I want to clean up Housequake, seeing as how it's my 9-year-old daughter's favorite song. I'm getting tired of turning down the volume when he says "Bullshit".

I could do it the old-fashioned way - copy Housequake onto another CD and turn the volume down when the offending words come up. But is there a way to do it on computer?

If I download the song from iTunes, does that make it easier? What program can I use to edit the song?

I'd like to edit the bad words out but have something in there besides blank space. Any help you can give is greatly appreciated.

I suppose it depends how savvy you are with computers and how quickly you can pick up new software…

Personally I would do it in something like Acip Pro where you can visualise the track and chop it up accordingly, replacing the offending “bullshit” with another section of the song where he doesn’t say it, and so giving the impression of a seamless beat where “bullshit” has miraculously disappeared.

But to be honest, without knowing anything about working with music files, looping etc it’s a bit of a jump in the deep end.

Failing that, you could find a live version he has done in more recent years where he no longer swears…

Let me know if you manage it.
[Edited 4/20/06 9:36am]

Maybe she likes it with the cursin'

Man I could edit it.

Personally, I think it would be blasphemy to edit that song. WHy not wait til your daughter is older for her to be hearing language in music. Or simply explain it to her that during this period in P's life, he felt it appropriate to swear in his music, but that doesn't mean it was apporpriate or it's NOT appropriate for her to say.

What if she picks up Purple Rain? Or 1999? Best to explain things to her now. It's not like she's not hearing these words outside of the house. Or maybe she isn't, but my guess is that she's heard cuss words before.

Do it the old fashioned way with a cassette tape and a pause button and then burn the edited version onto CD.

You need to listen to the song very carefully and find something like either a drum beat, handclap, or combination of both, that would flow with the blank space. Press the pause button right before the word "bullshit", release it and record the small portion that replaces the word. Press the pause button again and release it to continue recording after the word has been spoken.

If you have the vinyl record, there is an easy solution. Once you have paused the recording before the word "bullshit". Go to the end of the word, turn the turntable backwards with your finger and record the word backwards into the song where the word would normally be spoken forwards.

Bullshit so nasty...shame she doesn't like Sexy MF!

I think i still have the cassette single of
U got the look from 87
Housequake was the bside
and if i rememer right..its edited
hey says "bull"
And $hit part is missing completly

She must be a very well-raised child.... I know at 9 years old I knew worse words than bullshit!

RodeoSchro said:

If you have a Mac, here's what you can do.

Firstly, no matter what your computer platform, do NOT buy the song off iTunes if you already have the CD. You'll be out $1 with nothing to show for it.

1. Make yourself a .wav file of the song. You can use iTunes to import it that way. Cost = free

2. Download software called Audacity: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
Audacity is a very simple audio editing software package, and it's free, too.

3. Open your housequake.wav file in Audacity

4. The interface is a lot like any word processing software -- you'll see soundwaves for the left and right channel. Pushing the spacebar will play the song, and you'll see a cursor move along the soundwaves indicating what portion of the song you're listening to.

5. Click and drag to highlight the naughty bits that you want to edit for your daughter. Then, under the "effects" menu, choose "reverse" or another effect that suits your liking and negates the no-nos.

6. Save the file as a .wav file again with a different name (i.e. "housequake_clean.wav". Burn that .wav file to a CD (use iTunes or any burning software to do this).

7. Voila -- you've got a clean version of Housequake with no loss of quality (aside from the crappy quality on the original CD), and all it cost you was 2 cents for a blank CD.

And would you edit it to just ... "Bull!"

Record it using a microphone whilst your daughter is out

When it comes to the word 'Bullshit', shout something really loud that covers it up ... make it really humorous like Prince does nowadays .... perhaps scream, 'Mullet', 'Bull Uh-Oh' as a nod to 'Lolita', or even, 'Fuck it'.

.

why raise yourchild with hysterics over words? leave the shit alone

langebleu said:

If you do it that way, maybe consider "Fishtail!" a la I Wish U Heaven pts. 1, 2 and 3.

Or heck, depending on your daughter's interests, maybe replacing "bullshit" with "Wiggles!" might work.

Doozer said:

how d'ya do that

The easiest way to to use a wave editor, highlight BS and use the reverse command.

Just tell her that he's shouting "bushy!!!" because it's a song about a bushy little bear having a lovely party with lots of honey and stuff.

Doozer said:

Okay.....I guess I could have spent time explaining every detail. Good post.

That's hilarious, making a clean version with alternate words/vocals.

Doozer said:

BLASPHEMY!

madartista said:

I think a cool version would sound like:

"BullSH*beeeeep*"

with a beep way longer than needed.

CinisterCee said:

okay, that would be kinda funny.

or just redo the whole damn thing:

Be quiet please, darn.
Inform me who in this house is awake of the Quake?
I am serious.
Serious.
If you do know how to rock, say "Yes."
If you do know how to party, say "Oh, yes."
But if you're not aware of the rare "housequake" --
Be quiet please, darn...
B

There is a "clean" Prince version floating around in which he replaces the b word with the f word!!! Fishtail!

madartista said:

madartista said:

madartista said:

There already is a clean edit.

The 'shit' part of 'bullshit' is edited out on the 7" single edit
(on the b-side to U Got The Look)
[Edited 4/20/06 16:59pm]

BorisFishpaw said:

AAAAAaaaaa hahahaha