the buoys "timothy"

what is the word or words that are censored in this song........i listened to the 45 versus the version from "have a nice day" and they are the same as far as the breaks go...the only difference is the 45 is in mono while the cd version is in stereo..........as we all know that does, at times, make a noticable difference in sound...........edtop40

Impressive memory, Andrew. It was "both of us fine as we could be" as the replacement line. In the "Hall Of Shame" of bad edits - the tempo of the song isn't maintained during the changed line. As if someone hit "pitch control" to 40RPM for 7 seconds, then returned it to 45RPM. Actually hurts the ears! This promo 45 says "Revised Lyric" on the label. There was still another "Timothy" special version promo 45 - Timothy ("Beeped" version.) This had a tone, like on "A Boy Named Sue" placed over "Hungry as hell..." becomes "Hungry as BEEP, no food to eat." This version leaves in the original "stomach was full" line, however.   

Well, considering the song alluded to cannibalism, I can see where the "stomach was full" line might have offended someone. In fact, some stations refused to play even the edited versions because of the subject matter.

"Timothy" was first released back in January of 1970. WILK, Wilkes-Barre, PA,(the group's hometown) charted Timothy in Feb. of '70. It didn't end up peaking nationally 'til late April/early May of '71! The 45 had been out FOREVER. My info on this: Struggling NY-based songwriter Rupert Holmes (yes, the same guy) had a buddy who was an engineer at Scepter. He got them to agree to put out one 45 by his buddy, with no promotion, as a favor. Rupert decided to try to write a song that would "get banned." The cooking show "The Galloping Gourmet" was on during the write, getting the food angle in his head. He came up with "cannibalism during a mining disaster - that'll get banned!" A few stations did play it - kids figured out its meaning, and called stations non-stop to request it. For awhile, Scepter promoters didn't even realize "Timothy" was one of its own records! - and when the "cannibalism" angle was turning off WABC and some other big stations, Scepter then tried to say Timothy was a mule, not a person....it wasn't true, and it didn't work. WABC & other big-market stations never did play it.

The stereo version that's on all CDs should be noted as LP mix. The mono 45 (including the bleeped and revised DJ versions) is a different mix, which drops out the strings completely right after the line "God what did we do", I assume to make the horns punch better. (Strings immediately come back up so they are only missing for a second) So the 45 misses the "wind up" of the strings that you hear on the stereo version right before the horns hit. Same kind of thing happens near the end of the song too at one point. Minor thing but it is different.