It's called "Turkey in the Straw."  It's a ridiculously popular song that most people have heard in their lifetime.  Now, many people are calling to have it replaced.

Any idea where you've heard the song "Turkey in the Straw?"

It's a song that has made kids grab their money and run to the street in anticipation.  It has meant sweets and ice cream for years.  But people now are realizing that it has a much darker past and hasn't always stood for ice cream.

It's the song that ice cream trucks play over their amplified speakers to let kids know they're coming.  But according to the L.A. Times, it has a much darker past.

"Turkey in the Straw" is a song that became popular thanks to minstrel shows back in the 1800s.  If you aren't familiar with minstrel shows, they are shows that would include comic skits, variety acts, dancing, and music performances that were said to portray people of African American descent.  However, the shows would often include white people dressed in blackface and portraying the African Americans as lazy, dim-witted, or buffoonish.

Due to its popularity in these shows, "Turkey in the Straw" was played in ice cream parlors a lot and became very popular.  That then translated to the song becoming the theme song of ice cream trucks around the country.

But now, there's a movement to make that song a thing of the past.

Good Humor Ice Cream reached out to one of the most respected music producers in the hip hop world and asked him to write a new jingle for ice cream trucks to play...and he's done it.

Rza (pronounced Riz-uh) from the Wu-Tang Clan put together his own jingle and now they're offering it to ice cream trucks everywhere for free with the hope that they will replace "Turkey in the Straw."

 

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