My mind was still on the topic of political correctness after finishing the previous post when, by chance, the pop song that has a fair claim to being the most politically incorrect of all time came on the radio. It was “Speedy Gonzales,” sung by Pat Boone, a 1961 chart hit written by Buddy Kaye, Ethel Lee and David Hess and featuring the voice of the cartoon Speedy (whom you almost never see on TV anymore because, well, you know), Mel Blanc. Here it is…
Your musical Ethics Alarms Ethics Quiz is this…
Is the recording inherently offensive and bigoted, and thus inappropriate for play on the grounds that it stereotypes Mexicans, or is it obviously intended to be funny, and ultimately harmless?
My view: it’s certainly harmless as a period piece, and funny, though perhaps for a different reason than originally intended. My wife and I were laughing out loud in the car at how blatantly stereotypical the song was, and imagining what the reaction to a whitebread performer like Boone singing such a song today would be. It has been covered many times, in many languages; presumably a Mexican or Mexican-American singer could get away with it.
I’d love to have a Hispanic American’s reaction.
Ethics Alarms 
“You better come home Speedy Gonzalez”. I guess my opinion is all out of styleOh, but don’t get me started because I can get wildAnd I’ll make a fight for the forefathers’ planHell, the world already knows where I stand~Gretchen Wilson, country singer
We badly need a political incorrectness renaissance.
We have it, man, going on right now – it’s just all-nasty and vengeful against old guys like and including you and me.
Very true. Finally paying for all our racism, misogyny, and white privilege.
I guess we’d all better do what the leftist pundits say we should do and die ungracefully.
I don’t see how it stereotypes Mexicans because it could be applied to any irresponsible male. It just so happened that the subject of the song is Mexican. Do we think that all girls named Sue run around on their partners? Of course not. Why should anyone think that all Mexicans are lazy womanizers that choose not to fulfill their familial responsibilities simply because of a silly song.
It seems to me that we are getting to the point only positive portrayals of a culture can be expressed or else it is deemed an offensive stereotype.
Pat Boone’s song has a rather unversal theme with a funny twist by using the character Speedy Gonzales
I remember from my youth the Dutch song “Ach vaderlief, toe drink niet meer” ( O daddy, please don’t drink anymore). You can hear it at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBDwUXi1Sbw
“VAMANOS!! ARRIBA! ARRIBA! PRONTO! EEE-HAH!” Followed by a rifle shot, a cloud of smoke and a ricochet sound.
You will never shoot the Senor Speedy; he ees muchas rapido.
Absolutely not. The rifle shot, ricochet and cloud of smoke were all generated by Speedy as he took off. If I am remembering correctly. And I might not be.
Your wish is granted Jack. 😊
I love the song, heard it gtowing up in Mexico (in Spanish), and can conclusively tell you that it’s tame compared to some of the stuff we used to sing about in terms of mocking Mexicans (see Chava Flores for some samples of family-friendly self deprecating Mexican stereotype songs).
Personally I miss the cartoon too, and was pleasantly surprised that at least the one with Speedy and the Roadrunner is still available.
Jack, you stereotyped (or was it, profiled?) Pat Boone as a “whitebread performer.” But I am not offended. But you still might be racist for that.
Those were fun cartoons to watch. I can’t really say they caused me to hate or think ill of Mexicans, or people who I might have seen or heard in those days and assumed were Mexicans (long before all the fine details about Hispanic culture began to be brain-…er, educated into us youngsters).
I do remember thinking of the Speedy cartoons (along with cartoons about Quick Draw McGraw and his sidekick, and QD’s alter ego El Kabong), the first time I remember eating in a Mexican restaurant. I learned to like all that stuff, and pushed myself to go for ever spicier fare, at a young age.
Today? I think the song is biased and full of stereotypes, but I would not call it bigoted. (I hold there can be a distinction between those.) It doesn’t intend harm, although it would be easy to presume it’s sung with an air of arrogance and condescension toward (fill in the blank with many possibilities). For people who can hear stuff without a hair-trigger of feeling offended clicking-off, the song is just a quaint flashback to simpler, perhaps less sensitive and more ignorant (and definitely differently thinking) times.
Pat’s picture is in my dictionary under “whitebread performer,” and I’d bet that he has no problem with that description. His rendition of “Tutti-Fruity” lives in Little Richard’s nightmares.
I’m a big fan, by the way—smoothest voice since Bing, decent actor. nice guy.
You know Boone did some Led Zeppelin in the 1990s? (makes me laugh, just thinking about it) Of course I was only being silly with you in my first paragraph. After all, all whites are racist.
In an oblique way, what you said there makes me feel redeemed. Never in recent decades, but when I was younger, several people completely unconnected with each other up-and-told me they thought I was just like Pat Boone – looks, voice (talking and singing), and even (you’ll never believe THIS!) personality and character. That was flattering – and they hadn’t even seen my acting! But I can say with total “cred:” It’s hell, being a washed-up old whitebread performer. [wink, cue Zeppelin songs – maybe start with “Ramble On”]
I wonder if he ever did any Slayer, Dead Kennedys, or Cannibal Corpse?
I suspect he would have to be fooled, big time, to cover some of theirs.
I’ve always thought it would have been funny if Frank Sinatra did some swingin’ lounge versions of Led Zeppelin or Pink Floyd songs. I can almost hear him crooning out “What Is and What Should Never Be”, “Dazed and Confused”, or “Have a Cigar”. My mother would be spinning in her grave (if she were dead).
Bing Crosby, in an ill-advised adventure, cut a late career album called “Hey Bing” on which he covered some rock and pop hits. He almost pulled it off, too: Bing could sing “Those were the days” as well an anyone and better than most. But his Hey Jude was a disaster. Naturally, that’s what most remember about the album.
It’s a song about a mouse. If any Mexican mice have a complaint, I will listen attentively.