“Redbone” Lyrics & Meaning (Childish Gambino)

Redbone by Childish Gambino has been described in many ways.

Perhaps the most accurate are ‘a vibe’ or ‘a mood.’

While I’m not generally a fan of expressions like that, in this case they do capture the feeling of the song well.

But they are far from the only descriptions you’ll see.

The reason for the many different ways to describe Redbone is that the song itself takes inspiration from numerous varying influences.

But many songs do that.

What Childish Gambino and Ludwig Göransson pulled off is to meld those influences perfectly. The resulting song does not sound like a mishmash, but like a single, coherent masterpiece.

Gambino’s unusual (for him) high pitched voice only adds to that. As do the lyrics. But what do they mean?

Keep reading for a closer look at Redbone, including the complete lyrics and their meaning.

 

Redbone Lyrics And Meaning

Rapper and singer Childish Gambino made quite an impression with Redbone. It’s a bit like 2018 swallowed up the 1970s, or maybe the other way around.

This track was launched at the end of 2016. A year later, in January 2018, it won the Grammy Award for Best Traditional R&B Performance. It expresses a double musical influence.

It rests on a very contemporary musical base — sounds, arrangements, digital beats, synth themes. Rapper Childish Gambino’s hip-hop influences play out to the fullest.

 

Fusion Of R&B And Hip-Hop

Redbone also contains many sounds from the 1970s, which fit together perfectly. This track is a fusion of classic R&B and current Hip Hop, with some well-felt touches of funk (the plucked strings of the bass line, in particular).

The sound that opens the piece, which becomes its central theme, comes from a small Mellotron keyboard from the 60s. Then a Fender Stratocaster guitar, guitar effect pedals, and a Rhodes piano come into play.

All are instruments, or legendary musical devices, from the sixties and seventies. They talk to fans.

Redbone is also a typical example of a recent trend — where one or two musicians create and produce a title, or an entire album, at home, with a computer and instruments (or sometimes not even instruments).

 

Made Entirely By Only Two People

Redbone was composed and produced by only two people in a personal studio: Childish Gambino with Ludwig Göransson, his musical accomplice since 2010.

Ludwig Göransson remembers the stammering of the piece in the studio of Childish Gambino (Donald Glover’s stage name):

“Donald started playing the drums. He said, ‘Ah, listen to that beat! Let’s just play around this.’ We had all the instruments around us. We went from one to the other and we started to play. We recorded groups of sounds, one above the other. The first seed of Redbone was born like this, by groping.”

 

A Touch Of Funk

Childish Gambino would later play albums by Funkadelic, George Clinton’s 1970s psychedelic funk band. “This music serves as a point of reference for the piece”, analyzes Göransson.

Gambino and Göransson revel in these sounds together and decide to use them for Redbone. On vocals, the voice that appears from the beginning is that of Childish Gambino. Its timbre sounds like a vocal homage to R&B.

Many people thought his voice had undergone digital processing. But it is 100% natural. The proof? Childish Gambino brings it to TV sets such as the popular show ‘The Tonight Show’. He sings there live, with his voice as high as it can be, and a little metal as well.

In Redbone, Ludwig Göransson plays a vintage Telecaster guitar, another trademark instrument of the 60s and 70s. The Swedish musician exploits the guitar distortions provided by the Gibson Maestro (Fuzz) pedal. He also sprinkles the piece with small echo effects typical of the 60s.

Childish Gambino plays the drums and, in the background, the Glockenspiel, a percussion instrument made up of metal blades vibrated by a small mallet. Göransson plays the pinched bass line, very funky. He admits: “I had always dreamed of it and I was able to do it this time.”

 

Redbone Lyrics

Verse 1

Daylight
I wake up feeling like you won’t play right
I used to know, but now that shit don’t feel right
It made me put away my pride
So long
You made a nigga wait for some, so long
You make it hard for boy like that to go on
I’m wishing I could make this mine, oh

Pre-Chorus

If you want it, yeah
You can have it, oh, oh, oh
If you need it, ooh
We can make it, oh
If you want it
You can have it

Chorus

But stay woke
Niggas creepin’
They gon’ find you
Gon’ catch you sleepin’, ooh
Now stay woke
Niggas creepin’
Now don’t you close your eyes

Verse 2

Too late
You wanna make it right, but now it’s too late
My peanut butter chocolate cake with Kool-Aid
I’m trying not to waste my time

