RichG Posted November 22, 2015 Share Posted November 22, 2015 I'm in a jug band and we do a lot of old tunes. Mostly ones we learned from the Kweskin Jug Band which they learned from a variety of sources. They did a tune called "That's When I'll Come Back to You" which was originally recorded by Louis Armstrong in 1923. It's a really cool song but in our modern climate regarding domestic violence, I'm afraid to play it at a gig. If you're not familiar with it, the female vocal basically tells the male vocal that he can beat her up if he comes back. All done in a most tasteful way for 1923. I've decided it's not worth the possible push back to play it in front of anybody. Any of you have similar tunes you worry about? Rich Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelly campbell Posted November 22, 2015 Share Posted November 22, 2015 I always disliked John Lennon's tune "Woman is the Ni##er of the World" I love John and his work but never cared for that because of the title and lyrics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capmaster Posted November 22, 2015 Share Posted November 22, 2015 I think there are scenes and talks in lots of other, more modern cultural products which can be perceived as offending. Would you like to sing AC/DC's "You Shook Me All Night Long", "Let Me Put My Love Into You" or "Badlands", to give some examples? To be honest, I wouldn't view films/movies I saw like "The Piano" or "Con Air" a second time, but I don't feel bad about the lyrics of "That's When I'll Come Back to You". A person offering oneself to another person as a possible victim of the other's aggression is one thing. However, a person threatening another person with doing evil things is a completely different story. The latter is full of bad attitude in my opinion, the first can be seen as masochism, but also as a passionate confession of love. In times where laws and language regime define obvious personal disorders and perversions as acceptable and even introduce them as legal interest, there's nothing wrong with these lyrics from 1923. Just my two cents. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capmaster Posted November 22, 2015 Share Posted November 22, 2015 I always disliked John Lennon's tune "Woman is the Ni##er of the World" I love John and his work but never cared for that because of the title and lyrics. Title and lyrics are rubbish in my opinion. It must have been John's attempt to recover from some sort of a world of his own. Interestingly my sister shared this opinion already thirty years ago when she was about twenty years old. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ksdaddy Posted November 23, 2015 Share Posted November 23, 2015 This song was controversial when written and you see how HE handled it.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MorrisrownSal Posted November 23, 2015 Share Posted November 23, 2015 Well, I can't play Some Girls. Wish I could. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capmaster Posted November 23, 2015 Share Posted November 23, 2015 This song was controversial when written and you see how HE handled it.... The difference, however, is that he did that due to Soviet censorship in 1966. They judged the original lyrics as being "too American" then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MorrisrownSal Posted November 23, 2015 Share Posted November 23, 2015 My kids "memed" this trololol song and one of my boys actually memorized every nuance. What is the song that was censored? Excuse my ignorance Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jedzep Posted November 23, 2015 Share Posted November 23, 2015 In the role of storyteller, which singers and songwriters assume, always share the music, but with historical explanation in gig context. A friend of mine collects racist/sexist songs from the 20's and 30's. They number in the hundreds or thousands. You can't just throw them out to an audience for interpretation without sharing the time frame and story line. This is part of the political correctness dilemma. I grew up with black kids. I never use the term 'n' word if I need to use ******** in a sentence. My mother taught me never to use that word, so the issue never comes up. We're all hypersensitive...and sadly, a little dopey. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capmaster Posted November 23, 2015 Share Posted November 23, 2015 My kids "memed" this trololol song and one of my boys actually memorized every nuance. What is the song that was censored? Excuse my ignorance I only found out that it went about a cowboy's thoughts and feelings while riding home to his wife on horseback about thousand miles. That didn't fit into the Soviet doctrine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capmaster Posted November 23, 2015 Share Posted November 23, 2015 ... We're all hypersensitive...and sadly, a little dopey. We are - officially. They keep us dopey by a comletely new censorship - the censorship of the world-wide-web-age, if you will. The worst thing about it is that they can't keep anybody from bashing, spreading hatered, and dissing. The entire "political correctness" thing is nothing but an epic fail designed by incorrect people. Real life is full of whisper jokes like it may have been in the Third Reich, the GDR, and the Soviet Union. Telling the truth openly isn't allowed these days again. Instead of that, the web is full of lies and hypocrisy like mass media at any time. History repeats itself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j45nick Posted November 23, 2015 Share Posted November 23, 2015 I always disliked John Lennon's tune "Woman is the Ni##er of the World" I love John and his work but never cared for that because of the title and lyrics. John and Macca's "Run for your Life" isn't exactly a little ray of sunshine either, is it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tpbiii Posted November 23, 2015 Share Posted November 23, 2015 Rewriting history from a modern perspective is always a bad thing to do. Modern narratives and rewrites only serve to mask real history. It also imposes your biases on your audience, which is really just disrespectful of both them and the original materials -- which of course I my bias I am no trying to impose on you:lol:. Just tell them you are being historically accurate and let them enjoy their own opinions. The more we mask history with our bias, the harder it is to understand -- and that is very bad if you are a history buff. Remember "Turkey in the Straw" was originally a minstrel song called "Old Zip Coon." and the entire Minstrel genre -- invented in New York -- was a tribute to how well "Darkies" did under slavery, but it was the first of many American genres that emerged from the African-European American culture and changed world music big time. The unvarnished version of that story -- the good and the bad -- is really important, and it is often carried in old lyrics. Let's pick, -Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelly campbell Posted November 23, 2015 Share Posted November 23, 2015 John and Macca's "Run for your Life" isn't exactly a little ray