Aw Shucks: Softened Swears in Song

There's some song in the back of my mind that censors itself, the lyrics and the rhyming scheme lead up to a line that is obviously supposed to end with "****" but humorously rushes to the next line instead, but do you think I can remember what song it was or even who did it?

 

Somehow that one got past me, but I'm sure they changed it. Or they may have just omitted that whole verse.

 

Here is one ancient variation on that idea.

 

The single version of Jimmy Buffett's "Chances in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes" replaces "son of a bitches" with "some bruises and stitches'

 

IMO, Singer of Songs, Teller of Tales is a pretty solid album although it contains some re-recordings of some of the songs he had previously released on earlier albums. It was hooked by the Hits "I Go Crazy" and "Sweet Life", but there are some really nice deep cuts on it, too. "Hallelujah, Thank You Jesus" is one of my favorites (one of 3 that had appeared on an earlier album). I also really like the Southern Tracks and Fantasies album. The monologues that open and close one song whose title escapes me are hilarious("You can tell when somebody's high on that marijuana 'cause they cuticles is dilated"). The Ride 'Em Cowboy album has a great cover with the denim jacket opening up as saloon doors (and the inner sleeve is a T-shirt).

 

Johnny also omitted a few entire verses from the original recording by Jimmy Driftwood containing the lines:
"Hickory said he didn't give a damn. He was gonna whoop the britches off of Col. Packinham."
And "They lost their pants and their pretty shiny coats and their tails were all a-showin' like a bunch of billygoats."
Not only was the word "damn" anathema on the radio at the time, but keeping all of the original verses would have pushed the song over the 4-minute mark. Another big no-no.

 

Interesting that certain words that are allowed on records are forbidden on the lyric sheets. On "We Can Be Together" on Jefferson Airplanes' Volunteers album, they sing, "Up against the wall, m*****f*****" (and they even sang it uncensored on The Dick Cavett Show), but the lyric sheet says, "Up against the wall, Fred."

 

Here's precisely how the thread starter phrased his original post:

"I love how Rod Stewart sings 'God darn brain' in Jeff Beck Group's Shapes of Things to Come.

Sometimes it's distracting, other times childish, but occasionally I find gentle swears more compelling than the real thing in a song. This is odd, because I swear quite a lot in real life.

What are your favorite all-ages swears in popular song?"

So, unless Rod Stewart had an original recorded vocal in which he instead sang- "God Damn brain" on that Jeff Beck tune, then I'm sticking with my Everly Brothers example as being perfectly on-topic, per the thread-starter's description and example.

 

Shaving Cream is a great example of that.



There's also a solid version of that premise in Say No to This from Hamilton.

 

damn censors.

this is what happens when you find a stranger in the alps.

 

I suppose it all depends on what you do with that stranger in the Alps, and if it is consensual.

 

Extreme - Get the Funk Out... debatably

 

The Doors - L'America
"He'll change your weather, change your luck
And then he'll teach you how to... ...find yourself"

 

Yep, as OP I agree with you.
I was hoping to get a list of soft swears as artistic choice, not as a result of explicit censoring.
However, the thread has been pleasant enough, that I haven't felt that it has been necessarily derailed.
Frankly, all of it is interesting and I am happy people are supplying their opinions - even if it wasn't quite what I was looking for.

 

And you'd be wrong. Because you don't understand.

Interesting, considering how pedantic you appear.

 

Elvis Costello and the Attractions' "Chemistry Class": "You've got a chemistry class I want a piece of your mind". I was expecting a different word at the end of that verse

Also Carly Simon softly breathing "son of a gun" at the beginning of "You're So Vain".

 

You seem awfully sure of yourself.
Whatever you do, don't read the OP's response directly above yours.

I just re-looked through the entire thread, thinking I must've missed your glowing contribution that surely would've set the golden standard for what the OP was looking for in his thread. Nothing. Just a self-appointed thread police, whose had nothing to actually add to the conversation. Well done.

 

Jimi Hendrix’s “Up From the Skies” - at the fade, Jimi mutters “Aw, shucks...if my daddy could see me now.”

 

Also from Elvis:

With these vulgar fractions of the treble clef
I wish you luck with a capital F

 

I guess you already got the Shaving Cream answer. Doug Clark and the Hot Nuts did similar bits a lot too:

 

"Don't Let Go" by Roy Hamilton (1958)

"Ooh-wee
Mmm, this feeling's killin' me
Ah, shucks
Well, I wouldn't stop for a million bucks"

 

The greatest use of "goshdarned" in the history of all recorded sound. Haha

 

During the patter that ends "Convoy" by C.W. McCall (1975), the Rubber Duck character says, "Well, mercy sakes, good buddy, we gonna back on outta here, so keep the bugs off your glass and the bears off your -- tail."

 

The quatrain was changed for the movie. Got rid of “bastard” too.

Another change compelled by Columbia Records - “schmo” for “schmuck.” Changed again for the movie to “slob.” In each case with a rhyme to match.

Of course, at the time there was a hit show running on Broadway called “Damn Yankees.” And Henry Higgins was singing “Damn, Damn, Damn, Damn.”