use of "sunshine" as a racial slur against blacks

[Wilson Gray]

It was the *song* that annoyed my parents, not Frankie Laine himself.
I don't think that he mattered to them, one way or the other. I, on
the other hand, *liked* Shine, plus That's My Desire and We'll Be
Together Again. I thought, well, think, inasmuch as I have my three
favorites on my iPod, that the rest of his oeuvre, Mule Train, etc.,
blows.

I can't imagine that Laine could possibly have felt that the words of
the song somehow applied to him. George's suggestion is, IMO, probably
the right one. Ever and always, everyone knew that Frankie Laine was
white and he never pretended to be anything else., despite Wikipedia's
odd claim that there was "early confusion regarding Laine's race."

BTW, George, Shine was released by Laine in 1947. That is a little
early for you.

And then, there's Bobby Darin. He actually passed himself off as a
Negro singer, rather easily done in radio days. All that you needed
was colored arrangers and musicians to back you up. Then, after
Splish-Splash "crossed over," he wiped off the metaphorical blackface
and "revealed." Another example is Frankie Ford, a one-hit wonder with
Sea Cruise, who was backed by Huey "Piano" Smith & The Clowns. To the
extent that Piano is known to the wider world, it's for his original
recording of Rockin' Pneumonia and the Boogie-Woogie Flu.

The worst-case example is probably Fletcher Henderson, who made far
more money merely arranging for Benny Goodman than he had as the
leader of his own band.

-Wilson
–––
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-----
-Mark Twain



