True story: When I lived in Connecticut one of my better friends was Joey,
who happens to also be African-American.  At a party, which I hosted with
Joey and other friends, someone started playing a newer QRS version of
"Mississippi Mud", where the words have been changed to "when the _people_
beat their feet on the Mississippi Mud."

There was one guest who later told me that, until this part had passed,
she really got flustered thinking of what might have been sung by some
well preserved and partially pickled guests.  Yikes!  Fortunately,
everyone sang the printed words.  I would have really felt bad if they
hadn't.   I don't think Joey had heard of the song before anyway.  Next
party I host, there are four rolls I know of that will be weeded out
beforehand for this reason. Unfortunately, three of them are really good
tunes!

It seems that the big names in the roll business have socially neutered
these lyrics in today's releases, while others are into total preserv-
ation, like my Artcraft 1925 "KKK March"; It's a terrible tune, too.

I never have met any musical bigots, come to think of it.  ;-)  Yet,
I feel this attribute adds monetary value to the rolls, since it's
unlikely they're going to be made again.

- K a r l  B.  E l l i s o n
  http://members.aol.com/kbellison/kbe.html

 [ Editors note:
 [
 [ My band asked our black jazz fans how they felt about songs like this
 [ (and we perform "Mississippi Mud", too!).  They said, in effect, "It's
 [ history; songs are history, and you can't bury history and ignore it.
 [ Besides, the cute songs which you play aren't derogatory -- they just
 [ use the language _everyone_ used in those days."
 [
 [ The "KKK March" is also history, and it deserves preservation as an
 [ example of the bad stuff with little artistic merit.  Songs and poems
 [ like this are intentionally created to titillate the buyer with
 [ inflammatory bigotry.
 [
 [ Thankfully, among the jazz music fans I haven't met any musical bigots
 [ either, Karl.
 [
 [ Robbie Rhodes