# Changing lyrics for the radio **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [September 7, 2023, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changing-lyrics-for-the-radio/989744 "2023-09-07T17:59:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2023, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changing-lyrics-for-the-radio/989744/1 "2023-09-07T17:59:54Z")
The death of Jimmy Buffett reminded me that lyrics for ‘Margaritaville’ were changed for radio broadcast. **Original:** _Nothin’ to show but this brand new tattoo_ _But it’s a real beauty_ _A Mexican cutie_ _How it got here I haven’t a clue_ **Radio version:** _Nothin’ to show but this brand new **sunburn** _ _But it’s a real beauty_ _A Mexican cutie_ _How it got here I haven’t a clue_ I can’t find the alternate lyrics online, but I distinctly remember them from a long time ago. Apparently, someone didn’t want kids to think it was cool to get tattoos. (I wonder how that worked out?) Then I thought of The Eagles’ ‘Life’s Been Good’. **Original lyrics:** _I have a limo ride in the back._ _I lock the doors in case i’m attacked._ **Radio version:** _I have a limo I ride in the trunk_ _I lock the doors in case I get drunk_ Neither change makes since. A sunburn is a cutie? Ride in the trunk if you’re intoxicated… in a _limo?_ Any others? ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2023, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changing-lyrics-for-the-radio/989744/2 "2023-09-07T18:04:43Z")
Devil Went Down To Georgia was “told you once you son of a gun” on AM radio, instead of SOB on FM radio. I’m pretty sure I remember Who Are You using “hell” on AM, but the other word on FM. I think they bleeped out “satellite radio” in Boom Boom Pow when played on terrestrial radio. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2023, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changing-lyrics-for-the-radio/989744/3 "2023-09-07T18:15:00Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > **Original lyrics:** > _I have a limo ride in the back._ > _I lock the doors in case i’m attacked._ > > **Radio version:** > _I have a limo I ride in the trunk_ > _I lock the doors in case I get drunk_ I’m pretty sure the ‘_… ride in the back / I lock the doors in case i’m attacked._’ lines are from the studio version of the song, and ‘_… I ride in the trunk / I lock the doors in case I get drunk_’ is from a live version that got a fair amount of radio play. So it was a humorous live alt-take, not a radio edit. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2023, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changing-lyrics-for-the-radio/989744/4 "2023-09-07T18:23:51Z")
CeeLo Green’s “Forget You.” ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2023, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changing-lyrics-for-the-radio/989744/5 "2023-09-07T18:26:32Z")
The Steve Miller Band’s “Jet Airliner” – the album version has the line: > [@](#): > > I don’t want to get caught up in any of that funky shit goin’ down in the city The AM radio version changed this to: > [@](#): > > I don’t want to get caught up in any of them funky kicks goin’ down in the city ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2023, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changing-lyrics-for-the-radio/989744/6 "2023-09-07T18:27:33Z")
> [@solost](#): > > I’m pretty sure the ‘_… ride in the back / I lock the doors in case i’m attacked._’ lines are from the studio version of the song, and ‘_… I ride in the trunk / I lock the doors in case I get drunk_’ is from a live version that got a fair amount of radio play. Agreed; I’ve only ever heard the studio versions of the song (which is originally from a Joe Walsh solo album), and I’ve not ever heard the “trunk/drunk” version, only the “back/attacked” lines. Here’s the lyrics from the original album version, with “back/attacked”: > **[Joe Walsh – Life's Been Good](https://genius.com/Joe-walsh-lifes-been-good-lyrics)** > > The song is Joe Walsh parodying how many rock stars of his time lived their lives. And, here’s the lyrics from an Eagles live album from 1980 (two years after Walsh originally released the song), which have the “trunk/drunk” lyrics, as well as a variant on the “They write me letters, tell me I’m great” line, rewritten to poke fun at his fellow Eagles bandmates. > **[Eagles – Life’s Been Good (Live)](https://genius.com/Eagles-lifes-been-good-live-lyrics)** > > “Life’s Been Good (Live Version)” is a live version of the solo song “Life’s Been Good” by Eagles member, Joe Walsh. This version was preformed live with the Eagles during a ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2023, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changing-lyrics-for-the-radio/989744/7 "2023-09-07T18:46:57Z")
There’s the radio edit to Van Morrison’s ‘Brown Eyed Girl’: instead of “makin’ love in the green grass / behind the stadium with you’ a previous line was edited in: ‘laughin’ and a runnin’, hey hey / behind the stadium with you”. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2023, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changing-lyrics-for-the-radio/989744/8 "2023-09-07T18:48:52Z")
“Kodachrome” by Paul Simon _When I think back at all the crap I learned in high school_ The second verse begins _If you took all the girls I knew when I was single_ Some radio stations took the “girls I knew” in the second verse and spliced it onto the first. _When I think back at all the girls I knew in high school._ Famously, the BBC had Ray Davies fly back to London from New York to record the line: _tastes just like Coca-Cola_ to _tastes just like cherry cola_ The BBC didn’t allow the name of commercial product. The album version had “Coca Cola,” but the single used “cherry cola.” ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2023, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changing-lyrics-for-the-radio/989744/9 "2023-09-07T18:49:58Z")
Regarding Margaritaville: I can’t seem to find any mention of the lyric change you have brought up. Could you have just misremembered? Also, “sunburn” and “clue” don’t rhyme. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2023, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changing-lyrics-for-the-radio/989744/10 "2023-09-07T18:51:36Z")
