Banned By The BBC
For many years it was almost thought of as a badge of honour to have a record banned by the BBC.
But it really wasn't very hard as I will prove in this article. Anything overtly racist, sexist, political or religious could fall foul of the BBC music censor but there were many lesser reasons such as using classical music.
The whole thing becomes farcical when you know that the BBC actually banned the Forces Sweetheart Vera Lynn because her songs were thought to be "too slushy." This was at a time when she was hugely popular in the country during the Second World War and it turned out to be a spectacular own goal for the Beeb.
In its infinite wisdom the BBC felt that her songs weren't helping the war effort. They set up a Dance Music Policy Committee to police what they referred to as Vera Lynn and "her sort of music." This was even raised in Parliament.
The BBC stated that performances by women singers would be controlled and an "insincere and over-sentimental style" would not be allowed. "No numbers will be accepted for broadcasting which are slushy in sentiment", the BBC said. The full policy statement read:
"We have recently adopted a policy of excluding sickly sentimentality which, particularly when sung by certain vocalists, can become nauseating and not at all in keeping with what we feel to be the need of the public in this country in the fourth year of war."
As a result Vera's radio show Sincerely Yours was taken off the BBC airwaves and replaced by jolly and upbeat music programmes which emphasised a collective spirit such as Music While You Work and Workers' Playtime.
The policy failed miserably due to Vera Lynn's popularity and the BBC reversed their policy when, after the film We'll Meet Again proved to be a huge success, they realised that she was actually a morale booster rather than being a mood dampener.
Over the years there have been some stonking reasons for records to be banned by the BBC so if you were expecting a litany of sex, drugs and rock n roll with records being banned for their bad ass attitudes and incitement you would be very wrong. So let's look at some of the records and artists that were banned by the BBC.
The list of artists reads like a who’s who of music and includes some of the men and women thought to be squeaky clean. They include the likes of Cliff Richard, Frank Sinatra, Noël Coward, the Beatles, Ken Dodd, Elvis Presley, Bing Crosby, the BBC Dance Orchestra, Tom Lehrer, Glenn Miller, and George Formby. In addition banned songs include the likes of ABBA's "Waterloo", Queen's "Killer Queen" and the Boomtown Rats' "I Don't Like Mondays."
The criteria for banning records seemed to be anything that the BBC considers to be "unsuitable" which obviously covers a multitude of sins and is often down to individual taste. When it comes to being judges of what is best for the public, the BBC has always adopted an arrogant position, feeling it has the right to decide what is and what isn't likely to corrupt the listening public. This is how the organisation got the nickname Auntie BBC, Auntie Beeb or just Auntie and how a number of records were banned through gross stupidity of those who sat in judgement on the country's morals.
One of the reasons, as I have already said. For banning a record was due to the fact that it was based on a classical piece of music. That’s how “I’m Always Chasing Rainbows from the 1918 Broadway show Oh Look came to be banned because it borrowed its melody from Chopin. Other songs with classical basis that got banned for “distortion of melody, harmony and rhythm” included “Saturday Nite at the Duck Pond” by The Cougars which used Tchaikowsky’s Swan Lake and “Baubles, Bangles and Beads” from the 1953 musical Kismet because it was based on music by Borodin.
Other songs have been banned due to the use of foul language, explicit sexual content, alleged drug references, controversial political subject matter or on grounds that the record advertised something.
Often the records were pretty dreadful anyway but gained a kind of notoriety through being banned. Such a one was “Give Ireland Back to the Irish” by Paul McCartney and Wings. A friend of mine once said it should be banned for being a terrible song rather than for its rather naïve political message:
Give Ireland back to the Irish
Don't make them have to take it away
Give Ireland back to the Irish
Make Ireland Irish today
Great Britain, you are tremendous
And nobody knows like me
But really, what are you doin'
In the land across the sea?
Should give in or go mad?
Give Ireland back to the Irish
Don't make them have to take it away
Give Ireland back to the Irish
Make Ireland Irish today
Give Ireland back to the Irish
Don't make them have to take it away
Give Ireland back to the Irish
Make Ireland Irish today (yeah, yeah)
The Kinks Song “Lola” got banned not because it was about a transvestite but because of advertising Coca Cola which the band eventually changed to Cherry Cola.
A few decades before Lola a record by Don Cornell entitles Hold My Hand was banned due to its religious message.
So this is the kingdom of heaven
So this is the sweet promised land
While angels tell of love
Don't break the spell of love
Hold my hand
So this is the garden of Eden
In dreams it was never so grand
Let's never leave again
Adam and Eve again
Hold my hand
The work of British folk singer Ewan MacColl was banned by the BBC not for his music but owing to his sympathies with communism. Satire was another possible reason for banning: in 1953, ten of the twelve tracks on humorist Tom Lehrer's album Songs by Tom Lehrer were banned. In February 1956, the British music magazine NME reported that the theme for the film The Man with the Golden Arm, recorded by Eddie Calvert, was also banned. Despite the song being an instrumental, a BBC spokesman reported: "The ban is due to its connection with a film about drugs." – Billy May's version, retitled "Main Theme", was approved.
