# Fish and finger pie, or how did this lyric get by the AM radio censors? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 7, 2019, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fish-and-finger-pie-or-how-did-this-lyric-get-by-the-am-radio-censors/835166 "2019-06-07T15:43:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2019, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fish-and-finger-pie-or-how-did-this-lyric-get-by-the-am-radio-censors/835166/61 "2019-06-08T20:52:30Z")
> [@BlankSlate](#): > > Let’s not even mention _Brown Eyed Girl._ I bought a CD compilation of his stuff and the version of that song was AM-bawdlerized. They just left out an entire stanza, left it behind the stadium. I suppose it may have been a completely different recording specifically for radio, because, if it was edited, they did a really good job. As to the other meaning of the title, well, uh. ---
**Author:** ![jaycat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat/32/3015_2.png) [@jaycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaycat)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2019, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fish-and-finger-pie-or-how-did-this-lyric-get-by-the-am-radio-censors/835166/62 "2019-06-08T23:14:10Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > Man, I just read this thread while listening to some of Dinah Washington’s 1950s R&B records. > > Look up the one where she phones her boyfriend late at night to come over and “fix her TV.” The two of them do it on EVERY channel. And Big Joe Turner’s “TV Mama” was the one with the “big wide screen.” ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2019, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fish-and-finger-pie-or-how-did-this-lyric-get-by-the-am-radio-censors/835166/63 "2019-06-09T00:07:19Z")
[Let’s Spend the Night Together](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let%27s_Spend_the_Night_Together) didn’t receive as much airplay as the other A side, “Ruby Tuesday” but it did reach #55. It did get censored by Ed Sullivan, story in the link. So the censors were not all that active. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2019, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fish-and-finger-pie-or-how-did-this-lyric-get-by-the-am-radio-censors/835166/64 "2019-06-09T03:02:07Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > [Let’s Spend the Night Together](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let%27s_Spend_the_Night_Together) didn’t receive as much airplay as the other A side, “Ruby Tuesday” but it did reach #55. > It did get censored by Ed Sullivan, story in the link. > So the censors were not all that active. [Ed Sullivan (actually one of his producers) attempted to have the Doors change the lyrics to _Light My Fire._ They disagreed.](https://ultimateclassicrock.com/the-doors-banned-from-the-ed-sullivan-show-september-17-1967/) ---
**Author:** ![Snake\_Plissken\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Snake\_Plissken\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snake_Plissken_1)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fish-and-finger-pie-or-how-did-this-lyric-get-by-the-am-radio-censors/835166/65 "2019-06-10T16:34:59Z")
Now I know just how heaven feels When she reach beneath my big old steerin’ wheel Dyna flow, power glide Bored and stroked, I’m satisfied When I take my baby for a ride ‘Let it Roll’. Spot-check Billy got down on his hands and knees He said “Hey mama, hey let me check your oil all right?” She said “No, no honey, not tonight Come back Monday, come back Tuesday, and then I might” ‘Fat Man in the Bath Tub’ ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fish-and-finger-pie-or-how-did-this-lyric-get-by-the-am-radio-censors/835166/66 "2019-06-10T17:27:50Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > I remember Musical Youth being on the terribly wholesome BBC kids show _Blue Peter_. The explanation for what a Dutchie was was unconvincing (some sort of bowl of food iirc) even for the young me. I remember reading an interview at the time, probably in New Musical Express, where one of the adults involved with Musical Youth was very open about the process of bowdlerising the song to make it suitable for kids to sing\*. The [Wiki page](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pass_the_Dutchie#Background) addresses the story of the change from dope pipe to cooking pot. j - - I even remember one of the kids expressing a desire to own, when older, a _bad man wagon_ - BMW. Shit - I can remember _that_ but I have no idea what I had for lunch. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fish-and-finger-pie-or-how-did-this-lyric-get-by-the-am-radio-censors/835166/67 "2019-06-10T17:57:45Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > Censors deal primarily with actual profanity, not adult themes and situations. If you don’t say (according to one well-known list) _shit, piss, fuck, cunt, cocksucker, motherfucker, or tits_, you can describe pretty much anything you wish. George Carlin’s 7th dirty word was “prick”, not “tits.” I’ve always heard the Who’s “Who Are You” with that F-bomb at the end left intact and uncensored. ---
