Black Messiah Lyrics

Lyric discussion by mycology101 

Cover art for Black Messiah lyrics by Kinks, The

Watch it Ray! You can't say things like this anymore! Ray points out all of our inherit racist tribal tendencies by asking if you pray to a black god or white one. He also very unabashedly claims that whites and blacks are indeed different, and that we need to recognize that before we can advance as a multicultural society (well thats the scenario as I see it in the states at least). Now I know that I'm treading dangerous waters here, but I also get the feeling that Ray is very pissed about the reverse racism happening today against whites. All in all, this is a highly offensive yet catchy little tune that I can't help but sing when the sheeple of America start crying for their lord Obama. That is just my opinion, don't shoot me for it!

The "Black Messiah" is probably former Ethiopian ruler Haile Selassie, revered as a deity by Rastafarians and scorned as a Marxist by others, as underscored by the reggae beat. Aside from that, the lyrics seem a little jumbled and confused ... "white's white and black's black and that's that," and then a verse later "everybody's got to live with a little less hate." Come again, Ray? Challenging everyone to think about their "racist tribal tendencies" as mycology101 suggests is timeless. The gratuitous use of ebonics ("they brown and I white"), not so much....

Ray is not asking if you pray to a black or white god. Davies is implying that many people put up the appearance of upholding the idea of racial equality but internally do not believe it.

1) Taking offense if someone would claim that something as personal as god is black. 2) Whites avoiding living in black neighborhoods.

Ray continues with the claim that humans can be different without a quantitative comparison of which race is better (white's white, black's black, and that's that).

The idea of a Black Messiah, as described in the song, is a sort of mythological belief that...