You Say This Happening Once Again Music
Editor's note: This article is most a virulently racist vocal. Read no farther if you wish to avoid racist imagery and slurs.
This story may well sour any pleasant childhood memories of chasing afterwards ice cream trucks in the summertime. iStockphoto.com hibernate explanation
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iStockphoto.com
This story may well sour whatever pleasant babyhood memories of chasing after water ice cream trucks in the summer.
iStockphoto.com
"Nigger Love A Watermelon Ha! Ha! Ha!" merits the distinction of the well-nigh racist song championship in America. Released in March 1916 by Columbia Records, it was written by actor Harry C. Browne and played on the familiar depiction of blackness people every bit mindless beasts of burden greedily devouring slices of watermelon.
I came beyond this gem while researching racial stereotypes. I was a chip conflicted over whether the vocal 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 championship. 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 tape, non all ice cream trucks play this aforementioned vocal, but a great many of them do.)
As chop-chop equally information technology began, the music paused, and this call-and-response ensued:
Browne: "Yous niggers quit throwin' them bones and come downwards and go your ice cream!"
Black men (incredulously): "Water ice Cream?!?"
Browne: "Yes, ice cream! Colored man'south ice foam: WATERMELON!!"
My oral cavity dropped. The music immediately resumed and and then did the racism. I soon realized that the water ice cream truck song was forever ruined for me, especially once the chorus began:
Nigger love a watermelon ha ha, ha ha!
Nigger love a watermelon ha ha, ha ha!
For here, they're made with a half a pound of co'l
There's nothing similar a watermelon for a hungry coon
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Origin of the vocal
I wondered how such a prejudiced vocal could have become the anthem of ice cream and childhood summers. I learned that though Browne was fairly creative in his lyrics, the vocal'due south premise and its melody are well-nigh as old as America itself. As often happens with matters of race, something that is rather vanilla in origin is co-opted and sprinkled with malice along the way.
For his creation, Browne simply used the well-known melody of the early 19th century song "Turkey in the Straw," which dates to the even older and traditional British song "The (Old) Rose Tree." The tune was brought to America'south colonies by Scots-Irish immigrants who settled along the Appalachian Trail and added lyrics that mirrored their new lifestyle.
The first and natural inclination, of course, is to assume that the ice cream truck song is simply paying homage to "Turkey in the Harbinger," simply the melody reached the nation only afterwards it was appropriated by traveling blackface minstrel shows. There is only no divorcing the song from the dozens of decades it was almost exclusively used for coming up with new means to ridicule, and profit from, black people.
The "Zip Coon" was a blackface character who parodied a free black man attempting to suit to white high society. Library of Congress hide caption
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Library of Congress
The "Zip Coon" was a greasepaint graphic symbol who parodied a free black man attempting to conform to white high lodge.
Library of Congress
Blackface minstrels steal the testify
In the late 1820s, the music was given new lyrics, which dripped with racism, and titled "Zip Coon." The blackface character of the same proper name parodied a costless black human attempting to adapt to white loftier order by dressing in fine dress and using big words. Fifty years later in mail service-bellum America, the character became an archetype of the black urbanite and propelled minstrel shows to the peak of their popularity. Zip Coon was the city-slicker counterpart to the dimwitted, rural blackface character whose proper noun became infamous in 20th century America: Jim Crow. These two characters would ofttimes interact onstage and were the inspiration for the hugely successful Amos 'n' Andy human action decades later.
The lyrics of "Nil Coon" follow the namesake through encounters with possums, playing the banjo and courting a adult female whose skin was then black that he calls her "ol Suky blue skin." A century later, it was withal celebrated and inspiring America's music. The recognizable melody bated, we've all sung a variation of the lyrics. The chorus goes:
O zip a duden duden duden goose egg a duden 24-hour interval.
(If this sounds similar to the Academy Award winning "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah," it's because that song was derived from this chorus.)
At the turn of the 20th century, one of the nation'due south most pop collectibles was the coon card — a postcard with racist artwork, such as bug-eyed, clown-face blacks eating watermelon. These items were essentially the racist version of trading cards and were near ubiquitous. Browne meshed the theme of the popular coon cards with the familiar melody, and voilà: "Nigger Love a Watermelon Ha! Ha! Ha!"
The ice cream crossover happened meantime: 19th century ice cream parlors played the pop minstrel songs of the day. After Earth War 2, the advent of the automobile and the ensuing sprawl required parlors to devise a mode to take their products to customers. Water ice cream trucks were the solution, and a music box was installed in them as a way to announce their presence in neighborhoods. Naturally, the traditional minstrel tunes of the previous century were employed to evoke the memorable parlor experience.
And this is the story of why our beloved ice cream truck plays blackface minstrel music that sends kids dashing into homes in a Pavlovian frenzy searching for money to purchase a Popsicle.
Race, ice cream and America
Here in the nation'due south capital, the cherry-red blossoms take come and gone. This means the warm weather volition before long bring out the ice cream trucks, and I'll be confronted once once again past their inconvenient truth. Information technology'southward not new noesis that matters of race permeate the depths of our history and infiltrate the well-nigh innocent of experiences, even the simple pleasure of ice cream (who can forget Eddie Irish potato's famous, NSFW routine nigh the poor black feel with water ice cream trucks?). Nevertheless, when the reach of racism robs me of fond memories from my childhood, it feels intensely personal again.
Whenever I hear the music now, the antiquarian voice laughing about niggers and watermelon fills my head. I can live with this, but what's to be done on the summer day when my children'south eyes light up at the furthermost sound of the familiar tune, and they dash in a frenzy toward me for change? Do I empower them with the history of our land, or encourage the youthful exuberance induced by the ice cream truck? Is it my responsibility to foul the sweet sense of taste of water ice cream with their first sense of taste of racism?
The respond is intellectually complex, but parental intuition provides clarity. When teeth fall out, I blame the dollar nether their pillow on the molar fairy. When presents appear overnight nether the fir tree, I say Santa Claus is the culprit. And and then when a song about niggers and watermelon fills the suburban air, I will smile and mitt over money from my pocket. The sight of my children enjoying a Adept Humour ice cream bar will fight dorsum the racist song that lampooned blackness people who happened to be in good humor. The delivery of the cold difficult truth can wait until another twenty-four hours.
Theodore R. Johnson 3 is a writer, naval officer and former White Business firm fellow. His writing focuses on race, club and politics. "Talking Most Race And Water ice Cream Leaves A Sour Sense of taste For Some" is the writer'due south response to critics of this article.
Source: https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2014/05/11/310708342/recall-that-ice-cream-truck-song-we-have-unpleasant-news-for-you
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