ATDTDA (2): "All Pimps Look Alike to Me" (48.30)

[Tim Strzechowski]

[...] After a while somebody started singing "All Pimps Look Alike to Me," and half the room joined in (p. 48).
 

Ernest Hogan (born Ernest Reuben Crowders, 1868? to 1909) was the first African American entertainer to produce and star in a Broadway show (The Oyster Man in 1907) and helped create the musical genre of ragtime. A native of Bowling Green, Kentucky, as a teenager Hogan worked in traveling minstrel shows as a dancer, musician, and comedian.

In 1895 Hogan published several popular songs in a new musical genre, which he named ragtime. These hit songs included "La Pas La Ma" and "All Coons Look Alike to Me". The success of this last song created a slew of derogatory imitators, known as "coon songs" because of their use of racist and stereotypical images of blacks.

While Hogan was considered one of the most talented performers and comedians of his day, his creation of the racist "coon song" craze haunted him. Before his death, he stated that he "regretted" using the racial slur in his song.

[...]

Hogan followed this song with the massive hit "All Coons Look Alike to Me". Hogan was evidently not the originator of the song's lyrics, having appropriated them after hearing a pianist in a Chicago salon playing a song titled "All Pimps Look Alike to Me". Hogan merely changed the words slightly, substituting the word "coon" for "pimp" and added a cakewalk syncopation to the music, which he had heard being played in back rooms and cafes. The song eventually sold over a million copies. [...]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Hogan

http://www.pbs.org/jazz/time/time_jim_crow.htm


FWIW:

http://www.wfmu.org/LCD/25/firstrock2.html