http://www.americanaroots.com/content/News/Contributing-Writers/Bleeped-and-Gagged-Lyrics-and-the-First-Amendment.htmlAs an American, you have a right to free speech. As a singer/songwriter or radio programmer, your inalienables get a lot dicier.
Take the strange tale of the Kingsmen’s 1963 version of “Louie, Louie.” It started out as innocuous Richard Berry calypso number about a sailor trying to get back to his sweetheart. The Kingsmen’s frat rock version was rumored to have spiced things up a bit.
What precisely was titillating about the song’s lyrics is still open to debate. For two years the feds investigated, going so far as to send undercover agents to playground to try and overhear what kids were singing. The suit was finally dropped when the lyrics were declared “unintelligible.”
A quaint story from a simpler time? Think again.
As recently as May 2005, the Associated Press had a story about a Benton Harbor, Mich. high school superintendent banning the school marching band from doing an instrumental version of “Louie, Louie” because of the “raunchy lyrics” — this despite the fact the band was planning to do an instrumental version.
Found that via James McMurtry's site. Which, btw, mentions this:
http://www.jamesmcmurtry.com/BLEEPED AND GAGGED in OHIO
Niki Dakota, Music Director at WYSO-FM in Dayton, OH, was suspended without pay for one week by the FCC for playing the unedited version of "We Can't Make it Here." More about the DJ and the station WYSO-FM:
http://www.wyso.org/excursions.htm