Country music star Brad Paisley calls his song, “Accidental Racist”, one of his proudest moments as a songwriter. But the single, off his new album Wheelhouse, is misfiring badly with some music critics.
Paisley’s song, featuring rapper LL Cool J, is causing controversy due to its lyrics which were intended to promote racial harmony between blacks and whites.
“Accidental Racist” begins with a guy apologizing for wearing the Confederate flag on his T-shirt. He sings, “when I put on that T-shirt, the only thing I meant to say, is I’m a Skynyrd fan.”
“I’m proud of where I’m from,” the chorus goes, “but not everything we’ve done,” I’ve “got a lot to learn,” and, “I just want to make things right.”
LL Cool J, 45, who makes his living as an actor these days, contributes the following lyrics:
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Just because my pants are saggin’ doesn’t mean I’m up to no good
You should try to get to know me, I really wish you would
When I see that white cowboy hat, I’m thinking it’s not all good
I guess we’re both guilty of judging the cover and not the book
He concludes by saying, “If you don’t judge my do-rag, I won’t judge your red flag.”
Paisley, 40, told Radio.com he decided to add the Grammy winning rapper about halfway through writing the song.
“I wanted [his] perspective. LL being such a tremendously respectable, wonderful guy. To hear what he thinks and his point of view in this song. Being from the north, being black, and how he feels about the subject. It really meant the world to me that he was willing to do this.”
“He’s very creative and courageous to do this, in the sense that this isn’t a typical thing to sing about.”
But music critics are at odds with the almost apologetic tone of the song.
“‘Accidental Racist’: Strong contender for the worst song of all time,” Salon.com tweeted on its official Twitter page.
The hairpin writes: “the song is a lyrical disgrace filled with awkward non-apologies and faux-pensiveness over the history of racism in the south.”
And Jezebel magazine opines that the song is “a mournful ballad about how hard it is to be a white man.”
“We were talking about Southern pride,” Paisley says in a promotional video about the song that was provided to Radio.com, “and how far we’ve come, and racism… and things also feel like maybe they aren’t better yet.”
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