I recently downloaded some music for my car’s USB drive, and my “choosy” husband, of course, hated some of the songs I chose to download (go figure). I like to joke that he hates 99 percent of the music he hears. To my credit, I did download some tracks that I know he likes! Locomotive Breath by Jethro Tull is one of those songs, and Call of Ktulu by Metallica is another, and I also downloaded an Alice Cooper track called The Ballad of Dwight Fry.

“You should’ve downloaded Dead Babies,” he said, referring to another of Alice Cooper’s songs. Aww, geez! It’s not like he TOLD me what music he wanted me to download (and I happen to like The Ballad of Dwight Fry).

While we were taking a drive a couple of weekends ago, he saw that a Hall and Oates song was getting ready to start, and he had a FIT!

“Oh, OK,” I said, “We’ll skip this one for now. I can listen to it while I’m driving to and from work.” Marital crisis averted! I didn’t bother to point out that a “techno” track I’d downloaded for him just because he likes it – REALLY disagreed with my headache that I was fighting earlier (oh the humanity)!  He can listen to THAT one when he has the car to himself! The track is from the album pictured below (more about the track in a bit)!

But then one day, he actually heard the Hall and Oates song while he was driving the car by himself – and he was pleasantly surprised!

“I didn’t know Hall and Oates did a reggae song,” he said to me. He also indicated that he kind of liked the song! What? Really? Mr. Picky likes a song? Get OUT! Stop…the presses!

Rewind to 1975, when Hall and Oates released their very creatively named Daryl Hall & John Oates album, and there is a track called Soldering. Spoiler – the song is NOT about using a soldering iron! “Soldering” is a Jamaican slang term for…banging. Hall and Oates’ song is a cover written and recorded originally by Stanley Beckford and the Starlights, and has also been covered by The Specials and Desmond Dekker.

Let’s take a look at some of the song’s lyrics:

Soldering it’s what the young girl wants
Soldering
Soldering it’s what the young girl needs
Soldering, oh yeah

But, there’s a catch – the “young girl” in the song is a bit…choosy about what man she will allow into her bed.

She says she don’t want the young boy
The young boy drink too much white rum
She says she don’t want the soul man
‘Cause soul man fall asleep in bed
She says she don’t want the dread lock
‘Cause dread lock smoke too much Haile

I first heard this song when I was about 10 years old or so, and of course had no idea that it was about a horny young woman! I just happened to like the sound of it. My mom was a Hall and Oates fan, and bought their whole back catalog, so I got to hear it all. She even took my brother and I to a couple of their concerts in the ’80s. In their early days, Hall and Oates were referred to as a “blue eyed soul” act.

Interesting that a song about a very “choosy” woman managed to impress a man whom is notoriously choosy about the music he likes to hear!