Bobby Rush "Down In Louisiana"

While we at MVY don't actively try to get ourselves an FCC violation, we don't freak out about the possibility of getting in trouble either.

I can't say this is true for many of our peers in radio however.

The fear of an FCC fine, for whatever reason, looms large, and that fear has created a kind of tense culture between stations and the record promoters who service them.

It seems perfectly reasonable to receive a new album that comes with a sticker on the cover that tells you, for instance, "Tracks 2 and 7 are not FCC friendly."

Okay, so maybe the songs say "Fuck" or "Shit" or something that you don't want to unwittingly put on your airwaves.  Perfectly reasonable to point that out.

But often, the CD comes with a one-sheet, that tells you the same information.  And you get an email, or two, with a reminder.

Seems like a bit of overkill. 

True, WMVY has never been fined for airing a swear word.  Maybe some of these other stations have been fined, and they are skittish.

Because WOE BE UNTO THE PROMOTER who sends out a CD only to discover, after the fact, that a song, or songs, on the record have swear words.

Expect that poor promoter to issue multiple Mea Culpas and emails, and a reminder via a phone call, that the album is un-stickered and you shouldn't play on the People's Airwaves lest the bureaucratic wrath of the Federal Communications Commission rain hellfire down upon you.

It's all a little much.  And while I might want to tease the promoters about it, surely they are just reacting to the over-reacting of some radio folks.

Which is what makes this so funny . . .

Upon returning from vacation, I found one of those standard apology/correction emails from Lindsay Reid of Thirty Tigers.  He was warning folks about the opening track on the new Bobby Rush record.  "My apologies on this, as I was told it was FCC clean."

No doubt, the record had gone out un-stickered, some radio person played it and let Lindsay know that there WAS a swear word on it.  So it would have seemed . . . 

Hilariously, less than 24 hour later came the correction to the correction.

The song IS FCC clean.  But check out the lyrics below.

Dirty?  Nah.  Incomprehensible?  Hell yeah!

Listen in at that 1:10 mark, and you'll hear why folks thought Rush was swearing . . .


Hear the song on Youtube.

Way Down In Louisiana

Down In Cajun Land

Folks got somethin’ goin down there

That you might not understand

Diggy on the Scooby di lord

Diggy on the Scooby doo

Doin’ anything girl that you wanna doo

You ol Pooky Poo You

Oh’ what I’d like to do to you

Get Hip to the consultation to the Boolawee

Way Down In Louisiana

Down In New Orleans

Folks got somethin’ goin down there

Queue fauex cootsie tootsie

Diggy on the Scooby di lord

Diggy on the Scooby doo

Little Girl what I, what I’d like to do to you

You ol Pooky Poo You

Oh’ what I’d like to do to you

Get Hip to the consultation to the Boolawee

Golly golly Miss Molly

Everything is Copasetic now

Girl look at you, You ol Pooky Poo You

What I’d like to do to you You ol Pooky Poo You

Oh’ what I’d like to do to you

Get Hip to the consultation to the Boolawee
Get Hip to the consultation to the Boolawee

Lou Reed "Dirty Blvd."

Here's another old song, that I've been thinking about bringing back to the library.

But let me ask you, if you were driving your kids to school and you had mvyradio on, would you be upset if you heard Lou Reed mention urination, not once but twice?

Flat-out FCC-hackle-raising words (F**k, S**t, etc) are obvious no-nos.

But what about a line like this:

Give me your hungry, your tired your poor I'll piss on 'em
that's what the Statue of Bigotry says

"Dirty Blvd." is such a well-crafted portrait on New York City, it's a shame to let a great work from Reed languish in the Hold category.

Here in modern times, the record company would have the artist record an alternate, "clean" version ("Forget You," anyone?). But I don't have access to a clean version of this one.

Maybe Laurel, our production director can make an edit?

Either way, is this line a little too much for the unsuspecting broadcast audience?


Hear the song on Youtube.


Hear a live version on Youtube.