Many songs over the years have been banned for overtly sexual lyrics. These have included Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s “Relax” and “Smack My Bitch Up” by the Prodigy. In comparison My Ding A Ling by Chuck Berry got through.
Some classic songs have been banned (often the bans have been subsequently lifted). These include A Day In The Life by The Beatles (due to its supposed drugs references) and The Pogues and Kirsty McCall’s Fairytale of New York which was originally banned for being offensive but now a staple of the Christmas musical diet.
So here is a list of just some of the songs and their reasons for being banned. Many either changed the lyrics or have been re-instated by the Beeb.
"A-huggin' and A-chalkin'" – Johnny Mercer (1946)
"All the Young Dudes" – Mott the Hoople (1972)
"Angels in the Sky" – The Crew-Cuts (1955)
"Answer Me" – Frankie Laine (1953)
"Baby, Let Me Follow You Down" – Bob Dylan (1962)
"The Battle of New Orleans" – Johnny Horton (1959)
"Baubles, Bangles and Beads" – Kirby Stone Four (1958)
"Be Prepared" – Tom Lehrer (1953)
"Beep Beep" – The Playmates (1958)
"Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered" – Ella Fitzgerald (1958)
"Big Eight" – Judge Dread (1973)
"Big Seven" – Judge Dread (1972)
"Big Six" – Judge Dread (1972)
"Big Ten" – Judge Dread (1975)
"The Blue Danube" – Spike Jones and His City Slickers (1945)
"Burn My Candle" – Shirley Bassey (1956)
"(Celebrate) The Day After You" – The Blow Monkeys and Curtis Mayfield (1987)
"Celebrate the Bullet" – The Selecter (1981)
"Chaabian Boyz" – Frenzo Harami (2019)
"Charlie Brown" – The Coasters (1959)
"The Christening" – Arthur Askey (1943)
"Come Again" – Au Pairs (1981)
"Come Monday" – Jimmy Buffett (1974)
"Come Together" – The Beatles (1969)
"The Cover of Rolling Stone" – Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show (1973)
"Cradle Song (Brahms' Lullaby)" – Frank Sinatra (1944)
"Creep" – Radiohead (1992)
"Croce di Oro (Cross of Gold)" – Joan Regan (1955)
"Crying in the Chapel" – Lee Lawrence (1953)
"Cuddle Me" – Ted Heath featuring Dennis Lotis (1954)
"Danny Boy" – Conway Twitty (1959)
"A Day in the Life" – The Beatles (1967)
"The Deck of Cards" – T. Texas Tyler (1948)
"Deep in the Heart of Texas" – Bing Crosby and Woody Herman (1942)
"The Devil Is a Woman" – Herb Jeffries (1957)
"Diggin' My Potatoes" – Lonnie Donegan (1954)
"Dinner with Drac" – John Zacherle (1958)
"Don't Let's Be Beastly to the Germans" – Noël Coward (1943)
"Disarm" – The Smashing Pumpkins (1994)
"Ebeneezer Goode" – The Shamen (1992)
"Ebony Eyes" – The Everly Brothers (1961)
"Eve of Destruction" – Barry McGuire (1965)
"The Foggy, Foggy, Dew" – Peter Pears (1950)
"French Kiss" – Lil Louis (1989)
"Fucking in Heaven" – Fatboy Slim (1998)
"The Garden of Eden" – Frankie Vaughan (1957)
"Gimme a Pigfoot (And a Bottle of Beer)" – Bessie Smith (1933)
"Give Ireland Back to the Irish" – Wings (1972)
"Glad to Be Gay" – Tom Robinson Band (1978)
"Gloomy Sunday" – Billie Holiday (1941)
"God Bless the Child" – Billie Holiday (1942)
"God Save the Queen" – Sex Pistols (1977)
"Green Jeans" – The Flee-Rekkers (1960)
"Granny Takes a Trip" – Purple Gang (1967)
"Greensleeves" – The Beverley Sisters (1956)
"Guess Things Happen That Way" – Johnny Cash (1958)
"Hank Janson Blues" – Anne Shelton (1953)
"Have a Whiff on Me" – Mungo Jerry (1971)
"Hard Headed Woman" – Elvis Presley (1958)
"He" – Al Hibbler (1955)
"Heaven and Hell" – The Easybeats (1967)
"The Heel" – Eartha Kitt (1955)
"Hi, Hi, Hi" – Wings (1972)
"High Class Baby" – Cliff Richard and the Drifters (1958)
"Hold My Hand" – Don Cornell (1954)
"Honey Hush" – The Rock and Roll Trio (1956)
"Honey Love" – Dennis Lotis (1954)
