Neil Young – Southern Man

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Southern man
better keep your head
Don't forget
what your good book said
Southern change
gonna come at last
Now your crosses
are burning fast
Southern man

I saw cotton
and I saw black
Tall white mansions
and little shacks.
Southern man
when will you
pay them back?
I heard screamin'
and bullwhips cracking
How long? How long?

Southern man
better keep your head
Don't forget
what your good book said
Southern change
gonna come at last
Now your crosses
are burning fast
Southern man

Lily Belle,
your hair is golden brown
I've seen your black man
comin' round
Swear by God
I'm gonna cut him down!
I heard screamin'
and bullwhips cracking
How long? How long?

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Lyrics submitted by H-bomb

Track duration: 05:31


Southern Man song meanings
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  • 0
    General Comment:I definitely agree with hyperbully. I knew the first time that I listen to this song that it condems slavery even suggests that we must give something back. The simple fact is that there is only one race. I actually get angry every time a form asks for my race. Its just a way for the government to divide us.
    Flag Wharthogon February 06, 2013   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Sorry to not discuss the song, but the ignorance i see here needs to be responded to. The primary cause of the civil war was slavery. The evidence is clear. See the reasons for succession given by the confederate states themselves.

    Mississippi
    "Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery-- the greatest material interest of the world. Its labor supplies the product which constitutes by far the largest and most important portions of commerce of the earth. These products are peculiar to the climate verging on the tropical regions, and by an imperious law of nature, none but the black race can bear exposure to the tropical sun. These products have become necessities of the world, and a blow at slavery is a blow at commerce and civilization. That blow has been long aimed at the institution, and was at the point of reaching its consummation. There was no choice left us but submission to the mandates of abolition, or a dissolution of the Union, whose principles had been subverted to work out our ruin."

    south carolina
    "A geographical line has been drawn across the Union, and all the States north of that line have united in the election of a man to the high office of President of the United States, whose opinions and purposes are hostile to slavery. He is to be entrusted with the administration of the common Government, because he has declared that that "Government cannot endure permanently half slave, half free," and that the public mind must rest in the belief that slavery is in the course of ultimate extinction."

    Georgia
    "The people of Georgia having dissolved their political connection with the Government of the United States of America, present to their confederates and the world the causes which have led to the separation. For the last ten years we have had numerous and serious causes of complaint against our non-slave-holding confederate States with reference to the subject of African slavery."

    please go read these declarations in full if you think i am cherry picking quotes.
    Flagged wintirmuteon March 17, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:As a Yankee I'd like to say I really don't like this song at all. Neil Young is a great artist but this song is a little too much for me. Especially the last verse. Neil Young obviously doesn't know anything about not just the southern way of life, but about country folk in general. It's kind of offensive.
    Flagged Pattyb12on August 07, 2011   Link
    • 1 Reply
  • -2
    General Comment:People seem to forget that everything the blacks have in this country, especially their intelligence, they owe to white people. If we had not brought them to this country they would still be in the jungle, running around in tribes, starving, ridden with disease and swinging from tree to tree. They aren't smart enough to settle anything. I don't hate them because of it but that race obviously isen't equal to mine. I'm from Pa, thats the north, and I'm not sure what most of you mean when you say most of the racism is in the south. Thats where they all are, the south is full of blacks thats why I stay away. Get this straight too, the civil war had nothing to do with slavery, it was about state sovereignty. The north was jelous of all the money the south was making with cotton and they wanted to treat them just like Britain treated the colonies.
    Flagged coldironshackleson July 22, 2011   Link
    • 2 Replies
  • 0
    My Opinion:First of all HyperBully nailed it. Perfect interpretation.

    But I also have to add all the thoughts I had as I read through the comments on this song.

    Ok this question goes to all of you ignorant people complaining about Southern people being stereotyped in this song. Did any of you happen to notice he says "Southern MAN" not "Southern MEN" ?

    I think those complaining should probably learn a bit about the English language and how it works. I would say that Neil Young probably used the singular form deliberately in order to point out the fact he IS NOT talking about ALL southern men or trying to stereotype. He is talking about one type of man that is often a product of the South. I'm sure if you look back through the comments on this song you will find one or two people who were more than willing to jump up and show themselves here as proof that the "southern man" is alive and well.

    My 90 year old grandfather grew up in Arkansas during segregation. He always treated me with kindness and I love him, but that doesn't change the fact that he is an IGNORANT RACIST. I grew up being nauseated by his inappropriate and hateful comments. I can tell you from experience that the "southern man" does exist. He spends his life trying to pass on his hate to his children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren with his nasty little lies. I was one of the lucky ones. My father was intelligent enough to break the cycle. At a very young age he taught me that my grandfather was a product of brainwashing and the things he said were like a mental illness and I should do my best to educate myself in how wrong they were.

