If you do have a 12-year-old daughter you probably already know that Lily Allen is touring here at the moment. They’ve probably begged you to let them go to the concert - and you may have relented.

I’ll be there on Tuesday night with a bunch of 14-year-olds who are much cooler than I was when I was their age, and I’m really looking forward to it. Allen is very entertaining, her melodies are infectious, and she even manages to infuse some her her tunes with the kind of lessons you want young girls to learn (see above video of the very clever The Fear).

But there will be five minutes during the concert when I’ll be cringing in the corner as I look around at a room full of gorgeous young girls, who no doubt know every word of Allen’s latest single Not Fair and will be singing along with gusto. Believe me, if you’re little one is an Allen fan you probably don’t want to know the lyrics.

Oh he treats me with respect
He says he loves me all the time
He calls me 15 times a day
He likes to make sure that I’m fine
You know I’ve never met a man
who’s made me feel quite so secure
He’s not like all them other boys
They’re all so dumb and immature

There’s just one thing
that’s getting in the way
When we go up to bed
you’re just no good
Its such a shame
I look into your eyes
I want to get to know you
And then you make this noise
and it’s apparent it’s all over

It’s not fair
And I think you’re really mean
I think you’re really mean
I think you’re really mean
Oh you’re supposed to care
But you never make me scream
You never make me scream

Oh it’s not fair
And it’s really not ok
It’s really not ok
It’s really not ok
Oh you’re supposed to care
But all you do is take
Yeah all you do is take

Oh I lie here
in the wet patch
In the middle of the bed
I’m feeling pretty
damn hard done by
I spent ages giving head
Then I remember
all the nice things
that you ever said to me
Maybe I’m just overreacting
maybe you’re the one for me

There’s just one thing
that’s getting in the way
When we go up to bed
you’re just no good
It’s such a shame
I look into your eyes
I want to get to know you
And then you make this noise
and it’s apparent it’s all over

And - well, it goes on and on and you’ve probably read enough.

A couple of months ago there was a huge stink about the Britney Spears song If You Seek Amy (say it slowly). Yet I haven’t heard anyone bat an eyelid about Not Fair. Maybe it’s because Allen delivers her particular brand of pop with a charming Pommy accent that no-one cares.

Just don’t say you weren’t warned when from the back seat of your car on the way to tennis your Year-7 lovely starts singing about the wet patch.

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10 comments

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    • Lincoln Howes says:

      09:12am | 08/06/09

      “Not Fair” may be a little colourful Tory, but you may as well STAY cringing in the corner for Lily Allen’s other hit, “F*ck You”. However, to give Lily her due, it is about George W. Bush, so there are worse things the 14-year-olds could be learning.

    • Tee says:

      10:51am | 08/06/09

      Absolutely LOVE that she gets away with it - and think it’s great that someone’s actually saying what most people feel/have felt at some stage in a relationship as oppposed to just bumping and grinding. That said, no 7 year old daughter…

    • Rowan M says:

      12:18pm | 08/06/09

      i think it’s a fine message for women to say no to useless, selfish lovers

    • kim says:

      01:15pm | 08/06/09

      The key paragraph in this - involving the wet spot and ages giving head - is priceless. However, I must say, as I hear the song starting on the radio I’m back over to Classic FM toot sweet due to my lack of readiness to explain such concepts to my 9 year old son.

      It was enough when he came home from school asking me what a master-baiter was (thank you Transformers movie) after they’d been talking about it at school. Oi.

      But I do agree with Rowan M!

    • Paul says:

      04:56pm | 08/06/09

      Don’t listen to such s**** music in the first place and you’ll be right!

    • Molly says:

      06:48pm | 08/06/09

      I used to listen to songs as a child, the radio abounded with songs with lyrics like, “come together, right now, over me”, or bands with names like “loving spoonful” not to mention songs saying how great cocaine and other drugs are.  Basically i enjoyed the tunes and did not understand most of the lyrics till i was many years older, and by that time i had to laugh about my early naviety.

    • Michael says:

      10:55pm | 08/06/09

      Love the song…!!  Not much more out there than Status Quo’s “Roll Over Lay Down”  Also, maybe it’s a great wake up call for us blokes to lift our game.

    • Amy L says:

      03:57am | 09/06/09

      Would you rather have the 7-year old try to decipher the lyrics (to Molly’s point) or have them watch it, as with the pole-dance stripper performance of the very un-musical Pussycat Dolls? I’m going with the former, and like Molly, it took me years to work out what it all meant (and even then, I had to read Anthony Kiedis’ bio to understand the meaning of “Under the Bridge”).  Good luck to all the parents who need to come up with a clean explanation for “the wet spot” if asked!

    • NiteKreeper says:

      05:39pm | 09/06/09

      Oh no, really Kim? You have a 9 year old son and you AVOID conversations that start with a question you don’t like? Nobody says you need to explain every little detail, but he NEEDS you to start giving him information like this, no matter how uncomfortable you may feel about the discussion.
      Otherwise, he’ll turn out just like you!

    • lisa says:

      03:14pm | 11/06/09

      Good point Tory!,This song was on the radio & I thought exactly the same thing.

 

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