"Honeycomb" – Jimmie Rodgers (1957)
"(How Little It Matters) How Little We Know" – Frank Sinatra (1956)
"The House of the Rising Sun" – Josh White (1950)
"Hype on the Mic" – Frenzo Harami (2019)
"I Am the Walrus" – The Beatles (1967)
"I Can't Control Myself" – The Troggs (1966)
"I Can't Make It" – Small Faces(1967)
"I Hear the Angels Singing" – Frankie Laine (1954)
"I Leaned on a Man" – Connie Francis (1957)
"I Love a Man in Uniform" – Gang of Four (1982)
"I Want to Be Evil" – Eartha Kitt (1953)
"I Want You to Be My Baby" – Annie Ross (1956)
"I Want Your Sex" – George Michael (1987)
"I Went to Your Wedding" – Spike Jones and His City Slickers (1953)
"I'll Be Home for Christmas" – Bing Crosby (1943)
"I'm Always Chasing Rainbows" – Ken Dodd (1963)
"I'm Always Chasing Rainbows" – Perry Como (1949)
"I'm Nobody's Baby" – Frankie Howerd (1948)
"In the Beginning" – Frankie Laine (1955)
"In the Hall of the Mountain King" – Nero and the Gladiators (1961)
"Invisible Sun" – The Police (1981)
"It Is No Secret" – Jo Stafford (1954)
"It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels" – Kitty Wells (1952)
"It Would Be So Nice" – Pink Floyd (1968)
"I've Come of Age" – Billy Storm (1959)
"Jack The Ripper" – Screaming Lord Sutch (1963)
"Jackie" – Scott Walker (1967)
"Je t'aime... moi non-plus" – Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg (1969)
"John and Marsha" – Stan Freberg (1950)
"Johnny Remember Me" – John Leyton (1961)
"Jungle Fever" – The Chakachas (1971)
"Keep Me in Mind" – Lita Roza and Al Timothy (1955)
"Killing an Arab" – The Cure (1979) (banned during Gulf War)
"Kodachrome" – Paul Simon (1973)
"Landing of the Daleks" – The Earthlings (1965)
"La Petite Tonkinoise" – Josephine Baker (1930)
"Lazy Mary" – Lou Monte (1958)
"Leader of the Pack" – The Shangri-Las (1964)
"Let the People Go" – McGuinness Flint (1972)
"Let's Spend the Night Together" – The Rolling Stones (1967)
"Light a Candle in the Chapel" – Frank Sinatra (1942)
"Lili Marleen" – Lale Andersen (1939)
"Little Star" – The Elegants (1958)
"Lola" – The Kinks (1970)
"Love for Sale" – Cole Porter (1930)
"Love for Sale" – Ella Fitzgerald (1956)
"Love Is" – Alma Cogan (1958)
"Love Is Strange" – Mickey & Sylvia (1956)
"Love to Love You Baby" – Donna Summer (1975)
"Lovin' Machine" – Wynonie Harris (1951)
"Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" – The Beatles (1967)
"Mack the Knife" – Bobby Darin (1959)
"Made You" – Adam Faith (1960)
"Maggie May" – The Vipers Skiffle Group (1957)
"The Man with the Golden Arm" – Eddie Calvert (1956)
"Maybellene" – Chuck Berry (1955)
"Mighty Mighty Man" – Bobby Darin (1958)
"Minnie the Moocher" – Cab Calloway (1931)
"Miss You" – Bing Crosby (1942)
"Mix-A-Fix" – Haydock's Rockhouse (1967)
"The Mocking Bird" – The Four Lads (1958)
"Monster Mash" – Bobby "Boris" Pickett and the Crypt-Kickers (1962)
"Moonlight Love" – Perry Como (1956)
"My Christmas Prayer" – Billy Fury (1959)
"My Friend" – Eddie Fisher (1954)
"My Friend Jack" – The Smoke (1967)
"My Generation" – The Who (1965)
"My Little Ukulele" – Joe Brown and The Bruvvers (1963)
"Night of the Vampire" – The Moontrekkers (1961)
"Ninety-Nine Years (Dead or Alive)" – Guy Mitchell (1956)
"Nobody Loves Like an Irishman" – Lonnie Donegan (1958)
"The Old Dope Peddler" – Tom Lehrer (1953)
"Old Man Atom" – The Sons of the Pioneers (1950)
"One Has My Name (The Other Has My Heart)" – Jimmy Wakely (1948)
"Paper Doll" – The Mills Brothers (1943)
"Peaches" – The Stranglers (1977)
"Peaceful Street" – Ernest Butcher (1936)
"Please No Squeeza da Banana" – Louis Prima (1945)
"Radio Times" – The BBC Dance Orchestra (1935)
"The Reefer Song (If You're a Viper)" – Fats Waller (1943)
