Turkey in the Straw#Nigger Love a Watermelon, Ha! Ha! Ha!

"Turkey in the Straw" is thought to be originally a tune from 19th century minstrel shows, "Zip Coon" or "Old Zip Coon", published around 1834. The authorship of the song has been claimed by George Washington Dixon who popularized the song, as well as Bob Farrell and George Nicholls. "Zip Coon" in turn has been linked to a number of 19th century folk songs believed to have older antecedents in Irish/Scottish/English folk songs. Songs proposed it has links to include "Natchez Under the Hill", "The Old Bog Hole", "The Rose Tree", "Sugar in the Gourd", "The Black Eagle", "Glasgow Hornpipe", "Haymaker's Dance", "The Post Office", "Old Mother Oxford", "Kinnegad Slasher" and others.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nWsKmth9vwgC&pg=PA83 |title=Irish Fiddle Music from Counties Cork and Kerry|first= Drew |last=Beisswenger |date= 2016|page=83|isbn=978-1-61911-012-0 |publisher=Mel Bay Publications }}

Eloise Hubbard Linscott believes the first part of the song is a contrafactum of the ballad "My Grandmother Lived on Yonder Little Green", published in 1857 by Horace Waters, which is in turn said to be a contrafactum of the Irish/Scottish/English ballad "The Old Rose Tree" published by at least 1795 in Great Britain.Folk Songs of Old New England, by Eloise Hubbard Linscott (née Eloise Barrett Hubbard; 1897–1978), Macmillan Publishers (1939; reprinted 2011 by Dover Publications), pps. 101, 102, & 244; {{OCLC|30827924}}; {{ISBN|978-0-4862-7827-8}} The link to "The Old Rose Tree" has been questioned, but a number of musicologists suggest that it may be a composite of "The Rose Tree" and "The (Bonny) Black Eagle".{{cite web |url=https://tunearch.org/wiki/Annotation:Turkey_in_the_Straw |title=Turkey in the Straw |work=The Traditional Tune Archive (The Fiddler's Companion)|date=May 9, 2023 }} Similar tune was popular with fiddle players as early as 1820, and the tune of "Turkey in the Straw"/"Zip Coon" may have come from the fiddle tune "Natchez Under the Hill" believed to have been derived from "Rose Tree".{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bzaBnQ6shPMC&pg=PA222 |title=Bluegrass Picker's Tune Book|first= Richard Jr. |last=Matteson |date= 2010 |page=222|isbn=978-1-60974-552-3 |publisher=Mel Bay Publications }}{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ajMsBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA375 |title=The Concise Garland Encyclopedia of World Music, Volume 1 |date= 2013|pages= 374–375|isbn=978-1-136-09562-7 |publisher=Taylor & Francis }}

The title "Turkey in the Straw" later became associated with the tune of "Zip Coon" in an unusual way. According to James J. Fuld, Dan Bryant copyrighted a song with new lyrics and music titled "Turkey in the Straw" on July 12, 1861, but with the wordless music of "Zip Coon" (titled "Old Melody") attached at the end. The tune of "Zip Coon" then became known as "Turkey in the Straw".

{{unreferenced section|date=January 2018}}

: First verse

{{poemquote|Turkey in de straw, turkey in de hay

Turkey in de straw, turkey in de hay

Roll 'em up an' twist 'em up a high tuc-ka-haw

An' twist 'em up a tune called Turkey in the Straw

}}

: Traditional chorus

{{poemquote|Turkey in the hay, in the hay, in the hay.

Turkey in the straw, in the straw, in the straw,

Pick up your fiddle and rosin your bow,

And put on a tune called Turkey in the Straw.

