I've been playing my 15yr old son 'Mongoloid' by Devo.
"Dad, what's Mongoloid?".
"Well, son, it's a perjorative term for someone with Down's Syndrome".
"Oh", he says. "Should you be playing that?".
"Well, son, Devo were post-modern ironists. I'm sure they didn't mean it in a perjorative sense".
"But, still, it's a bit disturbing that you're listening to it. I mean, I like the music, it's cool and that but...you know".

Do I know? Should I be listening to 'Mongoloid' pounding out from my car's tiny speakers at full chat? What if someone with Down's heard it? I keep imagining toe-curling, 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' moments..

Got me thinking, too, about another great song - 'Thirteen' by Big Star. However much I've tried to convince myself that it can't possibly be about a young man's love for a thirteen year old girl I think the line: "I'd be an outlaw for your love" disproves that. That, and common sense.

My daughter's 12. I love the song. What's a man to do? Play it sneakily, quietly on an encrypted iPod?

Thank God I never liked Michael Jackson. But I do hanker after Gary Glitter. Sometimes.