# Songs you can't play today
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [July 20, 2026, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799 "2026-07-20T03:34:44Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 4
### Author:  [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2026, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799/61 "2026-07-21T18:37:02Z")
> [@Telemark](#):
>
> _Run for Your Life_ by the Beatles.
The opening line, “I’d rather see you dead, little girl, than to be with another man,” came from _Baby, Let’s Play House_, written by Arthur Gunter and performed by Elvis. I think we can include that one in our list as well.
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### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2026, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799/62 "2026-07-21T19:04:45Z")
Another popular song, “Dead Puppies”, was performed by the same person that did “Kinko The Clown”-Ogden Edsl.
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### Author:  [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2026, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799/63 "2026-07-21T19:15:31Z")
> [@Telemark](#):
>
> _Run for Your Life_ by the Beatles. John Lennon had some odd ideas.
“My Way” by Eddie Cochran (NOT the Paul Anka/Sinatra song) is in the same vein. It was covered by the Who a few times.
[ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5WpxOOL_vA)
[ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3SxQpiZMTs)
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### Author:  [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2026, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799/64 "2026-07-21T19:40:38Z")
“The Homecoming Queens Got a Gun” has not aged well. I thought it was a riot as a teen.
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### Author:  [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2026, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799/65 "2026-07-21T19:49:48Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#):
>
> The problem with the song is not that she uses the n-word in a racist way (she doesn’t, and I’m not a person who is triggered by the word itself, in any context), but that the whole song is a case of cultural approbation.
I think you mean “cultural appropriation”? That is, the taking from a culture, rather than the approval of a culture?
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### Author:  [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2026, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799/66 "2026-07-21T19:59:27Z")
A Pat Travers song comes to mind: _I’d Rather See You Dead_
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### Author:  [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2026, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799/67 "2026-07-21T20:05:59Z")
> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#):
>
> Anything where she’s just 16, or 17, and you know what I mean… yeah we’re all done with that stuff, thankfully. Or at least we’re not singing about it anymore.
Which brings to mind the song _Seventeen_ by Winger (“She’s only seventeen…Daddy says she’s too young, but she’s old enough for me”).
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### Author:  [@batsto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/batsto)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2026, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799/68 "2026-07-21T20:08:49Z")
> [@Superdude](#):
>
> Which brings to mind the song _Seventeen_ by Winger (“She’s only seventeen…Daddy says she’s too young, but she’s old enough for me”).
yet he _still_ plays this song routinely today.
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### Author:  [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2026, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799/69 "2026-07-21T20:20:17Z")
A long time ago, I remember my cousin playing me some **David Allan Coe** songs that were, uh… never going to be played on the radio.
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### Author:  [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2026, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799/70 "2026-07-21T20:22:06Z")
> [@Pleonast](#):
>
> I think you mean “cultural appropriation”? That is, the taking from a culture, rather than the approval of a culture?
Sure 🤦♂️. I blame autocorrect.
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### Author:  [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2026, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799/71 "2026-07-21T20:29:39Z")
> [@blondebear](#):
>
> A Pat Travers song comes to mind: _I’d Rather See You Dead_
Might as well include _Boom, Boom (Out Go the Lights)_.
And frankly, _Hey Joe_ by Jimi Hendrix is fairly troublesome, too. But there are lots of songs about men being violent towards women.
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### Author:  [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2026, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799/72 "2026-07-21T20:42:41Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#):
>
> A long time ago, I remember my cousin playing me some **David Allan Coe** songs that were, uh… never going to be played on the radio.
Some personal anecdote: in the mid 90s, I had a new acquaintance/friend who was a big country fan. I had already developed an interest for country music via the Byrds, the Stones, Bob Dylan and some alt-country bands like Wilco, but he played me some of the real stuff. One time when we had a small party, he brought a tape of David Allan Coe songs that impressed me much. Those were all great, but “normal” country songs. I forgot about that for a few years until the Napster years came along, when I remembered the name.
So as many people did, I did a search for “David Allan Coe” and initiated the download for dozens of songs, without looking at the song titles. When the downloads had completed, I went to the folder and started to play the songs. WTF??? Every second song was the vilest, most vulgar racist song I had ever listened to! I couldn’t believe that my friend who was a decent person could like such an artist. I already knew that a lot of MP3 files on peer sharing services were misattributed, so I thought that was an explanation, but anyway I instantly deleted all songs attributed to David Allan Coe from my hard drive.
I later researched the matter and learned that indeed, David Allan Coe had a mainstream career as a country singer/songwriter and was respected by many people for it, but actually put out these racist songs, allegedly as “parody songs”. I never could listen to another song by him again.
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### Author:  [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2026, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799/73 "2026-07-21T20:46:22Z")
> [@Hypno-Toad](#):
>
> “The Homecoming Queens Got a Gun” has not aged well. I thought it was a riot as a teen.
I remember watching MTV in the 1980s or 1990s when they played that song. And I _think_ Pearl Jam’s Jeremy was edited in a way that it wasn’t clear that the kid killed himself and not his classmates.
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### Author:  [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2026, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799/74 "2026-07-21T20:52:48Z")
> [@Telemark](#):
>
> And frankly, _Hey Joe_ by Jimi Hendrix is fairly troublesome, too.
There’s also _Wait Until Tomorrow_ where Jimi doesn’t fare so well.
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### Author:  [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2026, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799/75 "2026-07-21T21:27:27Z")
Neither has _“Johnny are you Queer?”_ (Josey Cotton?)
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### Author:  [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2026, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799/76 "2026-07-21T22:04:07Z")
> [@scabpicker](#):
>
> Also, ‘Do You Wanna Touch Me?’ is right out.”
Joan Jett gets a pass, though.
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### Author:  [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2026, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799/77 "2026-07-21T22:07:42Z")
ISTR that MTV refused to air “Homecoming Queen’s Got A Gun” but “Night Flight” did. Night Flight showed a LOT of things that MTV wouldn’t.
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### Author:  [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2026, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799/78 "2026-07-21T22:08:52Z")
Perhaps? I don’t think I watched Night Flight so where would I have seen it? It has been decades though.
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### Author:  [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2026, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799/79 "2026-07-21T22:13:17Z")
There were also some lesser-known video channels.
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### Author:  [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2026, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799/80 "2026-07-21T23:26:52Z")
Wikipedia claims that in the 1970s (?!) some stations would not play “My Ding-a-Ling”
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