SINGING Kettle’s Artie Trezise has apologised after changing the words to the celebrated and well-known children’s song, You Cannae Shove Your Granny Aff A Bus.

Trezise was performing at a gig in Stirling’s Albert Halls last Saturday when he changed the lyrics to “you cannae get yer granny aff the drugs”, also naming a number of popular street drugs during the show.

The 76-year-old said he was inspired by a viral cover of the song from popular rock band The LaFontaines according to The Daily Record, and added that he would not be performing the changed lyrics again after backlash from some parents in attendance. 

He said: “I didn’t sing the song but did recite two lines of it for adults in the audience. The parody by The LaFontaines goes down a storm and I’m flattered that the band were Singing Kettle fans as kids.

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“The thought that audiences would think I condoned drug-taking and wasn’t sympathetic to families who have to deal with those problems upsets me.

“It has been a lesson for me. The public can be assured I won’t be mentioning the song again.

“My heart goes out to families of young people who lost their lives in Glasgow on a weekend night out recently. It’s ironic that ‘cannae shove your granny’ has caused some controversy.

"When we sang it originally we had to remind non-Scots audiences that the first word is ‘cannae’. Lots of folk thought we were telling kids to shove their granny off the bus.”

A dad, who was at the show with his family, said: “I think Artie thought it would be funny for the mums and dads but it went down like a lead balloon. He maybe didn’t realise that it was inappropriate.

“The crowd had been really noisy but a hush fell when he finished that bit. My five-year-old asked me why he changed the words and wanted to know what the drug terms meant.”

The Bafta award-winning Singing Kettle was first performed in 1982 by Artie and his wife Cilla Fisher, and ran for five series on the BBC and two on STV.