# AC/DC's Highway to Hell. Did Bon Scott sing a racist verse? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 27, 2014, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ac-dcs-highway-to-hell-did-bon-scott-sing-a-racist-verse/705726 "2014-11-27T00:05:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2014, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ac-dcs-highway-to-hell-did-bon-scott-sing-a-racist-verse/705726/1 "2014-11-27T00:05:50Z")
Every time I hear [it](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKggnBh2Mdw), I _ **swear** _ he sings the following: _Livin’ easy Lovin’ free Sees a nigger on a one way ride_ I looped through this verse over and over just now, and I am convinced he is _not_ singing “_ **Season ticket** _ on a one way ride.” Am I delusional? Crazy? I dunno. But I did a quick google search and it appears I am not alone on this. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2014, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ac-dcs-highway-to-hell-did-bon-scott-sing-a-racist-verse/705726/2 "2014-11-27T04:22:41Z")
I don’t know if you’re crazy or delusional, but I’ve always heard the lyric as: _Season ticket on a one-way ride_ Which makes sense, given the theme of the song. ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2014, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ac-dcs-highway-to-hell-did-bon-scott-sing-a-racist-verse/705726/3 "2014-11-27T04:34:00Z")
Bon Scott was Australian. Australians do not use the epithet nigger. ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2014, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ac-dcs-highway-to-hell-did-bon-scott-sing-a-racist-verse/705726/4 "2014-11-27T07:04:47Z")
Well this is ACDC not a Shakespearean sonnet but the song is entirely in first person except, apparently for this line, for which the suggested mondegreen doesn’t fit the rhyme, phrasing or context as well as the published lyrics. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2014, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ac-dcs-highway-to-hell-did-bon-scott-sing-a-racist-verse/705726/5 "2014-11-27T07:48:00Z")
Sounds more like _season tigger_ or _digger_ to me. Definitely doesn’t sound like _ticket_. ---
**Author:** ![tavalla](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tavalla/32/89_2.png) [@tavalla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tavalla)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2014, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ac-dcs-highway-to-hell-did-bon-scott-sing-a-racist-verse/705726/6 "2014-11-27T09:57:21Z")
Enunciation wasn’t Bon’s strongest point, bless him, but I always heard “season ticket”. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2014, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ac-dcs-highway-to-hell-did-bon-scott-sing-a-racist-verse/705726/7 "2014-11-27T13:47:25Z")
Season ticket on a one way ride. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2014, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ac-dcs-highway-to-hell-did-bon-scott-sing-a-racist-verse/705726/8 "2014-11-27T17:32:22Z")
Bon Scott could be claimed to be many things - a rude, crude, idiot of a rogue who drank himself to death in the back of a car, but I am not seeing this. ---
**Author:** ![Enter\_the\_Flagon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Enter\_the\_Flagon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enter_the_Flagon)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2014, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ac-dcs-highway-to-hell-did-bon-scott-sing-a-racist-verse/705726/9 "2014-11-27T17:56:30Z")
Yup, not hearing it either. Just played it on the ribbons (crystal clear! Unlike my hearing), turned down the bass, and heard him say “season ticket”. Except that he pronounces ticket to sound more like “tig-gid” to me. I definitely didn’t hear what the OP heard. ---
**Author:** ![Krav\_Manga](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/krav_manga/32/3153_2.png) [@Krav\_Manga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Krav_Manga)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2014, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ac-dcs-highway-to-hell-did-bon-scott-sing-a-racist-verse/705726/10 "2014-11-27T21:27:10Z")
> [@Lamar\_Mundane](#): > > Bon Scott was Australian. Australians do not use the epithet nigger. What makes you say this? We don’t have the same history with the word as the US, but nigger has been used as both an epithet and nickname in Australia. Having said that, Season ticket was the verse. ---
