Your Racist Friend

Trivia/Info

• "The song is a composite of experiences, and really about the relativistic backpedaling people go through trying to get through this creepy world. This song is really wrapped up in the problem of tacit agreement, and the line 'Can't shake the devil's hand and say you're only kidding' just sums it up." -Flansburgh in a 2009 interview with Rolling Stone.
• John Linnell spoke about his initial reaction to Flansburgh presenting the song in a 2015 interview with SPIN:

I remember at the time feeling like, "Oh this is kind of opening a whole other thing." I was a little uncomfortable with becoming political in a way. It was one of those things where one of us would introduce a thing and it was like, "Well that expands the repertoire but, well, what do we mean to everybody?" What we’ve always had between us is very open, like everything's great. Whatever you think of is cool. Just do everything. That was the spirit of the band. That’s still the case. If somebody thinks of an idea that they think is cool, they don’t have to explain why or what it means or how it’s going to redefine the band.

• The song title unwittingly borrows from The Specials song "Racist Friend" - in 2015, John Linnell told Tom Robinson, "We didn't know that we were writing an identically named song when we came out with it. We found out later that there was already a song by that name."
• "My head can't tolerate" is often replaced with "My head is tired of" in live performances.
• Australian singer Mick Thomas occasionally covers this in concert; one such performance is featured on the 2007 live album Paddock Bomb. It has also been covered by Australian punk band Bodyjar.

Song Themes

Bad English, Body Parts, Drinking, Egoism And Pretentiousness, Friendship, Heads, Oblique Cliches Or Idiom, Politics, Religion, Swing Feel

Videos

• Live at The Town & Country Club, London England. Watch it on  – Recorded live on June 17, 1990

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