3 Country Songs That Had To Be Cleaned up Before They Hit Airwaves

Artists usually don’t take kindly to censorship. It’s never nice to pour your heart out in a song, only to have it watered down for public consumption. Nevertheless, it does happen. Below are three country songs that had to be cleaned up before they hit the airwaves.

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“Picture to Burn” (Taylor Swift)

When targeting a young audience, anything slightly controversial needs to be toned down. Taylor Swift is well-versed in “toning down” her songs–at the beginning of her career, mostly. One of her most famous instances of censorship occurred with her bitter breakup track, “Picture to Burn.”

In the original draft of this country song, Swift aims to get back at her redneck heartbreak ex by spreading rumours about his sexuality. So go and tell your friends that I’m obsessive and crazy / That’s fine I’ll tell mine you’re gay, the original verse read. Ultimately, Swift decided to cut the lyric before it was fit for mass consumption. It’s a good thing, too. By modern standards, the line isn’t very inclusive–something Swift strives to be nowadays.

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“Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American)” (Toby Keith)

We’ve all had the frustrating experience of singing along to a passionate song on the radio, only for their censors to kill the mood. There’s nothing like a sharp “bleep” to take you out of a song. That was the case for Toby Keith’s nationalistic country song, “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American)”.

This track was released shortly after the September 11 attacks. The fear felt by many Americans was bottled up into this track. The most famous line of this song is undoubtedly, Cause we’ll put a boot in your a** / It’s the American way. For radio purposes, “a**” had to be bleeped out. Many patriotic fans were upset at the exclusion of this pivotal lyric.

“Follow Your Arrow” (Kacey Musgraves)

While the songs above received minor censorship in the grand scheme of things, Kacey Musgraves’ “Follow Your Arrow” was cut entirely for several markets.

This Musgraves country song was forward-thinking for its time. No one else in the country scene was preaching inclusivity and freedom the way she did here. Unsurprisingly, many decision makers at country radio weren’t ready for this kind of unabashed revelry. Many decided not to deal with the implications of this song.

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(Photo by Andrew H. Walker/Shutterstock)