1 Meaning
Add Yours
Follow
Share
Q&A

Rednecks [Version] Lyrics

Last night I saw Lester Maddox on a TV show
With some smart a** 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 n*****s 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 n*****s down

We are rednecks, we're rednecks
We don't know our a**
From a hole in the ground
We're rednecks, we're rednecks
And we're keeping the n*****s down

Now your northern n*****'s a negro
You see he's got his dignity
Down here we're too ignorant to realize
That the North has set the n***** 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 n*****s down

We're rednecks, we're rednecks
We don't know our a**
From a hole in the ground
We're rednecks, we're rednecks
We're keeping the n*****s down
We are keeping the n*****s down
1 Meaning

Add your song meanings, interpretations, facts, memories & more to the community.

Add your thoughts...
Cover art for Rednecks [Version] lyrics by Randy Newman

This one is brutal. It's hard for me to listen to because of the repeated instances of the n-word, and it's got even more of that trademark Randy Newman sarcasm than most of his songs. It starts out as a parody of Southern "redneck" white people who are proud of their racism, but then points out that even in the North, racism is alive and well, especially in our biased "justice" system that incarcerates black people at five times the rate of whites.

Lester Maddox was the segregationist governor of Georgia in the late 60s. He owned a restaurant where he refused to serve black people. He was seen as an "old country boy" who had never held elected office before becoming governor with the support of the KKK.

Song Meaning
 
Questions and Answers

Ask specific questions and get answers to unlock more indepth meanings & facts.

Ask a question...