Led Zep’s ‘Whole Lotta Love’ censored for Olympics
p2pnet news view Politics | Music:- The 2008 Beijing Olympics closed yesterday with a nod to London, England, the venue of the next games.
“The Olympic flag was officially handed over to London mayor Boris Johnson during an eight-minute, $4,632,416 (or thereabouts 
) British segment as a mock double-decker bus transformed itself a stage to herald the UK event.
Organisers commissioned Page to record a new version of Led Zeppelin’s ‘Whole Lotta Love’ to be performed on top of the bus sung by Leona Lewis, winner of the ITV reality television show The X Factor, “with David Beckham looking on,” says The Telegraph, going on
“But, according to London 2012 officials, Lewis – who grew up in east London close to the Olympic site – requested a change to the song’s second verse because she was worried they would not make sense for a female singer.
“In the original, recorded in 1969, frontman Robert Plant sings, ‘I’m gonna give you every inch of my love’.”
But in the version sung in China, Lewis changed the words to “every bit” of my love.
“The band also agreed to a request from organisers to drop the third verse, which includes similar sexual innuendoes, to fit in to the eight-minute performance,” adds the story.
The Telegraph – Led Zeppelin classic ‘too racy’ for Olympics, August 23, 2008
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August 25th, 2008 at 9:29 am
More importantly… is there any version/broadcast where you could actually hear the damn thing? Both the NBC and BBC version all you get is the echo of the stadium’s speakers. Did somebody forget to plug into the sound board or something? Sheesh.
August 25th, 2008 at 11:58 am
How far has England fallen to choose that song to represent themselves to the world? They may have cleaned up the lyrics, but the sound and mood are still conveyed. And there are thousands if not millions of people who know the song, so the lyric change hides nothing from us. If you play the tune Amazing Grace, and change the lyrics – you would still in effect “hear” the song that you already know. Who on earth chose this song to represent England to the rest of the world? Whoever they are have besmirched their country (if you’ll excuse the expression) royally! Of all the millions of songs they could have chosen, they chose a bawdy sex anthem!
They and whoever hired them should be fired at the very least. And GB would not be amiss to issue a statement of apology to the rest of the world for using such poor taste. CW
August 26th, 2008 at 12:39 am
Oh get off your high horse. It’s good song and it rocks. And Led Zeppelin is one of the most famous rock bands to come outta GB. Or do you want to hear Iron Maidens – The Trooper or Judas Priest – Breaking the law or Black Sabbath – Sabbath Bloody Sabbath or Motorhead – Ace of Spades. Besides the song did what it was inteded to do. Create an internet buzz over the whole deal so people will not forget who the next organizer is.
August 26th, 2008 at 2:56 pm
I agree with CW, the Summer Games traditionally “rock” with the best in sport from all over the world. Rock songs of lurid lyrics have little or nothing to do with sport and certainly are not the only thing Great Britian has to offer the world in the musical realm. The Chinese put on a fabulous and masterful event this year in Beijing. I hope GB can offer something of substance and wonder as well.