1853 Foster's fictional Joe was inspired by a servant in the home of his father-in-law, Dr. McDowell of Pittsburgh. The song is not written in dialect, W. E. B. Dubois points to the song as a piece standing apart from the debasing minstrel and "coon" songs of the era.
The song's "soft melancholy" and its "elusive undertone" brings the song closest to the traditional African American spiritual There is a wistful tenderness in the music.
I have heard a "politically correct" modern version of this song, where the words "Old Black Joe" have been changed to "Poor Old Joe," but I'm a traditionalist so I prefer the original lyrics as written by Stephen Foster. Another song written by Stephen Foster has actually been banned by some radio and television channels. It is called "Polly Wolly Doodle." In some places, films featuring Al Jolson, where he pretends to be Afro-American, have been banned.
"Political correctness is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end."
Exquisite. My mother was a teacher in Montclair NJ in the 1940's. At that time "black" was considered pejorative. Nevertheless, her African American pupils asked their white teacher to sing the song with them, because they liked the song and their parents forbade them to sing the song at home. Also Foster was regarded as an apologist for slavery -- so all his work was considered suspect. Throwing the baby out with the bathwater, essentially.
you can talk about the music... but it can only go as far as "i enjoy it" or "i dislike it". what's wrong with discussing the music AND racial aspects? even though i don't think there are any racial connotations much. let them talk. you don't have to read, nor respond.
Exactly. And the fact is that the writer, Stephen Foster, never even set foot in the southland. It's a lovely melody. Also, my great grandpa, who was white, was called Black Jack. That's a family story I'll have to write about some day. LOL
Such songs are considered racist by some. Another example is "Carry Me Back to Old Virginia," the state song of Virginia. I am not attempting to justify slavery, merely attempting to explain some of its consequences. As Richard Nixon, who was also a pianist once said, society should be like a keyboard. The white notes and the black notes need to be played together.
I agree with BlindPig. Beautiful song and exquisite harmony in this version. Not about slavery, but about the longing to see lost friends and family in the next life. My mom used to rock me to sleep with this song when I was a toddler. She passed in March and this song popped into my mind after 50 years' absence. So grateful to find this version on YouTube. Many, many fond memories.
This is beautiful music...to be heard and felt regardless of how you feel about slavery. My eigth grade teacher in Chicago taught it to us as an excercise in harmony.....there was no racism about it...just beauty. Why attack something so beautiful just to protest the past ugliness of slavery. Would you protest "The Old Rugged Cross" because it depicts the murder of Christ?
Beautiful! There was indeed nothing good about slavery. It was completely evil. I don't hear any reference to slavery in this song, even if it was written during or shortly after slavery. I interpret the song as lichtbroeder and muzzikker do, as a simple longing for lost friends and family members (common to all human experience) and a sad expression of having to wait to meet them again in the next life.
"....the song suggests a wistful melancholy about slavery. Slavery wasn't melancholy. It was sadistic and cruel."
The song doesn't suggest this to me at all. It suggests melancholy for lost friends and family and for memories of joy in living that slaves managed to have DESPITE slavery.
While slavery was, in some cases, sadistic and cruel, and in all cases, morally wrong, many of the freed slaves were simply unable to cope after emancipation. Freedom carries with it certain responsibilities, and for whatever reason, a lot of people cannot handle it, and may long for the days when someone was responsible for their supervision.
And there we have a kind and gentle justification for slavery. Indeed, mindspring57's comment is a masterpiece on how to make an absurd argument triumph by means of kindness; a great example on how to willingly ignore history to justify such an aberration. Reminds me of a certain psychiatrist from the times of slavery who claimed that fugitive slaves were victims of a mental illness, not of their "owners". Let's stop talking about this nonsense and focus on the music itself, which is beautiful!
I grew up in Alabama, and this song has an old-fashioned beauty that's charming. I get teary when I hear it. What's racist about it? "Racist" is a strong word, but the song suggests a wistful melancholy about slavery. Slavery wasn't melancholy. It was sadistic and cruel.
The interesting question is, should we enjoy a song that doesn't praise slavery but is a product of a slave-owning society? I think so, but only if we enjoy the song AND also reflect on the history of slavery in the US.
I was a kid back in the late 50zz and in Ontario Canada this song was in our music readers in school.We never knew about the racist aspects until the 60zz and more people got the TV sets that the rich could afford and all eyes looked south of the border. Beautiful song yes. But the cost of the words that are in its purpose was the pains and fears that even now haunts people who through geography will never know the taste of a big mac in their lives or the click of the mouse on the net.
Stephen Foster was a brilliant minstrel composer whose songs could express sympathy for the plight of African Americans.
"Old Black Joe" is sung from the viewpoint of an old slave longing for the halcyon days of his youth on the plantation. So yes, the tune expresses bigotry. After all, the tune clearly honors the virtue of servitude. It does not celebrate African culture.
In a nutshell, the song paints the picture of a kindly old slave content with his lot in life. And therein lies the rub.
