I'm old enough to remember when the television censors only let Elvis be shown from the waist up. The Rolling Stones had to change the lyrics of "Let's Spend the Night Together" to, I think, "Let's spend some time together". Some years later, I remember when Charlie Daniels' "Devil Went Down to Georgia" came out. Most radio stations wouldn't play the version that said, "told you once you son of a bitch" and the band recut it to say "son of a gun".
Back then, I don't think any of this bothered me. I was also young and immature enough during the Elvis/Stones things that I probably giggled or was secretly a little shocked by them in the first place. But, hey, that was decades ago and our society was a lot different. I can more easily understand the broadcast media back then being so incredibly careful not to shock and offend.
Heck, married couples on television shows weren't allowed to sleep in the same bed either.
Things have changed in the last 40 or so years. A lot. However, the practice of changing song lyrics to make risque, or risky, ones more "acceptable" for the mass audience remains.
I listen to a lot of country music, along with mucho Bruce Springsteen. I can only imagine how the Boss would react if anyone asked him to "clean up" a lyric. Don't you think his response might run along the lines of, "Kiss my ass?"
However, I've noticed at least two samples of changed lyrics in country hits. The first is in Picture to Burn by Taylor Swift. The first time I heard the song, I know I heard her sing:
So go and tell your friends
That I'm obsessive and crazy
That's fine, I'll tell mine
You're gay and by the way
Eventually I noticed that the line changed to:
So go and tell your friends
That I'm obsessive and crazy
That's fine, you won't mind
if I say by the way
A more recent group, Lady Antebellum, released a song called Lookin' For a Good Time with the lines:
I sure love this conversation
The band is good, the music’s loud
But would you get the wrong impression
If I called us a cab right now
The first time I saw the video, I realized the last line changed to:
If I asked you to dance right now.
Okay, I can see where some folks might be offended by the original lyrics, but is the possibility of giving offense a legitimate reason for compelling artists to change their work? I have to believe it was done for "commercial" reasons. Was it easier to get the artists to agree because they're in the early phases of their respective careers?
If the Dixie Chicks or Reba McIntyre released Picture to Burn and Garth Brooks or George Strait sang Lookin', would anyone have dared suggest they change a lyric? Would they have agreed?
I don't embrace the sentiment of Swift's lyric, of using "he's gay" as a revenge tactic because it implies that being gay is a bad thing. However, if that's what she, as a songwriter and artist, chose to put in her song, it's her right to do so. Did radio stations tell her record label that they wouldn't continue to play the song unless she changed the lyric? I don't agree with creative strong-arming either.
As far as the Lady Antebellum lyric, wow. If the suggestion of a bar hook-up and a one night stand is so potentially offensive, I think I'm the most shocked person of all. Country music has a long standing history of "cheatin'" songs, many of which have earned classic status. So what gives with this wording change?
Some might think it ironic to hear this viewpoint from a romance novelist. We're the ones who, for years, weren't allowed to call a penis a penis, but instead had to create often ridiculous euphemisms like manhood and love shaft. At least the publishers put out those rules up front and made the changes before the books were published.
What do you think? Does the concept of artists changing lyrics after the fact bother you? Not bother you? Do you care one way or another?
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