The Time the BBC Banned “Deep in the Heart of Texas”
At the tail end of 1941, June Hershey and Don Swander wrote and composed the song that would become Texas’s unofficial state anthem, “Deep in the Heart of Texas”.
It was an instant hit and everyone loved it except, as you can probably tell from the title, the British Broadcasting Corporation. Though, unlike the time they banned the “Monster Mash”, the reason for this ban feels a tad bit more justified.
Music While You Work
In 1940, war was spreading along the European continent and the BBC was looking for a way to increase the morale of factory workers. Something that wasn’t too easy especially after Italy declared war on France and the United Kingdom on June 10th.
“The fuck are we going to do?!”
Just about two weeks later on June 23rd, 1940, the BBC debuted a radio program called Music While You Work. The idea was if some light/popular music was played in factories, it would make workers more productive and keep morale up. This proved to be true but because the program was mainly for factory workers the BBC had to put in some strict guidelines as to what music could be played by the orchestra.
Some of the rules made perfect sense like no music with loud drumming as it could sound like gunfire. While other rules were a bit questionable like no jazz. Either way, the program was a hit with not just factory workers but also the general public who enjoyed all the popular music being played.
Related Article: Why the BBC Banned the Monster Mash
Clapping for Texas
One song that factory workers weren’t allowed to hear during work hours was the extremely popular “Deep in the Heart of Texas”, specifically Bing Crosby’s version. A news article from the St. Louis Post from 1952 claims the song caused workers to stop what they were doing and clap.
Some used whatever was handy like tools and “expensive machinery” to clap along to the song. Apparently, this caused confusion as the clappers forgot to perform essential tasks because they were too busy clapping.
Did it though? Did it really?
Now, this article was written in 1952 and doesn’t name any factories where this actually happened. After several hours of looking I couldn’t find any proof of the song having actually caused confusion in factories. The most likely scenario is that the song was banned before it could cause any distraction as it didn’t fit the guidelines the BBC enforced.
If you’re wondering if it could have caused confusion or if it was just some overhyped paranoia then I’ll invite you to have someone in Texas listen to the song. I did, and my friend started clapping and hasn’t stopped. Pretty sure I heard others join her in the clapping.
I mean I get it but… also I don’t get it. Listen to it here:
The Ban
As for the ban, it wasn’t an all-out ban across all BBC programs, the ban was only during working hours and on programs that workers may be subjected to. “Deep in the Heart of Texas” was played at other times during the day although possibly due to the workday ban, it was discouraged.
Eventually, after the war, the song was allowed and in 1962 topped the charts for 8 weeks. As for the Music While You Work program, it was so successful it stayed on the radio well after the war, until 1967.
Quick Facts
“Deep in the Heart of Texas” was so popular several performers recorded their own version. In 1942 Gene Autry was one of those performers, 7 years later he would be the only performer willing to record “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” which launched Rudolph into stardom.
During World War II the BBC also banned songs that had “sickly sentimentality” as they felt it would cause those away from home to become nostalgic
