MUSIC “The Tonight Show” people wanted SARA HICKMAN to sing “Too Fast,” a song off her upcoming LP, on the show in April. But they wanted some changes in the lyrics, which take a satirical slant on sexuality.
Hickman agreed, but that was before she met Carson’s “Talent Coordinator.” He ordered her to change the line “she dives into his pants” and offered two replacements: “she unbuckles his pants” or “she does a finger dance upon his pants.”
Hickman laughed and told the T.C. that his versions were “more graphically sexual” than the original. She asked to do another song, or just let the technicians bleep out the line, but T.C stood firm,
So, on the night of the program, Hickman showed up for the thirty-minute rehearsal she was allowed with Doc and the band. But TalentMan had brought the NBC censor (no, not the Church Lady), and she nixed it all: no diving, no finger dancing, nyet. With just minutes of rehearsal left, T.C. wanted Hickman to teach the band “I Wish I Were A Princess,” a heavy produc-tion number, She wheedled him into “Last Night a Big Rain,” and, fighting to hide her anger, went backstage to chart the song. Talentmeister followed to ask, “Have 1 made you angry?” to which Hickman, game face in place, snapped, “Oh, no. I’m just so happy to be here I have tears in my eyes.”
Then came the final blow. T.C. put a comforting hand on her arm. “Oh, I forgot you’re a girl from the South and need a man to take care of you.”
Somehow, Hickman resisted the temptation to get the vapors, rip her bodice, birth some chilluns, save Tara, and swoon-or just haul off and knock the flunky all the way to Vicksburg. The song went fine, and Carson was nice enough, but don’t look for a Hickman encore anytime soon.
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