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Cowboy Junkies Forced to Change Name to 'Cowboy Fan' for Beijing Concert

Cowboy JunkiesCourtesy of Latent/Zoe

Earlier this year Bob Dylan made headlines after it was reported he had to run his set list and lyrical content by Chinese government officials for a tour of the country. Dylan posted a message on his site stating that "nobody ever told me about it and we played all the songs that we intended to play."

Canadian alt-country band Cowboy Junkies had a much different experience during a recent concert at a Beijing music festival, though. Their performance came with a few alterations, including changing the translation of the group's name to something a bit more palatable for authorities.

"Our Chinese name is now Cowboy Fan," wrote guitarist Mike Timmins on Sunday, June 5, in a lengthy blog post.

According to Timmins, the band were performing at a music festival organized by a famous Chinese DJ named Youdai and he was responsible for ensuring all the necessary contracts and permits were in order for foreign groups to perform at the event.

"This included not only getting the government to agree to specific bands (bands that he had already signed contracts with), but also getting all of the repertoires translated and approved by the necessary departments," Timmins wrote.

"An example of the type of detail that he and his team needed to deal with was trying to come up with a translation of our name so that we wouldn't be ruled out by the censors..."

The guitarist also noted that the group "also had a couple of songs crossed off of our set list," including 'Sit Sadly' (I Cannot Sit Sadly by Your Side) for containing the word "gun" and also the song '3rd Crusade' "because, well, just because." ('Third Crusade' is a song the band began performing earlier this year and is reportedly being slated for their next studio album).

Watch Cowboy Junkies Perform 'I Can't Sit Sadly by Your Side' Live

Although there were a few logistical hiccups with lineup changes and schedule changes, Timmins said the band "had a fun show and capped off a great week."

"I don't think our appearance will result in Cowboy Fan streaking up the pop charts in China but we hope that it will lead to a return to this country and a proper tour to half a dozen or so cities," he said. "We haven't gotten enough of this fascinating country or of its resilient, friendly, outgoing people."

The group, who released their latest album, 'Demons,' earlier in 2011, were inspired to write 'Renmin Park' in 2010 following Timmins' three-month stay in China. Both albums are part of their 'Nomad Series,' a project where they plan to complete four albums in an 18-month span.

Cowboy Junkies have a lone date this summer in Hungary before a brief European tour begins in early November.

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sleuth1inv

BOWING at the altar of the almighty yen..........they all do it......

June 11 2011 at 2:48 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to sleuth1inv's comment
qapla5

That's right, because NO previous group has EVER bowed at the altar of the almighty dollar. Like the Rolling Stones never agreed to altar the lyrics of "Let's Spend the Night Together" to appear on "The Ed Sullivan Show." Or when Cher redid the song "Lady Marmalade" to change the FRENCH lyric "Voulez-vous coucher avec moi" to "Voulez-vous danser avec moi" (the former translates to "Do you want to go to bed with me" while the latter means "Do you want to danse with me") because there were, obviously, so many little American kids who understood French and had to be protected from the "obscene" lyric (in spite of the song's being a #1 pop hit for Labelle, just months earlier).

The Stones and Cher could've simply done different songs, but they both bowed to the "almighty dollar" and made the requested changes to the songs.

June 11 2011 at 3:22 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
dkgonzalez79

That's bull ****>>>>I would never change the name of my band to suit another country, If they dont like tuff. No one said you have to play in that country. F----ing coummunist country!!!

June 11 2011 at 2:15 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to dkgonzalez79's comment
qapla5

The group is lucky then to have started when "junkie" had lost so much of its negative drug-related connotation. (For historical perspective, the group started right around the same time that Nancy Reagan threatened to cancel a government-sponsored concert intended to fight drug abuse because she objected to A SINGLE SONG by one group that planned to participate. The song was "Obsession" by the group Animotion. I suppose it's a good thing the Cowboy Junkies weren't big enough at the time to have participated; Nancy would've probably gone into an apoplectic fit over the word "junkies.")

June 11 2011 at 3:14 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
amecincco

They sound good, but not quite top 40 material. Bring back I.C.B.M. Rocket Rock!

June 11 2011 at 1:37 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Hitmanblues

when they have real talent let us know

June 11 2011 at 1:14 PM Report abuse +1 rate up rate down Reply
mikie walker

dont do it. dont give in to this sort of thing. . why is it that only this country has to put up with this stupid stuff

June 11 2011 at 1:07 PM Report abuse +3 rate up rate down Reply
Dunlop Law Firm

This is really boring and stupid.

June 11 2011 at 11:56 AM Report abuse +2 rate up rate down Reply
Craig

What a bunch of Sh*t. They're such a perfect country. Solly, no flee speach.

June 11 2011 at 10:42 AM Report abuse +3 rate up rate down Reply
jbjg24m

think AOL censors are being a little trigger happy now

June 11 2011 at 10:25 AM Report abuse +2 rate up rate down Reply
jbjg24m

never heard of this group before

June 11 2011 at 10:19 AM Report abuse +3 rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to jbjg24m's comment
sunchld0

Go listen to your Johnny Mathis albums. They've never heard of you, either.

June 11 2011 at 12:44 PM Report abuse -1 rate up rate down Reply
dave1marine

I could SWEAR that AOL/Huffpost has hired a truckload of Chinese "moderators" to run their boards. The results are about the same as what the Junkies had to go trough in China.

June 11 2011 at 10:15 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply