Indeed, I was thinking about the Ram Jam version of Black Betty. Not only cultural appropriation, but racism. Black Betty, seriously???
This song was once the fight song or "pump up the crowd" song for the University of New Hampshire's hockey team. But it was dubbed "theoretically racist" and removed...Whoa, black betty (bam-ba-lam) Whoa, black betty (bam-ba-lam) Black betty had a child (bam-ba-lam) The damn thing gone wild (bam-ba-lam) She said, “i’m worryin’ outta mind” (bam-ba-lam) The damn thing gone blind (bam-ba-lam) I said oh, black betty (bam-ba-lam) Whoa, black betty (bam-ba-lam)
Oh, black betty bam-ba-lam Whoa, black betty bam-ba-lam She really gets me high bam-ba-lam You know that’s no lie bam-ba-lam She’s so rock steady bam-ba-lam And she’s always ready bam-ba-lam Whoa, black betty bam-ba-lam Whoa, black betty bam-ba-lam
Get It!
Whoa, black betty bam-ba-lam Whoa, black betty bam-ba-lam She’s from birmingham bam-ba-lam Way down in alabam’ bam-ba-lam Well, she’s shakin’ that thing bam-ba-lam Boy, she makes me sing bam-ba-lam Whoa, black betty bam-ba-lam Whoa, black betty bam-ba-lam
A white 1970s band singing the blues and covering a Leadbelly song about a black mother and her "thing" and the fact that she's "always ready," well, in this conservative age, we cannot have that heard by children and young people, or anyone, because it perpetuates racial stereotypes and may well be hate speech.