Pre-Chorus

If you want it, oh
You can have it, you can have it
If you need it, you better believe in something
We can make it, oh
If you want it
You can have it, ah

Chorus

But stay woke (Stay woke)
Niggas creepin’ (They be creepin’)
They gon’ find you (They gon’ find you)
Gon’ catch you sleepin’ (Gon’ catch you sleepin’, put your hands up now, baby)
Ooh, now stay woke
Niggas creepin’
Now, don’t you close your eyes
But stay woke (Ooh)
Niggas creepin’ (They gon’ find you)
They gon’ find you
Gon’ catch you sleepin’, ooh (Gon’ catch you, gon’ catch you)
Now stay woke
Niggas creepin’
Now, don’t you close your eyes

Outro

How’d it get so scandalous?
Oh, how’d it get so scandalous?
Oh, oh, baby you, how’d it get
How’d it get so scandalous?
How’d it get so scandalous?
But stay woke
But stay woke

 

Redbone Meaning

Donald Glover is not only a talented actor, but also an acclaimed musician and rapper. During the last couple of years, those two vocations merged within the life of the artist.

During the day, he was Donald, writing the script for the highly acclaimed TV series Atlanta. At night, he was Childish Gambino, writing the lyrics for his album Awaken, My Love!.

Both characters and their projects have a common point: they focus on African-American culture. And the narratives meet at certain times.

The lyrics of this song reveal the concerns of a young couple. Redbone talks about a relationship between a man and a ‘redbone’.

The relationship that Glover describes in the song is very similar to the one that the character he plays in Atlanta has with his girlfriend. They end things and come back, and they don’t know what to do.

The word Redbone refers to a black, mixed-race, light-skinned woman. In the song, the relationship she maintains with the narrator seems very free. Everyone enjoys their own sexual life and partners.

But as the narrator becomes more and more attached to his lover, he asks her to devote herself exclusively to him. But all is not so simple.

In Redbone, the musician questions how faithful his partner is being to him. He knows what is happening, and he does not know how to handle it, because he believed that she was 100% his.

He wants that to be the case, and he does not want to let go, so he warns her about her behavior. He is still trying to keep her close to him.

In short, Redbone is about paranoia and infidelity in a relationship. As said, the title of the song refers to the term ‘redbone’, a classification used to distinguish a black person with lighter skin who has a slightly red color in their skin pigment.

They are more commonly referred to as ‘fair skinned’. The beauty, body type, and social status of redbones are often stigmatized/envied in the black community.

This term could be used by Gambino to express the physical beauty of the subject of the song, as well as their potentially high lifestyle or bourgeois lifestyle. Gambino believes he is unable to satisfy this girl’s unquenchable desire for the attention that comes with her lifestyle.

The lyrics repeatedly repeat the phrase ‘stay woke’. This slang phrase literally means ‘stay awake’. But it has taken on a newer meaning that encourages social and political awareness. This phrase was popularized during the 2014 Ferguson protests and riots in the United States.

Childish Gambino is appreciated for this reference. He achieve phenomenal worldwide success with his hit This Is America, which largely deals with racism in the United States. Full of references, that song has been dissected by many musical media.

Like This is America, Redbone is rich in references as well. With his taste for allusions, Childish Gambino made Redbone a mirror that is reflected in another mirror. The composition in facets, the 1970 sounds, the political allusions, and the contemporary concerns create its history.

 

Redbone Lyrics Meaning: Final Thoughts

With Redbone, Childish Gambino and Ludwig Göransson once again show their amazing versatility, as well as their ability to seamlessly meld various influences into a single coherent, beautiful song.

Most people listen to it and just enjoy the mood it creates. But some listen closely to the lyrics. If you do that, you probably end up wondering what they mean, unless you already know what the term ‘redbone’ means and you are familiar with Donald Glover’s TV series Atlanta.

If you were not sure about the lyrics , I hope we were able to clear that up for you. I also hope you found our brief dive into how the song was created interesting as well.

Another great song about someone dealing with tough decisions, one of them also involving a romantic relationship, check out our breakdown of the meaning of the lyrics to Landslide by Fleetwood Mac.

For a very different song, but one that still has some similarities, check out our look at the meaning of the lyrics to Come Together by The Beatles.

Finally, the lyrics and meaning of Everlong by Foo Fighters also deals with a relationship, though that on looks at the honeymoon phase when everything is still wonderful.