Rick James: Super Freak

Remarks:

This came out in 1981 and went to #3 on the US R&B chart and #16 on the pop chart. In New York it seemed like a #1 song and probably was.

James’s original lyrics were toned down to increase the song’s chances of getting on the radio and crossing over to White audiences. It did get on the radio, but not on MTV. In fact:

This was the first song by a Black artist that MTV refused to play. It was killed by Caroline B. Baker, who said:

“It wasn’t MTV that turned down ‘Super Freak.’ It was me. I turned it down. You know why? Because there were half-naked women in it, and it was a piece of crap. As a black woman, I did not want that representing my people as the first black video on MTV.”

Instead Musical Youth received that honour in a song celebrating drug use, right in the title: “Pass the Dutchie” (1982).

James’s video seems very tame now 40 years later. Especially compared to what came later. And, since the “freaks” are racially integrated in the video, it does not, strictly speaking, promote the Jezebel stereotype. Though, to be fair, prejudiced White viewers will see White freaks as individuals, Black freaks as representing their race. That is how a prejudiced mind works. Thus Baker’s concern.

Not sure what “new-wave magazines” are – or were.

See also:

• songs: the 1980s
• MTV
• The Jezebel stereotype
• prejudice
• more Rick James:
  • Rick James ft Teena Marie: Fire & Desire
  • Rick James, Smokey Robinson: Ebony Eyes

Lyrics:

She’s a very kinky girl
The kind you don’t take home to mother
She will never let your spirits down
Once you get her off the street, ow girl

She likes the boys in the band
She says that I’m her all-time favorite
When I make my move to her room
It’s the right time
She’s never hard to please

Oh, no
That girl is pretty wild now
(The girl’s a super freak)
The kind of girl you read about
(In new-wave magazines)
That girl is pretty kinky
(The girl’s a super freak)
I really love to taste her
(Every time we meet)
She’s all right, she’s all right
That girl’s all right
With me, yeah
Hey, hey, hey-heeeey

She’s a super freak, super freak
She’s super-freaky, yow

Everybody sing
Super freak, super freak

She’s a very special girl
(The kind of girl you want to know)
From her head down to her toenails
(Down to her feet, yeah)
And she’ll wait for me at backstage
With her girlfriends
In a limousine
(Going back in Chinatown)

Three’s not a crowd to her, she says
(Ménage à trois)
Room 714, I’ll be waiting
When I get there she’s got incense
Wine and candles
It’s such a freaky scene

That girl is pretty kinky
(The girl’s a super freak)
The kind of girl you read about
(In new-wave magazines)
That girl is pretty wild now
(The girl’s a super freak)
I really like to taste her
(Every time we meet)
She’s all right, she’s all right
That girl’s all right
With me, yeah
Hey, hey, hey-heeeey

She’s a super freak, super freak
She’s super-freaky, yow

Temptations sing
Oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh, oh-oooooh
Super freak, super freak
That girl’s a super freak
Oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh, oh-oooooh

She’s a very kinky girl
The kind you don’t take home to mother
She will never let your spirits down
Once you get her off the street

Blow, Darry

Source: AZ Lyrics, Songfacts.