ALLY WATCH : Fools Rush In

Self censorship due to the Persian Gulf War may have reached a high--or a low--in London, where BBC Radio advised its stations to avoid playing some songs that may offend listeners. The British are undoubtedly staunch allies in the war, but they really should relax that stiff upper lip when it comes to music.

The 67 “questionable” songs listed by BBC executives include “Bang Bang” by Sonny and Cher and “Killing Me Softly” by Roberta Flack. But if the BBC could get beyond titles, there are surely no two sets of lyrics more innocuous:

Strumming my fate with his fingers

Singing my life with his words

Killing me softly with his song

Or how’s this for an anti-war or pro-war anthem?

I was five and he was six

We rode on horses made of sticks

He wore black, and I wore white

He would always win the fight

Bang Bang

You shot me down

Bang Bang

I hit the ground

Bittersweet and banal love songs aside, there’s a more important point to be made. War or no war, there’s always an appetite for pop classics, including other “questionable” songs such as John Lennon’s “Give Peace a Chance.” Would “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” be inappropriately jolly? Such censorship is a needless and potentially dangerous exercise. A little context is in order, please. Otherwise, what’s next--banning Sinatra’s “That’s Life” because of the line “riding high in April, shot down in May”?