Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To want heads on platters? Utterly inappropriate school assembly

362 replies

Renarde1975 · 02/11/2018 11:33

This is a fucking corker. I am fuming but I'd like the hive minds' view.

At DS assembly today. Topic is 'Evacuation: WW2'. All good. Actually, they've done a great job and it's really excellent. Then this.

Towards the end, Christine Aguilera's 'Candyman' comes on. I'm watching open mouthed. I still cannot believe it.

MN: let me refresh you on the 'choicest' lyrics.

He's a one stop shop, makes the panties drop

He took me to the Spider club on Hollywood and Vine
We drank champagne, and we danced all night

He's a one stop shop, makes my cherry pop

And no, MN - this was NOT the radio edit.

And then to cap it all off for some inexplicable reason we are treated to two renditions of Don't Stop Believin' by Journey

A singer in a smoky room
A smell of wine and cheap perfume
For a smile they can share the night
It goes on and on, and on, and on

WTAF? Did I smoke crack this morning and enter into a parallel dimension? I am a teacher, that another member of my profession could fuck up so royally is just, wow.

I don't want my nine year old son to be singing this in a school assembly, or listening to words that objectify women and glorify alcohol. Turns out the kids were practicing the dance moves to Candyman for three weeks!

OP posts:
Original poster
Renarde1975 · 02/11/2018 12:03

Btw, my WTF moment was when in the Christmas show the children filed in to Fairytale of New York - let's all sing now, "You're a bum, You're a punk, You're an old slut on junk"

Please don't tell me they also sang 'faggot'?

OP posts:
TooTrueToBeGood · 02/11/2018 12:04

Also, are 9 year olds not supposed to know about wine and cheap perfume?

They should do, it is probably a major part of the answer to "where did I come from mummy" for half of them.

Dontfeellikeaskeleton · 02/11/2018 12:05

Next time just have the kids watch Pretty Woman.

ErickBroch · 02/11/2018 12:05

Huge overreaction, even in my late 20s I hear songs I used to love as a kid and listen to the lyrics and think wow, I had no idea what all that meant as a kid.

If she had said to you she felt uncomfortable, different story. But, she didn't.

Candyman is obviously because of the uniforms in the video, and Don't Stop Believin' would be for the message.

TinklyLittleLaugh · 02/11/2018 12:06

I would have a word; it's nasty and unnecessary. I do think song lyrics just go over a lot of people's heads though. I'm someone who really listens to lyrics and they can put me right off a song.

My kid's school sang Leonard Cohen's Hallellujah one assembly. Whilst it's not offensive, it's not in any way relatable to little kids.

blue25 · 02/11/2018 12:08

Complete overreaction. Chill out.

brizzledrizzle · 02/11/2018 12:08

I wouldn't want heads on platters (I'm a vegetarian) but I would be seriously questioning the schools choice. Maybe just a casual comment that you were surprised at the song choice and how your child has been asking you what some of the words meant.

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 02/11/2018 12:09

I think that Candyman sounds like a rather odd choice for a primary school assembly. Even if none of the children realise it is about sex, the parents will, and some will not be impressed at their children listening to this song over and over again in school.

I could understand it if the material they were using was unique, and the only option for the topic of the assembly - but there is a whole world of music out there, and it would not be difficult to find songs that would fit the theme of the assembly, without the PG lyrics.

It's not a hanging and flogging offence - but it is a very poor choice.

Mia1415 · 02/11/2018 12:09

You are massively overreacting.

I've never even really thought about the lyrics and I doubt the children did either.

If I was a teacher and you came to complain about this I'd think you were a bit nuts to be honest.

overagain · 02/11/2018 12:09

YABU. Candyman is a common song for dance routines in kids dance classes. We used it in cheerleading.

And I really don't see what the issue is with don't stop belivin'

Kazzyhoward · 02/11/2018 12:12

There's a massive difference between casually listening to songs (on the radio, in shops etc) and having to learn a song to sing yourself. For 9 year olds, having to learn songs with "dodgy" lyrics is just not acceptable - completely different to passively listening to them.

Goldenbear · 02/11/2018 12:14

It's the subliminal message of these choices. Why not put a bit thought on to these things. Why is classical music inaccessible to children in most state primary schools? A bit of imagination might inspire some children, not everything has to be relatable and familiar.

Original poster
Renarde1975 · 02/11/2018 12:16

If I was a teacher and you came to complain about this I'd think you were a bit nuts to be honest.

It's funny how people make assumptions just from a post? I am a teacher. I have also taught sex ed to the year 7s. I'm unbelievably broad minded and tolerant. But I am still not happy about it.

If I was another teacher in the staff room and the topic of what song came up, I would be having a quiet word in my colleagues ear.

