Season 378 "Banned by the Beeb"

Morning all - I’m a little late to the running debate here about artistic differences and what’s appropriate or not for any particular season. Just to say that I was always under the impression that it’s the host that sets the rules and guidelines for the week and ultimately decides what fits and what doesn’t. So let’s all give Val the support and respect to do this and have a fantastic week of music! Cheers all! :)
 
Yes, I DO remember Doc Cox and That's Life and I had no idea ... thanks for this fascinating insight, John!

And Esther Rantzen used to be known as Roy Chubby Brown...........those teeth were a very clever disguise. :D
 
Here's a George Hamilton IV song from 1956, this song has always made me want to laugh, and I don't think that was the intention. To get around the BBC ban, Hamilton rerecorded it as "A rose and a candy bar", which also makes me laugh. Another on the Barbie guitar too! lol

 
Sorry for the repeat, but another Seasonista beat me to the punch. Learned it, practiced a few times , then recorded. Had a couple of clams in the la-la--la middle, but if I re-recorded, those clams would just swim somewhere else, I'm sure. This risque ditty was by George Formby, about 1936. Despite a BBC ban, the Queen apparently loved it, as noted in Wikipedia:

Because the song’s lyrics were racy for the time, it was banned by the BBC from being played on the radio. The corporation's director general John Reith stated that "if the public wants to listen to Formby singing his disgusting little ditty, they'll have to be content to hear it in the cinemas, not over the nation's airwaves"; Formby and his wife and manager Beryl Ingham were furious with the block on the song. In May 1941, Ingham informed the BBC that the song was a favourite of the royal family, particularly Queen Mary, while a statement by Formby pointed out that "I sang it before the King and Queen at the Royal Variety Performance". The BBC relented and started to broadcast the song

 
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Nero and the Gladiators' cover of Edvard Grieg's "In the Hall of the Mountain King" was banned in 1960s like the other "pop" versions of classical pieces.
 
And "Good Morning/Afternoon/Evening/Middle of the Night" from deepest France, where it is a mere 5.30 a.m. and completely dark, so I have no idea whether the sun is going to shine or not. My apologies for being a somewhat absent host these last couple of days and my thanks to all who have contributed during that time ... the Playlist is up to date. In his kind message of support yesterday, Del reminded me that this is MY Season and so I am in charge. I think I had temporarily forgotten that! I should like to state for the record here that I have great admiration for Joo's artistic ability; her work is innovative and original. She is very talented. If you haven't already seen it, then watch the video of her painting Alfred Hitchcock, which she posted yesterday. If my response to her previous video was mystifying, then it will have to remain so. PLEASE let us not allow this event to derail this Season so that it degenerates into a taking up of opposing camps. The theme this week was intended to be fun and I also thought it would prove an interesting one. So, could we PLEASE get back to exploring the wonderful idiosyncrasies of Auntie Beeb's censorship system over the years. My very best wishes to you all!

 
What Reggae fan gets into a battle with the greatest Reggae journalist of all time? This guy.
Just did a remodel on the "crazy room"...now a retreat for my mother in law (also- who the hell does that?), and needed to play a song.
This song was released in 1964 and was a SKA blockbuster in the UK as I am to understand it, and also banned. I know this because said music journalist who took his moniker from it has told the story a million times...and in spite of it not making the lists online (can't help but notice the lack of Jamaican tunes there anyway...and kinda have the feeling few of them were played on the radio at the time, it seems legitimate that this would be one that NO one would play.)
For those of you not familiar with Jamaican patois...the lyrics are "I beg you turn your belly, gimme, Penny Reel-o Let me rub out of the money,Penny Reel-o" in spite of what is posted at so many lyric sights online (Let me rob her of the money...umm, nope). That said, this lyric suggests attaining a certain level of familiarity with someone as compensation for a debt. Hardly the thing the British airways were promoting at the time.
Back to Penny Reel. He was not a nice bloke, but a brilliant writer, and a regular on a forum I moderated about ten years ago. It became a game really...he would say something really scathing and nasty to another forum member, and I would relinquish him to the penalty box for a few days. He would come out madder than ever after this exchange, and be again, particularly nasty to someone, and back he went.
I guess now it is a good thing that I always valued decency over credentials, because the man really was one of my heroes, and fortunately he directed one of his tirades at me. In it, he created an "Old West" kind of feel, and spoke of a Sheriff who was more a power hungry dictator than a peace-maker, and I adored reading it. I wish I could find it now. In any event...our protagonist was called "The Cloverdale Kid".
Don't get me wrong- the man was a FOUNDATION personality in the genre I love the most. If you are interested, here are some of his articles and reviews. I just found out that he has passed and even though we would have NEVER gotten along, a part of the world I will miss, in spite of our differences.
Anyway- the point. I played him a song.
Penny Reel O- The Cloverdale Kid. Lets SKA!
 

Thank you, Dave!

