Radio stations censored Why a Child is Born after listeners labeled a verse of Johnny Mathis’ classic Christmas song as racist.
The waves that radio stations will be censoring When a Child is Born comes just two weeks after Radio 2 announced it would censored version of The Pogues’s classic song Fairytale Of New York for the first time this holiday season has stirred mixed feelings online.
Listeners have taken offence to the word ‘yellow’ in a lyric that refers to a child as ‘black, white, yellow, no one knows’.
The world has gone mad,’ one listener commented. ‘Another Christmas classic ruined. Leave Christmas alone and leave Johnny Mathis alone,’ another said.
At least two radio stations have already started censoring the tune.
Heart FM and Magic Radio are censoring When a Baby Is Born. The beloved Johnny Mathis Christmas hit may also be censored by the BBC.
A BBC Radio spokesperson : ‘When A Child Is Born is not a song that has been played regularly on BBC Radio this month, but as always we continue to monitor audience response to our programming.’
When a Child is Born was written in the early 70s but was made popular by Mr Mathis in December 1976 when the song spent three weeks at the top of the UK Singles Chart.
It was also the number one Christmas song in Great Britain that year.
