Winners

Sarah Payzant
Nova Scotia

I believe that people go too far. As an 11 -year- old girl, I very seldom listen to the words of songs. If it has a good beat, I listen to it. I realize that songs are made up from someone's imagination, and therefore should never be taken seriously. If adults would give kids more credit for knowing right from wrong it would help. If I hear a song with cursing or wife abuse, or child abuse, I just don't listen to it. Every kid knows what is right or wrong if they are taught. I think, people should ask the kids first before doing stupid things like banning books, songs, or movies.

Lucy Ralston
12 years old
7th Grade
Athens, GA
Home Schooled

Why this one?

After Sept. 11 I saw the list of songs that a radio organization banned from its stations and I have to say they gave my whole family a laugh. Now I'll admit I only know six of the songs in their entirety but that's enough to object.

I'll start with the first one I know and move down the list. The first song that made me angry was "Walk Like an Egyptian" which is, well, a song about walking like an Egyptian. It is a fun song with an upbeat tune and simple lyrics. The only reason any one could ban it is because Egypt is in the Middle East which is the same area as Afghanistan. And that is a stupid reason if you ask me.

The next song I know is "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" which happens to be one of my favorite songs because it has my name and it's kind of weird. "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" is a strange song by a very good group called the Beatles about either one of their children's fantasy drawings or LSD which is a dangerous drug. Neither of those choices had anything to do with Sept. 11.

The next one I know is another Beatles hit, "Ticket to Ride". This is a song about someone's girlfriend leaving him and how she could stay if she wanted but she doesn't care. It has nothing to do with Sept. 11. I think it was unreasonable because I had to spend a long time thinking before I came up with, maybe they think those people on the airplanes had tickets to ride. Well, that's the only reason I could think of, so on to the next song.

The next one I know is Simon and Garfunkel's "Bridge Over Troubled Water" which is a rather relaxing song right now. In fact, it's a bridge over troubled water. They sing to a sweet tune "Like a bridge over troubled water" and I feel myself relax into the stream of words. I think that if anything they should play that song more often.

The next one I know is "Dancing in the Streets." I can almost understand where they're coming from in this one because of the vision of the Palestinians dancing in the streets. In my opinion dancing in the streets would lighten the mood, plus it's a fun song.

The last song I know is "American Pie." As far as I can figure it out it's a song about this man and his friends getting drunk and trying to kill themselves. In my opinion this song is bad enough to ban anyway but that's just because I happen not to like that kind of song.

To sum up my essay I will present my theory on how they picked these songs. I think that they typed some keywords into their computer like; ticket, America, sky, fire, and so on. Then they did a word search for all the songs with those words in them. All of the songs I talked about I have heard in their entirety more than once. I hope that some one will correct this station so that some of their songs will stay on the air. Who knows, it might do America some good.

Andrea
9th Grade
14 years old,
Indiana

Censorship of any kind is wrong. Censorship leads to more false truths than the censored material does, giving an unclear perspective of the world. I am against censorship. However, in the case of Clear Channel Communication's list, I don't believe that this is censorship. Censorship involves a ban, an ultimate authority setting the rules for the whole. The list that was circulated was a suggestion. After September 11th, America as a whole was shaken. I don't live in New York, nor do I live in a big city that would be a probable target for terrorism; yet I often found myself in tears, in grief for something that didn't happen to me, didn't happen to anyone I know, and doesn't seem as though it could happen to me. But the terrorist attacks affected, and still affect us all. I can truthfully say, that had I heard a song such as "Leaving on a Jet Plane" or "It's the End of the World As We Know It", the grief, and, yes, terror, would have only strengthened.

The actions of Clear Channel Communications were not a ban, but a suggestion intended to ease the pain for the millions of Americans facing this crisis. Many radio stations would not have played some of these songs anyway, aware of the implications. Music does not cause world problems, but in certain circumstances they can reflect world problems. I am in no way saying that these songs should be restricted from play, banned as many would have you believe that they were. Should a song with certain lyrics come one, one can easily change the channel.

Runners Up

Todd Johnson
12 years old

I think that songs should not be censored. I think that people will request the songs that will make them feel better and the radio disc jockeys will play the songs that people request and there is no reason to censor a bunch of songs just because one person thinks that someone, somewhere may or may not be offended. Radios have off switches for those that need them.

Anna van Veldhuisen
7th year at Hurshum Primary School
Australia

What has today's society come to? You tell me. I personally believe that it is totally ludicrous that we have been reduced to banning songs off of the radio. Music is a way for many song writers and artists to express their true inner feelings and beliefs and taking this outlet away from them shows how stupid the world has become.

After thinking strongly about this and many similar topics I came up with a revelation. Society works in hills. Society has come from the extremely conservative era of the 1930s and 40s, the base of a hill, it started to climb in the 50s and 60s and reached its peak in the 70s, where drugs, hippies, the new generation, rock and roll and many other issues were confronted, then, society made its way downhill again until it has reached its all-time low in 2001. In the present time of world-wide chaos we should not be worrying about little things like what is played on the radio, we should be thinking about the bigger aspects in life and thanking God that we are still around to listen to the radio.

Banning simple songs like the past hit 'Walk like an Egyptian' by the Bangles is hypocritical when there are songs out there by rappers like Slim Shady (I am not bad mouthing Eminem, he is my fave artist!) sing about things 10 hundred times worse.

If you believe you might take offense to songs such as 'Another One Bites the Dust' and 'Walk Like an Egyptian' maybe you should turn off the radio and just listen to your own tapes and CDs.

In conclusion I believe that music is one of the most sacred arts and should be respected, not criticized and banned.

Cherish Wagner 12 years old
Magna Elementary School
Magna, UT

My name is Cherish and I live in Utah. I think that these people did the right thing to ban most of these songs, but I think that it's pretty ridiculous that they're banning songs like "Ironic" and "Leaving on a Jet Plane." A lot of the songs that were from AC/DC were Satanic, but some of the others really weren't that bad. I know because I've heard a couple of them. Since that tragic day I've heard many great songs that were written for the heroes, the victims, and just all of mankind. I think that the world needs more music that delivers happy, positive messages and not bad things to pollute our young minds. I'm only twelve years old, but with kidSPEAK I can help make a difference too!

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