This is what we get with tape-delay censorship:

Two sexually explicit lyrics were excised from the rock legends’ performance Sunday. The only song to avoid the editor was “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction,” a 41-year-old song about sexual frustration.

In “Start Me Up,” ABC’s editors silenced one word, a reference to a woman’s sexual sway over a dead man. The lyrics for “Rough Justice” included a synonym for rooster that the network also deemed worth cutting out.

Of course the rock legends are the Rolling Stones.

My question is, what’s the point in censoring a song that has been played ad naseum on the radio for years intact?

“Start Me Up” and “Satisfaction” were risque, um, like a generation ago. As far as their new song, I haven’t heard it, but I presume the objectionable word was “cock.” Double entendre aside, is it really that graphic coming from “rockers” eligible for AARP mailings?

For the record, here’s the lyric in context:

One time you were my baby chicken
Now you’ve grown into a fox
Once upon a time I was your little rooster
But am I just one of your cocks

It seems pretty obvious to me that they’re talking about a bevy of male chickens, but you never know. Somebody might snicker Beavis & Butthead-style at that.

Impressionable minds might be watching. I’m glad ABC saw fit to protect me from that.*

* Obviously sarcasm. Shakespeare used worse double entendres, and he’s taught in high school without a 5-second tape delay.