We recently received an email from someone concerned that the band had chosen to play a seemingly racist song 'I feel like a wog' on the Black and Blue tour.
We asked Jet to respond to this accusation and to set the record straight about the song's lyrics.
Here is his reply:
'I feel like a Wog' is an anti-racist song.
It is written in the first person from the perspective of a repressed racial minority figure, who, from his point of view, is put upon, and put down, by the white majority.
It was always intended as a lament to the privations of the racial minorities. A sympathy with their interminable adversity.
There have been a few criticisms of the song over the past quarter of a century, but usually as a result of a misunderstanding of it's message. We feel that that message is as valid today as it ever was. There is a need for someone, who can, to speak up for those concomitant with their fortuity of birth.
I feel like a wog people giving me the eye
But I was born here just like you
I feel like a wog
Got all the dirty shitty jobs
But everybody's got to have something to do with their time
I feel like a wog I don't wanna go home
I've got a lot of life to run through
I feel like a wog
I don't mean you no harm
Just don't ask me to shine your shoes
Golly gee Golly gosh
Don't call me your Golly Wog
Golly gee Golly gosh
Don't call me your Golly Wog
Let me tell you about Pimpo
We met him down at the After Eight
He wanted to sell us some limbo
But we said mister
You've just got to wait
You've got to wait
You've got to wait
You've got to wait
He wanted to take us down to St Pauli
But we said mister
We ain't got no bread
I tried to make him laugh
But he didn't get the joke
And then he said I wasn't right in the head
And then he made me
And then he made me
And then he made me feel
And then he made me feel like
And then he made me feel like
And then he made me feel like
You know I feel like
You know I feel like
You know I feel like
You know I feel like a wog
'I feel like a Wog' is an anti-racist song.
It is written in the first person from the perspective of a repressed racial minority figure, who, from his point of view, is put upon, and put down, by the white majority.
It was always intended as a lament to the privations of the racial minorities. A sympathy with their interminable adversity.
There have been a few criticisms of the song over the past quarter of a century, but usually as a result of a misunderstanding of it's message. We feel that that message is as valid today as it ever was. There is a need for someone, who can, to speak up for those concomitant with their fortuity of birth.
I feel like a wog people giving me the eye
But I was born here just like you
I feel like a wog
Got all the dirty shitty jobs
But everybody's got to have something to do with their time
I feel like a wog I don't wanna go home
I've got a lot of life to run through
I feel like a wog
I don't mean you no harm
Just don't ask me to shine your shoes
Golly gee Golly gosh
Don't call me your Golly Wog
Golly gee Golly gosh
Don't call me your Golly Wog
Let me tell you about Pimpo
We met him down at the After Eight
He wanted to sell us some limbo
But we said mister
You've just got to wait
You've got to wait
You've got to wait
You've got to wait
He wanted to take us down to St Pauli
But we said mister
We ain't got no bread
I tried to make him laugh
But he didn't get the joke
And then he said I wasn't right in the head
And then he made me
And then he made me
And then he made me feel
And then he made me feel like
And then he made me feel like
And then he made me feel like
You know I feel like
You know I feel like
You know I feel like
You know I feel like a wog
Jet Black/17th March 2011
