RC contributor and Radio Merseyside DJ Spencer Leigh has brought together 75 records banned by the BBC’s Dance Music Policy Committee. One particularly over-zealous censor was composer Sir Arthur Bliss, who refused to play anything which sampled classical music. Thus, Frank Sinatra’s version of The Cradle Song (Brahms’ Lullaby) and Perry Como’s I’m Always Chasing Rainbows, which was based on Chopin’s Fantasie Impromptu In C Sharp Minor, are included in this set.
Repeat offenders include big names such as George Formby, Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday, whose Gloomy Sunday, with its lyric “My heart and I have decided to end it all”, was deemed too depressing. In 1942 the censors went the other way, adopting a “policy of excluding sickly sentimentality, which, particularly when sung by certain vocalists, can become nauseating”. Too much vibrato in a singer’s voice could also get them banned.
The collection is a great listen even out of context, although a couple of the tracks, such as the bizarre John & Marsha, do require an explanation. The sleevenotes listing reasons why each song was banned makes it fascinating.
