Eric Bogle's great anti-racist song, "I Hate Wogs," is the only song I have ever felt I had to remove from You Tube. When I put it up in July, 2008, I got a lot of abusive and threatening comments from people who did not understand the purpose of the song.

Some time later, I decided to put it back on public view with this introductory explanation, which goes through the song a little at a time to try to explain why it is an ANTI-racist song. Once again, I had to remove it from public view, as the nasty comments and threats continued despite my efforts to explain the song in this introductory video, which I also removed. I do not approve of censorship and hate to bow to this kind of pressure, but at least I'm in good company, as Eric Bogle himself felt he had to stop singing it. However, I am now putting this introduction back on public view for a while. I will not put my video of the complete song back, but you can watch Rolf Harris performing it here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sA_FVy2AsYk

IF YOU THINK "I HATE WOGS" IS A RACIST SONG PLEASE WATCH THIS VIDEO BEFORE WRITING YOUR COMMENTS.

I had trouble fitting everything I wanted to say into the ten minute limit imposed by YouTube, so I had to cut out sentences and even individual words to get it down to size. This results in some jerky editing in parts. Ideally, it would have been a 16 minute video, with a complete playing of the song at the end, rather than linking back to the original video.

I hope my explanation will help some of you understand why I want to sing this song. I can assure you that I believe strongly in a multicultural Australia, and that we are all migrants in this country except for the original native inhabitants.

Here is a message which could not fit into the usual comment boxes. Used with permission:

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Hi,
I was going to place the following as a message within the discussion about Eric Bogle's "I hate wogs" song, but see that it falls foul of the 500-character restriction. I would like you to see it, anyway.

Raymond,

I salute you for putting the record straight and explaining Eric Bogles true intent.

I speak as a British national who in the 1970s was on the streets to protests at the rising tide of fascism and racism in the country at the time. In other words, I consider my anti-racist credentials to be solid. Years ago, I heard Bogles I hate wogs song and it nearly left me in stitches with laughter. I considered it to be the best anti-racist song I had ever heard. A few years ago, I wanted to post a few verses from this song on a discussion forum. I Googled the title and was immediately shocked to find links to articles decrying Bogle for being a racist! Nothing could be further from the truth.

So, thank you for patiently explaining the true meaning of this song.

In one sense, the song may be a victim of its own success. I now live in Cyprus, a country which once sent many migrants to Australia. I hear stories of the blatant racism and discrimination that was faced by Cypriot migrants to the lucky country in the 1970s. I also hear that Australia has come a long, long way since then to build a truly functional multicultural society. Those in Australia who have been involved in the anti-racist movement can be proud of their achievements, and Bogles song was one small plank in this campaign. Perhaps Australia has reached the point where the words I hate wogs, even spoken in irony, are no longer acceptable! There is irony for you.

I have never been to Australia, but I certainly remember the crude racism of 1970s Britain. I worked as a conductor on the London buses for a while in those days. I recall my driver going off to make a call from a public phone box at a terminus and, on his return, making the statement, You can always tell when a wog has used the phone before you. It smells like a tom cat has pissed all over it. Bluey Schmidt was everywhere in London in those days. Actually, the w word in Britain then was used to refer to non-European immigrants so it had a different meaning from the way it was used in Australia. This sort of attitude was crying out to be satirised, and Bogle was the genius who came along and did so. Perhaps this is a point which, thankfully, is lost on a younger generation which has grown up in world where statements such as those attributed to Bluey in the song are no longer socially acceptable

By the way, I loved the performance, Raymond. Blueys character really comes through.

Tim Drayton

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You can see a playlist of my Australian songs here: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=0DE11C284435E7A2

For lyrics and chords, see my website: http://www.raymondcrooke.com