A Few Dirty Words

A Few Dirty Words

                 I am not one for disclaimers, but if you get offended easily, 

do not read this, and go fuck yourself!!!

Sometimes censorship is needed and it makes sense, other times a dirty word has to be heard. How do we decide what is ok and what isn’t.  Some would argue that a point can be made without “cursing” others would say; Fuck that shit fuckin Bitches don’t know what the fuck they talking ‘bout!

Maybe both are correct; the beauty of how fan fucking tastic a song is written is really in the ears of the listener.

In my opinion I think that swear words should be used sparingly. Sure I love when bands like Blink 182 write their filthy funny songs, and I know all of the words to them, but for me to really use swearing effectively it should not be done often. 

You see, in my opinion, a band can write 50 breakup songs and all of them are good. But the one that draws me in is the one with the 2 “dirty” words in it. 

Why?

Because that is the one where the point was driven home.  I mean take these two sentences below and tell me which you think is more effective.

1.      
       You really hurt me

2.      
       You really fucking hurt me

I think it is pretty clear that the second sentence makes the hurt sound worse. You can feel the anger in it; you can feel the heartbreak in it. Someone could say that whilst crying or even just fucking scream it at someone out of anger.

So without anymore back and forth blah blah blah, here come some bitching songs with limited swearing to drive the point home.

Creep originally by Radiohead 

For anyone that doesn’t know me that well, the one thing that I love in music is a good cover song. I can’t get enough cover songs in my life, and I love when other artists cover other people‘s songs.

Creep is one of those songs that I love hearing different versions of and I have searched the world high and low to find them.  So many many artists have done Creep and they have put so many different spins on it. 

Now if you have read previous posts, you know that I am not a huge Radiohead fan, but I love this song so much that I want it sung by a choir at my funeral.

The beautiful part that I love is hearing people take the song and slow it down to its most simplistic beautiful form.  I mean seriously I heard a chick do it on the harp one time and it almost brought me to tears; especially because she left “fucking” in.    And I have heard other people do such a loud raucous version of it and leave the “fucking” out.   Either way it sounds good,  but this is a song that I believe is so good and I think to say that she is “so fucking special”  really drives home Thom’s point. 

I mean when you stop and think about it, Radiohead made a radio edit of the song with the word Fuck replaced with the word very.  I mean I think that’s cute and all but seriously? It doesn’t mean the same. 

If you have never heard the song I honestly like to think of it as a great love song.  I mean really if you put it in perspective, it’s a dude putting a girl on such a great pedestal.  If that shit doesn’t make you want to cut yourself then you must be a ginger!!!

A Boy Named Sue – Johnny Cash

I mean, really this song needs no introduction, but did you know that it was written by Shel Silverstein? Yes, the same guy that wrote Where the Sidewalk Ends and The Giving  Tree wrote the words to this incredible song. 

It is funny to me that the words Bitch and Damn were censored in 1969, and now you can have a summer hit song about the blurred line of love and date rape.  Thanks a Lot Bin Laden!

So, in this one it’s not that Johnny is saying any real horrible words, but at the time, no one in the world thought you could say bitch in public.  The thing to think about is that Sue’s dad referencing himself as a “son of a bitch” doesn’t work any other way. I mean can he really just say “I’m the guy that named you sue”? I mean, rhyme scheme aside It just sounds less intense,  These two guys have a bar fight with knives and guns and crash through the wall, and you mean to tell me that some fucking son of a bitch believes they wouldn’t have sworn at each other?

The thing that really sucks about it is that the edited version just puts a beep over the words “son of a bitch.”  I hate it when they do that; I mean you can edit it some other way can’t you? 

Ok, Here you go, enjoy the unedited version, it’s a little quiet so turn it up.

Working Class Hero – John Lennon

If all you know is the Green Day version please move along, I don’t like you and you can go fuck yourself.

Ok, if you are still with me, then you are a good person.  I hear there is also a Marilyn Manson version of this song, but I don’t despise him the way that I do Green Day, I mean I don’t really listen to his shit, but He is not Billy Joe Armstrong, so I don’t hate you if all you know is the Marilyn Manson version.

Obviously Lennon sets the standard for the best version of the song, but I think its beauty is in its subtlety.  He says the word fucking twice.  That’s it twice.  The song is a whole big Fuck You to the “Man”!! 

It’s literally just Lennon and an acoustic guitar which is one of the things that make it so fucking beautiful.  That structure of just a man and an acoustic can sometimes be more powerful and moving than a giant 300 piece Polyphonic Spree styled band.  So when he says the word fucking, it really is moving.  As a kid the song made me absolutely fucking hate school. As an adult it makes me hate a time clock, and when I get older, I am sure I will listen to this song and curse when I get my shitty Social Security check. 

