I was listening to one of those old-time radio programs recently on satellite radio when I was struck by how casually racial stereotypes were inserted into the programming back then. It was an episode of a serial crime drama called The Fat Man about a portly private investigator that aired back in the late ‘40s and early ‘50s. I came into the middle of the program so I don’t know exactly what was going on, but the Fat Man was somewhere on the Mexican border investigating a murder when he had a brief encounter with one of the locals. I don’t recall what it was about but the exchange ended with the Fat Man saying:
“You can go back to your siesta now, Pedro, I’ll take it from here.” To which “Pedro” responded with a meek “Si, senor” before exiting stage right.
I remember just sitting there with my jaw hanging open thinking to myself, did I hear that right? Of course, back in the late 1940s when this program originally aired I doubt that anyone gave that particular bit of throw-away dialogue a second thought.
Then a few days later I was indulging my facination with old pop-jazz music and picked up a collection of Peggy Lee music at the local library. I fell in love with Peggy Lee’s voice after hearing her sing some duets with Bing Crosby on his old radio show and I wanted to get more of her music. But one particular song in the collection just bowled me over. It is an upbeat number called “Manana (is soon enough for me)” and features Peggy singing in an emphasized, almost cartoonish Hispanic accent. The lyrics are printed below and, as you can see, they wouldn’t go over very well in today’s age.
Mañana is soon enough for me (1948)
The faucet she is dripping and the fence she's fallin' down
My pocket needs some money, so I can't go into town
My brother isn't working and my sister doesn't care
The car she needs a motor so I can't go anywhere
(mañana, mañana, mañana is soon enough for me)
My mother's always working, she's working very hard
But every time she looks for me I'm sleeping in the yard
My mother thinks I'm lazy and maybe she is right
I'll go to work mañana but I gotta sleep tonight
(mañana, mañana, mañana is soon enough for me)
Oh, once I had some money but I gave it to my friend
He said he'd pay me double, it was only for a lend
But he said a little later that the horse she was so slow
Why he give the horse my money is something I don't know
(mañana, mañana, mañana is soon enough for me)
(mañana, mañana, mañana is soon enough for me)
My brother took a suitcase and he went away to school
My father said he only learned to be a silly fool
My father said that I should learn to make a chile pot
But then I burned the house down, the chile was too hot
(mañana, mañana, mañana is soon enough for me)
The window she is broken and the rain is comin' in
If someone doesn't fix it I'll be soaking to my skin
But if we wait a day or two the rain may go away
And we don't need a window on such a sunny day
(mañana, mañana, mañana is soon enough for me) Oba! Oba!
(mañana, mañana, mañana is soon enough for me) Oba! Oba!
As I understand, the song was a big hit when it was released in 1948, but I imagine that any radio station that played it today would be burnt to the ground.
Of course, Hispanics weren’t the only minority group subject to this kind of treatment back then. African-Americans were the most frequent targets for abuse (when they weren’t being ignored altogether).
I know there are many examples of this kind of Jim Crow treatment in popular film and music, but it still shocks me today when I come across it.
As a huge Bing Crosby fan, I’ve long been troubled by a song that was a big hit for The Rhythm Boys in the 1930’s and ‘40s called “Mississippi Mud.” The song was written by Harry Barris, one of the original members of The Rhythm Boys that also included Crosby and Al Rinker. Oddly enough, you can’t even find the original lyrics to the song on the web today - only a sanitized version printed below:
Mississippi Mud Lyrics
When the sun goes down, the tide goes out,
The people gather 'round and they all begin to shout,
"Hey! Hey! Uncle Dud,
It's a treat to beat your feet on the Mississippi Mud.
It's a treat to beat your feet on the Mississippi Mud".
What a dance do they do!
Lordy, how I'm tellin' you...
They don't need no band...
They keep time by clappin' their hands...
Just as happy as a cow chewin' on a cud,
When the people beat their feet on the Mississippi Mud.
Lordy, how they play it!
Goodness, how they sway it!
Uncle Joe, Uncle Jim,
How they pound the mire with vigor and vim!
Joy! that music thrills me!
Boy! it nearly kills me!
What a show when they go!
Say! they beat it up either fast or slow.
When the sun goes down, the tide goes out,
The people gather 'round and they all begin to shout,
"Hey! Hey! Uncle Dud,
It's a treat to beat your feet on the Mississippi Mud.
It's a treat to beat your feet on the Mississippi Mud".
What a dance do they do!
Lordy, how I'm tellin' you...
They don't need no band...
They keep time by clappin' their hands.
Just as happy as a cow chewin' on a cud.
When the people beat their feet on the Mississippi Mud.
The original lyrics use the racial term “darkies” rather than the generic “people” as the ones making all the music down on the riverbank. It is really a catchy song and was quite popular in its time. The santitized version was later recorded by everyone from Dean Martin to Ray Charles and even The Muppets.
I don’t think this song is as offensive as the Manana tune. I don’t even think that Barris or Crosby meant the song to be negative towards African-Americans. I’m sure they felt at the time that it was a celebration of black music. However, it still represents a period in our history when racial stereotypes were readily accepted in our popular culture. Fortunately, we’ve come a long way since then.
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