Warning: In the wake of the terrorist attacks on America, the following song lyric excerpts may be highly offensive to readers, according to some radio station owners.

“When you’re weary/ Feeling small/ When tears are in your eyes/ I will dry them all . I’ll take your part/ When darkness comes/ And pain is all around/ Like a bridge over troubled water/ I will lay me down.”

Or even worse:

“Imagine there’s no countries/ It isn’t hard to do/ Nothing to kill or die for/ And no religion, too/ Imagine all the people/ Living life in peace/ You may say I’m a dreamer/ But I’m not the only one/ I hope someday you’ll join us/ And the world will be as one.”

A few days after the attacks, Clear Channel, the largest radio corporation in the United States, circulated a list to its stations. The list was comprised of 150 songs that the stations were advised not to play because they were deemed “too insensitive” by a few Clear Channel officials.

Anything with a reference to burning, flying, falling, bullets – even dust and the day Tuesday – made the list.

Clear Channel is a mega-corporation that nearly monopolizes the modern music industry. It owns more than 1,200 radio stations in the United States and accounts for 20 percent of radio industry revenue. It controls 47 out of America’s 50 major radio markets, according to its Web site. It owns 122 concert venues and 40 of the 46 outdoor amphitheaters in the United States.

As soon as the list was released, the media and First Amendment crusaders jumped down Clear Channel’s throat for such implicit censorship.

And rightly so. Clear Channel immediately replied the list was only a suggestion, not a corporate mandate. But the very existence of such a list should set off alarm bells in the ears of anyone who values his or her right to free speech.

It is downright dangerous that a company as enormous as Clear Channel is trying to tell us what we can or can’t listen to. Don’t get me wrong – I would tend to agree that Bruce Springsteen’s “I’m On Fire” and AC/DC’s “Shot Down In Flames” may not be the most politically correct songs right now.

But do we need really need a corporate entity to force this upon us? It should be up to local stations to decide what is appropriate for its community.

(Personally, I think Clear Channel has ulterior motives. Pop fads like Britney and Blink-182 make tons of money for Clear Channel through overpriced concerts and promotions. Artists like John Lennon and Simon and Garfunkel obviously don’t. And were any Britney or Blink songs banned? No. A corporate conspiracy theory. But that’s another column.)

Beyond that, most of the songs on this slipshod list are just ridiculous. Examples:

R.E.M.’s “It’s the End of the World as We Know it.” Would anyone really disagree with this? CNN, George W. Bush, even the Iowa State Daily are calling this “A New America.” But R.E.M. can’t?

All Rage Against The Machine songs.

Louis Armstrong’s “What A Wonderful World.”

“Blowin’ In the Wind,” originally by Bob Dylan, covered by Peter Paul & Mary, Joan Baez and many others. This song promotes peace possibly more than any other song in history. The American Friends Service Committee played the song at its peace rally in Des Moines last week.

“Walk Like an Egyptian” by the Bangles.

The Gap Band’s, “You Dropped A Bomb On Me.” Unless I’m mistaken, it was airplanes – not bombs – that crashed into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. If songs with bomb references made the list, why not include “The Star Spangled Banner?” After all, it does mention “bombs bursting in air.”

Neil Diamond’s “America.”

James Taylor’s “Fire and Rain.” Here is a heartfelt song about mourning the loss of a loved one. What could be more appropriate?

Other songs that made the list, like Simon and Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water” and John Lennon’s “Imagine,” evoke exactly what we need right now – feelings of peace and healing. The point of this music is to reach us at deeper emotional levels and to help us sift through what is going wrong in our world.

“Imagine” was one of the most requested songs in the U.S. in the days following Sept. 11. It was played to kick off Des Moines’ memorial service for the fallen rescue workers. Neil Young performed a cover of it on the all-star TV benefit “America: A Tribute To Heroes.”

Yet Clear Channel deemed “Imagine” indecent.

Apparently Clear Channel would rather have us mourn our nation’s loss to the latest J. Lo dance tune than to a song that advocates harmony and understanding.

Giles Coren of the London Times said it best.

“Sad times require sad music . Clear Channel would do well to remember that the Taliban prohibit music and singing altogether.”

Bethany Kohoutek is a junior in journalism and mass communicati§on from Shueyville. She is the assistant arts and entertainment editor of the Daily.