![]() ![]() After describing the cramped nature of train excursions, the Andrews Sisters ask Kaye what the “civilized” do on vacation, and he answers, “They swim and they fish, but that’s what I do all year round.” Rather thank work, Kaye’s character appears to do nothing more than relax and enjoy life, presenting him as being one with nature and unsullied by modernity. He responds, “Uncivilized pictures that the newsreel takes of me.” Here, the song presents the man from Congo as “uncivilized,” in need of saving, and as someone who exists as an image on a screen or in a museum, devoid of humanity. During the second verse, the Andrews Sisters, who provide the voice of the “civilized” ask Kaye what he sees at the movies. ![]() Hailing from the Congo, Kaye’s character refuses the “advantages” that the missionaries propose. On another level, the song should be read through a postcolonial lens. ![]()
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