The Saturday list #336 - Ten songs that were banned by the BBC which may surprise you

I recently got banned by the BBC, well Mr Eddie Nestor on the morning show to be precise! Have a listen. It was quite comical really. I was putting some boxes in the bins and when I came back, one of the guys who works for me said "You've just been banned by the BBC, what have you been doing?". I was quite mystified. My phone immediately started going like mental. My missus phoned up and insisted I rang up Eddie and apologised, completely refusing to believe that, to the best of my knowledge, I'd done nothing. Maybe one day I'll find out. Probably something I said on Twitter that upset the bosses, but who knows.

 I'm still not entirely sure why. As a long in the tooth punk rocker, I wear it as a badge of honour and have written a song to celebrate. Whilst you may not be surprised that songs with swearing in by my fellow punk rockers have been banned, when I was researching the list to write the lyrics I was rather surprised at some of the numbers on the list. Here are ten that tickled my fancy as it were.

1. All the young Dude's by Mott the Hoople. Given that I first heard this on Top of The Pops, I was incredulous at first. However, it turns out that the phrase "Wendy stealing clothes from Marks and Spencers" fell foul of the rules about free advertising. I'm not sure that M&S would benefit from army's of shoplifters turning up.

2. I'm always chasing rainbows by Ken Dodd. This is perhaps the most bizarre reason. It was banned for being a 'bad perversion of a Chopin melody". 

3. Hard Headed woman by Elvis Presley. This was banned for "biblical references to Adam and Eve and Samson and Delilah". 

4. Moonlight Cocktail by Glen Miller. This was banned for being "Sentimental slush"

5. Sincerely Yours by Liberace was also banned for nicking Chopin.

6. Killer Queen by Queen was banned by the BBC during the Gulf war, for offending sensibilities at a sensitive time. 

7. Foggy Dew by Peter Pears was banned for 'suggestive content'.

8. Stranger in Paradise by Tony Bennet was banned for being "disrespectful to the original tune by Boronin"

9. Waterloo by ABBA was another one banned by the BBC during the Gulf war, I'm not quite sure why. 

10. Greensleeves by the Beverly Sisters. The little folk ditty originally penned by King Henry VIII was bannned for being too raunchy. I love the Beverly Sisters and they foillowed it up with a cheeky dig at the BEEB called "We have to be so careful" which also got banned. 

So there you go. I'm in very good company. And I'm not cross with Eddie (even though he's cross with me), his standing invitation to bring his kids down for a drum practice stands. I'm hoping the ban will make my new tune go gold disc when we record it!