It took me a little aback, but then it made me laugh out loud.
My 2 1/2 year old boy said, "What's up with boots on your feet!"
Part of the excitement just came from the pure joy of how much this kid has to say. When we was 18 months old, we had him tested, because he didn't seem to have the words that his peers had.
Long story short, after a battery of tests, the speech folks basically said, "Oh he could talk. He just doesn't want to."
Cut to a year later, and he is a talker. He talks and talks and talks. Tells stories. Repeats things. He's hard to understand, especially if you aren't used to translating his kid-speak. But it is really entertaining to be his Dad.
I've mentioned before that there are phrases that we use around the house that the kids have no context for, but will one day hear it in a song and realized that's why my parents said "Get crazy with the Cheez Whiz"!!!
When winter started, we got our growing boy a new pair of boots as his every day shoes, to replace his summer sneakers. He's a stubborn thing (as evidenced by the early unwillingness to speak), and sometimes getting him to sit still while you put on his shoes is a bit of a battle.
So I'll talk to him and try to make it fun. Occasionally, I'll shout out a lyric from The Beastie Boys song called "Get It Together."
"Yo, what's up with the boots on your feet!"
I guess I shouldn't be surprised that he'd eventually parrot that back to me. But it was delightful to actually have it happen.
I was an excited Gen-X Dad.
So I went straight to iTunes, and explained to him, and my 5 year old daughter, that "What's up with the boots on your feet" is part of a song, and I would play it for them now.
And that's where things went south.
It's been a while since I put on "Ill Communication." But more than that, I don't think you really hear a song, until you've heard it with your kids.
Now generally, we don't censor the music around the house. We'll play the unedited "Little Lion Man" or "Fuck You." If you don't make a big deal of it, it won't be a big deal for the kids.
But I don't think I've ever really considered what to say about lines like: "Yes I'm Getting Funky And I'm Shooting All My Jism/Like John Holmes, The X-rated Nigger/Listen To The Shit 'Cause I'm The Ill Figure"?
I can argue about context all day, but I don't think I can explain a line like that to my kids.
And MAN, I don't think I realized how long it would take to get to that one "What's Up" line in the song. The tune seemed to go on and on, as I was saying to the kids, "Just wait, that 'Boots' lyric is coming up! Really, next verse! Here it comes! Keep listening!"
Meanwhile, "fucks" and "shits" and "niggers" are flying through the speakers, and I'm getting more uncomfortable by the moment.
Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time. But I won't be playing that one again for the kids any time soon.
It sends the wrong message. That is, I got the Ill Communication.
Hear the song on Youtube.
Showing posts with label nigger. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nigger. Show all posts
Monday, January 21, 2013
Friday, January 15, 2010
Randy Newman “Rednecks”
Yesterday I was writing about this Randy Newman song in relation to a Bruce Hornsby tune, and I thought I’d continue on some of the thoughts started in that last post.
You may not have ever heard this song before if you don’t own a Randy Newman album, because it’s certainly never going to get played on the radio.
If I tell you that the song is a scathing indictment of hypocritical Northerners’ racism, from the perspective of a Southerner, you might think, “Hey, that’s something I’d be interested in hearing.”
But if I tell you that the song features, prominently and frequently, the word “Nigger,” are you less likely to want to cozy up to it?
Volumes have been written about the word and its uses and abuses, but in the musical world I live it, I don’t have to deal with it too much. It just doesn’t appear too often in the songs of artists we love at mvyradio.
But occasionally, I have to confront it. And, honestly, I find it hard to be consistent.
A few years ago, I received a withering rebuke from a listener who had heard me play Bob Dylan’s “Hurricane.” Someone had requested the tune that day, and I was happy to play it, but unsure of how to handle the Dylan lyric “he was just a crazy nigger.” When the line clicked by, I flipped the volume off and on, as a hand-made “bleeping” out of the offensive word.
The listener was extremely offended that I would a) edit Dylan and b) think that the use of "Nigger” in the context of Dylan’s narrative, was offensive.
I have to admit, I have made the “Context” argument before.
A friend of mine told me he was protesting a movie because he’d heard that it contained multiple uses of a slur he (and I, and probably you) found offensive. I asked him if context mattered, or if the word was never appropriate to use. He said Never. I asked if, in the movie, it was Hitler who said, “I hate those damn (slur)s!” Would it then be okay to use an offensive word, because it showed the character to be an offensive person? My friend thought about it, but held his position. Even in that context, he felt it was a word that no one should use. I disagreed, but do concede that there are lots of folks out there who hold his position.
I wrote the “Hurricane” complainant an email that explained that while the use of “Nigger” in the context of the Dylan’s story was entirely appropriate, he had to realize that most people are not immersed in a song and its story, when they’re listening to the radio. It was a hot summer day, and as I was spinning the track, I was imagining how that line, out of context, would sound coming through the speakers of say, The Black Dog Bakery, where they, like many, many other businesses, pipe mvyradio through the store speakers.
