The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-07-31
A
A Musical Treatise on tho Ethics of Brick
Throwing as n National Trait.

AhEOWlub ~ ~ N"AAuhhA ~
The popular craze for negro or coon songs.
as they are sometimes called, keeps up un-
abated. and although some Of tho newer songs
OF the plantation, the lovee, or tho roustabout
may not be up to tho standard Of melodio
excellence Of their predecessors, they have at
least tho merit OF greater ingenuity, for the
author OF a good negro song requires ingenuity
above all things clHe. Ono such song, popular
just now. though it has been sung In tho con-
tlnuous performance and variety theatres for
some time. Is "Ram-a-Jam or. / Want That
Man" based on an episode OF life among tho
lowly, wherein q colorcd man Is hit with. q
brick. There are two stanZas. Here Is the
first: =
wa. standing on the corner: wasn't rnyins a word.
Dressed in my Sunday clothes and feeling Ike bird,
When a mighty mean man played a mighty mean
Ito rneaEed up behind and hit me with a brick.
YSsI He hit mo In the head with a brick.
i thought he was Joking aud laughed with all my
He hit mo agin and then 1 know'd he wanted nght.
He blaoked both me eyes, he hit me left and right
The episode of the brick throwing is sufficient
ly described, but without any Of the ornate par
%ticulaTs which. a., given in the chorus. show
when you come to know 1t. This is the chorus:
Couldn't, been n white man that played me such =
Must have been n Ir1shmsn that hit mo with n brick.
1t must have been an Irishman. because IL IL was q
dirk.
1t wasn't no italian. cause Italians use a knife;
You can bet he'd use q razor when a Niger wants
Must've been an Irishman I'll swear to dat.
Cause it's natral for an Irishmnn In use . brickbat.
Following this lucid and descriptive chorus is
the refrain, which is without any philosophical
value: ..,,
i want that man. that mighty mean 1riahman,
I'll make him think that he's been hit by rama
Jam.
Jam, Jam, JAM. jamaican.
That mighty mean 1rtshrrAn.
It will be observed US a distinctive and I'M
usual feature, OF this song, the title Of which.
canoe. that 1t Is replete with what the German
professors sometimes call speculative philOso-
ply. 1t Is undeniably true, as q matter OF some
observation. that the natives Of the Ottoman
use bricks as missiles in personal conflict at
doing 30. and the. dearth OF bricks in Tur-
key. where stone Is used by preference for
Italians do not use bricks in alteroatlons either
forced upon them or invited by their actions on
public highways. Theoretically at least every
fighting Italian in New York carries a stiletto,
and a colored citizen. dressed in, his Sunday
clothes and feeling like a bLrd. who was sud.
human hands. would be amply justified there,
fore IN concluding that 1t was not thrown by q
native OF sunny Italy. There Is no speculation
on the subject OF the possibility Of the bricks
plicitly .recited in the .hrst stanza that the vic,
tim OF the fracas was hit with O brick, and the
inference is reasonable, therefore, that 1t was
not thrown by a Spaniard. Finally, the con
been thrown by a colored man; whose ordinary
weapon or implement Of assault is q razor, ant
what more natural, therefore, than that the
brick was thrown by an 1rishman2