**Author:** ![Helmut\_Doork](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e8c25b/32.png) [@Helmut\_Doork](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helmut_Doork)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fish-and-finger-pie-or-how-did-this-lyric-get-by-the-am-radio-censors/835166/68 "2019-06-10T18:05:57Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > George Carlin’s 7th dirty word was “prick”, not “tits.” > > I’ve always heard the Who’s “Who Are You” with that F-bomb at the end left intact and uncensored. sorry, no, it was tits ---
**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:** [June 10, 2019, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fish-and-finger-pie-or-how-did-this-lyric-get-by-the-am-radio-censors/835166/69 "2019-06-10T18:11:44Z")
> [@Helmut\_Doork](#): > > sorry, no, it was tits [You are correct.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_dirty_words#The_words) ---
**Author:** ![Helmut\_Doork](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e8c25b/32.png) [@Helmut\_Doork](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helmut_Doork)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fish-and-finger-pie-or-how-did-this-lyric-get-by-the-am-radio-censors/835166/70 "2019-06-10T18:21:20Z")
And possibly Carlin was extremely high at the time, to include both fuck and motherfucker? In that case, the seven could have been fuck, motherfucker, fuckhead, fuckface, fuckwit, dumbfuck and buttfucker? Or at least it implies any other variation than the two he mentioned were acceptable? ---
**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:** [June 10, 2019, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fish-and-finger-pie-or-how-did-this-lyric-get-by-the-am-radio-censors/835166/71 "2019-06-10T18:28:54Z")
Interesting diversion, but I don’t think he ever put them to music and/or said them on the radio uncensored. Back on track: Lou Reed’s _Walk On The Wild Side_: “Candy came from out on the island, In the backroom she was everybody’s darling, But she never lost her head Even when she was giving head” ---
**Author:** ![Helmut\_Doork](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e8c25b/32.png) [@Helmut\_Doork](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helmut_Doork)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fish-and-finger-pie-or-how-did-this-lyric-get-by-the-am-radio-censors/835166/72 "2019-06-10T18:32:18Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Interesting diversion, but I don’t think he ever put them to music and/or said them on the radio uncensored. > Back on track: Lou Reed’s _Walk On The Wild Side_: > “Candy came from out on the island, > In the backroom she was everybody’s darling, > But she never lost her head > Even when she was giving head” see post #1 🙂 ---
**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:** [June 10, 2019, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fish-and-finger-pie-or-how-did-this-lyric-get-by-the-am-radio-censors/835166/73 "2019-06-10T18:38:35Z")
> [@Helmut\_Doork](#): > > see post #1 🙂 That’s why I said “back on track”. Although most of the time I heard it those lyrics were censored, how was it he got those lyrics to play on the radio at all? ---
**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:** [June 10, 2019, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fish-and-finger-pie-or-how-did-this-lyric-get-by-the-am-radio-censors/835166/74 "2019-06-10T19:00:31Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > That’s why I said “back on track”. Although most of the time I heard it those lyrics were censored, how was it he got those lyrics to play on the radio at all? I didn’t hear the song in its hey day, but in the ‘90s, when I got around to stations that played this music, I don’t ever recall hearing it censored. That said, I feel like I hear more censoring now than before. Am I nuts or misremembering? Like I hear lines abou& masturbation being censored now, but I don’t recall that happening in the 90s. Like the Greem Day line: “when masturbation’s lost it’s fun, you’re fucking lonely,” my memories are only the “fucking” being censored but not the “masturbation.” There’s a number of songs like this where I hear non-obscene sexual words being cut out, where before they were aired. I assume this is just some corporate policy stuff, but my impression is that one is more likely to hear songs edited now on the radio than at least since when I grew up (the 80s.) ---
**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:** [June 10, 2019, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fish-and-finger-pie-or-how-did-this-lyric-get-by-the-am-radio-censors/835166/75 "2019-06-10T19:06:16Z")
It was censored out when I heard it on the Mighty KMET in the late 70’s. ---