    This song is about the crimes men like my grandfather committed against their fellow man. What makes me sick is that people act like this is ancient history. Watch some civil rights footage please. A policeman ripping an American flag from a five or six year old little boy's hand VIOLENTLY always comes to mind and brings tears to my eyes. That little boy would probably be my father's age today and I'm sure he would appreciate the sentiment in this song.

    As to the line "when will you pay them back?" Well, how many white families still have money today that has it's roots in slavery? How many black people are still struggling in poverty trying to overcome the deep rooted self hate that was ingrained into their minds during the days of slavery and segregation and then passed down just as the racism is?

    Some of the comments on this song make me lose my hope in humanity. I grew up around ignorant racist people and I managed to learn that our body is just a shell that has no influence on the content of our character. Every single person in this world has the potential to create and destroy. How is it that there are so few others out there who haven't managed to learn this truth?
    Flag tearosemoonon May 12, 2011   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:I don't think the meaning of this song could be any more clear to anyone with even a small understanding of American history and society. It's about racism and the unjust way African-Americans were treated in the Southern U.S. for many years going back to slavery, and are still today. Yes, it's true that not everyone in the South is racist and there are plenty of racist people elsewhere, but it's undeniable that the majority of prejudice, oppression and segregation towards African-Americans took place in the Southern U.S. from Reconstruction through the 20th Century. The song bears many references to this fact. The references to cotton, mansions, shacks and bullwhips all, of course, refer to slavery. "Now your crosses are burning fast" is a reference to the Ku Klux Klan, a group of radical southern white supremacists who dressed up in white cloaks and went on "night rides" to hunt, lynch and oppress African-Americans and other minorities. One of the hallmarks and symbols of the KKK was to set crosses on fire during these "night rides." The line "Don't forget what your good book says" calls the mostly-Christian South out on their hypocrisy based on the supposedly loving, peaceful nature of their religion. The final verse, "Lily Belle, your hair is golden brown. I've seen your black man comin' 'round. Swear by God I'm gonna cut him down!" is sung from the perspective of one of these ignorant southerners who, on discovering a white woman's affair with a black man, vows to kill him. Sadly enough, this is what actually happened in such a situation for a very long time, and probably still happens in some areas of the South.
    Flag HyperBullyon February 05, 2011   Link
    • 1 Reply
  • -1
    General Comment:I don't know about everyone else, but I personally am upset at the fact that a Canadian sang this song. It may sound retarded to you, but it really bothers me. If it were an American chastising his own country and urging them to shape up, it would be different. I don't think that as a non American Neil Young can justly make these accusations. Even if there is a lick of truth to them, I can't help but feel offended. I'm not from the south and I have no ties to the south, but still the idea of someone creating this song purely from negative stereotypes or even one negative experience makes me angry and defensive.
    Flagged ilLeopardoon October 07, 2010   Link
    • 3 Replies
  • -1
    General Comment:By the way, Neil Young is coming to my area soon to give a benefit concert. We dont need his help and he should stay away from a land of people he hates so much. I have never heard anyone in my area through hurricanes, oil spills, or anything else say "gosh I wish that South hating Neil Young would come and save us"
    Flagged anglican7on August 14, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I just dont understand how Neil Young and others can dare to pretend that slavery did not exist in the north! Or that the oppression of minorities only exists in the South but does not exist in the north. But does not the people who slam the entire South ever feel any shame for stereotyping an entire demographic area? There were Southerners who fought with the Union and those who survived returned home to be hated by Confederate sympathizers for fighting with the Union and hated by the Union for being Southerners. I have never heard any judgemental northerner or black person express any appreciation for these people, they just lump them in and spew their hatred toward an entire demographic area. That sounds alot like prejudice. Northerner who bad mouth the South seem to think that this exhonerates them from all of their own evils dont they? I think it is wrong to be condescending toward a person because of the color of their skin or because of where they happened to be born. This "Southerners are bigots" trash seems pretty hypocritical to me. That's my opinion. By the way, my forefathers were confederates. They wanted to seperate from the union primarily due to unequal representation, they were not plantation owners. Neither were they African slave merchants. So lets dont blame slavery entirely on white people either.
    Flag anglican7on August 14, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I’m a Southerner and I like the song. There was a time the meaning of the song was more significant than now. I’m not racist, and I like the Confederate flag, but would not fly it out of respect for others. My great grandfather, who fought for the South, would understand I think.
    I do not believe the primary reason for the Civil war was slavery. It was states rights (sound familiar in modern times?).
    If you think it was primarily over Slavery, look at this excerpt from Abraham Lincoln’s inauguration speech prior to the civil war even beginning
    “I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so.”
    Sometimes “real” history is a bitch when you’ve been taught things like “Columbus discovered America”, and Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves.
    Flag thompstl1on August 06, 2010   Link

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