Is the song Big Bad Leroy Brown racist?

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Not sure if this has been discussed. I searched it, but didn't find anything. In any event, here are the lyrics:

Well the South Side of Chicago

Is the baddest part of town,

And you go down there

You better just beware

Of a man named Leroy Brown

_______________________________________________________

Now Leroy he's more trouble,

And he stands about six foot four;

All the ladies in the town call him Tree Top Lover.

And the men just call him Sir. (Chorus)

_______________________________________________________

CHORUS:

_______________________________________________________

He is big, bad Leroy Brown

Baddest man in the whole darn town.

Badder than old King Kong,

Meaner than a junkyard dog.

_______________________________________________________

Now Leroy he's a gambler

And he loves his fancy clothes,

And he loves to wave his diamond rings

In front of everybody's nose

_______________________________________________________

He's got a Custom Continental.

He's got an Eldorado too.

He's got a thirty two gun

In his pocket for fun,

And a razor balde in his shoe. (Chorus)

_______________________________________________________

One night one Friday Evening,

Leroy was shooting dice,

And at the edge of the bar sat a gal named Doris,

And oh that gal looked nice!

_______________________________________________________

Well he cast his eyes upon her

And the trouble soon began,

And Leroy learned a lesson about messin',

With a wife of a jealous man. (Chorus)

_______________________________________________________

Well the two man took to fightin'

And when they pulled them from the floor,

Old Leroy looked like a jigsaw puzzle

With a couple of pieces gone. (Chorus)

The song points out that he's from the south side of Chicago and Leroy Brown is a clearly African American name. The song talks about his gambling ways, his fancy rings and his habbit of shooting dice which makes him sound like a pimp. Even if Doris is not supposed to be a white woman that Leroy is lusting after, Leroy is still a racial caricature.

― Period period period (Period period period), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 15:55 (nineteen years ago)

oh jesus.

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 16:00 (nineteen years ago)

such a great song. i heart rap music.

― scott seward (scott seward), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 16:01 (nineteen years ago)

Yes it is racist, because the artist is European American and is writing about an African American character in a non-laudatory way. The song also uses the swear word "d***" several times, and seems to fetishize both violence and sex. I am appalled by this, and blame the moral slackness of the Clinton era.

― Haikunym (Haikunym), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 16:01 (nineteen years ago)

his habbit of shooting dice

perhaps gondalf objected

worst thread ever

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 16:02 (nineteen years ago)

When I lived in Chicago, I lived with a girl who's uncle was an immigration lawyer who'd been in Chicago forever. One day he took her and our other housemate to a pool hall on the south side of chicago and pointed to a large, old, african american man, and said "that's Big Bad Leroy Brown."

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 16:02 (nineteen years ago)

i always thought leroy brown was from bridgeport.

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 16:03 (nineteen years ago)

vanillanova university does have that reputation...

― fukasaku bloodbath (blackmail.is.my.life), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 16:06 (nineteen years ago)

God damn you people are snippy. I love Jim Croce, but it doesn't seem strange at all to anyone that he's singing about Leroy Brown, the tree top lover, driving his El Dorado?

― Period period period (Period period period), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 16:19 (nineteen years ago)

no, it doesn't seem strange at all.

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 16:24 (nineteen years ago)

Of course it's not racist. Croce is merely describing his authentic experience of life on the streets, and authentic experience can never be racist (even if it happens to concern large, lusty black men with Cadillacs and gats). Croce is like Illmatic.

Or Robert Johnson, which is the same thing really, just with fewer pictures.

― Adam Beales (Pye Poudre), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 16:24 (nineteen years ago)

Fair enough, you're all probably right. Now can we move on to Basketball Jones?

― Period period period (Period period period), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 16:26 (nineteen years ago)

"basketball jones" is wonderfully racist.

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 16:28 (nineteen years ago)

This is like saying Michael Jackson was a rattist for singing "Ben."

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 16:28 (nineteen years ago)

also george harrison really smokes on "basketball jones."

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 16:29 (nineteen years ago)

He would still be alive if he hadn't.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 16:30 (nineteen years ago)

"Time In A Bottle" is a gross insult to alcoholics, however, I'll grant you that.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 16:30 (nineteen years ago)

I never liked the manner in which he treated the telephone operator in "Operator"...he blames her(him?) for giving him the wrong number, then he just hangs up...Jim Croce was a good candidate for sensitivity training...

