Johnny Rebel was born in 1938, in Moss
Bluff, Louisiana. He recorded a number of country/rockabilly (or swampbilly, as it's often referred to) tracks during the fifties, sixties and seventies under various names but his main claims to fame are the racist recordings he made for J.D. Miller with the Rebel Records label during the sixties and seventies. Though many recordings abound on the Internet under the name Johnny Rebel there are, in fact, only 12 authentic songs which were recorded by 'the original' Johnny Rebel.
- LOOKIN' FOR A HANDOUT
- KAJUN K.K.K.
- NIGGER HATIN' ME
- WHO LIKES A NIGGER
- KEEP A-WORKIN' BIG JIM
- FEDERAL AID (AND THE MONEY BELONGS TO US)
- NIGGER, NIGGER
- MOVE THEM NIGGERS NORTH
- COONTOWN
- STILL LOOKIN' FOR A HANDOUT
- SOME NIGGERS NEVER DIE (THEY JUST SMELL THAT WAY!)
- STAY AWAY FROM DIXIE
Many different songs can be found on the internet which bear the Johnny Rebel name and are not listed above. These songs fall into two categories: mislabeled songs and songs that were recorded under his name by other musicians. Some of these songs are racist in nature and some of them are quite the opposite. One of the musicians most often mislabeled as Johnny Rebel is David Allen Coe. Other mislabeled recordings range from spoken word comedy to poor imitations of the Johnny Rebel style by talentless hicks who cannot sing. Other musicians who play under the name Johnny Rebel are The White Riders and John Crow.
Johnny Rebel is cited as an influence by many modern racist bands such as Skrewdriver and The Klansmen. What sets him apart from these bands who perform white power Rock 'N' Roll are a number of factors, the foremost being that both in his work as Johnny Rebel and his more mainstream work (some of which was performed with black musicians interestingly enough) Johnny Rebel was and is a talented musician with a good voice (a thing which is practically nonexistent in racist music).
The majority of the original Johnny Rebel songs (the ones listed above which were performed under the Rebel Records label) are racist songs about political issues of his time, the NAACP and Martin Luther King Jr. The songs are without a doubt politically incorrect and a lot of people will take offense to them but bear in mind that Johnny Rebel did not take himself or his views anywhere near as seriously as the people who sing racist music today and some of the songs he sang had a sense of humor to them which is just not present in music by groups such as Skrewdriver, for example. Still having said all that, one only has to look at some of the lyrics that Johnny Rebel sang to realise what an ignorant bigot he really was at heart.
Nigger, nigger-tell them lies
Black face, and bloodshot eyes (CHORUS)
Crooked toes, and crooked nose
That's the way a nigger goes!.......That's how he goes!
They're marching for equality
They'll never be as good as me
We won't let them integrate
We must always segregate!.........Keep 'em in their places!
Repeat chorus.
Old Martin Luther's got to go
That's one thing that we all know
We'll take him ridin' on a rail
And lock him the county jail!
Nigger's want to change our ways
But taxes?...They won't ever pay!
Monkey lips, and kinky hair
Living off that old welfare
They might as well give up the fight
no Federal judge can make them white!
The job is up to you and me
Let's beat the NAACP!...........Move 'em north!
Repeat chorus.
I would just like to add that I am not a racist and that I have never paid for any racist music .