quote:Originally posted by violet Blue Horse:
I was actually listening to one of the CBC clips from the link someone provided here about Black Day in July. It was an early interview with Lightfoot. The song was written about the race riots in Detroit and it was banned by stations all across the U.S. The timing was unfortunate in that Martin Luther King had been assasinated just after the song was released and programmers probably did not want to be considered guilty of inciting violence and/or they were just plain scared. Who knows whether they were right or wrong. From what I understand of that period it was an extremely volatile time. I was too much of a baby to remember anything that far back.
of course riots did happen in many US cities after King's daeth. but still it might of been understandable why they wouldn't play the song. in 1967 a young 16 year old named Jannis Ian released a song called Society's Child about a young white girl falling in love with a black teenaged boy and her parents not approving it. not only was that song banned in many markets but Ian also has a site and if i read right a station in Atlanta GA was fire bommed for playing that song.
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