# Any Song With Blatantly Homophobic or Racist Lyrics to Make the Top 40? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 18, 2005, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-song-with-blatantly-homophobic-or-racist-lyrics-to-make-the-top-40/285360 "2005-01-18T14:01:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2005, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-song-with-blatantly-homophobic-or-racist-lyrics-to-make-the-top-40/285360/41 "2005-01-19T00:07:54Z")
> [@TV time](#): > > Songs like “_Camptown Races_” and “_Dem Bones_” (and most of Stephen Foster’s songs) come across as rather racist too when we examine the actual lyrics. “Camptown Races” is written in dialect for a minstrel show, but other than that, what’s racist about the lyrics? Also, first, as far as I know, “Dem Bones” wasn’t written by Foster. I’m pretty sure it’s a spiritual. It’s the story of Adam and Eve. What’s racist about those lyrics? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2005, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-song-with-blatantly-homophobic-or-racist-lyrics-to-make-the-top-40/285360/42 "2005-01-19T00:29:56Z")
The Stones’ “Brown Sugar” is considered racist by some as is “Some Girls”. “When the Whip Comes Down” gives us, “I was gay in New York, just a fag in LA” ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2005, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-song-with-blatantly-homophobic-or-racist-lyrics-to-make-the-top-40/285360/43 "2005-01-19T00:32:11Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > I don’t know if there was a Top 40 back then, but the original lyrics to “Puttin’ on the Ritz” are pretty wince-making. When Taco redid the song in the 80s, the original video showed pictures of children in black face just after the lyric, “…just like Gary Cooper, super duper”. That part was removed and replaced with a still picture of Gary Cooper (which actually makes since). ---
**Author:** ![Brian\_Johnson\_Washington\_DC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8dc957/32.png) [@Brian\_Johnson\_Washington\_DC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brian_Johnson_Washington_DC)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2005, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-song-with-blatantly-homophobic-or-racist-lyrics-to-make-the-top-40/285360/44 "2005-01-19T01:32:29Z")
Another place to look is David Allen Coe. He had horribly racist and sexist songs, especially on his album “18 X-Rated Hits.” He also had gems of songs, recorded by many country and pop singers. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2005, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-song-with-blatantly-homophobic-or-racist-lyrics-to-make-the-top-40/285360/45 "2005-01-19T02:38:15Z")
> [@SolGrundy](#): > > Bleah. All the songs about beating up and killing blacks and Arabs and homos, it’s nice sometimes to just get back to good old-fashioned misogyny. How about “Wives and Lovers” by Burt Bacharach? Blame Hal David for the lyric. ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2005, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-song-with-blatantly-homophobic-or-racist-lyrics-to-make-the-top-40/285360/46 "2005-01-19T06:48:02Z")
In a similar vein as **TV Time** ’s posting, how about Larry Verne’s **“Please Mister Custer”**? From the early 1960’s (as were “Ahab the Arab” and “Speedy Gonzales”), Mister Custer contains less than flattering references to Native Americans. “There’s a redskin waitin’ out there, Fixin’ to take my hair”. Luckily, these 3 songs do NOT get played on oldies stations. From 1969, yet another novelty song, “Big Bruce” by Steven Greenberg, a parody of the song “Big Bad John” with the title character being gay. [Lyrics](http://www.homogenus.com/3/data/lyricga4.htm) This did not make the Top 40 though. ---
**Author:** ![Crandolph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7cd45c/32.png) [@Crandolph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crandolph)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2005, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-song-with-blatantly-homophobic-or-racist-lyrics-to-make-the-top-40/285360/47 "2005-01-19T08:22:37Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > Well there was a couple of throw-away lines by the well-known L.A. punk band **Fear** ( who actually made it on to SNL ): … and singer Lee Ving, if not the rest of the band, is gay. I think some of this was sarcasm. ---
