I was listening to a bunch of Squirrel Nut Zippers CDs the other day to cheer myself up, and for the first time the probable true meaning of this song struck me, and I was like, "Holy crap...". This song isn't just a fun, weird, fantasy romp.
The thing that opened my eyes is the extremely Yiddish sound of the fiddle portions of the song, something not typical for the Zippers. While I think that eowynne is right that the song can be interpreted as commentary on the plight of African Americans at Stephen Foster's time, and Foster's lack of acknowledgment of this, I think "Camptown ladies never sang all the doo dah day, no, no, no" really refers to the ladies of Jewish death camps circa WWII.
"Gwine to run all night / Gwine to run all day" then appropriates the black vernacular to refer to Jews having to run to escape from the Nazis.
I just realized right now that "If we were made of cellophane, we'd all get stinking drunk quite faster, ha, ha, ha" most likely refers to starved interned Jews' skin becoming as thin as cellophane (I think I've heard that phrase used before in that context), and its certainly true that you would get stinking drunk a lot faster with such low body weight and a long-empty stomach.
"The Hotel Paradise" refers to meeting Stephen Foster in heaven.
The rest of the lyrics are fairly obscure to me, but "Rooms were made for carpets" could certainly mean that only carpets and the like should be locked up in rooms, not humans. "Towers made for spires" could mean they should be used for decoration rather than as internment camp guard towers. (Also, "Ships were made for sinking" could refer to the deserved sinking of Nazi ships during WWII combat, but that one may be a stretch.)
Further evidence for this interpretation is the tolling bell, shortwave radio whistle, and terrifying bass bowed strings that open the song before the Yiddish music comes in.
I'm pretty sure I'm one of the only people to realize what this song is really about. (I haven't seen the music video in a long time, so not sure if there is any support for this interpretation in there, but probably whoever funded the video wouldn't have wanted to present a dark literal vision for such a catchy song.)
Thank you, SNZ, for writing such an amazing song -- stealth political / humanitarian commentary songs are so much more affecting than the typical wear-it-on-your-sleeve ones.
I was listening to a bunch of Squirrel Nut Zippers CDs the other day to cheer myself up, and for the first time the probable true meaning of this song struck me, and I was like, "Holy crap...". This song isn't just a fun, weird, fantasy romp.
The thing that opened my eyes is the extremely Yiddish sound of the fiddle portions of the song, something not typical for the Zippers. While I think that eowynne is right that the song can be interpreted as commentary on the plight of African Americans at Stephen Foster's time, and Foster's lack of acknowledgment of this, I think "Camptown ladies never sang all the doo dah day, no, no, no" really refers to the ladies of Jewish death camps circa WWII.
"Gwine to run all night / Gwine to run all day" then appropriates the black vernacular to refer to Jews having to run to escape from the Nazis.
I just realized right now that "If we were made of cellophane, we'd all get stinking drunk quite faster, ha, ha, ha" most likely refers to starved interned Jews' skin becoming as thin as cellophane (I think I've heard that phrase used before in that context), and its certainly true that you would get stinking drunk a lot faster with such low body weight and a long-empty stomach.
"The Hotel Paradise" refers to meeting Stephen Foster in heaven.
The rest of the lyrics are fairly obscure to me, but "Rooms were made for carpets" could certainly mean that only carpets and the like should be locked up in rooms, not humans. "Towers made for spires" could mean they should be used for decoration rather than as internment camp guard towers. (Also, "Ships were made for sinking" could refer to the deserved sinking of Nazi ships during WWII combat, but that one may be a stretch.)
Further evidence for this interpretation is the tolling bell, shortwave radio whistle, and terrifying bass bowed strings that open the song before the Yiddish music comes in.
I'm pretty sure I'm one of the only people to realize what this song is really about. (I haven't seen the music video in a long time, so not sure if there is any support for this interpretation in there, but probably whoever funded the video wouldn't have wanted to present a dark literal vision for such a catchy song.)
Thank you, SNZ, for writing such an amazing song -- stealth political / humanitarian commentary songs are so much more affecting than the typical wear-it-on-your-sleeve ones.
Dan Harkless harkless.org/dan/
@Dan Harkless The song is mocking Stephen Foster's work and his life because he was a racist. You're reading too far into it.
@Dan Harkless The song is mocking Stephen Foster's work and his life because he was a racist. You're reading too far into it.