Today's #BigBand #Standard is definitely the latter. This is the Johnny Mercer 1947 version of Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah featuring the Pied Pipers and the Paul Weston Orchestra, recorded a year after the song was featured in the Disney movie "Song of the South." The movie is one long pejorative, but the song is happy nonsense that had the bad luck of being introduced in the movie. It cheers me on rainy, gray days like today.
@mcfate
The Uncle Remus tales, yes, first collected and published by Joel Chandler Harris. They made a caricature of African Americans.
@MelissaHDavis The movie is indeed incredibly racist.
@poemblaze
Which is why you will not find it on Disney+
@MelissaHDavis This performance of the song is still a bit cringe because they still have some stereotyped manner in the African American voices.
@poemblaze
I disagree. I do think you could make the case that it's an imitation of southern verbiage (and except for Mercer, who was from GA) not done well.
@MelissaHDavis I understand your viewpoint.
@poemblaze
I love being part of a community where we can have differing POVs and it not become ugly and divisive.
@MelissaHDavis
To be fair, the then-beloved stories it was based on were one long series of pejorative stereotypes.