What was the 1st song on radio that had the F-word in original recording?

[wxman76]

In 2011, we had 3 major radio airplay/iTunes hits (Cee-Lo, Pink, Enrique Iglesias) feature the F-word in the TITLE of the original recording.  Of course, these were edited for radio by either deleting it or replacing it with another word. 

This had me thinking...what was the first time radio played a song that had the F-word anywhere in the original lyrics?   There are several modern rock and rap songs that I can recall from the early to mid 90s (some which had some success crossing over to CHR).  2 Live Crew "Me So Horny" (1989-90) is the earliest that I can think of off the top of my head.  

Which songs go back even further than this?   I am not old enough to remember the 70s, is it true that there was a Janis Joplin song that had airplay at AOR and had the F-word in the original recording?

 

[Tom Wells]

Rapture by Blondie had "finger-....f ing" in the lyrics 197?.

In "Louie Louie" by the Kingsmen, there actually IS a loud, shouted " " when the drummer lost a stick and
it came out as a regular but unplanned expletive. But it wasn't in the lyrics.

 

[michael hagerty]

MC5's "Kick Out The Jams" (1968) begins with a shouted "Kick out the jams, motherf***ers!"

After that, I'd say Steely Dan's "Show Biz Kids" (1973) "show business kids making movies of themselves, you know they don't give a f*** about anybody else". Edited single made it to #61 in Billboard.

And then, it'd be The Who's "Who Are You" (1978), the album version of which has "who the f*** are you?" in there. The edited single made it to #14, but like "Show Biz Kids", some adventurous album rock stations went ahead and played the unedited LP cut.

 

[michael hagerty]

Rapture by Blondie had "finger-....f ing" in the lyrics 197?.

Not to my ear or on any lyric sheet I can find. Rapture was 1981.

 

[michael hagerty]

There are some who say the first use in recorded music was in Eddy Duchin's 1938 recording of Ol Man Mose. Others say the word being said is "bucket".

But there's no denying what Lucille Bogan says in her 1935 recording of "Shave 'Em Dry". The unedited version can be found on YouTube. Wow. And 1935.

Duchin actually got some airplay...Lucille didn't.

Back to the rock era, Country Joe & The Fish's "Fish Cheer" from the Woodstock soundtrack and Jefferson Airplane's "We Belong Together" from the "Volunteers" album ("F***" from Country Joe and "Motherf***er" from Jefferson Airplane)...both 1969. And, as I noted in an above post, some adventurous album rock stations did play the cuts, risking FCC sanctions.

 

[LKellerIII]

To follow up on Michael's post, I can remember hearing We Can Be Together by the Jefferson Airplane (with the line "up against the wall, motherf***ers") in 1969 - unedited - on LA's progressive rock stations KPPC and KMET. But those stations regularly thumbed their noses at the FCC in regard to profanity. It wasn't unusual for a DJ to say the F word on air occasionally.

I don't recall hearing the Airplane song on KABC-FM (later KLOS), which was progressive rock, but (I think) then running the nationwide "Love" format in those days

 

[OldNumber7]

Rapture by Blondie had "finger-....f ing" in the lyrics 197?.

In "Louie Louie" by the Kingsmen, there actually IS a loud, shouted " " when the drummer lost a stick and
it came out as a regular but unplanned expletive. But it wasn't in the lyrics.

Rapture came out in '81. And, despite what millions of listeners thought they heard, the band insisted the lyric was "finger popping."

 

[OldNumber7]

Two examples of widely played f-word songs:
Who Are You - The Who, around 1978. Some album rock stations played an edited version but many did not.
Not Now John - Pink Floyd, 1983. A few album rockers played the unedited version. The edit substituted "STUFF all that" for the main lyric and sounded so comical it didn't turn into a big hit.

 

[radiorob2.0]

Two examples of widely played f-word songs:
Who Are You - The Who, around 1978. Some album rock stations played an edited version but many did not.
Not Now John - Pink Floyd, 1983. A few album rockers played the unedited version. The edit substituted "STUFF all that" for the main lyric and sounded so comical it didn't turn into a big hit.

If I remember correctly WQMF Louisville played Not Now John unedited in morning drive.

 

[rtc]

They have argued about Old Man Mose since 1938.

It got banned in Britain.

At any rate,listen for yourself...at 2:00-2:04:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbDKNHMDrEU

Note that a band member thought so;around 2:04,he laughs out loud.