"Relax" – Frankie Goes to Hollywood (1984)
"Respectable Street" – XTC (1981)
"Rock You Sinners" – Art Baxter and His Rock 'n' Roll Sinners (1958)
"A Rose and a Baby Ruth" – George Hamilton IV (1956)
"Rum and Coca-Cola" – The Andrews Sisters (1945)
"A Russian Love Song" – The Goons (1957)
"The Sabre Dance" – Woody Herman (1948)
"Sad Affair" – Marxman (1993)
"Saturday Nite at the Duckpond" – The Cougars (1963)
"Say a Prayer for the Boys Over There" – Deanna Durbin (1943)
"Send Me to the 'Lectric Chair" – George Melly (1953)
"Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll" – Ian Dury (1977)
"The Shag (Is Totally Cool)" – Billy Graves (1958)
"Shall We Take a Trip" – Northside (1990)
"She Had to Go and Lose It at the Astor" – Johnny Messner (1939)
"She Was Only a Postmaster's Daughter" – Durium Dance Band (1933)
"Silent Running (On Dangerous Ground)" – Mike and the Mechanics (1985)
"The Silver Madonna" – Kirk Stevens (1957)
"Sincerely" – Liberace (1955)
"Sink the Bismark – Johnny Horton (1960)
"Six Months in a Leaky Boat" – Split Enz (1982) (banned during Falklands War)
"Sixty Minute Man" – The Dominoes (1951)
"The Sky" – Petula Clark (1957)
"Smack My Bitch Up" – The Prodigy (1997)
"Song of India" – Tommy Dorsey (1938)
"So What?" – Anti-Nowhere League (1981)
"Soldier" – Harvey Andrews (1972)
"Somebody Up There Likes Me" – Perry Como (1956)
"A Souvenir of London" – Procol Harum (1973)
"Space Oddity – David Bowie (1969)
"Spasticus Autisticus" – Ian Dury and the Blockheads (1981)
"Statue of Liberty" – XTC (1978)
"St. Therese of the Roses" – Malcolm Vaughan (1956)
"The Story of a Starry Night" – Glenn Miller (1943)
"The Story of Three Loves" – Ray Martin (1954)
"Stranger in Paradise" – The Four Aces (1953)
"Such a Night" – Johnnie Ray (1954)
"Summer Smash" – Denim (1997)
"Take Off Your Clothes" – Peter Sarstedt (1969)
"Teen Angel" – Mark Dinning (1959)
"Teen Age Prayer" – Gale Storm (1955)
"Tell Laura I Love Her" – Ray Peterson (1960)
"Tell Laura I Love Her" – Ricky Valance (1960)
"Terry" – Twinkle (1964)
"The Test of Time" – Robert Earl (1959)
"A Theme from the Threepenny Orchestra (Mack the Knife)" – Louis Armstrong (1956)
"Three Stars" – Ruby Wright (1959)
"'Til the Following Night" – Screaming Lord Sutch (1961)
"Till the End of Time" – Perry Como (1945)
"Ting Tong Tang" – Ken Platt (1958)
"To Keep My Love Alive" – Ella Fitzgerald (1956)
"Toll the Bell Easy" – Les Hobeaux (1957)
"The Tommy Rot Story" – Morris & Mitch (1957)
"Too Drunk to Fuck" – Dead Kennedys (1981)
"Tribute to Buddy Holly" – Mike Berry and The Outlaws (1961)
"The Unbeliever" – Guy Mitchell (1957)
"Urban Guerrilla" – Hawkwind (1973)
"The Voice in My Heart" – Eydie Gormé (1958)
"Walk Hand in Hand" – Tony Martin (1956)
"Walking on Water" – Eliza Doolittle (2013)
"We Call It Acieed" – D-Mob (1988)
"We Can't Let You Broadcast That" – Norman Long (1932)
"(We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang" – Heaven 17 (1981)
"We Have to Be So Careful" – The Beverley Sisters (1953)
"We Will All Go Together When We Go" – Tom Lehrer (1959)
"Wet Dream" – Max Romeo (1969)
"When I'm Cleaning Windows" – George Formby (1936)
"When Your Lights Turned On" - The Hollies (1967)
"Whoa Buck" – Lonnie Donegan (1959)
"With My Little Stick of Blackpool Rock" – George Formby (1937)
"With My Little Ukulele in My Hand" – George Formby (1933)
"Woman Love" – Gene Vincent (1956)
"A Worried Man" – The Kingston Trio (1959)
"You'll Get Yours" – Frank Sinatra (1956)
But it really wasn't very hard as I will prove in this article. Anything overtly racist, sexist, political or religious could fall foul of the BBC music censor but there were many lesser reasons such as using classical music.