**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:** [June 10, 2019, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fish-and-finger-pie-or-how-did-this-lyric-get-by-the-am-radio-censors/835166/76 "2019-06-10T19:08:07Z")
And what about “good golly, Miss Molly, you sure like to ball?” I mean, by the 60s, “balling” referred to sexual intercourse. I assume this was the case with this late 50s lyric, especially given the euphemistic tradition of a lot of blues and r&b, but I haven’t quite found a definitive answer on that one. I mean, sure, there’s the interpretation of “sure like to [have a] ball” or “sure like to dance,” etc, but this is Little Richard, so I’ve always assumed the more lascivious interpretation. But I don’t know if the verb “to ball” had the meaning at the time. Wait, actually, etymonline says jazz slang for “to ball” meaning to copulate goes back to the 40s, so it seems quite likely to me that the meaning was known and intended by Little Richard. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fish-and-finger-pie-or-how-did-this-lyric-get-by-the-am-radio-censors/835166/77 "2019-06-10T19:17:39Z")
> [@Helmut\_Doork](#): > > So “Penny Lane” is playing on the office muzak, and Paul mentions “fish and finger pie”- there is literally no other meaning to ‘finger pie’, other than ‘fingerbang’, (even according to the Wikipedia page of the song) and they throw in a mention of fish, just in case you had any doubts to the meaning. That this was played on radio, and a top ten hit, in the mid-1960’s to me is quite astonishing. Well, maybe not… I mean, I’m no virgin, I’ve been listening to those lyrics since they came out, and until your OP it never occurred to me that any of it had to do with “fingerbanging”. So perhaps this scandalous subtext was not as obvious to many of us as it was to you? ---
**Author:** ![TimfromNapa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d26b3c/32.png) [@TimfromNapa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimfromNapa)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fish-and-finger-pie-or-how-did-this-lyric-get-by-the-am-radio-censors/835166/78 "2019-06-10T19:22:56Z")
I don’t know about the UK, but in the US censors were probably too busy hunting for lyrics with drug references to notice a rather obscure reference to finger fucking in a song so cheery and bright. ---
**Author:** ![TimfromNapa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d26b3c/32.png) [@TimfromNapa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimfromNapa)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fish-and-finger-pie-or-how-did-this-lyric-get-by-the-am-radio-censors/835166/79 "2019-06-10T19:27:14Z")
Ever read the lyrics to Aerosmith’s “Walk This Way”? You would be hard pressed to find another song from that time period that had so much naughtiness. True, Jefferson Starship’s Miracles had Marty Balin crooning, “I got a taste of the real world when I went down on you girl”; however, that line only appears on the longer album version and not on the hit single. ---
**Author:** ![TimfromNapa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d26b3c/32.png) [@TimfromNapa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimfromNapa)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fish-and-finger-pie-or-how-did-this-lyric-get-by-the-am-radio-censors/835166/80 "2019-06-10T19:32:36Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > George Carlin’s 7th dirty word was “prick”, not “tits.” > > I’ve always heard the Who’s “Who Are You” with that F-bomb at the end left intact and uncensored. He may have offered different variations in live performances; however, I had the record and the 7th word was, in fact, tits. He went on about how that word did not even belong on the list since it is such a friendly word and sounds like a brand of snack food (not the kind of snack you are thinking about, you pervert 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fish-and-finger-pie-or-how-did-this-lyric-get-by-the-am-radio-censors/835166.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fish-and-finger-pie-or-how-did-this-lyric-get-by-the-am-radio-censors/835166.md?page=5)