Jump to content

Profanity in Songs


Carl

Recommended Posts

In honor of Cee-Lo's hit "F--k You" (the clean version is called Forget You), let's discuss some of most profane songs in music.

Is Cee-Lo's tune the most outrageously profane ever recorded? I nominate these for the honor:

The Phuck You Symphony - Millie Jackson

Millie's song is simply the words "f--k you" sung with an orchestral backing. Millie told us:

"I had never said 'f--k' on stage before. You notice I couldn't even spell it the right way. It's spelled P-H-U-C-K. Randy Klein was my keyboard player at the time, and I said, 'I don't know what this album is going to be. I've said everything on stage I could possibly say I've said everything on record I could possibly say. Everything but f--k.' So I said, 'That's it. I'm just gonna say f--k. But we've got to do it with class."

People = S--t - Slipknot

One of the most popular Slipknot songs, their drummer Chris Fehn told us:

"Sometimes when I drive around my humble little city that I live in, and I see people not letting you merge into traffic, and just the hustle and bustle of all these goats running around the city, it just makes me sick. And people trying to keep up with the Joneses, that attitude, you know. Maxing out your credit card so you can have stuff that means nothing. But there's so many great people in the world, don't get me wrong. I don't drive around all jaded like that. But sometimes I just get that feeling when I look at society as a whole, my god, what a gyp. But that's where metal and music came in for me, it gave me that escape away from not wanting to be part of the norm."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

ah well, I can't think to name ALL songs I know which includes the "F-word" ;)

on a semi-related note: the most hilarious act of censoring profanity has to be

Mr. Cab Driver ~ Lenny Kravitz

Mr. Cab Driver, (*honk* *honk*) I'm a survivor!

I don't know if it's intentional, but I only ever knew the non-censored version and the first time I heard this I literally burst out laughing :laughing: :laughing:

seeing the video^ just now, especially the two top comments... is that ignorance or people saying "we're cab drivers and we're nothing like the guy he sings about"? :crazy:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

"F**k And Run"- Liz Phair

"Leave This Off Your F***ing Charts"- Public Enemy

"This Is F***ing Ecstasy"- Say Anything

"F**k The People"- The Kills

"F**k The World"- 2Pac

F**k You (An Ode To No One)"- Smashing Pumpkins

"F**k California"- The Presidents Of The United States Of America

"Get The F**k Out"- Skid Row

"Just Don't Give A F**k"- Eminem

"F***ing Hostile"- Pantera

"How F***ing Romantic"- Magnetic Fields

And that's just typing in f**k in my search in iTunes

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The thing about Cee-Lo is that he understood that releasing a song called F--k You doesn't hurt the marketing very much, since it will spread like crazy on YouTube and get plenty of play on satellite radio.

Cee-Lo's "F--k You" might be the musical equivalent of the South Park episode where they said "s--t" something like 100 times.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I remember when Jonathan Edwards said, "Damned" in this and my friends and I said, Damn!"

I believe it was in '71 and my school mates (and I) dug it because it included a song that had, what then was considered profanity.

My, how far we've come since then.

I remember back in 1968 when my sister brought The Beatles "White Album" home...there was quite a uproar over lewd lyrics and bad language. I seem to recall the bad language was in "Piggies" when George said, "what they need is a damn good whacking". The lewdness was about the title and meaning of "Why Don't We Do It In the Road?" Do what? It never says anything about "what" in the song. It just says "No one will be watching us".

My parents made my sister return the album to the store, but softened up their stance and let her re-buy it not too long after that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A few songs Vampire Weekend's debut record contains profanity:

"Who gives a f--k about an Oxford Comma?"-Oxford Comma

"Do you want to f--k like you know I do?"-

Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa

"Walcott, The Bottleneck Is a s--t show"

"Walcott, F--k the women from Wellfleet, F--k the bears out in Provincetown, out of Cape Cod Tonight"-

Walcott

Also "That Big Bit Me" by the Mighty Mighty Bosstones contains it's fair share of swearing:

"But when it hit me I was bit; s--t I came clean with it"

and in the chorus:

"The bug's been around since time began; it's bitten bigger better bastards than the one I am."

One of the most shocking uses, to me, is in "You're Beautiful" by James Blunt:

"She could see from my face that I was f--king high."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

"F**k You" By Lily Allen and "What It's Like" by Everlast .

Two of my personal favorites. I like the messages of both these songs.

I love Lily Allen and her song... :)

"If you don't wanna f*ck me baby, baby f*ck off" Wayne County, maybe? :P

...and "Why d'ya do" (was that the right title? Oh, I'm getting old :doh: ) Marianne Faithfull

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...