}}

: First verse of another version

{{poemquote|Turkey in the straw – Ha ha ha

Turkey in the hay – Hey hey hey

The Reubens are dancing to Turkey in the Straw

Hey highdy heydy, and a haw haw haw}}

: First verse of another version

{{poemquote|Turkey in the straw, turkey in the hay

Tune up the fiddle, doodle de day

With a rump and riddle and a high tuc-ka-haw

Strike up that tune called "Turkey in the Straw"}}

: The full lyrics

{{poemquote|As I was a-gwine down the road,

Tired team and a heavy load,

Crack my whip and the leader sprung,

l seys day-day to the wagon tongue.

Turkey in the straw, turkey in the hay,

Turkey in the straw, turkey in the hay

Roll 'em up and twist 'em up a high tuckahaw

And twist 'em up a tune called Turkey in the Straw.

Went out to milk, and I didn't know how,

I milked the goat instead of the cow.

A monkey sittin' on a pile of straw,

A-winkin' at his mother-in-law.

Met Mr. Catfish comin' down stream.

Says Mr. Catfish, "What does you mean?"

Caught Mr. Catfish by the snout,

And turned Mr. Catfish wrong side out.

Came to a river and I couldn't get across,

Paid five dollars for a blind old hoss;

Wouldn't go ahead, nor he wouldn't stand still,

So he went up and down like an old saw mill.

As I came down the new cut road,

Met Mr. Bullfrog, met Miss Toad

And every time Miss Toad would sing,

Old Bullfrog cut a pigeon wing.

Oh I jumped in the seat and I gave a little yell

The horses ran away, broke the wagon all to hell

Sugar in the gourd and honey in the horn

I never been so happy since the day I was born."}}

{{refbegin|100em}}

:: {{Font color|#A9A9A9|{{loop|20|–}}}}

:: Tuckahoe (Peltandra virginica, also called green arrow arum) = an edible wetland plant with long petioles

:: Reubens = farmers

{{refend}}

There are versions from the American Civil War, versions about fishing and one with nonsense verses. Folklorists have documented folk versions with obscene lyrics from the 19th century.

: First verse of another version

{{poemquote|Turkey in the straw, turkey in the hay,

Turkey in the straw what do you say.

Funnest thing I ever saw.

It's a little tune called Turkey in the Straw.}}

In 1942, a soundie titled, "Turkey in the Straw" was created by Freddie Fisher and The Schnickelfritz Band (directed by Sam Coslow and produced by Josef Berne). There are two versions to the chorus that are sung. The first goes:

: Chorus; first version

{{poemquote|Turkey in the Straw, A' Turkey in the hay,

A' Turkey in the Straw, "What did you say?"

Hay! Roll 'em, twist 'em up a high tuc-ka-haw,

Hittin' up a tune called "Turkey in the Straw".}}

: Chorus; second version

{{poemquote|A' Turkey in the Straw, A' Turkey in the grass,

A' Turkey in the Straw, "I get a kick outta this.."

Roll 'em, twist 'em up a high tuc-ka-haw,

Hittin' up a tune called "Turkey in the Straw".}}

File:Zip Coon sheet music.jpg]]

The title of "Zip Coon" or "Old Zip Coon" was used to signify a dandified free black man in northern United States.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6z14EAAAQBAJ&pg=PA98|title=The Wages of Whiteness: Race and the Making of the American Working Class |first= David R. |last=Roediger |date= 2022 |publisher=Verso Books |isbn=978-1-83976-830-9 |page=98}} "Zip" was a diminutive of "Scipio", a name commonly used for slaves.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I5YtDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA99|title=Blackface Nation: Race, Reform, and Identity in American Popular Music, 1812-1925|first= Brian |last=Roberts |date= 2017 |publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=978-0-226-45164-0 |page=98}} According to Stuart Flexner, "coon" was short for "raccoon" and by 1832 meant a frontier rustic and by 1840 also a Whig who had adopted coonskin cap as a symbol of white rural people.{{cite web |url=https://tunearch.org/wiki/Annotation:Old_Zip_Coon |title=Old Zip Coon |work= The Traditional Tune Archive |date=February 24, 2022 }} Although the song "Zip Coon" was published {{circa}}1830, at that time, "coon" was typically used to refer to someone white, it was only in 1848 when a clear use of the word "coon" to refer to a black person in a derogative sense appeared. It is possible that the negative racial connotation of the word evolved from "Zip Coon" and the common use of the word "coon" in minstrel shows. Another suggested derivation of the word meaning a black person is barracoon, an enclosure for slaves in transit that was increasingly used in the years before American Civil War. However, on the stage, "coon" could have been used much earlier as a black character was named Raccoon in a 1767 colonial comic opera.{{cite web |url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/coon |title=Coon |work=Online Etymological Dictionary}}