On Tue, Mar 3, 2009 at 5:48 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender: Â  Â  Â  American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster: Â  Â  Â  Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject: Â  Â  Â Re: use of "sunshine" as a racial slur against blacks
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Was Frankie Laine a racist because he was a white man who sang "Shine," or
> was he a bold progressive because he was a white man who sang "Shine" and
> applied the lyrics to himself?
>
> (I'm just yanking chains here. The real question is whether pop culture use=
> d
> to be a lot more racist than it is now, and we know the answer to that one.=
> )
>
> JL
> On Tue, Mar 3, 2009 at 5:01 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender: Â  Â  Â  American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster: Â  Â  Â  Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
>> Subject: Â  Â  Â Re: use of "sunshine" as a racial slur against blacks
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> ------
>>
>> Ditto "Wow," George. I thought that you were around my age. "Shine" is
>> the song with which Frankie Laine initially gained his fame. That's
>> news to you? Clearly, you're much younger than I had hoped, uh,
>> thought. OTOH, I had long been under the impression that the song
>> wasn't new, since it seemed to be unpleasantly familiar to the 'rents.
>> I had no idea, though, that it went back to the days when mother was a
>> girl. It was similar to the way that they were somehow pissed off by
>> the fact that Paul Whiteman, snidely referred to by, IIRC, Nat Hentoff
>> as "the aptly-named," was billed as The King of Jazz on his TV show. I
>> was still young enough, at the time, that I had never heard of
>> Whiteman before he got his TV show. As Stan Kenton once pointed out,
>> he maintained an all-white orchestra because the colored were simply
>> incapable of playing jazz. Given that assumption, it naturally
>> followed that the aptly-named one should be the crown-ed king of the
>> genre. It made perfect sense to me and I didn't get the point that
>> Hentoff was trying to make. (Again, IIRC, Hentoff used the phrase in
>> his Downbeat review of Whiteman's show.)
>>
>> These days, of course, the fact that that once made complete sense to
>> me tends to give me the jaws.
>>
>> -Wilson
>> =E2=80=93=E2=80=93=E2=80=93
>> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
>> come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
>> -----
>> -Mark Twain
>>
>>
>>
>> On Mon, Mar 2, 2009 at 9:56 PM, George Thompson <george.thompson at nyu.edu>
>> wrote:
>> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> > Sender: =C2 Â =C2 Â =C2 Â American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU=
>>
>> > Poster: =C2 Â =C2 Â =C2 Â George Thompson <george.thompson at NYU.EDU>
>> > Subject: =C2 Â =C2 Â =C2 Re: use of "sunshine" as a racial slur against b=
> lacks
>> >
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> ------
>> >
>> > Frankie Laine recorded this? =C2 Wow.
>> >
>> > The version I know is by Louis Armstrong, ca. 1930. =C2 I see that the =
> song
>> is credited to Ford Dabney, Cecil Mack and Lew Brown. =C2 Mack and Brown =
> I
>> don't know, off hand, but Dabney was black, a band leader prominent in th=
> e
>> Hrlem music scene of the 1910s. =C2 No doubt he wrote the music.
>> Â >
>> > GAT
>> >
>> > George A. Thompson
>> > Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern
>> Univ. Pr., 1998, but nothing much lately.
>> >
>> > ----- Original Message -----
>> > From: Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com>
>> > Date: Monday, March 2, 2009 8:32 pm
>> > Subject: Re: use of "sunshine" as a racial slur against blacks
>> > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>> >
>> >> "Sunshine" as a slur is more commonly used in its short form, "shine."
>> >> As a WAG, it may be the case that the popularity of "boot," from
>> >> _bootblack_, who *shines* boots, and "shoe," from _shoeshine boy_ gave
>> >> the the shortened form its impetus.
>> >>
>> >> As a child, I used to wonder why my parents disliked one of my
>> >> favorite songs, Shine, by Frankie Laine:
>> >>
>> >> Hey now, just because my hair is curly
>> >> Just because my teeth are pearly
>> >> Just because I always wear a smile
>> >> That is why they call me
>> >> "SHINE"!
>> >>
>> >> Just because I'm glad I'm living
>> >> And take my troubles all with a smile
>> >> Just because my color's shady
>> >> That's the difference, maybe
>> >> That is why they call me
>> >> "SHINE"!
>> >>
>> >> Etc.
>> >>
>> >> -Wilson
>> >>
>> >> I was, well, unaware of the subtext.
>> >> =E2=80=93=E2=80=93=E2=80=93
>> Â >> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint t=
> o
>> >> come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
>> >> -----
>> >> -Mark Twain
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> On Mon, Mar 2, 2009 at 7:15 PM, Jonathan Lighter
>> >> <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
>> >> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> >> > Sender: ?? ?? ?? American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> >> > Poster: ?? ?? ?? Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
>> >> > Subject: ?? ?? ??Re: use of "sunshine" as a racial slur against blac=
> ks
>> >> >
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> ------
>> >> >
>> >> > I've never heard it so used, but I *have* heard it once or twice as
>> >> a
>> >> > playful form of address (as by older waitresses to male diners in
>> downscale
>> >> > Southern eateries), i.e., "How are you today, sunshine?"
>> >> >
>> >> > The earliest ex. I know of is in James Forbes's play "The Show Shop"
>> >> > (1914) in _The Famous Mrs. Fair and Other Plays_ (N.Y.: George H.
>> Doran,
>> >> > 1919), p. 99:
>> >> >
>> >> > "ROSENBAUM: Hello, Sadie. [To TOMPKINS] Hello, Sunshine. We've got
>> >> to slam
>> >> > this show through."
>> >> >
>> >> > Tompkins's first name is given as "Wilbur."
>> >> >
>> >> > JL
>> >> >
>> >> > On Mon, Mar 2, 2009 at 7:02 PM, Jocelyn Limpert
>> >> > <jocelyn.limpert at gmail.com>wrote:
>> >> >
>> >> >> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> >> >> -----------------------
>> >> >> Sender: ?? ?? ?? American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> >> >> Poster: ?? ?? ?? Jocelyn Limpert <jocelyn.limpert at GMAIL.COM>
>> >> >> Subject: ?? ?? ??use of "sunshine" as a racial slur against blacks
>> >> >>
>> >> >>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> ------
>> >> >>
>> >> >> Does anyone have any information as to the origins of or current
>> >> usage of
>> >> >> "sunshine" being used in speech today in a derrogatory way as a
>> >> racial slur
>> >> >> against blacks/African-Americans?
>> >> >>
>> >> >> A friend asked me for information concerning this and I could find
>> >> little
>> >> >> in
>> >> >> the online searches that I did. Usually I'm much more successful,
>> >> so I
>> >> >> would
>> >> >> appreciate any help that you can give me.
>> >> >>
>> >> >> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> >> >> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>> >> >>
>> >> >
>> >> > ------------------------------------------------------------
>> >> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>> >> >
>> >>
>> >> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> >> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>> >
>> > ------------------------------------------------------------
>> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>> >
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org