philreckless
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Re:One of Them - 2004/03/18 02:10
Well, amongst 'the community', there seems to be a consensus. I have to admit, at a recent gig, I used a friend of mine to help me with an excuse for an intro. His wife, who hails from the The West Indies, has had the term 'Nigger' used as abuse, obviously through much ignorance. He doesn't like the word, but I involved her story in the aforementioned intro. I think with intelligent audiences, it may be ok withought explanation, but one should be careful about ones audience! (should one not?!)
Thanks all, all I have to worry about now are the notes (guitar!)
Phil
www.philmcginity.co.uk |
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nobby
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Re:One of Them - 2006/11/16 20:57
Malcy wrote:
I've got a couple of views on this. Firstly, in my reading of "One Of Them" Jake is lampooning the tellers of insensitive and divisive jokes by quoting them. If you get the point of the song, you'll get the concurrent point that it isn't the singer that's saying the words as part of his own expression, and it's the targets of the song's criticism you should be cross at.
Secondly, about Political Correctness (or, "The Language of Cowardice" as the Big Yin said). One of my heroes is Tom Lehrer, whose songs are still surprisingly shocking after nearly 50 years. He said recently "The nature of forbidden words has certainly changed. For example, when I was in college, there were certain words you couldn't say in front of a girl. Now you can say them, but you can't say 'girl.'" 
Well, if you thought political correctness was mad then in 2003, look at it now in 2006! I think the song is good but Jake does say "if you're one of them you're really not my kind" This bit doesn't rest easy with me but then I'm not that clever so I'm probably missing the point?
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Paul
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Re:One of Them - 2006/11/16 21:54
nobby wrote:
I think the song is good but Jake does say "if you're one of them you're really not my kind" This bit doesn't rest easy with me but then I'm not that clever so I'm probably missing the point?
I really don't for one minute think that Jake is personally saying 'if you are one of them you're really not my kind'. I think this is him quoting the teller of racist jokes. His own views (I believe) come in 'but they can wince and weep...'. Jake's intros to the song always made clear how appalling he found the racism to be, and the song is indeed lampooning those who tell racist jokes. However, the song can easily be misinterpreted, which is why the right intro is always important.
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KeithD
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Re:One of Them - 2006/11/17 10:22
I feel it is relevant that Jake asks whether we've heard the one about . . . but never tells any of the jokes. Does that help to make it clearer that in the first half of each verse he is quoting the tellers of such jokes and setting them up for the put-downs in the second halves of the verses? Nowhere does he begin to go for a laugh, so if anything is offensive it must be his use of the labels themselves, and in context they should be thought-provoking rather than offensive. The alternative explanation is that Jake used the labels purely to shock and offend, with no redeeming motive. Is that possible? Surely not.
(Six months late, Ian, I heard the Sheriff tell that story at a dinner in Glasgow and assumed he was sheriff there. I'm sure you're right about Hamilton.)
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Hugh Williams
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Re:One of Them - 2006/11/17 11:21
I remember Jake introducing this song once by saying that he'd performed it privately for his family and friends and that they'd said,"Well, Jake, love:you don't intend singing THAT in public ,do you ? We know what you mean,but REALLY????";so I think it's fair to say that he knew that it was open to mis-interpretation.As has been said,he NEVER played it for laughs.Consider the fact that on the "..& SONGS" album ,it shared studio recording with "The Remembrance" to book end the live show:make of that what you will.
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Malcy
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Re:One of Them - 2006/11/17 15:24
Hugh's pointing out about the "serious" songs on "...And Songs" being studio recordings ties in with a suspicion of mine. I generally specialise in "funny" songs when doing spots and gigs, and if you throw in a serious one they take time to adjust. On occasions I've done "The Remembrance" and a few people have laughed in places during the first verse, because they're expecting something funny. Recently I've been covering Maggie Holland's "Perfumes Of Arabia" and although it's a song with a similarly serious message, I've found that people laugh in the early stages more than I would have expected. So maybe Jake thought that doing the songs on the LP as studio tracks would prevent any diluting of the point.
Eranu ! |
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