The original song has no racial undertones. But the melody to ‘Turkey in the Straw’ was used by minstrel show performers in blackface and tuned in to very racist lyrics – and that’s how it went prominently in the US, Johnson wrote. Ice rinks through the years often played minstrel songs, which were eventually turned into ice truck jingles.
Good Humor called on all drivers of ice trucks to stop playing “Turkey in the Straw”, saying that the new jingle made by RZA will be made available for ice fragments all over the country. The jingle will also be added to industry standard refrigerator music boxes, the company said.
“Good Humor has not owned ice cream parlors since the 1970s, and we have also created ‘Turkey in the Strait’ like no other jingles,” the company wrote in a statement.
“As a leader in the industry, and the inventor of the original ice truck, however, we want to be part of the solution to this problem, especially since we work closely with so many ice truck drivers across the country.”
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