my whiteness is showing again

[chanter1944]

I was a particular, not-disclosed age in the summer of 2024 when I realized that the line 'ain't no smiling faces lyin' to the races' is one reference, one coherent phrase, and not somehow two separate items on the song's list.

Tiny me did not get it, and was confused and a touch dismayed. Adult me only recently got it, and feels like Blanca McWhiteskin and a doofus.

Comments

[gingicat]

I don't think I'd ever heard the song before.

And, oof, that's a line.

[chanter1944]

The song is 'I'll Take You There'. The original was done by the Staples Singers, but '90's kid that I am, I grew up with the version by General Public. If it helps, the lines immediately prior are 'I know a place, ain't nobody cryin', ain't nobody worried'. I understand, per an interview recently heard, that it's intended to be referencing heaven.