Has anyone heard/read about the fuss that is going on over songs that ‘in this age we live in’ are now considered (by some people) to be unexceptable?!?!?
Apparently some Radio station in the States is refusing to play ‘Baby it’s Cold Outside’ as it feels the song’s lyrics suggest that the bloke is trying to get laid whilst the female is saying clearly “no”
Now I see that there are other songs that suddenly seem to be unexceptable to some people including –
‘Fairytale of New York’ because the word faggot is used!
‘Jingle Bells’ apparently has racist origins
‘Do They Know it’s Christmas’ because it doesn’t mention Ethiopia!!!
FFS what is wrong with people?!?
Not sure it’s grounds for a ban, but the song is a little bit rapey.. the gentleman singing the song drugs the lady’s drink…
Yep.
Nope. The thing that’s in the drink is alcohol. ‘Say, what’s in this drink?’ is her recognising that she’s being unusually candid with hm. At least that’s been the perception for most of the last 70 years.
Indeed.
http://persephonemagazine.com/2010/12/listening-while-feminist-in-defense-of-baby-its-cold-outside/
Alcohol is a drug. So she’s either drinking a coffee she suspects has been spiked with booze, or a glass of booze she suspects has been spiked with a mickey finn. Either way she’s suddenly realised she’s getting woozy.
Or a cocktail whereby she had neglected to clarify the contents before asking for one.
As Chiz says, I’ve heard the ‘what’s in this drink’ line loads of times after someone has just done or said something daft. If people are looking around for targets to determine whether a festive classic should or shouldn’t get played due to a perceived lack of morals about the makers of the record, they really should start with the Phil Spector Christmas Album. I’m not sure whether there are any hidden meanings to his lyrics, but I’d have thought the whole shooting his partner dead after years of spousal abuse business would be enough.
For about ten years, the start of the Christmas season chez Moose has been announced by me putting on that album very loud.
When it gets to Silent Night at the end, one or the other of us always greets Phil’s spoken intro with the words, “How long’s he been in nick now?”
The thing is, if you want to make it a modern day take on a predatory man and an innocent young woman then you don’t need to invent the spiking – they’ve had a drink, he’s pushing her to stay, and she says no, and that should be the end of it.
That’s not what it it’s about though, as the vast majority of people over the years have understood.
“The answer is no” – is regarded as problematic. No means no
Well, there are plenty in Africa who think Band Aid did more harm for Africa as a whole than good, but that’s another matter.
This retro-censorship is all well and good, but as is always the case, if you’re going to start making stands on moral grounds you need to be consistent. Although this just smells of a radio station out to get a bit of publicity. But if they’re banning the Dean Martin song, how about the Phil Spector Christmas album. He topped off a lifetime of spousal abuse by shooting a woman dead. Surely that’s worse than a couple of lines that 60 years later suggest something that the writers didn’t intend at the time.
It always seems that this retro censorship also depends on how cool the artist is or how much money he generates for the right people, even after he’s died. Some of the stuff that the old rock n rollers got up to was abysmal even by 1950s standards. Chuck Berry for starters. And if someone like, say Shakin’ Stevens or Mick Hucknell, had openly admitted sharing his bed with pre-pubescent boys and giving them alcohol (not to mention the stack of other allegations and pay offs) he’d Be dropped like a stone. If he was still generating millions for some powerful people, however, we can brush it all under the carpet, for the time being at least.
The owners of ski resorts in the Atlas mountains were probably annoyed by the “There won’t by any snow in Africa this Christmastime” line too.
There have been lunchtimes, sober or O’Boulez, when I’ve wandered inadvertently into the Daily Heil website, usually when following a link illustrated with a saucy photo of pulchritude by which perhaps I shouldn’t have been tempted.
On these occasions I am likely to also encounter on said website a lot of windy nonsense about ‘PC gone mad’, but most of it falls fairly into the category I’d call “fake news”. Blather and bluster with no real substance, only repeated to give platform to wider rants of libertarian froth.
Having said that, there are examples where you can understand the reluctance to let historical attitudes remain in clear sight, given how things have changed – for the better – since songs were named or books were titled. There’s no clear rule here that one can apply; each case is different and needs to be judged on its own merits.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll carry on with my hobby of collecting Agatha Christie first editions.
Its not bluster it actually happened in Ohio. And against the views of the majority who didn’t have a problem with it.
To be honest the song is shit but banning it is unforgivable. It is someone’s craft. If they don’t like it turn the radio off.
Or while we are at it lets ban say Brown Sugar.
Every time something like this happens, My Sharona’s publishers must be getting nervous.
Blimey. Just looked up the lyrics for My Sharona and your right – its all a bit suss. Ive heard this song a hundred times more than I ever wanted to, but never bothered listening to the lyrics – figuring its hardly going to be Leonard Cohen
I’ve probably mentioned how a few years back, at a friend’s 50th, I asked the DJ to play My Sharona.
