Singer Elvis Costello has made a plea to radio stations: Stop playing my song! The legendary singer says he won't play "Oliver's Army" anymore either, since the lyrics contain a racial slur used to describe Irish Catholics.
"The cancel culture has come down on Elvis Costello because of a song he wrote 43 years ago, about the conflict in Northern Ireland," says Marc Cox of the Marc Cox Morning Show on 97.1 FM Talk.
"In the lyrics he used the n-word because it was something his grandfather was referred to as," says Cox. "And in today's politically-correct world, he's not allowed to say that 43 years ago."
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The lyric goes:
There was a Checkpoint Charlie
He didn't crack a smile
But it's no laughing party
When you've been on the murder mile
Only takes one itchy trigger
One more widow, one less white n*****
"That's what my grandfather was called in the British army - it's historically a fact," Costello told The Telegraph. "But people hear that word ... and accuse me of something that I didn't intend."
The song was released in 1979 and played, unedited, on radio stations for decades. But in recent years, the stations would bleep the n-word, which Costello believes only caused more controversy.
He hopes radio stations will "do him a favor" by not playing the track again.
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