The whole thing becomes farcical when you know that the BBC actually banned the Forces Sweetheart Vera Lynn because her songs were thought to be "too slushy." This was at a time when she was hugely popular in the country during the Second World War and it turned out to be a spectacular own goal for the Beeb.
In its infinite wisdom the BBC felt that her songs weren't helping the war effort. They set up a Dance Music Policy Committee to police what they referred to as Vera Lynn and "her sort of music." This was even raised in Parliament.
The BBC stated that performances by women singers would be controlled and an "insincere and over-sentimental style" would not be allowed. "No numbers will be accepted for broadcasting which are slushy in sentiment", the BBC said. The full policy statement read:
"We have recently adopted a policy of excluding sickly sentimentality which, particularly when sung by certain vocalists, can become nauseating and not at all in keeping with what we feel to be the need of the public in this country in the fourth year of war."
As a result Vera's radio show Sincerely Yours was taken off the BBC airwaves and replaced by jolly and upbeat music programmes which emphasised a collective spirit such as Music While You Work and Workers' Playtime.
The policy failed miserably due to Vera Lynn's popularity and the BBC reversed their policy when, after the film We'll Meet Again proved to be a huge success, they realised that she was actually a morale booster rather than being a mood dampener.
Over the years there have been some stonking reasons for records to be banned by the BBC so if you were expecting a litany of sex, drugs and rock n roll with records being banned for their bad ass attitudes and incitement you would be very wrong. So let's look at some of the records and artists that were banned by the BBC.
The list of artists reads like a who’s who of music and includes some of the men and women thought to be squeaky clean. They include the likes of Cliff Richard, Frank Sinatra, Noël Coward, the Beatles, Ken Dodd, Elvis Presley, Bing Crosby, the BBC Dance Orchestra, Tom Lehrer, Glenn Miller, and George Formby. In addition banned songs include the likes of ABBA's "Waterloo", Queen's "Killer Queen" and the Boomtown Rats' "I Don't Like Mondays."
The criteria for banning records seemed to be anything that the BBC considers to be "unsuitable" which obviously covers a multitude of sins and is often down to individual taste. When it comes to being judges of what is best for the public, the BBC has always adopted an arrogant position, feeling it has the right to decide what is and what isn't likely to corrupt the listening public. This is how the organisation got the nickname Auntie BBC, Auntie Beeb or just Auntie and how a number of records were banned through gross stupidity of those who sat in judgement on the country's morals.
One of the reasons, as I have already said. For banning a record was due to the fact that it was based on a classical piece of music. That’s how “I’m Always Chasing Rainbows from the 1918 Broadway show Oh Look came to be banned because it borrowed its melody from Chopin. Other songs with classical basis that got banned for “distortion of melody, harmony and rhythm” included “Saturday Nite at the Duck Pond” by The Cougars which used Tchaikowsky’s Swan Lake and “Baubles, Bangles and Beads” from the 1953 musical Kismet because it was based on music by Borodin.
Other songs have been banned due to the use of foul language, explicit sexual content, alleged drug references, controversial political subject matter or on grounds that the record advertised something.
Often the records were pretty dreadful anyway but gained a kind of notoriety through being banned. Such a one was “Give Ireland Back to the Irish” by Paul McCartney and Wings. A friend of mine once said it should be banned for being a terrible song rather than for its rather naïve political message:
Give Ireland back to the Irish
Don't make them have to take it away
Give Ireland back to the Irish
Make Ireland Irish today
Great Britain, you are tremendous
And nobody knows like me
But really, what are you doin'
In the land across the sea?
Should give in or go mad?
Give Ireland back to the Irish
Don't make them have to take it away
Give Ireland back to the Irish
Make Ireland Irish today
Give Ireland back to the Irish
Don't make them have to take it away
Give Ireland back to the Irish
Make Ireland Irish today (yeah, yeah)
The Kinks Song “Lola” got banned not because it was about a transvestite but because of advertising Coca Cola which the band eventually changed to Cherry Cola.
A few decades before Lola a record by Don Cornell entitles Hold My Hand was banned due to its religious message.
So this is the kingdom of heaven
So this is the sweet promised land
While angels tell of love
Don't break the spell of love
Hold my hand
So this is the garden of Eden
In dreams it was never so grand
Let's never leave again
Adam and Eve again
Hold my hand
The work of British folk singer Ewan MacColl was banned by the BBC not for his music but owing to his sympathies with communism. Satire was another possible reason for banning: in 1953, ten of the twelve tracks on humorist Tom Lehrer's album Songs by Tom Lehrer were banned. In February 1956, the British music magazine NME reported that the theme for the film The Man with the Golden Arm, recorded by Eddie Calvert, was also banned. Despite the song being an instrumental, a BBC spokesman reported: "The ban is due to its connection with a film about drugs." – Billy May's version, retitled "Main Theme", was approved.