Context does matter. Not only within the lyrics of the song, but the context in which the song is heard, or only partially heard. There’s a great exchange in an interview with comedian Artie Lange, where he talks about someone who was offended by his act, but only because the person only heard part of the comedy bit.
My argument absolutely did not win over my critic, and he let me know it, one more time, with a disgusted follow up email.
I had another harsh critic that day. Myself.
If I feel the need to edit “Hurricane,” how have I allowed Elvis Costello’s “Oliver’s Army” to air all these years, unedited? Why is the line “One more widow, one less white nigger” any less offensive? Inconsistency undercuts any moral authority I might try to project.
So back to Randy Newman. Viewing it as a Program Director, there’s just no way mvyradio could play this. In any context, if I play it on the air it’s going to read as offensive.
It’s offensive in the simple use of the word “Nigger.” It’s offensive to Northerners, for calling them all racists. It’s offensive to Southerners, for portraying them as racists. It’s offensive in context and out of context. It’s hard to find an angle where it’s NOT offensive.
However, viewing it as a lover of art, that’s the beauty of this song. Randy Newman has crafted something that is viewed as offensive from all angles, an incredible feat unto itself. But most importantly, it’s offensive from the most important angle of all---his ultimate point rings incredibly true.
Hear clips from all three songs mentioned in this post:
You may not have ever heard this song before if you don’t own a Randy Newman album, because it’s certainly never going to get played on the radio.
If I tell you that the song is a scathing indictment of hypocritical Northerners’ racism, from the perspective of a Southerner, you might think, “Hey, that’s something I’d be interested in hearing.”
But if I tell you that the song features, prominently and frequently, the word “Nigger,” are you less likely to want to cozy up to it?
Volumes have been written about the word and its uses and abuses, but in the musical world I live it, I don’t have to deal with it too much. It just doesn’t appear too often in the songs of artists we love at mvyradio.
But occasionally, I have to confront it. And, honestly, I find it hard to be consistent.
A few years ago, I received a withering rebuke from a listener who had heard me play Bob Dylan’s “Hurricane.” Someone had requested the tune that day, and I was happy to play it, but unsure of how to handle the Dylan lyric “he was just a crazy nigger.” When the line clicked by, I flipped the volume off and on, as a hand-made “bleeping” out of the offensive word.
The listener was extremely offended that I would a) edit Dylan and b) think that the use of "Nigger” in the context of Dylan’s narrative, was offensive.
I have to admit, I have made the “Context” argument before.
A friend of mine told me he was protesting a movie because he’d heard that it contained multiple uses of a slur he (and I, and probably you) found offensive. I asked him if context mattered, or if the word was never appropriate to use. He said Never. I asked if, in the movie, it was Hitler who said, “I hate those damn (slur)s!” Would it then be okay to use an offensive word, because it showed the character to be an offensive person? My friend thought about it, but held his position. Even in that context, he felt it was a word that no one should use. I disagreed, but do concede that there are lots of folks out there who hold his position.
I wrote the “Hurricane” complainant an email that explained that while the use of “Nigger” in the context of the Dylan’s story was entirely appropriate, he had to realize that most people are not immersed in a song and its story, when they’re listening to the radio. It was a hot summer day, and as I was spinning the track, I was imagining how that line, out of context, would sound coming through the speakers of say, The Black Dog Bakery, where they, like many, many other businesses, pipe mvyradio through the store speakers.
Context does matter. Not only within the lyrics of the song, but the context in which the song is heard, or only partially heard. There’s a great exchange in an interview with comedian Artie Lange, where he talks about someone who was offended by his act, but only because the person only heard part of the comedy bit.
My argument absolutely did not win over my critic, and he let me know it, one more time, with a disgusted follow up email.
I had another harsh critic that day. Myself.
If I feel the need to edit “Hurricane,” how have I allowed Elvis Costello’s “Oliver’s Army” to air all these years, unedited? Why is the line “One more widow, one less white nigger” any less offensive? Inconsistency undercuts any moral authority I might try to project.
So back to Randy Newman. Viewing it as a Program Director, there’s just no way mvyradio could play this. In any context, if I play it on the air it’s going to read as offensive.
It’s offensive in the simple use of the word “Nigger.” It’s offensive to Northerners, for calling them all racists. It’s offensive to Southerners, for portraying them as racists. It’s offensive in context and out of context. It’s hard to find an angle where it’s NOT offensive.
However, viewing it as a lover of art, that’s the beauty of this song. Randy Newman has crafted something that is viewed as offensive from all angles, an incredible feat unto itself. But most importantly, it’s offensive from the most important angle of all---his ultimate point rings incredibly true.
Hear clips from all three songs mentioned in this post:
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