BANNED AID – A guide to the banning of music – GENDER

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Future Posts:

  • Part 5 – Religion

As in previous posts, I have not censored any quoted lyrics or song titles. You have been warned.

There are songs (far too many) that are in your face sexist, some of which encourage the listener to behave violently toward women. They should all probably be banned. The songs that are subtle about their misogyny are harder to get people to condemn because some people miss their point, an easy thing to do. There are also homophobic songs that perhaps should be banned, as well as songs simply about the joy of sex. There is a wide variety to choose from.

However, there are pros and cons, nuance and uncertainties, when it come to the banning of music. These matters are discussed at some length in Part 1 of this series of posts.

SHEEZUS (Lily Allen)

The multi-talented Lily Allen intended to release this song as a single but her record company wouldn’t let her because it contains references to menstruation. It also references Beyoncé, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Rihanna and Lorde. Here is the track, delivered in Allen’s wonderful offhand way –

LYRIC CHANGES

When it comes to changing gender-related lyrics rather than banning them, in 1959 Judy Garland recorded the song FOR ME AND MY GAL and didn’t change any of the lyrics. Whether or not she should have is debatable. MAD ABOUT THE BOY was written by Noel Coward in 1932 and he was secretly gay at the time. Many women have recorded the song from Eartha Kitt to Marianne Faithfull. So have gay activists Adam Lambert in the US and Tom Robinson in the UK. Yul Brynner sang the song in drag in the film ‘The Magic Christian’. There are at least three other cases of songs originally intended for one gender recorded by the opposite gender with any requisite lyric changes made – I AM A MAN / MAID OF CONSTANT SORROW (Bob Dylan, Judy Collins), RESPECT (Otis Redding / Aretha Franklin) and DEVIL IN HIS / HER HEART (The Donays, The Beatles). I discussed these in more detail in my series on cover songs. Here is MAD ABOUT THE BOY performed by Adam Lambert, and two very accomplished dancers – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qrat9qskTYU&ab_channel=BBCStrictlyComeDancing

ALICE’S RESTAURANT (Arlo Guthrie)

In this song Guthrie tells us that if you say “you can get anything you want at Alice’s Restaurant” to a psychiatrist at an induction centre you might not be inducted. Furthermore, “if two people do it, in harmony, they may think they’re both faggots and they won’t take either of them”. The story is disjointed, puerile and boring, but Guthrie probably didn’t need to use the word ‘faggot’ in that context. It’s hard to tell. In some places this track is very popular, but one would have to sit through a long rambling tale before coming to this line.

AMERICAN TRIANGLE (Elton John)

This is John’s song about the homophobic torture and killing of Matthew Shepherd (1976 – 1998), a young Wyoming man who was tortured and killed because he is gay. The murder led to legislation and the incident inspired a number of films, novels, plays, songs and other works. Elton John is himself gay and the song contains the line “God hates fags”. In the Nazi concentration camps a prisoner sent there simply because he was gay was forced to wear a pink triangle identifying him as gay. Perhaps the lyric to this song should not be changed, lest we forget.

MONEY FOR NOTHING (Dire Straits)

This song was a big hit for Dire Straits in the 1980’s, and the song’s clearly homophobic conservative narrator sings the following about a rock star: “See the little faggot with the earring and the make-up? / . . . That little faggot got his own jet airplane / That little faggot, he’s a millionaire”. Should the song be banned? In concert the band’s lead singer, Mark Knopfler, replaces the word ‘faggot’ with the word ‘queenie’. Here is the track (with a contribution from Sting), from the early days of music videos – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTP2RUD_cL0&ab_channel=DireStraitsVEVO

TONY (Patty Griffin)

Griffin used the word ‘faggot’ in her sympathetic song about a high school classmate of hers who committed suicide because of the harassment he endured as a gay boy. The line goes like this: “He looked in the mirror and saw / A little faggot staring back at him”.

TREES (McCaferty)

The indie rock band McCaferty uses the word ‘faggot’ sympathetically in their song ‘Trees’ about the struggles of Nick Hartkop (the band’s lead singer) in coming to terms with his sexuality.

SAME LOVE (Macklemore)

American rapper Macklemore used the word ‘faggot’ in the song SAME LOVE but he used it when describing how homophobic slurs were used in cyberbullying.

PHYSICAL (Olivia Newton-John)

Olivia Newton-John’s hit song Physical was initially banned by MTV because of the lines: “There’s nothing left to talk about unless it’s horizontally”. But it gets worse. The video accompanying the song has John singing in a gym surrounded by male body builders she finds physically attractive, but in the end two pairs of particularly good looking male body builders each walk off hand in hand ignoring her, much to her amusement. MTV wasn’t happy with that. Here’s the clip – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWz9VN40nCA&ab_channel=OliviaNewtonJohnVEVO .

ONE IN A MILLION (Guns ‘N’ Roses)

Guns ‘N’ Roses released this song with lyrics containing the word ‘faggot’ intentionally used in a negative way. The song’s composer, singer Axel Rose, refused to apologize for the lyric and he has also defended the song’s racism (using the N-word) and xenophobia. The band’s guitarist Slash hated the song.

PICTURE TO BURN (Taylor Swift)

Some people do / say inappropriate things inadvertently. Then when it’s pointed out to them they can either double down, rationalize or make excuses so that they don’t have to admit their transgression, or else they can admit what happened and make sure it doesn’t happen again. Most people in the first group are what we call narcissists and bigots. The people in the second group are referred to as adults, i.e. mature and open to improvement. Beyoncé, much to her credit, demonstrated her maturity when she changed the lyrics in her song ‘Heated’. The Rolling Stones have never apologized for their racist and misogynistic lyrics. Axel Rose has never changed his homophobic, racist and xenophobic lyrics.

In the Taylor Swift track ‘Picture to Burn’ we hear the lyric: “So go and tell your friends that I’m obsessive and crazy / That’s fine, I’ll tell mine that you’re gay, by the way”. Later, realizing that she had used ‘gay’ as a derogatory term, she changed the line to “That’s fine, you won’t mind if I say ‘by the way’ “. All credit to Taylor Swift for doing that. If one isn’t a Swifty one might not realize that Taylor Swift released her first album almost two decades ago (in 2006). Here she is knocking them dead back in 2008 performing Picture to Burn – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OwNnBohin0&ab_channel=TaylorSwiftEvolution

FALL and RAP GOD (Eminem)

Eminem used ‘faggot’ perjoratively in his 2018 song FALL and when he received negative feedback he apologized and back-masked the word. In the music video accompanying the song the word ‘faggot’ is omitted completely. Eminem also used the word negatively in his 2013 song Rap God.

COCKSUCKER BLUES (The Rolling Stones)

At one point The Rolling Stones were legally obligated by their record company to come up with one more single, which was guaranteed to make a lot of money as the Stones were in their prime. However the Stones submitted a song that the company could never profit by because the song was so obscene that it could never be released. The song, COCKSUCKER BLUES, is quite graphic, but it is sympathetic toward the gay protagonist.

MISERY BUSINESS (Paramore)

The group Paramore used the word ‘whore’ in the lyric to this song but later regretted it and for awhile no longer performed the song in concert.

O CANADA

The original words of the Canadian national anthem, written by Robert Stanley Weir, included the line “True patriot love Thou dost in us command”. Over a century ago, during World War One, this line was changed to “True patriot love in all they sons command” as a way of encouraging men to join the army and fight during the war. However, in 2018, the gender bias in that line was addressed and the line was officially changed to “True patriot love in all of us command.”

I was very glad to see this change. About twenty-five years ago when I was teaching a Special Education class at a very challenging inner city school, whenever I sang this anthem I loudly sang these recently sanctioned words (“in all of us command”) and so did my kids (I told them they didn’t have to if they didn’t want to), and no one ever complained. Then when I took over the school’s Special Learning Centre I was also put in charge of the opening exercises over the school’s public address system. Every morning I started with a reading of some sort before the announcements. The readings I used included readings from Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Zoroastrian, pagan, atheist and many other doctrinal sources, and I made sure that each source had the same number as every other source (e.g. the atheists received as many readings as the Christians). The school administration was fine with this, and no parent ever complained. We did have some Buddhist students who had been among the Vietnamese Boat People who fled Vietnam after the end of the Vietnam War. They thanked me for the Buddhist readings.

It is also important to note that the book from which I took the readings came from the Ministry of Education – i.e. this practice was government sanctioned, and other schools were doing the same thing. Twenty-five years ago. I only mention this because I live in a small city in Canada. There are places in the world where I’d probably be getting death threats for doing those readings now.

THREE MORE FROM THE ROLLING STONES

Their song UNDER MY THUMB contains these lines: “It’s down to me . . . The way she does just what she’s told . . . The way she talks when she’s spoken to . . . the change has come / she’s under my thumb”. The reason for challenging this old one recorded in 1965 is obvious. Their song MIDNIGHT RAMBLER romanticizes a violent rapist with these lines: “I’m called the hit-and-run raper in anger, the knife-sharpened tippie-toe . . . Well he’s pouncing like a proud black panther . . . I’ll stick my knife right down your throat, baby”. Finally, their song STRAY CAT BLUES encourages sex with an underage girl of fifteen.

HE HIT ME AND IT FELT LIKE A KISS (The Crystals)

This was a big hit for the ‘girl group’ The Crystals in 1963. Lana Del Rey’s song ULTRAVIOLENCE also quotes this song title but she omits the reference when she sings the song in concert – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f20Oz9Yr_So&ab_channel=BebeLeStrange .

NOTHING SUBTLE HERE

  • Eminem – the song KILL YOU – with this lyric: “Blood, guts, guns, cuts / Knives, lives, wives, nuns, sluts / Bitch, I’mma kill you”
  • the band Cannibal Corpse – the song STRIPPED, RAPED AND STRANGLED
  • the band Combichrist – three songs: ENJOY THE ABUSE, SHUT UP AND SWALLOW, CHAINSAW ABORTION

SOMETHING SUBTLE HERE

Frank Loesser – BABY IT’S COLD OUTSIDE – This won an Oscar in 1949 as Best Original Song, but it is now banned in parts of the US and banned completely in Canada. The lyrics are creepy. Some would argue that this is more dangerous than the songs in the previous entry.

SONGS WHICH ARE JUST TOO SEXUAL FOR SOME

  • Rita Coolidge – SUPERSTAR which contains the line: “I can hardly wait to sleep with you again” (The Carpenters changed the line to “I can hardly wait to be with you again” when they recorded the song)
  • Lady Gaga – LOVE GAME
  • The Rolling Stones – SATISFACTION (banned on the American television show Shindig because of the line “Trying to make some girl”
  • Van Morrison – BROWN-EYED GIRL (banned in 1967 for the line “Making love in the green grass”)
  • Donna Summer – LOVE TO LOVE YOU, BABY (banned from many radio stations)
  • Britney Spears – IF U SEEK AMY. This was overlooked at first but then it was banned when somebody repeated the title several times quickly.
  • Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg – JE T’AIME . . . MOI NON PLUS (i.e. I Love You . . . Me Neither) was banned by radio stations in Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom for its sexual explicitness. As you watch this video keep in mind that Jane Birkin died less than a year ago (July 16, 2023) at the age of 76 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahHWxwajQL0&ab_channel=SamHudson

SCANDALOUS (Jimmy Boyd)

This is the final example – hang on to your hats. Back in 1952 a thirteen year old named Jimmy Boyd recorded this song and The Catholic Archdiocese of Boston banned the song from the radio as being too risqué. Within a week of its release it had sold two and a half million copies. Here is the song – watch this if you dare – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76K5UU0ihow&ab_channel=HeroesLegendsIcons . The joke of course is that the song’s narrator doesn’t realize that his father is impersonating Santa.

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