1967 Hit Was Banned From Radio Over Suggestive Lyrics

It's hard to believe that the soft, sweet melody and lyrics of Van Morrison's "Brown Eyed Girl" could be viewed as a risqué work at the time of its release in the Summer of 1967, but the Northern Irish singer's signature song was once banned from several radio stations.

The first single following Morrison's departure from Decca Records and the break-up of his band, named Them, was his highest-charting U.S. hit to date, landing at no. 10 on the Billboard charts - although it may have climbed higher had it not been refused by several radio stations.

The soft rock single was initially refused by stations across the U.S. for the suggestive lyric, "making love in the green grass," a term that would be considered mild in a more modern context, but bordered on filth in the '60s. To overcome the ban, an alternate cut of the song was created, which swapped out the segment for the much more innocent "laughin' and a-runnin', hey, hey."

The edit arguably contributed to the success of the record, which now has the rare honor of over 10 million radio plays in the U.S. alone, shared by just 10 BMI songs. However, the original "Brown Eyed Girl" would have caused divisions that paled in the comparison to the "making love" controversy.

The hit was originally titled "Brown Skin Girl," and would have been released right when Interracial marriage was legalized nationwide in the U.S. in June 1967, following the landmark Supreme Court case ruling for Loving v. Virginia.

"It was a kind of Jamaican song… Calypso. It just slipped my mind," Morrison later remarked (via American Blues Scene). "I changed the title. After we'd recorded it, I looked at the tape box and didn't even notice that I'd changed the title. I looked at the box where I'd lain it down with my guitar and it said Brown Eyed Girl on the tape box. It's just one of those things that happens."

While Morrison couldn't be described as any way committed to the interracial dynamic of the original, its release in a country still in the throes of desegregation and the Civil Rights Movement would have significantly impacted the success of the record, for better or for worse, making the resulting offence over the words "making love" rather humorous in comparison to what could've been.

This story was originally published by Men's Journal on May 23, 2026, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Men's Journal as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

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This story was originally published May 23, 2026 at 3:28 PM.