The tune’s popularity in America and its association with ice cream trucks are the result of decades of racist songs.
The “ ice-skating rink emollient song ” – arguably the most iconic jingle of American childhood – has an incredibly antiblack past times .
While the tune behind the birdcall has a longhistorydating back to at least mid-19th century Ireland , its popularity in America and its association with ice cream truck are the result of tenner of racist songs .
The tune , most usually lie with in the United States as “ Turkey in the Straw , ” was infer from the old Irish ballad “ The Old Rose Tree . ”
Library of CongressImage from “Zip Coon” sheet music depicting the blackface character.
“ Turkey in the Straw , ” whose words were n’t antiblack , subsequently got some racist reboots . The first was a version call “ Zip Coon , ” issue in the 1820s or 1830s . It was one of many “ coon call ” popular at the time in the United States and United Kingdom , up through the 1920s , that used troubadour caricatures of pitch-dark masses for “ comedic ” consequence .
Library of CongressImage from “ Zip Coon ” sheet music limn the blackface type .
These songs appeared over ragtime tunes and exhibit an image of black people as rural goof , given to acts of inebriety and immorality . This look-alike of inglorious mass had been popularized in the former minstrel display of the 1800s .
JHU Sheridan Libraries/Gado/Getty ImagesAn American ice cream parlor, 1915.
“ Zip Coon ” was named after a blackface fiber by the same name . The character , first flirt by American singerGeorge Washington Dixonin blackface , parody destitute black man attempting to adjust to white high society by dressing in fine dress and using liberal words .
Zip Coon , and his countryfied opposite number Jim Crow , became some of the most popular blackface characters in the South after the close of the American Civil War , and his popularity spur the popularity of this older song .
Then in 1916 , American banjoist and songwriter Harry C. Browne put young words to the old tune and created another version foretell “ N****r Love A Watermelon Ha ! Ha ! Ha ! ” And , unfortunately , the internal-combustion engine cream song was put up .
Sheridan Libraries/Levy/Gado/Getty ImagesSheet music cover image of ‘Turkey in the Straw A Rag-Time Fantasie’ by Otto Bonnell.
The opening lines of the song begin with this racist call - and - response dialogue :
Browne : You n*****s quit throwin ’ them bones and come down and get your ice cream !
ignominious man ( incredulously ): Ice Cream ?
Browne : Yes , ice pick ! coloured man ’s ice pick : Watermelon !
Incredibly , the lyrics get unfit from there .
Around the clock time Browne ’s Sung came out , ice cream parlors of the day begin play folk singer songs for their customer .
JHU Sheridan Libraries / Gado / Getty ImagesAn American ice cream parlour , 1915 .
As minstrel shows and “ coon songs ” died lost popularity during the 1920s , it seemed as though this anti-Semite aspect of American society had last locomote to ley .
However , in the fifties , as railway car and trucks were becoming more low-cost and popular , ice pick hand truck emerged as a mode for parlors to pull back in more client .
These new hand truck needed a melodic line to alert client that ice pick was occur , and many of these companies turned to troubadour Sung for tunes that evoked a nostalgic past of turn - of - the - century deoxyephedrine pick front room for a generation of snowy Americans . Thus , the trash ointment songs of honest-to-goodness were repurposed .
“ Sambo - style imitation seem on the covers of sheet music for the tune that were unblock into the era of the ice cream trucks , ” take down author Richard Parks in hisarticleon the tune .
Sheridan Libraries / Levy / Gado / Getty ImagesSheet music masking effigy of ‘ Turkey in the Straw A Rag - Time Fantasie ’ by Otto Bonnell .
“ Turkey in the Straw ” is not alone among ice cream song that were popularized or created as troubadour song .
Other chalk cream motortruck raw material , like “ Camptown Races , ” “ Oh ! Susanna , ” “ Jimmy Crack Corn , ” and “ Dixie ” were all created as blackface minstrel songs .
In this day and age , few associate the iconic “ ice cream song ” or these other ditty with the legacy of blackface and racial discrimination in the United States , but their origins reveal the extent to which American culture has been shaped by antiblack portrayals of African - Americans .
After learning about the truth behind the methamphetamine hydrochloride cream motortruck song , learn about the antiblack origin ofAmerica ’s suburbs , and the tale of the first black family to move in . Then , check out this article on the contentious account of the“Happy Birthday ” song .
