Hit Song Gets Censored For Lyric About Not Believing in God

Everybody knows all the best bands are associated with Satan. Or at least the best ones make you think. I must say the subversive message of rock and roll was influential on me growing up. Similar messages from Muse, John Lennon, and Rush manage to make it on the air all the time.

But make no mistake, this song was censored because songs really matter.

Actually, I’ve heard versions of “Imagine” on the air where an entire verse is edited out. Because we don’t want to imagine a world with no religion! Scandal! *eyeroll*

They did something similar with the Stones, back in the day. I think it was Letterman, but I could be wrong – their song Let’s Spend The Night Together was to be rewritten as Let’s Spend Some Time Together, because the idea of casual sex was too much for the American public to handle.

The Stones agreed to it, and then went and played the original lyrics, live on air. Got them banned from the States for years. Now, every gig they play in the US is sold out – hell, every gig they play *everywhere*.

Just serves to illustrate whose example we’re following here…and another reason I think the Stones should be adopted as the atheist rights movement’s unofficial group.

(Actually, the phrase ‘atheist rights’ is a worrying one to read over…while I’m in the UK and thus not subject to a lot of the crap that goes on against atheists in the US, it does strike me that gay people and atheists are two of the only remaining groups whose rights actually need to be campaigned for.)

EDIT: Bloody good point, Vivian. I like it.

I haven’t heard the edited version of this song, but that’s my favorite line of the song.

I have noticed that the Usher/will.i.am song “OMG” was changed from “Oh My God” to “Oh My Gosh.” What?

Maybe that’s why they don’t play Slayer on the radio. 😀

Actually, I’ve heard versions of “Imagine” on the air where an entire verse is edited out. Because we don’t want to imagine a world with no religion! Scandal! *eyeroll*

I haven’t independently confirmed this, but in The God Delusion, Dawkins mentions that some stations in the US edited the line to “and ONE religion too” which just about makes your head explode.

I love this song and love that line and hate those radio stations. I am emanating anger at such nonsense.

John Lennon’s Imagine is on the Glee soundtrack Glee: The Music, Vol. 2 and appeared in the TV show with the entire first stanza missing (Imagine there’s no heaven / It’s easy if you try / No hell below us / Above us only sky / Imagine all the people / Living for today). I was very annoyed when I noticed his artistic expression had been tampered with. Apparently still too controversial for mainstream America.

This alleged switcheroo needs confirmation before making any kind of a stink about it.

If the line was replaced, I think the band would have to know about it. I don’t think stations have the right to replace parts of a song, I think most of them that might do this wouldn’t have the ability to make the switch and do a good job. But a simple hatchet is a lot easier, or wouldn’t be as prone to outright blunder.

It played with the lines about not believing in god here in Aus.
I remember because it was awesome to hear this and a couple of others around the same time it was released back in ’08 right when I stopped believing in god because i was really helpful among the 100’s that “thanked god”

Sounds like its just some radio stations in the US taking offence.

I can’t imagine how they’d have to modify something like A Perfect Circle – Judith to sanitize it for the hypersensitive. I guess the solution would be to not play it at all.

And Christians are the oppressed ones, huh?

It’s these little, subliminal things that are truly the most destructive. This makes me sick, and that radio station is nothing but a worthless bunch of gutless imbeciles, and if the band ok’d the censorship, they clearly don’t have the integrity to make them anything worth listening to.

This girl is really mad about it:

While the correcting stick is being passed around:

She’s 29. She’s a woman, not a girl. I try to avoid prescriptivism, but this is actually somewhat disrespectful. Probably better just to say “person.”

ckitching;

Yeah, I was gonna mention that song too. Of course that song came out 11 years ago. While there are a lot more open atheists than back then, I think the country is also a lot more polarized than it was then and xtians more vocal about being offended (particularly about things of which they have no reason to be offended.)

Really, I don’t get this. Why is simply voicing one’s lack of religious belief so offensive to some people? Is your faith so unstable that it can be shaken simply by a stranger stating “I don’t believe in god?”

This band is from Ireland. Perhaps they recorded an alternate version of the song so it would be, you know, legal for Irish radio stations to play it. Just guessing, but I’m not prepared to start villianizing a US radio station or media company without knowing the whole story.

I love this song! (the original…)

Ugh, I despise that song. Sure, the English language, just delibrately butcher it up any way you feel like. That line is the only interesting bit of the whole song! If anything the grammatical train wreck should have been replaced!

I like the fact that in times of crisis, I read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and pray to Willy Wonka to hasten the return of his great glass elevator.

But it’s a cry of desperation and hopelessness that I try to put faith in something I know is ludicrous.

Censoring/editing songs for the radio always seems ridiculous to me, because you may hear a song you like and then the version you buy is entirely different!

And all that bleeping or blanking out of supposed profanity ruins songs anyway, let alone swapping out entire lines.

America cracks me up. The Christians are getting equal censorship in this example, though: http://theconservativenation.com/2009/04/19/a-song-some-radio-stations-are-banning/ …which is rather odd because come Christmas season, we’ll be inundated with millions of stations blasting “Oh, Holy Night.” :l

Given some of the stuff that does play on the radio, this is what they censor? sheesh.