The song was first performed by Bob Farrell, and popularized by George Washington Dixon in the 1830s. This version was first published between 1829 and 1834 in either New York or Baltimore. Dixon, and Bob Farrell and George Nicholls had separately claimed to have written the song, and the dispute has not been resolved. Ohio songwriter Daniel Decatur Emmett is sometimes erroneously credited as the song's author.{{cite web |url=http://www.nativeground.com/danemmett.asp |title=Dan Emmett – The Man Who Wrote "Dixie" by Wayne Erbsen |publisher=NativeGround.com |access-date=June 10, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100317140833/http://www.nativeground.com/danemmett.asp |archive-date=March 17, 2010 }}

The song gave rise to the blackface minstrel show character Zip Coon.{{cite web|url=http://black-face.com/|title=Blackface!|access-date=December 10, 2014}}

"Zip Coon" has a vocal range of an octave and a minor sixth. Both the verse and the chorus end on the tonic, and both begin a major third above the tonic. In the verse, the highest note is a fifth above the tonic and the lowest is a minor sixth below. In the chorus, the highest note is an octave above the last note, and the lowest is the last note itself. The song stays in key throughout.

"Zip Coon" has many different lyrical versions. Thomas Birch published a version in 1834,{{cite web |last=Birch |first=Thomas |title=Zip Coon |url=http://utc.iath.virginia.edu/minstrel/zipcoonfr.html |publisher=University of Virginia |access-date=December 24, 2013}} while George Washington Dixon published a version called "Ole Zip Coon" with different lyrics circa 1835.{{cite web |last=Dixon |first=G.W. |title=OLE ZIP COON |url=http://lyricsplayground.com/alpha/songs/o/olezipcoon.shtml |publisher=International Lyrics Playground |access-date=December 24, 2013}} Both Birch's and Dixon's versions keep the same chorus and the first four stanzas:

{{poemquote|(3×) O ole Zip Coon he is a larned skoler,

Sings posum up a gum tree an coony in a holler.

(3×) Posum up a gum tree, coonny on a stump,

Den over dubble trubble, Zip coon will jump.}}

: Chorus

{{poemquote|O Zip a duden duden duden zip a duden day.

O Zip a duden duden duden duden duden day.

O Zip a duden duden duden zip a duden day.

Zip a duden duden duden zip a duden day.}}

{{poemquote|O ist old Suky blue skin, she is in lub wid me

I went the udder arter noon to take a dish ob tea;

What do you tink now, Suky hab for supper,

Why chicken foot an posum heel, widout any butter.}}

: Chorus

{{poemquote|Did you eber see the wild goose, sailing on de ocean,

O de wild goose motion is a berry pretty notion;

Ebry time de wild goose, beckens to de swaller,

You hear him google google google google gollar.}}

: Chorus

{{poemquote|I went down to Sandy Hollar t other arternoon

And the first man I chanced to meet war ole Zip Coon;

Ole Zip Coon he is a natty scholar,

For he plays upon de Banjo "Cooney in de hollar".}}

In subsequent stanzas, both lyricists talk about events in the life of Andrew Jackson, Birch of President Jackson's battle with the Second Bank of the United States and Dixon of General Jackson at the Battle of New Orleans. When the Mexican–American War began, Dixon published a new version of "Zip Coon" with updated lyrics pertaining to the war:

{{poemquote|And spite of any rumors

We'll vanquish all the Montezumas!}}

The chorus "Zip a duden duden duden zip a duden day" likely influenced the song "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah" in Walt Disney's 1946 adaptation of Joel Chandler Harris' Uncle Remus tales, Song of the South.{{cite book |last=Emerson |first=Ken |title=Doo-dah!: Stephen Foster and the Rise of American Popular Culture |year=1997 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |location=New York |isbn=978-0-684-81010-2 |page=[https://archive.org/details/doodahstephenfos0000unse/page/60 60] |url=https://archive.org/details/doodahstephenfos0000unse/page/60 }}

Another version of "Old Zip Coon" with new self-referencing lyrics by David K. Stevens (1860–1946) was published in the Boy Scout Song Book (1920).{{cite book |title=Boy Scout Song Book |date=1920 |publisher=C.C. Birchard and Co. |location=Boston, Mass. |pages=[https://archive.org/details/boyscout00boys/page/48 48]-49 |quote=Old American tune.|url=https://archive.org/details/boyscout00boys |via=Internet Archive}}{{cite web |last1=Stevens |first1=D. K. |last2=Repper |first2=Charles |title=Old Zip Coon |url=https://lib.byu.edu/search/byu/record/cat.6654422.item.31197237743270 |publisher=Brigham Young University |access-date=January 23, 2019 }} Stevens' lyrics contain no direct racial references other than the title of the song itself:

{{poemquote

|There once was a man with a double chin,

Who played with skill on a violin:

And he played in time and he played in tune,

But he never played anything but 'Old Zip Coon'.}}

{{listen|type=music

| filename =

| title="Nigger Love A Watermelon"

| pos = right

| description =1916 recording of ""Nigger Love A Watermelon"" by Harry C. Browne

}}

"Nigger Love a Watermelon, Ha! Ha! Ha!" is a 1916 adaptation of "Turkey in the Straw", performed by Harry C. Browne and produced by Columbia Records. It has since been named the most racist song title in the United States for its use of watermelon stereotypes.{{cite web |first=John |last=Boone |url=https://www.eonline.com/uk/news/541477/the-ice-cream-truck-song-has-a-racist-history |title=The Ice Cream Truck Song Has a Racist History |publisher=E! |date=2014-05-13 |access-date=2021-05-18}}{{cite web|url=https://www.ebony.com/news/the-racist-roots-of-the-ice-cream-truck-song-981/ |title=The Racist Roots of the Ice Cream Truck Song |publisher=Ebony.com |date=2014-05-13 |access-date=2021-05-18}}{{Cite web|title=Recall That Ice Cream Truck Song? We Have Unpleasant News For You|url=https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2014/05/11/310708342/recall-that-ice-cream-truck-song-we-have-unpleasant-news-for-you|access-date=2021-08-07|newspaper=NPR|date=May 11, 2014|language=en|first=Theodore R III|last= Johnson}}

The song was released in March 1916. It was performed by the silent movie actor Harry C. Browne.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/369451500/ |title=New artists now first heard on records |work=Hartford Courant |via=Newspapers.com |url-access=subscription |date=1916-06-20 |access-date=2021-05-18}} It was released with "Old Dan Tucker" as a B-side.{{cite web |url=https://www.discogs.com/Harry-C-Browne-Nigger-Love-A-Watermelon-Ha-Ha-Ha-Old-Dan-Tucker/release/3732214 |title=Harry C. Browne – Nigger Love A Watermelon, Ha! Ha! Ha! / Old Dan Tucker |publisher=Discogs |access-date=2021-05-18}} The music for it was based upon "Turkey in the Straw" and performed with Browne singing baritone whilst playing a banjo with orchestral accompaniment. A contemporary review in July 1916 called it: "... a treat to tickle the musical palates of those who love to listen to the old-time slave-day river songs".{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/557113363/ |title=Humorous |work=Intelligencer Journal |via=Newspapers.com |url-access=subscription |date=1916-06-19 |access-date=2021-05-18}} Columbia Records continued to promote it up to 1925.{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/643573817/ |title=Columbia Records Second List |work=The Clinton Morning Journal |via=Newspapers.com |url-access=subscription |date=1925-05-23 |access-date=2021-05-18}} The song used racist stereotypes in it with Browne describing watermelons as "colored man's ice-cream".{{cite book |first=Darra |last=Goldstein |title=The Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets |page=572 |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2015 |isbn=978-0-19-931339-6}}

Radio DJ Dr. Demento, who had played older songs with racial overtones on the radio, refused to ever play this song because he felt that the title showed it was always intended to be hateful.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/440748173/ |title=Dr. Demento to explain land on tube |work=Albany Democrat-Herald |via=Newspapers.com |url-access=subscription |date=1975-02-19 |access-date=2021-05-18}} In 2014, Dr. Theodore R. Johnson asserted that the jingle used by many ice cream trucks in the United States was based upon this song.{{Cite web |date=2023-03-06 |title=Recall That Ice Cream Truck Song? We Have Unpleasant News For You : Code Switch: NPR |website=NPR |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2014/05/11/310708342/recall-that-ice-cream-truck-song-we-have-unpleasant-news-for-you |access-date=2023-03-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230306155738/https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2014/05/11/310708342/recall-that-ice-cream-truck-song-we-have-unpleasant-news-for-you |archive-date=March 6, 2023 }} It has been argued that this allegation is incorrect, as the "Turkey in the Straw" tune had been used long before this song was created.{{cite web|url=https://newrepublic.com/article/117792/racist-ice-cream-song-story-nprcom-wrong |title=The Racist Ice Cream Song Story on NPR.com Is Wrong |publisher=The New Republic |date=2014-05-16 |access-date=2021-05-18}} Nevertheless, because of the association, a number of American ice cream truck companies ceased to use the "Turkey in the Straw" melody for their jingles.{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2020/08/14/902664184/an-ice-cream-truck-jingles-racist-history-has-caught-up-to-it |title=A New Ice Cream Truck Song To Replace 'Turkey In The Straw' |publisher=NPR |date=2020-08-14 |access-date=2021-05-18}}

file:Steamboat Willie (1928) by Walt Disney.webm cartoon Steamboat Willie which prominently features Turkey in the Straw]]

• In 1928, this was used as the base melody in the famous early Mickey Mouse cartoon Steamboat Willie.Rimgaila Salys, {{Google books|id=cDk8d2UMRLwC|page=86|title=The Musical Comedy Films of Grigorii Aleksandrov: Laughing Matters}}{{Google books|id=8-EEANKOC6kC|page=832|title=New Scientist 7 Jun 1979}}{{Google books|id=iOGW56Q5uToC|page=9|title=The New Illustrated Treasury of Disney Songs}} The rendering of the tune in the cartoon is noted for being one of the first instances of successful synchronization in animated films.{{Google books|id=xt5k08yuAXIC|page=55|title=Hollywood Cartoons: American Animation in Its Golden Age|first=Michael|last=Barrier}}
• The 1990s animated television series Animaniacs used the tune for "Wakko's America", in which Wakko names all 50-state capitals in the form of a song.{{Cite episode |title=Wakko's America |series=Animaniacs |network=Fox Kids |season=1 |number=25 |air-date=October 11, 1993}}{{Cite news |last=Shapiro |first=Craig |date=September 13, 1994 |title=Kidvid: No Case is Too Thorny for the Olsen Twins to Crack |newspaper=The Virginian-Pilot}}
• In 1942, Carson Robison performed an anti-Axis Powers version of "Turkey in the Straw".{{cite web |last=Robison |first=Carson |date=January 1942 |title=1942 Turkey In The Straw Lyrics |url=https://www.historyonthenet.com/authentichistory/1939-1945/3-music/08-Axis-Allies/19420100_1942_Turkey_In_The_Straw-Carson_Robison-lyrics.html |access-date=May 16, 2018 |website=History on the Net}}

