A Gold Rush town not far from me is Placerville, also known as "Old Hangtown." There's a dummy hanging in front of a store built over the stump of the old hanging tree. Now and then, a controversy arises about the dummy and all the Hangtown signs and store names. When I worked on the Rise Again Songbook, I was upset that the editor, a Quaker, omitted the Hangtown verse from "Sweet Betsey from Pike" because he believed people would be offended.

I've always liked Shel Silverstein's You're Always Welcome at Our House, and I used to sing it for kids. Most of them liked it, but I had a nephew who just hated it. I sang the song once at Vacation Bible School, and got a complaint from a parent and a lecture from the director. Eventually, even I decided that the song was not acceptable anymore, so now I sing it only where I think I can get away with it....

I think it's a fact that people of not too long ago took death a lot less seriously than we do now. I think that prohibiting songs like these can cause us to paint a rosier picture of the times of our grandparents, and I'm not sure that's a good thing.

And I think "Miss Otis" is a classic. There's something wonderful about how she maintained her dignity, even when being lynched. But then, I am sometimes accused of having a morbid and irreverent sense of humo(u)r.

-Joe-