Jim Croce – "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown" (1973)

 

And he's bad, bad Leroy Brown

Baddest man in the whole damn town

The first record with a curse word in its lyrics to make it to #1 on the Billboard “Hot 100” was Isaac Hayes’s 1971 hit, “Theme from Shaft.”

The second #1 single with a curse word in its lyrics – in both cases, the curse word was “damn” – was Jim Croce’s “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown.” Croce died in a plane crash just two months after that record ascended to the top spot on the “Hot 100” chart.

Jim Croce

I heard “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown” on the radio a few days ago.  I’m not sure why I didn’t immediately change the station – “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown” is a truly awful song – but for some reason I listened to it all the way through.

I had never realized before what an extraordinarily racist song “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown” is.  Croce gives the title character so many stereotypically black characteristics that he wouldn’t have been out of place on the old Amos ’n’ Andy show.

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Let’s begin with the title character’s name.  “Leroy” is a stereotypically black name – as the Racial Slur Database notes, Leroy is often used in racist jokes.  (I bet you’ve heard racist jokes where the butt of the joke is a black male named Leroy.)

What does Leroy drive?  A Cadillac Eldorado, of course.

A vintage straight razor

In addition to packing a gun, he carries a concealed straight razor.  Straight razors have long been viewed as weapons typically used by African-Americans – probably because Jim Crow laws prohibited the possession of firearms and more conventional edged weapons (like Bowie knives) by blacks.  But straight razors had a utilitarian purpose in addition to being a weapon, so it was legal for blacks to possess them.  (You can click here to read more on this subject.)

Leroy’s a gambler, and his game of choice appears to be shooting dice – a stereotypically African-American form of gambling.

Another thing we know about Leroy Brown that makes it almost certain that he is black, not white, is that he’s a resident of the South Side of Chicago – an area which is 93% African-American.  (Chicago as a whole is 29% black.)

Then there’s the line about Leroy being “badder than old King Kong.”  Disparaging comparisons of black people to monkeys and apes go back to the 1800s – Croce’s reference to King Kong could hardly be more insulting.

Finally, the song’s lyrics often use stereotypical African-American dialect rather than standard English.  For example, Croce consistently uses “badder” and baddest” instead of “worse” and “worst,” and he often leaves out the third-person singular “s” (e.g., “He stand ‘bout six foot four” and “He like his fancy clothes”).

I’m surprised that Croce didn’t have Leroy Brown eating fried chicken and watermelon.

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Click here to listen to “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown.”

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