Anything Goes

...

In olden days a glimpse of stocking
Was looked on as something shocking
Now heaven knows, anything
Goes


We were talking about bad words, weren't we?

Here's a funny clip from 1967. The Rolling Stones came on the Ed Sullivan show to play their hit, "Let's Spend the Night Together". Sullivan found the chorus 'objectionable', and told the Stones to sing "Let's Spend Some Time Together" instead.



Yes, they sang the expurgated version, with grimaces and rolling eyes.

That was 41 years ago. Since then we've completed, or at least trolled along the pathway of, the Sexual Revolution. Nowadays, songs aren't censored. They just have parental advisory stickers.
The Olympic Closing ceremony on Sunday will feature a duet by Jimmy Page and Leona Lewis. They will be playing "Whole Lotta Love", chosen because its riff is instantly recognizable all over the world - and particularly in Britain, where it was the siren call of Top of the Pops for seven years.

Today the Daily Torygraph reports that Whole Lotta Love (b. 1969) is 'too racy' for the Olympics.

But, according to London 2012 officials, Lewis - who grew up in east London close to the Olympic site - requested a change to the song's second verse because she was worried they would not make sense for a female singer.

In the original, recorded in 1969, frontman Robert Plant sings, "I'm gonna give you every inch of my love".

But in the version that will be sung tomorrow, however, Lewis changes the words to "every bit" of my love.

The band also agreed to a request from organisers to drop the third verse, which includes similar sexual innuendoes, to fit in to the eight-minute performance.
The title of that Telegraph piece is Led Zeppelin classic 'too racy' for Olympics: It has been delighting fans for almost 40 years but Led Zeppelin's rock classic "Whole Lotta Love" has been deemed too racy by Olympics organisers.

I read the article all the way through. Nowhere is there a quote that says the song is 'too racy'. No other news source says 'too racy'.

The request to change the lyric came from Leona Lewis, 23, who seemed to think the lyric was anatomically impossible, when sung by a woman, not too racy. The organizers apparently only wanted to cut the length. (Ouch!) It seems that the single quote marks around 'too racy' in the headline means "We're a tabloid! We make this stuff up!" rather than y'know, signifying an actual quote.

But the dependably offendable Daily Telegraph says it's too racy. Score another one for rock'n'roll. The song is 39 years old and still scares the DT. (Pats DT reassuringly on head.)

One thing I love about rock 'n' roll is it still freaks the wrinklies out.