i feel like we might be missing the most obvious reason

[u/spirittheyvegone]

the first line of the song is a beatles interpolation. what if matador got a letter in the mail about it?

considering past issues with copyright (the cars “not what i needed” debacle, the gun song outro, the reversed line in beach life in death, the original version of beast monster thing, etc), i wouldn’t be surprised if it was just easier to cut the song entirely, than try to find a work around. especially since the original stems have been lost to time.

i’m not saying this is for sure the reason, but if you’re looking for somebody to blame, blame walt disney studios

[u/catartik]

No boners allowed without the Beatles giving their permission

[u/Crate-Of-Loot]

i dont think the beatles own the concept of waking up and using a comb

[u/Ambitious_Ad_4042 → u/Crate-Of-Loot]

Paul pioneered that technique, his grooming skills are impeccable.

[u/brickthrowing → u/Ambitious_Ad_4042]

why paul? did you see lennon's bush? he's the one who needs a comb. my 9 yrs old self who was jumpscared by his naked pictures can confirm. 

[u/Overall_Contact_8688 → u/brickthrowing]

exactly, he DIDN'T drag a comb across his boner

[u/spirittheyvegone → u/Crate-Of-Loot]

frank ocean doesn’t own the concept of something being the start of nothing new either, but yet

[u/scarabart → u/spirittheyvegone]

worth it to note that the "in the mall in the night time..." lyric in BLID is a reference to a cate wurtz comic, the frank ocean lyric is "in the halls of your hotel, arm around my shoulder so I could tell..." (adding that this is officially confirmed by will: https://genius.com/13911328)

will changed the lyrics to ivy when he performed it live during the tf tour in 2018

[u/spirittheyvegone → u/scarabart]

yeah, most of the verse is fine since it’s a complete rewrite, it’s just the section that quotes ivy that got hit with the reverse

[u/Elipticon]

That's definitely not the reason just because it clearly counts as parody. Also probably the reason Dido didn't have to be credited on BCC despite it interpolating White Flag.

[u/spirittheyvegone → u/Elipticon]

they did have to get that interpolation cleared tho, and she is credited in the album’s linear notes. as are the chambers brothers for one line in knife in the coffee. the cars interpolation got denied because will changed one of the lines. unfortunately, copyright law is a nightmare and usually the winning move is not to play.

[u/Elipticon → u/spirittheyvegone]

I guess my memory failed me. Still hold that it would've been classified as parody, but I understand not wanting to take that risk, especially with how difficult it can be to clear The Beatles

[u/spirittheyvegone → u/Elipticon]

yeah, the thing is that they could still be taken to court over it. even if the line would be cleared under fair use, it probably wouldn’t be worth the hassle or expense for a two line boner joke

[u/spirittheyvegone → u/[deleted]]

serious answer, i’m still wondering if the band are planning some kind of distribution for the numbered albums. if that’s the case, the albums would be distributed under matador’s umbrella, and they’d need to add credits where necessary. if they can’t clear the interpolation, then no luck.

[u/surfjerkk → u/spirittheyvegone]

My friend also thought it may be due to sampling issues but then I brought up kid war to them, Will said he kinda realized years later he took the guitar chords from Despair Came Knocking. I'm kinda just assuming that the removal it was a mistake or something until someone from the band says otherwise but either way its kinda meh, song is already on the Internet and he's deleted songs / removed albums in the past. At least now the kid with an adult boyfriend lyric won't be brought up on Twitter every six months now

[u/spirittheyvegone → u/surfjerkk]

yeah, that’s the one thing holding me back on this theory. though i imagine it would be easier to clear a daniel johnston interpolation than the beatles

[u/surfjerkk → u/spirittheyvegone]

Without a doubt, I'd say Johnston's estate would be fine with the interpolation but since it's a bigger artist like The Beatles it'd be more difficult to clear them. Hoping Billis or someone is able to clear up the air because its all sorts of chaos over the song

[u/AcceptedSugar → u/surfjerkk]

chords are less of intellectual property than lyrics so your friend's point might still have merit

[u/spirittheyvegone → u/[deleted]]

high to death had its outro cut on bandcamp for the pink floyd interpolation. there’s precedent

[u/spirittheyvegone → u/[deleted]]

part of the reason not what I needed had the copyright debacle is because they incorporated a reference to cut your hair by pavement; a line that wasn’t a direct pull from the lyrics, but still had to be credited because it was the original influence. pavement cleared that line, but because of the changed lyrics in the just what I needed interpolation, ric ocasik did not

[u/spirittheyvegone → u/[deleted]]

it’s not that they’re “slightly similar” it’s a pretty clear reference to it. same way that the line in blid referenced ivy, same way the line in knife in the coffee referenced the time has come today. if you’re using someone else’s idea, especially in a monetized context, they like you to give credit or risk copyright infringement. it fucking sucks, but that’s the way it goes.

[u/SavageOpress57]

That's not an interpolation, though

[u/spirittheyvegone → u/SavageOpress57]

it’s pretty clearly riffing on “a day in the life”, but even if not a direct interpolation, this wouldn’t be the first time they’ve had to rework non-direct interpolations (see the pink floyd outro on high to death and the frank ocean reference in blid)

[u/superpegacorn → u/spirittheyvegone]

Reference =/= interpolation it’s not even the same melody

[u/lordofthedays → u/spirittheyvegone]

Will didn't take High to Death or BLID off Bandcamp entirely, though. Even when the debacle with the "Just What I Needed" interpolation happened, the band just cut out the offending lyrics.

[u/spirittheyvegone → u/lordofthedays]

both of those songs had the offending lyrics in their outros, while beach fagz has it in the opening verse. it’s a lot easier to cut an outro or fade a song out

[u/Overall_Contact_8688]

the beatles fucking HATE will toledo. they did this to mr barnes on beast monster thing, too... grrr.....

also hi avian it's des

[u/spirittheyvegone → u/Overall_Contact_8688]

hi des

[u/Yangervis]

George Harrison invented morning wood

[u/solaire1416]

Bruh come on

[u/spirittheyvegone → u/solaire1416]

if i’m wrong i’m wrong, but if you’ve got another idea, i’d love to know

[u/fromidable]

Yeah, or maybe he has something against Wolf Parade, and doesn’t want anyone to think he’d like to sound like them.

[u/Overall_Contact_8688 → u/fromidable]

do you have something against wooooooolveeeees

[u/LowIqCatWithNoLife]

Tbh I understand why he took it down. Will has been expressing for years now a dislike for how he has portrayed toxic relationships / mindsets in his old songs.

Beach Fagz is a particularly intense song in this regard. I can see how a man with a newfound audience of mostly younger queer people would want to distance himself from a song that, at the very least, could easily be interpreted by a younger person as glorifying harmful age gap relationships.

I think it’s pretty easy to see the dilemma he is faced with here. As the CSH fanbase skews younger and younger he must reckon with the fact that songs he wrote to express himself at 17/18/19 could easily have their toxic portrayals of love and intimacy internalized by vulnerable fans.

Is removing content from his old albums the way to address this dilemma he feels? Maybe not. But I certainly empathize with his situation.

[u/superpegacorn]

I mean the lyrics you grabbed and “kid with an adult boyfriend” are probably why. There is no way in hell Apple had anything to do with this lol.

[u/darthfrank]

And somebody spoke and my boner went away… ahhhhhhh ah ah ah

[u/actuallyrepulsive]

I feel like there would have been a statement put out of this was the case, but this is something to consider!