James, I don't know if this is to racey for your site, but I had a discussion with 2 hillbillies in a bar last night that came dangerously close to violence.
They were an enamored of the N-word in this old song.
I argued that the singer was rooting for the ոigger to get away and that I like rooting for the underdog.
The one hillbilly said, "Fuck you!"
I said, "I'm going to ram your feeble ass through the juke box," and he wasn't up for that.
So, what's your opinion as a writer of this very un-PC song?
Ron, it was difficult for me to make out most of the lyrics. A hard head was mentioned once, but is a common term for black man used by southern black men I have known.
If we go with the preponderance of the refrain "run ոigger run" than we must conclude that the song writer wanted the negro to succeed in his bid to escape, which would be an understandable sentiment for Appalachian folk singers to harbor, as most of their ancestors had once run from Master as well, across the fields named I the song that eventually led to their mountain sanctuary.
Also, when you wee a wee lad, there was a Baltimore Bluegrass club on Belair Road right up the hill from Gil's pizza, next to Curran's Deli.
How things have changed and remained the same.
Welcome to Harm City, White-Boy
Sounds like to me he's saying "run before the Federal catch you".
I know this is not nice but here's a ոigger song that's funny, to me anyways. (If Black people can make jokes about how neat it is to kill White people then Whites should be able to make jokes about Blacks).
youtube.com/watch?v=O6z91PSdy6c
That's post-Civil War lyrics - song was written way before Gid Tanner recorded it.
"Run ոigger run 'fore the pater-roller git you .... "
Pater-roller was black dialect for "patrol", night riders (often Klansmen) out to make sure everyone was in bed where they belonged.