If the Man in the Moon Were a Coon

Yes, this once met with mainstream approval as harmless entertainment.

Who We Are
Alex Boese Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes. Paul Di Filippo Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over forty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. Contact Us

Posted By: Paul - Mon Mar 28, 2016
Category: Music | Racism | Spaceflight, Astronautics, and Astronomy | Stereotypes and Cliches | 1900s

Comments

Is this the song my uncle used to sing? The age is about right. Wow!

Posted by Expat47 in Athens, Greece on 03/28/16 at 10:45 AM

Using the title of the song for a search I was directed to Wikipedia. I had no idea this genre of songs was big for about 40 years starting in the 1880's. Also interesting was the origin of the word subject of the title.

Posted by Steve E. on 03/28/16 at 12:46 PM

Humans have been calling each other disparaging names since they figured out how to make sounds that have meaning. Eventually the callees get fed up enough and beat on the callers.

Check out a song by Randy Newman titled "Rednecks." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nGw_vAnqPI

Posted by KDP on 03/28/16 at 04:55 PM

There is a lot of good music in Song of the South. Disney will no longer sell it being politically incorrect now. Fortunately they did a laser disc a long time ago when those first came out. I bought a copy at a flea market.

Posted by BrokeDad in Midwest US on 03/28/16 at 05:54 PM

Wait till someone from P.H.A.R.T. sees Fantasia.

Posted by Expat47 in Athens, Greece on 03/29/16 at 12:55 AM

Googling the title, I saw a link to the sheet music and lyrics at the Temple University digital library collection, where it is "made available for private study, scholarship, and research purposes only", of course. (To see the scans of the words and music, you need to click on bsm0084_03, _04, _05, and _06 in the content box on the right side.)

Posted by Fritz G on 03/29/16 at 08:50 AM

@KDP
Randy didn't seem to mind offending short people either. They got no reason to live.

Posted by GFinKS on 04/01/16 at 02:48 PM

Commenting is not available in this channel entry.