**Author:** ![sisu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@sisu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sisu)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2014, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ac-dcs-highway-to-hell-did-bon-scott-sing-a-racist-verse/705726/11 "2014-11-28T00:03:48Z")
Season Ticket, remember he was a drunken aussie bogan and enunciation was not his strong suit. RIP. ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2014, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ac-dcs-highway-to-hell-did-bon-scott-sing-a-racist-verse/705726/12 "2014-11-28T01:36:51Z")
> [@Krav\_Manga](#): > > What makes you say this? We don’t have the same history with the word as the US, but nigger has been used as both an epithet and nickname in Australia. > > Having said that, Season ticket was the verse. I lived in Australia for five years and I never heard it used. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2014, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ac-dcs-highway-to-hell-did-bon-scott-sing-a-racist-verse/705726/13 "2014-11-28T02:04:32Z")
> [@Lamar\_Mundane](#): > > I lived in Australia for five years and I never heard it used. It seems to have been quite popular back in colonial days - if you read letters from the 19th century they’re often full of it, illogical though it may be. But, yeah, I could say the same as you, except substitute “forty-four years” ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2014, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ac-dcs-highway-to-hell-did-bon-scott-sing-a-racist-verse/705726/14 "2014-11-28T05:42:38Z")
Everyone knows that Michael Jackson was singing “the _chair_ is not my son”, right? ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2014, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ac-dcs-highway-to-hell-did-bon-scott-sing-a-racist-verse/705726/15 "2014-11-28T05:55:57Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Everyone knows that Michael Jackson was singing “the _chair_ is not my son”, right? The chair was plastic and mostly white. Easy mistake for someone to make. ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2014, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ac-dcs-highway-to-hell-did-bon-scott-sing-a-racist-verse/705726/16 "2014-11-28T06:05:08Z")
“Excuse me while I kiss this guy” ---
**Author:** ![Krav\_Manga](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/krav_manga/32/3153_2.png) [@Krav\_Manga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Krav_Manga)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2014, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ac-dcs-highway-to-hell-did-bon-scott-sing-a-racist-verse/705726/17 "2014-11-28T07:44:44Z")
> [@Lamar\_Mundane](#): > > I lived in Australia for five years and I never heard it used. Presumably not in Queensland then. There was a 10 year fight to rename the ES Nigger Brown stand in Toowoomba. There are still places called Nigger Creek, Nigger Head, Mt Nigger, Nigger’s Bounce etc. ---
**Author:** ![DonLogan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/51bf81/32.png) [@DonLogan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DonLogan)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2014, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ac-dcs-highway-to-hell-did-bon-scott-sing-a-racist-verse/705726/18 "2014-11-28T12:08:45Z")
Yeah, there’s a long sad history of substituting “ticket” for “nigger” in the_ **published** _ lyrics. The Beatles’ Ticket To Ride, and Eddie Money’s Two Tickets to Paradise. And of course, in The Letter by The Boxtops. ---
**Author:** ![alted315](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/cc9497/32.png) [@alted315](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alted315)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2014, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ac-dcs-highway-to-hell-did-bon-scott-sing-a-racist-verse/705726/19 "2014-11-28T15:07:50Z")
Bon was actually born in Scotland as were the Young brothers I never heard the racial slur in there but a coworker of mine thought Night Prowler off of the same album actually said white power ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2014, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ac-dcs-highway-to-hell-did-bon-scott-sing-a-racist-verse/705726/20 "2014-11-28T15:29:30Z")
> [@Enter\_the\_Flagon](#): > > Yup, not hearing it either. > > Just played it on the ribbons (crystal clear! Unlike my hearing), turned down the bass, and heard him say “season ticket”. Except that he pronounces ticket to sound more like “tig-gid” to me. I definitely didn’t hear what the OP heard. Yeah, it just sounds to me like he ends up voicing all the consonants there, so instead of “ticket” I hear something like “diggid,” slurred and swallowed in that classic Bon Scott manner. I guess I can hear “nigger” if I want to, but it’s never occurred to me before. It doesn’t make a lick of sense, either, in the context of the lyrics. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ac-dcs-highway-to-hell-did-bon-scott-sing-a-racist-verse/705726.md?page=2)