I remeber in school oldblack joe and little black sambo,from our readers, These children were incredible, Made me think of things i though long ago, 5 Stars
1853 Foster's fictional Joe was inspired by a servant in the home of his father-in-law, Dr. McDowell of Pittsburgh. The song is not written in dialect, W. E. B. Dubois points to the song as a piece standing apart from the debasing minstrel and "coon" songs of the era.
The song's "soft melancholy" and its "elusive undertone" brings the song closest to the traditional African American spiritual There is a wistful tenderness in the music.
NoiseLTD 4 months ago
I have heard a "politically correct" modern version of this song, where the words "Old Black Joe" have been changed to "Poor Old Joe," but I'm a traditionalist so I prefer the original lyrics as written by Stephen Foster. Another song written by Stephen Foster has actually been banned by some radio and television channels. It is called "Polly Wolly Doodle." In some places, films featuring Al Jolson, where he pretends to be Afro-American, have been banned.
SeniorSuperstud 5 months ago in playlist SeniorSuperstud's Favorited Videos
@SeniorSuperstud
"Political correctness is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end."
superyouper 1 day ago
Just enjoy the superb voices and quit whining about some imainary racist aspect to the song.....it's not there.
magnussmitt 7 months ago 2
Exquisite. My mother was a teacher in Montclair NJ in the 1940's. At that time "black" was considered pejorative. Nevertheless, her African American pupils asked their white teacher to sing the song with them, because they liked the song and their parents forbade them to sing the song at home. Also Foster was regarded as an apologist for slavery -- so all his work was considered suspect. Throwing the baby out with the bathwater, essentially.
straightarrow372 8 months ago
racist to me.
ihopveggan 1 year ago
@ihopveggan racial, not racist. Of course, whenever white people mention race, we tend to get our heads bitten off.
straightarrow372 8 months ago
I love listening to good music like this because it's authentic an tells a story of how they were
TraceyLouise2260 1 year ago
you can talk about the music... but it can only go as far as "i enjoy it" or "i dislike it". what's wrong with discussing the music AND racial aspects? even though i don't think there are any racial connotations much. let them talk. you don't have to read, nor respond.
GoldenGhettoFilms 1 year ago
Talking about harmony!!! Wow!
Pugoluvr2008 1 year ago
ich liebe diesen film, obwohl ich zugeben muss, das mir die amerikanische version noch besser gefällt. vor allem im original
1412nita 1 year ago
thanks a lot for sharing!! angelic voices!!
domyaska 1 year ago
Is this the Von Trapp family of the Sound of Music? Or is it totally unrelated.
tlyoung88 2 years ago
This is "The Trapp Family goes to America" the second movie from 1958 (BRD) with Ruth Leuwerik and Hans Holt.
"The sound of music" with Julie Andrews aund Christopher Plummer is an american remake from 1965.
Sorry, but my english is very bad!
Greatings
ukreag 2 years ago
Let's discuss the music instead of letting some people have a chance to justify slavery.
josefk20 2 years ago
好
Chesterton7 2 years ago
It's funny that some people think that was a racist song.
It's basically a guy pining for the people he knew in his youth who have passed on and are waiting for him in the afterlife.
He's not saying, "oh I long for the good old days of Slavery".
PeterPiper00 2 years ago 12
Exactly. And the fact is that the writer, Stephen Foster, never even set foot in the southland. It's a lovely melody. Also, my great grandpa, who was white, was called Black Jack. That's a family story I'll have to write about some day. LOL
cthulee 2 years ago
no,man, this song definitely against black community. it is racist song. man.
zhe0810 2 years ago
Such songs are considered racist by some. Another example is "Carry Me Back to Old Virginia," the state song of Virginia. I am not attempting to justify slavery, merely attempting to explain some of its consequences. As Richard Nixon, who was also a pianist once said, society should be like a keyboard. The white notes and the black notes need to be played together.
mindspring57 2 years ago
slavery was wicked and cruel. all because white crayons were preferred over black crayons ie.
airplaneman123 2 years ago
Comment removed
HiWayLady49 2 years ago
I agree with BlindPig. Beautiful song and exquisite harmony in this version. Not about slavery, but about the longing to see lost friends and family in the next life. My mom used to rock me to sleep with this song when I was a toddler. She passed in March and this song popped into my mind after 50 years' absence. So grateful to find this version on YouTube. Many, many fond memories.
55snowbear 2 years ago 3
This is beautiful music...to be heard and felt regardless of how you feel about slavery. My eigth grade teacher in Chicago taught it to us as an excercise in harmony.....there was no racism about it...just beauty. Why attack something so beautiful just to protest the past ugliness of slavery. Would you protest "The Old Rugged Cross" because it depicts the murder of Christ?
GORTCLATUMIRADA 2 years ago
Beautiful! There was indeed nothing good about slavery. It was completely evil. I don't hear any reference to slavery in this song, even if it was written during or shortly after slavery. I interpret the song as lichtbroeder and muzzikker do, as a simple longing for lost friends and family members (common to all human experience) and a sad expression of having to wait to meet them again in the next life.
