The “meta-musical” aspect of the song is in the fact that it is a song ABOUT music, and, therefore, is self-referential. Is it possible, therefore, that Lew Brown’s lyrics actually invert pro-slavery arguments? Pro-slavery apologists in the antebellum South often framed their support for the owning of other people in terms of the duty to “civilize” and protect the slaves, who, they claimed, were so childlike as to be unable to live free. But they believed slavery was necessary for their economic and social institutions, not for their spiritual redemption. Of course, in the antebellum South, pro-slavery whites accepted and advanced the idea that “someone had to” be enslaved. “Someone had to stoke the train/That would bring God’s children to green pastures” is a reference to the many appearances of metaphorical trains, “bound for glory” - in other words, for heaven - that appear in gospel music. Here Lew Brown is hinting at the “Magical Negro” trope: the longstanding theme in American literature and film that blacks (and people of color more broadly) are salvific, i.e., both capable of, and necessary to, the spiritual redemption of whites. Is Brown being sincere here, or ironic? Even the most fire-eating pro-slavery apologists in the antebellum South knew they had to work harder than that to justify their position that slavery wasn’t only a necessity, but even a positive good.Īnd finally, and most intriguingly, there is the concluding assertion that “someone” had to be able to sing. Secondly, the statement that “someone had to” do these things implies that the logic and necessity of slavery are so obvious that they shouldn’t even have to be mentioned. be able to sing.” Was the lyricist, Lew Brown, suggesting that the system of slavery was the thing that made the great musical traditions of African America possible?.
Why is that?įirst of all, if you read through the lyrics a second time, you begin to realize that they express a kind of ironic fatalism - “Someone HAD TO slave” - which can be read both as an acceptance of slavery as an institution, and also as a kind of meta-musical justification for it, because “someone” also “HAD TO. When the song was written, statements like the ones its lyrics make were not considered overtly racist. However, there’s more to them, in the historical context, than meets the eye. On the face of it, the lyrics of “That’s Why Darkies Were Born,” are incredibly offensive. Of a flashily-dressed Black man with a razor. The Echthroi’s destructive power comes from unNaming - Xing out their victims, turning them into nothing.Īzie and Evelyn of Say It Loud delve into the fascinating history of “black-sounding” names.Ĭover of the sheet music for “The Bully Song,” depicting a racist stereotype out of minstrelsy, The bad guys in the novel are known as Echthroi, the plural of the Greek echthros, meaning “The Enemy” (Ἐχθρός). The theme of Naming is prominent in the book: The human protagonists are assisted by an angel, who is also responsible for naming all the stars in the universe.
In the meantime, on a summer road trip, my children and I listened to an audiobook of A Wind in the Door, the second book in the fantasy/scifi YA series by Madeleine L’Engle known as the “Time Quartet” (the first is A Wrinkle in Time). But this will give you some idea of what was going down back in the day. I looked hard for a photo of those potato chips but couldn’t find one. Indeed, Lee even sought to trademark the letter “X” (read the linked article, “Who Owns X?” for more). X remains unknown, even though it stands for the unknown.” “Ninety-five percent of African-Americans don’t know their original names and cultures. “We’re not trying to market anybody’s name or likeness,” Mr. We dedicate this product to the concept of X.” X is a replacement for the last name given to the slaves by the slave master. The unknown language, religion, ancestors and cultures of the African American. “X is a concept.” On each bag of the chips is printed the legend: “X stands for the unknown. So powerful, in fact, that even such luminaries as Spike Lee have attempted to profit from that letter of the alphabet.Īs Larry Depte, the spokesman for the (short-lived) X-brand Potato Chips, explained in 1992: If words have meaning, letters do as well, and X, used in this context, is particularly powerful. In other words, Malcolm Little chose “X” as a symbol of the unnaming of his ancestors, who were stolen into slavery.