Years ago, I had a question about the lyrics of Superman by The Brothers Four. It was sung in a stereotypical Mexican accent, is about a boy with a Spanish name, on the Mexican border, and who sold towels to [people crossing the river]. But even in 1960 when The Brothers Four album was released, they said in the song that the boy was Swiss. ‘That way we don’t offend nobody.’ Definitely not socially acceptable.
Just now, Witch Doctor, performed by Sha Na Na, played on the iPod. The narrator says the Witch Doctor is wiser than he, and mentored him in the Art of Love. But the song’s gimmick is ‘Witch doctors [presumably African] talk funny!’
Zulu Warrior (another one by The Brothers Four) doesn’t say much, but the impression is that Zulu warriors are impressive. But A) That seems a bit patronising; and B) ‘I come a zimba, zimba ziya’ is gibberish attempting to sound African.
I play my iPod once a week. It contains Alternative, Classic Rock, Jazz, Blues, Punk, Soundtracks… all kinds of genres. Sometimes something will play that… hits a sour note. The three songs I mentioned are ones that I don’t think are acceptable, despite their popularity when they came out. Any others?
EDIT: Oh! Right when I hit Reply, I thought of Rolf Harris. There are a couple/few of his that make me cringe.
This is related, but not about songs. TCM (Turner Classic Movies) produced a documentary about blackface and Hollywood that is very spot-on, in my opinion, about how to treat incidences of blackface in old (or new) movies. I’m not going to try to sum it up, it’s a little too nuanced for that. It’s less than 13 minutes long, I highly recommend it.
Speedy Gonzales - Pat Boone
Son Don’t Go Near The Eskimos - Ben Colder
The entire genre of tiki lounge music may not be well-received by those dedicated to righting past wrongs even in the smallest niches.
I hope people can still enjoy themselves turning the stereotypes that were used against them upon their heads:
I know one that should be, but in another thread it was listed as a favorite by the band.
Cinderella by Firefall. The one where the guy gets his girl pregnant and sends her packing. “Great” message. What an asshole.
Brown Sugar by the Stones. Pretty much hits all the notes.
Although it gets a lot of play on the oldies stations, lately I’ve only heard edited versions (including an old AT40 rerun) of Money for Nothing by Dire Straits, that completely eliminate the part where he comments about the “faggot” performer.
Also, I haven’t heard Julie Brown’s satirical The Homecoming Queen’s Got A Gun in a long time.
Although the band recently announced they would stop playing this in concert, I still hear it regularly on Classic Rock stations.
I Gotcha by Joe Tex. I don’t know how it was ever socially acceptable, but by today’s standards it’s completely out of bounds.
Baby, It’s Cold Outside, performed and recorded by many, is considered unacceptable by many today. I don’t want to start a discussion about what was originally intended vs. how people interpret the song today, because it could easily take out the thread. But it does fit the category, I think.
Is “Dude(Looks Like a Lady)” by Aerosmith still acceptable with the push forward on trans rights?
Yeah. When the song was new, people found it funny because it seemed so ridiculous. Now it’s like a regular news story.
I didn’t click on your link, as I’ve seen it several times on TCM.
I think the difference is that there are many historically or artistically significant films that have problematic elements. In the case of the songs, ISTM the whole things are problematic.
[Full disclosure: I like the songs because they came out not terribly long before I was born, so I grew up with them.]
EDIT: Doncha hate it when you’re typing a response and the boss comes in?
That’s a good one.
That’s what I thought when I read the whitetho’s post.
This is another song which, like Walk On The Wild Side and Lola, still gets regular unedited plays on radio.
“Every Breath you take” by the Police, kinda creeps me out.
(I guess the Cops are involved tho’)
Well, there’s that old Cher song. I’m not even going to mention the name.
In I Saw Her Standing There, she was just seventeen, but in Down By The Old Mill Stream, you were sixteen, so I guess there’s some precedent. Not to mention “Jailbait” by Andre Williams.
A lot of rap music has a lot of violence which many of us consider unacceptable.
He Hit Me and It Felt Like a Kiss.
That was way old but still.
Ringo Starr was 33 years old when his version of You’re Sixteen reached number one in the U.S.
