"Hambone Says," Amelia Ray
"If I had one song to recommend a listen to so far this year, this would be it."
-Andrew Zhang, Two Story Melody
"Not since Anna Deavere Smith has an artist so accurately channeled a voice that is not their own to shed light on the insidious nature of racism."
- Cheryl Derricotte, Visual Artist
“Hamilton” drummer Jake Wood and longtime collaborator
Amelia Ray flip the script on race relations in the U.S.
“Hambone Says” uses contemporary past aesthetic to explore racism, rage and role reversal
Amelia Ray never met her paternal grandfather because he was murdered by a white man in Butler, AL, after her father, who was still a boy at the time, refused to address the man as “Sir”. While under quarantine and witnessing the nation seethe with collective indignation and unrest, Ray felt her family history come bubbling to the surface.
“I was going crazy, wanting to yell, cry, hit something, run through the streets, stay locked indoors and sleep all at the same time,” Ray explains. Amidst this confusion, Ray received a text from longtime collaborator Jake Wood stating he had “an opportunity to record a video, preferably with political commentary.” Almost immediately Ray texted Wood back. “I told him I was going to write a song in the voice of a white overseer about how dirty the Negroes were, and that I wanted him to dress up like a field hand.” Wood responded, “That sounds real bold. I’m in.”
“Hambone Says” uses several musical genres to detail a history of racially motivated killings. The lyrics allude to recent events such as the murders of Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery but also reference the 1967 Detroit riots and the 1923 Rosewood Massacre. “I wanted to transmit the exasperation, confusion and fury I saw in the streets and felt in my soul,” Ray says.
Ray scoured the internet for references to first usage of various derogatory terms used to describe Blacks - particularly in the U.S. - and listed them in chronological order, along with a list of some of the atrocities suffered by Black Americans at the hands of White Americans in chronological order. The goal was to use the terms to reference the events in the context of popular music of their era.
Grappling with the music industry in a coma, and with no safe means of performing with others, Wood - who was the drummer in the San Francisco “Hamilton” company until production was halted in early March - took to Bay Area rooftops in search of a safe performance space. “Small rehearsal studios with poor ventilation prevented me from making music with others. A roof, however, is far safer, minus the whole falling-to-your-death risk.” Wood adds that along with the safety of the outdoor setting, “you can’t beat the views.”
The track for “Hambone Says” was recorded live during the filming of the video.
Detailed lyrics may be found below.
"Hambone Says" Lyrics (with Ray's notes in parentheses)
(I scoured the internet for references to first usage of various derogatory terms used to describe Blacks - particularly in the U.S. - and listed them in chronological order. I then made a list of some of the atrocities suffered by Black Americans at the hands of White Americans in chronological order. The goal was to use the terms to reference the events in the context of popular music of their era. The song begins with a chain gang chant and transitions into gospel, Appalachian music, jazz, rock and roll, funk and rap. In the notes below I have included clarification of the references that are more than 50 years old.)
Dis Red Shirt
Don’t eat dirt
Do good work
My lord
Dis here gun
Hunt bluegum
Coon get some
My Lord
(The Red Shirts are white supremacist groups that originated in Mississippi in 1875.)
Up jump the jigaboo, dancin’ ‘round
Singin’ “I’m gonna lay my burdens down”
Powder burn, this keg soon will blow
And they’ll all find justice in the down below
The Good Book says we are the chosen race
If it weren’t so, we wouldn’t have his face
Some spade in Sumner didn’t know his place
To protect what’s ours, put the boys on the case
(The "spade in Sumner" is a reference to the Rosewood [FL] Massacre of 1923, which occurred after a white woman claimed a Black man had attacked her in her home.)
Dis Red Shirt
Don’t eat dirt
Do good work
My lord
Ain’t no spook I see ever gonna be clever
Not now, not tomorrow, not forever
From this moment on, gonna do all I can
No tyrant’s heel’ll fit the neck of this man
(The verse above is a paraphrasing of parts of George Wallace's 1963 Inaugural Address following his election as Governor of Alabama.)
Motor City madness, hot summer night
Best keep your pickaninnies hid far out of sight
("Motor City madness" is taken from the second line of Gordon Lightfoot's "Black Day in July," which he wrote in response to the 1967 Detroit Riot. During the riot, four-year-old Tanya Blanding was killed in her living room when Michigan Army National Guardsmen opened fire on her apartment.)
Dis Red Shirt
Don’t eat dirt
Do good work
My lord
Dis here gun
Hunt bluegum
Coon get some
My Lord
Been fighting jungle bunnies for years and years
Baby’s big blue eyes all covered with tears
Thank Dylann and Zimmerman and Soon Ja Du
Koreans can do the Lord’s work, too
Yo, I can’t be a racist if I can’t see colour
Your skin, his skin, mine’s just a bit duller
Everybody take a ride on the P.C. bus
Can’t pin that jail cell noose on us
Every little conflict, y’all lookin’ my way
People get robbed while running every day
Squabblin’ bout statues and pancake batter
“Knock, knock” “Who’s there?”
All lives matter
Dis Red Shirt
Don’t eat dirt
Do good work
My lord
Dis here gun
Hunt bluegum
Coon get some
My Lord
Vocals: Amelia Ray
Video Editor, Audio Engineer, Pandeiro: Jake Wood
Cinematographer: Peggy Peralta
1st Assistant Camera: Luke Lasley
Rooftop location provided by Mark Berger
Single artwork by Haudry Arcila, Graphic Designer
Written and composed by Amelia Ray
Arranged by Amelia Ray and Jake Wood
© 2020 Amelia Ray