Taylor Swift’s song “Karma” has the line “Flexing like a goddam acrobat” changed to “Flexing like a Vegas acrobat”. Dire Straits had the lyrics in “Money for Nothing” changed from “That little faggot got his own jet airplane, that little faggot he’s a millionaire” to “That little boy got his own jet airplane, that little boy he’s a millionaire”. There is also a version of the song where the word “faggot” is just silenced. I haven’t heard the edited version, but apparently Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face” had the lyrics “P-p-p-poker face, p-p-poker face” edited to “P-p-p-poker face, face, face, face” because some radio stations thought she was saying “f-f-f\*ck her face”. I have heard the radio edit to her song “Applause” where they censored out “Koons” from “One second I’m a Koons fan, suddenly the Koons is me” because people mistakenly thought she was saying the C word. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2023, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changing-lyrics-for-the-radio/989744/11 "2023-09-07T18:58:17Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > I can’t seem to find any mention of the lyric change you have brought up. Could you have just misremembered? I don’t remember ever hearing a “sunburn” version, either. This Youtube link is to what appears to be the original 45 RPM single release of the song, which is sped up a bit, and omits a verse and an instrumental break, compared to the album version, but the “tattoo” line is in there: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQkPxI3JISw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQkPxI3JISw) It’s possible that certain radio stations did their own edit to take out “tattoo,” I suppose. ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2023, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changing-lyrics-for-the-radio/989744/12 "2023-09-07T19:02:46Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > The Steve Miller Band’s “Jet Airliner” – the album version has the line: > > > [@](#): > > > > I don’t want to get caught up in any of that funky shit goin’ down in the city > > The AM radio version changed this to: > > > [@](#): > > > > I don’t want to get caught up in any of them funky kicks goin’ down in the city These days I hear both versions on the radio, depending on the station. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2023, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changing-lyrics-for-the-radio/989744/13 "2023-09-07T19:10:20Z")
> [@Ponch8](#): > > These days I hear both versions on the radio, depending on the station. Agreed. “Classic rock” stations tend to play the “funky shit” version, but as an example, the “70s on 7” station on SiriusXM, on which they attempt to emulate the sound and format of a 1970s top-40 station, usually plays the “funky kicks” version – I imagine that it’s because that’s the version you would have actually heard on a top-40 station back then. ---
**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:** [September 7, 2023, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changing-lyrics-for-the-radio/989744/14 "2023-09-07T19:42:13Z")
I heard the edited version of “Poker Face” today. I was paying close attention as the “fuck her face” is the version I know and had thought I recently heard an edited version of it. (I did not know one was out there.) But she’s, IMHO, definitely sneaking a “fuck her face” in there in the original. I had thought she even admitted it, but I could be wrong. ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2023, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changing-lyrics-for-the-radio/989744/15 "2023-09-07T19:55:02Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > Dire Straits had the lyrics in “Money for Nothing” changed from “That little faggot got his own jet airplane, that little faggot he’s a millionaire” to “That little boy got his own jet airplane, that little boy he’s a millionaire”. There is also a version of the song where the word “faggot” is just silenced. I recall hearing it as “that little queenie’s got his own jet airplane, that little queenie he’s a millionaire.” ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2023, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changing-lyrics-for-the-radio/989744/16 "2023-09-07T20:27:08Z")
The two I recall hearing recently “Shakin’” by Eddie Money Original: “Got so high we had to pull to the side” Radio: “Music so loud we had to pull to the side” And with “Teenage Dirtbag” by Wheatus, the censoring makes me laugh Original: “Her boyfriend’s a dick, he brings a gun to school” Radio: “Her boyfriend’s a dick, he brings a \_\_\_\_ to school” ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2023, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changing-lyrics-for-the-radio/989744/17 "2023-09-07T20:46:46Z")
This is a local example. There was a radio station, call letters WDRQ, that did a few cutsie edits to get their “Q” highlighted. **Original lyric (Brownsville Station, “Smokin’ in the Boys’ Room”)"** > [@](#): > > The noon bell rings, you know that’s my cue WDRQ lyric: > [@](#): > > The noon bell rings, you know that’s my Q-Q-Q **Original lyric (Rod Stewart, “Maggie May”)"** > [@](#): > > or steal my daddy’s cue and make a living out of playing pool WDRQ lyric: > [@](#): > > or steal my daddy’s Q-Q-Q and make a living out of playing pool mmm ---
**Author:** ![glowacks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/glowacks/32/5548_2.png) [@glowacks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glowacks)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2023, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changing-lyrics-for-the-radio/989744/18 "2023-09-07T20:54:43Z")
My experience is that when I was a kid (80s and 90s) it was played uncensored, but starting some time later, like after the turn of the millennium or so, it was replaced with the censored version. The same with Bob Seger’s “Shit, I’ve known that for ten years!” in his babbling about Detroit rock fans being the best in the world on one of his songs from Live Bullet. The same for “bullshit” in Pink Floyd’s “Money”. The list probably goes on. Given the testimony in this thread though, I’m now coming to think that there were always multiple versions, but the radio station at some point decided to start using all the censored versions, since I really only heard this stuff on one specific radio station. It might coincide with an ownership change, maybe a switch to all-digital where their supplier provided the censored version only, or maybe a fine being levied. I don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2023, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changing-lyrics-for-the-radio/989744/19 "2023-09-07T21:01:27Z")
I remember a gold digger that didn’t mess with “broke broke”. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2023, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changing-lyrics-for-the-radio/989744/20 "2023-09-07T21:09:48Z")
Jefferson Starship’s Miracles has some lyrics that never make it to radio. I think they just cut the whole sections of the song that contains them: “I had a taste of the real world (just a drop of it) When I went down on you, girl,” and “You ripple like the river when I touch you (let me touch you) Then I pluck your body like a string (show you what I mean) Then I start dancing inside you” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changing-lyrics-for-the-radio/989744.md?page=2)