the cougars?

[d jones]

Hi does anybody know why the BBC banned the Cougars single Saturday nite at the duck pond
Many thanks for any thoughts on this one.

Dave

[George Geddes]

Because it was based on a piece of classical music...

George

[d jones]

Hi George many thanks for you reply.I did wonder if that was the reason,just like the BBC come up with such a lame duck excuse!!!(sorry for the pun)

Dave

[Didier]

Because it was based on a piece of classical music...

George

It's based on Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake, composed in 1875/76. I guess it's in the public domain now...

Didier

[chas]

The BBC and other broadcasters banned records from time to time in the old days for various reasons - I became friends with a member of a band called The Roulettes in the mid 60's, and shortly afterwards they released a single called 'The Long Cigarette' which the BBC wouldn't air (cigarettes), and I also re-call 'Tell Laura I Love Her' having similar problems (not sure if it was The BBC or not) for other reasons (too sad/depressing?) - I'm sure there must be a whole list of banned records (pre 70's) for one reason or another. These days it seems incredible!
I think with The Cougars it was probably regarded as disrespectful or something...
Chas.

[Arpeggio]

Yes - it was amazing what the BBC (especially during the 1950s and into the early 1960s) would ban records for. I only discovered recently that composer Sir Arthur Bliss (who was also Master of the Queen's Musicke) was head of one particular BBC panel who regularly vetted records to be aired (or not!) on the BBC. There was also a Religious / moral panel as well.

Cougars - "Saturday Nite At The Duckpond" - a 'bastardisation of the wonderful music of Tchaikovsky'
Nero & The Gladiators - "Hall Of The Mountain King" - 'insulting and irreverent to the memory of Edvard Grieg'
Moontrekkers - "Night Of The Vampire" - 'Unsuitable for persons of a nervous disposition'
Link Wray - "Rumble" - 'wild, aggressive and likely to incite juvenile violence'
Ricky Valance - "Tell Laura..." - 'too vulgar for the British sensibility'

Oh I could go on. One of Cliff's early records was banned because it mentioned the word 'Cadillac'. Don Charles' "Walk With Me My Angel" was banned on grounds of sacrilege. John Leyton avoided a ban on "Johnny Remember Me" - by re - recording the line - "the girl I loved who died a year ago" as "the girl I loved and lost a year ago". Writer Spencer Leigh wrote a fascinating article on the subject and there is a series of CDs "Listen To The Banned" containing many examples of perfectly innocuous recordings which fell foul of the BBC censors. How times have changed!!

Rob

[RayL]

On the other hand, 'Ill Wind' by Michael Flanders and Donald Swann, which added words to Mozart's Horn Concerto ("I once had a whim and I had to obey it, To buy a French horn in a second-hand shop . . . . ." was allowed. Heavy-handed interpretations of classical and religious music by military bands were also normal broadcast fare.

So the suspicion remains that cultural or religious objections were simply an excuse for the censors to ban something that they personally didn't like.

Ray

[George Geddes]

During the Second World War, the BBC banned 'Deep in the heart of Texas' on the grounds that workers might bang tools in time with the "dum dum dum dum" before the title, thereby potential causing damage and slowing the war effort. I believe that the ban was never lifted and was still in place when Duane Eddy released that number as a single in the 60s, though I'm sure the record was played...

When I worked in Hospital Radio in the 70s, we had a Donovan LP which had one track deliberately damaged so that in could not be played. It was felt that 'The Intergalactic Laxative' - apart from containing naughty words - was hardly appropriate for our audience.

George

[d jones]

Many thanks to everybody for all responses and insights on the banned subject.As Rob says how times have changed!! just look and listen to all the utter tripe the BBC now allow on both TV and radio!!!

Dave

[Arpeggio]

Strange isn't it? "Saturday Nite At The Duckpond" (refs Didier - merci mon ami) was banned - but "Nutrocker" wasn't. Hence the music from "Swan Lake" was deemed too worthy to be 'besmirched' - but the "Nut Cracker Suite" was obviously thought to be a little 'lightweight' and therefore it was, presumably, OK to rock it up. In general, 'rocked up' performances of 'light classics' were allowed. Yes - the Flee - Rekkers fell foul of the censors with their frenzied "Green Jeans" as it was 'an insult to the memory of Ralph Vaughan - Williams and his beloved Fantasia on Greensleeves'.

Rob