of sunshine either, is it? No it is not...LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milod Posted November 23, 2015 Share Posted November 23, 2015 Up until perhaps the '60s there was a lot more blatant sexuality and "race terms" especially in the back alleys of music - and jug band types of music tended always to have verses sung in some venues and not in others. And... some are politically incorrect in today's general culture regardless they were pretty well known in their day. Leadbelly's "Black Betty" and "Yellow Gal" likely could get you in trouble on some college campuses and other venues. Then too, consider the WWII pop songs such as "We're going to have to slap that dirty little Jap" or even "Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition." We had some interesting verses to a number of common folkie stuff back in the day. And how about Maria Muldaur's version of "Don't you feel my leg," or dozens of other blatant sexual blues songs commonly done in the old days into the '50s by black lady blues singers. Ah, the joy of the politically incorrect that was good art in its day and still now, but that one must take care in a given venue. One I thought of immediately was one I first heard by Louis Armstrong: "I'll be glad when you're dead, you rascal you." Then less politically correct by current standards thanks to lyrics, recorded a few years after "I'll be glad when..." thanks to lyrics, but again done by Armstrong. I love the way the vocal is done, and the concept of his trumpet solo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissouriPicker Posted November 23, 2015 Share Posted November 23, 2015 Yeah, I think this era of "political correctness" is really pretty stupid. There are old songs I won't perform simply because I don't want to cause a problem for the venue I'm playing. So many people are looking for something to be offended by, so I do take a good look at the lyrics and the song's theme. ........... When I'm at a songwriters gathering, we all sing pretty much what we want. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j45nick Posted November 23, 2015 Share Posted November 23, 2015 The simplest answer is that if you're uncomfortable with the lyrics, don't sing the song. But don't whitewash it, either, by making up innocuous lyrics to make yourself feel better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lars68 Posted November 23, 2015 Share Posted November 23, 2015 In the mid 80's, at the height of the Born in the USA craze, Springsteen was criticized for using the wording "little girl" or similar frequently in his songs when refering to females. The critics argued that he meant women were weaker and only bystanders to the men in his songs. The term is actually all over his work from this period. In response to the critics, in concert, he changed the wording of the song "Darlington County" from "you're so young and pretty" to "you're so young and intelligent", really emphasizing the intelligent part. It was clear to most that he had changed the wording on purpose. So, this is also a way to deal with the issue. Change the wording, but perform the song in a way that it is obvious you are changing it. Lars Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichG Posted November 23, 2015 Author Share Posted November 23, 2015 I've decided we won't play this one out. It bothers me, but what are you going to do? I'm not Bruce It's kind of hard to come up with alternate lyrics to: "You can knock me down, knock me up and even kick me. Black both my eyes but Daddy please don't you quit me.". Once we got an earful from some lady who was offended by "The Separation Blues". Something about kicking your baby out of bed if she don't treat you right. Rich Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrairieSchooner Posted November 23, 2015 Share Posted November 23, 2015 I offended an American Indian one night by performing The Ballad of Ira Hayes. Now that song is not meant to be disrespectful but he sure took it that way. I'll admit he was a bit drunk himself and probably wasn't really listening to the words or their meaning, but it was somewhat embarrassing trying to justify myself to him when he rather loudly took offense to it from the audience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted November 23, 2015 Share Posted November 23, 2015 Having once, a long time back, been musically blacklisted by local town fathers for playing "inappropriate" material, I say go for it. Back in the day, much of our repertoire came from 1920s and 1930s 78 rpm "race records." And yeah, it was hard not to offend somnebody. Hell, we always seemed to have somebody complaining about songs we did like Georgia White's "I'll Keep Sitting On it (If I Can't Sell It)". Probably lost a few gigs but what it did for our reputation was amazing. Nothing wrong with writing a song or re-working an old one to reflect the modern human condition though. You can have a ball playing around with something like Phil Ochs "Love Me I'm a Liberal". Probably would not endear you to the local cultural elite though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lars68 Posted November 23, 2015 Share Posted November 23, 2015 Anybody try Bobby Brown by Frank Zappa? Lars Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capmaster Posted November 23, 2015 Share Posted November 23, 2015 Anybody try Bobby Brown by Frank Zappa? Lars We did that very often with a cover band. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lars68 Posted November 23, 2015 Share Posted November 23, 2015 We did that very often with a cover band. Did any of you need medical attention afterwards... Lars Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milod Posted November 23, 2015 Share Posted November 23, 2015 I once wrote a newspaper column after getting a broadcast email from a woman in Chicago claiming that, "people have a constitutional right not to be insulted." No, they don't. The problem nowadays is that more people have been taught that in school, largely from left-leaning teachers. I do think there's likely an increasing belief that it's fine for the U.S. to ignore its constitution guaranteeing freedom of speech in order to be more politically correct - and yet some really nasty porn and jihadism are apparently fine. "We" here seem little concerned about overt sexuality, but some folks can be off-put by it. Others might find that fine, but find something like "Ballad of Sam Hall" with lyrics hundreds of years old as too nasty for general audiences. And what of songs of drug use, etc.? I do think that some song lyrics that may be fine and well-accepted by one audience will not be appreciated by other audiences. Folk musicians always have had this problem - tales of death, infanticide, various other sorts of murders, etc. Rock had some problems in the '50s with pieces involving suicide, for example. "Patches" was one that a lotta folks feared would lead to more teen suicide. I just think a lot has to do with fitting one's book to one's paying audience. m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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