Ususally performed late at night, these classic songs get away with somewhat explicit lyrics. Above, of course, was the beginning of the second verse of ‘Money for nothing’ by Dire Straits.
One of the more famous songs in that vein is ‘Come softly to Me’ by the Fleetwoods. The thing is, the chorus is sung, ‘Come softly, darling.’ Hmmm…
Elton John gets away with singing bawdy Bernie Taupin lyrics, mainly because he is so good:
‘It’s four o’clock in the morning, dammit, listen to me good!’
I suppose there are rap songs that are played, swearing included, on the radio, even during daytime. ‘Me So Horny’, is just about the cleanest song from 2 Live Crew. Florida is though chasing Texas to be censorship capital of USA.
Has the FCC decided on this? Or do they leave them alone when the songs are considered great.
All I know, is that I am angry that “Holiday” by Green Day has their fag word cut out. ANd I do recall ‘that little faggot’ from Dire Staights being allowed. Why the double standard? Oh, and oddly enough, where I live now I get a station from Canada, and the, in addition to cutting our fags, cut out ‘zieg heil’, from the line 'Zeig heil to the president gas-man!"
“Who (the fuck) Are You” by The Who regularly gets played uncensored.
“Jet Airliner” by the Steve Miller Band – “Don’t want to get caught up in that funky shit going down in the city” – generally remains uncensored, even on VH1 Classic.
“Man in the Box” by Alice in Chains – “I’m the dog who gets beat, shove my nose in shit” – may or may not be censored, depending on the station. The video, of course, is pre-censored to say “spit.”
“Longview” by Green Day – “When masturbation’s lost its thrill you’re fucking lonely” – “fucking” always gets censored, and sometimes “masturbation” will be censored too.
And I always thought Dire Straits was talking about a bundle of sticks…
“Funky shit going down in the city” - (Jet Airliner, Steve Miller)
“Funcky kicks” sounds so stupid that I’ve heard the original at least as often.
Similarly, I’ve heard “So fucking special” (Creep, Radiohead) despite the radio edit’s existence - “So very special”.
“Who the fuck are you?” - (Who are you, The Who)
This one’s easy to miss so I think it gets a pass.
I’m testing a new video game, slated for a post-Christmas release, whose name I’m not going to mention. It features a number of songs by prominent (and occasionally deceased) gangsta rappers. The game itself is very, very violent, and contains a lot of profanity and fairly explicit sexual references. It’s very much an adults only title, and is being clearly marketed as such. So, one of the songs contains a lyric that mentions “nigger faggots.” One of those words gets bleeped in our game. Guess which word it is?
(On top of that, it also appears that the main villain is a transvestite, but I think that’s mostly because the artists don’t know how to model women accurately.)
Around here, they’ve started playing an edited version of “Money For Nothing” that has the second verse cut out. They also dump out the the ‘bullshit’ in Pink Floyd’s “Money,” and recently they’ve edited the line in Guns ‘N’ Roses “Mr. Brownstone” so it goes But that old man, he’s a real mother*****, gonna kick him on down the line.*
Sigh. It looks like Michigan is getting in line behind Texas and Florida
Sorry, the answer we’re looking for is “niggers,” but thanks for playing! Remember, kids, if a black rap artist uses an offensive slur against other blacks, it’ll get censored. But if a straight rap artist uses an offensive slur against gays, apparently nobody gives a shit. Oh, well. I take some solace in the fact that the game is a gigantic turd in DVD format, and nobody is ever going to buy it. I look forward to seeing the developers panhandling for loose change in the street sometime in late '06.
Rolling Stones - Start Me Up. Near the end Jagger sings “you make a dead man come” instead of “you make a grown man cry”. I’ve never heard it edited out.
