I am probably coming in late on this discussion. Most songs from
the late 19th and early 20th Centuries are most likely "politically
incorrect" but they are history and history should be retold and not
rewritten or thrown away.
Should we throw away all of the Stephen C. Foster songs? Should we
throw away songs that used the expression "High Yellow," or the song
"The Yellow Rose of Texas?" The Yellow Rose is referring to a light
color African American woman. Many songs have double meanings,
especially when it came to sex.
I also collect Edison cylinders. There are the "Coon Songs" (sorry,
that is how they are identified). Uncle Josh makes fun of country
folks. I have a cylinder called "The Suffragette" -- very
disrespectful to women. One of my favorite song is about the Scopes
Trial that states without a doubt that men did _not_ evolve from ape.
We can learn from a song and choose not to repeat it, but to destroy
it is so wrong. The songs are history.
"Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it."
-- George Santayana
Leslie Hoffman
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