The song the BBC refused to play because of historical inaccuracies
Historically, it doesn’t take a whole lot for a song to be banned by the BBC. Auntie Beeb has always had an air of “won’t somebody think of the children?!” no matter how much they try to appear down with the kids. That fundamentally incompatible combination has led to a number of songs being banned from radio airplay, some of them for reasons that fly straight past confusing and into outright hilarious.
We’re not even talking about novelty songs that are clearly trying to get the badge of honour of being banned by the BBC. Yeah, turns out that if you successfully start an online campaign to get a song called ‘Boris Johnson is a Fucking Cunt’ into the charts, that’s not going to be played on Radio One, no matter how true it may be. No, we’re talking about situations like The Who‘s ‘My Generation’.
It’s not out of the question that the BBC might ban the song. One might easily think it could have a ruinous effect on society due to A) its aggressive, anti-establishment message and B) propagating the idea that bass solos are acceptable in society. However, it was banned by the BBC for Roger Daltrey’s stutter. Not even because it sounds like he may say the dreaded F-word either, but because it was decided that his impression could be offensive towards people with stutters.
Another was The Kinks’ ‘Lola’, not because it detailed Ray Davies’ sexual encounter with a someone who (depending on your interpretation of the song) is either a trans woman or a crossdresser. That would be if the song came out today! Instead, it was banned because of Davies using the brand name ‘Coca-Cola’ in the lyrics. One quick switch to ‘Cherry Cola’ and all was forgiven. Yet neither of these are the most bizarre reason the Beeb banned a song.
Which song was banned by the BBC for historical inaccuracies?
In 1959, one of country music‘s biggest stars was Johnny Horton. His gimmick was that his songs weren’t mere country songs, but outright sagas. Oftentimes detailing whole historical events throught he medium of song. His biggest hit was 1959s ‘The Battle Of New Orleans’, a retelling of an infamous battle during the War of 1812.
In seeking out a follow-up hit, Horton and his songwriting partner decided to turn the sinking of the German battleship Bismarck into their next song. Penning the song ‘Sink the Bismark’ (sic) and releasing it in 1960. There were a few problems, though, not least the fact that they spelt the word Bismarck wrong on the cover of the single.
There was also the fact that, rather remarkably, Horton had the bare-faced cheek to sell a song about World War II to the UK, which began with the words “In May of 1941 / the war had just begun.” Due to the sheer bone-headed gall displayed by the lyrics and cover, the BBC stopped playing the song almost immediately. Which you can’t really argue with, right?
Annoyingly, the song was still a hit, reaching number three on the UK charts despite being an extremely American-centred view on the Second World War of all things. Truly, we deserve nothing more than those snide “we saved your ass in the war” jibes going forward.
