The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #100975   Message #2032662
Posted By: Azizi
22-Apr-07 - 12:35 PM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: Back, Back, Back to Baltimore
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Back, back, back To Baltimore
Oldtimer, fwiw, I personally don't consider this song to be racist.

I've read lyrics to songs on Mudcat threads that made me flinch, but I didn't feel that way about "Back, Back, Back to Baltimore".

Btw, I'm speaking for myself as one African American. I'm definitely not speaking for the entire African American race. But there's no one person who can speak for an entire race, so that's a throwaway point.

The Back, Back, Back to Baltimore" songwriter may or may not have meant the song to be one that made fun of a Black man struggling to become a success as a performing artist. But I decided not to waste my energy on worrying about that possiblity. I decided to focus on the story told by the "Back Back Back To Baltimore" song and not on the negative connotations of the word "coon".

I hasten to say that I do believe that if the word "coon" was used nowadays in a song to refer to Black people, I would consider it to be in poor judgement and insensitive, if not downright racist.

**

Here's a correction that I've just noticed in the lyrics that I transcribed from the website whose link Peace had provided:

"Some fellow mean Said "Mr. Green,
You'se the most comical man
I've ever seen, "