― hank (hank s), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 16:48 (nineteen years ago)

As was his pilot.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 16:54 (nineteen years ago)

For the "father-daughter" dance at my sister's wedding, she and my dad danced to Bad, Bad Leroy Brown.

― joygoat (joygoat), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 18:30 (nineteen years ago)

five years from now every ILM thread will be a variation on "Is _______ racist?"

― Alex in Baltimore (Alex in Baltimore), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 18:53 (nineteen years ago)

yeah..it's "Bad, Bad..." not "Big, Bad..."

this (which was left on my blog after a discussion of Cat Steven's and Jim Croce) might be racist:
Well the south side of jalapa
is the baddest part of town
and if you go there, you better just beware
of Abdula Salamma Brown

Now Abdula's more than seedy
you see he stand about 6 foot three
all the meccan ladies call him jayeed habebee
all the men's just call him saeed

And he's bad, bad Abdula Brown
Baddest ass in the Holy town
Badder than the ol' koran
Meaner than the taliban.

Now Abdual, he a gambler
And he like his robey clothes
And he like to burn all his oil wells
In front of everybody's nose

He got a custom harlot harem
He got a hundred camel too,
He got Halibur-ton in his pocket for fun
He got a pointy, pointy shoe.

And he's bad, bad Abdula Brown
Baddest ass in the Holy town
Badder than the ol' koran
Meaner than the taliban.

Well Friday, bout a week ago
Abdula's praying twice
And at the edge of the mosque kneeled a girl name Aman
And ooh her eyes looked nice.

Well he cast his eyes upon her
and the tantra soon began,
Abdula Brown learned a lesson bout messin
with what's owned by an Arab man.

Well the two men took to fightin
and when they pulled him from the floor
Abdula looked like a terrorist
with a couple of monkey bars gone

And he's bad, bad Abdula Brown
Baddest ass in the Holy town
Badder than the ol' Koran
Meaner than the Taliban.

Badder than the ol'Koran
Meaner than the Taliban.

― J. Grizzle (trainsmoke), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 19:11 (nineteen years ago)

I don't see it.

― Good-Time Slim, Uncle Doobie, and the Great 'Frisco Freak-Out (sixteen sergeants, Tuesday, 16 January 2007 19:13 (nineteen years ago)

Is the song Sweet Georgia Brown racist? She's clearly a ho.

― God Bows to Meth (noodle vague), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 19:14 (nineteen years ago)

Plus brown.

― Adam Beales (Pye Poudre), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 19:23 (nineteen years ago)

Slightly off the point I know, but whenever I see the name Marcello Carlin, I find that this guy pops into my head.

― Gatinha (rwillmsen), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 20:08 (nineteen years ago)

How about "Brown Sugar" you know that part where Mick Jagger sez "I like to suck big dicks"

― Dr. Alicia D. Titsovich (sexyDancer), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 20:16 (nineteen years ago)

I think that's more homophobic.

― Adam Beales (Pye Poudre), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 20:34 (nineteen years ago)

Obviously this whole thread premise is a ridiculous waste of time, but I want to give props to this especially absurd passage:

and Leroy Brown is a clearly African American name

Total nonsense. My mother grew up down the street in Knoxville Tennessee from a Leroy Brown who was a spoiled rich white boy with a Coke machine in his basement. A song about him would probably be a lot better than "Bad Bad Leroy Brown" which has always kind of grated on me. I picture the song's Leroy as a hairy white dude with a mullet and a goatee, in any case.

― Doctor Casino (Doctor Casino), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 23:05 (nineteen years ago)

Maybe it is the worst thread ever, but just for a second it turned into the best - Marcello - I salute you.

his habbit of shooting dice

perhaps gondalf objected

― Ronan Point (beefheart), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 00:02 (nineteen years ago)

"I abject!"

― Monty Von Byonga (Monty Von Byonga), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 00:04 (nineteen years ago)

Well, I still insist, you've gotta take up the tax before you can take up the carpet.

― Ronan Point (beefheart), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 00:12 (nineteen years ago)

Badder than old King Kong,
Meaner than a junkyard dog.

ape-ist and doggist, this song is

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 03:22 (nineteen years ago)

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