Many songs over the years have been banned for overtly sexual lyrics. These have included Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s “Relax” and “Smack My Bitch Up” by the Prodigy. In comparison My Ding A Ling by Chuck Berry got through.
Some classic songs have been banned (often the bans have been subsequently lifted). These include A Day In The Life by The Beatles (due to its supposed drugs references) and The Pogues and Kirsty McCall’s Fairytale of New York which was originally banned for being offensive but now a staple of the Christmas musical diet.
So here is a list of just some of the songs and their reasons for being banned. Many either changed the lyrics or have been re-instated by the Beeb.
"A-huggin' and A-chalkin'" – Johnny Mercer (1946)
"All the Young Dudes" – Mott the Hoople (1972)
"Angels in the Sky" – The Crew-Cuts (1955)
"Answer Me" – Frankie Laine (1953)
"Baby, Let Me Follow You Down" – Bob Dylan (1962)
"The Battle of New Orleans" – Johnny Horton (1959)
"Baubles, Bangles and Beads" – Kirby Stone Four (1958)
"Be Prepared" – Tom Lehrer (1953)
"Beep Beep" – The Playmates (1958)
"Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered" – Ella Fitzgerald (1958)
"Big Eight" – Judge Dread (1973)
"Big Seven" – Judge Dread (1972)
"Big Six" – Judge Dread (1972)
"Big Ten" – Judge Dread (1975)
"The Blue Danube" – Spike Jones and His City Slickers (1945)
"Burn My Candle" – Shirley Bassey (1956)
"(Celebrate) The Day After You" – The Blow Monkeys and Curtis Mayfield (1987)
"Celebrate the Bullet" – The Selecter (1981)
"Chaabian Boyz" – Frenzo Harami (2019)
"Charlie Brown" – The Coasters (1959)
"The Christening" – Arthur Askey (1943)
"Come Again" – Au Pairs (1981)
"Come Monday" – Jimmy Buffett (1974)
"Come Together" – The Beatles (1969)
"The Cover of Rolling Stone" – Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show (1973)
"Cradle Song (Brahms' Lullaby)" – Frank Sinatra (1944)
"Creep" – Radiohead (1992)
"Croce di Oro (Cross of Gold)" – Joan Regan (1955)
"Crying in the Chapel" – Lee Lawrence (1953)
"Cuddle Me" – Ted Heath featuring Dennis Lotis (1954)
"Danny Boy" – Conway Twitty (1959)
"A Day in the Life" – The Beatles (1967)
"The Deck of Cards" – T. Texas Tyler (1948)
"Deep in the Heart of Texas" – Bing Crosby and Woody Herman (1942)
"The Devil Is a Woman" – Herb Jeffries (1957)
"Diggin' My Potatoes" – Lonnie Donegan (1954)
"Dinner with Drac" – John Zacherle (1958)
"Don't Let's Be Beastly to the Germans" – Noël Coward (1943)
"Disarm" – The Smashing Pumpkins (1994)
"Ebeneezer Goode" – The Shamen (1992)
"Ebony Eyes" – The Everly Brothers (1961)
"Eve of Destruction" – Barry McGuire (1965)
"The Foggy, Foggy, Dew" – Peter Pears (1950)
"French Kiss" – Lil Louis (1989)
"Fucking in Heaven" – Fatboy Slim (1998)
"The Garden of Eden" – Frankie Vaughan (1957)
"Gimme a Pigfoot (And a Bottle of Beer)" – Bessie Smith (1933)
"Give Ireland Back to the Irish" – Wings (1972)
"Glad to Be Gay" – Tom Robinson Band (1978)
"Gloomy Sunday" – Billie Holiday (1941)
"God Bless the Child" – Billie Holiday (1942)
"God Save the Queen" – Sex Pistols (1977)
"Green Jeans" – The Flee-Rekkers (1960)
"Granny Takes a Trip" – Purple Gang (1967)
"Greensleeves" – The Beverley Sisters (1956)
"Guess Things Happen That Way" – Johnny Cash (1958)
"Hank Janson Blues" – Anne Shelton (1953)
"Have a Whiff on Me" – Mungo Jerry (1971)
"Hard Headed Woman" – Elvis Presley (1958)
"He" – Al Hibbler (1955)
"Heaven and Hell" – The Easybeats (1967)
"The Heel" – Eartha Kitt (1955)
"Hi, Hi, Hi" – Wings (1972)
"High Class Baby" – Cliff Richard and the Drifters (1958)
"Hold My Hand" – Don Cornell (1954)
