# Songs with only one or two swear words **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 16, 2012, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-only-one-or-two-swear-words/628381 "2012-07-16T03:46:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**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:** [July 18, 2012, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-only-one-or-two-swear-words/628381/41 "2012-07-18T02:35:59Z")
“We R Who We R” by Ke$ha: I’m just talking true I’m telling you 'bout the shit we do We’re selling our clothes, sleeping in cars, Dressing it down, hitting on dudes…hard > [@Alessan](#): > > “You Oughta Know” - Alanis Morissette. A single “fuck”, referring to actual fucking. I’ve heard some radio stations also edit out the word “down” when she sings, “would she go down on you in a theater?” ---
**Author:** ![MacCat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maccat/32/216_2.png) [@MacCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacCat)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2012, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-only-one-or-two-swear-words/628381/42 "2012-07-18T02:44:41Z")
David Byrne and Fatboy Slim’s [American Troglodyte](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myumIEAg3CU) Americans are wearin’ that lingerie Americans are throwin’ that shit away Americans are watchin’ reality Americans are goin’ from a to z ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2012, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-only-one-or-two-swear-words/628381/43 "2012-07-18T02:47:02Z")
> [@azraiel](#): > > Bob Dylan’s _Hurricane_ has between 1 1/2 and 3 swear words, depending on your taste. > > “That sonofabitch is brave and gettin’ braver > We want to put his ass in stir” > > “And to the black folks he was just a crazy nigger” > > It is, to my knowledge, the only song wherein he uses any profanity at all. Makes it that much more powerful, IMHO. I wondered if we were going to count “nigger” as a swear word. If so, Elvis Costello’s “Oliver’s Army” has the following line: “Only takes one itchy trigger / One more widow, one less white nigger” ---
**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:** [July 18, 2012, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-only-one-or-two-swear-words/628381/44 "2012-07-18T02:55:31Z")
A few of my favorites: **Cowboy Junkies** “Floorboard Blues”: > [@](#): > > Don’t accuse me of running scared, > Listen to what I’m saying > It’s a fucked up ol’ world, but this ol’ girl > Well, she ain’t giving in **Cowboy Junkies** again, with Sun Comes Up, It’s Tuesday Morning: > [@](#): > > Lunchtime. I start to dial your number > Then I remember so I reach for something to smoke > And anyways I’d rather listen to coltrane > Than go through all that shit again **Elvis Costello** “Suit of Lights”: > [@](#): > > And it’s the force of habit > If it moves then you fuck it > If it doesn’t move you stab it mmm ---
**Author:** ![azraiel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@azraiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/azraiel)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2012, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-only-one-or-two-swear-words/628381/45 "2012-07-18T08:23:50Z")
> [@azraiel](#): > > Bob Dylan’s _Hurricane_ has between 1 1/2 and 3 swear words, depending on your taste. > > “That sonofabitch is brave and gettin’ braver > We want to put his ass in stir” > > “And to the black folks he was just a crazy nigger” > > It is, to my knowledge, the only song wherein he uses any profanity at all. Makes it that much more powerful, IMHO. Oops, I forgot… “Had no idea what kinda shit was about to go down” So call it 2 to 3 1/2 swears in one song. ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2012, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-only-one-or-two-swear-words/628381/46 "2012-07-18T14:42:46Z")
> [@DKW](#): > > The thing that I find annoying about this is that in nearly every case, it seems completely thrown in. Jefferson Airplane’s “We Can Be Together” contains the line “Up against the wall, motherfucker”. You could argue that the entire phrase didn’t need to be in there (it seems at odds with the overall message of the song), but once you use that phrase, ain’t no other word going to stand in for that last one. ---
**Author:** ![Sahirrnee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sahirrnee/32/13937_2.png) [@Sahirrnee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sahirrnee)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2012, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-only-one-or-two-swear-words/628381/47 "2012-07-18T15:34:48Z")
Fish Cheer I never heard the version where they spell F-I-S-H ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2012, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-only-one-or-two-swear-words/628381/48 "2012-07-18T16:04:22Z")
> [@cjepson](#): > > Jefferson Airplane’s “We Can Be Together” contains the line “Up against the wall, motherfucker”. You could argue that the entire phrase didn’t need to be in there (it seems at odds with the overall message of the song), but once you use that phrase, ain’t no other word going to stand in for that last one. It also has the words, “We are all outlaws in the eyes of America/In order to survive we steal, cheat, lie, forge, fuck, hide, and deal.” Although, I recall the lyrics sheet that came with the record (remember those?) read “cheat, lie, forge, fred, hide, and deal.” I guess it was illegal to print “fuck” on a lyrics sheet, but you could sing it on the album! ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2012, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-only-one-or-two-swear-words/628381/49 "2012-07-18T16:05:53Z")
oops! Double post ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2012, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-only-one-or-two-swear-words/628381/50 "2012-07-18T16:49:27Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > Kate Bush has used profanity in a song only once, and that rarity made it have some amount of power. I ran into something similar years ago when watching a video of a Bill Cosby live performance. He was talking about asking a cocaine-using friend, "Why do you do that? What does it do for you? The friend answered, “It enhances your personality!” to which Bill responded, “But what if you’re an asshole?” It was just so unexpected, given Cosby’s usual “clean” comedy, that it was that much more powerful than it would have been coming from a comedian who swears all the time. > [@cochrane](#): > > There are a few classic rock songs with cuss words that are routinely played on FM radio without getting the station in trouble with the F.C.C. I’ll add The Eagles’ “Life in the Fast Lane”, with its line, “We’ve been up and down this highway, haven’t seen a goddamned thing.” I don’t think I’ve ever heard that censored. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2012, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-only-one-or-two-swear-words/628381/51 "2012-07-18T16:54:28Z")
> [@Mister\_Rik](#): > > I’ll add The Eagles’ “Life in the Fast Lane”, with its line, “We’ve been up and down this highway, haven’t seen a goddamned thing.” I don’t think I’ve ever heard that censored. And their “Those Shoes”, depending on whether you think “jerk-offs” is a swear word or not. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2012, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-only-one-or-two-swear-words/628381/52 "2012-07-18T17:37:32Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > The Who’s “Who Are You?” has the line “Who the fuck are you?” a couple of times. > [@Joey\_P](#): > > I want to say that line is only in the song once, but I could be wrong. It was years before I noticed that the line appears twice (once after the second verse and again after the last verse). It’s a bit like John Lennon’s “Working Class Hero,” where Lennon, having recorded the song in two halves that were spliced together (the edit is obvious–the sound changes quite noticeably), didn’t realize until he heard the finished recording that he had used the word “fucking” twice. ---
**Author:** ![DKW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dkw/32/3118_2.png) [@DKW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DKW)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2012, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-only-one-or-two-swear-words/628381/53 "2012-07-20T05:11:07Z")
Sheesh…I recognize, like, 4% of the songs mentioned. 😕 It it really just a “sudden impact” thing? Or just something out of left field? (I **never** would’ve guessed John Mellencamp would’ve bothered.) ---
**Author:** ![stegon66](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee59a6/32.png) [@stegon66](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stegon66)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2012, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-only-one-or-two-swear-words/628381/54 "2012-07-20T16:34:25Z")
Poi Dog Pondering’s song God’s Gallipoli uses “fuck” twice, but it’s used for emphasis and the song wouldn’t be the same without it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-only-one-or-two-swear-words/628381.md?page=2)