Racist Songs By Great Writers That Were Later Sanitized

[Satchmo Distel]

There will obviously be many of these the further back in time you go but the one that inspired this thread is "Let's Do It" by Cole Porter, which seems to have had the offending verse removed (by Porter himself) between Billie Holiday's version in 1941 and Ella's in 1956. Warning: racist content:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let%27...cs_controversy

Here's a genius version by Noel Coward:

https://genius.com/Noel-coward-lets-...in-love-lyrics

[Sporting]

Session versions of Get Back contained some pretty questionable lyrics, though McCartney claimed they were satirical.

[Satchmo Distel]

They definitely were satirical but IIRC his cod-Jamaican accent on some Ob-La-Di-Ob-La-Da takes is more problematic, and Lennon does a Peter Sellers Indian accent on some tapes (maybe even Chinese?).

[Patrick Thistle]

There was a controversy about someone playing the full version of "The Sun Has Got His Hat On" on Radio 2 a couple of years back. I'd never heard of the racist verse until that blew up.

[Jah Womble]

They definitely were satirical but IIRC his cod-Jamaican accent on some Ob-La-Di-Ob-La-Da takes is more problematic, and Lennon does a Peter Sellers Indian accent on some tapes (maybe even Chinese?).

He does indeed - on Borrowed Time, from the Milk & Honey compilation. Some fool thought to issue it as a single in 1984.

[Guy Profumo]

Tie me kangaroo down sport

Oh.

Hang on…

[Stumpy Pepys]

There was a controversy about someone playing the full version of "The Sun Has Got His Hat On" on Radio 2 a couple of years back. I'd never heard of the racist verse until that blew up.

Do you consider it racist in the context in which it was written?

[Patrick Thistle]

Do you consider it racist in the context in which it was written?

If we are going down that route, is anything on this thread?

[Etienne]

This is another example of the difficulties caused by us using the same word "racism" to mean both "something that is unacceptable taking into account historical and current racial relations" and "something that demonstrates fear, dislike, hatred or contempt for another race".

[Jah Womble]

It was 'racist' when it was written - the fact that this wasn't recognised at the time doesn't alter that.

This doesn't mean that it cannot be referred to in a historical context: however, if that's going to happen, it must be flagged up beforehand - which didn't happen during the aforementioned radio broadcast (Radio Devon, in fact). The latter was obviously the fault of the producer, not the presenter - which the BBC screwed up big time.

There was an entire thread on this but I'm blessed if I can find it.

[Stumpy Pepys]

It was 'racist' when it was written - the fact that this wasn't recognised at the time doesn't alter that.

Well, that's called presentism and is something historians try to avoid.

Also it places something like The Sun Has Got His Hat On in the same universe as No Coons Allowed.

You are, of course, welcome to call out any language on the board that will be offensive in 100 years' time.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

Jeremy Vine's just played ""Turning Japanese" by the Vapors on his Radio 2 lunchtime show. (I know, I'm still down with the kids). As this is a song about a prisoner sat wanking in his cell, I'm a bit surprised his producer approved it anyway, but even in the eighties the expression "I'm turning Japanese" in that context must have, er, raised a few eyebrows?

[Satchmo Distel]

He does indeed - on Borrowed Time, from the Milk & Honey compilation. Some fool thought to issue it as a single in 1984.

That could only have been one person - ironically a victim of racism herself.

[Satchmo Distel]

There was a controversy about someone playing the full version of "The Sun Has Got His Hat On" on Radio 2 a couple of years back. I'd never heard of the racist verse until that blew up.

Interesting also as this person was fired for accidental racism in the same period that Clarkson was not being fired despite deliberate racism

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/m...r-9352667.html

The Ambrose context of 1928 is surely that Ambrose knew the verse was racist but did not see that as a taboo thing to do, as he knew the word was commonly used without censure in his culture. But recall also that Geoff Hurst thought it was perfectly normal to use the word on national TV as late as 1990. The producer should have been fired for not screening the record beforehand, as Jah notes. You'd thing it was radio production 101 in 2014 to check any song for dodgy lyrics, even on Alan Patridge-esque Radio Devon.

[Etienne]

MsD has pointed out that the Vapors deny that Turning Japanese is about wanking. They may not be telling the truth of course.

[Satchmo Distel]

They're probably embarrassed that their only famous song is both racist and schoolboy smut.

[Stumpy Pepys]

As this is a song about a prisoner sat wanking in his cell …

Well, that's debatable. Plus I never heard the phrase 'turning Japanese' in the 80s. The Americans assumed it was a British euphemism.

[Patrick Thistle]

Well, that's called presentism and is something historians try to avoid.

Also it places something like The Sun Has Got His Hat On in the same universe as No Coons Allowed.

You are, of course, welcome to call out any language on the board that will be offensive in 100 years' time.

You're being odd about this. We are all in the same universe as things that are deliberately setting out to be racist. The 'well it was OK in its context' argument is irrelevant because we are no longer in that context. That song is usually sanitised in our context. When it wasn't sanitised there was an uproar. Which I why I referred to it.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

You never heard "grinning like a wanking Jap"? You went to a much more polite school than I did then.

[Stumpy Pepys]

The journey from "grinning like a wanking Jap" to "turning Japanese" is a convoluted one. Is Aneka's Japanese Boy also about wanking?

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

No, but that one isn't all about a bloke sitting alone staring at a picture of his girlfriend "and there's nothing else to do" either.

[Stumpy Pepys]

Japanese Boy contains the lyrics:

Now I find I'm sitting here on my own
Oh oh, oh oh

Therefore "on my own" clearly means she's masturbating, only to clearly climax on the next line!

[Jah Womble]

(All songs about Japan are therefore about w*nking? Come again? [No pun, etc.])

Well, that's called presentism and is something historians try to avoid.

Also it places something like The Sun Has Got His Hat On in the same universe as No Coons Allowed.

You are, of course, welcome to call out any language on the board that will be offensive in 100 years' time.

I'm talking about racism as a conceit, obviously: white folk were too ignorant and/or self-regarding to recognise it as such when said tune was written.

And if you'd quoted my entire post you'd note that I've suggested historical context is valid (under the described conditions).

Seems a very odd thing upon which to take such a position, I must say.

[Eggchaser]

In the context of Neil Innes dying recently, The Bonzos did a few questionable songs. Look Out, There"s A Monster Coming has cod West Indian, Ali Baba's Camel has muezzin type wailing at points and Hunting Tigers Out In Indiah has the old Goodness Gracious Me school of accent going on in the "Dear, dear, dear, no, dear, dear, dear, no, dear, dear oh dear no" backing from the "bearers".

Although the last song is definitely giving both barrels to the chotah peg swillin' Raj white hunters rather than any particular attempt at mocking the indigenous population beyond a stupid accent.

[Etienne]

Yes, Mad Dogs and Englishmen treads a similar path. Also on Noel Coward "Stately Homes of England" uses "with assistance from the Jews" as a shorthand for borrowing money which you wouldn't get away with now. Four Tops Tea House in Chinatown refers to an "Oriental girl stealing his heart with a humble smile" which is fairly innocuous but still makes me wince a bit.