“I don’t play songs about pedophilia” was the snorted response.
The lyric writer is now dead. The target of his affections was 16 or 17 at the time. He was in his mid twenties. It’s actually her on the cover of the single. I have to say she doesn’t look like a child. They did become a couple later and remained friends until his death.
“The target of his affections was…17 at the time. ”
We know what you mean.
‘Be Mine Tonight’ by Grady Tate and Grover Washington Jr wouldn’t quite meet the strictures laid down in the Antioch rules, either. It’s still a beltin’ smooth jazz/soul track though.
It must be dreadful for fans of the song, as it leaves them only 48 other Cleveland radio stations to listen to. It’s just like the USSR!
I mean, really – a commercial radio station has decided not to play a particular song. It’s a company, not a democracy. If anyone doesn’t like it, they have many other listening opportunities.
CNN report here: https://edition.cnn.com/2018/12/01/us/baby-its-cold-outside-cleveland-radio-trnd/index.html
Lando I would agree with you if the song was taken off the playlist due to it being not very good. However the #metoo movement kicked up sufficient stink to persuade the station to nix it. And in answer to Vulpes Britain has a history of sending gunboats to Nowheresville so not sure I buy that argument.
Oh but it is bluster, simply on the grounds that no-one gives a flying feck what happens at Nowheresville, Ohio (Pop: 357).
An oldie that leaves a distinctly unpleasant taste is Richard Berry’s “Get Out Of The Car”.
“Uh oh! Get out of the car!
You got to walk home baby (x3)
‘Cause you just won’t treat me right”
What a charmer!
Didn’t Gary Puckett feel a little uncomfortable, in later years, singing Young Girl? That one is a bit dodgy, but at least the protagonist seems to be having some form of moral quandary, rather than leaping into bed with an underage girl.
Radio stations all over the world were happy to play Blurred Lines, so Baby it’s Cold Outside is rather tame in comparison.
Not to mention Good Morning Little Schoolgirl…
….or Elmore James
“It was early in the morning
I was on my way to school
I met a married woman
And she broke my teacher’s rule”
A bit Notes On a Scandal, innit?
I’m guilty of some revisionism. Junior Wells’s debut, Hoodoo Man Blues, is an amazing record, essential for every home. However, it does include “Good Morning Schoolgirl” without the “Little”. Fortunately, you can get rid of it altogether and replace it with I Ain’t Stranded if you have the digipack plus extras.
But, hey, don’t judge me. I haven’t heard any Gary Glitter on the radio lately but have heard Phil Spector’s records. Interesting how some bad people are regarded as so much worse than others.
If “Baby It’s Cold Outside” was good enough for Tom Jones & Cerys Matthews…
Maybe we should compile The Afterword List Of Dodgy Ditties.
To go with all our other list threads.
DONOVAN’s “Mellow Yellow” and “Superlungs” to start us off.
Or maybe we could list Songs Of Moral Fibre, in which case I’d nominate this one from The Coasters.
Bloody Winterval!!
PS. “Unexceptable” – great stuff guys, I swear I’ll do time etc.
I listened to a radio show recently going through a number of songs thay would not be allowed these days, e.g. Stray Cat Blues. It was pointed out that 78 year old Ringo Starr was still doing Your Sixteen live in concert.
As funky as it is, I can’t listen to Joe Tex’ “I Gotcha”, which lyrics gets more and more date-rapey the longer it goes on…not helped by being sung in a narcissistic psychopath style… *shudders*
None of Joe Tex’s lyrics were influenced by feminist thinking. I hadn’t ever given the I Gotcha lyrics much thought, he has other songs every bit as dodgy – and I say this as a fan.
I always thought of Joe Tex as more of an old-school R&B shouter than a proper soul man.
He did lots of great Southern soul as well as rock ‘n’ roll and R & B shouting. Check out his stuff on the Dial label.
Dial Records – what a load of rubbish.
…er….
Will they also be seeking a ban for Joe Tex (him again): Ain’t Gonna Bump No More With No Big Fat Woman, on the grounds of discrimination against “stout ladies”.
And what of Queen Fat Bottomed Girls and Spinal Tap’s Big Bottom
(all tracks I have strategically placed in Mrs D’s Goggle playlist to much hilarity (not!))
What about Rod’s Maggie May for a male point of view?
Tell you what – it’s a bit like that old man in that book by Nabokov.
I think generally things are of their time and if you don’t like them, move on. See also historic revisionism etc. Where do we stop – art, books, films, TV, music?
You watch, they’ll be trying to deal with misogyny in the real world next!
No chance. Posturing on social media is much easier.
what a mean-spirited post!
(joke – smiley face emoji – lol – porl)
Posturing in real life is a trial, what with my knees.
Now can we ban Blurred Lines by that c–t in the stripey kecks?