‘I Wanna Be Black’: the regrettably racist Lou Reed song
Rock ‘n’ roll defiantly rose up from the lashings of racism, but sadly it has often returned from whence it came in the worst possible way. What should always be a tool of progressive expression and a voice of liberation – and so often is – unfortunately also has an Achilles heel that has perpetuated problematic discrimination in song. This is the antithesis of what rock ‘n’ roll is about, and it is our duty to recognise that, denounce it, and look ahead, having learnt lessons from the past.
Lou Reed was always keen to pervert the ways of rock ‘n’ roll in a subversive manner, to test the boundaries and push on to a more progressive and liberal place beyond that. However, there is a fine line between visceral artistry and unthinking offence. On more than one occasion, he found himself on the wrong side of that line, but never more so than in his 1978 song ‘I Wanna Be Black’.
The Velvet Underground frontman frequently highlighted marginalised LGBTQ+ figures in his work, most notably in his solo track ‘Walk on the Wild Side’. Yet, when it came to writing about race, his approach was much clumsier. While in the offending song, Lou Reed was attempting to satirise the malaise of young, privileged white men, he did so in such a crass and untamed fashion that he forgot to think about the young black men he might be barbing in the process.
In the damning anthem, the New York singer drawls, “I wanna be black, I wanna be a Panther/ Have a girlfriend named Samantha/ And have a stable of foxy whores.” Unfortunately, the singer ends up building a cache of stereotypes that limit the black experience to one single fixed view of Reed’s imagining.
Reed sadly continues, “I wanna be black, wanna be like Martin Luther King/ And get myself shot in the spring/ And lead a whole generation, too/ And fuck up the Jews.” The singer’s incessant stereotyping serves to make his track hard to listen to, even if he is attempting to highlight the racism of middle-class white men, his prose hoists him by his own petard.
Reed certainly wanted his song to be controversial, and he succeeded. However, we can’t help but wonder if there was a less offensive way of getting that message across. It is not that his antagonising point has been missed either, you simply have to be more careful about how you flaunt norms to raise a point, because ultimately, he doesn’t make it clear enough that he is citing stereotypes for a reason.
But remarks like “[I wanna] have a big prick, too” just have no discernible point beyond perpetuating rooted racism that harks back to the harrowing days of mandingo fighting.
