Randy Newman - Rednecks

performed at Park West, Chicago, February 26, 2011

[@deuceactive5375]

I live in Baton Rouge, and yes they go in dumb and come out dumb too

[@janemillerick9614]

great post! a shame that audience members are mingled in with Randy attempting to speak about writing the song, etc. but you can make out what he is saying.. (seems from comment section below that some just do not understand this song nor what is taking place).

[@thornie123]

Damn took Randy some balls to say fuck it I’m saying those words lol

[@ahopefor]

It doesn't have the same punch without the N word, and he wrote it in the 70's and the character in the song is a Southerner so the song simply wouldn't work without it.

[@thornie123]

@@ahopefor true but he could have pussied out and said negroes

[@MEATBALLmonty]

@@thornie123 that's hard when the lyrics directly differentiate between the two N words and the only difference was latitude.

[@miken.2847]

It wouldn't be authentic without the real lyrics.

[@kohlb.8280]

powerful amazing song. picture being biracial predominantly black and white, and knowing where this comes from. Look how long he took to introduce this piece so the audience didnt ignorantly sing along (as they typically do) without knowing what he was standing against. he stopped performing this song due to ignorant audience participation (namely in the ironically used racial slurs) and he yet embeds it in history. courageously and creatively. the man who sang to our children. the man, the legend.. Randy Newman....

[@rsjmd]

Quite similar to the now more than sixty year response to Walt Disney's great movie Song of the South. Look it up if you can...you likely can't find it any more due to the same racial idiots that don't understand Randy. Long live Randy and Uncle Remus.

[@jaliaskilo]

So, you is saying his use of da word Niggrz is justified and you is ok wiff it…? 🤔

[@ayewhaddupdoe]

@@jaliaskilo Yes. Context, my brother. The song is sung from the perspective of said "rednecks". We need to stop letting white women tell us how we supposed to feel.

[@jaliaskilo]

@Kohl B…. BS, wrong‼️ if a word is cool for the song, the fans CAN & WILL sing along ✅💯

[@Optics21]

@@jaliaskilo every song I hear nowadays has that word,if you’re smart and intuitive you’d understand the context behind the song

[@mistersparkle]

Best song about racism ever written!

[@allenlevelle]

I love the song.... And I'm a black man!!!! And a musician.....😎👍

[@AamuAurora]

Why wouldn't you like it?

[@MrRazorblade999]

Black men are the ones who are supposed to like it, you know

[@janeydear]

I watched an interview and he talked about this song. He said it himself. Besides , stupid people are universal.

[@DankstaTV]

College man, from LSU.

[@MEATBALLmonty]

Went in dumb... Come out dumb, too?

[@gavtube1232]

@Ian Salyer Gettin' drunk every weekend in the barbecue

[@ptothej100]

Exactly. He is portraying the Northern stereotype of white Southerners, completely tongue in cheek. Taking the piss out of the elitist attitude of SOME Northerners. Pointing out the segregation by class and race that is present in many Northern big cities, as a result of the creation of inner city government housing. Satire to point out hypocrisy.

[@doormantdarner7815]

What? The song isn’t that. It’s just making fun of southerners. It’s not actually what you think it is.

[@117rebel]

^ Here’s a pair of those northerners with an elitist attitude! Lol

[@doormantdarner7815]

@@117rebel wrong north, Northern Ireland

[@compa6251]

Funny how the actual meaning of the song is the exact opposite of what you said It's making fun of southeners

[@SadCaesarGames]

@@compa6251 he is making fun of both northern elitism and southern bigotry.

[@anael55]

Thanks to Randy Newman for playing this song. Lester Maddox did leave Dick Cavett's show the night Jim Brown was on.

[@090nj2]

*This man never gave a shit😂* *Respect to him🤘🏿*

[@justlovelyaintit]

A fan for over 45 years.

[@Dymdez]

good to see hes still strong, thx for this

[@rcweber1953]

It took guts.

[@Yorksbloke]

A brave and important song

[@holbvgbbbbkfz]

The whispers be like did he just say nigga

[@christopherbako]

Love It. ❤ Amazing writer.

[@ajkoko7020]

BLACK LIVES MATTER

[@jaliaskilo]

So, you is saying his use of da word Niggrz is justified and you is ok wiff it…? 🤔

[@gulfbreezeareahistoricalso9889]

@@jaliaskiloyou must not understand his making fun of racists😢

[@janeydear]

He is pointing out the hypocrisy of the North. As if they are not racist ? Listen to the song.

[@johnfitzgeraldkennedy5076]

“I’m not racist but there the REAL racist” quite down inbred

[@richzito]

Genius.

[@MichaelStefano-k3b]

What a legend. He is truly an inspiring musician. This song really challenges those who hear it, and the way he introduces it is so classy, and the way he sings it is so fearless. ❤

[@davidjones-tl1dw]

The beautiful irony in this song, is the last part where he starts singing “he’s free to put the cage in Detroit …… Chicago ….. St. Louis etc…….. I bet even Randy didn’t realize he was prophesying when he wrote it.

[@kudjoeadkins-battle2502]

It was happening then as well.

[@DRing1637]

I predict that in the next 40 years there will be the color blue

[@ChumbawumbaChum]

Randy was specifically speaking about the situation in those places. He understood what he was saying.

[@kudjoeadkins-battle2502]

@@ChumbawumbaChum I know. No prophecy at all.