I mean this was post Beatles, and I am sure it was written before the “official” break up, So I always felt like this song was a Fuck You to Paul McCartney and the whole Apple Corp situation. I mean it’s no How Do You Sleep, but the song makes points of its own. 

Interesting thing about this song is that I have even recorded a cover of it, and anyone that knows me, is that I hate doing covers of things that I love or by artists I look up to.  But the song is so moving and so fucking pointed that it begs to be sung and memorized by everyone in the world. 

Beautiful – James Blunt

Look, I will be completely honest with you; I didn’t really care for this song when it was popular, then I heard it one night in a bar and had one of my famous drunken epiphanies.  It is an incredible song.  I mean it wasn’t even about what I thought it was about.  I won’t even tell you what it is about, just because I want you to experience it on your own. 

You know what; I don’t even want to tell you about the swearing in it, except to say that it is one word, once.  And, if you have only heard the edited version, you might miss it.  Because realistically, on the night of my epiphany I had to go home and listen to the song multiple times to make sure that he really said that.  And sure as shit he did say it. Plus listening to the song multiple times really helped me catch the meaning of the song. Needless to say my mind was fucking blown.   

You Oughta Know – Alanis Morissette

 Let me start by saying, if you know me, then you know that I am not keen on lady singers, and that’s not some weird gender bias, it’s just about a connection, But I can connect to Alanis  and I can feel her angst and the beauty of it. And another thing, that cunt really can sing.  And this song is amazing.

She says  fuck once, and she is using it in the verb form, which really, shouldn’t even be considered a swear word. I mean we all do it. It’s what brings us into this world, and for some lucky bastards it is what takes us out too.

I just found out that this song is supposedly about Uncle Joey from Full House and I feel like Alanis raped my childhood, I mean seriously, if you loved full house as much as I did, you are probably less offended by me calling her the C-word now.  Cut – It –Out

It really is a good song though, and it is an experience that everyone is familiar with. I mean someone moving onto another person so quickly, as if you never existed and look at how fucking happy they are now. Yeah, really I am amazed that she wrote this song and only said fuck once, and as a verb for that matter.

Here is a shitty video, with all the lyrics so you can learn them and sing along.

Who Are You – The Who

This one isn’t that exciting, because it really only minimally changes the song.   But when you hear the choruses that Roger Daltry says “Who the Fuck are you” it really is exciting.  Especially because for years many radio stations didn’t edit the word out.  I mean he does say it quick and there is Keith Moon’s great drumming over the top of it.

That’s right; those youths listening to the radio were exposed to such a heinous fucking word. That’s just horrible, next thing you know its human sacrifices, dogs and cats living together – mass hysteria.

It’s funny to think that this is the theme song to a CBS TV show. I mean I know they only use a snippet but still it is a song that contains a “bad word”.  I wonder if the guy that picked the song knew that it was in there. And, if he did, did he hope that it would just slip by if they used that portion of the song?  

All silliness aside, it is a great song, and I think that having the word Fuck in there really is a good thing.  Like I said it minimally changes the song. But that little minimal amount is enough for me. 

Money for Nothing – Dire Straits

Ok, I close on this one because, too some it may be the least offensive, yet to others it may be the most offensive.  There are no swear words per se, but I felt like this song had to be brought up in this conversation due to the use of the word faggot a few times in the second verse.

I mean first off, is faggot that bad of a word?  It’s not like he said Fucking Faggot. Plus if you know where he got the song idea from, it came from Mark Knopfler being in like an electronics store and the guys working were really saying these things.  This is how blue collar people talk after all.

So that’s where it gets weird, radio programmers only played the edited down version with the second verse removed. I mean really? What the fuck is that. But ok fine.  What is funny now is that you can hear the song in its entirety on some of the most pc bull shit small town stations.  Apparently modern radio needs to be edited, but classic rock can say whatever the fuck they want.  Fucking hypocrites.

It is a great song, and personally, without the second verse I feel like the song makes no sense at all. I mean there is a total disconnect from what the song is about. At least for me there is.  The other thing is that the lyrics totally sound like a conversation between my father and my uncles, just talking trash.

Plus if all of that isn’t enough, Sting makes an appearance in the song as well.

So there it is folks, 7 songs with a total of about 12 questionable words in all of them combined.  Fuck, Lil Wayne puts more than 12 questionable words in one verse. So realistically these songs are incredibly tame as far as todays songs are concerned. But every swear word in these songs really proves a fucking point.

Another thing that I want to say is that the strength of these words and their offensiveness isn’t even up to you. You didn’t write the songs, you didn’t have the experience that they had so, you are no one to judge. After all they are just fucking words.