The Florida teen, a 19-year-old Christopher Holder, was apparently singing loudly some of the explicit lyrics while on a sidewalk with his buddies in Brooksville. The ugly incident happened on a Sunday around 6:30 pm in front of a mother and her two children, ages 5 and 14.

Sheriff’s officers responded to the woman’s complaints about public profanity and hauled the white 19-year-old all the way to the pokey. Now that the teen is in the slammer it remains to be seen if he will be crowing about his detainment and rapping any more Lil Boosie songs to his fellow inmates.

The Pogues song has been an annual Christmas favorite among fans. These same fans were outraged with the bleeping of the theoretically offensive word, so much so, that the BBC has finally reversed its decision.

The BBC has a long history of bleeping out lyrics for questionable reasons. It has been recently revealed that some of the George Formby lyrics, which are quite yawners by today’s standards, were also banned by the BBC.

While some may think that the BBC has only censored lyrics in the past that deal with sex, drugs and violence, the scope of banning goes much wider than this. Songs that may include advertisements for soft drink companies, positive messages for people with disabilities and references to generalized uncivilized behavior have also been censored.

The unintended consequence of the BBC censoring songs, however is this: they make the songs much more popular. Anytime you tell people they can’t have something they want it all the more. Perhaps “taunting the censors” should be a new game that musicians learn to play in order to see their recordings fly up the charts.

State Senator Raymond Finney, R-Maryville then nixed the resolution, objecting to some of the objectionable, sexy lyrics in Timberlake’s songs. There was no word on whether the past wardrobe malfunction incident in the Super Bowl a couple of years past also played a role in the Republican senator’s distaste for the musician.

Rumor has it that Timberlake will be banned from entering Tennessee and Georgia will rescind its public apology to Ray Charles and ask the surviving family to never again enter the state. Other southern states with popular musicians are expected to follow suit.

I give the Tennessee Republican Senator a two thumbs down and Needs More Cowbell award (equivalent of a raspberry).

This day provoked much discussion on radio as well as in the blogosphere and other online publishers. An interesting article on music censorship that caught my eye is one that is posted at the World Music Central site by T. J. Nelson who writes a pretty compelling piece about banned lyrics and music censorship the world over. Nelson offers a thoughtful and thought-provoking examination of the limits of corporate, governmental and social censorship in music.

Some say the move is meant to enlighten the African-American youth that a term that they use casually as a term of endearment is actually self-denigrating. The mouth of Michael Richards and the beginning of Black History Month seem to have sparked the movement across the country. Comedian Chris Rock and actor Jamie Foxx say they have no intentions on heeding the ban, however.

It remains to be seen whether any black rap artists will, in fact, take the ban seriously or not. Banned lyrics have been a part of the music industry for decades and usually tends to generate more interest for the lyrics than it is a deterrent. Banning the “N” word may be a grand, symbolic gesture for some, but for most others it will be a lame attempt to solve a problem that needs a better fix than a blustery ban with no consequences.

According to Teapacks, however, the lyrics are more generic in nature and do not refer to any crazy ruler in particular. The song is sung in three different languages, French, English and Hebrew and it not to be taken literally as it was meant to be tongue-in-cheek.

The 52nd Eurovision Song Contest will be held in Helsinki, Finland at the Hartwall Arena from May 10 – 12, 2007. Finnish band, Lordi won last year’s competition and this year 42 countries will be represented in the contest.