Browne: ‘You n—– quit throwin’ them bones and come down and get your ice cream!’
Black men (incredulously): ‘Ice Cream?!’
Browne: ‘Yes, ice cream! Colored man’s ice cream: watermelon!’
‘N—– love a watermelon ha ha, ha ha!’
‘N—– love a watermelon ha ha, ha ha!’
‘For here, they’re made with a half a pound of co’l’
‘There’s nothing like a watermelon for a hungry coon’
The song, which was released in March 1916 by the Columbia Graphophone Company — later Columbia Records — is titled, ”N—– Love A Watermelon Ha! Ha! Ha!” It was written by actor Harry C. Browne and played on the depiction of African Americans as “mindless beasts of burden greedily devouring slices of watermelon,” according to NPR‘s Theodore Johnson.
“There is simply no divorcing the song from the dozens of decades it was almost exclusively used for coming up with new ways to ridicule, and profit from, black people,”.
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