“Black Coffee” was a song that I could not stand. I get that Nev meant well with it—these white liberal types always do, don’t they? But he was putting all these words in my mouth, literally, and they were so damn morose. Listen, we were on some different stuff in 1970! We were all singing [James Brown’s] “Say It Loud—I’m Black and I’m Proud”! That’s what we were on—the joy! But “Black Coffee” to me was musty and sad and old-school Negro, and taking the lead on it was a threat to my particular spirit. Like me saying what a drag it is to live in my skin. It wasn’t how I wanted to represent
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