audio review : Ship Those Niggers Back ( song ) … Odis Cochran

This folk anthem celebrates the idea that international race segregation is the way to go, even if via leaking boats. “America for white, Africa for black,” Odis Cochran and his fellow bigots harmonize on the chorus, “Send them apes back to the trees; Ship Those Niggers Back.”

The music is composed of nothing more than an acoustic guitar, leaving the vocals alone to carry the melodies of the song, but that’s all it needs. What it would do better without are the comedy breaks on which a black man who refuses to get on the boat is beaten until he obeys.

my rating : 4 of 5

1964

Ship Those Niggers Back ( song lyrics ) … Odis Cochran

Ring that bell. Shout for joy. White man’s day is here.
Gather all those equals up and herd them on the pier.

America for white. Africa for black.
Send those apes back to the trees. Ship those niggers back.

Ring that bell. Shout for joy. White man’s day is here.
Twenty million ugly coons already on the pier.

America for white. Africa for black.
Send those apes back to the trees. Ship those niggers back.

Ring that bell. Shout for joy. White man’s day is here.
Boats are ready for the trip. We won’t shed a tear.

America for white. Africa for black.
Send those apes back to the trees. Ship those niggers back.

Ring that bell. Shout for joy. White man’s day is here.
Hand that chimp his ugly stick. Hand that buck his spear.

America for white. Africa for black.
Send those apes back to the trees. Ship those niggers back.

Ring that bell. Shout for joy. White man’s day is here.
Twenty million jigaboos Africa will steer.

America for white. Africa for black.
Send those apes back to the trees. Ship those niggers back.

Ring that bell. Shout for joy. White man’s day is here.
There they go far out to sea. See them disappear.

America for white. Africa for black.
Send those apes back to the trees. Ship those niggers back.

Ring that bell. Shout for joy. White man’s day is here.
Boats are leaking badly now. They sink we sadly fear.

America for white. Africa for black.
Send those apes back to the trees. Ship those niggers back.

Ring that bell. Shout for joy. White man’s day is here.
No more nigger civil rights led by nigger queers.

America for white. Africa for black.
Send those apes back to the trees. Ship those niggers back.

Ring that bell. Shout for joy. White man’s day is here.
Our homes, our schools, our city streets of niggers will be clear.

America for white. Africa for black.
Send those apes back to the trees. Ship those niggers back.

Ring that bell. Shout for joy. White man’s day is here.
America will be all white; the land we love so dear.

America for white. Africa for black.
Send those apes back to the trees. Ship those niggers back.

1964

audio review : They Don’t Care About Us ( song ) … Michael Jackson

“All I wanna say is that they don’t really care about us,” the refrain, a ghetto street chant, goes, but what is it saying? That upper class white people (“they”) are generally apathetic toward (“us”) blacks? Michael Jackson, who one could jokingly say went from the latter to the former, suggests so.

“I’m tired of being the victim of hate,” The King Of Pop declares, “You’re raping me of my pride… for God’s sake.” The best bit is the one about Martin Luther King, which is harmonized to perfection before the final chorus section, where this anthem starts to sound like another Michael Jackson classic.

It could’ve been just that, but the guitar break, which serves as a bridge, is jarring. Not to say there shouldn’t be a guitar break; there absolutely should; just that there should be a better, or at least more fitting, one. The song also goes on for too long at the end. It should end at about the 04:10 mark.

my rating : 4 of 5

1995

audio review : History ( album ) ... Michael Jackson