In response to kreeningsons: I think that is a standard country blues line. The exact same line can be found in Bob Dylan's traditional "train song" "Railroad Bill": "I’m gonna find me a pistol as long as my arm /
I’ll kill everybody who’s ever done me harm."
I had just recently heard "Railroad Bill" for the first time - a version by Andrew Byrd. So, I thought it was funny when I heard the Dylan version the first time. I was REALLY surprised when I heard that line though! There's no way it is a coincidence - the singer was making a reference here.
On the "n-word" discussion. I have no problems with it at all. I thought it was dumb for the Japandroids to change the line in their version. The singer is not necesarily the narrator of a song. The narrator of this song is a racist, homicidal maniac basically, so it is not very surprising or shocking that he would use a racial epithet. Like someone already said, it's like seeing the "n-word" in a book about people in the South. I'm sure Cormac McCarthy has written it a few times, for a modern example.
In response to kreeningsons: I think that is a standard country blues line. The exact same line can be found in Bob Dylan's traditional "train song" "Railroad Bill": "I’m gonna find me a pistol as long as my arm / I’ll kill everybody who’s ever done me harm."
I had just recently heard "Railroad Bill" for the first time - a version by Andrew Byrd. So, I thought it was funny when I heard the Dylan version the first time. I was REALLY surprised when I heard that line though! There's no way it is a coincidence - the singer was making a reference here.
On the "n-word" discussion. I have no problems with it at all. I thought it was dumb for the Japandroids to change the line in their version. The singer is not necesarily the narrator of a song. The narrator of this song is a racist, homicidal maniac basically, so it is not very surprising or shocking that he would use a racial epithet. Like someone already said, it's like seeing the "n-word" in a book about people in the South. I'm sure Cormac McCarthy has written it a few times, for a modern example.