Flip Top Box: A Song About Necrophilia from the 50s

Did you ever remember loving something from your early childhood only to realize when you're much older that the object of your prepubescent affection wasn't what you originally thought it was? If so, I've got a story for you.

Way back when before I was in kindergarten, my sister and I would listen to some 45 rpm records (give yourself points if you know what a 45 rpm record is) that our mom bought when she was a teenager. One of these records that I used to play repeatedly--usually when my buddies from down the block came over--was called "Nee Nee Na Na Na Nu Nu" by Dicky Doo And The Don'ts. As you can tell just by the title, it is a very silly song that easily amused pre-kindergarten kids like us. You can listen to it here:

There was another song on the other side of the 45 that I would also listen to once in a while, but I didn't understand what it meant so I didn't play it often. It was called "Flip Top Box", and I had no idea what the lyrics were talking about so it didn't hold my interest. Leave it to my memory and curiosity to get the better of me, and I recently decided to look up the lyrics to the song to understand what it really meant. You can read the lyrics here.

From what I have read elsewhere, rock songs about monsters and morbid subject matter were written and performed long before the arrival of heavy metal music and "Flip Top Box" is certainly one of the more ghoulish tunes from its time. Indeed, a love song about a man who is buried in a coffin with an easily removable lid so that his girlfriend can dig him up later for some "hugging and a-kissing" is a love song that's not meant for beating hearts. Listen for yourself: