Top 40 Music on Compact Disc: Clean vs Explicit in the 1970 Top 40

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PopArchivist
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Posted: 31 August 2019 at 10:49pm \| IP Logged

Thought it would be interesting if anyone knows which songs are easily identifiable by the clean lyric radio edits vs the controversial LP ones from this decade.

So far the two easy one's, one is mentioned in a thread on this board but not by title:

Jimmy Buffett's 45 and LP versions of "Changes In Latitudes, Changes In Attitudes"

About a minute into the song, the LP lyric is "son of a bitches" and the 45 lyric is "some bruises and stitches".

The second one I know of is in The Devil Went Down To Georgia by The Charlie Daniels Band at 2:55 on the LP version it is "son of a bitch" and on the 45 it is "son of a gun" instead.

Anyone know of any other songs? I am assembling the 70's top 40 and just want to check. I know in 1969 A Boy Named Sue by Johnny Cash has the bleep in it and the stereo version has it uncensored on the LP, but I didn't think any 60's hits really were censored from 45 to LP, were they?

Edit: I couldn't fit the 's after 1970, I meant the decade not just one year...

Edited by PopArchivist on 31 August 2019 at 10:51pm

thecdguy
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Posted: 01 September 2019 at 4:01am \| IP Logged

PopArchivist wrote:

I know in 1969 A Boy Named Sue
by Johnny Cash has the bleep in it and the stereo
version has it uncensored on the LP, but I didn't
think any 60's hits really were censored from 45 to
LP, were they?

Edit: I couldn't fit the 's after 1970, I meant the
decade not just one year...

The only other 60's songs with censored/uncensored
versions I can think of are Lou Christie's "Rhapsody
In The Rain" and The Swingin' Medallions' "Double Shot
(Of My Baby's Love)". I've never had the albums they
were originally on, but I would guess the uncensored
versions would be on those.

Paul Haney
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Posted: 01 September 2019 at 5:33am \| IP Logged

From the 1960s:

Big Bad John - Jimmy Dean (some 45s censor "one hell of
a man" to "big, big man")

From the 1970s:

Money - Pink Floyd (mono promo 45 censors "bullshit")

Fight The Power (Part 1) - Isley Brothers (some promo 45s
censor "bullshit")

Jet Airliner - Steve Miller (45 is censored "funky
kicks" vs LP "funky shit")

Who Are You - The Who (45 is censored "who the hell are
you" vs LP "who the fuck are you")

Good Girls Don't - The Knack - this one has a couple of
lyric changes (45 is censored "wishing she was givin' you
a chance" and "puts you in your place" vs LP "wishing you
could get inside her pants" and "sittin' on your face")

Edited by Paul Haney on 01 September 2019 at 5:53am

Hykker
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Posted: 01 September 2019 at 5:55am \| IP Logged

Bob Dylan's "Hurricane" the word "shit" was ducked on the
45.

There was a really awkward edit of Wild Cherry's "Play
That
Funky Music" where the term "white boy" was excised. Not
sure if this was something created later...don'e ever
recall hearing it in 1976.

This wasn't a top 40 hit, but I'm mentioning it because
the "edit" was so clumsily done...the Magic Lanterns'
"One Night Stand". The song has a line "..you'd be easy
as hell"...the line was intact on the non-charting
original 1970 release on Atlantic, but on the 1971
reissue on Big Tree the word "hell" is obliterated by
loud hum!!

Edited by Hykker on 01 September 2019 at 6:05am

RichM921
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Posted: 01 September 2019 at 6:43am \| IP Logged

For the '60s there is a version of Van Morrison's "Brown Eyed Girl"
which omits "making love in the green grass."

Kevin711
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Posted: 01 September 2019 at 3:32pm \| IP Logged

Ever so slightly off-topic here perhaps, but from the
late '60s, there are two different versions of "Let's
Live For Today" by the Grass Roots. One listed as
"uncensored" and the other listed, of course, as
"censored". Both versions can be found on "The Complete
Dunhill/ABC Hit Singles".

And as regards the "one hell of a man" version of "Big
Bad John", that one is on "Billboard Top Country Hits:
1961".

Indy500
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Posted: 02 September 2019 at 9:41am \| IP Logged

Indiana Wants Me had the siren removed in some promos.

Timothy the Buoys:

There are two known edited versions of this song released as white label promo 45s on Scepter. The A-side of both promos feature the unedited version. The B-side of SDR-12275 indicates "REVISED LYRIC" under the song title. The "My stomach was full" lyric is changed to "Both of us fine as we could be." The B-side of the other promo (SDJ-12275) indicates "EDITED, BLEEPED OUT" under the song title. While the "My stomach..." lyric is kept in this one, the word "hell" in the second verse is covered up with a quick bleep.

