[Callers] Politically Correct?

Rich Sbardella richsbardella at gmail.com
Sun Mar 25 08:14:58 PDT 2018


Yes Bob,

You are correct, but the tag line for each verse remains the same.  I would
have to find a word to replace  -young "thing".

I think perhaps it is a generational thing.  I have been calling this song
to my seniors who are about 75% women in their 70's and 80s and they sing
along.  No objections.  In fact many remember it as a child.  There are
certainly some contra venues where I would expect a similar response, but
others that would cringe.

"Such a sweet young thing" used to be a term of endearment for Ladies and
Gents, but times change.

In MWSD, boys and girls are the default role terms, and I called MWSD for
25 years.  However, I remember accidentally using the term girls in a
square for a contra community a few years back, and immediately after the
square, I had a dancer approach me and voice her concerns.

This is one of the reasons I posed the original question.

Peace,
Rich



On Sun, Mar 25, 2018 at 9:35 AM, Bob Hofkin via Callers <
callers at lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:

>
> If I recall the folk song, it's more satirical--she can bake a cherry pie
> and stuff, and turns out to be older than Billy lets on. See if you can't
> find lines in one of the versions that shift the focus.
>
> Bob
>
> On 3/25/2018 02:07, Don Veino via Callers wrote:
>
>> I've started doing singing squares over the past year and have been making
>> adjustments to lyrics for each one I do. So far the changes have been
>> relatively easy - mostly eliminating explicit gender and talking to
>> everyone whenever possible vs. a "talk to the (assumed) lead" focus.
>>
>> There are real challenges for me in some popular ones - for example,
>> despite the fun of the sequence, Smoke on the Water's
>> https://squaredancehistory.org/items/show/1383 refrain's primary phrase
>> essentially amounts to "we'll kill 'em all" - as it's taken from a 1944
>> WWII song. I'm personally not ready to call that knowing the meaning and a
>> significant re-wording of the key refrain is not likely to go over well
>> with fans of the dance.
>>
>> On Sun, Mar 25, 2018 at 1:39 AM, Alexandra Deis-Lauby via Callers <
>> callers at lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
>>
>> People are not things. I don’t think it’s appropriate for any crowd.
>>> Try your hand at some new lyrics!
>>>
>>> Sent from my iPhone
>>>
>>> On Mar 25, 2018, at 1:12 AM, Rich Sbardella via Callers <
>>> callers at lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
>>>
>>> Hello folks,
>>>
>>> I have been calling singing squares for years, and there is one I love by
>>> Dick Leger titled Billy Boy.  The tag line that is sung during the
>>> Promenade is "She's a young thing, that cannot leave her mother."
>>>
>>> Here is a link to a version of the full song, not within a square.
>>>
>>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKRJuLHU3Qo
>>>
>>> My question is, is this song appropriate for the contra dance crowd with
>>> the tag line above?  (The tag line is the only line that is sung.)
>>>
>>> Any Thoughts?
>>>
>>> Rich
>>> Stafford, CT
>>>
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