My Strange Story

[Yavin4]

I'm an African American, and I was raised in a predominately African American city, Washington,D.C. When I was in elementary school, my music teacher... (Yes, I'm showing my age. Once upon a time kids, they actually taught music in schools. I was in elementary school before the Reagan era.)...taught us this song:

Taffy was a rich man
Taffy was a thief
Taffy came to our house and stole a leg of beef
I went to Taffy's house
Taffy was not there...

I forgot the rest of the song. This stupid song has been floating around in my head for most of my life, and it was only recently that I learned that it was an insult song to people from Wales. I was being taught an ethnically insulting song as a kid, and I had no idea.

Strange huh?

[Guy Fawkes]

1. We have 'music' class in elementary shool...

Looking back, I think we had some songs about doing drugs...

[Modem Butterfly]

4. Ha! My elementary school music teacher taught us...

...the ballad of Lt. Calley. I came home singing it and my mother freaked out. She went to the school the next morning and I got to sit outside the principal's office while she went off on him and the music teacher. I remember there were other parents as well, though I'm not sure they were complaining about the song or not. I do remember that the music teacher left not long after this episode. This was Northern California in the late 70's, BTW.

[sniffa]

2. not at aLL

weLL, maybe. my grandfather taught me songs about the 'fiLthy irish'. :shrug:

[Yavin4]

3. Looking Back

I don't think that my music teacher knew what she was doing.

[bertha katzenengel]

5. Not so strange.

I remember being taught music in schools. Proposition 13 ruined that in California.

We had a terrible song we sang on the playground. I never realized until recently, like you, that I was learning to marginalize other human beings:

Daniel Boone was a man
he was a big man
but a bear was bigger
so he ran like a n----- to his home.

:( for shame.

[Beetwasher]

6. We Used To Sing "Dingalayo, Run Little Donkey Run

My donkey hee, my donkey haw, my donkey sit on the kitchen floor"

Also:

"Cockles and mussels alive alive-oh!"

[lpbk2713]

7. I remember when I was in elementary school in Mass in the 50's

when the teacher read us the story about Little Black Sambo and there were black kids in the class. I remember feeling bad for my black friend Eddie.