George Carlin Records Famous “Seven Dirty Words” Monologue
Comedian George Carlin recorded his “Filthy Words” monologue for his 1973 album Occupation Foole on this day. It was an expansion of his original “Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television” monologue that appeared on the 1972 Class Clown album.
The U.S. Supreme Court, in Federal Communications Commission v. Pacifica Foundation on July 3, 1978, upheld the FCC’s ban on the seven “dirty words” in the monologue.
In case you were wondering, the seven dirty words are shit, fuck, piss, cunt, tits, motherfucker, and cocksucker. And if you want to read them, the words, and several other words generally considered offensive to most people, appear in the Appendix to court’s Opinion in its decision, FCC v. Pacifica Foundation (1978).
On the printed page, the words have almost no impact, but the recording of Carlin’s monologue is still hilarious today, four decades after he first delivered it.
In March 2015 the Library of Congress honored George Carlin by placing his Class Clown album, with its famous seven dirty words monologue, on the National Recording Registry, a preserved collection of America’s greatest cultural, artistic and historical recordings.
Listen to Carlin’s monologues on CD: Class Clown (1972); Occupation Foole (1973)
Watch George Carlin perform the seven dirty words monologue: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbZhpf3sQxQ
Learn more: James Sullivan, Seven Dirty Words: The Life and Crimes of George Carlin (2010)
Learn more about the FCC’s regulation of indecency: http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/madison/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/FirstReport.Indecency.Levi_.final_.pdf
Visit the Pacifica Foundation here.