BlindPigAndTheAcorn 3 years ago 3
This is a sad song, probably anyone will have the similar feeling as" Black Joe"
when he/she is old. sadness is beauty sometimes.
muzzikker 3 years ago
"....the song suggests a wistful melancholy about slavery. Slavery wasn't melancholy. It was sadistic and cruel."
The song doesn't suggest this to me at all. It suggests melancholy for lost friends and family and for memories of joy in living that slaves managed to have DESPITE slavery.
lichtbroeder 3 years ago
While slavery was, in some cases, sadistic and cruel, and in all cases, morally wrong, many of the freed slaves were simply unable to cope after emancipation. Freedom carries with it certain responsibilities, and for whatever reason, a lot of people cannot handle it, and may long for the days when someone was responsible for their supervision.
mindspring57 3 years ago
And there we have a kind and gentle justification for slavery. Indeed, mindspring57's comment is a masterpiece on how to make an absurd argument triumph by means of kindness; a great example on how to willingly ignore history to justify such an aberration. Reminds me of a certain psychiatrist from the times of slavery who claimed that fugitive slaves were victims of a mental illness, not of their "owners". Let's stop talking about this nonsense and focus on the music itself, which is beautiful!
josefk20 2 years ago
好
yaofengli 3 years ago 2
Are these 2 movies avail w/English subtitles on DVD?
pwthcim 3 years ago
beautiful!!!
101679101679101679 3 years ago
Take out the words cotton and Black and there's no racist aspect to a remarkably beautiful song.
diddymuck 3 years ago
Why, is there a racist aspect now?I don't get it...What does it say that could insult?
platanis 3 years ago 6
I grew up in Alabama, and this song has an old-fashioned beauty that's charming. I get teary when I hear it. What's racist about it? "Racist" is a strong word, but the song suggests a wistful melancholy about slavery. Slavery wasn't melancholy. It was sadistic and cruel.
The interesting question is, should we enjoy a song that doesn't praise slavery but is a product of a slave-owning society? I think so, but only if we enjoy the song AND also reflect on the history of slavery in the US.
jdjeet 3 years ago 2
I was a kid back in the late 50zz and in Ontario Canada this song was in our music readers in school.We never knew about the racist aspects until the 60zz and more people got the TV sets that the rich could afford and all eyes looked south of the border. Beautiful song yes. But the cost of the words that are in its purpose was the pains and fears that even now haunts people who through geography will never know the taste of a big mac in their lives or the click of the mouse on the net.
cycimian 3 years ago
Stephen Foster was a brilliant minstrel composer whose songs could express sympathy for the plight of African Americans.
"Old Black Joe" is sung from the viewpoint of an old slave longing for the halcyon days of his youth on the plantation. So yes, the tune expresses bigotry. After all, the tune clearly honors the virtue of servitude. It does not celebrate African culture.
In a nutshell, the song paints the picture of a kindly old slave content with his lot in life. And therein lies the rub.
scmi11er 3 years ago
I really want to see this movie.
emeraldave3737 3 years ago
It's on here! It's called The Trapp Family singers in America.
lablover959 3 years ago
Gone are the days when my heart was young and gay,
Gone are my friends from the cotton fields away,
Gone from the earth to a better land I know,
I hear their gentle voices calling Old Black Joe.
kkkkkuxx 3 years ago
I'm coming, I'm coming, for my head is bending low,
I hear their gentle voices calling Old Black Joe.
Why do I weep, when my heart should feel no pain,
Why do I sigh that my friends come not again?
Grieving for forms now departed long ago.
I hear their gentle voices calling Old Black Joe.
Where are the hearts once so happy and so free?
The children so dear that I held upon my knee?
Gone to the shore where my soul has longed to go,
I hear their gentle voices calling Old Black Joe.
kkkkkuxx 3 years ago
Whoa shit!
chretiendutroyes 3 years ago
All I can say is WOW!
lablover959 3 years ago 2
Which movie is this from?
Julian9ehp 3 years ago
It's called "Die Trapp Familie in Amerika". (a sequel to the German movie "The Trapp Family" from 1956)
KayLillian 3 years ago
I remeber in school oldblack joe and little black sambo,from our readers, These children were incredible, Made me think of things i though long ago, 5 Stars
cycimian 4 years ago 2
my favorite performance of a song that enrages humorless people
Chesterton7 4 years ago 2
such a beautiful song thanks for posting
RabuHina 4 years ago
So beautiful it fairly took my breath away! Thanks for posting.
lucidtiger76 4 years ago 3
beautiful!!! unbelieveably beautiful..
svetastar09 4 years ago 2
the modern navy man meets the old style autrian.
Amoneth 4 years ago 3
"Old Black Joe" is an American folk song composed by Stephen Foster (1826-1864) in 1860.
Aliret 4 years ago 5
Thank, you so much...I added this to the video description.
Jairdan 4 years ago
Exactly 100 years later, it was recorded by Jerry Lee Lewis
Brutus2 4 years ago
fantastic.
larkhallrules 4 years ago 2