[@justlovelyaintit]

Ghettos existed long before he wrote this song .

[@RicochetKing2113]

Yeah, why are people yelling? Is it at the audience members or at Randy?!

[@edwardgore207]

I can’t decide if Randy Newman or Bob Dylan is the best American songwriter. I’ve heard he doesn’t like to do this song live . I don’t blame him. I don’t really like this one as much as his other songs , but , I really like it.

[@alexh8561]

Personally I find Dylan to be better with words, but Randy was braver and tackled subjects in a far deeper way than Dylan has. Randy was writing boldly about systemic racism, toxic masculinity, homophobia, and even transphobia in the 70s! That’s a risky stuff for a white guy with a decent career to sing about

[@patrickobrien8851]

I love Randy for his comic turns and his music - of course. Lester Maddox, however, was only 88 when he died but, what's 4 years between enemies?

[@TommyLikeTom]

why are all the recordings of this song terrible? I cannot understand a word he is saying before he starts singing

[@waluigi521]

holy crap

[@martinyan2260]

is no one paying attention to the lyrics ?

[@justlovelyaintit]

No .We are all idiots.

[@martinyan2260]

@@justlovelyaintit broo how did you even find this comment XD, I almost forgot about it

[@justlovelyaintit]

@@martinyan2260 Just watching some Randy Newman recordings. I visited a concert when I was 15 in 1977..Sneaked out of my room at night 😁.Can't t find it.

[@FungusMossGnosis]

He and Kirk Douglas were the only funny parts of the last Oscars. Okay, Cate Blanchett too.

[@carlwilkinson2334]

Besides I hear that word Libtard way too much and I hear it used against Libertarians as well as Democrats or pretty much anyone that isn't an ignorant Republican.

[@williamchadwick7948]

Carl Wilkinson Instead of Libtard, I like the term State-fellators, meaning anyone stupid enough to believe, at this point in history, that Der Staat is our best friend and the more power it has the better off we'll all be. Even that banjo kid from Deliverance would be too smart to swallow that brand of moonshine.

[@lauramessy]

@Jonathan Kent well is the way the extremist goes by

[@sarames9256]

Both parties are ignorant af

[@taffbanjo]

Genius - even today, "Rednecks" tells us everything you need to know about the US, particularly in the Trump years, when it became almost like an anthem.

[@carlwilkinson2334]

And what are you?

[@apriledwardtony]

We don't talk funny!!!

[@jimbuck2996]

We don't, but you do.😁

[@stuckinthepastproductions4329]

Man, if you ain't got that drawl, you ain't a southerner lol!

[@ProfMarkQ]

Yes we do, shut the hell up. I speak to southern all day long at work, and they're the only people I legitimately can't understand despite being from the South myself, some mother fuckers just truly sound like they just stepped out the Bayou and I couldn't tell you what they are saying.

[@DucksDeLucks]

The word 'redneck' is as bigoted as any of the others. But Newman is an artist portraying the way real people think and speak at least back when there wasn't a lawyer looking over everybody's shoulder.

[@purromemes7395]

Who cares

[@kudjoeadkins-battle2502]

You really think redneck is just as bigoted.

[@SuperJake169]

It absolutely is not lmfao

[@MrMotoflou]

​@@kudjoeadkins-battle2502whoa whoa whoa, cool it with the R word.

[@kudjoeadkins-battle2502]

@@MrMotoflou 😂 😂

[@maineman11]

Title needs to say "LIVE".

[@KevyNova]

You couldn’t tell from the thumbnail?

[@maineman11]

@@KevyNova Is every person and video the same on this planet? Can everyone have a different view and perception? I bet you don't use your directional when you drive either. You expect people to read into things and read your mind.

[@KevyNova]

@@maineman11 wow, that’s some weird and disjointed rant there. Good day, sir.

[@DEdPoolio]

@@maineman11 You must be a boomer huh. It's alright.

[@maineman11]

@@DEdPoolio You must be ignorant, huh that's not alright. Get an education.

[@terrytaylor2825]

If not for this song, and the uproar that followed its release, I doubt that Randy Newman would have ever produced the hilarious hit 'Short People'. When he says 'a number of years ago' keep in mind that this song's copyright is 1974, the Civil Rights Act was only 10 years old and Democrats were still enforcing 'Jim Crow' laws in many places. They were working hard on the myth that 'the racists switched parties!' as if the KKK/Democrats that had been lynching and terrorizing Republicans marching in the civil rights protests would just wander over to the local Republican Party office to sign up with the 'other side'.

[@anael55]

I still have that LP. "Good Old Boys". Great album!

[@squamish4244]

I get what he means about the song, but recent events...ooff. I feel like the song can be taken at face value AND sarcastically at this point. In 1978 the political divisions in the USA weren't nearly so stark, and there was no 'culture war'.

[@EndertheWhite]

“In a single eighteen-month period during 1971 and 1972 the FBI counted an amazing 2,500 bombings on American soil, almost five a day.” From this Times article The Bombings of America That We Forgot There was quite a bit of political turmoil during the 70's here is one example. If you don't think there was a culture war you need to read more history.

[@johnpowers5979]

There was literally a culture war

[@RatatRatR]

1:28 "seems like it goes on for half an hour" So does your introduction, dude. We know what the song is, just play it.

[@tw3542]

What a weird and shitty comment. The artist owes you nothing.