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Stranglers bowdlerised

S

stevec67

pfm Member
I was listening to the radio the other day, can't remember whether it was 6 music or Planet Rock, they played a bowdlerised version of "Peaches".
Lines included: "Is she trying to get out of that *bikini*? Liberation for women..."
"Oh *no*! There goes the charabanc! ...What a *summer*"
I'm not sure but maybe they also had "All the *girls*, lapping up the sun" in lieu of "skirt".
Now OK the original lyrics are fairly crass but it was a projuct of its time and it's been out there for nearly 40 years. I'm familiar with the watered down rap songs that are current, with their "I'm getting out of the limo with my homies and my B**** (bleep) and we're in the club and getting Cristal and Coke (bleep) and hoes (bleep) but I haven't heard it done for old songs where I would have thought it was more appropriate to say "this reflects the attitudes of the time which current viewers may find offensive".

Anyone else heard similar?
 
I guess this is the ‘radio edit.’ It’s always been out there, I remember hearing it on Capital Radio in the 70s when it was a current single.

I rolled my eyes to the heavens recently when I heard King Crimson’s Great Deceiver on BBC6 recently with ‘health-food faggot’ and ‘gin-shop slag’ removed. Not replaced, just removed, so the lyrics started halfway through the first line. Particularly over-zealous when the lyricist insists the former refers to, er, a faggot bought in a health-food shop. This may or may not be a fib, of course.
 
Strange times. Almost certain Oliver’s Army must have had the “n” word edited out years ago though.
 
That's the version that was played on the Radio in the UK at time of release. The actual single had the same lyric as the album; I knew a guy at the time who somehow bought a copy of the censored single in a bog standard record shop in Belfast.
 
RickyC6 said:
Strange times. Almost certain Oliver’s Army must have had the “n” word edited out years ago though.
Click to expand...

I guess we won't hear 'Rednecks' by Randy Newman on the radio any time soon, as any editing of the same word would make it sound like the CD was skipping. Like wise 'Sail Away' by the same artist - different word, same potential issue..
 
For decades the BBC have played a different version of Private Dancer by Tina Turner.

The original has the line -

"American Express will do nicely thank you..."

For a long time the BBC have played a version with the line altered to -

"A few pounds sterling will do nicely thank you..."

I presume due to the on/off BBC no advertising policy.

Of late though maybe the last 5 + yrs. I have heard the original version on radio 2.

I have always noticed it, and it always irritates.
 
Just to be clear...

"Will you take a look over there?
Where?
There
Is she trying to get out of that clitares
Liberation for women
That's what I preach
Preacher man (shouted by all)
Walking on the beaches looking at the peaches."

The word clitares often being mistaken for clitoris, the former being a French bathing suit but of course it was meant to be mistaken as such.(also quoted, not my words)
 
Kinks original had Coca Cola in the lyrics which was changed to cherry cola on the single.

Also, the Stones were expected to sing "lets spend some time together" on American TV.
Wasn't "street fighting man" banned in France as it would incite further riots in Paris?

The power of popular music :)
 
Pink Floyd had to replace "Evening Standard" in "It Would Be So Nice" to "Daily Standard" at the behest of the BBC to get it played. The single still bombed...
 
cjarchez said:
The word clitares often being mistaken for clitoris, the former being a French bathing suit but of course it was meant to be mistaken as such.(also quoted, not my words)
Click to expand...
It’s all just Hugh being a very naughty boy. How exactly would someone get out of a clitoris, anyway? (Rhetorical question.)
 
Mick Jagger condemned John Lennon for allowing EMI to censor the words to 'Working Class Hero' on the lyrics sheet of his first solo LP (though Lennon sang the word in question). Then, on Goat's Head Soup, a song title was changed from 'Star F ucker' to 'Star Star', and some of the ruder lyrics in the song were 'bleeped out'.
 
Kirsty MacColl's Free World single had 'gotta get it up and shag it' changed to '... wag it', which I always thought was a bit much. Don't remember there being a problem with The Tams' 'There Ain't Nothing Like Shagging'.

Still, not nearly as daft as when the gulf war was going on and Massive Attack became just Massive.
 
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Mitch and Andy by Barry Adamson is definitely off the playlists then... sounding like a messed up Tarantino storyline.

I'd forgotten Oliver's Army reference, I have the unfolding sleeve version on the sleeve so should give it a spin later.
 
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