When you go somewhere, do what the people who live there like to do because you are the guest.

It is good advice to avoid getting into trouble

It was a display of poor manners to tell your friend’s father to turn off the music he enjoyed listening to. I suspect it was in a car and the radio or CD was playing. Your better choices would have been to suffer his choice of music without saying anything or, perhaps, to ask him to lower the volume.

Had it been you and your friend without his father, you might have gotten away with your demand to turn off the music, but it is always wise to show a modicum of deference to your elders, particularly when it is on an issue as trivial as choice of music.

So your friend’s father was saying “this is my home, and it is polite for you to listen to the kind of music I like here.”

If you do You may find that you like one of these “Elder People” tunes. Or see a title or hear a part that reminds you of a type of tune that you like. Then it would be fun to tell your friends father about it and offer to play it for him. Mabey you will find that he likes this and you may both become friends with the common interest of music, and he will be playing songs you love and introduce you to a new genre of music and expand your musical tastes. hope this defines this old expression for you! 🙂

It can mean slightly different things depending on the circumstances. The meaning your father meant was when you are someone’s guest (and, truly, unless you are paying equal shares of rent, food, utilities, etc., that’s what you are!), you go by your host’s rules. However, it also means that you should chill and listen to “some old elder people music” and go with the flow.

Unfortunately, in your case, it sounds like the Romans allowed a Vandal to run amok for far too long…

If you are visiting Rome, you would have to follow their laws and customs and so….

if you are visiting someone, you follow their laws and customs.