1979 hit in the UK that contains the N-word, and has implored radio stations to stop playing it, too, in an
interview with the Telegraph.
“Only takes one itchy trigger; One more widow, one less white [N-word],” Costello sings in the political anthem, inspired by the Troubles in Northern Ireland and his encounters with young soldiers involved in the conflict.
“If I wrote that song today, maybe I’d think twice about it,” he told the Telegraph. “That’s what my grandfather was called in the British army — it’s historically a fact — but people hear that word go off like a bell and accuse me of something that I didn’t intend.”
dismay of some listeners, who argued that its omission diluted the song’s anti-war message.
Costello agreed that bleeping the word is “making it worse,” he told the Telegraph, “because [radio stations] are highlighting it then.”
The musician said he’d written a new verse for the song — one that focused on censorship — for a previous tour but decided to retire the song moving forward, and that radio stations should do the same.
“Just don’t play the record!” he said.
Rolling Stones phased out “Brown Sugar,” which opens with a slave narrative and sexualizes young Black women, from their lineup last year, though
Keith Richards said he hoped the band could bring back a version of the song in the future. The Hayley Williams-helmed rock group Paramore also
retired arguably its most famous song, “Misery Business,” partly because it contains lyrics that refer to another woman as a “whore.”