| "Rock n Roll Nigger" | |
|---|---|
| Song by Patti Smith Group | |
| from the album Easter | |
| Released | March 3, 1978 |
| Studio | Record Plant Studios |
| Genre | Punk rock |
| Length | 3:13 |
| Label | Arista |
| Songwriter(s) | Patti Smith, Lenny Kaye |
| Producer(s) | Jimmy Iovine |
"Rock n Roll Nigger" is a rock song written by Patti Smith and Lenny Kaye, and released on the Patti Smith Group's 1978 album Easter .
While the song has always been controversial for its repeated use of the racial epithet "nigger", a remix was included on the soundtrack of the 1994 film Natural Born Killers and it has since been covered by several other artists, including Marilyn Manson (1995). [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
In October 2022, the song was quietly removed from digital streaming services such as Spotify, although cover and live versions of the song remain available. [6]
In the song, Smith self-identifies as a "nigger", which she uses to mean a rebellious and honorable outsider. [7] Duncombe and Tremblay suggest in White Riot that Smith is continuing Norman Mailer's tradition of The White Negro , adopting black culture to express things she believes her own culture will not allow, and rejecting the oppression white culture has historically imposed on others. [8]
In an interview following the release of Easter, Smith discussed the song with a reporter from Rolling Stone.
Reporter: The other day you said that if anyone was qualified to be a nigger, it was Mick Jagger. How is Mick Jagger qualified to be a nigger?
Smith: On our liner notes I redefined the word nigger as being an artist-mutant that was going beyond gender.
Reporter: I didn't understand how Mick Jagger has suffered like anyone who grew up in Harlem.
Smith: Suffering don't make you a nigger. I mean, I grew up poor too. Stylistically, I believe he qualifies. I think Mick Jagger has suffered plenty. He also has a great heart, and I believe, ya know, even in his most cynical moments, a great love for his children. He's got a lot of soul. I mean, like, I don't understand the question. Ya think black people are better than white people or sumpthin'? I was raised with black people. It's like, I can walk down the street and say to a kid, “Hey nigger”. I don't have any kind of super-respect or fear of that kind of stuff. When I say statements like that, they're not supposed to be analyzed, 'cause they're more like off-the-cuff humorous statements. I do have a sense of humor, ya know, which is something that most people completely wash over when they deal with me. I never read anything where anybody talked about my sense of humor. It's like, a lot of the stuff I say is true, but it's supposed to be funny. [9] [10]
Because of its title and repeated use of the word "nigger", which had long been understood to be a racist slur, "Rock n Roll Nigger" received no mainstream radio airplay. [8] It was never released as a single, despite its popularity with live audiences (the singles from Easter were "Because the Night"/"God Speed" in August 1977, and "Privilege (Set me free)"/"25th Floor" about 12 months later).
In 2008, "Rock n Roll Nigger" was listed in The Pitchfork 500 , a music-guide published by Pitchfork that lists the top 500 songs between 1977 and 2006. [11]
Marilyn Manson covered the song for his 1995 album Smells like Children . Of his decision to cover the song Manson explained: "I thought 'Rock n Roll Nigger' was a song that I could really relate to, and our fans could relate to, about being an outsider. I also thought that nobody else really, in our era of music, had the courage to do a cover of a song like that because, you know, they would get in trouble for the title but this song isn't about racism. It's about standing up for yourself." [12]