UNH officials scrap 'Black Betty'

AP ^ | February 12, 2006

[ConservativeStatement]

DURHAM - "Black Betty," a ’70s rock song used to rally fans at University of New Hampshire hockey games for perhaps a decade, is no more. Athletics director Marty Scarano told the campus newspaper The New Hampshire that the rollicking, 1977 song by the band Ram Jam was banned because it is "theoretically racist."

The NAACP deemed the Ram Jam version of the old song offensive to black women three decades ago, and UNH has received intermittent complaints about it for years, the Concord Monitor reported Saturday.

[ConservativeStatement]

Maybe "Play that funky music white boy" will be inserted.

[andrew2527]

Go, Black Betty

[TheBigB]

Replace it with "Brown Sugar."

[Hilltop]

Funny, as a fan of the song, and one that loves real rock and roll, I never picked up on any racial aspect of this classic.

I could have been stoned, but, wait, I wasn't.

Screw these sensitive, PC bastards that are ruining this nation.

I say, turn it up and rip off the knob, maybe it will drown out the sensitive, loving rap lyrics being played in the next metallic gold, spinning rimmed, auto being driven by a philanthropic "gangsta".

Feh.

[Mike Darancette]

The NAACP deemed the Ram Jam version of the old song offensive to black women three decades ago,

I'm sure they could find some more current music the NAACP hasn't deemed offensive that refers to B'yatchs and Hos.

It's OK for Black groups to offend black women.

[bubman]

All hip hop is offensive to black women. What about them apples?

[VadeRetro]

Maybe "Play that funky music white boy" will be inserted.

Next they go to Numa Numa. It's Rumanian, so no important ethnic group will complain. And they can dance like dorks as long as they want.

[southernerwithanattitude]

Well, "Wham a lam".

[bikepacker67]

Black Betty - Ram Jam
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

[ConservativeStatement]

I have "The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits" and for that song is listed this: "written by legendary black folksinger Hudie Ledbetter (Ledbelly)."

[beaver fever]

Whoa black betty, bam ba lam
Yeah black betty, bam ba lam
Black betty had a child, bam ba lam
Damn thing gone wild, bam ba lam
She's always ready, bam ba lam
She's so rock steady, bam ba lam
Whoa black betty, bam ba lam
go black betty, bam ba lam

Alright

Whoa black betty, bam ba lam
go black betty, bam ba lam
What ever gets me high, bam ba lam
Yeah that's no lie, bam ba lam
She's always ready bam ba lam
She's so rock steady, bam ba lam
Whoa black betty, bam ba lam
Yeah black betty, bam ba lam

Yeah

Oh yeah, alright (3x)
Oh yeah, oh yeah

Whoa black betty, bam ba lam
go black betty bambalam
She's from birmingham, bam ba lam
Way down in alabam', bam ba lam
Black betty had a child, bam ba lam
Damn thing gone black, bam ba lam
Whoa black betty, bam ba lam
Yeah black betty, bam ba lam

Oh yeah alright,
Oh yeah, oh yeah

Bam ba lam!

One of the greatest southern rock drivers from the seventies.

Racist????????

It was downright celebratory

[trubluolyguy]

"Theoretically Racist"



WTF is that?

[ConservativeStatement]

PC police at it again.

[reagan_fanatic]

Maybe "Play that funky music white boy" will be inserted.

Or Dirty White Boy by Foreigner. That wouldn't upset anybody.

[muawiyah]

Ledbelly kilt a guy once ~ and here these NAACP nerds are telling his devotees that this is "racist"?

That's exceptionally stupid of them.

[Zeroisanumber]

Black Betty - Ram Jam
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

------

Doesn't seem overtly/covertly racist to me.

[BW2221]

How are we coming with swapping New England for Alberta?

[Retired Chemist]

The NAACP deemed the Ram Jam version of the old song offensive to black women three decades ago

But current rap is okay?

[muawiyah]

Sounds like a mule-team driver's call turned into a blues tune by Ledbelly. He did a lot of that.

The DC public library used to have 76 RPM records cut directly from plays of the wire "tape" used to record Ledbelly. These priceless items were available for loan ~ I borrowed almost all of them during the first 6 months I lived in this area.