It's actually Saturday night. Just got off the phone again with my friend in Canada. Today he'd heard "My Old Kentucky Home" while watching coverage of the Kentucky Derby and got a kick out of the use of the word "gay" (he's French-Canadian but fluent in English). I told him that the song was written in the 1800s. (Stephen Foster, who wrote it, also wrote Florida's state song, "Way Down Upon the Swanee River.")
(I guess the gays now own the word "gay." I personally didn't like being referred to as "gay" back when I was coming out of the closet (wasn't a gay old time). I still don't particularly like it but accept its usage now.)
I personally think these old songs should be retired, or at least the lyrics changed, inasmuch as they glorify slavery. How really gay could the "darkies" have been? They were just making the best of a bad situation. (Apparently "darkies" has been changed to "people" in "My Old Kentucky Home.")
No comments:
Post a Comment