Trollheart

Does anyone else have problems with, or examples of, this sort of thing? I'm talking about a member of a race who has no idea of the culture/history of another race singing a song about them, or by them. Yeah, it might not be so easy to understand. Let me give you an example, which in fact prompted this thread.

Today I heard "Old Man River" and could easily tell it was not a black guy singing. Every other time I've heard that it's been black singers, whether it's Paul Robeson or Louis Armstrong or whoever. This time it was Sinatra. Now, I know it was written by a white man (Oscar Hammerstein) but to me there is just something disingenuous, almost grotesque about a rich white guy singing about how tough it is to be a slave. I just felt, well, creeped out by his rendition, almost as if it was an insult. I kind of wonder if it's okay for white men to sing songs about the race they've historically oppressed, in the voice of the ones they've oppressed, as if it's, I don't know, adding salt to the wounds? Sort of like maybe a German singing about how tough it was for the Jews under Hitler, or something like that?

Yeah, as usual I'm probably reading too much into it and taking it too seriously, but I feel certain songs - at least, certain subjects in lyrics - should be only performed by those who can identify with them. Like, it's their music, about their people, and we don't have a right to be appropriating that.

I'm sure nobody agrees with me, and I expect a hailstorm of "wtf dude it's just a song" but I can't help feeling uneasy and a little disturbed having heard Sinatra sing "You gets a little drunk and you lands in jail" and so on. Maybe - probably - just me, but I felt I needed to get that off my chest.

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018