Hi Kaleea:
It is not about cleaning up the words or only singing PC songs. However, it is important to unpack the history in the songs we sing, as they are the historical record of the common people. I was very happy to see this, as discriminiation against Roma is still accepted, and I hope those who sing this (I sing an old varrient) do so with some appreciation of the history of prejudice behind the song, not that the song is prejudical per se. It is hard to lighten up when scores of Roma are being murdered today in the Czech Republic, when a million or so Roma in the US live under the civil rights radar, and well, if the world where all rosey and nice, warm with love instead of global warming and the detonation of bombs, it would be great to lighten up! So in all warmth and love I say, get a little heavy!
Chearsmdears, Larry