Offensive Songs In General and Drawing Lines

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Mr Awesomer · #16 Post by **Mr Awesomer** » Mon May 10, 2004 5:11 pm

Maybe not in Communist Canada, but this is America damn it.
haha

Doug · #17 Post by **Doug** » Mon May 10, 2004 5:15 pm

So I've played Rickie Lee Jones' "Tell Somebody" at late night. Too political?? I've also played some of Randy Newman late night. Too controversial??

I stay entirely away from Millinder's "patriotic" pieces, and I find "Poon Tang" and others of that ilk way too seventh grade for me to even bother with. If "Poon Tang", or any other sexually implicit song, has musical significance, well that is entirely different.

djstarr · #18 Post by **djstarr** » Mon May 10, 2004 5:31 pm

kitkat wrote:[moved to keep the other topic from being off-topic]
What do you think of a great Bechet song talking about how the Good Lord made X and Y and Z, "but I wonder who made rhythm?"

I'm pretty sure this is "Preachin' the Blues" - it continues on to suggest you punch your woman in the mouth if she back talks you.

Sidney made some great music, but I don't think I'd want to date him

And this is where I draw the line; if I feel uncomfortable with the song I won't play it; and I live in very sensitive PC Seattle so that gives me a pretty high bar.

Depending on the venue and how many underagers are there I draw the line with sexually suggestive songs ---- a lot of these are better served up at private parties. "Handyman" is one that I would perhaps play in public - while being very suggestive it's a song I hear on the radio a lot.

Nagasaki is a great song --- I think versions w/o lyrics are ok; most people won't associate the lyrics with the song.

kitkat · #19 Post by **kitkat** » Mon May 10, 2004 5:35 pm

Ummmm, no, I think it's "I Wonder Who Made Rhythm." I never noticed that part...I'll listen again...but I think he's just asking the trumpets if they made it, and they say no, and then the trombones, and they say no, and he says all sorts of things the Good Lord made, but he wonders who made rhythm, and that scientists can do all sorts of things, but he wonders who made rhythm.

I'll listen again, though.

djstarr · #20 Post by **djstarr** » Mon May 10, 2004 9:24 pm

different song..... check out Preachin' the Blues sometime and let me know what you think.

Matthew · #21 Post by **Matthew** » Tue May 11, 2004 1:43 am

To opine,

I think it's important to remember why we DJ. I think that most of us do it because we enjoy it and because we want others to dance and enjoy themselves. Playing music that would be likely to offend people seems contrary to that goal.

Also, I don't see a need to play those songs. There's so much fun music available - music that most swing dancers would feel comfortable hearing - that it seems silly to play things that would be likely to offend what appears to me to be a pretty open and relaxed group.

Many people dance in order to have a respite from a world that is often brutal. I want them to trust me and to know that even if they don't like the style or genre of every song that I play, the content of the songs will be palatable.

wheresmygravy · #22 Post by **wheresmygravy** » Tue May 11, 2004 6:55 am

The funniest, inappropriate, neo swing song I've heard was:

"Mom and Pop Sex Shop" by

gatorgal · #23 Post by **gatorgal** » Tue May 11, 2004 7:58 am

Jerry, I'm almost sure I don't want to know.

Tina

mark0tz · #24 Post by **mark0tz** » Tue May 11, 2004 9:25 am

"If You See Kay"

Ron · #25 Post by **Ron** » Wed May 12, 2004 11:31 am

Huh. I've never heard a song that I wouldn't play, but I haven't heard some of the ones you guys are talking about. But I probably wouldn't play something with ethnic putdowns or stereotypes.

I'm all about playing swing songs about sex, though. Julia Lee has the most suggestive stuff, I've found. And "Keep on Churning" is awesome. Would anyone really not play that?

Doug · #26 Post by **Doug** » Sat May 15, 2004 10:16 pm

Ron - How about Shave 'em Dry by Lucille Bogan?? Listen, for example to her cut off http://music.barnesandnoble.com/search/ ... 4997130124
Would you play that?? Ya, it is a blues piece, but so's a lot that gets DJed these days. And the sound is crap, but that's not uncommon either.

And if I searched, I could probably find a swing song with similar lyrics, so the question is still a valid one.

Greg Avakian · #27 Post by **Greg Avakian** » Sat Jun 05, 2004 8:03 pm

If it was earlier than 10:30, I was forbidden to play "Sweat" at a westie club a few years ago. No inuendu here:
"A blow job is better than no job, a girl's just got to work"

That didn't stop me from playing the song early because the managers, like most of the clientel, didn't pay much attention to the lyrics. The truly offensive part of the song should be when her boyfriend shoots her.

I don't play racially offensive material because I don't like it myself.

Sex is good, racism is bad.

jacques_g · #28 Post by **jacques_g** » Sun Jun 20, 2004 7:40 pm

I have a song by an obscure blues artist he sings something like:

I'm going fishing
'cause I've got a long long pole.

Now it could mean what it says but it could be taken as suggective.

I've also tried once a Buddy Song (I think it was called: "Shut Up Girl" or something like that.) It pretty much cleared the floor.

mousethief · #29 Post by **mousethief** » Mon Jun 21, 2004 6:45 am

Hey G.

Most blues based music is full of sexuality. It's a staple of the music. I play "Honey Hush" in Dallas every now and then without a problem.

Kalman

CafeSavoy · #30 Post by **CafeSavoy** » Mon Jun 21, 2004 8:17 am

Doug wrote:Ron - How about Shave 'em Dry by Lucille Bogan?? Listen, for example to her cut off http://music.barnesandnoble.com/search/ ... 4997130124
Would you play that?? Ya, it is a blues piece, but so's a lot that gets DJed these days. And the sound is crap, but that's not uncommon either.

And if I searched, I could probably find a swing song with similar lyrics, so the question is still a valid one.

i wouldn't play it because the sound quality is so bad. That's the sad thing about many of those old Mojo compilations, although the reefer one isn't that bad. And the blues issue is ambiguous because much of what was played then was also blues. Much of the early blues recording included the great swing blues like Fletcher Henderson, Louis Armstrong, etc. Unless you are referring to rural blues and the styles developed from it. You'll find swing bands like the chocolate dandies on raunchy blues compilations, e.g., http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/de ... 1?v=glance

I think the Lucille Brogan cuts from this cd might be better sound quality: