# What was the first major hit song with a curse word in it?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-major-hit-song-with-a-curse-word-in-it/628662>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [July 18, 2012, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-major-hit-song-with-a-curse-word-in-it/628662 "2012-07-18T21:15:05Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\
**Post date:** [July 20, 2012, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-major-hit-song-with-a-curse-word-in-it/628662/41 "2012-07-20T03:34:35Z")

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Just to give some perspective, one of the Beatles very first hits, _I Wanna Hold Your Hand_, caused a stir because some thought Lennon was singing, \*“I get high” \*instead of _“I can’t hide”_.

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**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\
**Post date:** [July 20, 2012, 9:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-major-hit-song-with-a-curse-word-in-it/628662/42 "2012-07-20T09:04:28Z")

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> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#):
>
> How about the alleged f-bomb in The Kinks’ “[You Really Got Me](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_really_got_me)”:

They did it again in “Apeman”, badly enough that Ray Davies had to re-dub the line “The air pollution is _a-foggin’_ up my eyes” before the song could be released as a single. And honestly? I still think it sounds like he’s _trying_ to drop an f-bomb - or trying not to 😉

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