Recall That Ice Cream Truck Song? racist

[doggie]

http://www.npr.org/blogs/codeswitch/201 ... ws-for-you

EDITOR'S NOTE: This article is about a virulently racist song. Read no further if you wish to avoid racist imagery and slurs.

"Nigger Love A Watermelon Ha! Ha! Ha!" merits the distinction of the most racist song title in America. Released in March 1916 by Columbia Records, it was written by actor Harry C. Browne and played on the familiar depiction of black people as mindless beasts of burden greedily devouring slices of watermelon.

I came across this gem while researching racial stereotypes. I was a bit conflicted on whether the song warranted a listen. Admittedly, though, beneath my righteous indignation, I was rather curious about how century-old, overt racism sounded and slightly amused by the farcical title. When I started the song, the music that tumbled from the speakers was that of the ever-recognizable jingle of the ice cream truck. (For the record, not all ice cream trucks play this same song, but a great many of them do.)

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[polecat]

I'm sort of perplexed. I always knew this song by "Turkey in the Straw."

kidsongs.com/lyrics/turkey-in-the-straw.html

[Seven Severn]

I'm sort of perplexed. I always knew this song by "Turkey in the Straw."

kidsongs.com/lyrics/turkey-in-the-straw.html

Yup. "Turkey in the Straw". I had no idea it was ever anything else.

[thoughtful]

A tune having several (sometimes several dozen!) sets of lyrics set to it is pretty common, when it comes to popular music, whether folk or formally composed.

This tune has a long history:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkey_in_the_Straw

http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/04 ... urkey.html

[HereticHick]

I'm with everyone else-- I know that tune as "Turkey in the Straw". I can't cite statistics but I'd guess that the vast majority of Americans who, when ask to name the "ice cream truck jingle" would say the same. Few if any would say the "watermelon" song.

[doggie]

true but now you will think of it differently.

[Jane_Goth]

When I was a small girl in the Brownies, I learnt a song called "Do Your Ears Hang Low?" to that tune. Likewise I never knew that someone had put racist lyrics to it until today, but it's one of those things that once heard can never be unheard.

:brain-bleach:

Slight OT. The ice cream vans round here tend to play Colonel Bogey, Whenever I hear the tune the words I hear "Hitler has only got one ball" pop into my head.

Hitler has only got one ball,

He keeps it in the Albert Hall,

Himmler has something sim'lar,

But poor old Goebbels has no balls at all.

I also tell my kids that they only play tunes when they have run out of ice cream, so far as they are only 2 and 4 I've got away with it!

[polecat]

true but now you will think of it differently.

That's true, but as far as I can tell, "Turkey in the Straw" came first.

[FJismyheadship]

I thought it was Do Your Ears Hang Low too...

[colliemae]

Yeah, I thought it was Do Your Ears Hang Low or Turkey in the Straw as well. I was doubly confused because all the ice cream trucks around here play Pop Goes the Weasel.

[ViolaSebastian]

I thought it was Do Your Ears Hang Low too...

I always sang it 'Do your boobs hang low...' My mother is an irreverent woman. :lol:

[ADoyle90815]

I always sang it 'Do your boobs hang low...' My mother is an irreverent woman. :lol:

That's how my mom's side of the family sang that song. The irreverence is why my mom never felt comfortable when we visited my grandparents, the only set I had were on my dad's side. My grandparents were fundie-lite Catholics.

[Howl]

I also tell my kids that they only play tunes when they have run out of ice cream, so far as they are only 2 and 4 I've got away with it!

Still laughing but there will be a day of reckoning! :o

[smittykins]

I always sang it 'Do your boobs hang low...' My mother is an irreverent woman. :lol:

I've also heard "Do your balls hang low..."

[blisterine]

Still laughing but there will be a day of reckoning! :o

I always made it a game that whoever heard the ice cream truck bells first got to yell "HELL'S BELLS!" I always had popsicles in the freezer and we ate those instead. My son is 30 and has never had an ice cream from the truck.

[Caramel]

"Turkey in the Straw" predates the linked song in the opening post by at least a hundred years, and its tune derived from an earlier ballad.

[Mudball]

Turkey in the straw came way before that song, a century or more. There is nothing stopping anyone from taking an old folk tune and recording it with racist lyrics, unfortunately. I think it's at least a positive thing that everyone knows Turkey in the Straw but no one remembers that awful remake.

Also, you all still have ice cream trucks?! Lucky.

[PennySycamore]

I thought it was Do Your Ears Hang Low too...

All of us ex-Girl Scouts sing:

Do your ears hang low?

Do they wobble to and fro?

Can you tie 'em in a knot?

Can you tie 'em in a bow?

Can you throw them over your shoulder

like a Continental soldier?

Do your ears hang low?

Yep, we still have ice cream trucks around here. I think I've already heard the first one of Spring.

[polecat]

Turkey in the straw came way before that song, a century or more. There is nothing stopping anyone from taking an old folk tune and recording it with racist lyrics, unfortunately. I think it's at least a positive thing that everyone knows Turkey in the Straw but no one remembers that awful remake.

Also, you all still have ice cream trucks?! Lucky.

Yes, but don't get too jealous. The prices are obscene.

[Jilli]

All of us ex-Girl Scouts sing:

Do your ears hang low?

Do they wobble to and fro?

Can you tie 'em in a knot?

Can you tie 'em in a bow?

Can you throw them over your shoulder

like a Continental soldier?

Do your ears hang low?

Yep, we still have ice cream trucks around here. I think I've already heard the first one of Spring.

I remember learning it in kindergarten. Our high school was known internationally, so even though it was public school they started music training as soon as they could. lol

I agree with the other posters that said that it was fairly common to use the same tune over and over again and just rewrite the lyrics.

As for the racism element, I feel so guilty for being fascinated by it. I researched certain types of racism before WWII and was shocked at how casual it all was.

[lilith]

All of us ex-Girl Scouts sing:

Do your ears hang low?

Do they wobble to and fro?

Can you tie 'em in a knot?

Can you tie 'em in a bow?

Can you throw them over your shoulder

like a Continental soldier?

Do your ears hang low?

Yep, we still have ice cream trucks around here. I think I've already heard the first one of Spring.

So do ex girl guides, except we learnt "regimental Soldier" instead of "continental".

[DGayle]

That's true, but as far as I can tell, "Turkey in the Straw" came first.

"Turkey in the Straw" predates this by about a century, and isn't even the first song to use that melody. It's actually Irish.

[DGayle]

So do ex girl guides, except we learnt "regimental Soldier" instead of "continental".

For is, it was "Do your balls hang low?"

[Arete]

Am I the only person who grew up with ice cream trucks that played "The Sting"?

[RachelB]

All of us ex-Girl Scouts sing:

Do your ears hang low?

Do they wobble to and fro?

Can you tie 'em in a knot?

Can you tie 'em in a bow?

Can you throw them over your shoulder

like a Continental soldier?

Do your ears hang low?

Yep, we still have ice cream trucks around here. I think I've already heard the first one of Spring.

The second verse, like unto it:

Do your ears stand high?

Do they reach up to the sky?

Do they fall down when they're wet?

Do they stand up when they're dry?

Can you signal to your neighbor

with a minimum of labor?

Do your ears stand high?