I have just read that Tom Lehrer's debut album, "Songs by Tom Lehrer" (1953), had the dubious distinction of having all but two of its twelve tracks banned by the Beeb ... who were obviously not ready for his brand of satire in the early Fifties. I have no idea whether this one is on the banned list, but since only two tracks slipped through the net, there's a fair chance that it was ... and, anyway, I love it!

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Here's the theme song from the TV show M*A*S*H. The title of the song itself is "Suicide is painless". I always found this to be an intriguing and unique theme song. I played it as an instrumental on my Bonanza baritone.

 
I wrote this for the season because I was thinking about how many songs don’t get played, not just on the Beeb, but any radio station because there’s too much swearing in them, so this original, which was written with quite a bit of artistic licence, as anyone who is familiar with Chaucer will know, contains no swear words as such, but is a plea for a bit of appreciation of “vulgar” language :D
 
I think if you asked just about anyone of my generation in the UK to name a song banned by the BBC, 97% of respondents would name this one. It’s another one of those songs that benefitted hugely from the ban - everyone wanted to know what all the fuss was about so went out and bought it! (The ban was for the sexual nature of its lyrics btw.)

It’s a big song - I tried it a few months back and couldn’t make it work. So I took a slightly different approach here. I don’t know if this is any better to be honest - I lost all objectivity about halfway through. See what you think:

 
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Written by Cole Porter in 1930, for the musical, "The New Yorkers", this song was banned by just about everybody ... not just the Beeb! I have no idea why ... perhaps it was something to do with advertising. (Actually, I really have no idea why I chose this one; I find the whole concept of prostitution unpleasant and looking through old photos of ladies of the night (or day!) was quite depressing. However, in the image which I chose, the woman looks completely in control, which can't be bad! And it WAS written by Cole Porter.) Sorry, I think I'm losing my voice a bit - hayfever time!

 
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The Land of the Banned

So many things have been banned in Spain over the last three years, especially under the so-called "gag law" that it is difficult to know sometimes whether you are reading an article about Turkey or about Spain (a serving member of the European Union). Almost all of the things banned have been politically motivated as Spain's right wing has swung even further to the right.

It is now illegal for a small group of people to gather with political slogans - this is now called an illegal demonstration and those involved will be arrested. It is illegal to film police officers beating the crap out of you or your friends if the police attack a peaceful demonstration (or in fact to film them in any situation). It is illegal to wave Catalan Independence flags from public buildings, even if the party who run that building won a fair election and control its functions (town halls, etc). It is even illegal, in certain circumstances, to wear the colour yellow (associated with protest movements against political prisoners in Spain) - for example, if Barcelona had made it to the final of the Champions League, the thousands of fans watching the match in Madrid would have been searched for yellow clothing and for Catalan independence flags.

The ongoing repression of the independence movement in Catalonia reaches new depths almost daily. The show trial in Madrid of 10 leading Catalan politicians and two civil society activists (all imprisoned without trial for over 18 months) has shown just how far the Spanish state will go in wreaking vengeance and ignoring basic human rights.

This song, was inspired by my being a witness to the erosion of the illusion that Spain ever got over its Franco period past. It was an illusion, the reality is the regime is still in power under different names. If anyone thought the victory of the so-called Socialist Party in Spain would change things, they need only look at their promise to repeal the gag law and after nine months in power they have attempted no such thing.

Dark days for Spain lie ahead unless the reemerging popular movement for a Republic and true democracy becomes an overwhelming tide for change. I am not holding my breath for that one.

 
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The Beverley Sisters were a British Female vocal group who had a number of hits in the 1950s. Their songs were typical sentimental love songs of the time so quite why this one was banned, I really don't get. The only resemblance their take on Greensleeves bore to the original was the tune. The Lyrics were their own originals, were typical of the time and had nothing of the earthiness of the original. Now I could understand it if they banned Greensleeves based on any of the original lyrics as the beeb were at their prissyest during the 1950s. Anyway, my take on Greensleeves uses a selection of the original lyrics and even that is really only a sentimental love song 16th century style. The reference to God in the fourth verse would probably have been enough to get it banned in the 1950s, mind.

It seems their version actually got them a minor hit in the USA, unusual for a British act at the time.
 
I don't know why this was banned. Only the version by Josh White, apparently, and none of the others. I tried to do it more like he did, and not like the Animals version that everyone knows.

 
I found out today that the 51st anniversary of Bob Dylan’s first appearance on the cover of a certain magazine is fast approaching. Then when I found out the tease for another news bit, printed above the beginning of the article was THIS:

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I had to do it. Quick one-taker before the Dubs game.



Edit: Should have said that this was banned due to the advertising of a for-profit magazine. Dr. Hook even released another version about wanting to be on the cover of the Radio Times, but the Beeb banned that too.
 
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A little quiz:
XY’s hit was banned all over the world, because men don’t like it when women call bullshit on them. XY chided married men who “think they’re still single” while the wives ran the home. The BBC managed to ban one of the most brilliant and enduring feminist anthems ever written, and all subsequent cover versions.
Which song? Here's the answer:
 
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