Only this version of the song is played in Denmark, never heard the other version

Why is it always OK for mainstream songs to INCLUDE reference to a god, but not OK for there to be reference to NO god? When I lived in military housing, someone put out a sign at Christmas that said “Jesus is the reason for the season” and I complained to the management as we lived on GOVERNMENT PROPERTY. As an atheist, If found the rather giant banner to be offensive. Not only was nothing done, after that I truly felt targeted by management. So the jist is that I have no right to be offended by the neverending onslaught ove god this or god that but the religous right does get to be offended by itty bitty references of non-belief.

This is old news to me. I’m friends with a local radio DJ here in Gadsden, AL and we had a similar problem with this song. Someone called in to complain about the same line and the radio station censored the word “god” just to hush them up. However, shortly there after, they received complaints that the song was being censored. So, one weekday morning they had a vote. For 45 seconds callers were allowed to call in and just say “yes” or “no” as to whether it should be censored or not. In the end, the original version won out. What made me laugh the most is that the people here were choosing to censor a song that went without censorship in Ireland…

@rupi – Let’s say The Stones went along with it. Sullivan insisted. If you watch the clip, Jagger is CLEARLY not happy about the change. Check out the eyeroll at 0:49.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywiD62EHHiA

I don’t agree with the censorship, needless to say, but am I the only one who doesn’t like the original version of the line?

Just prayed to a god that I don’t believe in

Seems like they’re saying “No atheists in foxholes.” The singer doesn’t believe in a god, but he’s so desperate that he chooses to pray to one because of his broken heart. I’m assuming he’s praying to get his girlfriend back. This just strikes me as wishy-wishy and lame. It lends credence to the false assertion that all atheists will pray once they find themselves in dire straits, which is exactly the wrong message.

It also doesn’t make much logical sense. I’ve never prayed, so maybe I’m missing something important, but how can one pray if one doesn’t believe? You could mouth the words, I suppose, but it’s not prayer unless you honestly believe you’re talking to a deity.

I first heard that song and the line stuck out right away. You see, I do believe in God and thought to myself “how interesting… this guy doesn’t believe in God but he has no where else to go so he’s willing to give God a try.”

I wasn’t offended, most of us that believe in God at some point prayed to Him before we believed. I breaks my heart that this can’t be played as it was intended and the honest lyrics (real feelings of the author) can’t be heard.

This is great for The Script. Censor away, I say. Nothing like a bit of prudishness from misguided would-be-protectors-of-common-morality to send the sales of of the song stratospheric and to boost the listenership of the band.

And while they are at it, they might take another listen to the song “If You See Kay” on the same album.. 🙂

Iggy,

AFN is not allowed by law to edit an artists music or alter/sensor content. It’s a huge no-no. All top 40 songs are played as is during an age apropriate time frame. Even the local DJs can’t block a top 40 song form being played on AFN.

Source: My wife worked for Armed Forces Radio and Television Network.

I guess the Christians didn’t think that maybe, just maybe, he was praying to Allah?

All kidding aside, the band performed on The Today Show and did not censor themselves. There was a 7-second delay, though, so local affiliates could mute the feed whilst they flagellated themselves.

I made that last part up.

No, Anna, you’re not. I didn’t like it either. I have prayed. And I really don’t get it either. Sounds the same way to me. Rather makes me think it’s doing the opposite of endorsing Atheism. When I first read the line, I thought it was a dig at nonbelief. You’ll pray when you’re a desperate enough.

Let’s be fair. I can think of at least one example where it’s been the other way around.

So clap your hands and stomp your feet
and shake those tambourines
Lift your voices to the sky
tell me what you see.

From Mac Davis’:

So clap your hands and stomp your feet
And shake your tambourine
Lift your voices to the sky
God loves you when you sing

Okay, I know it’s a remake rather than the radio doing it but still…

And, please, lots of anti-God songs are played all the time. I’m surprised about the claims of “Imagine” because for all the thousands of times I’ve heard it played by now, I’ve never once heard it bastardized. I always find it amusing that Christians love that song too but then again it doesn’t say there is no god, just says imagine… (Thank you, “WKRP in Cincinatti” for that interpretation.)

Maybe it’s the part of the country I’m from but Godsmack, Offspring, Cake (for beginners, I’m not going to sit here and try to list all the irreligious hits I can come up with) all get their irreligious songs played with no warping thereof.

I have heard the song many times unedited, until Yesterday, when the line from teh second verse was dubbed over the prayer line. So, at least one WV radio station is editing it.

He could be a Christian who just prayed to the Flying Spaghetti Monster or Buddha or Mohammed.

Ehem. Muslims don’t pray to Mohammed. They pray to God (which is not Mohammed). Just correcting ^_^

If y’all watched the video both lines are in the song he actual says no wise going to stop the bleeding line in his song so I dont see where they are censoring at? Cuz in the second verse he actual says exactly that so lost

Let me know what church your going to..because its obviously not helping your life whats so ever.