Up above, pauperback questions a line from the folkinfo.org archive that I host at my Website: http://www.joe-offer.com/folkinfo/songs/547.html

"PC pressures would make this quite a difficult song to sing at a club these days, which is a pity as there is actually nothing in the song itself that could offend. If only it had been called 'Old Racoon'!"

To which, pauperback says, "BS."
To which, Joe Offer heartily agrees.

Except that the "Old Raccoon" suggestion didn't come from me. It came from a 2008 post by dmcg at folkinfo.org. -and it's unclear whether the "Old Racoon" suggestion came from dmcg, or from the Autumn 1960 BBC Singing Together booklet he was quoting.

I'll see if I can get dmcg to come by this thread and put the blame squarely on BBC. Let's chalk it up to British humour, perhaps?

I live in Politically Correct California, and I have to admit that I don't sing "Old Zip Coon," partly because I get enough flak as it is for singing the Stephen C. Foster songs that I have sung and loved all my life.

-Joe-

P.S. I have ancestors with the name "Coon." My sister and I suspect it came from "Cohen," but no one in my parents' generation would admit to having Jewish ancestry.