposure to untrue accusations isn’t verifiable, but my guess is that it’s very small compared to the gravity of injury suffered by minors who are preyed on), Roy Moore has given a somewhat qualified answer to the question of whether he dated teenage girls. He also admitted pursuing, possibly dating, a 17-year-old while he was in his 30’s.
The correct answer to “Did you date teenagers when you were in your 30’s?” is “No,” not “It would’ve been out of my customary behavior.”
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The age in this is slightly worse…
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Especially not if you subsequently qualify even that by conceding that your customary behavior was in fact to date teenagers.
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Ringo’s “You’re Sixteen” is a cover of a song by Johnny Burnette that was first released in 1960, when Ringo was 20. Nostalgia for pre-Beatles rock & roll was big in the early 70s (American Graffiti, Happy Days, Sha Na Na, etc), so Ringo was cashing in on a trend. There probably isn’t more to it than that.
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I would like to submit the Grateful Dead’s Mexicali Blues
And it’s three days ride from Bakersfield and I don’t know why I came
I guess I came to keep from payin’ dues
So instead I’ve got a bottle and a girl who’s just fourteen
And a damn good case of the Mexicali Blues Yeh
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The sexism is so deep with some people. I hope (for her sake) that he’s never put in the position of having to doubt the word of his own daughter because of his beliefs about women.
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I thought it was supposed to be, “It never happened, but if it did it wasn’t wrong” not “It wasn’t wrong but it never happened.” This guy has got his ordering mixed up.
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I seriously worry about the children (boys and girls, but especially girls) of people like this. Not because I’m worried about their genes, but because they’re the most vulnerable to becoming victims of their parents twisted beliefs. Like the song says, hell is for children.
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Saw him dancin’ there by the record machine.
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Sounds like a good deal. I know I’d rather be exposed to accusations than be sexually assaulted in a nation where you can still be president after being believably accused and bragging about it on tape.
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One of the most obvious jailbait song for me is “La Marca de la Gorra” by Los Autenticos Decadentes: https://youtu.be/U7ZGkvgWZhQ
“Buscate un abogado y empezá a rezar, que vas a ir preso porque es menor de edad.”
“Find yourself a lawyer and start praying, you are going to go to prison because she’s a minor.”
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Christ, what an asshole.
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I believe that being a horrible, mendacious asshole is a basic job requirement at Breitbart.
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I asked the gods for just one wish, and it was to never be reminded of this jam, but, nevertheless, here I am. This is all your fault, Moore!
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This is starting to make the bathroom debate look vaguely sensible. The depths of the abyss are starting to get frightening.
I remember reading John Sladek’s “Tik-Tok” some twenty years ago. It’s a rather prurient tale of a thoroughly abused robot who goes slightly nuts and, through various elaborate schemes involving plagiarism, private healthcare, and plenty of sex, works his way into political office. I didn’t understand at the time how some could refer to something so filthy as “satire”. But oh, he was just a few decades ahead of his time.
https://www.amazon.com/Tik-tok-John-Sladek/dp/0552124540
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