"Honey Hush" – The Rock and Roll Trio (1956)
"Honey Love" – Dennis Lotis (1954)
"Honeycomb" – Jimmie Rodgers (1957)
"(How Little It Matters) How Little We Know" – Frank Sinatra (1956)
"The House of the Rising Sun" – Josh White (1950)
"Hype on the Mic" – Frenzo Harami (2019)
"I Am the Walrus" – The Beatles (1967)
"I Can't Control Myself" – The Troggs (1966)
"I Can't Make It" – Small Faces(1967)
"I Hear the Angels Singing" – Frankie Laine (1954)
"I Leaned on a Man" – Connie Francis (1957)
"I Love a Man in Uniform" – Gang of Four (1982)
"I Want to Be Evil" – Eartha Kitt (1953)
"I Want You to Be My Baby" – Annie Ross (1956)
"I Want Your Sex" – George Michael (1987)
"I Went to Your Wedding" – Spike Jones and His City Slickers (1953)
"I'll Be Home for Christmas" – Bing Crosby (1943)
"I'm Always Chasing Rainbows" – Ken Dodd (1963)
"I'm Always Chasing Rainbows" – Perry Como (1949)
"I'm Nobody's Baby" – Frankie Howerd (1948)
"In the Beginning" – Frankie Laine (1955)
"In the Hall of the Mountain King" – Nero and the Gladiators (1961)
"Invisible Sun" – The Police (1981)
"It Is No Secret" – Jo Stafford (1954)
"It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels" – Kitty Wells (1952)
"It Would Be So Nice" – Pink Floyd (1968)
"I've Come of Age" – Billy Storm (1959)
"Jack The Ripper" – Screaming Lord Sutch (1963)
"Jackie" – Scott Walker (1967)
"Je t'aime... moi non-plus" – Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg (1969)
"John and Marsha" – Stan Freberg (1950)
"Johnny Remember Me" – John Leyton (1961)
"Jungle Fever" – The Chakachas (1971)
"Keep Me in Mind" – Lita Roza and Al Timothy (1955)
"Killing an Arab" – The Cure (1979) (banned during Gulf War)
"Kodachrome" – Paul Simon (1973)
"Landing of the Daleks" – The Earthlings (1965)
"La Petite Tonkinoise" – Josephine Baker (1930)
"Lazy Mary" – Lou Monte (1958)
"Leader of the Pack" – The Shangri-Las (1964)
"Let the People Go" – McGuinness Flint (1972)
"Let's Spend the Night Together" – The Rolling Stones (1967)
"Light a Candle in the Chapel" – Frank Sinatra (1942)
"Lili Marleen" – Lale Andersen (1939)
"Little Star" – The Elegants (1958)
"Lola" – The Kinks (1970)
"Love for Sale" – Cole Porter (1930)
"Love for Sale" – Ella Fitzgerald (1956)
"Love Is" – Alma Cogan (1958)
"Love Is Strange" – Mickey & Sylvia (1956)
"Love to Love You Baby" – Donna Summer (1975)
"Lovin' Machine" – Wynonie Harris (1951)
"Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" – The Beatles (1967)
"Mack the Knife" – Bobby Darin (1959)
"Made You" – Adam Faith (1960)
"Maggie May" – The Vipers Skiffle Group (1957)
"The Man with the Golden Arm" – Eddie Calvert (1956)
"Maybellene" – Chuck Berry (1955)
"Mighty Mighty Man" – Bobby Darin (1958)
"Minnie the Moocher" – Cab Calloway (1931)
"Miss You" – Bing Crosby (1942)
"Mix-A-Fix" – Haydock's Rockhouse (1967)
"The Mocking Bird" – The Four Lads (1958)
"Monster Mash" – Bobby "Boris" Pickett and the Crypt-Kickers (1962)
"Moonlight Love" – Perry Como (1956)
"My Christmas Prayer" – Billy Fury (1959)
"My Friend" – Eddie Fisher (1954)
"My Friend Jack" – The Smoke (1967)
"My Generation" – The Who (1965)
"My Little Ukulele" – Joe Brown and The Bruvvers (1963)
"Night of the Vampire" – The Moontrekkers (1961)
"Ninety-Nine Years (Dead or Alive)" – Guy Mitchell (1956)
"Nobody Loves Like an Irishman" – Lonnie Donegan (1958)
"The Old Dope Peddler" – Tom Lehrer (1953)
"Old Man Atom" – The Sons of the Pioneers (1950)
"One Has My Name (The Other Has My Heart)" – Jimmy Wakely (1948)
"Paper Doll" – The Mills Brothers (1943)
"Peaches" – The Stranglers (1977)
"Peaceful Street" – Ernest Butcher (1936)
