I thought that I would share some lyrics from Mr. Fried Chiken. I like a lot of his songs, but he does have a knack for singing some off handed and uncool lines. I don't dig those lines at all. Did I just waste 32 dollars? I hope that he doesn't sing those two songs tonight. Here are a couple bad lines to bare witness to:
Reuben James
Reuben james, all the folks around hadison county
Cussed your name
Youre just a no-count, sharecropping colored man
Youd steal anything you can
And everybody laid the blame on reuben james
The Last Ten Years
Well, the last ten years, look at the hills we've climbed
The best golfer's black, the best rapper's white an' it's about damn time
What do you think? Will I have a good time tonight?
7 comments:
Well, they're both quite a bit out of context, so it's tough to say for sure.
The bit from Rueben James-it would depend quite a bit on the context, but this little snippet doesn't seem so bad.
The bit from "The Last Ten Years" seems pretty unredeemable, though.
What? You two are not reading the same thing I'm reading.
He's saying it's a good thing that the best golfer's black and the best rapper's white. How can that be unredeemable - seems like solid social commentary to me. Desegregation, integration - all that stuff.
As to Reuben James - indeed way out context. But thanks to the internets, here's the rest of the first verse.
Reuben james
In my song you live again
And the phrase that I rhyme
Are just a footstep out of time
From the time when I knew you
Reuben james
Reuben james, all the folks around hadison county
Cussed your name
Youre just a no-count, sharecropping colored man
Youd steal anything you can
And everybody laid the blame on reuben james
Reuben james, for you still walk
Over fields of my mind
Faded shirt, weathered brow
Colored hands upon the plow
Loved you then and I love you now
The rest of the people in Hadison County called him no good, but Kenny Rogers LOVED him. Nothing wrong with that.
To me it seems that you should not be using colored man in your songs.
I do see your point Methuen on the second song about how it's a good thing. However, coming from an old white man it seems that he is not the poster child for thank goodness we are getting to where we need to be.
Good point Mix.
The generations that came before us were taught to look at a man's skin color and then to make stereo types from there onward.
My dad still asks how many coloreds are in my classroom. I grit my teeth when he asks stupid questions like that.
Some people just don't know any better.
Mix: Just because the social commentary is just doesn't mean it isn't beyond cheese. Sort of like if "Saved by the Bell" decided to tackle the race issue.
T-Clog: I can understand your sensitivity on the subject, but I think the 'colored man' term was used in terms of how he was perceived by the people in the county.
Dan: U2 have a good point. Love the 'Saved by the Bell' thing!
Wanted some good discussion and recieved it. Thanks for the thoughts and such.
We weren't debating cheese - we were debating whether it was politically correct or racially insensitive.
Kenny Rogers scores high on the cheese-o-meter.
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