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


Lyrics submitted by yuri_sucupira

Rednecks Lyrics as written by Randy Newman

Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.

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Rednecks song meanings
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    General Comment

    Lester Maddox, for people who want to know was the governor of Georgia in the 1960's and was the meaning of the term "Redneck" who always wanted to keep the niggers down (opposed to civil rights).

    But don't think this song is simply making fun of the southern boys, it sure seems that way in Newman's trademarked ironic way, but in the last bit of the song when he is describing how the niggers are free he lists all areas considered to be "northern" (I know St. Louis was in Missouri which was a southern state I think), showing that blacks really aren't free anywhere, even among people who want to give us civil rights, we are still discriminated against.

    Nonfactoron February 22, 2006   Link

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