"Please No Squeeza da Banana" – Louis Prima (1945)
"Radio Times" – The BBC Dance Orchestra (1935)
"The Reefer Song (If You're a Viper)" – Fats Waller (1943)
"Relax" – Frankie Goes to Hollywood (1984)
"Respectable Street" – XTC (1981)
"Rock You Sinners" – Art Baxter and His Rock 'n' Roll Sinners (1958)
"A Rose and a Baby Ruth" – George Hamilton IV (1956)
"Rum and Coca-Cola" – The Andrews Sisters (1945)
"A Russian Love Song" – The Goons (1957)
"The Sabre Dance" – Woody Herman (1948)
"Sad Affair" – Marxman (1993)
"Saturday Nite at the Duckpond" – The Cougars (1963)
"Say a Prayer for the Boys Over There" – Deanna Durbin (1943)
"Send Me to the 'Lectric Chair" – George Melly (1953)
"Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll" – Ian Dury (1977)
"The Shag (Is Totally Cool)" – Billy Graves (1958)
"Shall We Take a Trip" – Northside (1990)
"She Had to Go and Lose It at the Astor" – Johnny Messner (1939)
"She Was Only a Postmaster's Daughter" – Durium Dance Band (1933)
"Silent Running (On Dangerous Ground)" – Mike and the Mechanics (1985)
"The Silver Madonna" – Kirk Stevens (1957)
"Sincerely" – Liberace (1955)
"Sink the Bismark – Johnny Horton (1960)
"Six Months in a Leaky Boat" – Split Enz (1982) (banned during Falklands War)
"Sixty Minute Man" – The Dominoes (1951)
"The Sky" – Petula Clark (1957)
"Smack My Bitch Up" – The Prodigy (1997)
"Song of India" – Tommy Dorsey (1938)
"So What?" – Anti-Nowhere League (1981)
"Soldier" – Harvey Andrews (1972)
"Somebody Up There Likes Me" – Perry Como (1956)
"A Souvenir of London" – Procol Harum (1973)
"Space Oddity – David Bowie (1969)
"Spasticus Autisticus" – Ian Dury and the Blockheads (1981)
"Statue of Liberty" – XTC (1978)
"St. Therese of the Roses" – Malcolm Vaughan (1956)
"The Story of a Starry Night" – Glenn Miller (1943)
"The Story of Three Loves" – Ray Martin (1954)
"Stranger in Paradise" – The Four Aces (1953)
"Such a Night" – Johnnie Ray (1954)
"Summer Smash" – Denim (1997)
"Take Off Your Clothes" – Peter Sarstedt (1969)
"Teen Angel" – Mark Dinning (1959)
"Teen Age Prayer" – Gale Storm (1955)
"Tell Laura I Love Her" – Ray Peterson (1960)
"Tell Laura I Love Her" – Ricky Valance (1960)
"Terry" – Twinkle (1964)
"The Test of Time" – Robert Earl (1959)
"A Theme from the Threepenny Orchestra (Mack the Knife)" – Louis Armstrong (1956)
"Three Stars" – Ruby Wright (1959)
"'Til the Following Night" – Screaming Lord Sutch (1961)
"Till the End of Time" – Perry Como (1945)
"Ting Tong Tang" – Ken Platt (1958)
"To Keep My Love Alive" – Ella Fitzgerald (1956)
"Toll the Bell Easy" – Les Hobeaux (1957)
"The Tommy Rot Story" – Morris & Mitch (1957)
"Too Drunk to Fuck" – Dead Kennedys (1981)
"Tribute to Buddy Holly" – Mike Berry and The Outlaws (1961)
"The Unbeliever" – Guy Mitchell (1957)
"Urban Guerrilla" – Hawkwind (1973)
"The Voice in My Heart" – Eydie Gormé (1958)
"Walk Hand in Hand" – Tony Martin (1956)
"Walking on Water" – Eliza Doolittle (2013)
"We Call It Acieed" – D-Mob (1988)
"We Can't Let You Broadcast That" – Norman Long (1932)
"(We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang" – Heaven 17 (1981)
"We Have to Be So Careful" – The Beverley Sisters (1953)
"We Will All Go Together When We Go" – Tom Lehrer (1959)
"Wet Dream" – Max Romeo (1969)
"When I'm Cleaning Windows" – George Formby (1936)
"When Your Lights Turned On" - The Hollies (1967)
"Whoa Buck" – Lonnie Donegan (1959)
"With My Little Stick of Blackpool Rock" – George Formby (1937)
"With My Little Ukulele in My Hand" – George Formby (1933)
"Woman Love" – Gene Vincent (1956)
"A Worried Man" – The Kingston Trio (1959)
"You'll Get Yours" – Frank Sinatra (1956)