 

[Bob1370]

1972--Harry Nilsson's "You're Breakin' My Heart". First line, first verse on the album version was "You're breakin' my heart/Tearin' it apart/So F*** YOU!"

 

[michael hagerty]

1972--Harry Nilsson's "You're Breakin' My Heart". First line, first verse on the album version was "You're breakin' my heart/Tearin' it apart/So F*** YOU!"

But...as with the 1935 "Shave" record I mentioned above, nobody played it on the air (at least not on purpose, more than once).

 

[Ultimajock]

To follow up on Michael's post, I can remember hearing We Can Be Together by the Jefferson Airplane (with the line "up against the wall, motherf***ers") in 1969 - unedited - on LA's progressive rock stations KPPC and KMET. But those stations regularly thumbed their noses at the FCC in regard to profanity. It wasn't unusual for a DJ to say the F word on air occasionally.

I don't recall hearing the Airplane song on KABC-FM (later KLOS), which was progressive rock, but (I think) then running the nationwide "Love" format in those days

...Jefferson Airplane performed that song on ABC-TV's Dick Cavett Show the night after the close of the Woodstock Festival in 1969, complete with the "offending" lyric (which ABC failed to censor in at least the East Coast feed of the program)...

 

[Schroedingers Cat]

Rapture by Blondie had "finger-....f ing" in the lyrics 197?.

Not to my ear or on any lyric sheet I can find. Rapture was 1981.

I wouldn't be surprised if the obscenity was double tracked with "popping" and "shopping" and "shucking". Sometimes it sounded like it was obscene clear as day, other times not. Perhaps there was an edited version. For some childish reason, people regard sneaking in obscenity like that as some kind of progress. I don't think the First Amendment was ever intended to protect obscene speech, but was definitely intended to protect political speech. I don't think the founders ever thought we would live to see the day when the First Amendment would be used to promote obscene speech.

 

[michael hagerty]

Rapture by Blondie had "finger-....f ing" in the lyrics 197?.

Not to my ear or on any lyric sheet I can find. Rapture was 1981.

I wouldn't be surprised if the obscenity was double tracked with "popping" and "shopping" and "shucking".

Nope. It was "popping". And it would have made no sense, otherwise:


Face to face
Sadly solitude
And it's finger popping
Twenty-four hour shopping in Rapture


Gotta rhyme it with "shopping".

I've heard the album, 45 and dance mixes...they were all clean.

 

[firepoint525]

Supposedly, the count-off at the beginning of "I Saw Her Standing There" by the Beatles said, "...One, Two, Three, F**K!!" but I have never been able to conclusively verify that. Nowadays, that song would be more controversial because they admit that the girl in the song was "just 17"!

 

[Tom Wells]

Supposedly, the count-off at the beginning of "I Saw Her Standing There" by the Beatles said, "...One, Two, Three, F**K!!" but I have never been able to conclusively verify that. Nowadays, that song would be more controversial because they admit that the girl in the song was "just 17"!

It's "One, Two, Three, Faaa!" ....So I suppose they could have been saying that and kinda swallowing the "ck" part.

 

[firepoint525]

And then, it'd be The Who's "Who Are You" (1978), the album version of which has "who the f*** are you?" in there. The edited single made it to #14, but like "Show Biz Kids", some adventurous album rock stations went ahead and played the unedited LP cut.

Wasn't there a single mix that said "who the hell are you?" maybe as a substitute for the above line? I seem to recall hearing it back when it was a hit, but I haven't heard that version anytime lately.

Supposedly, the count-off at the beginning of "I Saw Her Standing There" by the Beatles said, "...One, Two, Three, F**K!!" but I have never been able to conclusively verify that. Nowadays, that song would be more controversial because they admit that the girl in the song was "just 17"!

It's "One, Two, Three, Faaa!" ....So I suppose they could have been saying that and kinda swallowing the "ck" part.

Actually, I thought that they were saying, "one, two, three, BAH!" 8)

 

[Kelly Watts]

If
I had to make a guess it might be Mitch Riders "Sock It To Me Baby" I seem to remember a hurried re-release of the 45.

 

[ChrisInMI]

Not the first one (apparently) but anyone remember Romeo Void's "Never Say Never", from 1982? The F-word comes in verse two.

Kind of interesting how that song, which never made the Hot 100 (but probably got played a ton on college stations), gets more airplay to this day than that band's one legitimate "hit" ("A Girl In Trouble (Is A Temporary Thing)" from 1984). I have never heard that song played on radio with the F-bomb intact though.