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You Might Want to Re-Think the Ice Cream Truck Song

tsywake

tsywake

Sheikh of Smoke
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OMG, how have I never heard this mentioned . Is this guy the first to really put this together?
 
I knew the tune was "turkey in the straw" but the lyrics I was taught (by my sibs who grew up in the late 50s) were "Do your ears hang low, do they wobble to and fro"
 
Ice cream trucks in my neighborhoods always played Scott Joplin's The Entertainer. There's no way that's racist
 
WinkinDeac said:
I knew the tune was "turkey in the straw" but the lyrics I was taught (by my sibs who grew up in the late 50s) were "Do your ears hang low, do they wobble to and fro"
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Can you tie 'em in a knot, can you tie 'em in a bow? Can you throw 'em over your shoulder like a continental soldier? Do your ears hang low?
 
WinkinDeac said:
I knew the tune was "turkey in the straw" but the lyrics I was taught (by my sibs who grew up in the late 50s) were "Do your ears hang low, do they wobble to and fro"
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ChicdeaC said:
Can you tie 'em in a knot, can you tie 'em in a bow? Can you throw 'em over your shoulder like a continental soldier? Do your ears hang low?
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This is what I was learnt as well.
 
tsywake said:
This absolutely blows my mind. How in the world can so many people (myself included) have gone through life blindly singing or whistling this without knowing the origins of the song?

The link is SFW, but I wouldnt advise listening to the youtube link on that page without earphones.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/codeswitch...nt=20140514&utm_campaign=storyshare&utm_term=
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Those arent the origins. The song dates back to before those lyrics. This is like saying dont listen to Michael Jackson's Beat It because Weird Al released a racist Eat It version. NPR is the worst sometimes, most of the time really.
 
The lyrics and its usage are connected to "ice cream". NPR explains that the meoldy became popular in ice cream trucks with the watermelon song.

I still don't understand what is so bad about liking watermelon and fried chicken for that matter.
 
PhDeac said:
The lyrics and its usage are connected to "ice cream".

I still don't understand what is so bad about liking watermelon and fried chicken for that matter.
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I have never met a meat eater who didn't like fried chicken.

Hell, they have KFC here in Pune, India.
 
TheTwinAndreBen said:
Those arent the origins. The song dates back to before those lyrics. This is like saying dont listen to Michael Jackson's Beat It because Weird Al released a racist Eat It version. NPR is the worst sometimes, most of the time really.
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Knight said:
"For his creation, Browne simply used the well-known melody of the early 19th-century song "Turkey in the Straw," which dates back to the even older and traditional British song "The (Old) Rose Tree." The tune was brought to America's colonies by Scots-Irish immigrants who settled along the Appalachian Trail and added lyrics that mirrored their new lifestyle."

AKA misleading article title.
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"The first and natural inclination, of course, is to assume that the ice cream truck song is simply paying homage to "Turkey in the Straw," but the melody reached the nation only after it was appropriated by traveling blackface minstrel shows."

and

"The ice cream crossover happened concurrently: 19th century ice cream parlors played the popular minstrel songs of the day. After World War II, the advent of the automobile and the ensuing sprawl required parlors to devise a way to take their products to customers. 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. "

So yeah, the reason this tune was chosen was not some innocent coincidence.
 
PhDeac said:
The lyrics and its usage are connected to "ice cream". NPR explains that the meoldy became popular in ice cream trucks with the watermelon song.

I still don't understand what is so bad about liking watermelon and fried chicken for that matter.
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nothing

i have a seedless watermelon chilling in the frig that i will cut into tonight

and fried chicken is the greatest fucking thing since the blow job

i'll even eat a pig ears sammie
 
Lib guilt fishin trip success. Hook, line and sinker.
 
PhDeac said:
The lyrics and its usage are connected to "ice cream". NPR explains that the meoldy became popular in ice cream trucks with the watermelon song.

I still don't understand what is so bad about liking watermelon and fried chicken for that matter.
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AMEN. Nothing better than Fried chicken, watermelon and ice cream on a hot ass day. Hell throw some kool-aid in the mix and you've got yourself a winning picnic. I'd add tater salad because my tater salad is the best tater salad there ever was...
 
PhDeac said:
The lyrics and its usage are connected to "ice cream". NPR explains that the meoldy became popular in ice cream trucks with the watermelon song.

I still don't understand what is so bad about liking watermelon and fried chicken for that matter.
Click to expand...

How could you ever trust someone who doesn't like fried chicken? We know that stuff is going to kill us yet no self-respecting person can stay away.
 
Go said:
Lib guilt fishin trip success. Hook, line and sinker.
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I've never really understood the term "liberal guilt" particularly when it comes to slavery and the Jim Crow era. It's like conservatives as saying only liberals feel guilty when they should be saying "Guilty? Nah, that era was awesome. I'm going to go fly my confederate flag right now. #bringbackourcountry."
 
PhDeac said:
I've never really understood the term "liberal guilt" particularly when it comes to slavery and the Jim Crow era. It's like conservatives as saying only liberals feel guilty when they should be saying "Guilty? Nah, that era was awesome. I'm going to go fly my confederate flag right now. #bringbackourcountry."
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Feeling dirty about a song created by some asshole back at the turn of the century is liberal guilt.

If we had to be ashamed of everything that was once racist, wouldn't we have to boycott pro sports? living in the south?
 
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