OP posts:
HolyMountain · 02/11/2018 12:16

The judgement of the Teacher who thought the lyrics of Candyman suitable seems a little off.

I’d not say anything though, keep your powder dry for more pressing issues that might occur.

TinklyLittleLaugh · 02/11/2018 12:16

I've never even really thought about the lyrics and I doubt the children did either

Some people really tune into lyrics though, I do and my kids do too. We are hear it twice and know it well enough to sing along to kind of people. If my kids were practising a dance to a song they'd certainly pick up on, and be trying to make sense of the meaning of, the lyrics.

PolkadotsAndMoonbeams · 02/11/2018 12:16

But why not go for "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy"? Same style of music, actually WWII and quite a fun story if you do listen to the lyrics.

I think sometimes people just don't really think. I was a dance competition where the feedback was basically "really enjoyed it, but less sexy songs for the children and teens thank you very much".

pallisers · 02/11/2018 12:18

trying to get my head around professormoody - a teacher who would laugh derisively at a parent who objected to a 9 year old singing lyrics like

He's a one stop shop, makes the panties drop

coffeeagogo · 02/11/2018 12:18

Op you aren't unreasonable - my 9 year old DD is singing timber in choir - WFAF

It is creepy and rapey - "she says she won't but I bet she will"!!!!

It's going down, I'm yelling timber
You better move, you better dance
Let's make a night, you won't remember
I'll be the one, you won't forget
The bigger they are, the harder they fall
This biggity boy's a diggity dog
I have 'em like Miley Cyrus, clothes off
Twerking in their bras and thongs, timber
Face down, booty up, timber
That's the way we like the what, timber
I'm slicker than an oil spill
She say she won't, but I bet she will, timber
Swing your partner round and round
End of the night, it's going down
One more shot, another round
End of the night, it's going down
Swing your partner round and round
End of the night, it's going down
One more shot, another round
End of the night, it's going down
It's going down, I'm yelling timber
You better…

I don't want to be that parent but I think I am going to have to be!

hellojim · 02/11/2018 12:19

Maybe not heads on platters but I do agree that some of the lyrics are inappropriate for primary school. I remember one cringeworthy talent show at my DCs' primary school where the songs and acts hadn't been vetted beforehand. Due to the racy lyrics, thrusting and twerking that went on the Head made everyone audition and rehearse under supervision after that!
Crinkle77Just because you don't give the words a thought it doesn't necessarily follow that everyone will do the same. I think we become desensitised to stuff like this just because we hear it all the time. Some people will think it's fine but others will be offended or not want their kids singing those lyrics - the op is talking about primary school after all!

beachysandy81 · 02/11/2018 12:20

Odd choice mainly because I would have thought a teacher would be aware that it could offend parents not because I thought it would actually damage the kids. Also, I wouldn't have like to explain what 'makes my cherry pop' meant if any children asked me!!!

Witchend · 02/11/2018 12:22

I don't think children think about the lyrics. I know that songs I sang right the way through primary and some in secondary only as an adult I've re-listened to the lyrics and thought "hmm, that actually is a bit off".

At primary I'd have assumed the cherry pop line was about him getting her getting a nice can of cherryade from the shop.

My primary choir's trademark piece was Sloop John B. I was talking with the choir teacher from my dc's juniors how you wouldn't get away with it now "Drinking all night... got into a fight...etc" as some parent would complain. But at the time they were literally just words and a nice tune, we didn't think about what it actually meant.

rainbowquack · 02/11/2018 12:22

@coffeeagogo I just thought timber was about dancing? It doesn't seem sexual to me at all.

Witchesbritches · 02/11/2018 12:24

I’m another one who grew up singing the pop songs of the time, ‘hearing but not listening to’ the actual lyrics. Singing the words, but not the meaning I guess you’d say. Listening to them as an adult I was WTAF? 😳.

So, it wouldn’t bother me that they were using songs like this as dance music, but having just watched Candyman (because I wasn’t feeling familiar with it), I wouldn’t be too pleased if they’d been shown the video at school.

However, given what the assembly was about, I don’t actually think they were appropriate songs. To me it seems really disrespectful. There are plenty of songs, from the era, that are fun and not disrespectful - why not use those? However, I’d just 🙄

Avegemitesandwich · 02/11/2018 12:25

As a teacher I have had many a moment of thinking 'ah yes we can sing that song in our assembly/school production' only to look up the lyrics and be like.... 'oh maybe not'!

Or sometimes we change the lyrics to fit in with our theme anyway, although the kids then go and look up the original song....!

Candyman with those lyrics is really quite inappropriate and I wouldn't use that (it's a fairly tenuous link to WW2 anyway).

Can't see any problem with 'Don't Stop Believing'?

hellojim · 02/11/2018 12:25

Overagain It's used in dance classes, so that makes it ok?