“Lightnin’ Strikes” – Lou Christie (1966)
Listen to me, baby, you gotta understand
You’re old enough to know the makings of a man
Listen to me, baby, it’s hard to settle down
Am I asking too much for you to stick around
Every boy wants a girl
He can trust to the very end
Baby, that’s you
Won’t you wait but ’til then
When I see lips beggin’ to be kissed (stop)
I can’t stop (stop)
I can’t stop myself
(Stop, stop)
Lightning is striking again
Lightning is striking again
Nature’s takin’ over my one-track mind
Believe it or not, you’re in my heart all the time
All the girls are sayin’ that you’ll end up a fool
For the time being, baby, live by my rules
When I settle down
I want one baby on my mind
Forgive and forget
And I’ll make up for all lost time
If she’s put together fine
And she’s readin’ my mind (stop)
I can’t stop (stop)
I can’t stop myself
(Stop, stop)
Lightning is striking again
Lightning is striking again
And again and again and again
Lightning is striking again
Lightning is striking again
There’s a chapel in the pines
Waiting for us around the bend
Picture in your mind
Love forever, but ’til then
If she gives me a sign
That she wants to make time (stop)
I can’t stop (stop)
I can’t stop myself
(Stop, stop)
Lightning is striking again
Lightning is striking again
And again and again and again
Lightning is striking again
And again and again and again
****
In “Lightnin’ Strikes,” the singer is trying to convince a girl to basically put her life on hold while he goes around and humps anyone willing to let him near. He can’t stop himself, as is, apparently the case with all men (which she is old enough to know). While “Lightning is striking” (again and again and again), he promises her a wedding “around the bend” and that he’ll make it up to her as long as she keeps her legs closed and lives by his rules. This is the skeeviest song on the list… and probably the catchiest.
16 thoughts on “The 6 Sexistiest Songs of the ’60s — #3”
Wow. This song flew right past creepy straight into sinister and predatory. Whoever wrote this song almost certainly has uttered the phrase, “Put the f*cking lotion in the basket!” at least once in their lives. O.O
Brandy
I have never laughed this hard in over ten years. Your comment had me ROTfFMAS: “Put the f*cking lotion in the basket!” Incredible. 🙂
Matt
To hear the catchy, upbeat music, and then read the lyrics here, it is two different worlds. All I remember of this is the chorus, heard it a million times, I never knew.
Jack H
This was the first song, when I was growing up, that I fell in love with. I didn’t know what sexism was then. Now, if I could get my hands on whoever wrote it, I would give them a wound in an area they would never recover from.
Karen
Yeah, but the person who wrote it was a woman!
Ain’t that a kick in the keister!
Paul Bradford
Sounds like the kind of effeminate, childish bullsh|t response a Karen would subscribe to. XD
Lady, I’d be more concerned with not dying alone and unloved out of inability to find someone who’ll tolerate your nonsense.
David Paulus
Someone’s triggered
Communism Is BAD
How original. Must have had to really put on your thinking cap to come up with such a witty, urbane comment. The Bard, himself, has nothin’ on ol’ Communism is Bad, here: truly, the voice of his generation.
Danielle
😂😂😂😂
That reply made my day!
Sabrina
Someone ELSE was triggered, too, it’d appear… 😀
David Paulus
Extremely sexist or brutally honest, or a mixture of both? I can’t imagine the character in the song got many girlfriends, even in the sixties.
Biran
Context of that era is apparently meaningless with some of these picks, except the Crystals’ pick.. “Stupid Girl” and “Back Street Girl” ” by the Stones, and “Hey Little Girl” , the semi-one hit wonder by the Syndicate Of Sound are more sexist then the innocence of Lesley’s and Dusty’s hits. Lou Christie’s is more unchained lust than sexist. It appears the woman in the song has caught the lust as well. Not a good pick. He got himself banned on some stations with “Rhapsody In The Rain” for the line, “Making love to the rhythm pf the windshield wipers.” “Wives And Lovers”? Maybe. It was aimed more at the kids’ parents than the kids.You could have made “I Say A Little Prayer” an honorable mention along with the Beatles’ “You Can’t Do That”. How could you leave out Jimmy Soul’s “If You Want To Be Happy”; still fun to sing 55 years later!
RDG
I remember LOVING this song when I was younger. Then I listened to the lyrics. Wanted to tell the girl to laugh at the singer and walk away like a boss.
Sabrina
Yes, the lyrics are chauvinistic by 21st Century standards, but the hook is great! Lou Christie had one of the most dynamic pop falsettos of the 60’s. When they hit the chorus, he’s right up there with those superb backup girls!
John
Totally agree. This song is catchy as hell.
Thanks for reading!
Sugardanny
Nothing he said was wrong save the request that she “wait for him”. If he were truly confident in himself, he’d focus on professional concerns and developing himself as a man. He could then come back to the dating market at his peak and marry some sweet thing in her late teens/early twenties with the mind to follow his lead and start a family with him.
By asking her to wait, he was doing a disservice to both, given he didn’t sound like he could find another girl (over three billion fish in the sea and that soul-mate crap is nonsense), thereby selling himself short AND stringing along this girl whose biological clock is ticking and can’t afford to wait.
David Paulus