File:Decca 9-27306 - TurkeyInTheStraw-OldHenCackle-Fiddler'sDream.jpg version by Clayton McMichen.|left]]

• In 1909, the composer Charles Ives incorporated the tune, along with other vernacular American melodies, into his orchestral Symphony No. 2.https://performingarts.georgetown.edu/Charles-Ives-America {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181029152156/https://performingarts.georgetown.edu/Charles-Ives-America |date=October 29, 2018 }} Georgetown University:"Charles Ives's America"J. Peter Burkholder, '[https://www.jstor.org/stable/746629 "Quotation" and Paraphrase in Ives' Second Symphony'], 19th Century Music, Vol. 11, No. 1, pp. 3–25. [accessed July 26, 2013]
• According to survivors, "Turkey in the Straw" was among songs played by the band of the RMS Titanic at one point during the sinking on April 14 and 15, 1912.Fitch, Tad and J. Kent Layton, Bill Wormstedt (2012) On a Sea of Glass: The Life and Loss of the RMS Titanic. Gloucestershire: Amberly. p. 303
• In 1926, "Turkey in the Straw" was recorded by the old-time band Gid Tanner & His Skillet Lickers with Riley Puckett.{{Cite journal|last1=Lornell|first1=Kip|last2=Russell|first2=Tony|last3=Pinson|first3=Bob|date=July 1, 2006|title=Country Music Records: A Discography, 1921–1942|journal=American Music|volume=24|issue=2|page=231|doi=10.2307/25046018|jstor=25046018|issn=0734-4392}} The full melody is quoted in a fiddle and whistling solo in the "Skip to My Lou" number from the 1944 musical film Meet Me in St. Louis starring Judy Garland.[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=025BPtfJHcA Skip to my Lou - "Meet Me in St. Louis" - Judy Garland - YouTube]
• The melody is played by many ice cream trucks[http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/1998/aug/20/how-did-tune-turkey-straw-become-song-ice-cream-tr/ San Diego Reader]
• In the 1953 short "Two Little Indians" of Tom and Jerry, in order to disguise their retreat, Jerry plays this song with a "violin", which is made by a bow and an arrow.{{cite thesis |last=Ondryáš |first=Martin |year=2015 |title=Racist Stereotypes in Tom and Jerry |url=https://is.muni.cz/th/u2j62/Tom_and_Jerry_-_Racist_Stereotypes.pdf |page=41 |type=Bachelor's Diploma Thesis |publisher=Masaryk University |department=Faculty of Arts, Department of English and American Studies |access-date=April 18, 2025}}

• "Chicken Reel"
• Coon song
• "Do Your Ears Hang Low?"
• "Unsquare Dance"

{{reflist}}

• Fuld, James (1966). The Book of World Famous Music, Classical, Popular and Folk.

• [http://www.contemplator.com/america/turkeyis.html Turkey in the Straw]
• [http://www.csufresno.edu/folklore/ballads/RJ19258.html Old Zip Coon] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041024102304/http://www.csufresno.edu/folklore/ballads/RJ19258.html |date=October 24, 2004 }}
• {{YouTube |id=CZB6WXDuM1g |title=The Ice Cream Truck Song}}
• [https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2014/05/11/310708342/recall-that-ice-cream-truck-song-we-have-unpleasant-news-for-you NPR: Recall That Ice Cream Truck Song? We Have Unpleasant News For You]
• [https://newrepublic.com/article/117792/racist-ice-cream-song-story-nprcom-wrong The New Republic: That Viral Story About the Racist Ice Cream Song Is Wrong]

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