TomDiehl1
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Posted: 02 September 2019 at 2:07pm \| IP Logged

The mono side of the promo 45 for Cat
Scratch Fever by Ted Nugent has the lyric
"well I make those kitties purr with the
stroke of my hand" in place of the regular
lyric (found on the stereo side, and
presumably stock 45) of "well I make a
pussy purr with the stroke of my hand"

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AndrewChouffi
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Posted: 03 September 2019 at 4:41am \| IP Logged

To Tom Diehl or anyone else out there...

I seem to remember that "Cat Scratch Fever" lyric change from the radio, but I never could verify its existence!

I started to think it was an in-house edit or my imagination gone awry.

Does anyone out there have a clean dub of the mono version that I can hear?

Andy

TomDiehl1
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Posted: 04 September 2019 at 9:22pm \| IP Logged

Andy, I'll see if I can dig my promo 45
out this weekend. I'm not sure if I've
even come across it since moving here 2
years ago... and another move is in my
near future.

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TomDiehl1
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Posted: 04 September 2019 at 9:24pm \| IP Logged

Hykker wrote:

There was a really awkward
edit of Wild Cherry's "Play
That
Funky Music" where the term "white boy"
was excised. Not
sure if this was something created
later...don'e ever
recall hearing it in 1976.

Epic did issue this on a promo 45 with a
special catalog number, but I don't own a
copy of it.

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AutumnAarilyn
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Posted: 04 September 2019 at 10:19pm \| IP Logged

Here's a youtube upload of the censored Wild Cherry

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=On6VtPhOxr4

AndrewChouffi
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Posted: 05 September 2019 at 5:23am \| IP Logged

To Tom Diehl:

Thank you for looking for the promo 45 for me!

If anyone else out there has a dub of that Nugent 45 handy, let me know!

Thanks!

Andy

aaronk
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Posted: 05 September 2019 at 8:35am \| IP Logged

I'll have a look as soon as possible to see if I have it.

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eriejwg
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Posted: 05 September 2019 at 11:35am \| IP Logged

Is there a stereo version of the "kitties purr..." lyric
anywhere? Would love to hear it...

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EdisonLite
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Posted: 06 September 2019 at 12:18am \| IP Logged

IIRC, in the Spinners' "Could It Be I'm Falling in Love", the single edits out a section that says "Fuh", in the adlib "I used to say fah fah fah fuh". And it was discussed here on the board. I suppose the record label's thought was that some people might think it was a swear word if they heard the line.

There also were edits not because of explicit issues but because of controversy. Dean Friedman's "Ariel" had a verse starting with "She was a Jewish girl" but the record label had that line (and even more of the verse) edited/resung. And of course, the Kinks' "Lola" has 2 versions - one that says "Cherry Cola" and one that says "Coca Cola", which was not explicit or controversial but broke the BBC rules of mentioning products in song lyrics on radio.

Can anyone think of other edits done not because of explicit factors but controversial ones?

AndrewChouffi
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Posted: 06 September 2019 at 4:51am \| IP Logged

To EdisonLite:

I believe the Spinners hit you're thinking of is "One Of A Kind (Love Affair)".

That had a slightly longer original single with the line "you've just got to *blank* her"

That was quickly excised on second pressings 'cos it sure sounded like "fuh" with a 'k' sound...

I don't believe "Could It Be I'm Falling In Love" had the same fate; I could be in error.

Andy

KentT
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Posted: 10 September 2019 at 5:20am \| IP Logged

PopArchivist wrote:

Thought it would be interesting if
anyone knows which songs are easily identifiable by the
clean lyric radio edits vs the controversial LP ones
from this decade.

So far the two easy one's, one is mentioned in a thread
on this board but not by title:

Jimmy Buffett's 45 and LP versions of "Changes In
Latitudes, Changes In Attitudes"

About a minute into the song, the LP lyric is "son of a
bitches" and the 45 lyric is "some bruises and
stitches".

The second one I know of is in The Devil Went Down To
Georgia by The Charlie Daniels Band at 2:55 on the LP
version it is "son of a bitch" and on the 45 it is "son
of a gun" instead.

Anyone know of any other songs? I am assembling the 70's
top 40 and just want to check. I know in 1969 A Boy
Named Sue by Johnny Cash has the bleep in it and the
stereo version has it uncensored on the LP, but I didn't
think any 60's hits really were censored from 45 to LP,
were they?

Edit: I couldn't fit the 's after 1970, I meant the
decade not just one year...

The LP version of "A Boy Named Sue" was always bleeped.
The uncensored version was only on the UK Granada TV
broadcast of "Johnny Cash At Folsom Prison" until the
Columbia Legacy CD was remastered.

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