**Author:** ![Crandolph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7cd45c/32.png) [@Crandolph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crandolph)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2005, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-song-with-blatantly-homophobic-or-racist-lyrics-to-make-the-top-40/285360/48 "2005-01-19T08:38:28Z")
A few choices that were in the Top 40 (or at the very least Top 100) as singles: “Wig Wam Bam” -Sweet “Indian Giver” - 1910 Fruit Gum Co. of Philadelphia The renaming of Kyu Sakamoto’s love song “Sukiyaki” was pretty darn racist “Der Fuehrer’s Face” - Spike Jones… ironically, this is pretty much hatespeak these days “Ling Ting Tong” - Buddy Knox “Rockin’ China Doll” - Gene Ross (IIRC) “Fujiyama Mama” - Wanda Jackson The Hollies had an LP track “Oriental Sadness” that probably would raise eyebrows today. There are two series of rerelease albums (to my knowledge) that feature only this sort of thing: the equal opportunity _Jungle Exotica_ and the East Asia-centered _Chop Suey Rock_… mid 50s to mid 60s rock’n’roll that’s actually quite good but that you wouldn’t want to play at a party without a contextualizing speech. You should be able to track these down easily on the net. By the by, Larry Verne’s hit was simply titled “Mr. Custer.” As for mysogeny… I don’t have the time to start listing those!!! My all time favorite (both a genuinely awesome song and completely indefensible) would be the Avengers’ (the 60s band not the 70s punkers) “Be a Cave Man.” _“You gotta treat a woman rough/ You gotta treat a woman tough/ You gotta take her by the hair…”_ In the self-defiling category we have a ‘winner’ in the “Pussycat Song” by Connie Vannett, which I can only hope was the stage name of a desperate Nashville studio who needed the cash. I literally found this one still on a turntable in the trash of my apartment building. It’s been a huge hit at parties… jaw-dropping… :eek: 😃 ---
**Author:** ![roger\_thornhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2005, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-song-with-blatantly-homophobic-or-racist-lyrics-to-make-the-top-40/285360/49 "2005-01-19T08:56:16Z")
> [@Captain Amazing](#): > > Well, yeah, it’s certainly condescending, but can you think of any popular song from the 20’s or 30’s (or any form of popular entertainment) where blacks are mentioned that isn’t condescending (Maybe “Imitation of Life”, but that’s doubtful)? The lyrics aren’t racist in the same way as some of that Jamacian reggae, as mentioned by an earlier poster, is homophobic. Not being into reggae, what sentiments are expressed in these lyrics? Presumably, the songs wouldn’t get airplay in the States or UK. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2005, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-song-with-blatantly-homophobic-or-racist-lyrics-to-make-the-top-40/285360/50 "2005-01-19T08:57:11Z")
No mention yet of Randy Newman? I’m impressed. It seems as though some people _do_ understand irony. ---
**Author:** ![KRC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/45deac/32.png) [@KRC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KRC)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2005, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-song-with-blatantly-homophobic-or-racist-lyrics-to-make-the-top-40/285360/51 "2005-01-19T13:11:36Z")
Peggy Lee’s \*Manana \* comes to mind for suggesting that Mexicans are hopelessly lazy and can’t make chile without burning their houses down. [http://www.lyricsdepot.com/peggy-lee/manana.html](http://www.lyricsdepot.com/peggy-lee/manana.html) ---
**Author:** ![GLWasteful](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f05b48/32.png) [@GLWasteful](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GLWasteful)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2005, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-song-with-blatantly-homophobic-or-racist-lyrics-to-make-the-top-40/285360/52 "2005-01-19T14:09:40Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > No mention yet of Randy Newman? > > I’m impressed. It seems as though some people _do_ understand irony. Thank the fates that the crowd here is capable of differentiating between the singer and a character who is brought to life by the singer. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to listen to “Wedding in Cherokee County”. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2005, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-song-with-blatantly-homophobic-or-racist-lyrics-to-make-the-top-40/285360/53 "2005-01-19T14:41:02Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > No mention yet of Randy Newman? > > I’m impressed. It seems as though some people _do_ understand irony. I’ve sometimes used “Christmas in Capetown” as an idiot-identification tool. ---
**Author:** ![Iceland\_Blue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/4bbf92/32.png) [@Iceland\_Blue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iceland_Blue)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2005, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-song-with-blatantly-homophobic-or-racist-lyrics-to-make-the-top-40/285360/54 "2005-01-19T14:45:09Z")
> [@roger thornhill](#): > > Not being into reggae, what sentiments are expressed in these lyrics? Presumably, the songs wouldn’t get airplay in the States or UK. Then again, how many songs from the 20s and 30s get airplay in the States or UK? Guinastasia, you’re thinking of Michael Jackson’s They Don’t Care About Us (No.2 in UK in 1996) which has ‘Jew me, kike me’ in it. And the Black & White Minstrels had several No.1 albums in the early 60s. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2005, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-song-with-blatantly-homophobic-or-racist-lyrics-to-make-the-top-40/285360/55 "2005-01-19T15:06:17Z")
> [@roger thornhill](#): > > Not being into reggae, what sentiments are expressed in these lyrics? The lyrics are of the “Kill the faggots” variety. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2005, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-song-with-blatantly-homophobic-or-racist-lyrics-to-make-the-top-40/285360/56 "2005-01-19T17:19:02Z")
> [@Captain Amazing](#): > > “Camptown Races” is written in dialect for a minstrel show… …and after his first trip South Foster’s abolitionist sympathies caused him to clean up the more overt racism in his older songs and minimize it in his later ones. Sometimes still in dialect, as that was the style, but more sympathetic. ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2005, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-song-with-blatantly-homophobic-or-racist-lyrics-to-make-the-top-40/285360/57 "2005-01-19T18:41:16Z")
> [@Larry Borgia](#): > > I dont think that “London was full of Arabs” or “Honk Kong was up for grabs” in Oliver Cromwell’s time. Ahhhh…yeah , I’m aware of that. But what I wasn’t aware of till not to long ago is the the current English army is occasionally refered to as “Oliver’s Army”. In the sense that it is the New Model Army. The military system Cromwell came up with, which is still the current system. I think that was the sense that Elvis meant it as Oliver’s Army. Although I’m willing to consider the Oliver Tambo question as, to be honest I thought it was about mercenaries myself. ---
**Author:** ![Crandolph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7cd45c/32.png) [@Crandolph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crandolph)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2005, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-song-with-blatantly-homophobic-or-racist-lyrics-to-make-the-top-40/285360/58 "2005-01-19T18:51:17Z")
> [@roger thornhill](#): > > Not being into reggae, what sentiments are expressed in these lyrics? Presumably, the songs wouldn’t get airplay in the States or UK. Wasn’t there a big Eminem hit with anti-gay lyrics? ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2005, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-song-with-blatantly-homophobic-or-racist-lyrics-to-make-the-top-40/285360/59 "2005-01-19T19:20:49Z")
> [@](#): > > A few choices that were in the Top 40 (or at the very least Top 100) as singles: > > … > > “Der Fuehrer’s Face” - Spike Jones… ironically, this is pretty much hatespeak these days. Right, we wouldn’t want to offend Nazis. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2005, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-song-with-blatantly-homophobic-or-racist-lyrics-to-make-the-top-40/285360/60 "2005-01-19T20:37:42Z")
This perhaps falls into the same category as “Money for Nothing” (as not an intentionally offensive bit) but I was always struck by the line from “Walk on the Wild Side” by Lou Reed (a #1 hit IIRC): “And the colored-girls sing, Doo-de-doo, doo, doo…” etc. Yeah, it’s a reference to early 1960s girl groups that the drag queens mentioned in this song adored. But why does he specifically mention “colored girls” ? Were there no caucasian girl group singers? In fact “And the girl groups sing” would fit the rhythm just as well. Just thought I’d mention it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-song-with-blatantly-homophobic-or-racist-lyrics-to-make-the-top-40/285360.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-song-with-blatantly-homophobic-or-racist-lyrics-to-make-the-top-40/285360.md?page=4)