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[DaveRam]

I was trying to think today of the earliest examples of swearing in songs and i could'nt get further back than John Lennon's "Working Cla** Hero" and his use of the F-word , but i'm sure there must be earlier examples in songs ?
Just who was the first to curse ?
And what do you think of offensive language in songs ?

[Joost]

There were rumors about swearing in the Kingsmen's version of 'Louie Louie', which was released in 1963. The FBI even investigated it.

I've got absolutely nothing against offensive language in songs. Music is art, and if a singer feels that he needs offensive language to express himself, so be it. And come on, be honest - what sounds better and more powerful: Thom Yorke singing "You're so very special" or "You're so f**king special"?

[DaveRam]

Jacques Brel in the song "Amsterdan " (1964) which is a romp about drunken sailor's ,
Sings the verse :

And he p*sses like i cry
On the unfaithful love

David Bowie covered this song in 1973  .

http:// Jacques Brel - Amsterdam clip (The video's owner prevents external embedding)

http://

David Bowie In The Port of Amsterdam

[DaveRam]

In the song Time (1973)
Bowie sings :

Time he flexes like whore
Falls wanking to the floor

http://

David Bowie - Time - 1980 Floor Show Midnite Special

[DaveRam]

There were rumors about swearing in the Kingsmen's version of 'Louie Louie', which was released in 1963. The FBI even investigated it.

I've got absolutely nothing against offensive language in songs. Music is art, and if a singer feels that he needs offensive language to express himself, so be it. And come on, be honest - what sounds better and more powerful: Thom Yorke singing "You're so very special" or "You're so f**king special"?

Agree Joost if it's part of the songs expressive content , can't see there is a problem swearing in a song .
The Radiohead song is a great example the F- word  really gives that song it's heart

 http://

Radiohead - Creep (Live @ V Festival 19/8/2006)

[DaveRam]

The Rolling Stones from Goats Head Soup (1973)

http://

Rolling Stones - "Star Star (Starf***er)" Live Knebworth 76

[Mairi]

I think you are forgetting Cocksucker Blues!

[DaveRam]

Who was the first to use swearing in Hip - Hop ?
Now that's music that know's how to swear , a bit to much for my taste   

[DaveRam]

I think you are forgetting Cocksucker Blues!

That's before John , Mairi you get a 100 lines and detention for that one 

http://

Rolling Stones - Cocksucker Blues (1969 and 1978 versions)

[DaveRam]

George Formby had this song "When I'm Cleaning Window's" (1936) banned by the BBC in the 1940's for it's smutty lyric's :

The blusing bride she looks divine
The Bridegroom is doing fine
I'd rather have his job than mine
When i'm cleaning windows

Seems quite tame ? 

http://

George Formby - When i'm cleaning windows

[DaveRam]

Max Miller with his risque song "The hiking Song" (1938)
He manages to get the words my old cock in this song , and although he's singing about chickens i think we no what he means  

http://

Max Miller - The Hiking Song

[DaveRam]

Paul's swearing song , think this song is a bit soft even though he sings the F-word several times ? 

http://

Paul McCartney - Big Boys Bicering

[Jane]

I am against swearing in songs. If only a bit.
But I will tell you one thing. Swearing in English is somewhat not as terrible as swearing in Russian, even when using the same "notions". We had a lady-professor at our university from Britain who often said "f***", and it didn`t sound so awful. Though I can`t even imagine somebody using this very word in Russian. The Russian foul language is so developed and so huge and so many-layered, that foreigners are taken aback.
BTW foul words were not foul a thousand years ago, cause that`s how people spoke then, these were the words people used in casual speech then. That is why they are also called Anglo-Saxon words if we take Great Britain.

[Joost]

Funny thing is that there are quite some songs that used to be acceptable but would be considered offensive nowadays. How about these, for instance:

I'd rather see you dead little girl
Than to be with another man

from Baby, Let's Play House
 

Get outta that bed, wash your face and hands
Get in that kitchen, make some noise with the pots 'n pans

from Shake, Rattle & Roll

Or 'The Universal Coward' by Jan Berry (of Jan & Dean fame):

He’s young, he’s old, he’s in between
And he's so very much confused
He’ll scrounge around and protest all day long
He joins the pickets at Berkeley, and he burns up his draft card
And he's twisted into thinking that fighting is all wrong

He's a pacifist, an extremist, a Communist or just a Yank
A demonstrator, an agitator, or just a knave
A conscientious objector, a fanatic, a defector
And he doesn't know he's digging his own grave

Oh, he just can't get it through his thick skull
Why the mighty USA
Has got to be a watchdog of the world
He'll see the USSR bury us from afar
And he'll never see the missiles being heard

He's the universal coward, and he runs from anything
From a giant, to a human, from an elf
He runs from Uncle Sam, and he runs from Vietnam
But most of all he's running from himself

[DaveRam]

This song from the Midnighters - Sexy Ways (1954) must be one of the earliest examples of sex in a rock n roll era song ?
Very risque lyric 

http://

THE MIDNIGHTERS SEXY WAYS 1954

[Jane]

Joost, do you really mean that the content of the songs you mentioned is offensive? Explain where you see it, please, on one example at least.

[Joost]

Joost, do you really mean that the content of the songs you mentioned is offensive? Explain where you see it, please, on one example at least.

Baby, Let's Play House: He says that if she'd ever leave him, he either wants her to be alone and unhappy for the rest of her life, or dead. Now that's not a very nice thing to say, is it?

Shake Rattle & Roll: He tells a woman to get out of bed and straight into the kitchen. If you'd write that now, you'd probably have an angry mob of feminists with tar and feathers in your front yard pretty soon.

Universal Coward: He's pretty much literally says that anyone who doesn't believe in war is a coward. Jan had to record it on his own because Dean wanted nothing to do with it.

[Jane]

In the first one I see just that the guy is very jealous. I wouldn`t mind the lyrics.
In the second one, if it`s a kind of an order, then it`s brutal. However, feminists annoy me.
So, the last one advocates war. This is wrong.

Thank you, Joost!

[Joost]

What's offensive to one person doesn't necessarily have to be offensive to someone else. It's just like with swearing: you find that offensive, I don't. Depends on someone's personal values and morals, I guess. So if you find the lyrics that I posted offensive or not, that's a personal thing.

But I do think it's funny that while these lyrics didn't raise a lot of eyebrows in a time where swearing in songs was unheard of, they're by today's standards politically incorrect to say the least. It shows how morals have changed through the years. I bet that singing something like "I'd rather see you dead than with another man" would get you in a lot more trouble nowadays than a couple of f-words.