Question re: Katy Perry's "T.G.I.F." Song

[missflick]

I hear the song on several radio stations in Calgary, but one of them, Kool 101.5, seems to be playing a censored version. There is one line they keep editing out. Instead of "then had a menage a trois" the line "so we hit the boulevard" is repeated. Quite weird.

Here is the actual song:

There's a stranger in my bed,
There's a pounding my head
Glitter all over the room
Pink flamingos in the pool
I smell like a minibar
DJ's passed out in the yard
Barbie's on the barbeque
This a hickey or a bruise

( pre chorus )
Pictures of last night
Ended up online
I'm screwed
Oh well
It's a blacktop blur
But I'm pretty sure
it ruled
Damn

( Chorus )
Last Friday night
Yeah we danced on tabletops
And we took too many shots
Think we kissed but I forgot
Last Friday night
Yeah we maxed our credit cards
Then got kicked out of the bar
So we hit the boulevard
Last Friday night
We went streaking in the park
Skinny dipping in the dark
Then had a menage a trois *
Last Friday night
Yeah I think we broke the law
Always say we're gonna stop
But this Friday night
Do it all again
This Friday night
Do it all again

Trying to connect the dots
Don't know what to tell my boss
Think the city towed my car
Chandelier is on the floor
Ripped my favorite party dress
Warrants out for my arrest
Think I need a ginger ale
That was such an epic fail

( Pre chorus )

( Chorus )

T.G.I.F.
T.G.I.F.
T.G.I.F.
T.G.I.F.
T.G.I.F.
T.G.I.F.
T.G.I.F.

( Chorus )

*(the substituted line)

Has anyone else noticed this? Are any radio stations your way doing this?

[Stormy]

No station in my area has done this. They all use the menage a trois line. That's silly that it's being edited that way. Is that Kool station a more "family" station as opposed to a Top 40 station?

[Skittl1321]

That's not surprising. Lots of songs get censored in weird ways like that.
I listen to country music, but two I can think of are
"Toes in the water, ass in the sand" is "Toes in the water, toes in the sand". The same station plays both versions, but the ass version is never during the standard school commute times, just during the work day or late at night.

The SAME song has the line "I'm gonna lay in the hot sun and roll a big fat one" and the word fat gets bleeped from it. Apparently if we don't hear that it isn't drug related? I think that is the dumbest edit ever.

[myhoneyhoney]

I haven't heard that done here in the San Francisco Bay Area stations. BTW, I HATE that song! It's soooo... trying too hard partygirl/don't know who got me preggo/ ack I caught an STD! /blitzed out of my mind is all I care about doing song. blech
I must be getting old.

edited to add that Casey Anthony pops into my head whenever I hear this song.

[siouxdonym]

eh, I loathe this song. She's easily the worst of the current pop tarts.

[Carmen Ovsiannikov]

I'm still disappointed that all of the radio stations in my area wimped out and didn't play the original version of CeeLo Green's song "Forget You."

siouxdonym, IMO T.G.I.F. still isn't as bad as Firework. Now there's a crap song.

And while Katy is on my list of overrated pop singers, Britney Spears goes number one. That synthesized robot on helium voice is annoying and I can't believe how much credit she is given. Idol and icon my arse.

[VIETgrlTerifa]

I only like Katy Perry's songs when Lea Michele and other members of Glee sing them.

[Cheylana]

eh, I loathe this song. She's easily the worst of the current pop tarts.

Quoted for truth!

[missflick]

Well, this thread is about censorship, not who likes Katy Perry or not.

Another radio station here censors Foster the People's "Pumped up Kicks". The words "gun" and "bullet" magically disappear.

[BigB08822]

Well, this thread is about censorship, not who likes Katy Perry or not.

Another radio station here censors Foster the People's "Pumped up Kicks". The words "gun" and "bullet" magically disappear.

That is just pathetic. They might as well not play the song at all since those lyrics are essential to understanding what the song is even about. It reminds me how some stations censor the word "sex" during Bruno Mars "Lazy Song." Since when is "sex" a bad word? There are plenty of words that are bad that could have been used but he went with the right one for radio. Would they prefer he said "copulate?"

[shan]

Adele's Rolling in the Deep has the line that sounds like "lay your sh*t bare" (but all the lyrics I look up say "ship bare") and it comes censored as "lay fish bare". Makes me every time I hear it!!

[Jot the Dot Dot]

It's not censorship if a radio refuses to air a song, that is exercising editoriolship. It is only censorship if the government orders it against the radio-owner's wishes.

[AnnieBgood]

Cuss words should always be censored out. Kids don't need to hear it.
I don't think a lot of them will know what a menage trois is. May even think it's another word.

[missflick]

The funny thing is, censorship is not very consistent. The word "shit" is often edited in a lot of songs, but I have yet to hear it edited in George Michael's "Fast Love". I always hear it loudly and clearly.

[BigB08822]

What has always been funny to me is that certain cuss words are ok, specifically on television. If a word has an alternate meaning it is fair game. Bitch, damn, ass, etc. However, the other words are just crude for the sake of being crude I suppose and they can't be used or will be bleeped.

[FigureSpins]

The shows with cursing are usually on later in the evening. I think the cutoff used to be 9pm but the start time seems to have migrated to 8pm lately. So many people have become de-sensitized to foul language that it doesn't add anything to the script or, in this case, lyrics.

Crying "censorship!" is a moot point in this case. A song like "I'm a B--ch" would suffer from losing that word, but not the song in the OP losing "menage a trois." It's not that significant to the song. "Hit the boulevard" makes me think they're turning tricks, so the theme stays the same. That's the only line they cut? Amazing, given the rest of the lyrics. The one that got away really has little to no impact, lol.

It's really up to the artists/record companies: if they want their song played on "family friendly" stations, they have to clean them up. Radio Disney has "clean" versions of most popular songs with objectionable lyrics. They broadcast their versions and you can buy them through iTunes. (Look for "RD Version" in the description.)

The artists/record companies know what the standards are for the station and they provide the alternate vocals. This is much the way TV stations show edited movies and shows.

I prefer stations that have clean lyrics in their songs. My oldest was precocious and could memorize lyrics even as a three-year old, so we switched to AAHS World Radio and Radio Disney many years ago after she repeated "shake her *** on the hood of whitesnake's car" to my MIL. Since RD put AAHS out of business, that station has gone downhill - it's really Cali Girl Central, even the male celebs. The DJ talk down to the callers and act like idiots on the air, when they're not hyping the latest Disney show/movie/star/concert/etc. It's like a 24-hour commercial for Everything Disney. Thanks for the stations everyone listed - I'll have to listen online.

[Skittl1321]

It's not censorship if a radio refuses to air a song, that is exercising editoriolship. It is only censorship if the government orders it against the radio-owner's wishes.

Censorship does not have to be done by the government. For example, a parent can censor what their child reads.

I couldn't find a dictionary that limited censorship to the government. The radio stations are censoring the songs, based on their own editorial guidelines.

[Cupid]

I liked the song until I actually listened to the lyrics and not just the TGIF part of it.

[Seerek]

I have no idea how Kidz Bop is going to do their version of this song for the next compilation.

[FunnyBut]

[QUOTE=shan;3301695]Adele's Rolling in the Deep has the line that sounds like "lay your sh*t bare" (but all the lyrics I look up say "ship bare") [QUOTE]

I like your lyrics much better. They are more powerful, and seem appropriate for a song called 'rolling in the deep'.