Seasons of the Ukulele

A weekly song challenge for ukulele players - all welcome. Find out more here

Season 699 - Banned by the BBC

DelGriff

Thanks for hosting, Doc! 🙂

This is one of the very few songs that my failing memory just about retains without any chord or lyric sheets to prompt me. It was written by Bob Geldof after reading about the shooting at Grover Cleveland Elementary School in San Diego in 1979. The BBC temporarily removed the song from its playlists during the first Gulf War, along with 67 other songs, due to the potential negative impact of the lyrics during that period.

A rare appearance from my Kala tenor uke, with some added synth piano and strings.

I Don’t Like Mondays - cover of a Boomtown Rats song (SOTU 699)

AlanDP

This song has a strange history. It was written and first copyrighted in 1915, which boggles my mind because this doesn't sound anything like a song from 1915. The writer, Johnny S. Black, sat on it for years and finally sold it to a publisher in 1930. The publisher, Edward B. Marks, copyrighted it again that year but couldn't find anyone who wanted to record it. Marks renewed the copyright in 1942, renewed it again that same year for some reason, and renewed it once more in 1943, the year that it was recorded by the Mills Brothers. They recorded it as the B-side for their single release "I'll Be Around." It was released in May of 1943 but no one paid much attention to it until around August when suddenly the B-side started getting some notice and by November it hit number 1, where it stayed for 40 weeks. Johnny Black didn't live to see the success of the song; he was killed in a bar fight in 1936. This song is credited with reviving the Mills Brothers' flagging career(s). The BBC banned their recording of it, according to that list. WTF, BBC?

LimousinLil

AlanDP Apparently the Beeb thought it gave the wrong message … that "the story of faithless women might imperil the morale of the troops."

johnpoole

Thanks Paul. I haven't had a chance to listen to anything yet. Doctors (not Dr Mitch) doing unpleasant things to me this week. But the show must go on. Don't know if anyone has done this Johnny Cash written by Jack Clement . Banned by head of Religion for the line "God gave me that girl to lean on" I think the Right Reverend Ponsonby - Smythe was "havin' a laugh ." Guess Things happen that Way.

TCK

OneManAndHisPGUke Judge Dread is vulgar even today. Where Formby and his innuendo were kinda cute…the Judge dove straight in, and made every Skinhead dance ever 😂

TCK

That said…of course I plan to give “Big Seven” a try tomorrow. When you spend your entire life around middle school boys, your sense of humor tends to accept any and all vulgarity. Good times.

TCK

And as promised Judge Dread, Big Seven (don’t listen to this)

TCK

I just realized It appears I have worn the same shirt all week. Melissa washed it, and it is my favorite one (easy to find). It says “Real Punks Support Their Public Library.” I swear it is clean 😂😂

Barbablanca

Here is an original from me about banning songs by "Auntie" or "the Beeb" as the B.B.C is known colloquially in the UK.

Hope you like:

DelGriff

Not, as far as I know, on the BBC’s banned list, but I’m sure it would be if it was brought to their attention - I hope that’s enough to make it legal for your season, Doc?

This was recorded yesterday under a shady tree in a very warm Hyde park in central London, where @Ila and her hubby and his friend, @YorkSteve, @Edwin, @redpaul1, @chris667 and I gathered for a very enjoyable afternoon of music, mirth and merriment. Thank you all for a special day! :-)

My Girl’s Pussy - cover of a Harry Roy song by my friend Chris Davies

YorkSteve

DelGriff Thanks for that @chris667 , I have been singing it to myself all day. Now the store manager at Tesco says I can't shop there again.

Joko

A second tune from me this week.. Like the former Formby, I was disarmed by Disarm.

TCK

Did it!! 😂😂😂

And before today’s ballgame!

dr_mitch

Okay, everything should be up to date, and we're in the final 12 hours of the Season. So here's another one from me - Killing Me Softly. I really did it for Joko's season, but as luck would have it, the BBC inexplicably banned it for the first Gulf War, so here it is.

dr_mitch

And another! Space Oddity - David Bowie's first hit - was released as a single to commemorate (or being cynical, for the record company to cash in on) the Apollo 11 Moon landing in 1969. Ironically, it being about things going wrong in space, the BBC refused to play it for the duration of the Apollo 11 mission.

Here's my take

And since we're talking about Space Oddity, here's the version by astronaut and musician Chris Hadfield, filmed from international space station (with adapted lyrics). I find it beautifully moving.

[deleted]

thanks Mitch!

a traditional English folk song i learnt from a Pete Seeger album

OnlyUkeThatMatters

FRANKIE SAY

RELAX!

(Even though the BBC wasn't cool with it.)

MsBean

I was quite pleased to see Tom Lehrer on the list. He has donated all his songs to the Public Domain, so that was welcome. Now, if I only copied the text and chords yesterday, I might have a copy I can read!

https://tomlehrersongs.com/

https://tomlehrersongs.com/fight-fiercely-harvard/

dr_mitch

Thanks all- and we're done!

We've reached exactly 50 songs! And I have to give super special thanks to @TCK for this. I now know to Be Prepared and not be a Creep. Thanks Dave - it was beautiful how you took the 22 limit as a dare! In case this missed anyone, the 22 limit was because the BBC was founded in 1922, and I like arbitrary high limits more than no limits. Well, there you go.

We had some great originals - @UkeCan1 with her new friend Lali and Lali's first - and moving - original. @Nearsighted-Lemon-McKay thanked the BBC for protecting us. @Barbablanca wrote a superbly witty song on such bans.

My fellow Brits @LimousinLil , @YorkSteve , @Edwin , and @DelGriff also entertained me - including some pretty innocuous songs banned from play during the first Gulf War, a song about gun violence banned not for that but also during the Gulf War, a cheeky song about losing it in the Astor, and from @chris667 a recording of My Girl's Pussy from a gathering in Hyde Park. That last phrase is one I never expected to type.

Talking of older cheeky songs, we had some admirable jazz and blues from @AlanDP and @CanadaJim , a spot of Formby from @Joko and @Nearsighted-Lemon-McKay , some fine folk from @[deleted] , and some Tom Lehrer from @MsBean bringing the season to a close.

@Mezcalero brought a Springsteen song, and another foolishly banned in the first Gulf War era, which has to be the daftest series of bans in the organisation's history. Drug references from @YorkSteve , @TCK , @CanadaJim and others were more explicable bans, as were stabbings from @AlanDP .

@Bystander told us to Imagine, @UkeFoote taught us that Happiness is a Warm Gun, @johnpoole suggested we Guess Things Happen that Way, and @OnlyUkeThatMatters suggested that we Relax.

I'm shocked at the suggestion that Enola's Gay though, brought wonderfully by @bobjking and Paul, and by @TCK . Yes, I stole this quip from @Barbablanca 's original. It's enough to get me banned.

Well, that's a wrap! I absolutely loved hosting this and hearing everyone play. It's a gift.

Now time to surprise ourselves and see what songs are generated with season 700!

DelGriff

Thanks for a great week, Doc @dr_mitch! 🙂

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