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Rednecks Lyrics

Artist: Randy Newman
Album: Good Old Boys

Last night I saw Lester Maddox on a TV show
With some smart ass New York Jew
And the Jew laughed at Lester Maddox
And the audience laughed at Lester Maddox too
Well he may be a fool but he's our fool
If they think they're better than him they're wrong
So I went to the park and I took some paper along
And that's where I made this song

We talk real funny down here
We drink too much and we laugh too loud
We're too dumb to make it in no Northern town
And we're keepin' the niggers down

We got no-necked oilmen from Texas
And good ol' boys from Tennessee
And colleges men from LSU
Went in dumb. Come out dumb too
Hustlin' 'round Atlanta in their alligator shoes
Gettin' drunk every weekend at the barbecues
And they're keepin' the niggers down

CHORUS
We're rednecks, rednecks
And we don't know our ass from a hole in the ground
We're rednecks, we're rednecks
And we're keeping the niggers down

Now your northern nigger's a Negro
You see he's got his dignity
Down here we're too ignorant to realize
That the North has set the nigger free

Yes he's free to be put in a cage
In Harlem in New York City
And he's free to be put in a cage on the South-Side of Chicago
And the West-Side
And he's free to be put in a cage in Hough in Cleveland
And he's free to be put in a cage in East St. Louis
And he's free to be put in a cage in Fillmore in San Francisco
And he's free to be put in a cage in Roxbury in Boston
They're gatherin' 'em up from miles around
Keepin' the niggers down

CHORUS

Comments/Interpretations
by spencer g on 5/10/2008 12:14am HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA ARE YOU SERIOUS?!
by Big Al on 6/6/2008 7:36am And for those who cannot see through the lyrics... This song is not defending racism, it is skewing hypocracy as only Randy can.
by Coulter on 7/1/2008 2:46am no hes not retard, its satire you think you might learn that in a freshman english class
by Dysperdis on 7/24/2008 6:12pm This is an interesting song- aside from the obvious criticism of the racism that flourishes in the Southern states, he also lambastes the "freedom" offered by other states, where racism is often hidden behind a mask of generosity. While I'm not sure if it's intentional, the last stanza can definitely be taken as an allusion to the way in which Jewish people in Germany were originally relocated into ghettos, where they were nominally free, though they lived in cages. In Germany, the ghettos were portrayed as a safe place for Jews to live, protected from the strong anti-Semitic sentiments that were commonplace, though they eventually served as a way to easily round up Jews to be sent to various concentration camps.
by dfas on 8/15/2008 7:50pm esryesrty
by Bo on 9/12/2008 10:00am Dysperdis, it's completely intentional. The areas he mentions are US ghettos in various cities. He's saying that they are "free" to be caged in the proscribed areas. And since ghetto=ghetto, it's applicable to the German Jews too.
by Joan T on 9/16/2008 5:10pm Good God,you can't be serious. If you are offended by this hilarious stupid song, you obviously don't get it.
by sjk on 10/12/2008 11:05am The song is STILL current. Witness what is happening at Republican rallies. The only thing the song misses is that rednecks come from all over the country and good 'ole boys (and girls) wear business suits --and lipstick. Right now they are focused on keeping one particular black man down.
by redseasharks on 10/18/2008 12:56pm I saw Randy last night. He sang this and many other songs, and it's amazing, unfortunately, how relevant many of them remain. Sail away...
by dr.mjctaylor on 11/10/2008 1:24pm I am a college professor who is currently lecturing on political activism in the 1960s and 1970s for a U.S. History survey course, in northern Minnesota no less. I played this for my class who shocked not by the blatant racism that Randy calls to the fore, but the prodigous use of the word "nigger." For those old enough to remember, it stirred the same firestorm as his anti-prejudice tome "Short People" did in 1977. Americans and college -- "Went in dumb, come out dumb too" -- were raising generations of semi-literates to face a world of Ph.Ds.
by Karla on 2/25/2009 2:04pm Every time I vote, I attempt to keep a democrat 'down'. We can't have it so that if I vote against a Democrat who happens to be black, I am called a racist. It is too easy, and it kills debate.
by Brian on 2/28/2009 12:51am Randy Newman knows his stuff. Good song.
by KIMS PICTURES on 5/3/2009 3:00pm Randy Newman is a brilliant satirist in the vein of Mark Twain and Jonathan Swift. And you can vote against a Democrat who happens to be black. Just be ready to justify your decision as you would any white candidate.

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